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bionibots's avatar
bionibots
Seasoned Traveler
2 days ago

Feedback "Dag Dag to Lag" Post

As a long-time simmer, your article feels somewhat insulting and implies it's our fault that we use your product. You are obviously indicating it's our fault that we buy your packs, but you don't want to move on and create a new Sims game. I get it; this is not Maxis's (developers) fault, but I think higher-ups need to see this, as they must be held responsible for the fact that customers are not happy! 

I used to play on a low-end PC, and I could place whatever I wanted, and the game did not crash. Now I have a high-end gaming PC (I used CC in the past on that old PC, which could handle max. 2GB CC). But for almost two years and with a high-performance PC that handles Cyberpunk 2077 perfectly and smoothly like butter, including many other games I started to play recently. With the new PC I cannot use CC and have barely used any CC because your game is buggy and crashes constantly.

Don't get me wrong: Some things do make sense, but you advise us not to use certain items you created and we paid REAL money for.  To be clear: You want us to avoid items we paid for, but you want us to keep buying your content? Am I correct here? Because that's what you expect from us as paying customers. I find a bunch of your statements pretty contradictory and critical, to be honest. 

Between the lines you are actually telling us:

  • Be careful what you use!  
  • Don't overclutter your lots (We did it in the past, so why not now, with stronger PCs?)🤨
  • We used CC in the past. Why can't/shouldn't we do that now? You said, you are going to fix the issues, are you not? 
  • Don't use certain items more than necessary. Mirrors, PCs, portals, interactive objects, doors with glass, etc. are bad. Kitchen sinks are bad (don't add more kitchen sinks, e.g., in a bathroom, because a Sim interacts with them and your game could crash). Oh, you have a family? Too bad, don't do it.
  • Be careful—you should only look at those assets in the buy catalogue. But if you use it? Use it at your own risk!

Excuse me, what? I'm confused????  'Funny thing though": I also learned a thing or two. This is a game that you are supposed to play and create without having all those things to keep in mind. I never needed to worry about such things in any game so far.

I should not worry if I have too many Sims on one lot. You made rules about how many Sims can visit a lot, did you not? Why is this now MY JOB to fix your performance issues? You created those things to be used, did you not? This is a life-simulation game, right? 🤔

By the way, are you admitting that because you provide features that offer "heavy utilization of in-game systems," I have to worry now about how I play this game?  I mean, you do put effort into fixing the game recently. That's much needed, that's for sure! But honestly?  I should not worry about such things as a gamer. It's your job to make sure that this game is performing with way fewer bugs and better performance overall as long as you offer DLCs. 

We cannot fix loose ends in your code, deactivate unnecessary event notifications, and fix the buggy foundation in your base game, right?

Facts you know:

  • Simmers only use mods because your game lacks certain features or content: Your game still doesn't have it (color options, styles, diversity, animations) because it offers limited and mostly incomplete (sets) and DLCs even in 2025. 
  • Simmers create furniture and things in a creative way because we don't have them.
  • Simmers always created content with your assets without limitations of how often you can use an asset.
  • Simmers will continue to do those things unless you step up your game and provide more content with fewer bugs
  • Simmers will still play this game and be mad until you fix the current bugs and foundation (base code). 

There is a reason why The Sims 4 survived 10 years: It's because of the modding community, and you profit because of that, too! It was YOUR decision to provide content for "Many Years To Come" and tell us there won't be a SIMS 5, knowing there are new competitors on the horizon.

So please tell me,  even if

  • I don't overclutter the game you developed.
  • I don't have more than 80 Sims in one save.
  • I barley use any CC besides some that enhance UI (because more CAS Columns are apparently still not a thing, ugly background, etc.).
  • the system is always up-to-date.
  • I place lots that are not higher than 2 floors (no basements),
  • I don't place lots with your "Residential Rental Features" in order to avoid save corruption
  • I don't use lots that have more items or are created creatively with tool mods.
  • and always use the updated latest version of your game.

...and I'm following pretty much intuitively all your named instructions. Why is my game still crashing when I place a lot with a value of approx. 200k Simoleons? You know, back in the day I could place a 1,000,000 Simoleon lot with no issues on a low-end PC, but now I can't do this anymore. 

Something doesn't add up here. I'm using common sense, and as a simmer, I'm telling you this:

 If this is the case? I'm not purchasing any content anymore because your game is not able to handle it. If I have to worry about all those things? Why should I keep buying packs then?

Just an honest observation, feedback, and opinion from a simmer who loves the Sims.

PS: Mind you, this game costs more than 1.5k at full price (in 2025), and this is your advice? Really disappointing! 😮‍💨😤😒😔

Thank you very much! 

 

4 Replies

  • I agree, this info needs to be more available cause it is important and it would help a lot of players to understand why their game may be playing up. The main problem with the sims is we're all not playing the same game, some own packs that others don't, it's not like other games where we're all playing the same content that's why the sims is so unstable. Oh believe me I get the frustration I haven't even been able to get into the game for ten days now, the update broke it for me and there's nothing I can do about it and most of the listed fixes didn't even apply to me cause I don't own the dlc so it could've been coding in the last update for something I don't own that's broke my game! That's one thing I'd love to see - a pack update detector, if you don't own the pack you don't get that part of the update but that's just wishful thinking and beyond the tech we have now. I do think there is way too much dlc though and if you think about all the bb items, all the Townies, all the cas items etc that these packs add to the game it's getting a bit too much for all our hardware maybe they need to slow down with the dlc and the not really important updates for a while so we can just enjoy our games without them being broken by "fixes" and new packs and live events every couple of months. 

  • fatalmoon65's avatar
    fatalmoon65
    Seasoned Hotshot
    2 days ago

    I agree Bionibots. I play on Xbox (series X) and when I buy a game and/or pack for a game, I expect it to work as advertised. If there are windows, mirrors, doorways, and I'm able to put them down anywhere, chances are, I'm going to do that. If I buy a photography pack, I expect the camera to work normally (doesn't happen, low-res pix), and I expect my photos to not turn black. Why does Innisgreen have a giant pond on a big lot if that's a major no-no? Why can we build large apartments if it will cause the game to crash? You are seriously telling me I shouldn't have more than one wallpaper in a room?! Why do you advertise all this "freedom" to create custom tattoos, only to find AFTER I bought the pack that there is a huge limit to how many I can use in the game. This kind of article has never been presented to me in any other game I've played, so why am I supposed to alter my behavior when no limitations or warnings were given up-front when I bought the game and packs? It's up to the company creating the game to ensure it works on an Xbox machine, not the end user. Can I get my money back on the packs that don't work as advertised? 

    I can understand some of the things, especially for gamers with low-end system settings on PC, like using MOO and bb.edit items, and of course mods since the game wasn't made with that specifically in mind, but telling customers to curtail their use of a game and packs without warning about the limitations, and advertising it as though anything is possible, is lying on EA's part and not a good business practice.

    It really makes me sad since this is such a wonderful game in many ways. Spoken as a dedicated Sims lover since the first iteration. 

  • bionibots's avatar
    bionibots
    Seasoned Traveler
    2 days ago

    Their article states, "This is for ALL PLAYERS," meaning it includes everyone who plays it! No matter if you are a pro/noob or a child! Even a child should be careful and know this, or at least "their parents," according to this post! Parents should probably teach their children what they can't and can do in this game now. At least it indicates that. It's a thing now! 😉🫠

    I think each country will have a translated/adjusted version of this article.  But overall I do agree with you!  An in-game performance assistant would be more helpful, especially for those Simmers who need to know about this. They could implement it within the tutorial section in the settings. Yes, I agree to that! It could be easily implemented and directly addressed to "whom it may concern." 

    That's their quote—not mine. 😉😆🫠

    This is important information for all players, but especially those who may be exceeding hardware limitations and heavily utilizing in game systems as this increases the chances of resulting in error codes, lots failing to load, or other memory related issues. Read on to learn more!

  • NoahLGP's avatar
    NoahLGP
    Seasoned Ace
    2 days ago

    I take it as advice for "pro" players.

    But it's difficult to apply for children and teen. And not everybody visit EA Forums or The Sims social media so an in-game Performance Assistant could help more players.

    Maxis try to help us to understand why the game doesn't work properly sometimes but this article isn't the right way to do it. EA should know that nobody read instruction manuals that's why there is in-game tutorial. 

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