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Useless Camping Gear!

cbartsch69cbartsch69 Posts: 169 Member
edited August 2018 in The Sims 4 Game Feedback
Okay, so Seasons (both weather & calendar) has made the game insanely fun to play like no other version IMO (I've played since Sims 1). AND, it's made going on vacations so much more fun, too (both the woods and the jungle)!!!

(FYI, I just took a big family on a camping trip and was thinking how beautiful the warm weather was, then BANG!, thunderstorm! Had to expand the Visitor's Center in Granite Falls with tons of indoor activities to keep the kiddos occupied during the rainy days. So fun! Only a "Cabin Fever" or Rainy Day Boredom" buff would've made it any better!)

HOWEVER, roughing it on these vacations has made it clear how inadequate the camping gear really is... (Tents, grills, fire pits, chairs, tables, showers, coolers, etc.) Why? ROUTING PROBLEMS! It never fails that when a sim performs "Place in World" on any of this gear it's placed in the most bizarre location and position possible, TYPICALLY in a place where they can't even access it!

(And this seems to happen no matter HOW CAREFUL you are trying to position your sim so that they WON'T place the camping gear in an awkward position--there seems to be no rhyme nor reason behind which direction they will place whatever object they're placing, sometimes they'll place the chair facing themselves, sometimes away from themselves, and there's no way to predict which way it'll go...)

I can't tell you how many times I've had sims I sent to eat or grill or sleep drop their actions and wave at me that they just can't do what I ask. Or, if I'm off with another sim after sending someone to sleep in the tent, I'll find them passed out in a bush because whatever "plum" sim set up the tent aimed the opening at a tree and they can't get in!!!

The WORST offender of course is the FIRE PIT!!! At first I thought it was some sort of bizarre bug or glitch that my sims couldn't roast any food over the fire pit...until I realized they needed a chair perfectly positioned right next to the fire pit. How did I realize that, you might ask? Well, because one sim accidentally perfectly placed a chair right next to a pit so that he COULD roast up a fish over the fire or toast some marshmallows.

HURRAY! I thought, all I need to do is have a sim place a chair near the fire and they'll be able to eat finally without having to lug a grill around!

WRONG!!! That sim who successfully placed their chair in a position to use the fire pit was a total FLUKE! I had another sim spend HOURS trying to place a second chair by that fire pit so he could eat too, but no such luck! He'd face it away from the fire pit, or too close to use. One time I thought I finally had it, it LOOKED perfectly positioned, but the angle was ever so slightly off, so he just stood there waving his frustration at me.

SO, isn't there SOMETHING THAT CAN BE DONE?!?! Isn't there a way to ensure that this doesn't happen in the future? That tents are placed so that their openings aren't blocked, and more importantly, that chairs being placed next to fire pits will "grab on" and place in the proper position so you can actually access the fire pit actions that you need to be seated in a chair for?

This is really a pain for jungle adventures because, unlike the camping lot in Outdoor Retreat, you can't just set up a tent camping site for guests to use in advance (before renting the tent camping lot). When you're out in the jungle, your sims often need to sleep in areas where there is no editable lot. Especially in those secret "off the path" locations.

I will admit, I wound up using the bb.enablefreebuild cheat on the Hidden Pools location to place a campfire and stools beside the pool... BUT it still wouldn't let me properly place the chairs my sims owned around the fire pit they'd placed off the lot. And that's what's so frustrating!

I get that this is a tricky situation, but it just seems like there's got to be a way that once a sim has placed these camping gear objects in the world (whether on an editable lot or not), that we should be able to grab them (the way we can grab dishes to wash for our sims at home) and change their orientation and placement within the neighborhood.

Otherwise, these objects are basically useless.

You either need to have your sim waste tons of in-game hours placing and replacing them until they're properly placed (which is IMPOSSIBLE with the chairs/fire pit situation), OR you need to skip camping outside of editable lots, OR you need to just use the needs cheats during jungle expeditions and not have them sleep/eat/pee at all... Which would really bite!

Also, I know I could, but I REALLY don't want to ruin the "realism" of the game by using the freebuild cheat to place a tent/fire pit/chairs/etc. on EVERY editable lot in the jungle, I want them to be able to set up their own camping gear!

SO, has anyone else experienced this camping gear problem? (If you've used the gear, I know you have!) And if you have, have any of you found a way around it? I've been searching the forums and other sites for help but haven't found any answers yet!

Thanks in advance if you actually have found a way to fix this! (And care to share...)

(It almost makes me wish that there were several "campsite set-up" options available to purchase along with the individual. Like a perfectly positioned tent, fire pit and chairs, grill, table and chairs, cooler, etc., so when you clicked on the gear or "backpack" the gear would automatically place itself in a neat, usable setup, in the nearest location with enough room to set up all the gear in the proper configuration. You could have a cheap, small, barebones setup for the solo camper; a medium, mid-range setup for a camping couple; and a setup for 4+ campers (because that big tent sleeps 4+ and it's reasonable that larger groups could take turns at the table and fire pit if you had four chairs around each... This would TOTALLY solve this frustrating problem!!!)

Edited for language. - EA_Cian
Post edited by EA_Cian on

Comments

  • danacnbrettdanacnbrett Posts: 102 Member
    Is it possible to add the fire pit seating to the fire pit on a lot you own and then add the pit to your inventory?
  • Kniga_SitaraKniga_Sitara Posts: 414 Member
    It is bug with firepit, because before las last patch it was possible cook on firepit without chair! Please call this bugs too!
  • Kniga_SitaraKniga_Sitara Posts: 414 Member
    I build Spa for Granite Falls and I must rebuild my scout camps for GF... Because too many flash! Every day... My scouts must stay in log cabin... It was so sad..
  • MovottiMovotti Posts: 7,774 Member
    I sent my sims camping, and they managed to have someone, or their chair catch fire EVERY time they sat by the fire.

    The great outdoors are broken.
    AmusingExhaustedArchaeopteryx-max-1mb.gif
  • cbartsch69cbartsch69 Posts: 169 Member
    Is it possible to add the fire pit seating to the fire pit on a lot you own and then add the pit to your inventory?

    Interesting! I never thought of this! Is that how the card table/chair sets work? I've never tried putting one of those preset card table/chairs in my inventory and placing it out in the world yet. If that's how it works, perhaps it'll work for the fire pit too! I'll give it a try and report back.

    Although, I have noticed that those log loveseats that came with Outdoor Retreat don't seem to function properly with the fire pit. They "grab on" to the pit just the way chairs do, but it seems they place too close, so that no one can actually sit on them when the fire is going.

    If those log loveseats aren't MEANT to work with the fire pit, then why do they grab on? I put some around a fire pit on a cabin I redecorated and the sims renting the place couldn't use that fire pit at all because of their placement. AND, because it was a rental property, I couldn't edit the lot to fix it while they were renting it! So frustrating!
  • cbartsch69cbartsch69 Posts: 169 Member
    It is bug with firepit, because before las last patch it was possible cook on firepit without chair! Please call this bugs too!

    Really? I guess I never did, or didn't remember how the fire pit worked prior to seasons/last patch. After the novelty of Outdoor Retreat wore off and all the problems with the Weenie Roast Party (with people starting on fire and the gold award being impossible to earn), I stopped using the fire pits.

    But now that weather has made the outdoors so much more interesting, I'm getting back into using them again--so if this IS a bug related to the latest patch, hopefully they'll fix it and we'll be back in business without the need of those pesky chairs!
  • cbartsch69cbartsch69 Posts: 169 Member
    Movotti wrote: »
    I sent my sims camping, and they managed to have someone, or their chair catch fire EVERY time they sat by the fire.

    The great outdoors are broken.

    Ugh! That would not be fun! I didn't use the fire pit much on my first few vacations (since they were so problematic for this reason in the past), but I'd like to! I really hope I don't run into this issue.
  • Kita5399Kita5399 Posts: 2,112 Member
    I’m bookmarking this for a solution as I have the same issue. Right now I just use a cabin in GF, it’s ok since I’ve been sending Sims there in winter anyway. JA is a bigger issue, right now I just keep trying with the tent until it works, and stock up on fruit, those grilled cheese things, and shower in a bottle.
  • DragonCat159DragonCat159 Posts: 1,896 Member
    Has anybody told you AI is broken in this game?
    NNpYlHF.jpg
  • AprilDawnAprilDawn Posts: 795 Member
    The firepit is definitely glitched - when OT first came out - Sims could sit in the log loveseats around the firepits that are already set up there and they could also kneel at them - they can do neither anymore.
    I feel your pain with the camping gear placement - always got on my nerves which is why my sims go to cabins now and I never use the camping spot anymore.
  • NindigoNindigo Posts: 2,764 Member
    edited August 2018
    In my game the two-seaters are bugged meaning Sims won't use them (as if an obstacle is blocking the path to it), but the campfires are not from what I can tell - Sims can still use them for all the usual purposes. Sims won't sit on the ground around them anymore, but I'm not sure if that's a bug. I wouldn't want to sit on the ground if it's freezing outside.

    Other than this, I feel everything is in working order with Outdoor Retreat items and Granite Falls. I can place anything from the pack everywhere and it functions properly.


    Origin ID: Nindigo79

    A smile is the prettiest thing you can wear
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  • invisiblgirlinvisiblgirl Posts: 1,709 Member
    cbartsch69 wrote: »
    Is it possible to add the fire pit seating to the fire pit on a lot you own and then add the pit to your inventory?

    Interesting! I never thought of this! Is that how the card table/chair sets work? I've never tried putting one of those preset card table/chairs in my inventory and placing it out in the world yet. If that's how it works, perhaps it'll work for the fire pit too! I'll give it a try and report back.

    Although, I have noticed that those log loveseats that came with Outdoor Retreat don't seem to function properly with the fire pit. They "grab on" to the pit just the way chairs do, but it seems they place too close, so that no one can actually sit on them when the fire is going.

    If those log loveseats aren't MEANT to work with the fire pit, then why do they grab on? I put some around a fire pit on a cabin I redecorated and the sims renting the place couldn't use that fire pit at all because of their placement. AND, because it was a rental property, I couldn't edit the lot to fix it while they were renting it! So frustrating!

    I tried this with the firepit a while back, and it didn't work. (I think the chairs didn't even make it into my Sim's inventory.)
    I just want things to match. :'(
  • DreamaDoveDreamaDove Posts: 393 Member
    1000x yes to this. There's tons of really pretty areas of the worlds without a lot and I can never camp there because the way sims place things in the world is just a mess. Like, there's that open space in the lighthouse island that is basically pointless for anything other than camping.

    I just have how randomly everything gets placed in the jungle! When setting up for the night, no some just throws something on the ground-- you plan out the area and set up camp in a logical way.
    I really just wish we could edit the worlds more freely. Aside from placing items in ways that make sense, I also decorate a lot with clutter and that's something I can't do just using the sims inventories.
  • Bearpal64Bearpal64 Posts: 1,117 Member
    I just got Outdoor Retreat not too long ago and I wish we could live drag the furniture out with the cursor. It's great that it can go in the inventory. It's great it can be placed by the Sims but they don't seem to put things down in a usable fashion :)
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