@Cinebar please forgive me for going off topic, but I keep forgetting to mention how much I liked your Barnabas Collins profile pic when you were pushing for vampires. Dark Shadows was the one soap opera I could watch with my mother back in the 60's lol. Anyways, I've always forgotten to thank you for bringing back the memories of that soap.
@Writin_Reg thanks for the insight on Windows 10. Gives me a great excuse to get a new computer within the next year.
I've had this machine for about 10 years, give or take. So I'm sure I am way overdue. lol
I wouldn't throw away your old machine. Keep it for backup as some games don't play on Windows 10 without a lot of help. eg. The Sims.
It has improved a lot this year but gave me a lot of stress when I opted to be a Windows Insider when it was first offered. It does play Sims 4 smoothly as EA and Microsoft tested it early on.
I've given Microsoft a lot of ranting feedback as an Insider and "me too"s in the Help site problems pages and it looks like they do listen. I can now play SimCity Societies and a couple of other old games that were barred before but be prepared for huge updates before your new PC is ready for use! Be prepared for it being too "Plumb" (insert swear word here) helpful. The OS has Ransomware protection built in now, which is a plus and I haven't had any virus/trojan problems just using Defender.
@Simburian I guess I'll need a lot of advice from you simmers when I eventually do get a new computer. The main things I use my computer for is paying my bills, e-mails, and the sims. To be honest, the sims has been the main reason I have avoided getting a new computer for so long. I am dreading the long time it will take for the sims to update. I was hoping to wait until The Sims 5 came out, but it's beginning to look like that's not possible.
I just need to upgrade mine is all I got it just before I got Sims 4 .. but not for Sims 4 it was however considered gaming computer at that time but mid-range. It's 5 years old and still in good shape. I just need my son to give it the once over and figure what needs replacing. I know if my game starts running poorly (with the way I play it) I'll get on upgrading it.. so far so good though.
I had no problem at all going to Windows 10. Also some of the issues users most complained of in the beginning has been fixed so it actually is very easy to use now. I love Windows 10 so much better than Windows 7 now - I could never go back. LOL.
Green Eggs and Ham, I don't like apps, and I like a file system that makes sense. Apps are for phones.
What apps - You mean all the free apps Microsoft gives you from the Microsoft store - that will even play on your pc? I really don't take advantage of them free or not as I am not a mobile player. I have two Ultimate Yatzy - and New York Times Crosswordpuzzles lol. But you do not have to take any.
They do offer many free software items I do have that I had on previous machines and had to pay for. Like Paint 3D etc.
Also if you have Windows 10 pro - you can play old games as well without jumping through hoops. The home version doesn't have that perk. EA has upgraded Sims 2 Ultimate Edition and Sims 3 to windows 10 as well - so no issues playing any of those as well as Sim 4. But EA has made most of all their older games Windows 10 compatible as well on Origin. I have a lot of them that have all been updated in the last year or so.
"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.....
@Simburian I guess I'll need a lot of advice from you simmers when I eventually do get a new computer. The main things I use my computer for is paying my bills, e-mails, and the sims. To be honest, the sims has been the main reason I have avoided getting a new computer for so long. I am dreading the long time it will take for the sims to update. I was hoping to wait until The Sims 5 came out, but it's beginning to look like that's not possible.
I use mine for the same.
If you are looking out for a machine to play a Sims5 you'll need to be a clairvoyant! Maybe get an upgradeable machine? At least one with a three year warranty and a good video card. I have an NVidia 1060 but my laptop is nearly a year old and there are newer ones if you are willing to shell out. It's Sales time from now to Christmas and look out for Black Friday deals. 28th Nov. in the UK but it may vary elsewhere.
Wouldn't it be nice if EA/Maxis would let us know what their optimum plus specs. for a Sims 5 would be?
@Hermitgirl Isn't it nice to have children that can do all that technical stuff for ya? Unfortunately, all my kids live out of state.
Since Windows 7 isn't going to be supported for much more than a year, I'm gonna have to upgrade my OS. I also need to upgrade my video card and RAM. For what all that is going to cost me, it makes more sense in my situation to just go ahead and get a new computer. Sigh, we've had a good run together tho.
@Simburian I guess I'll need a lot of advice from you simmers when I eventually do get a new computer. The main things I use my computer for is paying my bills, e-mails, and the sims. To be honest, the sims has been the main reason I have avoided getting a new computer for so long. I am dreading the long time it will take for the sims to update. I was hoping to wait until The Sims 5 came out, but it's beginning to look like that's not possible.
I use mine for the same.
If you are looking out for a machine to play a Sims5 you'll need to be a clairvoyant! Maybe get an upgradeable machine? At least one with a three year warranty and a good video card. I have an NVidia 1060 but my laptop is nearly a year old and there are newer ones if you are willing to shell out. It's Sales time from now to Christmas and look out for Black Friday deals. 28th Nov. in the UK but it may vary elsewhere.
Wouldn't it be nice if EA/Maxis would let us know what their optimum plus specs. for a Sims 5 would be?
good point about a lot of sales coming out between now and Christmas. Maybe i'll even hold out for the after Christmas sales.
@Simburian I guess I'll need a lot of advice from you simmers when I eventually do get a new computer. The main things I use my computer for is paying my bills, e-mails, and the sims. To be honest, the sims has been the main reason I have avoided getting a new computer for so long. I am dreading the long time it will take for the sims to update. I was hoping to wait until The Sims 5 came out, but it's beginning to look like that's not possible.
I use mine for the same.
If you are looking out for a machine to play a Sims5 you'll need to be a clairvoyant! Maybe get an upgradeable machine? At least one with a three year warranty and a good video card. I have an NVidia 1060 but my laptop is nearly a year old and there are newer ones if you are willing to shell out. It's Sales time from now to Christmas and look out for Black Friday deals. 28th Nov. in the UK but it may vary elsewhere.
Wouldn't it be nice if EA/Maxis would let us know what their optimum plus specs. for a Sims 5 would be?
good point about a lot of sales coming out between now and Christmas. Maybe i'll even hold out for the after Christmas sales.
Don't forget about cybermonday as well. There some good deals.
Please remember my follow simmers that game engine can only do so much. The more packs added in the current game will lag your computer. Hopefully we all get this thread back on topic.
Feedback. Please let those upgrading their machines know the Optimum or Optimum plus specs. the game will require to keep buying future packs. Sims 3 killed one of my older PCs so I have previous!
For me this pretty much nails why Sims 4 doesn’t need another three years, simply because it won’t help. It would be justified if it would be this awesome, steady, already complete, bugless game (as in: the occasional bug, not riddled with them in an - apparently - unsolvable way, the same reason why it was right to stop developing Sims 3 when they did), adding stuff to it being a luxury instead of a necessity, but it’s not. And some of the issues (like the total lack of consequences and the lack of personalities and the animations that take ages) will never go away. And I completely appreciate there are players who don’t care about that, but for me it means that adding more years to this game means wasting time, time they could rather spend on something new and decent. I feel that whenever they announce a new pack. I fell for it when they released JA and that experience taught me a lesson: even if the jungle is great and there are up to 7 templates (sold as so much better than the predecessor that had up to 25, 26 different templates with much more variety, nothing wrong with their marketing skills), you’re done after a few hours and all it shows is limitations and repetitive gameplay. And me cheering because backgrounds fit.... The vampires are done very well, so are the toddlers, but I can’t fully enjoy a game that just gives me one nice aspect to focus on. The rest still feels meh. All of it.
Exactly. And it was yet another reminder of how I think these next three years are likely to go when I was reading about Get Famous, the world size and thought about future worlds. I just don't see this game in 3 years time being much better than it is now and I'm not talking about more content, of course there will be packs with new stuff, but I don't see it being better with the things you mentioned like consequences, personalities, etc..
Sims 4 seems to be steering towards the subscription model more than anything else. The way people complained about the initial launch with very little in it, and the fact that they've started downloadable content that requires other downloadable content, says to me that their capitalizing on the way people buy and play. Which is, in bursts and around new content. It makes sense to encourage and profit from that behavior by keeping new content less ambitious in size but more frequent, and to expand the price range. Also the Gallery sells the new content for them once you're in the game.
It's good for their business, not so good for us. We miss horses in our pets packs, witches and fairies in our vampire pack and fame is separate from the city. Those things might come out separately later. We're only complaining because we're used to things being different. We'll get used to this. We probably shouldn't be so eager for Sims 5. There's no way this area of the game presentation wouldn't be worse.
I don't think I'll ever get used to that. I'd rather just bow out if that and more of what's currently happening now is how we can expect a possible TS5 to go.
Even now, learning more about TS4 and its future I feel more passionate about the fact that I won't be able to play TS3 or TS2 for a couple of weeks than I do about another disappointment in TS4. I'm not even disappointed. I guess I feel more numb now than ever. I expect for something to not be as good as it could be and for there to be limitations that would stifle my gameplay. I even expect the explanations that don't add up even when I think about it and try to give the benefit of the doubt. It's probably expected as I'm someone who's been more wary and disappointed since the beginning but now even my hopes for a Sims 5 are ghosting against the ground ready to drop. My expectations for a Sims 5 are even lower. I wouldn't say I'm entirely okay with feeling this way about a game series I love but I'm closer to the point where I will be.
If TS4 is the end for The Sims series or TS3 is the end for me then I'm more okay with that now than I've ever been. I'd imagine I'll be disappointed but I'll be okay.
I know I am in the minority here, but I kind of see the new world as a side issue - just their way of giving us a few ready-made venues set up for exclusive VIP entry without messing up our existing worlds with new lots - remember how indignant we were in TS3 when they made festival lots that were designed to plop themselves into our already-edited worlds? The way I see an EP is I am buying new gameplay, any objects and worlds are simply in support of the new gameplay to get us started. I only have a few households that are suited to living in Hollywood, and they include Michael Jackson and Emma Watson. I also have members of the British royal family but they would hate it there, they have large country retreats in my game. All the other sims in my game will probably only go to Hollywood for evenings out. After all - it takes no longer to get from The Bluffs to a nightclub in the new world as it would to pop next door to the same club if you were already living there!
No, I don't? I was happy with those lots and downloaded them right away. Why did they make you indignant? For me a new world has always been a very important part of the whole experience. And for me it's more than something to look at.
It was because many (if not most) people had already made their large parks into different types of lots and didn't like having to choose between having the park back (now festival/seasonal changing) or keeping the lot they had been working hard on. And some people were caught off guard and did not notice they had a choice so it overwrote by surprise. The gurus are aware of this, that's why they mention being careful not to alter lots on existing worlds.
Didn’t you have to add the lot manually..?
Later on I think they improved how it worked, but I remember a time when you got offered the lot to overwrite your existing park lot (which may have no longer even been a park at that time) or not use it at all. So it did cause some people to get fedup.
Yes, I was playing in Sunlit Tides when they released Seasons and I remember I had to download the festival lot through the Exchange (a developer/guru had created it) and I had to replace the lot in my game. I don’t really understand the problem though (unless indeed you had changed that particular lot but I don’t really understand what should have been the alternative or what the connection is with the tiny world for GF).
Ok the point I had been trying to make was that they probably don't really want to give us any more residential lots at all, really, because the more residential lots there are to fill, the more sims we will make, the more of them will be "our" sims that we don't want culled etc, and we already know that total number of sims is one of the things that affects performance. So they would have probably preferred not to give us any more lots at all, which means no more worlds at all, so they're rationing the number of lots with each new world to try not to end up with more lots than the game can happily support by the time all the EPs and new worlds are out.
Yes I have a feeling it's this exactly. More lots = more sims. If they are really planning three+ more years of content, several more worlds as indications predict, and every EP was the size of Windenburg, then at the end people might end up having 400 or more of their "favorite" sims that they just couldn't let go of and complain about lag and performance. It might even drag the game to a complete halt on some configurations.
I know I am in the minority here, but I kind of see the new world as a side issue - just their way of giving us a few ready-made venues set up for exclusive VIP entry without messing up our existing worlds with new lots - remember how indignant we were in TS3 when they made festival lots that were designed to plop themselves into our already-edited worlds? The way I see an EP is I am buying new gameplay, any objects and worlds are simply in support of the new gameplay to get us started. I only have a few households that are suited to living in Hollywood, and they include Michael Jackson and Emma Watson. I also have members of the British royal family but they would hate it there, they have large country retreats in my game. All the other sims in my game will probably only go to Hollywood for evenings out. After all - it takes no longer to get from The Bluffs to a nightclub in the new world as it would to pop next door to the same club if you were already living there!
No, I don't? I was happy with those lots and downloaded them right away. Why did they make you indignant? For me a new world has always been a very important part of the whole experience. And for me it's more than something to look at.
It was because many (if not most) people had already made their large parks into different types of lots and didn't like having to choose between having the park back (now festival/seasonal changing) or keeping the lot they had been working hard on. And some people were caught off guard and did not notice they had a choice so it overwrote by surprise. The gurus are aware of this, that's why they mention being careful not to alter lots on existing worlds.
Didn’t you have to add the lot manually..?
Later on I think they improved how it worked, but I remember a time when you got offered the lot to overwrite your existing park lot (which may have no longer even been a park at that time) or not use it at all. So it did cause some people to get fedup.
Yes, I was playing in Sunlit Tides when they released Seasons and I remember I had to download the festival lot through the Exchange (a developer/guru had created it) and I had to replace the lot in my game. I don’t really understand the problem though (unless indeed you had changed that particular lot but I don’t really understand what should have been the alternative or what the connection is with the tiny world for GF).
Ok the point I had been trying to make was that they probably don't really want to give us any more residential lots at all, really, because the more residential lots there are to fill, the more sims we will make, the more of them will be "our" sims that we don't want culled etc, and we already know that total number of sims is one of the things that affects performance. So they would have probably preferred not to give us any more lots at all, which means no more worlds at all, so they're rationing the number of lots with each new world to try not to end up with more lots than the game can happily support by the time all the EPs and new worlds are out.
If the issue is how many sims are in the game why make it that the game still generates so many when players make a lot of their own? I always wondered this as I have quite a bit of sims in my game I want to keep around that I either made or gave makeovers to and Yet the game still generates even more. I feel like there should be a toggle to stop the generation of sims after a certain amount. Unless there already is and I just haven't reached that limit yet? But quite frankly I get tired of the over generation of sims in the homeless bin when I already have plenty of my own created homeless sims.
Let me also add It messes with filling jobs too. The game will choose to fill the jobs with sims it creates instead of using my unemployed sims and that too bothers me. Regardless of whether that has been in previous games or not this is the 4th iteration and someone somewhere should have come up with some kind of solution for that after all these years.
"Bada su the gorn bada su the brawn bada bady oda aba donk donk donk gerbits gerbits vo gerbits".
I would sacrifice more lots for more in-game depth and more terrain tools. Having all the World packs I have more than enough lots for me. Give me a just a couple of farming, University or zoo lots I would be quite happy for a long time. Selfish I know but I do not care.
My 2 cents, TS4 keeps getting better and better.
TS1-TS3 were so fun (and funny), but TS3 never worked right for me, and I spent sooooo much $$ on it (and the Sims store).
TS4 more than makes up for that with its stability and gorgeous graphics. I’m assuming the TS4 game must be more demanding and the engine more complex than TS1-TS3, and I’m glad they’re taking their time and making a great game.
ETA I do wish they’d add more weirdness and random unpredictability (in gameplay and in Sims’ behavior)
I know I am in the minority here, but I kind of see the new world as a side issue - just their way of giving us a few ready-made venues set up for exclusive VIP entry without messing up our existing worlds with new lots - remember how indignant we were in TS3 when they made festival lots that were designed to plop themselves into our already-edited worlds? The way I see an EP is I am buying new gameplay, any objects and worlds are simply in support of the new gameplay to get us started. I only have a few households that are suited to living in Hollywood, and they include Michael Jackson and Emma Watson. I also have members of the British royal family but they would hate it there, they have large country retreats in my game. All the other sims in my game will probably only go to Hollywood for evenings out. After all - it takes no longer to get from The Bluffs to a nightclub in the new world as it would to pop next door to the same club if you were already living there!
No, I don't? I was happy with those lots and downloaded them right away. Why did they make you indignant? For me a new world has always been a very important part of the whole experience. And for me it's more than something to look at.
It was because many (if not most) people had already made their large parks into different types of lots and didn't like having to choose between having the park back (now festival/seasonal changing) or keeping the lot they had been working hard on. And some people were caught off guard and did not notice they had a choice so it overwrote by surprise. The gurus are aware of this, that's why they mention being careful not to alter lots on existing worlds.
Didn’t you have to add the lot manually..?
Later on I think they improved how it worked, but I remember a time when you got offered the lot to overwrite your existing park lot (which may have no longer even been a park at that time) or not use it at all. So it did cause some people to get fedup.
Yes, I was playing in Sunlit Tides when they released Seasons and I remember I had to download the festival lot through the Exchange (a developer/guru had created it) and I had to replace the lot in my game. I don’t really understand the problem though (unless indeed you had changed that particular lot but I don’t really understand what should have been the alternative or what the connection is with the tiny world for GF).
Ok the point I had been trying to make was that they probably don't really want to give us any more residential lots at all, really, because the more residential lots there are to fill, the more sims we will make, the more of them will be "our" sims that we don't want culled etc, and we already know that total number of sims is one of the things that affects performance. So they would have probably preferred not to give us any more lots at all, which means no more worlds at all, so they're rationing the number of lots with each new world to try not to end up with more lots than the game can happily support by the time all the EPs and new worlds are out.
Yes I have a feeling it's this exactly. More lots = more sims. If they are really planning three+ more years of content, several more worlds as indications predict, and every EP was the size of Windenburg, then at the end people might end up having 400 or more of their "favorite" sims that they just couldn't let go of and complain about lag and performance. It might even drag the game to a complete halt on some configurations.
You already can limit the number of Sims in your game. I'm not sure 200 sims spread out over a few more lots would make so much of a difference.
ETA: I'd think the solution for people with low end systems is for them to use fewer sims instead of forcing everyone to use fewer lots/sims.
I had no problem at all going to Windows 10. Also some of the issues users most complained of in the beginning has been fixed so it actually is very easy to use now. I love Windows 10 so much better than Windows 7 now - I could never go back. LOL.
Green Eggs and Ham, I don't like apps, and I like a file system that makes sense. Apps are for phones.
What apps - You mean all the free apps Microsoft gives you from the Microsoft store - that will even play on your pc? I really don't take advantage of them free or not as I am not a mobile player. I have two Ultimate Yatzy - and New York Times Crosswordpuzzles lol. But you do not have to take any.
They do offer many free software items I do have that I had on previous machines and had to pay for. Like Paint 3D etc.
Also if you have Windows 10 pro - you can play old games as well without jumping through hoops. The home version doesn't have that perk. EA has upgraded Sims 2 Ultimate Edition and Sims 3 to windows 10 as well - so no issues playing any of those as well as Sim 4. But EA has made most of all their older games Windows 10 compatible as well on Origin. I have a lot of them that have all been updated in the last year or so.
But Pro cost more, and I think you missed I play many old games that have SafeDisk as the DRM and 10 will not allow scrdrive to be installed making those old discs useless. You do have to jump through some hoops to get those games to play on 10. Some can't be found as a download. Heck, sometimes I play Sim City 2000 as bad as the graphics are with that one. lol And I have a few really old EA games I still play that aren't Sims. True Origin gives away a lot of games, but I removed Origin last year. Gave up my TS4 and my free games they gave away.
Yes, I know MS is ending support for Windows 7 next year, but just because something is new doesn't make it better, and every time they build a new OS they take away a lot of the system some people feel is important to them. It's like Windows Vista, and Windows 8 had their shortcomings, like 8 didn't have the start menu, and why 10 does. I'm sure 10 will be around for many years, but I doubt this is the last OS MS will build though they say it is. It's not a flashpan like Vista, or 8 but I'm skipping it anyway. And if TS5 is built so that it doesn't work on Windows 7 I guess I will be out of the loop on that game. Because I doubt any game can make be rebuy Windows 10. Just like I didn't like Vista or 8. And there is nothing that can make me buy or use Google Play, Google Chrome or Facebook.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
I had no problem at all going to Windows 10. Also some of the issues users most complained of in the beginning has been fixed so it actually is very easy to use now. I love Windows 10 so much better than Windows 7 now - I could never go back. LOL.
Green Eggs and Ham, I don't like apps, and I like a file system that makes sense. Apps are for phones.
Applications are just a modernized name for programs, which is the terminology used in older Windows OS. It’s all the same thing, the apps available for Windows 10 OS are still desktop class programs (aside from some mobile ports since Windows used to be a mobile platform).
The file system is really not too different from past versions of Windows. I’ve had systems running XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 10 and I have never found the system wildly different from version to version. Windows 10 is even more similar to Windows 7 than Windows 8 when speaking about the interface. I’m not trying to sell you on Windows 10, but the concerns you mentioned operate mostly the same ways in Windows 7.
I had no problem at all going to Windows 10. Also some of the issues users most complained of in the beginning has been fixed so it actually is very easy to use now. I love Windows 10 so much better than Windows 7 now - I could never go back. LOL.
Green Eggs and Ham, I don't like apps, and I like a file system that makes sense. Apps are for phones.
Applications are just a modernized name for programs, which is the terminology used in older Windows OS. It’s all the same thing, the apps available for Windows 10 OS are still desktop class programs (aside from some mobile ports since Windows used to be a mobile platform).
The file system is really not too different from past versions of Windows. I’ve had systems running XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 10 and I have never found the system wildly different from version to version. Windows 10 is even more similar to Windows 7 than Windows 8 when speaking about the interface. I’m not trying to sell you on Windows 10, but the concerns you mentioned operate mostly the same ways in Windows 7.
I think she was talking about how it was when Windows 10 first came out and it truly was nothing like Windows 7 then. She is probably unaware of how much they changed it because Microsoft actually listens and fixes things customers ask for or complains about - unlike The Sims 4.
But yes everything works much like Window 7 now - but faster and easier even in many respects. I like how it is not the least bit disruptive now compared to updating etc was with Windows 7. It runs in the background never bothering anything I have to do and never creating issues that 7 always seemed to do. So yes I love Windows 10 a lot better now than when it started.
Hey I started with pc before there was even an OS when the user had to type in all our programs and ram wasn't even a thing back in those days. I have used every OS ever made I believe at one time or other. Upgrading pcs used to involve buying circuit boards at Radio Shack and soldiering thousand of little resistors, transistors etc onto circuit boards for every thing you wanted to do on your pc. Proper beading was a must. Believe me pc and OS now a days is a breeze compared to those days. LOL. But I have experienced even the very first Windows OS - all the way to now. Believe me Windows 10 is the best yet...
"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.....
@Writin_Reg and @drake_mccarty , O.K. I might have another look at Windows 10..good news if TS5 has to be played on Windows 10 and doesn't have Windows 7 support, right? Good to know it has changed since that day they wheeled out beta, because I hated it.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
@Writin_Reg and @drake_mccarty , O.K. I might have another look at Windows 10..good news if TS5 has to be played on Windows 10 and doesn't have Windows 7 support, right? Good to know it has changed since that day they wheeled out beta, because I hated it.
Yes the Beta was horrible. I know what you mean - we were virtually using it blind but that was a huge complaint having no interface - etc and Microsoft heard us roar. They overhauled the system completely and made it much more user friendly and something we Windows users could recognize. It took a good while and several additions - but they eventually got it to where it became a breeze to use. Also when they update there's no big disruption like it was with previous versions - most of the time - the most I get is a notice to restart or a message to tell me it was updated. You can keep surfing the net - stay playing your games with no disruption at all now for updates. I use their defender system for anti-virus and that too runs with no issues with games or sims or anything.
"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.....
What if the only reason Sims, Sims 2, and Sims 3 ended when they did was because they couldn't handle more content? What if acres of ideas were left out because they just couldn't fit more in?
Right from the start it was evident with the design and structure of Sims 4 that longevity of the game had been considered and planned for. We don't "need" any Sims at all. But I'm excited to find out what's possible when a Sims game doesn't get stopped early.
What if the only reason Sims, Sims 2, and Sims 3 ended when they did was because they couldn't handle more content? What if acres of ideas were left out because they just couldn't fit more in?
Right from the start it was evident with the design and structure of Sims 4 that longevity of the game had been considered and planned for. We don't "need" any Sims at all. But I'm excited to find out what's possible when a Sims game doesn't get stopped early.
What if the only reason Sims, Sims 2, and Sims 3 ended when they did was because they couldn't handle more content? What if acres of ideas were left out because they just couldn't fit more in?
Right from the start it was evident with the design and structure of Sims 4 that longevity of the game had been considered and planned for. We don't "need" any Sims at all. But I'm excited to find out what's possible when a Sims game doesn't get stopped early.
What if the only reason Sims, Sims 2, and Sims 3 ended when they did was because they couldn't handle more content? What if acres of ideas were left out because they just couldn't fit more in?
Right from the start it was evident with the design and structure of Sims 4 that longevity of the game had been considered and planned for. We don't "need" any Sims at all. But I'm excited to find out what's possible when a Sims game doesn't get stopped early.
^This
Both Sims 2 and Sims 3 put out far more content, far more quickly, than Sims 4 has. Seriously, look at how much content there was for both at the end of their lives (four years) especially compared to Sims 4. Sims 4 apparently is beginning to have to consider performance.
I know I am in the minority here, but I kind of see the new world as a side issue - just their way of giving us a few ready-made venues set up for exclusive VIP entry without messing up our existing worlds with new lots - remember how indignant we were in TS3 when they made festival lots that were designed to plop themselves into our already-edited worlds? The way I see an EP is I am buying new gameplay, any objects and worlds are simply in support of the new gameplay to get us started. I only have a few households that are suited to living in Hollywood, and they include Michael Jackson and Emma Watson. I also have members of the British royal family but they would hate it there, they have large country retreats in my game. All the other sims in my game will probably only go to Hollywood for evenings out. After all - it takes no longer to get from The Bluffs to a nightclub in the new world as it would to pop next door to the same club if you were already living there!
No, I don't? I was happy with those lots and downloaded them right away. Why did they make you indignant? For me a new world has always been a very important part of the whole experience. And for me it's more than something to look at.
It was because many (if not most) people had already made their large parks into different types of lots and didn't like having to choose between having the park back (now festival/seasonal changing) or keeping the lot they had been working hard on. And some people were caught off guard and did not notice they had a choice so it overwrote by surprise. The gurus are aware of this, that's why they mention being careful not to alter lots on existing worlds.
Didn’t you have to add the lot manually..?
Later on I think they improved how it worked, but I remember a time when you got offered the lot to overwrite your existing park lot (which may have no longer even been a park at that time) or not use it at all. So it did cause some people to get fedup.
Yes, I was playing in Sunlit Tides when they released Seasons and I remember I had to download the festival lot through the Exchange (a developer/guru had created it) and I had to replace the lot in my game. I don’t really understand the problem though (unless indeed you had changed that particular lot but I don’t really understand what should have been the alternative or what the connection is with the tiny world for GF).
Ok the point I had been trying to make was that they probably don't really want to give us any more residential lots at all, really, because the more residential lots there are to fill, the more sims we will make, the more of them will be "our" sims that we don't want culled etc, and we already know that total number of sims is one of the things that affects performance. So they would have probably preferred not to give us any more lots at all, which means no more worlds at all, so they're rationing the number of lots with each new world to try not to end up with more lots than the game can happily support by the time all the EPs and new worlds are out.
That’s in fact a very interesting (and insightful) theory, because that would be a downside of and jeopardize the much praised principle of all worlds being connected. Seriously, I hadn’t thought of it this way yet but who knows, yes.
Comments
I've had this machine for about 10 years, give or take. So I'm sure I am way overdue. lol
I wouldn't throw away your old machine. Keep it for backup as some games don't play on Windows 10 without a lot of help. eg. The Sims.
It has improved a lot this year but gave me a lot of stress when I opted to be a Windows Insider when it was first offered. It does play Sims 4 smoothly as EA and Microsoft tested it early on.
I've given Microsoft a lot of ranting feedback as an Insider and "me too"s in the Help site problems pages and it looks like they do listen. I can now play SimCity Societies and a couple of other old games that were barred before but be prepared for huge updates before your new PC is ready for use! Be prepared for it being too "Plumb" (insert swear word here) helpful. The OS has Ransomware protection built in now, which is a plus and I haven't had any virus/trojan problems just using Defender.
What apps - You mean all the free apps Microsoft gives you from the Microsoft store - that will even play on your pc? I really don't take advantage of them free or not as I am not a mobile player. I have two Ultimate Yatzy - and New York Times Crosswordpuzzles lol. But you do not have to take any.
They do offer many free software items I do have that I had on previous machines and had to pay for. Like Paint 3D etc.
Also if you have Windows 10 pro - you can play old games as well without jumping through hoops. The home version doesn't have that perk. EA has upgraded Sims 2 Ultimate Edition and Sims 3 to windows 10 as well - so no issues playing any of those as well as Sim 4. But EA has made most of all their older games Windows 10 compatible as well on Origin. I have a lot of them that have all been updated in the last year or so.
"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 use mine for the same.
If you are looking out for a machine to play a Sims5 you'll need to be a clairvoyant! Maybe get an upgradeable machine? At least one with a three year warranty and a good video card. I have an NVidia 1060 but my laptop is nearly a year old and there are newer ones if you are willing to shell out. It's Sales time from now to Christmas and look out for Black Friday deals. 28th Nov. in the UK but it may vary elsewhere.
Wouldn't it be nice if EA/Maxis would let us know what their optimum plus specs. for a Sims 5 would be?
Since Windows 7 isn't going to be supported for much more than a year, I'm gonna have to upgrade my OS. I also need to upgrade my video card and RAM. For what all that is going to cost me, it makes more sense in my situation to just go ahead and get a new computer. Sigh, we've had a good run together tho.
good point about a lot of sales coming out between now and Christmas. Maybe i'll even hold out for the after Christmas sales.
Don't forget about cybermonday as well. There some good deals.
Please remember my follow simmers that game engine can only do so much. The more packs added in the current game will lag your computer. Hopefully we all get this thread back on topic.
Exactly. And it was yet another reminder of how I think these next three years are likely to go when I was reading about Get Famous, the world size and thought about future worlds. I just don't see this game in 3 years time being much better than it is now and I'm not talking about more content, of course there will be packs with new stuff, but I don't see it being better with the things you mentioned like consequences, personalities, etc..
I don't think I'll ever get used to that. I'd rather just bow out if that and more of what's currently happening now is how we can expect a possible TS5 to go.
Even now, learning more about TS4 and its future I feel more passionate about the fact that I won't be able to play TS3 or TS2 for a couple of weeks than I do about another disappointment in TS4. I'm not even disappointed. I guess I feel more numb now than ever. I expect for something to not be as good as it could be and for there to be limitations that would stifle my gameplay. I even expect the explanations that don't add up even when I think about it and try to give the benefit of the doubt. It's probably expected as I'm someone who's been more wary and disappointed since the beginning but now even my hopes for a Sims 5 are ghosting against the ground ready to drop. My expectations for a Sims 5 are even lower. I wouldn't say I'm entirely okay with feeling this way about a game series I love but I'm closer to the point where I will be.
If TS4 is the end for The Sims series or TS3 is the end for me then I'm more okay with that now than I've ever been. I'd imagine I'll be disappointed but I'll be okay.
Yes I have a feeling it's this exactly. More lots = more sims. If they are really planning three+ more years of content, several more worlds as indications predict, and every EP was the size of Windenburg, then at the end people might end up having 400 or more of their "favorite" sims that they just couldn't let go of and complain about lag and performance. It might even drag the game to a complete halt on some configurations.
Sim Stuff by Pegasys
If the issue is how many sims are in the game why make it that the game still generates so many when players make a lot of their own? I always wondered this as I have quite a bit of sims in my game I want to keep around that I either made or gave makeovers to and Yet the game still generates even more. I feel like there should be a toggle to stop the generation of sims after a certain amount. Unless there already is and I just haven't reached that limit yet? But quite frankly I get tired of the over generation of sims in the homeless bin when I already have plenty of my own created homeless sims.
Let me also add It messes with filling jobs too. The game will choose to fill the jobs with sims it creates instead of using my unemployed sims and that too bothers me. Regardless of whether that has been in previous games or not this is the 4th iteration and someone somewhere should have come up with some kind of solution for that after all these years.
TS1-TS3 were so fun (and funny), but TS3 never worked right for me, and I spent sooooo much $$ on it (and the Sims store).
TS4 more than makes up for that with its stability and gorgeous graphics. I’m assuming the TS4 game must be more demanding and the engine more complex than TS1-TS3, and I’m glad they’re taking their time and making a great game.
ETA I do wish they’d add more weirdness and random unpredictability (in gameplay and in Sims’ behavior)
You already can limit the number of Sims in your game. I'm not sure 200 sims spread out over a few more lots would make so much of a difference.
ETA: I'd think the solution for people with low end systems is for them to use fewer sims instead of forcing everyone to use fewer lots/sims.
But Pro cost more, and I think you missed I play many old games that have SafeDisk as the DRM and 10 will not allow scrdrive to be installed making those old discs useless. You do have to jump through some hoops to get those games to play on 10. Some can't be found as a download. Heck, sometimes I play Sim City 2000 as bad as the graphics are with that one. lol And I have a few really old EA games I still play that aren't Sims. True Origin gives away a lot of games, but I removed Origin last year. Gave up my TS4 and my free games they gave away.
Yes, I know MS is ending support for Windows 7 next year, but just because something is new doesn't make it better, and every time they build a new OS they take away a lot of the system some people feel is important to them. It's like Windows Vista, and Windows 8 had their shortcomings, like 8 didn't have the start menu, and why 10 does. I'm sure 10 will be around for many years, but I doubt this is the last OS MS will build though they say it is. It's not a flashpan like Vista, or 8 but I'm skipping it anyway. And if TS5 is built so that it doesn't work on Windows 7 I guess I will be out of the loop on that game. Because I doubt any game can make be rebuy Windows 10. Just like I didn't like Vista or 8. And there is nothing that can make me buy or use Google Play, Google Chrome or Facebook.
Applications are just a modernized name for programs, which is the terminology used in older Windows OS. It’s all the same thing, the apps available for Windows 10 OS are still desktop class programs (aside from some mobile ports since Windows used to be a mobile platform).
The file system is really not too different from past versions of Windows. I’ve had systems running XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 10 and I have never found the system wildly different from version to version. Windows 10 is even more similar to Windows 7 than Windows 8 when speaking about the interface. I’m not trying to sell you on Windows 10, but the concerns you mentioned operate mostly the same ways in Windows 7.
I think she was talking about how it was when Windows 10 first came out and it truly was nothing like Windows 7 then. She is probably unaware of how much they changed it because Microsoft actually listens and fixes things customers ask for or complains about - unlike The Sims 4.
But yes everything works much like Window 7 now - but faster and easier even in many respects. I like how it is not the least bit disruptive now compared to updating etc was with Windows 7. It runs in the background never bothering anything I have to do and never creating issues that 7 always seemed to do. So yes I love Windows 10 a lot better now than when it started.
Hey I started with pc before there was even an OS when the user had to type in all our programs and ram wasn't even a thing back in those days. I have used every OS ever made I believe at one time or other. Upgrading pcs used to involve buying circuit boards at Radio Shack and soldiering thousand of little resistors, transistors etc onto circuit boards for every thing you wanted to do on your pc. Proper beading was a must. Believe me pc and OS now a days is a breeze compared to those days. LOL. But I have experienced even the very first Windows OS - all the way to now. Believe me Windows 10 is the best yet...
"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.....
Yes the Beta was horrible. I know what you mean - we were virtually using it blind but that was a huge complaint having no interface - etc and Microsoft heard us roar. They overhauled the system completely and made it much more user friendly and something we Windows users could recognize. It took a good while and several additions - but they eventually got it to where it became a breeze to use. Also when they update there's no big disruption like it was with previous versions - most of the time - the most I get is a notice to restart or a message to tell me it was updated. You can keep surfing the net - stay playing your games with no disruption at all now for updates. I use their defender system for anti-virus and that too runs with no issues with games or sims or anything.
"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.....
^This
Both Sims 2 and Sims 3 put out far more content, far more quickly, than Sims 4 has. Seriously, look at how much content there was for both at the end of their lives (four years) especially compared to Sims 4. Sims 4 apparently is beginning to have to consider performance.