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Something I Feel all SimGuru's Need to Hear
AuronoiChieftain
Posts: 362 Member
I've come to the decision that I can no longer mod, or even play, TS4.
I've only had three sessions in my main hood since all the mod updating for 1.44, and the game is a mess. An unplayable mess. Rotten interaction delays and hold ups. Absolutely rotten. I have lost the will to continue. I could go on listing the numerous things that are wrong, but what's the point? I'll summarise it by saying Maxis do not deserve the prestige position they hold in the industry. They are diabolically useless. EA do not deserve your money for this poor quality shambles of a game.
It breaks my heart, but I cannot even face playing the game any more. I utterly regret patching for 1.44 and purchasing Seasons. My game was in a condition I could work with before doing this. Now I don't even want to load it up.
Maxis would rather tinker with the Gallery, than fix their mountainous backlog of errors. Even recent statements from head honchos saying there are some things they decide not to fix. Though never tell the public what it is they are going to continually have to struggle with after their clandestine decisions. Going about it like it's something out of their hands. Like a meteor from space damaged the building. Or a bolt of lighting struck the clock tower. No, Maxis. YOU -! broke it in a patch. You took my money from me when it was working. Then 🐸🐸🐸🐸 broke it. Then decide to not fix it like it was an act of god that broke it. Cheeky, useless and unworthy. I'm out.
I do love and thank you all for the happier elements of the journey we've shared together. And I cannot imagine I can go too long without keeping my ear to the ground in the sims community. So I'll be around, I guess. You lot are all great. Maybe one day we'll share a laugh again if we find ourselves gathered around the warm fire of another, better game. But this campfire, I've doused it out and I'm moving on
I honestly feel that This had to be posted here on the Main Forums, because it pretty much Sumerizes all that I feel most Players feel with the Current Condition of the Sims 4. The Quote is from a Sims 4 Fansite from a Mod Creator most people know as Coolspear1. The Quote that I'm sharing (slightly edited for one Word of Profanity) is a quote basically saying that he is quitting the Sims Franchise. And to be perfectly honest, I feel him One Hundred Percent. My Opinion on how Maxis Handles Game Bugs in the Sims 4 is Extremely Unaffective. I Understand going through Code and Re-Enacting the Exact Scenerio the Bug happened, but Honestly, Almost a Year (or so, I'm not entirally sure how long, but considerably longer than was neccessary for it) to Fix a Dine Out Bug that Prevents you from Playing as a Resteraunt Owner because Chefs of Top Skill and Super Traits, ALWAYS making Food no Higher than Normal (Considered Bad in Sims Terms). I mean Come On, that Broke the Entire Feature of the Game, Which was to Own and Manage a Resteraunt. You can't really make money when your chefs always produce Rotten Food (Quite Literally, in Game Terms). And Last I checked, Sims are still dying of Cold Overexposere while around Spraying Sprinkers, Even with the Iceproof trait and Cold Weather Clothing. I can't tel you how grateful I am for the UI Cheats Mod, because my sims greenhouse with sprinklers is a DEATHHOUSE. How can Simmers expect to keep their sims alive, and Functional when Game Bugs DESTROY Gameplay, there are still Game-Breaking Bugs still not taken care of.
Simply put, MAXIS/Simgurus, please spot check your work, or at least upload HotFixes as soon as you've Corrected Bugs, or evan Prioritize ALL Major Bugs before you Patche the Small ones no one has even heard about. Please, The Bugs Are Killing the Game.
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Comments
Regardless, I agree to your point, If the game is buggy to many people then they should fix it. As a consumer, I think it will be best for the developers to prioritize buga first before developing new features.
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/924539/features-that-needs-depth-and-ways-to-improve
Fortunately it’s not made my game unplayable but it is frustrating. Even more frustrating when I look at the indie games I play that are in Alpha and display less bugs. Bugs are also frequently fixed And the devs are open and honest with their fans about fixes and ideas.
I do agree though that we need more constant fixes. I just think they take longer to fix than we think. Here’s hoping for more patches to make a smoother game for all.
I agree, all it did was make it very confusing to search and find what I want.
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Still, I got bugs in Sims 3 and a few really bad ones in Skyrim (really bad bugs—there were times when you couldn’t finish quests or lost stuff because of this bugs!), and I still managed to enjoy the games.
I had to eventually download an unofficial patch mod for Skyrim, the bugs were that bad, lol!
Anyway: Let’s hope they continue to fix and patch stuff!
(She/her)
I've never heard of this modder, am I supposed to?
You mean that bug at the end that doesn't let you open the last door? Yeah, I had that too.
Look, TS4 obviously has seen better days, but it's still one of my favorite hobbies. I enjoy building crazy venues and letting people loose in them. That's ALWAYS been my main motivation--not storytelling. I find it relaxing to just build, build, build. So, for me, when I get bored, I either do that or make townies. TS has always been a creative outlet for me, and I'm sure for many others. I do not share the OP's opinion when they say that this modder's outlook is how most of us feel. To me, that person seems like they're tired of trying to adapt to a situation and has decided to move on. And since they're a modder, I'd assume they enjoy fixing things, so it seems strange that they would quit simply because of bugs. But what the hell do I know?
(She/her)
I had a nice outdoor yoga/meditation garden that I had to delete because my Sim insisted on going out there to practice yoga during a thunderstorm instead of in the nice yoga room off of the basement. (insert eyeroll emoji here) That's just the "smarter Sims" though. Only really annoying bug I have is the Bird of Paradise plants on my lot not producing flowers (they were both planted fresh from Rare Seeds, not splicing) but my Sim was able to find one at the Romance Festival so that collection is done. I haven't experienced anything that has made the game unplayable (knock wood), just minor annoyances. We'll see if I feel the same once I rotate to my other main family that I just started; he's a politician, she's in Culinary till she gets the Fresh Chef aspiration done then she goes into Public Relations.
Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)
To me, it's not just bugs, it's core gameplay and Sims improvements that are also sorely needed (reactions, emotions, traits, relationships should be more sophisticated/realistic, whether it's dating or parent/child). The Sims frustrate me so much that the game is nearly unplayable (probably unplayable without tuning mods), and that's just with how the features are supposed to play out, not bugs. Although I don't know why they were coded this way, or just not tested to ensure they react right, etc. These are maybe not features as much as oversights, but still not bugs, so the same defenses about needing to replicate in order to start fixing, at least that difficulty is missing.
Fixing the core game needs to be a priority, along with bugs of course.
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Modder burnout is common in the gaming community -- even the awesome Twallen suffered it towards the end of the Sims 3 though he had an terrific community at NRaas to pick up where he left off. (Hope he's well wherever he is.) When Madame Butterfly retired, she found coolspear1 to take over many of her mods and he expanded on the suite. I just hope the OP can find someone to take over updating his/her mods so the community isn't left in the cold.
The fact is, both bugs and broken mods/CC are a fact of gaming life if you want new content. Chances are something added in a pack or a patch will break an existing feature, often without being aware of it. In Sims 3, World Adventures had excavation sites, which were broken with the release of Ambitions (Sims could never route to the excavation sites; they could be standing right next to them and wave their arms and stamp their feet with a routing error). AFAIK some of the bugs were never completely fixed before the end of the game's run and they moved on to Sims 4.
The Gallery was an unstable unusable mess, and with plans to add Gallery features to the Console version it had to get fixed. It's still not perfect; too many duplicates especially people reuploading houses with cosmetic changes like new wall and floor coverings. If someone makes a major remodel (adding basements or expanding the build somehow) I've got no issue with re-upload as long as you give credit to the original builder. But a coat of fresh paint or new wallpaper or furniture doesn't really count. I'd still like to see some tweaks to prevent that issue. So it's not a matter of "playing with the Gallery" -- for many of us who can't build a house that doesn't look like just a square box with siding, we appreciate the contributions of great builders (like yourself!) to improve the look of our worlds. I've got an Eichler neighborhood in Oasis Springs and a Craftsman area in Willow Creek, and I'm working on trying for a ranch-style neighborhood in Newcrest, all thanks to the Galler. Seasons has only been out for just over a month -- it's going to take some time to squash the major bugs, and maybe minor stuff like the strange outfits we can just chalk up to "weirder stories" until they find a fix.
Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)
All of us have to understand that our situation may not always be universally experienced by others. When it comes to bugs and glitches, much can actually be done by ourselves to try and fix it. Massive and dramatic complaints won't solve anything for anyone. They are actually a nuissance to some. So, could we keep them at bay until we are positive that no more can be done to solve our issues on our end of things?
If problems persist despite all efforts to solve them, then it's time to head over to the appropriately named 'Bugs & Gameplay Issues' section and ask for assistance.
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Time enjoyed is never time wasted
Although I wouldn't necessarily agree that the game is 'unplayable', many of these bugs are well known, long in the tooth, and extremely annoying. Often they make the game aggravating rather than fun, in a way that is unnecessary.
As for whether they can be replicated (aka, "not universally experienced by others," your words) -- I have watched Lets Plays from very experienced Simmers such as Mystic (Pinstar's wife) and James Turner (aka. Flabaliki/Sim Supply). You can watch the exact same bugs people have been talking about for months, happening right there on their Lets Play videos. Mystic is doing a Legacy -- it's on part 28 or something, which is about 20 hours of gameplay. Nearly every episode she says something like "What is wrong with my game!?!" because one of these bugs has cropped up. James has had just as many in his Rags (or Wags) to Riches series -- and probably others, but those are the only ones I have watched. This is video evidence of the bugs, happening in real time, to veteran (not n00b) Simmers. Maybe that doesn't make them "universally experienced" but it sure as heck tells me that it is not "just me" having these issues.
But I think most of that is beside the point. What triggers a great amount of the complaining about bug-fixes is the lack of meaningful response or indication from the devs that they even realize these things are issues. There is a "bugs and gameplay issues" section and sometimes a guru will com on and tell us they are aware of it... but what I would like to see is a 'master list' of issues that Maxis knows are there, and are either working on or at least plan to get to. Then cross items off the list as they do them. This would give players the sense that they are at least trying to deal with these things, rather than that they are playing around with features like the gallery and ignoring months- or even years-long bugs.
The line that I bolded is part of the issue.
Bugs are hard to fix, I get that, believe me. However, when the mod creators are finding ways to fix them and the company doesn't there's something wrong. It's bad practice to let the community find workarounds and fixes, meanwhile the company appears to be twiddling their thumbs.
This is where transparency comes in. It would do a lot for my perception of EA if, when a mod creator fixes an issue (almost immediately, mind you), someone at EA spoke up and thanked them. That mod creator basically showed EA the way and, whenever possible, EA should follow, test, and refine then release an official patch.
TS3 ended and many of the bugs were never fixed by EA. However, mod creators were able to fix them, years prior, in some cases.
Perhaps my view of the situation is oversimplified. But I'll never know because EA doesn't say anything.
The sims remembers everything that has happened to them and react to everything around them.
I had forgot the level of perfection the game has compared to ts4, i mean ts4 feels like a bad knockoff now so I can't support it any longer but I still hope they fix it so it can go out with a bang because it has potential to change into a worthy sequel if they take time and effort to fix core problems. Nobody wants the game to fail, we complain because we recognize the wasted potential and want the game to succeed in quality.
Instead they are telling us that sorry but they may not be able to fix every bug in the game.
And I agree, some bugs are universal, you see them on lets plays and the same bugs crop up time and time again on forums like the get to work bugs.
Some of the bugs are even transferring to console.
But, yes, Sims 4 does feel somewhat sloppy compared to past sims games.
Luckily, I can still enjoy it so far. (We’ll see what more bugs I can discover in future patches.)
I’m still waiting for the Sims company to fix and improve Isla Paradiso...Oh, wait, never mind. They never did...
But, yes, we should be vocal about the bugs and report the bugs.
For me, this is the only Sims game I’ve been playing lately, and I’m not going back to older games anymore, so I’m going to try to tough through the bugs and just enjoy it, just like I am still enjoying Skyrim.
(She/her)
I see that as a problem. How long before Seasons? The update to the gallery was virtually useless. It was a minor rework to the user interface, and zero new functionality. If they spent months on that then they deserve the criticism they are getting now. Maxis should invest time where it matters. Redoing the UI for the gallery so game changers can get more downloads is not investing time where it matters.
Not only that, but there are many glaring bugs that have been in the game for AGES and have yet to be fixed, a pretty big one being that ever since City Living, the townie generator has been broken.
I was attacked for saying this on another post. I was also attacked for it in the livestream, now it seems like more people have realised how pointless it was