Build Buy Mode in TS4... my little review
Hi :D
Build Buy was presented by Aaron Houts: http://aahouts.com/
On Twitter
*Correction!
The Sims 4 has combined build/buy mode.
*Sorry about the long read without many pictures... we weren't allowed to take any til the end.
As we all know, TS3 introduced blueprints. The ability to plop down premade rooms. TS4 has combined blueprints and the standard build and buy tools and twisted them into one. Not only to make it easier for beginners but still functional for the experienced builder. Hopefully... I'm sure we'd all love to actually try it out to see!
Okay... the first thing that gives many some hesitation- The square walls to plop down, right? Well, yes- that's been added to make it easier for beginners but there's still our much beloved regular wall tool to make our own rooms (made me feel better, too). :)
With the regular wall tool, once a room shape is made it works the same way as the box room that can be placed- the room can be rotated, moved, lifted to another level, and dragged into another room or only partially into another room. It's a freestyle builders dream (imo)... which I am, most of the time.
And that's for empty rooms, you ask? Well, yes- and no. It's also possible with fully built rooms- Yay (I know!).
In TS3, trying to expand a fully furnished room can be a pain- cabinets can interfere with expanding- but not anymore- cabinets will be added (and can be removed) if they're against the wall when the room is expanded (pulling them just like TS3)! Nice- right?
I did see objects moving in as the rooms were made smaller but I forget at what point or if objects will be deleted as the room shrinks... (I blame my bad note taking and my attention on the screen for this missing information :XD: )
But back to building a room... dragging a room is nice and kinda convenient but some would think not always necessary... until you want to move the whole house. Which will be possible- Gasp!.
No more dragging one wall at a time or? .... wait- the stairs. Oh, how the stairs can get in the way, right?- Got to delete them and then move the walls and foundation in TS3- but not in TS4. Stairs will now be moveable... That's right- grab the foundation stairs and move them out of the way or to a new area. (Stairs will just sit there and not sink into the ground- they'll also be unusable while there)
No more deleting and replacing stairs to expand the houses... Sweet! :D
-bad news: Still no Diagonal stairs. :(
So, move the stairs out of the way and move the Whole House- one, two... or wherever around the lot. Can we say Awesome- well, I might have at that point. O.O :mrgreen:
I did say the rooms can be lifted to the next level- which so far is only 3 floor levels high* and a roof. I guess it's good that a roof doesn't take up one level but so far, houses are limited to 3 levels. Sadness- :(
**The foundation is not considered a level- it's part of the ground floor- if my notes are reliable. :mrgreen:
Okay, I was saying; moving a room to another level- we now don't need to have support to build another level. The second floor can hang over another level however far we want or who needs the lower level?... which actually does make building easier. I can't count how many times I've had to stop adding a wall to put in some support for the second story, and once it's done I'd remove the support. :XD:
Walls and rooms and the whole house can be rearranged around the lot... Okay. But what else you ask?
Windows... windows can now be placed by room with just a click. Evenly spaced windows placed with a click- if you're a new builder it means no more trying to make sure the windows are facing out, no more counting squares or not knowing if they're spaced right- click and windows are placed evenly (as long as there isn't something blocking that space such as a picture on the inside wall).
Window can still be placed one at a time for the more diehard builders, too... like me. ;)
Foundations have been made simple... uh, oh! Changed your mind on having a foundation? With a click they can be added to the whole house. click- foundation added or removed and given heights- different foundation heights? Yes... iirc. ;)
Now, that sounds great and it is, really-
This has to be corrected- The No in my notes meant No comment at this time. I do apologize for the wrong information.
So far it's nice... it's got some Fabulous tools but it doesn't give a wow factor? What, easy room placement, moving the whole house, expanding rooms without removing cabinets and wall things, moving stairs around; not yet...
Okay- We've all seen the curved fences. They're like the curved pool edges in TS3 in placement- choose the curved fence and plop it down.... They're cute, they're fun looking- but they're not walls. Nope, no curved walls- Yet. They did say yet. The Maxis team is still working on curved walls. *fingers crossed*
They have added the ability to place posts into fence rails.. .no more moveobjects to add posts, no more trying to slide the posts as close as they can go so we don't use the MOO code... they will place right inside the rails. (simulated picture here :D )
http://lvlt.thesims3.com/sims3_asset/sims3_asset/media/shard000//shard000/389/917/015/00/screenshot_original.jpg"width=300"
Cute, okay... what else? Hm...Aaron wouldn't say the lots sizes or how they'd be placed in the neighborhoods. That was Not On Topic and they wouldn't talk about the neighborhood- sigh. Fine- back house building 101 in TS4.
I guess we'll jump to paint- yes, there isn't a CASt. No CASt was shown at all. There were filters for finding the wall pattern- useful but we're used to some filters.
Painting walls- I always got a little ticked at painting walls and think I was done but, Oops- the fence stopped the paint from going all the way around. Well, the paint will go all the way around now- fences won't stop if you want to paint the whole outside wall area with one click- or just paint room by room or the whole section of the wall- It's handy. :)
Wall heights... No more placefriezes on code (pretty much Maxis is trying to get rid of build codes; no constrainfloorelevation code either)- there will be a click option for wall height. 3 different wall height per floor options! (I'm trying to think if there were windows and door sizes to fit the different wall heights... I think so.
My mind seems to say yes, even if there aren't any notes on it. :lol: - don't laugh. I think I was in concentrating very hard at this time ;) )
Back to wall height- Aaron showed us a few times. Each level can have different heights- but it's per level, iirc. Not one room one height but by levels. The tools seem to be set up by levels- like the whole bottom level can have a foundation added but not added to only one area of the house.
Roofs- well, there are roof choices. The open, closed, flat roofs but the best is the roof tool. It's like CAS with the ability to grab and move. Looking at the pictures (which we wish we had or could use) there are arrow points on the roof-
crude illustration here. :XD:
https://sphotos-a-atl.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/1044506_1400390700188874_72701770_n.jpg"width=450"
Extent the roof, pull up to raise, push down to shorten and curve, pull edges down to lengthen. It's intuitive and looks fun. Better than having to choose which to use or if it doesn't look right.
But that's not all- roofs can now have individual color and style and pitch... yes, now we can have different colored roofs with different patterns- that's what my notes say. lol
...with Eaves! Roofs with eaves and no need for CC. I don't know why but I had to give a little- Yay! :D
http://www.mountainroofing.net/company-images/i5.jpg"width=250"
... and Spandrels. Spandrels, you think? What are they... well, they give that Gingerbread look to houses.
http://victorianrevival.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/spandrel1.jpg?w=595"width=300"
Now, without pictures I'm not sure if they're with the roofs or with the porch rails- Pretty sure it's with the rails... Gaw, I might have been staring too much to write down more then- "Awesome- Spandrel (?)!" but I'm learning. They looked lovely, I do remember that. :XD:
Lighting has been improved- no more lines on the upper levels where the light stops. Sad to still have in TS3 though. :(
Okay... I'm trying to remember if there was anything else that made me smile or frown before I move on to the buy section of build buy mode, but nothing else is forcing itself out. So, on to buy mode.
I can honestly say I did frown at this. The Catalog... No more buying sections but full room catalog buy mode. It's there to make decorating easier which really should have made me ecstatic but it didn't. Don't ask me why...
The ability to plop a fully furnished room into a box left me a little cold. Yet it's Awesome for beginners, I get that.
I had to make myself listen to Aaron and see that we still had the ability to click on the sink in the catalog picture and choose the style and to place that one sink instead of the whole pre-done room. The buy tools are still there but redone and refocused for a new builder, the next Simmer generation. (I don't feel old at all! :XD: )
So, clicking and dragging (? I might have had a mental freeze at the catalog and didn't get it all) will decorate the whole room. It can be changed with filters for each piece of furnishings so it's got the design function.
I'm just thinking I'll have to get used to the interface of decorating with a catalog layout instead of room icons. It's the same yet more modern in setup. :D
An nice feature... wall hangings. (alt key) They're not set to the grid squares or half square placement but can be slide all over the wall. Yes- up, down, in a circle- it looked just like the pictures were being slide around on the wall to find the perfect placement. Cool! :D
With mirrors- they can be placed anywhere too but for them to be used they do have to be at the standard height. :D
I wrote- Ceilings!... but what else I meant by that, well, I'm guessing someone else wrote it down.
.....
That's pretty much it- decoration has a new catalog interface for placing a room or choosing each piece.
No CASt. . . color fan options.
There were plants and they did have animations... not many to see at that time but trees and bushes and flowers are there. :D
-He wouldn't talk about pools or ponds. The neighborhood, and lot sizes or placement...
-Didn't show any cars or garage stuff, now that I think about it. :XD:
Overall there are the same tools most of us are used to but in a different place. There are newer tools and things we've wanted for ages , like being able to move the whole house, eaves, ; and stuff left out, like basements... I'm really liking the New Build buy mode!
• Room movement
• House movement
• Easy window placement
• Better painting options
• awesome roof tool
• individual roof colors and styles
• posts right into rails
• spandrels
• curved corner fence
• condensed decorating
• foundation by one click
• picture placements
• ... I know there's more but I'm running out of time :XD:
Bad points- imo
• No Comment on basements at this time.
• No CASt
• No info on lot size, placements style, neighborhood, ponds, pools...
• didn't get to actually use Build buy
• not sure about the catalog but it's just another UI for decorating and I can get used to it...
Still checking to see if I missed much- cause I'm sporadic in my righting here... :mrgreen:
Pictures provided by Bartek Ufnal -Thank you! :D
https://www.facebook.com/b.ufnal
*(These are pictures of the screen and not screenshots of the game- quality is not represented by these)
http://lvlt.thesims3.com/sims3_asset/sims3_asset/media/shard000//shard000/382/917/015/00/screenshot_original.jpg"width=650"
http://lvlt.thesims3.com/sims3_asset/sims3_asset/media/shard000//shard000/381/917/015/00/screenshot_original.jpg"width=650"
http://lvlt.thesims3.com/sims3_asset/sims3_asset/media/shard000//shard000/380/917/015/00/screenshot_original.jpg"width=650"
http://lvlt.thesims3.com/sims3_asset/sims3_asset/media/shard000//shard000/379/917/015/00/screenshot_original.jpg"width=650"
http://lvlt.thesims3.com/sims3_asset/sims3_asset/media/shard000//shard000/378/917/015/00/screenshot_original.jpg"width=650"
http://lvlt.thesims3.com/sims3_asset/sims3_asset/media/shard000//shard000/377/917/015/00/screenshot_original.jpg"width=650"
http://lvlt.thesims3.com/sims3_asset/sims3_asset/media/shard000//shard000/376/917/015/00/screenshot_original.jpg"width=650"
http://lvlt.thesims3.com/sims3_asset/sims3_asset/media/shard000//shard000/375/917/015/00/screenshot_original.jpg"width=650"
http://lvlt.thesims3.com/sims3_asset/sims3_asset/media/shard000//shard000/374/917/015/00/screenshot_original.jpg"width=650"
I will try to answer any questions. :D
Hope it's readable- I've not written more than a few paragraphs in ages! :XD:
*There is a Day/Night toggle for the lots.
***The Sims 4 game engine is new, it's not a SimCity nor Icebox engine.
**If there are things I missed or have incorrect, I have no problem being corrected. I know my note taking skills are atrocious and I haven't read anyone elses reports. So, Correct me if and when you see something! :XD:
Build Buy was presented by Aaron Houts: http://aahouts.com/
On Twitter
*Correction!
The Sims 4 has combined build/buy mode.
*Sorry about the long read without many pictures... we weren't allowed to take any til the end.
As we all know, TS3 introduced blueprints. The ability to plop down premade rooms. TS4 has combined blueprints and the standard build and buy tools and twisted them into one. Not only to make it easier for beginners but still functional for the experienced builder. Hopefully... I'm sure we'd all love to actually try it out to see!
Okay... the first thing that gives many some hesitation- The square walls to plop down, right? Well, yes- that's been added to make it easier for beginners but there's still our much beloved regular wall tool to make our own rooms (made me feel better, too). :)
With the regular wall tool, once a room shape is made it works the same way as the box room that can be placed- the room can be rotated, moved, lifted to another level, and dragged into another room or only partially into another room. It's a freestyle builders dream (imo)... which I am, most of the time.
And that's for empty rooms, you ask? Well, yes- and no. It's also possible with fully built rooms- Yay (I know!).
In TS3, trying to expand a fully furnished room can be a pain- cabinets can interfere with expanding- but not anymore- cabinets will be added (and can be removed) if they're against the wall when the room is expanded (pulling them just like TS3)! Nice- right?
I did see objects moving in as the rooms were made smaller but I forget at what point or if objects will be deleted as the room shrinks... (I blame my bad note taking and my attention on the screen for this missing information :XD: )
But back to building a room... dragging a room is nice and kinda convenient but some would think not always necessary... until you want to move the whole house. Which will be possible- Gasp!.
No more dragging one wall at a time or? .... wait- the stairs. Oh, how the stairs can get in the way, right?- Got to delete them and then move the walls and foundation in TS3- but not in TS4. Stairs will now be moveable... That's right- grab the foundation stairs and move them out of the way or to a new area. (Stairs will just sit there and not sink into the ground- they'll also be unusable while there)
No more deleting and replacing stairs to expand the houses... Sweet! :D
-bad news: Still no Diagonal stairs. :(
So, move the stairs out of the way and move the Whole House- one, two... or wherever around the lot. Can we say Awesome- well, I might have at that point. O.O :mrgreen:
I did say the rooms can be lifted to the next level- which so far is only 3 floor levels high* and a roof. I guess it's good that a roof doesn't take up one level but so far, houses are limited to 3 levels. Sadness- :(
**The foundation is not considered a level- it's part of the ground floor- if my notes are reliable. :mrgreen:
Okay, I was saying; moving a room to another level- we now don't need to have support to build another level. The second floor can hang over another level however far we want or who needs the lower level?... which actually does make building easier. I can't count how many times I've had to stop adding a wall to put in some support for the second story, and once it's done I'd remove the support. :XD:
Walls and rooms and the whole house can be rearranged around the lot... Okay. But what else you ask?
Windows... windows can now be placed by room with just a click. Evenly spaced windows placed with a click- if you're a new builder it means no more trying to make sure the windows are facing out, no more counting squares or not knowing if they're spaced right- click and windows are placed evenly (as long as there isn't something blocking that space such as a picture on the inside wall).
Window can still be placed one at a time for the more diehard builders, too... like me. ;)
Foundations have been made simple... uh, oh! Changed your mind on having a foundation? With a click they can be added to the whole house. click- foundation added or removed and given heights- different foundation heights? Yes... iirc. ;)
Now, that sounds great and it is, really-
This has to be corrected- The No in my notes meant No comment at this time. I do apologize for the wrong information.
So far it's nice... it's got some Fabulous tools but it doesn't give a wow factor? What, easy room placement, moving the whole house, expanding rooms without removing cabinets and wall things, moving stairs around; not yet...
Okay- We've all seen the curved fences. They're like the curved pool edges in TS3 in placement- choose the curved fence and plop it down.... They're cute, they're fun looking- but they're not walls. Nope, no curved walls- Yet. They did say yet. The Maxis team is still working on curved walls. *fingers crossed*
They have added the ability to place posts into fence rails.. .no more moveobjects to add posts, no more trying to slide the posts as close as they can go so we don't use the MOO code... they will place right inside the rails. (simulated picture here :D )
http://lvlt.thesims3.com/sims3_asset/sims3_asset/media/shard000//shard000/389/917/015/00/screenshot_original.jpg"width=300"
Cute, okay... what else? Hm...Aaron wouldn't say the lots sizes or how they'd be placed in the neighborhoods. That was Not On Topic and they wouldn't talk about the neighborhood- sigh. Fine- back house building 101 in TS4.
I guess we'll jump to paint- yes, there isn't a CASt. No CASt was shown at all. There were filters for finding the wall pattern- useful but we're used to some filters.
Painting walls- I always got a little ticked at painting walls and think I was done but, Oops- the fence stopped the paint from going all the way around. Well, the paint will go all the way around now- fences won't stop if you want to paint the whole outside wall area with one click- or just paint room by room or the whole section of the wall- It's handy. :)
Wall heights... No more placefriezes on code (pretty much Maxis is trying to get rid of build codes; no constrainfloorelevation code either)- there will be a click option for wall height. 3 different wall height per floor options! (I'm trying to think if there were windows and door sizes to fit the different wall heights... I think so.
My mind seems to say yes, even if there aren't any notes on it. :lol: - don't laugh. I think I was in concentrating very hard at this time ;) )
Back to wall height- Aaron showed us a few times. Each level can have different heights- but it's per level, iirc. Not one room one height but by levels. The tools seem to be set up by levels- like the whole bottom level can have a foundation added but not added to only one area of the house.
Roofs- well, there are roof choices. The open, closed, flat roofs but the best is the roof tool. It's like CAS with the ability to grab and move. Looking at the pictures (which we wish we had or could use) there are arrow points on the roof-
crude illustration here. :XD:
https://sphotos-a-atl.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/1044506_1400390700188874_72701770_n.jpg"width=450"
Extent the roof, pull up to raise, push down to shorten and curve, pull edges down to lengthen. It's intuitive and looks fun. Better than having to choose which to use or if it doesn't look right.
But that's not all- roofs can now have individual color and style and pitch... yes, now we can have different colored roofs with different patterns- that's what my notes say. lol
...with Eaves! Roofs with eaves and no need for CC. I don't know why but I had to give a little- Yay! :D
http://www.mountainroofing.net/company-images/i5.jpg"width=250"
... and Spandrels. Spandrels, you think? What are they... well, they give that Gingerbread look to houses.
http://victorianrevival.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/spandrel1.jpg?w=595"width=300"
Now, without pictures I'm not sure if they're with the roofs or with the porch rails- Pretty sure it's with the rails... Gaw, I might have been staring too much to write down more then- "Awesome- Spandrel (?)!" but I'm learning. They looked lovely, I do remember that. :XD:
Lighting has been improved- no more lines on the upper levels where the light stops. Sad to still have in TS3 though. :(
Okay... I'm trying to remember if there was anything else that made me smile or frown before I move on to the buy section of build buy mode, but nothing else is forcing itself out. So, on to buy mode.
I can honestly say I did frown at this. The Catalog... No more buying sections but full room catalog buy mode. It's there to make decorating easier which really should have made me ecstatic but it didn't. Don't ask me why...
The ability to plop a fully furnished room into a box left me a little cold. Yet it's Awesome for beginners, I get that.
I had to make myself listen to Aaron and see that we still had the ability to click on the sink in the catalog picture and choose the style and to place that one sink instead of the whole pre-done room. The buy tools are still there but redone and refocused for a new builder, the next Simmer generation. (I don't feel old at all! :XD: )
So, clicking and dragging (? I might have had a mental freeze at the catalog and didn't get it all) will decorate the whole room. It can be changed with filters for each piece of furnishings so it's got the design function.
I'm just thinking I'll have to get used to the interface of decorating with a catalog layout instead of room icons. It's the same yet more modern in setup. :D
An nice feature... wall hangings. (alt key) They're not set to the grid squares or half square placement but can be slide all over the wall. Yes- up, down, in a circle- it looked just like the pictures were being slide around on the wall to find the perfect placement. Cool! :D
With mirrors- they can be placed anywhere too but for them to be used they do have to be at the standard height. :D
I wrote- Ceilings!... but what else I meant by that, well, I'm guessing someone else wrote it down.
.....
That's pretty much it- decoration has a new catalog interface for placing a room or choosing each piece.
No CASt. . . color fan options.
There were plants and they did have animations... not many to see at that time but trees and bushes and flowers are there. :D
-He wouldn't talk about pools or ponds. The neighborhood, and lot sizes or placement...
-Didn't show any cars or garage stuff, now that I think about it. :XD:
Overall there are the same tools most of us are used to but in a different place. There are newer tools and things we've wanted for ages , like being able to move the whole house, eaves, ; and stuff left out, like basements... I'm really liking the New Build buy mode!
• Room movement
• House movement
• Easy window placement
• Better painting options
• awesome roof tool
• individual roof colors and styles
• posts right into rails
• spandrels
• curved corner fence
• condensed decorating
• foundation by one click
• picture placements
• ... I know there's more but I'm running out of time :XD:
Bad points- imo
• No Comment on basements at this time.
• No CASt
• No info on lot size, placements style, neighborhood, ponds, pools...
• didn't get to actually use Build buy
• not sure about the catalog but it's just another UI for decorating and I can get used to it...
Still checking to see if I missed much- cause I'm sporadic in my righting here... :mrgreen:
Pictures provided by Bartek Ufnal -Thank you! :D
https://www.facebook.com/b.ufnal
*(These are pictures of the screen and not screenshots of the game- quality is not represented by these)
http://lvlt.thesims3.com/sims3_asset/sims3_asset/media/shard000//shard000/382/917/015/00/screenshot_original.jpg"width=650"
http://lvlt.thesims3.com/sims3_asset/sims3_asset/media/shard000//shard000/381/917/015/00/screenshot_original.jpg"width=650"
http://lvlt.thesims3.com/sims3_asset/sims3_asset/media/shard000//shard000/380/917/015/00/screenshot_original.jpg"width=650"
http://lvlt.thesims3.com/sims3_asset/sims3_asset/media/shard000//shard000/379/917/015/00/screenshot_original.jpg"width=650"
http://lvlt.thesims3.com/sims3_asset/sims3_asset/media/shard000//shard000/378/917/015/00/screenshot_original.jpg"width=650"
http://lvlt.thesims3.com/sims3_asset/sims3_asset/media/shard000//shard000/377/917/015/00/screenshot_original.jpg"width=650"
http://lvlt.thesims3.com/sims3_asset/sims3_asset/media/shard000//shard000/376/917/015/00/screenshot_original.jpg"width=650"
http://lvlt.thesims3.com/sims3_asset/sims3_asset/media/shard000//shard000/375/917/015/00/screenshot_original.jpg"width=650"
http://lvlt.thesims3.com/sims3_asset/sims3_asset/media/shard000//shard000/374/917/015/00/screenshot_original.jpg"width=650"
I will try to answer any questions. :D
Hope it's readable- I've not written more than a few paragraphs in ages! :XD:
*There is a Day/Night toggle for the lots.
***The Sims 4 game engine is new, it's not a SimCity nor Icebox engine.
**If there are things I missed or have incorrect, I have no problem being corrected. I know my note taking skills are atrocious and I haven't read anyone elses reports. So, Correct me if and when you see something! :XD:
