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Which would you prefer for Sims 5?
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I'm more trapped in the sims 4 than in sims 3, as I have no desire to go visit neighbors or community lot due to loading screen hopping
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there is no need to limit what developer can do by allowing free travel between world at the cost of smaller 15-20 lots open world.
Second, if they were to go with an open world, then I would hope it'd really be open. In Sims 3, I would still get the equivalent of a loading screen when my computer processor(?) wasn't working "up to speed" with the bloated game. Also, I would hope that this open world wouldn't mean that the look of our sims or their numbers in the world would have to take a major hit as they did in Sims 3 - I'm almost positive that the reason why the sims themselves were less expressive, less unique-looking in game as opposed to in-CAS and more robotic was because they put all of the work into making the open world (and CASt) function. A lot was sacrificed just so we could ooh and aah over an "open" world. If it has to be a toss-up between open world and sims, I'm going to choose the sims themselves every time. I don't care about walking to a neighbor's house or to a venue if the venue is only going to have 2 other sims or the neighbor's house is going to take 7 minutes to render so I might as well have a loading screen.
I always heard that the number of NPCs in world was dependent on your own hardware specs, if it was higher it could handle more sims, and also because of the amount of community lots in the world. If you had several "bars" in that world the NPCs would be divided up, but if you only had 1 bar it would be busier. Also, if you changed the rabbit hole lots that you didn't use to No Visitors then NCPS wouldn't be hanging outside it and would be forced to go to actual venues. It also depended on what time of day you visited, as NPCs living in the world might have jobs and not be available for visiting community lots
I tested that in my game by changing rabbit holes that I didn't want to actually be a functional rabbit hole to No Visitors and I had lots of people at the beach bar I went to.
Seeing a lot of love for 3-4 mix but ideally it'd be better if you can have multiple open worlds where everything is easy to travel between but still maintains relationships and simulates progression on every world for the sake of continunity and timelines. (It'd be much more strain though for resources though)
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I agree. And most people nowadays have newer and more powerful computers. I've bought a new gaming laptop and my TS3 worlds are a lot more lively.
TS3 worlds tend to be more lively during the afternoon to evening hours because they've finished work and school and go out to have fun and socialize. Here is the mall at evening.
Here is the diner/grocery combo lot in Isla Paradiso in the afternoon.
I was wondering when they were all going to notice the guy that passed out on the floor, lol!
Even lunchtime can be pretty busy. At the bistro, someone ate some spicy food and was breathing out fire when one of the bistro tables and chairs got caught in the stream! Of course, this caused all the sims in the lot to run and crowd around it, but fortunately, my sim, the firemen and a few other brave sims put it out and no one died!
I had all the young adults in my current world in Isle of Sims 3 go to the homeworld university at the same time. This is the science building in between classes.
Also it's not just the newer more powerful CPUs. Installing the game to an SSD really does help A LOT. Plus the usual NRAAS mods like MasterController and Overwatch, but also Go Here as well, because that mod pushes sims to go out more and do stuff. So a lively open world is possible. For the TS5 team, they should take a look at TS3 and the NRAAS mods to get ideas and code. Also talk to the TS3 engineers that created the game engine - to me it was a pretty amazing achievement that they were able to pack so much gameplay into TS3. But since this will be the second time to create an open world, it should be optimized this time.
PS: I'm so enjoying TS3 in a more powerful computer! Oh my gosh, I'm in love with it all over again!
The look of sheer terror is priceless, lol!
I like being able to explore the neighborhood and not be limited to just one lot as it was in the Sims 2. There we could only go to community lots or home. We couldn't drop by or enter the houses of other sims, we couldn't even cross the boundary line of our property. I like that options in the Sims 3.
I think if they did the neighborhoods the same size as they do in the Sims 4 but made it so that it was totally open that would be good. The fully open world concept that was in the Sims 3 caused me to lag. The Sims 4 is much better in that regard. If I am focusing on doing a task with my sim in one part of the map, I really don't care about having access to other sections. In fact, having access to those other sections just makes doing things tougher because of the lag.
I think the technology on the development side is definitely there and I am sure they know how to do it. But they can't just think of what they can do - they have to think about the players that might be playing it on systems or platforms that aren't new or top of the line and what their particular set ups can do. They can't just cater to the high end players with more powerful computers. So I think that more than tech limits them. In a way it's players that are limiting them. If this was a compromise to allow more players to buy and enjoy the game then I think it's a good concession to make for their sake.
(This is also part of the reason why I am glad they are doing far more free updates and less focus on the store transactions like the Sims 3 had as most of the really cool items came from there. It was a deterrent I am sure to most I think that would have liked to play it but couldn't afford all the bells and whistles that were released through the store. While at the time I could afford it, and got all of the items, it was pricey and I am glad they got away from it in Sims 4.)
You can place any venue in any world though, so if that world didn't have that venue, you can just add it. For example, I love a lot of stuff/venues from the Into the Future and World Adventures EPs, but I don't want to always have to go to those worlds just to use/visit those things. So, I just place them in the current world I'm playing.
Lag is caused by routing issues and not so much an open world. I had a 2014 dell computer (4gb RAM, integrated Intel graphics) that ran the TS3 worlds just fine - especially when I moved the game to an SSD. For example, the world that came with the Island Paradise EP, Isla Paradiso, was pretty laggy because of so many routing issues, but once they were fixed, the world, large as it is, was lag free - even on my old 2014 computer!
So an open world system with Create-A-World and ability to travel between worlds is much better because of it's flexibility. You can create huge worlds, as well as smaller open neighborhoods if one wishes. If you only have open neighborhoods, it will lock out the open world simmers and wouldn't be as flexible. TS3 right now has hundreds of fan-made worlds of all different sizes and different environments that are pretty much lag-free because their creators had more time to quality check them, unlike the EA creators who didn't have as much time to do so before product release.
With an open world system you can build things like these:
1) Boroughsburg: Replica of Brooklyn, New York
2) Mermaidia: A mermaid fantasy world
3) Cronor: A cyberpunk/steampunk world
4) And even a Cruise Ship:
In TS3, your sim can travel to a whole string of other worlds before heading back to their homeworld if one wishes, so I like using this cruise ship before going to other worlds to make it more like a real vacation.
So this is what an open world system can do and would be a great feature in TS5. If EAxis would give simmers this much creative freedom for TS5, it will allow everyone to play it whether they prefer huge open worlds or smaller open neighborhoods, and will be a great iteration that have the same long selling longevity that TS1, TS2 and TS3 has!
The look of sheer terror is priceless, lol!
Thanks for those links about Sims 3 EA worlds!
You also mentioned about adding addresses? Sims 3 lots have addresses - I think you can name the streets in CAW and addresses get added when you add a lot which is placed by a street. Do you mean manually adding a street address?
The look of sheer terror is priceless, lol!
You're welcome! Hopefully they bring back CAW in Sims 5 so we can have fan made worlds. If the Maxis made worlds for Sims 5 are going to be as small as Sims 4 worlds I'll need them lol. I still want to get the hang of CAW but I may wait until I get a desktop (I say as I seriously consider pulling my laptop close and playing with it today anyway
I meant adding addresses to the lots we place ourselves in edit town mode in game. Unless there's a mod I don't know about address can only be added in the lot info when building worlds. I know I can just add an address in the details for lots in game but I just want it to feel more official if that makes sense.
The Sims 3 and Sims 4 combo if they are not able to do so.
Player: *instructs sim to prepare meal* "Then eat something, you little goofball!"
Sim: *starts cooking meal*
-5 seconds later-
Sim: *Stops cooking meal* "I'm so hungry!"
Player: *head hits desk*
In TS3, you also have the ability to instantly teleport anywhere in the world - and still with no loading screens!
If you don't want to use cheat codes, there are TS3 items that will teleport you as well such as the jetpack from the Into The Future EP or the air balloon from the Aurora Skies world, or the alien saucer from the Seasons EP. The subway system from the Late Night EP and the LLAMA transport system from the Supernatural EP will also teleport your sims too - it's not instant but a very short delay to convey transportation. What's nice about these two systems is that it can be used by everyone else in the world automatically.
If you set up your world with these systems properly, they actually take away a lot of the lag from the world. I created an island for a research lab in the world I'm currently playing. Since a good number of sims work there, plus tourists and townies just wanting to visit the place, there was a lot of lag because all the various types of boats and jet skies were all landing at the same point. I was able to eliminate ALL the lag by placing a subway station and LLAMA transport device in the island! So now, while there are still townies that will boat to the island, plenty of townies and tourists make liberal use of the subway and LLAMA system as well!
LLAMA system is on the central boardwalk on the left in white. Subway system in forest green is on the right next to the science rabbithole situated on the right side of the central boardwalk.
(By the way, I added this island to the world. Yes, in TS3 you can do that, but NOT in TS4!)
For those of you who already have TS3, try Rflong's Isle of Sims III! It really is a beautiful world with fantastic sunsets and 4 fully designed scuba diving lots!
Also, because TS3 worlds are so customizable - unlike with TS4 worlds where you can't change the size of lots, remove, add or move them - you can move the lots around within the TS3 world to bring them closer together if you don't want the sims to be spread apart.
TS4 players really should venture out and try TS3 to see why an open world system is so much better. Contrary to what's being said about it, it's not laggy because of its open world system and TS3 veteran players know this. It's one of the reasons why we love and keep playing the game!
The look of sheer terror is priceless, lol!