Water Emitters in Build Mode

@feeder2266 

What you're seeing is normal for fountains and other objects that have water FX.  They don't show any water spraying in build mode, only in live mode.  I'm not sure what you mean about preview.  I have never noticed an option for that.  I play on a PC and will take a look to see if it shows up on the PC version of the game.  I agree with you though, it would be nice to see the water sprays in build mode so it would be easier to pick which spray pattern you want to have.

Hope this helps.

Hey there @feeder2266,

The only way you'd be able to "preview" what the fountains look like is to place the water emitters in Build mode, head into Live mode so the emitters are turned on and functioning, and then go back into Build mode. Other than this work-around, there is no "preview" function for the emitters. 

@EA_Solaire   Hello!  My apologies for reviving this thread but it seems like something did change at some point regarding the behavior of the water emitters.  So, I was thinking it might be worth raising this with the team to see if we could get this changed back. 

I recently shared a Residential lot and a room on the Gallery that include a Grotto Pool with a waterfall effect that I created using water emitters.  I got the idea from the below YouTube tutorial that was shared in 2019.  There are a couple of other tutorials that were shared in 2020 that also show the water spouts in Build mode.  This one is a good example because the creator used so many emitters. lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DClB8WEXvaU

They start placing the emitters at around the 3:10 minute mark.  For this kind of creation, it would be extremely helpful for the water spout to show in Build Mode since switching between Live and Build is incredibly time-consuming.  Even for other kinds of creations, being able to see what the water looks like would be really useful.  I was discussing this issue with a friend who found and shared this thread with me.  Even though it's a bit older now, I do think it's still a reasonable concern and any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks so much for your time and consideration!

EDIT: I just noticed this thread is in Mods/CC issues but seems like it would be more fitting in the Game Feedback and Ideas forum.

I absolutely agree with this @JonaO703 it would be so useful. I usually create lots before I add Sims and when I saw your incredible waterfall recently I wanted to try it out myself as I've had no success with it before. So I made a small waterfall/rockery with a little pond and it took a few attempts to get the right water emitters for the effect I wanted. But to test an uninhabited lot I actually had to visit it with another household to see it in action. I originally chose water emitters that went straight up when I really wanted a more natural even flow of water. But I couldn't see I'd initially picked the wrong ones for that as I couldn't see it in build mode.

@simsplayer818     That's a great point about needing to have a sim on the lot for testing in Live Mode.  Thanks for sharing!