Re: [OPEN] [GALLERY] Download Numbers Lower After Maintenance (June 2023)

@EA_Cade    Thanks for the reply on this.  I completely understand the desire to prevent bad actors from inflating their download numbers.  I still think this might warrant further investigation because there should be a way to determine if a user is downloading their own creations vs. other users downloading those creations multiple times.

Let's say I download User X's lot but delete it at some point.  If I DL that lot again at any point, then User X's total DL number should still increase.

I've previously DLed a number of my own builds because they lost their "shared" status in my Library.  (Currently none of my creations have the shared status cloud icon which I think is different bug?  EIDIT: I created a separate bug report for this.)  Hopefully that doesn't make me a bad actor.  I wasn't trying to inflate my numbers.  I just wanted to see which creations in my Library had already been shared and the only way to do that was to DL those creations that had lost their link (EDIT: this no longer seems to be a valid workaround).  I was actually kind of annoyed that DLing my own creations counted toward the total.

My main point is that if other users are downloading creations more than once, I think that should still count toward the total DL number.

Well, I understand the much less traffic, after all, they have completely nuked the search engine. 

I have empty apartments I can no longer furnish anymore. try searching for 1020 Alto Apartments, or 19CulpepperHouse, or any apartments, no results, even I simple word like Apartment brings you nothing but residental lots, so if you got empty bulldozed apartments you are now on your own to furnish them yourself. 

One good thing about the lack of interest of the gallery, gallery performance is a lot faster, with less time-outs, etc.

I wonder what they deciding on screwing up next.

@Citysim9997   Hi!  I think this thread is more about the DL counts being changed; reduced by the update, not about how many people are using the Gallery and actually downloading.

I do understand your frustration with the search issues though.  There is a thread for that at this link.

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/OPEN-GALLERY-Item-Name-search-results-are-not-accurate/m-p/12622138/highlight/true#M251138

I see that you commented there already so this is more for others who might be reading also.  Hopefully more folks will add their "me too" there.

As for the apartment searches, you might try selecting the Rooms category.  I ran searches for several of the San Myshuno and Evergreen Harbor lots, as well as just a search for Apartment, and found numerous creations.

I hope this helps!

I understand your trying to fix everything just now. I too have this loss of downloads problem. But what's making a lots of simmers angry is the fact that the download cheaters creations are stuck at the top of the gallery filter option for Popular Now and #basegame. Because the search options are also broken. So because the cheaters creations were at the top when the maintenance started they are now being rewarded for it. Are the cheaters download number going to be halfed also ?? Also a lot of creations at the top of the gallery search are from 2-3 years ago or more.

Spoiler

@EA_CadeThis is also a big problem. The further down my gallery and others galleries you go the worse it gets. everything mulitplies.

@EA_Cade I'm just seeing your reply now. I rarely, if ever, download my own items from the gallery, I keep a copy in my library so if I need it, I get it from there, not the gallery. My numbers still went down a lot on my more popular items despite that fact, as I can see from comments here, has also happened to many others. So while I understand the concept, it seems to be punishing those who aren't acting as a 'bad actor' and spamming their own downloads. 

Best regards,
Jennifer

@briandcreations and @lunadimensio there is a bug report for your gallery items showing multiple times. Here's a link, I'd recommend you add a 'Me Too' to that report. 

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/OPEN-GALLERY-Uploads-Are-Shown-Multiple-Times/td-p/12622423

Best regards,

Jennifer 

I have the same issue as MapleSimmer. I've lost a lot of downloads. I don't download my own creations from the Gallery either. I keep a copy in My Library.

My Maxis Fav Tiny Flowerly Cottage before and after the maintenance:

I took this screenshot on May 21, 15.561 downloads.

I took this screenshot on June 13, 14.521 downloads.

Totally agree. It felt like an achievement seeing total number of downloads. I personally don't care about the lost downloads i just want to see a total (even if it is reduced) i can build it up again, that is the fun, i like to know others are enjoying my builds. Please bring back the TOTAL DOWNLOADS!! 

So true, please bring back the total likes and downloads. Felt good to see those numbers going up, especially when you're not a big creator. Sigh.

I really hope this answer wasn’t satisfactory enough for you to stop looking into this issue further. I’m a small builder who doesn’t cheat and would average between 30-200 downloads on my builds. I’m barely getting 5 now, and the panel that once showed total downloads/followers/lots shared has been missing since the June 1st maintenance. How has 2 months gone by with no answers on all the mechanics that broke?!

There is definitely something wrong with the counts right now in the gallery. I just noticed that when I look through new horse ranch builds of some popular builders with lots of amazed comments on them, they only have 0 or 1 like and 0 or 1 download. This would be MAYBE possible if there would be just 1 of them, but EVERY build? For example PlumbbobKingdom has on my screen just 1 like and 1 download on all of their Ranch builds since Horse ranch. Impossible! Same with other huge builders. Something is wrong!

Is everyone still encountering these gallery problems? I'm a really small household creator and even I've seen my counts yo-yo just in the last 12 hours today.