The Sims 4 Megathread - I Hate You...But I Must Have You!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > The Sims 4 Megathread - I Hate You...But I Must Have You!

oh jay: Oct 15, 2012

Ruflux posted:

So this is new, somebody made a smooth patch for Sims 3.

Doesn't really sound like much, does it? Just upping the tickrate on the UI. But holy loving poo poo it completely changes the game. CAS loads fast and runs smooth no matter what you play around with. Build-buy opens up quickly and works properly. The UI is responsive and doesn't lag. Even the loving game camera is finally responsive and smooth and fast! It's a huge QoL improvement from my testing and basically takes the Sims 3 user experience from garbage straight to much better than Sims 4, which used to be top dog for this but these days I find has massive delays in opening up pie menus, switching sims or pausing the game.

I'm honestly stunned that a mod that's this huge for game playability can happen nearly 11 years after the game itself launched, finally resolving a massive problem that wasn't necessarily even recognized as a specific problem, merely generally poor performance. And I mean, it's no wonder since the default tickrate is 30 per second and this takes it to 500 or optionally 1000 if you want to squeeze more performance out of it. That's a huge leap.

Here's an imgur gallery with a couple of gifs demonstrating it, but it's really one of those "you have to try it yourself to see the difference" things.

Does it let me run Sims 3 with all expansions without a supercomputer? Or does more ticks per second mean I need an even more super supercomputer?

Sims 3 is seriously at the top of my list of games to play once I build a really nice gaming rig.

# ? Aug 4, 2021 20:14

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# ? Apr 25, 2024 12:30

TheWorldsaStage: Sep 10, 2020

It's a shame you can't put the sims 4 sims in 3. It's a personal thing but I could never go back to puddins, no matter if a tech wizard made it playable.

# ? Aug 4, 2021 21:23

new boot goofin: Jul 23, 2007; like school in july

I've found I also miss the multitasking in 4 whenever I go back to play 3. The Sims in 3 feel kind of lifeless in comparison because of that... Like they're able to socialize more organically while eating together and drinking out at the bar, et cetera.

# ? Aug 5, 2021 00:47

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

new boot goofin posted:

I've found I also miss the multitasking in 4 whenever I go back to play 3. The Sims in 3 feel kind of lifeless in comparison because of that... Like they're able to socialize more organically while eating together and drinking out at the bar, et cetera.

This was in 2, too. They really removed it in 3?

# ? Aug 5, 2021 06:18

oh jay: Oct 15, 2012

Sims in 3 will chat while doing certain actions, but the situations are pretty niche and limited. Like, 2 sims eating dinner at the same table will chat, but one sims eating and another sim idling won't, unless you specifically make them.

# ? Aug 5, 2021 06:36

Dareon: Apr 6, 2009; by vyelkin

They also stop eating to do it, so meals take at least twice as long. Which is a problem when you're trying to get three kids (An alien and a pair of twins, one genie, one werewolf) to school on time and little Hairy didn't get his bath last night because SK'zzrx'x'x'x broke the bathtub.

# ? Aug 5, 2021 07:33

Ruflux: Jun 16, 2012

oh jay posted:

Does it let me run Sims 3 with all expansions without a supercomputer? Or does more ticks per second mean I need an even more super supercomputer?

Sims 3 is seriously at the top of my list of games to play once I build a really nice gaming rig.

Depends. I've heard good things from people and I've tested it myself on my OC'd 2500k which already ran the game about as well as you could, at around 60fps but with drops here and there as the simulation did work. This mod completely fixed the lagginess involving moving the game camera and the UI for me, including CAS and create-a-style. I haven't tested it on a laptop or anything, but I feel like upping the tickrate on the UI is probably not exactly a massive extra burden on anything even remotely modern. Either way, the old advice about not running all the expansions kind of holds true IMO. I do it but I don't really need many of the packs I have to the point I have started considering getting rid of some. Not really for performance, just because there's too much content in the game to deal with.

new boot goofin posted:

I've found I also miss the multitasking in 4 whenever I go back to play 3. The Sims in 3 feel kind of lifeless in comparison because of that... Like they're able to socialize more organically while eating together and drinking out at the bar, et cetera.

I've really grown to hate the multitasking in 4 because not only does it take them forever to eat because of the conversation or whatever else interrupting them, they also tend to move around, switch chairs, etc. for no goddamn reason while they attempt it which just makes it even slower. In 3 and 2 they just talk, while eating, no specific interaction. It works way better.

# ? Aug 5, 2021 10:28

cheesetriangles: Jan 5, 2011

Last thing I want to do while eating is ever talking to the people I�m with save that for while waiting for the check.

# ? Aug 5, 2021 10:50

Fleta Mcgurn: Oct 5, 2003; Porpoise noise continues.

BattyKiara posted:

Give us a Let's Play of your commune, please?

Even better, I'll give you the rules. Because all the cool people are making up their own Sims rules, right?

Remember when Sims Challenges were all the jizz? Well, here's the Free Love Commune Challenge, I guess, based on my weird upbringing and also stereotypes about hippies I find either true or hilarious:

1. You need to mod the game so that people don't have minimum Woohoo requirements or jealous reactions. I use MCCC. Doing this without mods is possible, but way harder, because social harmony is the name of this game. You also need to make sure there are no household population limits. Finally, ensure that you have some form of risky Woohoo enabled. I set mine to 10% chance of pregnancy and usually find that sustainable.

2. Start on any lot you like. You can move into houses or start from scratch, doesn't matter. What DOES matter is that you add lot challenges: Off-the-Grid and Simple Living.

3. You start with one Sim. Have as many pets as you want, but only one Sim to start. They can have any traits and preferences you want, e.g. being a spellcaster. Feel free to pick beneficial traits for this Sim, because it's your only opportunity to do so.

The population of your commune is allowed to grow in two ways:

- Moving in other Sims. You can move in townies, player Sims, whatever. Sims moving in can bring their partners and families, including minor children. However, they may also move in by themselves. If they are living with adult children, they're not allowed to move in, because I know from experience that if your mom and dad make you live in a hippie hut you probably won't keep it up as an adult because was embarrassing to be the Sprouts Kid who smells a tiny bit off at school.

Sims moving in may contribute up to 1,000 simoleons towards the household, but no more. If they come in with more, you need to use cheats to get rid of the extra cash.

- Having babies. You MUST either use a risky woohoo cheat or "Try For Baby" every time, although I find the latter immersion-breaking. Any commune member who gets pregnant must keep the baby. Every commune member is equally responsible for childrearing and support. The parents do not both have to be commune members. You must hit "random" or use a random traits generator for all the children and you may not alter their appearances because we are permitting full self-expression here!

4. Your commune must be entirely self-sufficient. Your Sims cannot have jobs. They can, however, support themselves and the commune in the following ways:

- Gardening
- Farming and animal husbandry (milking, eggs, selling animals if that's a thing I can't remember, etc.)
- Making things (this includes things like baking pies and selling them, woodworking, painting, juice-pressing, etc.)
- Fishing
- Foraging
- Selling random collection items
- reselling or upcycling things pulled from a dumpster
- Winning contests, etc.
- Selling electricity or water

Basically, you are just not allowed to have an "outside" job. Because that's THE MAN.

You do not have to diversify your sources of income. If you want to be an organic chicken farm ONLY, well, go right ahead. But I'm not coming over to your house.

5. You cannot use any gameplay or money cheats other than what has already been described. This will be a hardscrabble existence for a while, like if you decided to buy some undeveloped land in Hawaii without checking to see if it's suitable and then invite a bunch of goons to come live with you. Just for example.

The only exception is if the social worker shows up, because gently caress YOU GOVERNMENT.

6. Anyone can bone anyone else. Consent is implied as a condition of moving into the commune. The ultimate goal is to have enough people living on the commune and working towards self-sufficiency that you can create splinter communes, so it behooves you to grow your commune population. However, if you have too many babies at once, it becomes a worse version of the 100 Baby Challenge, so be reasonable. As hippies with menstrual cycles might choose abstention to avoid pregnancy, so might you.

Fun things that are not rules so much as "challenge enhancers":
- Give every new member a hippie name like "Starflower"
- Create shrines to the founder. Bonus points if you start a splinter group and have a painting of the founder to put up right away.
- Have an all-occult or all-alien commune.
- If any member has a conflict with another member, one of them will be kicked out for disrupting the vibe.
- EXTREME FREEGANISM; the only furniture available is what you find or make yourself.

Give it a shot if you want!

Fleta Mcgurn fucked around with this message at 11:49 on Aug 5, 2021

# ? Aug 5, 2021 11:47

Dareon: Apr 6, 2009; by vyelkin

oh jay posted:

Does it let me run Sims 3 with all expansions without a supercomputer? Or does more ticks per second mean I need an even more super supercomputer?

Sims 3 is seriously at the top of my list of games to play once I build a really nice gaming rig.

With just a $2k gaming laptop, the patch makes things much smoother. I was already enjoying the speed increase just from an SSD, now I barely have to wait at all to load CAS categories or the Misc Decorations section. I might even reinstall the store content.

Tomorrow I'll give it the ultimate test: Isla Paradiso. I don't think UI optimization will do anything for the stuttering there, but dammit I want to actually play on that map.

# ? Aug 5, 2021 14:38

Ruflux: Jun 16, 2012

Dareon posted:

With just a $2k gaming laptop, the patch makes things much smoother. I was already enjoying the speed increase just from an SSD, now I barely have to wait at all to load CAS categories or the Misc Decorations section. I might even reinstall the store content.

Tomorrow I'll give it the ultimate test: Isla Paradiso. I don't think UI optimization will do anything for the stuttering there, but dammit I want to actually play on that map.

Isla Paradiso's issues really come down to a handful of poorly-made lots and apparently even the "fixed" version, well, isn't, really. I also know the resorts are just kind of borked and cause further lag, but I don't think there's any other fix for that other than deleting them.

# ? Aug 5, 2021 15:12

Simsmagic: Aug 3, 2011; im beautiful

Ruflux posted:

So this is new, somebody made a smooth patch for Sims 3.

Doesn't really sound like much, does it? Just upping the tickrate on the UI. But holy loving poo poo it completely changes the game. CAS loads fast and runs smooth no matter what you play around with. Build-buy opens up quickly and works properly. The UI is responsive and doesn't lag. Even the loving game camera is finally responsive and smooth and fast! It's a huge QoL improvement from my testing and basically takes the Sims 3 user experience from garbage straight to much better than Sims 4, which used to be top dog for this but these days I find has massive delays in opening up pie menus, switching sims or pausing the game.

I'm honestly stunned that a mod that's this huge for game playability can happen nearly 11 years after the game itself launched, finally resolving a massive problem that wasn't necessarily even recognized as a specific problem, merely generally poor performance. And I mean, it's no wonder since the default tickrate is 30 per second and this takes it to 500 or optionally 1000 if you want to squeeze more performance out of it. That's a huge leap.

Here's an imgur gallery with a couple of gifs demonstrating it, but it's really one of those "you have to try it yourself to see the difference" things.

After using this patch for about a half hour (so grain of salt, not an extended use case) it's night and day between this and vanilla Sims 3. I have a good rig, but even on it I would still have a bunch of stuttering in menus and in-game that completely ruined the experience. With this patch it actually feels like Sims 3 as intended, with very little lag or stuttering in CAS and in-game. I ended up bumping the tick rate from 500 to 1000 and I haven't really experienced any issues, would recommend if you want to give Sims 3 another try.

# ? Aug 6, 2021 03:58

Lemony: Jul 27, 2010; Now With Fresh Citrus Scent!

Dear Sims 4 Roof tools: Go gently caress yourselves, you poorly implemented piles of junk.

Like, god drat, it shouldn't be hard to make a nice looking roof for a house without having to fiddle with building it out of twenty different slopes and angles. I know the auto roof tools sucked, but why not just make it so you can draw out a loving roof manually.

And why no triangle roof piece! Even that would solve so many problems.

Editing this post instead of double posting:
I was thinking about this and I feel like the easiest thing to do would have been to make the roofing tool handle similarly to the wall tool. You draw out the area you want the roof to cover, then the whole roof area has nodes mapped to the grid within its dimensions. Each node could be adjusted in height independently to give you clean and flexible roofing. I'm not a programmer but it doesn't seem any more complicated than some of the other stuff in the engine. Than for good measure, make roof textures tile based as well, so that you can mix different roof types more easily, especially for adding skylights and such with the glass roof texture.

I'm also confused why items have locked colour palettes that make it hard to match decor sometimes. For instance, you might want two objects to both be brown, but the only browns they have are very slightly different shades. Why not just make it so that you have a primary and secondary colour box (and tertiary and so on if needed) where you manually pick the colour combo you want for an item. Then you could just have identical palettes with all the shades for all the items. It honestly sounds easier to me than having to manually texture all the item variants in the game.

Added into this the number of incredibly non obvious build tools that are poorly explained and poorly shown in the UI. I played so many hours before finding out by accident that there was a tiny button to get access to different counter shapes for doing corners and such. A button labeled auto counters does not make me think that's how I access all these other cool shapes.

I have just the base game and I finally started playing around with debug items, since I pretty much only muck around in build mode making pretty dollhouses anyhow. It just made me more confused. Why are there like 50 additional interesting plants that are fully textured and implemented in the engine, but that you can't normally access in the build menu? They're already on the game! What purpose does it serve to lock them behind cheat codes?

I feel like I could go on and on. Why are there so few paintings when they would be so easy to add a million of? Just make paintings a thing where you pick a frame and then select a painting to go in it, then have somebody on the art team spend an afternoon whipping out a bunch of generic pieces. Why are items like window planters not something you place and drag for variable lengths. Why do so many items default to being six inches away from everything else unless you use the Alt key to nudge them.

I've been enjoying the bonsai tree aspect of the game, I'm just so confused at so many of these design decisions.

Lemony fucked around with this message at 19:05 on Aug 18, 2021

# ? Aug 16, 2021 22:43

Splash Attack: Mar 23, 2008; Yeahhh!
I am GHOS!!
Haaaaaa Ha Ha Ha!!

installed sims 4 on a new computer and i decided to start my cc collection from scratch instead of lugging over 7 years worth of downloads

tumblr and patreon are where the latest stuff is and i hate it. it�s fine if you find a specific creator that tags their downloads, but as someone who likes to look for different or new stuff by category and not by creator, it�s the worst.

# ? Aug 23, 2021 01:09

hopeandjoy: Nov 28, 2014

Splash Attack posted:

installed sims 4 on a new computer and i decided to start my cc collection from scratch instead of lugging over 7 years worth of downloads

tumblr and patreon are where the latest stuff is and i hate it. it�s fine if you find a specific creator that tags their downloads, but as someone who likes to look for different or new stuff by category and not by creator, it�s the worst.

Find a reblogger you like. I follow Maxis Match CC World and she picks up pretty much all the Maxis Match stuff and tags it so you can sort.

# ? Aug 23, 2021 02:44

Splash Attack: Mar 23, 2008; Yeahhh!
I am GHOS!!
Haaaaaa Ha Ha Ha!!

yeah, i've been going through their tags, but they can't cover everything. it's also only possible to go through them in chronological order and not being to sort by latest update/most popular/most downloaded etc., some of the categories are over 50+ pages, plus some of the links are broken because the tumblr or download link doesn't exist anymore. :negative:

i still spent all day looking for CC.

# ? Aug 23, 2021 05:13

hopeandjoy: Nov 28, 2014

Honestly you don�t want to go that far back anyway. Hairs will be completely missing swatches and you�re going to have to run a lot of fixes with Sims 4 Studio if you go far enough back.

When it comes to CC, I just download off of looks, not popularity. I can point you in the direction of the active mod creators if you want some mods though.

# ? Aug 23, 2021 06:53

Splash Attack: Mar 23, 2008; Yeahhh!
I am GHOS!!
Haaaaaa Ha Ha Ha!!

yeah, knowing about all the updates/fixes made me decide now was a good time to start fresh.

i�d be happy for any references! i like to browse things and i�m frustrated that it�s kind of difficult to do so.

# ? Aug 23, 2021 09:01

dorium: Nov 5, 2009; If it gets in your eyes
Just look into mine
Just look into dreams
and you'll be alright
I'll be alright

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDL-cFvzd4Q

Spa Day refresh trailer

# ? Sep 3, 2021 18:26

Bedurndurn: Dec 4, 2008

Why the gently caress would you pick a song for your commercial if you're going to censor out every third word?

# ? Sep 4, 2021 00:20

Leal: Oct 2, 2009

Bedurndurn posted:

Why the gently caress would you pick a song for your commercial if you're going to censor out every third word?

Next pack will finally put bands back in the game free styling and the song used will be an Eminem song.

# ? Sep 4, 2021 01:00

cheesetriangles: Jan 5, 2011

I'm waiting for the explicit trailer cut.

# ? Sep 4, 2021 01:51

That Guy Bob: Apr 30, 2009

Sims 4 sex modders to demand recognition for their work when EA uses their assets with no permissions or even credits given.

# ? Sep 4, 2021 04:12

Torrannor: Apr 27, 2013; ---FAGNER---
TEAM-MATE

What was even the point of that trailer? Was there anything new? Yoga is already in, yoga teleporting as well. Mud baths are nothing new, ditto for the sauna and massages and spa group activities. I don't get it.

# ? Sep 4, 2021 05:26

a7m2: Jul 9, 2012

Torrannor posted:

What was even the point of that trailer? Was there anything new? Yoga is already in, yoga teleporting as well. Mud baths are nothing new, ditto for the sauna and massages and spa group activities. I don't get it.

From what I can tell (not from the trailer tho): New trait, two new aspirations, children can join wellness activities, more swatches for these items and manicures.

# ? Sep 4, 2021 05:34

TheWorldsaStage: Sep 10, 2020

Still no post apocalyptic pack?

# ? Sep 4, 2021 05:53

crazysim: May 23, 2004; I AM SOOOOO GAY

TheWorldsaStage posted:

Still no post apocalyptic pack?

It's going to be hard to top Katy Perry Sweet Treats.

# ? Sep 4, 2021 10:23

The Deadly Hume: May 26, 2004; Let's get a little crazy. Let's have some fun.

It already is post apocalyptic. That's why society never progresses no matter how many generations pass.

# ? Sep 10, 2021 00:59

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

The Deadly Hume posted:

It already is post apocalyptic. That's why society never progresses no matter how many generations pass.

A legacy challenge but every generation you import the family into the subsequent Sims game

# ? Sep 11, 2021 07:21

macabresca: Jan 26, 2019; I WANNA HUG

Wasn't somebody trying to do an lp like that?

# ? Sep 11, 2021 12:40

gyrobot: Nov 16, 2011

a7m2 posted:

From what I can tell (not from the trailer tho): New trait, two new aspirations, children can join wellness activities, more swatches for these items and manicures.

Also, you can now become a freelancing massage therapist. More fun with Wicked Whims for all those happy ending at home massage parlors.

# ? Sep 16, 2021 04:42

Leal: Oct 2, 2009

gyrobot posted:

More fun with Wicked Whims for all those happy ending at home massage parlors.

Looks like its time to reinstall!

# ? Sep 16, 2021 04:49

Leal: Oct 2, 2009

Either I had hilarious luck or this is by design.

E: Also I am trying out basemental for the first time

Game's good

Leal fucked around with this message at 16:42 on Sep 19, 2021

# ? Sep 19, 2021 16:38

Scaly Haylie: Dec 25, 2004

I'm sure I've seen Sims Medieval outfits converted for Sims 3, but has anyone ever done so in the other direction?

# ? Sep 20, 2021 11:44

kirbysuperstar: Nov 11, 2012; Let the fools who stand before us be destroyed by the power you and I possess.

Leal posted:

<| Drugs...

# ? Sep 20, 2021 12:06

Leal: Oct 2, 2009

kirbysuperstar posted:

<| Drugs...

When they talk about all the white powder around Father Christmas' workshop, they weren't talking about snow!

But maybe I should give up my drug empire and be a microbrewer instead. Excellent quality dragon fruit with a max rank fizzer who has marketable... jesus.

# ? Sep 20, 2021 18:57

Guildenstern Mother: Mar 31, 2010; Why walk when you can ride?

Yeah I tried fizzing once and its broken how much that stuff sells for, especially for a skill that only has 5 ranks to max. Eco lifestyle in general is pretty broken as far as money makers go, I think the only generally worthless thing you can make are the candles.

# ? Sep 20, 2021 23:12