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👽 "My Face is Melting," a thread on the Alien face bug no one's fixing

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CementCement Posts: 3,505 Member
This bug is still active as of September 2021. Any notable changes will be appended here.


This isn't the first topic on this issue, but I wanted more awareness on this actual, gamebreaking bug for those who play the Sims for the genetics/legacy play and especially for those who play with occults--namely aliens.
Alien faces are still broken.

Alien faces will distort when they age up or down, whether it be in CAS or in Live mode. Eyes would enlarge, the nose will shrink, and the chins will become pointy. These modified changes affect their children, both full alien and half-alien (on the premise they TFB post-distortion). Genetics is essentially broken for aliens.

TRAdosg.gif

Here are also some stills for comparison.

2vZxm3M.png

I'm hoping that if more people know about this issue, maybe there would be an actual possibility for EA to fix it after all these years. That's right; Years. This bug has been prevalent in-game after only a few months of the very first TS4 Expansion Pack, Get to Work was released in Late March 2015. In the following months of June, July, August, September and October of the same year, this bug has been reported. Going onto 2016, 2017, 2018 and now toward the end of this year, this bug is still not fixed despite other reports on the issue. My tests for this glitch in 2016 and 2017 are archived here, but I always test this issue with every patch with the same result of it not being fixed.

I am aware this face glitch is similar to the male face glitch posed from the early release of the game, where male sims would age up with small eyes and wide jaws; As it was fixed then, I am hoping the fix would be similar for aliens. As a note, I would like to include that this glitch is not as noticeable if the affected features (eyes, nose, chin) are not modified past the generic "alien face" standard. This means randomly generated alien townies that were not modified whatsoever will not be submitted to facial distortion unless you were to take that alien into CAS and change those specific features.

See below for an exaggerated example of facial distortion:
h0riwxT.gif

This bug has been tested with and without mods, and there is an AHQ thread.

I assume the low popularity of aliens in comparison to other occults is the reason for the neglect and notice of this issue. Still, even if you find the aliens in your game extremely annoying, please click Me Too on the AHQ thread so this glitch can be looked at and be fixed by the team. We should all strive to have a bug-free game 👽

Thank you for reading 💕
Post edited by EA_Cade on

Comments

  • FaberriesFaberries Posts: 1,354 Member
    Thank you for making this thread. This has been bothering me for so long. I’ve played with aliens once when the pack first came out, noticed their faces got messed up, and decided i wont play them again until it’s fixed.

    I once used a mod that fixed the same issue for normal sims, so it’s not like it’s impossible to fix. I can’t believe that it’s still there after so many years :/
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  • AineAine Posts: 3,043 Member
    edited December 2019
    There are mods that address similar issues, but I'm not sure if it actually works for aliens. For instance this mod was made ages ago and addresses some issues that the game used to have (not anymore as far as I can tell) - maybe a similar mod could be made for aliens? I'm not a modder though, so I'm not completely sure.
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  • SilentKittySilentKitty Posts: 4,665 Member
    edited December 2019
    Thank you!!

    Yes, this is a really awful bug, especially when you try to do legacies. Added my voice to it, had a poor little sim that was so distorted after ageing up that I took him out of the game.

    It just feels really wrong when you don't recognize your sims anymore. I often play without headline effects so I have no name-tag or plumbob floating above the sims. I like it that way. It gets really odd when you play for a bit longer time and your townie sims start agening up. Once a sim-friend was out with their club on an event and sporting their outfit, didn't know it was my sims buddy until they started talking... that was odd. Or when they are wearing their usual everyday wear and you sort of stop in your tracks and zoom in close. Is that the neighbor or did a new townie sim spawn with the same outfit?

    When I play with headline effects on I know who they are, but still feel sad about it. Also, my main legacy are forbidden to add aliens spouses because I run the as a genetic challenge on the side and that won't jive.

    Todays patch was really good for several of my occult-bugs, now I would like to see this oldie but not goodie gone as well.
    Post edited by SilentKitty on
  • CementCement Posts: 3,505 Member
    @Faberries Yeah, it was getting pretty annoying that it seemed like no one was recognizing this as a problem--And seeing the AHQ thread at <20 Me Toos made me worried this was going to stay broken forever once TS4 runs its course. Hopefully more awareness would get this dumb glitch fixed.
    Regarding the old face glitch mod, @Aine, I'm not a modder either so I don't know how to fix it :pensive: I would've done it a long time ago if I could! Even if there is a mod that would fix this issue, the fact that we need a mod to make this lifestate playable is embarrassing on EA's part. :/

    @SilentKitty Yeah, the alien I use is my super-sim, but I play with aging on and seeing his face distort when he got older was depressing. He's been barred from having kids, and the only current ones he has are basically clones I had to cheat with MCC. :/ I stopped aging for all the aliens in my whole save too, just because I don't want their faces ruined. :(
  • KaronKaron Posts: 2,332 Member
    I would like to add up a feature I'd like to have for aliens. i like that we have disguises in Sims 4, but I hate that the disguise looks like a completely different sim. I'd rather have the skin color change to a normal sim, as well as the pointy ears and the alien eyes, but keeping all the rest. Would be more pleasing to see, honestly.
  • SeaDragonSongSeaDragonSong Posts: 2,324 Member
    Karon wrote: »
    I would like to add up a feature I'd like to have for aliens. i like that we have disguises in Sims 4, but I hate that the disguise looks like a completely different sim. I'd rather have the skin color change to a normal sim, as well as the pointy ears and the alien eyes, but keeping all the rest. Would be more pleasing to see, honestly.

    We can change their disguise to look like themselves (without alien details of course), but I agree, it'd be nice to have it done automatically.
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  • keekee53keekee53 Posts: 4,328 Member
    wow I probably would have not noticed because I usually keep them in disguise. I wonder if that is why there was no visibility around it. Thanks for the thread so I at least know about it.
  • KaronKaron Posts: 2,332 Member
    It also happens when you have half-alien kids. They'll only inherit the human genes + maybe the skin/eye color form the alien. I noticed that playing with Aileen Rauvu, cuz she has some extreme facial features that never translated to her kids.
  • InfraGreenInfraGreen Posts: 6,693 Member
    Bumping to say what @Cement reported is still ongoing even in June 2020. I don't play with aliens, but I respect those that do even when they can't keep their faces. I did the CAS test just to confirm:

    efYDcgZ.png

    QcX7QfE.png

    The difference is clear even though she blinked. Mouth unaffected, rest of face is.
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  • kwanzaabotkwanzaabot Posts: 2,440 Member
    I've got a feeling it'll never be fixed, tbh.
    99% of patches these days don't even acknowledge Get to Work.
    wJbomAo.png
  • MaggieMarleyMaggieMarley Posts: 5,299 Member
    edited June 2020
    I am also still getting this in my game. It is particularly obvious in the case of this alien (look at how much longer her chin gets between YA and adult!):
    7C1bj3L.png?1
    YA

    JDaienF.png?1
    Adult

    (she has a human skin tone due to a glitch but she is full alien)

    I'll hit 'me too' on the bug report thread.
    Post edited by MaggieMarley on
  • CementCement Posts: 3,505 Member
    A not-so-happy 5th birthday to the alien face glitch. Thanks @InfraGreen <3

    Maybe someday they'll fix it, but as @kwanzaabot said, they don't even acknowledge GTW--Lately, or ever. Even when 2/3 jobs became unplayable, it took them more than half a year to fix it or give notice that it was broken. Even now some people still have the pregnancy job requirement in the Doctor career broken and the only walkarounds are to quit and reemploy, or cheat.

    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


    @MaggieMarley Re: human skin tones on aliens, it is a possibility, not a glitch, to have aliens with human skin tones via generational breeding. Last I recalled doing ts4 sim genetics, it can happen as early as the 3rd or 4th generation, as 2nd gen human/alien children are more likely to get alien skin vs alien occult. :)
  • MaggieMarleyMaggieMarley Posts: 5,299 Member
    @Cement interesting to know that you can get aliens with human skin tones without a glitch! In my case it was a glitch, however. I got her when I mixed the genetics of a first gen alien (born from an alien abduction) with a human in CAS. She shouldn't even be a full alien given that her mother is human but she is.
  • CementCement Posts: 3,505 Member
    edited June 2020
    @MaggieMarley Wow, that's pretty cool! I wonder if it could be recreated? 🤔

    I haven't done any more genetics testing for a while with school and work in the way, but I absolutely loved looking at sim genetics, especially ones with my aliens. ...Though my legacies with aliens have been halted for the past several years since aliens are apparently banned from ever breeding thanks to EA. It's difficult to gauge alien genetics because of this glitch, but, in reference to your odd outcome, I had full human girls from an alien/human couple in-game.
    They both have human skin and no alien features (if not counting their shrunken, pointed chins and abnormally small noses thanks to the glitch) as second-gen, but only full-alien children in the 3rd or 4th gen of a family that mingled with aliens. I guess humans are more likely as an outcome since "half-alien" sims are still considered human despite prompts of them being able to "ask about atmospheric pressure" and all that. (Unfortunate for my tastes, tbh)

    I do wonder if they changed anything else with sim genetics for this iteration, but I kind of doubt it since one of the most interesting wrenches to genetic pools is completely botched. I doubt that ts4's simgenetics would ever hold a candle to sims 2's, but if we're getting any closer there it'd be a step in the right direction.

    ...not that EA ever knows what direction that is ok i'll stop being salty
  • AyKooChaoAyKooChao Posts: 676 Member
    I've clicked "me too" and asked @SimGuruNick about it on Twitter. No reply yet.
    #ConsistencyForAliensTS4
  • iliekponieziliekponiez Posts: 454 Member
    I love aliens so much. I hope they finally fix this! :(
  • CementCement Posts: 3,505 Member
    @AyKooChao i sent my save file to him years ago when they suspected it was just my file, but its obviously the game... and he never got back to me
    Did you get a reply at all?

    @iliekponiez Hopefully they will, though the future is bleak. 😔


    Thread Update, it's still broken to no one's surprise 👋
  • drakharisdrakharis Posts: 1,478 Member
    Faberries wrote: »
    Thank you for making this thread. This has been bothering me for so long. I’ve played with aliens once when the pack first came out, noticed their faces got messed up, and decided i wont play them again until it’s fixed.

    I once used a mod that fixed the same issue for normal sims, so it’s not like it’s impossible to fix. I can’t believe that it’s still there after so many years :/

    I agree.

    I would love our aliens to get some love. Fixing their faces for starters. I thought it was my imagination that the aliens hadn't been fixed yet. If they had an explanation like a long face for aliens are a trait for them it would add to the back story and I wouldn't mind. Or if they used a reason like being in the worlds of our sims causes them the side effect of getting a long face with age.
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  • IvyeyedIvyeyed Posts: 358 Member
    Is THIS why my sim ended up looking so weird as he aged? I kept him disguised most of the time so didn’t notice, and then when I undisguised him I thought I was having a senior moment several decades before I should be due. I was like “did he always look like that???”
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  • SquirrelTail15SquirrelTail15 Posts: 259 Member
    It's not just this. Aliens in this game are so buggy. I hate that Get To Work is never acknowledged. It's one of my favourite packs, but I'd never say that because it's clear that some of the newer game packs are getting more content than it. Kinda sad really.
    But anyway, there are a lot of alien glitches and I hope that they actually start fixing them soon (especially this one).
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  • SilentKittySilentKitty Posts: 4,665 Member
    Still going strong, maybe one day our aliens will age up into adults without getting a new face.
  • CementCement Posts: 3,505 Member
    @drakharis tbh i'd be actually annoyed if they retconned this glitch as "an alien thing." If that's the case, then why even have customization in the first place?
    They could've left the "small eyes, wide jaw" 2016 face glitch for male sims in the game and lazily call it a feature, too--But it was fixed because people started pointing it out and forcing them to fix the game- breaking bug. That's why I won't even settle for a lazy reason like "sim-earth makes their faces distort," because then they should add a feature where human sims suffer facial distortion when they visit sixam without a spacesuit on. :unamused:

    I'm just hoping the reason that people don't know about it is because its subtle, plus no one really plays with aliens as their regular alien form with the introduction of alien disguises.
    There's also an odd stigma against aliens on this forum from what I've gathered ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    @Ivyeyed Yeah, that's the same reaction when my teenage alien aged into a YA. I normally make all my sims with smaller eyes and varied noses, so I noticed those were really off the moment he took off his disguise :/

    @SquirrelTail15 I still love GTW as my top favorite pack, despite the whole pack itself being a mess lmao. It added the careers I wanted in the game, plus my favorite occult--I just wish they actually tried to fix the mess they made instead of pretending it doesn't exist, then proceeding to rip assets from it to put in other packs (re: Moschino Stuff Pack). EA... :unamused:

    @SilentKitty Here's to hoping for a better tomorrow, or rather an update that actually fixes this :/
  • drakharisdrakharis Posts: 1,478 Member
    @Cement I don't know why there is a stigma against aliens. I love them just wish more was done with and for them. They seem like an afterthought with no playable world in the sense of worlds like Forgotten Hollow and Glimmerbrook for Vampires and Spellcasters, decent clothing, unique foods to make, unique skills to learn and more.
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  • FlapFlap Posts: 200 Member
    oh gosh, I would never knew it without this topic! Left my "me too" on EA Answers to help.

    Maxis, please fix aliens! They're our most honorary (with ghosts) occult.
  • CementCement Posts: 3,505 Member
    Hello everyone, just leaving another update about this face bug; It's still in the game after the 11/10/2020 patch.
    Tested without mods as per usual. 😔
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