Eh. I'm not a fan of the texture, but I don't understand why anyone is surprised. That's how the texture of the game is and has been for those type of surfaces. They aren't going to magically upgrade out of the blue almost 3 years in.
It's also worth noting that it may actually look a little better in game, on full graphics. Unless the video capture quality was perfect, it's probably going to accentuate things that already look low-res.
That was my first thought too when I saw it. I'll have to see once the livestream shows it.
Edit: Maybe it's just me, but the ball pit really didn't seem out of place now seeing the livestream...pretty much looked just like the textureless grass, and the not so much detail we have in few other things. It kinda fits imo. But eh I guess that's just me lol, and I'm on Ultra with Reshade lol.
I wonder how it'll look in the reshade I use though
I appreciate people with CC experience explaining why they might have done that. I don't appreciate constant excuses though. I don't understand why they give us something that's going to stand out so much in a game with such nice graphics, it's not like a ball pit was a big request from the community. If they couldn't animate this object right they should have gone with a different one - simple. I'm sure they have literally hundreds of ideas for toddlers laying around that we'll see in future EPs, etc. This is inexcusable.
I agree, they could've done a sandbox like TS3, with little castles and sculptures. Or something smaller (everything is so big!) to put inside the house like a playpen, a bouncer chair to play or sleep. There's a lot of cute stuff I would rather have than a buffet playground set.
Just got back from watching the livestream and I gotta say I am really bummed out that the ball pit can only be used by 2 toddlers at the same time. It's not only atrocious looking but useless in its size
Just got back from watching the livestream and I gotta say I am really bummed out that the ball pit can only be used by 2 toddlers at the same time. It's not only atrocious looking but useless in its size
I haven't seen the livestream but only 2 tots being able to use the ball pit is a little surprising to me because usually the "group" play on objects has been a pretty steady 4.
Just got back from watching the livestream and I gotta say I am really bummed out that the ball pit can only be used by 2 toddlers at the same time. It's not only atrocious looking but useless in its size
I haven't seen the livestream but only 2 tots being able to use the ball pit is a little surprising to me because usually the "group" play on objects has been a pretty steady 4.
I know right? Very surprising. On the playground made by Graham for the livestream they had two pits placed and when I saw that i was like "oh, what do they need two for?". Turns out it doesn't make much sense to only place one for a bigger play date.
I know right? Very surprising. On the playground made by Graham for the livestream they had two pits placed and when I saw that i was like "oh, what do they need two for?". Turns out it doesn't make much sense to only place one for a bigger play date.
Oh wow, I'm going to go find the livestream, I'm curious to see a few other things. I was hoping instead of some of these oversized objects though, they would bring in things like the bouncy spring-horse, a toddler pool, and a craft table for finger paints.
I appreciate people with CC experience explaining why they might have done that. I don't appreciate constant excuses though. I don't understand why they give us something that's going to stand out so much in a game with such nice graphics, it's not like a ball pit was a big request from the community. If they couldn't animate this object right they should have gone with a different one - simple. I'm sure they have literally hundreds of ideas for toddlers laying around that we'll see in future EPs, etc. This is inexcusable.
Nah I totally agree with you, like I said, I would have loved an indoor option instead of this. However, after seeing the cas of this pack i no longer even care, they did an absolute amazing job imo.
You'd think as devs they'd take a little more pride in their work and refuse to put out sub-par content. For as much money as TS4 supposedly rakes in, they could afford to up the stuff pack budget (since stuff packs are really the only thing they seem to be churning out lately.) It's truly sad that we continue to get packs that lack in BOTH quantity and quality.
After watching it in action in the livestream, I barely see an issue. There's ball-looking animation when the toddler moves around in it and the screencap in the OP, while accurate in the fact that it's a flat texture, is more grainy than what you see in the livestream. Unless you sit there just watching the ball pit uninterrupted, I think it's going to be one of those things that no one notices after a while.
I mean, when I saw the ball pit I was scratching my head. because I just don't get it. Why wouldn't you make the balls, well, 3D-ish? I guess I don't know what I'm talking about since I'm not a designer or programmer. All I know is what I see. And Necrodog over at MTS made a ball pit, not only for toddlers but for all ages. And though it might not be the best model, he gave us balls. lol ijs
I know right? Very surprising. On the playground made by Graham for the livestream they had two pits placed and when I saw that i was like "oh, what do they need two for?". Turns out it doesn't make much sense to only place one for a bigger play date.
Oh wow, I'm going to go find the livestream, I'm curious to see a few other things. I was hoping instead of some of these oversized objects though, they would bring in things like the bouncy spring-horse, a toddler pool, and a craft table for finger paints.
I was hoping for those too, and possibly them snagging some ideas from Sims Free Play. How those little toddlers can make mud pies, play in mud puddles, have a splash pool, and art easel, and I believe finger paints. But I guess the budget can't be used for those things.
I mean, when I saw the ball pit I was scratching my head. because I just don't get it. Why wouldn't you make the balls, well, 3D-ish? I guess I don't know what I'm talking about since I'm not a designer or programmer. All I know is what I see. And Necrodog over at MTS made a ball pit, not only for toddlers but for all ages. And though it might not be the best model, he gave us balls. lol ijs
Necrodog does awesome work. But as far as the balls go, those are some giant, hexagonal balls. That's probably how he got away with not hurting performance (I mean, I'm assuming it isn't awful on performance... I haven't tried it).
The short version is: It's all about polygon count. The more polygons you use, the more realistic you can make something look. And the more polygons you use, the more taxing it's going to be on a computer to generate it. Roundness needs more polygons to look realistic than, say, a square because of how it's shaped... if you go low poly, you'll probably get a more hexagonal shape.
Off the cuff, I'd say think of it like this... there's no such thing as a "round" polygon. It's all little pixels, which are square. So you're never actually making a perfect sphere. What you're doing is using a high enough density of squares that you can trick the eye into thinking it's looking at a sphere. You need high density because you need to have as little of a visual gap between pixels as possible.
Some of it is texture though, too, which is hard to illustrate with symbols in a forum post. It's also not a sphere, but hopefully it illustrates the point about pixels and the number of them.
I mean, when I saw the ball pit I was scratching my head. because I just don't get it. Why wouldn't you make the balls, well, 3D-ish? I guess I don't know what I'm talking about since I'm not a designer or programmer. All I know is what I see. And Necrodog over at MTS made a ball pit, not only for toddlers but for all ages. And though it might not be the best model, he gave us balls. lol ijs
errr.....maybe it's just me but ehh those balls just look waaaay too big for a ball pit. I admire the effort they put into it though. But I could see my kids getting annoyed at the giant balls hurling around them if they actually made them that size lol. For the game (and texture purposes), I think a couple of 3d balls wouldn't hurt, but too many I think would look really jarring for TS4's graphic style.
Comments
That was my first thought too when I saw it. I'll have to see once the livestream shows it.
Edit: Maybe it's just me, but the ball pit really didn't seem out of place now seeing the livestream...pretty much looked just like the textureless grass, and the not so much detail we have in few other things. It kinda fits imo. But eh I guess that's just me lol, and I'm on Ultra with Reshade lol.
I wonder how it'll look in the reshade I use though
I agree, they could've done a sandbox like TS3, with little castles and sculptures. Or something smaller (everything is so big!) to put inside the house like a playpen, a bouncer chair to play or sleep. There's a lot of cute stuff I would rather have than a buffet playground set.
I haven't seen the livestream but only 2 tots being able to use the ball pit is a little surprising to me because usually the "group" play on objects has been a pretty steady 4.
I know right? Very surprising. On the playground made by Graham for the livestream they had two pits placed and when I saw that i was like "oh, what do they need two for?". Turns out it doesn't make much sense to only place one for a bigger play date.
Oh wow, I'm going to go find the livestream, I'm curious to see a few other things. I was hoping instead of some of these oversized objects though, they would bring in things like the bouncy spring-horse, a toddler pool, and a craft table for finger paints.
Nah I totally agree with you, like I said, I would have loved an indoor option instead of this. However, after seeing the cas of this pack i no longer even care, they did an absolute amazing job imo.
My tumblr - A world of clutter and color
WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?
WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?
At least those weren't gameplay objects and one of the selling points of a pack.
WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?
I was hoping for those too, and possibly them snagging some ideas from Sims Free Play. How those little toddlers can make mud pies, play in mud puddles, have a splash pool, and art easel, and I believe finger paints. But I guess the budget can't be used for those things.
The short version is: It's all about polygon count. The more polygons you use, the more realistic you can make something look. And the more polygons you use, the more taxing it's going to be on a computer to generate it. Roundness needs more polygons to look realistic than, say, a square because of how it's shaped... if you go low poly, you'll probably get a more hexagonal shape.
Off the cuff, I'd say think of it like this... there's no such thing as a "round" polygon. It's all little pixels, which are square. So you're never actually making a perfect sphere. What you're doing is using a high enough density of squares that you can trick the eye into thinking it's looking at a sphere. You need high density because you need to have as little of a visual gap between pixels as possible.
In other words, if you have something like this:
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You can pretty easily see the jagged gaps in how it curves downward.
Then compare it to this, probably looks a bit more smooth at a glance:
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Some of it is texture though, too, which is hard to illustrate with symbols in a forum post. It's also not a sphere, but hopefully it illustrates the point about pixels and the number of them.
errr.....maybe it's just me but ehh those balls just look waaaay too big for a ball pit. I admire the effort they put into it though. But I could see my kids getting annoyed at the giant balls hurling around them if they actually made them that size lol. For the game (and texture purposes), I think a couple of 3d balls wouldn't hurt, but too many I think would look really jarring for TS4's graphic style.