I miss worlds the size of Windenburg. I love Forgotten Hollow and Glimmerbrook, but I can't stand how few lots they have. This is why we desperately need Create-A-World - so players can create worlds of different sizes. I really miss being able to place lots like in TS3 too, that was great as it allowed players creativity and flexibility. We could place as few or as many as we wanted (or the computer could handle).
It drives me bonkers when we get a new world with no empty lots like Britechester, as I don't like to evict premades but I have no choice. At least we're getting some empty lots in Henford, I think? I grew up in rural England so I love the theme of this world, and can understand it not being huge (because English villages aren't), but we do need space for our Sims...
I have sympathy for people on older computers (been there, done that), and I know EA want to sell the Sims to a big a customer base as possible, but technology evolves and trying to cater to people on potatoes is really holding the game back. It doesn't have to be either "you can play this on your calculator" or "you need a GTX 10,000+++" - there's an in-between, and that's where I personally think the Sims team should be aiming for.
From a technical point of view, it doesn't make sense to limit the size of worlds since "worlds" as such do not exist in the game. Worlds are just a collection of smaller maps with 3 or 4 lots each and a lot of set-dressing. The only place where worlds exist is in the 2D image used for the GUI.
So from a technical point of view, it shouldn't affect performance AT ALL to have 3 neighborhoods with 4 lots each or to have 6 neighborhoods with 4 lots each, since only one of those neighborhoods and only one lot in that neighborhood would be loaded at any given time.
One of the simsgurus posted a video from 2017 with Lindsey explaining why the worlds are small. Perhaps the moderators of this forum should pin an explanation about why the worlds are the size they are and the interconnection of each pack to create a larger world blah blah blah - then we won't yearn for a large world. Perhaps an overall Sims 4 map showing how each pack's world fits in. An official one from the Sims team would help us simmers - you know.
@troshalom Like I already mention, not everyone wants to buy 10 packs to have enough space. It makes sense for people who buy DLC but for everyone else it feels like the team is assuming we are happy to buy DLC to have more space in a sandbox life simulator with no ability to create own lots or worlds. To me that's not a customer-friendly point of view.
Yes, they have mentioned why they do things like that but it doesn't mean everyone think it's okay.
You'd rather they cram a couple huge worlds in the base game and then future packs have nothing? That would cause even more complaints. What they're trying to say is they need to space things out over time or it could impact performance. This is the first sims game where we can instantly travel to any lot in ANY world so having an infinite number of lots could be bad for performance. Unfortunately, that means limits.
So from a technical point of view, it shouldn't affect performance AT ALL to have 3 neighborhoods with 4 lots each or to have 6 neighborhoods with 4 lots each, since only one of those neighborhoods and only one lot in that neighborhood would be loaded at any given time.
This is what I have been wondering too. Cannot speak for TS3, but in TS2, if I have big enough neighborhood, it will start to lag in hood view, badly if really big hood. But that is not just a 2d image.
Lot imposters are bad in there, very low poly, but it will lag in live mode too if big enough and settings in highest (plus settings in strartup cheat so that flora will show.)
But in TS4 , lots of neighborhoods with small amount of lots in each, in the one world should not cause more lag? As it is 2d map in world view.
But then again I know nothing of these things. And do not even try to claim that I do.
My love, my love, my fearless love, I will not say goodbye..
Sea may rise, sky may fall, My love will never die..
My heart, my heart, My drowning heart, Oh all the tears I've cried
Oh I may weep forevermore, My love will never die..
From a technical point of view, it doesn't make sense to limit the size of worlds since "worlds" as such do not exist in the game. Worlds are just a collection of smaller maps with 3 or 4 lots each and a lot of set-dressing. The only place where worlds exist is in the 2D image used for the GUI.
So from a technical point of view, it shouldn't affect performance AT ALL to have 3 neighborhoods with 4 lots each or to have 6 neighborhoods with 4 lots each, since only one of those neighborhoods and only one lot in that neighborhood would be loaded at any given time.
Thank you, this is what I was asking about earlier in the thread because I really don't understand how the size of a world affects performance when we are only loading up one lot with surrounding area at a time.
EA's explanation on this doesn't sit right with me.
I just want to have more lots because I want to have a better choice and possibility to play as I want. In my opinion TS4 has two totally different trends which don't match in my opinion.
1. Young Adult sims are everywhere and the gameplay is focused on them
2. In every world we have a lot of big and huge lots and the most of the worlds are very suburbian in their style.
Maybe I'm weird, but as I see in Europe, it is extremally hard to find single young adult person, couple or young family which live in a huge house. In the most of cases, they live in apartments, small townhouses or small houses/duplex ect.
I love to have immersion in TS4. I want to place my single sims or young couples in a small lots/apartments and I want to have whole families and friends in one world. It's extremally rare to live in Los Angeles, have friends in Hannover and family in Sapporo and meet them regularry after work in Cambridge. Oh... Come on.
In another hand I just want to have more room to develop and building. If I don't want to play or build on lot which I don't like, I can easly find another one. In worlds as DLV it is impossible to do, because I have only huge, similar lots in Mirage Park ora fancy villas for celebrities. That's all.
From a technical point of view, it doesn't make sense to limit the size of worlds since "worlds" as such do not exist in the game. Worlds are just a collection of smaller maps with 3 or 4 lots each and a lot of set-dressing. The only place where worlds exist is in the 2D image used for the GUI.
So from a technical point of view, it shouldn't affect performance AT ALL to have 3 neighborhoods with 4 lots each or to have 6 neighborhoods with 4 lots each, since only one of those neighborhoods and only one lot in that neighborhood would be loaded at any given time.
Thank you, this is what I was asking about earlier in the thread because I really don't understand how the size of a world affects performance when we are only loading up one lot with surrounding area at a time.
EA's explanation on this doesn't sit right with me.
I think it has more to do with the fact that the game has to keep track of all these lots and be prepared for you to jump to any of them at any given time. There's more to the game than what happens in live mode.
From a technical point of view, it doesn't make sense to limit the size of worlds since "worlds" as such do not exist in the game. Worlds are just a collection of smaller maps with 3 or 4 lots each and a lot of set-dressing. The only place where worlds exist is in the 2D image used for the GUI.
So from a technical point of view, it shouldn't affect performance AT ALL to have 3 neighborhoods with 4 lots each or to have 6 neighborhoods with 4 lots each, since only one of those neighborhoods and only one lot in that neighborhood would be loaded at any given time.
Thank you, this is what I was asking about earlier in the thread because I really don't understand how the size of a world affects performance when we are only loading up one lot with surrounding area at a time.
EA's explanation on this doesn't sit right with me.
I think it has more to do with the fact that the game has to keep track of all these lots and be prepared for you to jump to any of them at any given time. There's more to the game than what happens in live mode.
The game doesn't keep track of anything happening in other neighborhoods. It loads the lots in the current neighborhood, but whatever's happening in San Myshuno has no impact on your game if you're currently playing in Willow Creek. Performance wise, having one more neighborhood shouldn't matter. I mean, technically, nothing is even happening in San Myshuno when you aren't there. And also, if everything was stored in memory, there wouldn't be loading screens. As soon as you change lots, that's when the game loads the data it needs, and flushes everything it doesn't need anymore.
From a technical point of view, it doesn't make sense to limit the size of worlds since "worlds" as such do not exist in the game. Worlds are just a collection of smaller maps with 3 or 4 lots each and a lot of set-dressing. The only place where worlds exist is in the 2D image used for the GUI.
So from a technical point of view, it shouldn't affect performance AT ALL to have 3 neighborhoods with 4 lots each or to have 6 neighborhoods with 4 lots each, since only one of those neighborhoods and only one lot in that neighborhood would be loaded at any given time.
Thank you, this is what I was asking about earlier in the thread because I really don't understand how the size of a world affects performance when we are only loading up one lot with surrounding area at a time.
EA's explanation on this doesn't sit right with me.
I think it has more to do with the fact that the game has to keep track of all these lots and be prepared for you to jump to any of them at any given time. There's more to the game than what happens in live mode.
The game doesn't keep track of anything happening in other neighborhoods. It loads the lots in the current neighborhood, but whatever's happening in San Myshuno has no impact on your game if you're currently playing in Willow Creek. Performance wise, having one more neighborhood shouldn't matter. I mean, technically, nothing is even happening in San Myshuno when you aren't there. And also, if everything was stored in memory, there wouldn't be loading screens. As soon as you change lots, that's when the game loads the data it needs, and flushes everything it doesn't need anymore.
This is an old tweet from twistedmexi but I like how it showcases how the game just removes everything every time you travel, even the user interface gets removed.
This is an old tweet from twistedmexi but I like how it showcases how the game just removes everything every time you travel, even the user interface gets removed.
Ok. I totally don't know why TS4 worlds are so small then. Every lot require full reupload of the neighborhood. So what is a problem to make more lots?
This is an old tweet from twistedmexi but I like how it showcases how the game just removes everything every time you travel, even the user interface gets removed.
This is an old tweet from twistedmexi but I like how it showcases how the game just removes everything every time you travel, even the user interface gets removed.
@logion Oh my god why did they make it this way? Am I the only one who thinks it makes zero sense?
I don't know, traveling from one lot to another takes very little time if you start a new game, doesn't matter if you are in Windenburg which have 27 lots or Del Sol Valley which only have 11. But if you have a save that you have played for a while these loading times are increasing a lot and the game has to remove everything and load everything again every time you travel.
Maybe they do not want to add more lots to a world is because they are worried about the total amount of data the game has to load every time.
I wouldn't be surprised if time, money and the amount of people they have available matters more though.
I'm also worried about them adding more features that will increase loading times even more, it feels like my loading times have increased a lot after they added likes/dislikes and the new hair colors.
Maybe they do not want to add more lots to a world is because they are worried about the total amount of data the game has to load every time.
That's the thing. The game does NOT load everything you have install when you travel to a location. It only loads the "map" you're travelling to and the lot you're visiting.
Maybe they do not want to add more lots to a world is because they are worried about the total amount of data the game has to load every time.
That's the thing. The game does NOT load everything you have install when you travel to a location. It only loads the "map" you're travelling to and the lot you're visiting.
Yeah so more lots or another neighborhood shouldn't increase loading times that much. But it does load all lots in one neighborhood (even the furniture on all lots), which I guess could have many objects which could reduce performance.
I'm not sure if Maxis have set limits for how many objects and lots that are allowed in one neighborhood or something. When I play it does feel like some worlds are running worse than others. And one lot can have a lot of objects if you place houses on all lots.
James Turner mentioned the object limits in his video where he shows when he built the starter home in Snowy Escape.
I think the number of neighborhoods shouldn't matter, but the number of lots in a neighborhood probably matter.
5 more extra lots and I would have been pretty satisfied with the world had hoped for a bigger sized world like Widenburgh or at least San Myshuno. Really need another big world to plop all the sims I've made over time.
Has anyone yet learned the possible size of any lots available in the new EP? I feel like building and don't wish to fall in love with a lot built on something far larger than we're likely to get.
Has anyone yet learned the possible size of any lots available in the new EP? I feel like building and don't wish to fall in love with a lot built on something far larger than we're likely to get.
The only information that I've come across about the new pack's lots is that one of the lots is 64 x 64.
I want to add that only people which have all packs or the most of packs don't complain about the number of lots. My first Expansion for TS4 was Get Famous (I bought a bundle with GF, Spa Day, Movie Hangout and Luxury Party). I remember my dissapointment, because I received celebrities, spas and some new improvements and ridiculously small space to develop. Imigine that some people will have Cottage Living only. Without alternatives, this world will be really hard to play.
Has anyone yet learned the possible size of any lots available in the new EP? I feel like building and don't wish to fall in love with a lot built on something far larger than we're likely to get.
The only information that I've come across about the new pack's lots is that one of the lots is 64 x 64.
Yay! What do you want to bet that's for the Market Place or where the contests are held? That would just be my luck. LOL
Has anyone yet learned the possible size of any lots available in the new EP? I feel like building and don't wish to fall in love with a lot built on something far larger than we're likely to get.
The only information that I've come across about the new pack's lots is that one of the lots is 64 x 64.
Yay! What do you want to bet that's for the Market Place or where the contests are held? That would just be my luck. LOL
It's certainly a nice sized lot for a farm, or a Manor House, but there's no other information about it yet, well, that I've seen.
I want to add that only people which have all packs or the most of packs don't complain about the number of lots. My first Expansion for TS4 was Get Famous (I bought a bundle with GF, Spa Day, Movie Hangout and Luxury Party). I remember my dissapointment, because I received celebrities, spas and some new improvements and ridiculously small space to develop. Imigine that some people will have Cottage Living only. Without alternatives, this world will be really hard to play.
I hear you there. I do wish they would see their way to either patching in another empty neighborhood like Newcrest, or make up a pack that includes a few more to choose from. I have Willow Creek, Oasis Springs, Newcrest, Windenburg, Magnolia Promenade (which is only four lots, three of which are already filled), Brindleton Bay, Del So Valley, Strangerville, Sulani, and University. Not bad, but I agree Del So Valley is a bit of a joke. I tore down (actually bulldozed) the lot at the top of the hill for my own Sims to live. Built a house for them. But where are the eateries? This is fashioned after Los Angeles, to some extent. As you look from that hilltop to screen left, there is a copse of skyscrapers that looks very much like Century City where the Shubert Theatre is. Saw Beauty and the Beast there in the midst of their Technical rehearsal week.
Has anyone yet learned the possible size of any lots available in the new EP? I feel like building and don't wish to fall in love with a lot built on something far larger than we're likely to get.
The only information that I've come across about the new pack's lots is that one of the lots is 64 x 64.
Yay! What do you want to bet that's for the Market Place or where the contests are held? That would just be my luck. LOL
It's certainly a nice sized lot for a farm, or a Manor House, but there's no other information about it yet, well, that I've seen.
Thanks, that's still helpful. I've already pulled some pictures of old plantation houses from the 18th century. No floorplan, sadly, but the outsides are something I can create. I may draw them up on some graph paper and then divvy up the rooms. I just know that both of my 7th great grandfathers were planters, which meant they lived on plantations. This was very early in Virginia's existence. I am aware that Toll House Farm still exists, even if it has been added onto. My 6th great-grandfather was born there in 1745, so we're talking old. It was basically very wild when they both carved out a living. Lots of trees, lots of wild animals, lots of Nations who weren't too happy with the influx of newcomers …
Has anyone yet learned the possible size of any lots available in the new EP? I feel like building and don't wish to fall in love with a lot built on something far larger than we're likely to get.
The only information that I've come across about the new pack's lots is that one of the lots is 64 x 64.
Yay! What do you want to bet that's for the Market Place or where the contests are held? That would just be my luck. LOL
There was a tweet from SimGuruRomeo which said the following, and to me implies that there will be other "larger lots" in this area that are available, just not as big as the one 64X64 which is the largest.
My username has been my internet handle for over 20 years since I was 16 and refers to when I had a crush on a very tall boy. I intend absolutely no violence toward beautiful giraffes.
Has anyone yet learned the possible size of any lots available in the new EP? I feel like building and don't wish to fall in love with a lot built on something far larger than we're likely to get.
The only information that I've come across about the new pack's lots is that one of the lots is 64 x 64.
Yay! What do you want to bet that's for the Market Place or where the contests are held? That would just be my luck. LOL
There was a tweet from SimGuruRomeo which said the following, and to me implies that there will be other "larger lots" in this area that are available, just not as big as the one 64X64 which is the largest.
"Where we have our largest lot." Sounds as if it's already in use. Oh, well, I will get to work on building on some smaller lots and try to leave room for the crops. LOL Oh, they didn't have garages back then. I have been utilizing newer floorplans, and making greenhouses out of what otherwise would have been a garage. No such building, attached or detached.
@GalacticGal What he said is where they have their largest lotS, plural, so I took that to mean that out in the countryside there is more space. I don't think it's where the market is or anything, as that would be in the town. Whether it's occupied by a premade family or not is a different question but you can always evict them.
My username has been my internet handle for over 20 years since I was 16 and refers to when I had a crush on a very tall boy. I intend absolutely no violence toward beautiful giraffes.
Comments
It drives me bonkers when we get a new world with no empty lots like Britechester, as I don't like to evict premades but I have no choice. At least we're getting some empty lots in Henford, I think? I grew up in rural England so I love the theme of this world, and can understand it not being huge (because English villages aren't), but we do need space for our Sims...
I have sympathy for people on older computers (been there, done that), and I know EA want to sell the Sims to a big a customer base as possible, but technology evolves and trying to cater to people on potatoes is really holding the game back. It doesn't have to be either "you can play this on your calculator" or "you need a GTX 10,000+++" - there's an in-between, and that's where I personally think the Sims team should be aiming for.
my new simblr
So from a technical point of view, it shouldn't affect performance AT ALL to have 3 neighborhoods with 4 lots each or to have 6 neighborhoods with 4 lots each, since only one of those neighborhoods and only one lot in that neighborhood would be loaded at any given time.
You'd rather they cram a couple huge worlds in the base game and then future packs have nothing? That would cause even more complaints. What they're trying to say is they need to space things out over time or it could impact performance. This is the first sims game where we can instantly travel to any lot in ANY world so having an infinite number of lots could be bad for performance. Unfortunately, that means limits.
This is what I have been wondering too. Cannot speak for TS3, but in TS2, if I have big enough neighborhood, it will start to lag in hood view, badly if really big hood. But that is not just a 2d image.
Lot imposters are bad in there, very low poly, but it will lag in live mode too if big enough and settings in highest (plus settings in strartup cheat so that flora will show.)
But in TS4 , lots of neighborhoods with small amount of lots in each, in the one world should not cause more lag? As it is 2d map in world view.
But then again I know nothing of these things. And do not even try to claim that I do.
Sea may rise, sky may fall, My love will never die..
My heart, my heart, My drowning heart, Oh all the tears I've cried
Oh I may weep forevermore, My love will never die..
EA's explanation on this doesn't sit right with me.
I just want to have more lots because I want to have a better choice and possibility to play as I want. In my opinion TS4 has two totally different trends which don't match in my opinion.
1. Young Adult sims are everywhere and the gameplay is focused on them
2. In every world we have a lot of big and huge lots and the most of the worlds are very suburbian in their style.
Maybe I'm weird, but as I see in Europe, it is extremally hard to find single young adult person, couple or young family which live in a huge house. In the most of cases, they live in apartments, small townhouses or small houses/duplex ect.
I love to have immersion in TS4. I want to place my single sims or young couples in a small lots/apartments and I want to have whole families and friends in one world. It's extremally rare to live in Los Angeles, have friends in Hannover and family in Sapporo and meet them regularry after work in Cambridge. Oh... Come on.
In another hand I just want to have more room to develop and building. If I don't want to play or build on lot which I don't like, I can easly find another one. In worlds as DLV it is impossible to do, because I have only huge, similar lots in Mirage Park ora fancy villas for celebrities. That's all.
I think it has more to do with the fact that the game has to keep track of all these lots and be prepared for you to jump to any of them at any given time. There's more to the game than what happens in live mode.
The game doesn't keep track of anything happening in other neighborhoods. It loads the lots in the current neighborhood, but whatever's happening in San Myshuno has no impact on your game if you're currently playing in Willow Creek. Performance wise, having one more neighborhood shouldn't matter. I mean, technically, nothing is even happening in San Myshuno when you aren't there. And also, if everything was stored in memory, there wouldn't be loading screens. As soon as you change lots, that's when the game loads the data it needs, and flushes everything it doesn't need anymore.
This is an old tweet from twistedmexi but I like how it showcases how the game just removes everything every time you travel, even the user interface gets removed.
@logion Oh my god why did they make it this way? Am I the only one who thinks it makes zero sense?
Can someone explain this mechanic?
The entire game makes zero sense. If you told me it was made by a few college students with no game development experience I‘d believe you.
I don't know, traveling from one lot to another takes very little time if you start a new game, doesn't matter if you are in Windenburg which have 27 lots or Del Sol Valley which only have 11. But if you have a save that you have played for a while these loading times are increasing a lot and the game has to remove everything and load everything again every time you travel.
Maybe they do not want to add more lots to a world is because they are worried about the total amount of data the game has to load every time.
I wouldn't be surprised if time, money and the amount of people they have available matters more though.
I'm also worried about them adding more features that will increase loading times even more, it feels like my loading times have increased a lot after they added likes/dislikes and the new hair colors.
That's the thing. The game does NOT load everything you have install when you travel to a location. It only loads the "map" you're travelling to and the lot you're visiting.
Yeah so more lots or another neighborhood shouldn't increase loading times that much. But it does load all lots in one neighborhood (even the furniture on all lots), which I guess could have many objects which could reduce performance.
I'm not sure if Maxis have set limits for how many objects and lots that are allowed in one neighborhood or something. When I play it does feel like some worlds are running worse than others. And one lot can have a lot of objects if you place houses on all lots.
James Turner mentioned the object limits in his video where he shows when he built the starter home in Snowy Escape.
I think the number of neighborhoods shouldn't matter, but the number of lots in a neighborhood probably matter.
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
The only information that I've come across about the new pack's lots is that one of the lots is 64 x 64.
Yay! What do you want to bet that's for the Market Place or where the contests are held? That would just be my luck. LOL
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
It's certainly a nice sized lot for a farm, or a Manor House, but there's no other information about it yet, well, that I've seen.
I hear you there. I do wish they would see their way to either patching in another empty neighborhood like Newcrest, or make up a pack that includes a few more to choose from. I have Willow Creek, Oasis Springs, Newcrest, Windenburg, Magnolia Promenade (which is only four lots, three of which are already filled), Brindleton Bay, Del So Valley, Strangerville, Sulani, and University. Not bad, but I agree Del So Valley is a bit of a joke. I tore down (actually bulldozed) the lot at the top of the hill for my own Sims to live. Built a house for them. But where are the eateries? This is fashioned after Los Angeles, to some extent. As you look from that hilltop to screen left, there is a copse of skyscrapers that looks very much like Century City where the Shubert Theatre is. Saw Beauty and the Beast there in the midst of their Technical rehearsal week.
Thanks, that's still helpful. I've already pulled some pictures of old plantation houses from the 18th century. No floorplan, sadly, but the outsides are something I can create. I may draw them up on some graph paper and then divvy up the rooms. I just know that both of my 7th great grandfathers were planters, which meant they lived on plantations. This was very early in Virginia's existence. I am aware that Toll House Farm still exists, even if it has been added onto. My 6th great-grandfather was born there in 1745, so we're talking old. It was basically very wild when they both carved out a living. Lots of trees, lots of wild animals, lots of Nations who weren't too happy with the influx of newcomers …
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
There was a tweet from SimGuruRomeo which said the following, and to me implies that there will be other "larger lots" in this area that are available, just not as big as the one 64X64 which is the largest.
"Where we have our largest lot." Sounds as if it's already in use. Oh, well, I will get to work on building on some smaller lots and try to leave room for the crops. LOL Oh, they didn't have garages back then. I have been utilizing newer floorplans, and making greenhouses out of what otherwise would have been a garage. No such building, attached or detached.
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/