If they made everything colorable with the color wheel, I have a feeling it would be a lot more laggy, just like Sims 3. and Open World would make it extremely laggy, just like Sims 3 again, too. Also, they would have to go back and edit every single item for the color wheel, because they didn't make the meshes suited for allllll those color changes. What I would like to have is just keep the swatches they already have, but make the items a little more customizable; like being about to choose the swatches of the fabric on a couch separately from the wood swatches of the legs. that would be lit :P
Colour wheel nor CASt make Sims 3 laggy. End of message.
How did this misconception ever get a toe-hold?
Because TS4 was released amid mixed reactions and thus bringing TS3 down helps make TS4 look greater perhaps?
I feel that they didn't ever intend to make this a thing and they limited sim creation so much that they'd likely have to rebuild CAS from the ground up if we were to get any form of extra customization. Sadly... I miss putting a personal touch to every little item like we had in TS3. 3 years in and multiple xpacs purchased, I still feel pretty sad how TS4 pales in comparison.
i don't know if it's lag. i had a gardener who had stacks of 100's in his inventory which totaled in the thousands. it took forever in TS4 to travel. once i figured out that the cause was too many things in my inventory and removed most of it, the time to "zone" when traveled went back down to normal.
I agree and I'm annoyed yet not surprised. caste couldn't be made for create a sim but could be made for pets? How does that make any sense, we can customize our pets but we can't customize our sims clothing or their homes.
This is why I wish we could start over with a S5. S4 was off to such a bad start. So much was left out.
Now it's being added for new features? No. I won't bite. It may be acceptable to others, but it's not to me. I don't care about Rome. You can NOT rebuild a bad engine decision. You can only build upon a bad decision. I'll wait for the better decision to build upon. Thanks.
If that doesn't happen. I guess it's time for me to move on
I couldn't agree more. To me, S4 has been bad, and continues to disappoint...I wish they just learn from their mistakes and start off with making TS5....to be honest, ever since I seen the first image of TS4 of the 3 eyes...I had a bad vibe....and so far, that vibe continues to be true...But that's just me....and my opinion....
If they made everything colorable with the color wheel, I have a feeling it would be a lot more laggy, just like Sims 3. and Open World would make it extremely laggy, just like Sims 3 again, too. Also, they would have to go back and edit every single item for the color wheel, because they didn't make the meshes suited for allllll those color changes. What I would like to have is just keep the swatches they already have, but make the items a little more customizable; like being about to choose the swatches of the fabric on a couch separately from the wood swatches of the legs. that would be lit :P
Colour wheel nor CASt make Sims 3 laggy. End of message.
How did this misconception ever get a toe-hold?
Because a modder explained that when the game loads any texture it also has to load every recolor and pattern of it, and anything anyone created for that one tile or carpet or whatever. They explained CASt caused lag because the contents were not cached. I don't speak computer language so I really don't know 'cached' means but sounded logical to me.
The game only has to load textures that are needed and doesn't care whether that's a preset pattern or a pattern/recolour created by the player. This theory is confirmed by the reality of my game. I recolour everything in Sims 3 (and choose all kind of patterns) and that's not exeggerated: literally everything. From the tiniest detail in my sims' houses to their clothing, nothing goes untouched (because I love CASt). This goes for the household I'm playing, but also for all the households I played before and are still in my world. And still I don't have any lag and on my current computer I don't even have to wait for surfaces to render. CASt does not cause lag.
If they made everything colorable with the color wheel, I have a feeling it would be a lot more laggy, just like Sims 3. and Open World would make it extremely laggy, just like Sims 3 again, too. Also, they would have to go back and edit every single item for the color wheel, because they didn't make the meshes suited for allllll those color changes. What I would like to have is just keep the swatches they already have, but make the items a little more customizable; like being about to choose the swatches of the fabric on a couch separately from the wood swatches of the legs. that would be lit :P
Colour wheel nor CASt make Sims 3 laggy. End of message.
How did this misconception ever get a toe-hold?
Because a modder explained that when the game loads any texture it also has to load every recolor and pattern of it, and anything anyone created for that one tile or carpet or whatever. They explained CASt caused lag because the contents were not cached. I don't speak computer language so I really don't know 'cached' means but sounded logical to me.
The game only has to load textures that are needed and doesn't care whether that's a preset pattern or a pattern/recolour created by the player. This theory is confirmed by the reality of my game. I recolour everything in Sims 3 (and choose all kind of patterns) and that's not exeggerated: literally everything. From the tiniest detail in my sims' houses to their clothing, nothing goes untouched (because I love CASt). This goes for the household I'm playing, but also for all the households I played before and are still in my world. And still I don't have any lag and on my current computer I don't even have to wait for surfaces to render. CASt does not cause lag.
But did you have to get your current computer to play the game with CASt properly. I only ask because I find that (having every expansion etc.) the clothing section took ages to load up and often got stuck for me when I recoloured a lot.
If they made everything colorable with the color wheel, I have a feeling it would be a lot more laggy, just like Sims 3. and Open World would make it extremely laggy, just like Sims 3 again, too. Also, they would have to go back and edit every single item for the color wheel, because they didn't make the meshes suited for allllll those color changes. What I would like to have is just keep the swatches they already have, but make the items a little more customizable; like being about to choose the swatches of the fabric on a couch separately from the wood swatches of the legs. that would be lit :P
Colour wheel nor CASt make Sims 3 laggy. End of message.
How did this misconception ever get a toe-hold?
Because a modder explained that when the game loads any texture it also has to load every recolor and pattern of it, and anything anyone created for that one tile or carpet or whatever. They explained CASt caused lag because the contents were not cached. I don't speak computer language so I really don't know 'cached' means but sounded logical to me.
The game only has to load textures that are needed and doesn't care whether that's a preset pattern or a pattern/recolour created by the player. This theory is confirmed by the reality of my game. I recolour everything in Sims 3 (and choose all kind of patterns) and that's not exeggerated: literally everything. From the tiniest detail in my sims' houses to their clothing, nothing goes untouched (because I love CASt). This goes for the household I'm playing, but also for all the households I played before and are still in my world. And still I don't have any lag and on my current computer I don't even have to wait for surfaces to render. CASt does not cause lag.
I am the same. I recolor everything for all my families. Some of the patterns I create I keep (leave the new ones in Create-a-Style to maybe use again) and some I delete once I have finished redoing my house or my Sims clothing.
I also redo all the buildings I can in my towns (except rabbit holes of course).
If I could recolor the flowers and trees I would.
I have never had lag in Create-a-Style, it has never crashed on me.
I have no lag and no crashing in Sims 3 period and Sims 3 has no mods or CC but I own all the packs and the whole Sims 3 store. The pc matters I guess.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
I have no lag and no crashing in Sims 3 period and Sims 3 has no mods or CC but I own all the packs and the whole Sims 3 store. The pc matters I guess.
Same here and my laptop is old 2010 and it still runs TS3 perfectly.
I'm buying it. Call me gullible - that's fine - I appreciate the direction. Rome, as grandma used to say, was not built in a day. On top of it Rome did not have to be rebuilt completely on top of rubble either. So yes - I accept this direction anyway.
...except sims 4 isnt a city, it is just a game. im sorry but your comment is as delusional as ea decisions on this franchise.
I'm buying it. Call me gullible - that's fine - I appreciate the direction. Rome, as grandma used to say, was not built in a day. On top of it Rome did not have to be rebuilt completely on top of rubble either. So yes - I accept this direction anyway.
...except sims 4 isnt a city, it is just a game. im sorry but your comment is as delusional as ea decisions on this franchise.
If they made everything colorable with the color wheel, I have a feeling it would be a lot more laggy, just like Sims 3. and Open World would make it extremely laggy, just like Sims 3 again, too. Also, they would have to go back and edit every single item for the color wheel, because they didn't make the meshes suited for allllll those color changes. What I would like to have is just keep the swatches they already have, but make the items a little more customizable; like being about to choose the swatches of the fabric on a couch separately from the wood swatches of the legs. that would be lit :P
Colour wheel nor CASt make Sims 3 laggy. End of message.
It does though.
The Edge of Reality (developers of the Sims 3 console) were asked why the Wii version of The Sims 3 was able to able to be Open World, while the much more powerful Xbox 360 and PS3, didn't have Open World and instead had sections like TS4, and they explained that in order to keep all the customisation (CASt) of the PC game, they were forced to segregate the world into sections because they prioritised a "smooth experience" over an Open World. With that said, load more than one house at once in The Sims 3 console game, and it instantly drops its 30fps.
The Wii version was able to have Open World, because it didn't have CASt, and that also ran at a solid 30fps (that only loaded one lot at once), the rest appeared HQ like the Sims 4 but only fully loaded when you walked on it.
Now turn to the PC game, and I can assure you, there is 0 footage of the game running even at 30fps while having all settings on Max (including how many lots are loaded at once), let alone 60fps (I'd love to see it if you can find it). Most players on here only achieve that by having the amount of high detail lots down to 1/2.
Now look at The Sims 4. There's up to 7 lots per "area" that will fully load and there's 0 slowdown. All lots in every area load 100% (which makes it strange that there is a loading screen) but I can assure you, with CASt, that would have been a different story.
I imagine that countryside of Windenburg for example, would struggle to load 7 houses with CASt, seeing as The Sims 3 struggles to do it more than 1 or 2 lots.
The fact that they had to choose between Open World and CASt for The Sims 3 console games, shows that together, the PC team did way more than what the engine was probably capable of (it was The Sims 2 engine after all).
Now I do think that EA could have cut CASt, but still retained Open World, or vice versa, but it's clear EA want this game to last years and years (I mean, it looks like they're spending the smallest amount of money on TS4 console game, seeing as they just reworked the PC controls instead of rebuilding the game from scratch). But it's clear EA don't have any intention of spending the money to build The Sims 5, if they can make the same money by just milking The Sims 4.
Why spend money on a brand new game, when you have a current game that has a timeless art-style, and an engine that can take way more than the others, ESPECIALLY since EA have always said they made the majority of money from "Expansion Packs" aka DLC.
The fact that EA are making sure TS4 for console can have all the DLC shows it's not going anywhere.
So CASt is a resource hog, and if they want the game to last much longer, they can't have any resource hogs in the base game.
I don't really agree with getting less (less customisation, less new base games if TS4 will go longer than the usual 5 years) UNLESS we get solid gameplay. And for me, the Sims 4 Game Packs have much better gameplay than The Sims 3 store, and The Sims 4 Stuff Packs have much better gameplay than The Sims 3 Stuff Packs.
Expansion Packs are about the same for me.
@jackjack_k Where can I find the source for this (I believe you but I can't find it, only posts from you telling the same thing ). And why does my TS3 game filled with houses and sims that are covered in CASt adjusted surfaces run just as smoothly as a game I just started with everything preset? I never ever noticed any difference, where I am beginning to notice a difference now that I use CC in comparison to when I played vanilla. I don't even recognize the lag problem people mention. Seems to me multitasking causes a lot more lag than CASt does anyway. Like CC does.
I got my information from another simmer and her explanation makes perfectly sense to me. The fact surfaces in Sims 3 have two layers does cause it to take a little more time rendering but that isn't the same thing as lag and it's a very smal difference. I also don't know whether what you are saying here has anything to do with lag, or just with rendering.
I think I have tried to explain how CASt works over a dozen times now on a whole bunch of threads. I am tired of repeating myself and it appears that no one reads me anyway. So here goes:
CASt does not cause lag in TS3. The only time that CASt causes a delay in TS3 is when it loads - it takes time to load all those patterns. CASt does not cause Create-a-Sim to lag - Create-a-Sim takes forever to load because of the way EA loads all the clothing options before you can select them. CASt does not cause lots to lag when loading patterns - it takes just as long to load a custom pattern as it takes to load a preset.
Let me repeat: CASt does not cause lag in TS3.
I will now explain (if you don't want an explanation stop reading): in TS3 every single object, outfit, hair-style, skin, cosmetic and eye has TWO layers in its texture (a texture is the 'skin' that goes over the mesh to give it color and detail). The first layer is the color layer which contains the CASt or preset color or pattern. The second layer has the details - shading, seams, wrinkles, belts, lace, logos on tee-shirts, and whatever.
It doesn't matter if you use a preset color or a CASt pattern because the game has to load both layers no matter what they are. It doesn't take the game more time to access a CASt pattern than it does a preset. To TS3 both a preset and a custom CASt are exactly the same.
If it takes some time for the game to load textures when loading a new lot, the game takes the exact same amount of time to load a custom CASt texture as it would a preset. It doesn't matter how many custom CASt patterns you use on a lot - the game has to color everything anyway. (I have noticed it takes unusually long to load textures in Midnight Hollow, but that is because of the neighborhood, not CASt.)
In TS2 and TS4 both the color and the detail are on the same layer. The game can load a single layer faster than it can load two layers, so it will cut down load times by a fraction of a second. But only by a fraction of a second. The difference will probably be unnoticeable on today's computers.
Unfortunately if EA were to give us a color-wheel option they would have to go back to a 2-layer system. One layer for the color from the color-wheel and the other layer for the details. That would require recoding the way textures are managedAND require them to remake the texture on every single object and outfit (and hair-style and cosmetic and skin and eye) in the game. And how likely is EA to do that really?
It is also important to know that basically there is no difference between a color-wheel and CASt except that a color-wheel would load faster when it is opened.
Way back in 2013 EA was considering putting CASt in TS4. They have since decided not to include CASt in TS4. We know that EA is giving us presets in TS4 because SimGuruGraham said so on Twitter.
Here are SimGuruGraham’s Statements on Twitter: “I don’t want to mislead people; we said at Gamescom that CaST isn’t in, straight from the mouth of the dev team.” (Sep. 16th 2013)
“Hi Alicia – it’s a great tool, I agree. It’s something we’ve confirmed won’t be in Sims 4 I’m sorry to say, but I hope some of the other aspects of Build and Create a Sim that we’ll unveil will help spark your creativity!” (Dec. 22nd 2013)
“Color selection will work like it did at Gamescom (with more colors to choose from since then).” (May 22nd 2014) And by 'color selection' he means presets.
The major problem with EA deciding to go with preset colors is that many fans will want more variation than they are providing (the long dress that Bella wears in the CAS video comes in 4 colors - black, pink, red and white, although Graham has said that there will be more) so the Community will have to make Custom Recolors. These recolors will load as Custom Content - and Custom Content takes significantly longer to load than CASt or a color-wheel option would. So the only players who will see an advantage from the elimination of CASt are those who have no Custom Content.
I hope that the above explanation was clear, but if you have any questions I would be happy to answer them.
@jackjack_k Where can I find the source for this (I believe you but I can't find it, only posts from you telling the same thing ). And why does my TS3 game filled with houses and sims that are covered in CASt adjusted surfaces run just as smoothly as a game I just started with everything preset? I never ever noticed any difference, where I am beginning to notice a difference now that I use CC in comparison to when I played vanilla. I don't even recognize the lag problem people mention. Seems to me multitasking causes a lot more lag than CASt does anyway. Like CC does.
I got my information from another simmer and her explanation makes perfectly sense to me. The fact surfaces in Sims 3 have two layers does cause it to take a little more time rendering but that isn't the same thing as lag and it's a very smal difference. I also don't know whether what you are saying here has anything to do with lag, or just with rendering.
I think I have tried to explain how CASt works over a dozen times now on a whole bunch of threads. I am tired of repeating myself and it appears that no one reads me anyway. So here goes:
CASt does not cause lag in TS3. The only time that CASt causes a delay in TS3 is when it loads - it takes time to load all those patterns. CASt does not cause Create-a-Sim to lag - Create-a-Sim takes forever to load because of the way EA loads all the clothing options before you can select them. CASt does not cause lots to lag when loading patterns - it takes just as long to load a custom pattern as it takes to load a preset.
Let me repeat: CASt does not cause lag in TS3.
I will now explain (if you don't want an explanation stop reading): in TS3 every single object, outfit, hair-style, skin, cosmetic and eye has TWO layers in its texture (a texture is the 'skin' that goes over the mesh to give it color and detail). The first layer is the color layer which contains the CASt or preset color or pattern. The second layer has the details - shading, seams, wrinkles, belts, lace, logos on tee-shirts, and whatever.
It doesn't matter if you use a preset color or a CASt pattern because the game has to load both layers no matter what they are. It doesn't take the game more time to access a CASt pattern than it does a preset. To TS3 both a preset and a custom CASt are exactly the same.
If it takes some time for the game to load textures when loading a new lot, the game takes the exact same amount of time to load a custom CASt texture as it would a preset. It doesn't matter how many custom CASt patterns you use on a lot - the game has to color everything anyway. (I have noticed it takes unusually long to load textures in Midnight Hollow, but that is because of the neighborhood, not CASt.)
In TS2 and TS4 both the color and the detail are on the same layer. The game can load a single layer faster than it can load two layers, so it will cut down load times by a fraction of a second. But only by a fraction of a second. The difference will probably be unnoticeable on today's computers.
Unfortunately if EA were to give us a color-wheel option they would have to go back to a 2-layer system. One layer for the color from the color-wheel and the other layer for the details. That would require recoding the way textures are managedAND require them to remake the texture on every single object and outfit (and hair-style and cosmetic and skin and eye) in the game. And how likely is EA to do that really?
It is also important to know that basically there is no difference between a color-wheel and CASt except that a color-wheel would load faster when it is opened.
Way back in 2013 EA was considering putting CASt in TS4. They have since decided not to include CASt in TS4. We know that EA is giving us presets in TS4 because SimGuruGraham said so on Twitter.
Here are SimGuruGraham’s Statements on Twitter: “I don’t want to mislead people; we said at Gamescom that CaST isn’t in, straight from the mouth of the dev team.” (Sep. 16th 2013)
“Hi Alicia – it’s a great tool, I agree. It’s something we’ve confirmed won’t be in Sims 4 I’m sorry to say, but I hope some of the other aspects of Build and Create a Sim that we’ll unveil will help spark your creativity!” (Dec. 22nd 2013)
“Color selection will work like it did at Gamescom (with more colors to choose from since then).” (May 22nd 2014) And by 'color selection' he means presets.
The major problem with EA deciding to go with preset colors is that many fans will want more variation than they are providing (the long dress that Bella wears in the CAS video comes in 4 colors - black, pink, red and white, although Graham has said that there will be more) so the Community will have to make Custom Recolors. These recolors will load as Custom Content - and Custom Content takes significantly longer to load than CASt or a color-wheel option would. So the only players who will see an advantage from the elimination of CASt are those who have no Custom Content.
I hope that the above explanation was clear, but if you have any questions I would be happy to answer them.
@jackjack_k Where can I find the source for this (I believe you but I can't find it, only posts from you telling the same thing ). And why does my TS3 game filled with houses and sims that are covered in CASt adjusted surfaces run just as smoothly as a game I just started with everything preset? I never ever noticed any difference, where I am beginning to notice a difference now that I use CC in comparison to when I played vanilla. I don't even recognize the lag problem people mention. Seems to me multitasking causes a lot more lag than CASt does anyway. Like CC does.
I got my information from another simmer and her explanation makes perfectly sense to me. The fact surfaces in Sims 3 have two layers does cause it to take a little more time rendering but that isn't the same thing as lag and it's a very smal difference. I also don't know whether what you are saying here has anything to do with lag, or just with rendering.
I think I have tried to explain how CASt works over a dozen times now on a whole bunch of threads. I am tired of repeating myself and it appears that no one reads me anyway. So here goes:
CASt does not cause lag in TS3. The only time that CASt causes a delay in TS3 is when it loads - it takes time to load all those patterns. CASt does not cause Create-a-Sim to lag - Create-a-Sim takes forever to load because of the way EA loads all the clothing options before you can select them. CASt does not cause lots to lag when loading patterns - it takes just as long to load a custom pattern as it takes to load a preset.
Let me repeat: CASt does not cause lag in TS3.
I will now explain (if you don't want an explanation stop reading): in TS3 every single object, outfit, hair-style, skin, cosmetic and eye has TWO layers in its texture (a texture is the 'skin' that goes over the mesh to give it color and detail). The first layer is the color layer which contains the CASt or preset color or pattern. The second layer has the details - shading, seams, wrinkles, belts, lace, logos on tee-shirts, and whatever.
It doesn't matter if you use a preset color or a CASt pattern because the game has to load both layers no matter what they are. It doesn't take the game more time to access a CASt pattern than it does a preset. To TS3 both a preset and a custom CASt are exactly the same.
If it takes some time for the game to load textures when loading a new lot, the game takes the exact same amount of time to load a custom CASt texture as it would a preset. It doesn't matter how many custom CASt patterns you use on a lot - the game has to color everything anyway. (I have noticed it takes unusually long to load textures in Midnight Hollow, but that is because of the neighborhood, not CASt.)
In TS2 and TS4 both the color and the detail are on the same layer. The game can load a single layer faster than it can load two layers, so it will cut down load times by a fraction of a second. But only by a fraction of a second. The difference will probably be unnoticeable on today's computers.
Unfortunately if EA were to give us a color-wheel option they would have to go back to a 2-layer system. One layer for the color from the color-wheel and the other layer for the details. That would require recoding the way textures are managedAND require them to remake the texture on every single object and outfit (and hair-style and cosmetic and skin and eye) in the game. And how likely is EA to do that really?
It is also important to know that basically there is no difference between a color-wheel and CASt except that a color-wheel would load faster when it is opened.
Way back in 2013 EA was considering putting CASt in TS4. They have since decided not to include CASt in TS4. We know that EA is giving us presets in TS4 because SimGuruGraham said so on Twitter.
Here are SimGuruGraham’s Statements on Twitter: “I don’t want to mislead people; we said at Gamescom that CaST isn’t in, straight from the mouth of the dev team.” (Sep. 16th 2013)
“Hi Alicia – it’s a great tool, I agree. It’s something we’ve confirmed won’t be in Sims 4 I’m sorry to say, but I hope some of the other aspects of Build and Create a Sim that we’ll unveil will help spark your creativity!” (Dec. 22nd 2013)
“Color selection will work like it did at Gamescom (with more colors to choose from since then).” (May 22nd 2014) And by 'color selection' he means presets.
The major problem with EA deciding to go with preset colors is that many fans will want more variation than they are providing (the long dress that Bella wears in the CAS video comes in 4 colors - black, pink, red and white, although Graham has said that there will be more) so the Community will have to make Custom Recolors. These recolors will load as Custom Content - and Custom Content takes significantly longer to load than CASt or a color-wheel option would. So the only players who will see an advantage from the elimination of CASt are those who have no Custom Content.
I hope that the above explanation was clear, but if you have any questions I would be happy to answer them.
I'll have a look for it later, it was 7 years ago.
It's interesting that Open World is less demanding than CASt, since the Wii could do it since there was no CASt, but I wonder if The Sims 4 would have been any better with Open World. I imagine packs like Get To Work/Dine Out/Cats & Dogs (the Vet) etc. wouldn't have been possible.
The Sims 3 uses CASt even on presets. It all works the same way, which is why it works no different
@jackjack_k Open world does allow open venues with specific mechanics, so I presume it should be possible. Retail in Sims 3 was poor though and open careers don't work as good as in Sims 4 (the firefighter career is a good comparison and though I like the career where it concerns puttng out fires, the colleague system works poorly. Most of the time there is just one, but even if there are more, they just walk around and don't do their job really. I have no idea if that's related to open world. It would be nice if they could create the game like Skyrim: open world, but when you enter a building you get a loading screen.
@GoldenBuffy I think for many people too much CC was the issue. You can blame the game for that too, Sims 3 isn't CC friendly, but I've never experienced lag in my vanilla game, not even on my old computer. I did have stuttering on that one while traveling but that's not lag. In fact it's Sims 4 where I feel there's lag (sims not immediately reacting to instructions I gave them).
I never had lag. Once - I think it might have been you - who explained to me what lag actually was. On my old pc after installing University on top of Seasons, I had to run out and up my memory. But that was it. And after getting my new pc back in 2014, I would get a studded here and there.
But I think you may be on to something about the cc. I had to recently uninstall my Sims 3 game. *cri* *cri* After trying to fix some cc issues since December I finally gave up and removed everything. Once I upgrade my hard drive I will be reinstalling Sims 2 and Sims 3. And this time around, I will be more selective of all the cc I download. It's so very addictive. lol
Yes, lag is a player telling their sim to change outfits and the sim just standing there for 30 sim minutes before doing it. I've never had that either. My Mods folder contains 257 MB now and though I do notice the game has become a bit more fragile (crashes I never had before; cleaning cache files had become a routine now), I still have no lag (nor freezing for that matter and I play in IP). So it's not like you can't have any mods or CC at all. You could store CC you're not currently using in a seperate folder (that's what I do).
Probably wouldn't hurt to reduce the amount of cc I have. I never have lag, an occasional freeze or the dreaded Error 12 if I play too long, sure. Nothing that would make me stop playing.
I can see them putting in colour wheels for hair, skin and eye colour, but I think some of the ways the clothing section has been set up would make it tricky. They've put in filters for colours, which would be all messed up if colour wheels for available. As it is custom clothing often messes with those filters, with creators tagging the wrong colours. This can be seen with the Black and White Party, where the game dresses guests in clothing with Black and White tags and often the custom clothing is the wrong colour. So there are little details that would be messed up with a colour wheel.
It's not CASt or the colour wheel that made TS3 laggy, it's the way they programmed it in that did... Just as with the way they did Simport, the least efficient most bug ridden method that could've been chosen.
@GoldenBuffy I think for many people too much CC was the issue. You can blame the game for that too, Sims 3 isn't CC friendly, but I've never experienced lag in my vanilla game, not even on my old computer. I did have stuttering on that one while traveling but that's not lag. In fact it's Sims 4 where I feel there's lag (sims not immediately reacting to instructions I gave them).
I never had lag. Once - I think it might have been you - who explained to me what lag actually was. On my old pc after installing University on top of Seasons, I had to run out and up my memory. But that was it. And after getting my new pc back in 2014, I would get a studded here and there.
But I think you may be on to something about the cc. I had to recently uninstall my Sims 3 game. *cri* *cri* After trying to fix some cc issues since December I finally gave up and removed everything. Once I upgrade my hard drive I will be reinstalling Sims 2 and Sims 3. And this time around, I will be more selective of all the cc I download. It's so very addictive. lol
Yes, lag is a player telling their sim to change outfits and the sim just standing there for 30 sim minutes before doing it. I've never had that either. My Mods folder contains 257 MB now and though I do notice the game has become a bit more fragile (crashes I never had before; cleaning cache files had become a routine now), I still have no lag (nor freezing for that matter and I play in IP). So it's not like you can't have any mods or CC at all. You could store CC you're not currently using in a seperate folder (that's what I do).
Probably wouldn't hurt to reduce the amount of cc I have. I never have lag, an occasional freeze or the dreaded Error 12 if I play too long, sure. Nothing that would make me stop playing.
Well I scarified GTA IV for the hard drive space, but I reinstalled ALL of my Sims 3 stuffs. Slowly adding back in CC, and man, I have to say. I really, really, really missed the game. Going to take it nice and slow this time around. lol
I never understood the fascination of a color wheel. There are so many color options already in ts4, I don't really see a need for 1.
I hope they focus some energy on fixing emotionless sims (sad sims acting mischievous, angry sims laughing, EVERYONE is Always happy! Ugh.)
Please Bring BackToddlers, Realistic Teenagers and Create a World.
Make the Sims (4) Great Again<3
I never understood the fascination of a color wheel. There are so many color options already in ts4, I don't really see a need for 1.
I hope they focus some energy on fixing emotionless sims (sad sims acting mischievous, angry sims laughing, EVERYONE is Always happy! Ugh.)
I could explain to you what the charm of a colour wheel is (and CASt), but something tells me you're not really interested so I won't bother. I don't agree Sims 4 has many colour options by the way, it's in fact very very limited.
Nevermind, @Dreamie209 's post below is perfect.
I never understood the fascination of a color wheel. There are so many color options already in ts4, I don't really see a need for 1.
I hope they focus some energy on fixing emotionless sims (sad sims acting mischievous, angry sims laughing, EVERYONE is Always happy! Ugh.)
I guess we're total opposites I can't wrap my mind around the swatches. Maybe i'm just a fashionista (my mom used to always call me that when I was a teen ) but thanks to TS4, I actually became a personal recolorer, like there's so many things that just don't quite match . Then I step out of my game, I try to recolor it...I fail most of the time mind you and then I have to redo it again.
Don't even get me started on hair colors...i'm a strawberry blonde for example and I have dozens of cc recolors just on Maxis hairs alone. I'm seriously at 2,555 cc files and a good 90% of them are just recolors of: separated beds (so all beds can have many soild and patterned colors), hair, curtains.
Especially when they attach bows etc to the hair and give them the accessory in a completely different color for each hair. Like I really thought the 'hat' section was suppose to stop that . So then I have to redo the outfit oor I get lucky enough for a modder to separate the bow,handband etc. and putting it into the hat section.
I'll admit though, when I first began TS4 I was literarly thinking the same as you. I didn't think it would be so bad, plus I was like "It's like how It was in TS2, what's the worst that could go wrong?"
Then I remembered, TS3 literarly cut my cc in half due to CASt. It didn't matter if the bow was attached to the hair, I could easily pattern it to perfectly fit. Strawberry Blond? Go for it. Bed sheets and curtains a total eyesore to your room's wall, gotcha covered! All in one system .
While I do admit I hope they do help the odd sim emotions, I'm also rooting for color wheel for my game's sanity .
Trust me OP, I understand completely on the lack of color wheel. I don't even care about create a pattern... I just want to be able to recolor surfaces of objects so they're linear with other decor. I felt so constrained as a creator when it came to TS4 and lack of color wheel not being able to fully decorate how I want.
Some objects are amazing but they won't fit properly because of color clashing and yeah, it's irksome.
And what about a color wheel to customize your sims hair, skin, and eyes? I can see the clothing being somewhat of an issue because of different channels and layers, but at least give us the ability to have any colored sim. With the amount of "customization" and "intuitive" options on building your sims you promoted so enthusiastically at the beginning of this game, why the hell would you limit it and nix the color wheel?
You know, for the longest time quite a few people believed, including myself... that toddlers were not possible and couldn't be added into the game. Whether it be too hard to code in or too expensive... Yet here they are, and they are stupendous!
I firmly believe we CAN get a color wheel for objects and create a sim now, and that the team has the capabilities to add it in.
The budget? Well, we'll see how that goes.
I think the reason we're not getting the color wheel for sims is because it would take so long for them to implement it when there's already so much content out. Even if they only did it for clothes, that's still going back to the base game and every piece of clothing released since then and making them recolorable, and most clothes will have more than one recolorable channel. Then add in everything else in the game? It's optimistic to think we'll get that, especially for free. Don't get me wrong, it would be great to have, but I can't see it happening.
I think the reason we're not getting the color wheel for sims is because it would take so long for them to implement it when there's already so much content out. Even if they only did it for clothes, that's still going back to the base game and every piece of clothing released since then and making them recolorable, and most clothes will have more than one recolorable channel. Then add in everything else in the game? It's optimistic to think we'll get that, especially for free. Don't get me wrong, it would be great to have, but I can't see it happening.
But we got toddlers for free.
And ghosts.
And swimming pools.
Well, "free" is an iffy concept, as simmers have been purchasing TS4 content. It was awesome we did not have to pay EXTRA for all that (because they would definitely have made more money if they made you shell out cash for things we thought were very basic gameplay items) and very unlike the "greedy" title EA has.
I don't see how this couldn't be implemented through a patch.
Comments
Because TS4 was released amid mixed reactions and thus bringing TS3 down helps make TS4 look greater perhaps?
I couldn't agree more. To me, S4 has been bad, and continues to disappoint...I wish they just learn from their mistakes and start off with making TS5....to be honest, ever since I seen the first image of TS4 of the 3 eyes...I had a bad vibe....and so far, that vibe continues to be true...But that's just me....and my opinion....
But did you have to get your current computer to play the game with CASt properly. I only ask because I find that (having every expansion etc.) the clothing section took ages to load up and often got stuck for me when I recoloured a lot.
I am the same. I recolor everything for all my families. Some of the patterns I create I keep (leave the new ones in Create-a-Style to maybe use again) and some I delete once I have finished redoing my house or my Sims clothing.
I also redo all the buildings I can in my towns (except rabbit holes of course).
If I could recolor the flowers and trees I would.
I have never had lag in Create-a-Style, it has never crashed on me.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
Same here and my laptop is old 2010 and it still runs TS3 perfectly.
...except sims 4 isnt a city, it is just a game. im sorry but your comment is as delusional as ea decisions on this franchise.
No need for that
It does though.
The Edge of Reality (developers of the Sims 3 console) were asked why the Wii version of The Sims 3 was able to able to be Open World, while the much more powerful Xbox 360 and PS3, didn't have Open World and instead had sections like TS4, and they explained that in order to keep all the customisation (CASt) of the PC game, they were forced to segregate the world into sections because they prioritised a "smooth experience" over an Open World. With that said, load more than one house at once in The Sims 3 console game, and it instantly drops its 30fps.
The Wii version was able to have Open World, because it didn't have CASt, and that also ran at a solid 30fps (that only loaded one lot at once), the rest appeared HQ like the Sims 4 but only fully loaded when you walked on it.
Now turn to the PC game, and I can assure you, there is 0 footage of the game running even at 30fps while having all settings on Max (including how many lots are loaded at once), let alone 60fps (I'd love to see it if you can find it). Most players on here only achieve that by having the amount of high detail lots down to 1/2.
Now look at The Sims 4. There's up to 7 lots per "area" that will fully load and there's 0 slowdown. All lots in every area load 100% (which makes it strange that there is a loading screen) but I can assure you, with CASt, that would have been a different story.
I imagine that countryside of Windenburg for example, would struggle to load 7 houses with CASt, seeing as The Sims 3 struggles to do it more than 1 or 2 lots.
The fact that they had to choose between Open World and CASt for The Sims 3 console games, shows that together, the PC team did way more than what the engine was probably capable of (it was The Sims 2 engine after all).
Now I do think that EA could have cut CASt, but still retained Open World, or vice versa, but it's clear EA want this game to last years and years (I mean, it looks like they're spending the smallest amount of money on TS4 console game, seeing as they just reworked the PC controls instead of rebuilding the game from scratch). But it's clear EA don't have any intention of spending the money to build The Sims 5, if they can make the same money by just milking The Sims 4.
Why spend money on a brand new game, when you have a current game that has a timeless art-style, and an engine that can take way more than the others, ESPECIALLY since EA have always said they made the majority of money from "Expansion Packs" aka DLC.
The fact that EA are making sure TS4 for console can have all the DLC shows it's not going anywhere.
So CASt is a resource hog, and if they want the game to last much longer, they can't have any resource hogs in the base game.
I don't really agree with getting less (less customisation, less new base games if TS4 will go longer than the usual 5 years) UNLESS we get solid gameplay. And for me, the Sims 4 Game Packs have much better gameplay than The Sims 3 store, and The Sims 4 Stuff Packs have much better gameplay than The Sims 3 Stuff Packs.
Expansion Packs are about the same for me.
Insta: https://instagram.com/jkarajs?igshid=oef2ymrand3g
I got my information from another simmer and her explanation makes perfectly sense to me. The fact surfaces in Sims 3 have two layers does cause it to take a little more time rendering but that isn't the same thing as lag and it's a very smal difference. I also don't know whether what you are saying here has anything to do with lag, or just with rendering.
@Schweighsr (2014):
I think I have tried to explain how CASt works over a dozen times now on a whole bunch of threads. I am tired of repeating myself and it appears that no one reads me anyway. So here goes:
CASt does not cause lag in TS3. The only time that CASt causes a delay in TS3 is when it loads - it takes time to load all those patterns. CASt does not cause Create-a-Sim to lag - Create-a-Sim takes forever to load because of the way EA loads all the clothing options before you can select them. CASt does not cause lots to lag when loading patterns - it takes just as long to load a custom pattern as it takes to load a preset.
Let me repeat: CASt does not cause lag in TS3.
I will now explain (if you don't want an explanation stop reading): in TS3 every single object, outfit, hair-style, skin, cosmetic and eye has TWO layers in its texture (a texture is the 'skin' that goes over the mesh to give it color and detail). The first layer is the color layer which contains the CASt or preset color or pattern. The second layer has the details - shading, seams, wrinkles, belts, lace, logos on tee-shirts, and whatever.
It doesn't matter if you use a preset color or a CASt pattern because the game has to load both layers no matter what they are. It doesn't take the game more time to access a CASt pattern than it does a preset. To TS3 both a preset and a custom CASt are exactly the same.
If it takes some time for the game to load textures when loading a new lot, the game takes the exact same amount of time to load a custom CASt texture as it would a preset. It doesn't matter how many custom CASt patterns you use on a lot - the game has to color everything anyway. (I have noticed it takes unusually long to load textures in Midnight Hollow, but that is because of the neighborhood, not CASt.)
In TS2 and TS4 both the color and the detail are on the same layer. The game can load a single layer faster than it can load two layers, so it will cut down load times by a fraction of a second. But only by a fraction of a second. The difference will probably be unnoticeable on today's computers.
Unfortunately if EA were to give us a color-wheel option they would have to go back to a 2-layer system. One layer for the color from the color-wheel and the other layer for the details. That would require recoding the way textures are managedAND require them to remake the texture on every single object and outfit (and hair-style and cosmetic and skin and eye) in the game. And how likely is EA to do that really?
It is also important to know that basically there is no difference between a color-wheel and CASt except that a color-wheel would load faster when it is opened.
Way back in 2013 EA was considering putting CASt in TS4. They have since decided not to include CASt in TS4. We know that EA is giving us presets in TS4 because SimGuruGraham said so on Twitter.
Here are SimGuruGraham’s Statements on Twitter:
“I don’t want to mislead people; we said at Gamescom that CaST isn’t in, straight from the mouth of the dev team.” (Sep. 16th 2013)
“Hi Alicia – it’s a great tool, I agree. It’s something we’ve confirmed won’t be in Sims 4 I’m sorry to say, but I hope some of the other aspects of Build and Create a Sim that we’ll unveil will help spark your creativity!” (Dec. 22nd 2013)
“Color selection will work like it did at Gamescom (with more colors to choose from since then).” (May 22nd 2014)
And by 'color selection' he means presets.
The major problem with EA deciding to go with preset colors is that many fans will want more variation than they are providing (the long dress that Bella wears in the CAS video comes in 4 colors - black, pink, red and white, although Graham has said that there will be more) so the Community will have to make Custom Recolors. These recolors will load as Custom Content - and Custom Content takes significantly longer to load than CASt or a color-wheel option would. So the only players who will see an advantage from the elimination of CASt are those who have no Custom Content.
I hope that the above explanation was clear, but if you have any questions I would be happy to answer them.
I'll have a look for it later, it was 7 years ago.
It's interesting that Open World is less demanding than CASt, since the Wii could do it since there was no CASt, but I wonder if The Sims 4 would have been any better with Open World. I imagine packs like Get To Work/Dine Out/Cats & Dogs (the Vet) etc. wouldn't have been possible.
The Sims 3 uses CASt even on presets. It all works the same way, which is why it works no different
Insta: https://instagram.com/jkarajs?igshid=oef2ymrand3g
Probably wouldn't hurt to reduce the amount of cc I have. I never have lag, an occasional freeze or the dreaded Error 12 if I play too long, sure. Nothing that would make me stop playing.
Well I scarified GTA IV for the hard drive space, but I reinstalled ALL of my Sims 3 stuffs. Slowly adding back in CC, and man, I have to say. I really, really, really missed the game. Going to take it nice and slow this time around. lol
I hope they focus some energy on fixing emotionless sims (sad sims acting mischievous, angry sims laughing, EVERYONE is Always happy! Ugh.)
Please Bring Back Toddlers, Realistic Teenagers and Create a World.
Make the Sims (4) Great Again<3
Nevermind, @Dreamie209 's post below is perfect.
I guess we're total opposites
Don't even get me started on hair colors...i'm a strawberry blonde for example and I have dozens of cc recolors just on Maxis hairs alone. I'm seriously at 2,555 cc files
Especially when they attach bows etc to the hair and give them the accessory in a completely different color for each hair. Like I really thought the 'hat' section was suppose to stop that
I'll admit though, when I first began TS4 I was literarly thinking the same as you. I didn't think it would be so bad, plus I was like "It's like how It was in TS2, what's the worst that could go wrong?"
Then I remembered, TS3 literarly cut my cc in half due to CASt. It didn't matter if the bow was attached to the hair, I could easily pattern it to perfectly fit. Strawberry Blond? Go for it. Bed sheets and curtains a total eyesore to your room's wall, gotcha covered! All in one system
While I do admit I hope they do help the odd sim emotions, I'm also rooting for color wheel for my game's sanity
Some objects are amazing but they won't fit properly because of color clashing and yeah, it's irksome.
And what about a color wheel to customize your sims hair, skin, and eyes? I can see the clothing being somewhat of an issue because of different channels and layers, but at least give us the ability to have any colored sim. With the amount of "customization" and "intuitive" options on building your sims you promoted so enthusiastically at the beginning of this game, why the hell would you limit it and nix the color wheel?
You know, for the longest time quite a few people believed, including myself... that toddlers were not possible and couldn't be added into the game. Whether it be too hard to code in or too expensive... Yet here they are, and they are stupendous!
I firmly believe we CAN get a color wheel for objects and create a sim now, and that the team has the capabilities to add it in.
The budget? Well, we'll see how that goes.
But we got toddlers for free.
And ghosts.
And swimming pools.
Well, "free" is an iffy concept, as simmers have been purchasing TS4 content. It was awesome we did not have to pay EXTRA for all that (because they would definitely have made more money if they made you shell out cash for things we thought were very basic gameplay items) and very unlike the "greedy" title EA has.
I don't see how this couldn't be implemented through a patch.