Forum Discussion

MaryJane13191's avatar
4 years ago

Adjustable Height and Animations That Fit For Sims 4 Please?

I'm absolutely dying for adjustable height in Ts4. It can be in the form of 3 height options and an 'edit details' option could be there to adjust whether you are longer in the torso or maybe have really long legs. Maybe an extremities adjuster for giving a Sim longer arms, legs, neck, ect? Even the shortest door (excluding pet doors) have 1/2 Sims worth of space above their heads and they wouldn't have to be outrageously tall either. I REALLY WANT short & tall Sims in my game. Plus animations that fit. I know there are mods for it but I put this here because I play console and we don't get mods. I don't want to install a mod for height even if I could. I just would die happy if it was added to the game. Also, we didn't have toddlers out the gate. Now we do & they have animation interactions with c,t,ya,a,e.... And we have interactions between child and t-e which takes height difference in mind. And not only that but maybe new babies soon with animation interactions. So I have A LOT OF FAITH in height being possible. Maybe not soon or on the next laundry list but I can see it having a future in Ts4.
  • "Tequila_Rose_13191;c-17855745" wrote:
    I just wish people who are for Ts5 & Paralives would keep those opinions for more fitted threads. This thread is for who wants it in 4, raise your hand, not really a discussion thread. This is a topic that I've been super passionate about for a long time and I want to give people a thread that gives them hope in seeing something fun and exciting to the game. I don't understand why there's always gotta be someone who poops on the coats at the party. I honestly don't care about Paralives either. Personally I think it's fake & isn't even real. (*Takes off my tinfoil hat*) Anyway, I really want to see height added to ts4 and I embrace anyone else who wants it.


    Wait a second, so you say this:

    "Tequila_Rose_13191;d-988598" wrote:
    So I have A LOT OF FAITH in height being possible. Maybe not soon or on the next laundry list but I can see it having a future in Ts4.


    Ignoring your strange conspiracy theory on Paralives that strikes me as being rooted in the fact you're a fan of TS4 and thus, you've a significant bias, you make a statement on height being possible in TS4, 4 of us argue the opposite, and what we say is summarily dismissed because you have no interest in TS5 and Paralives. Also, not a single one of us, as far as I know, has advocated for Paralives or TS5, we've only mentioned that seamless height sliders could appear in those games. The thread title strongly implies you wanted to talk about height potentially being added in TS4, yet you slap on this arbitrary "rule" of folks only being allowed to speak positively on the matter of height. No matter what conclusion any of us want to share, it needs to agree with you completely. Why are you so afraid of your bubble being burst? The idea is extremely desirable, but extremely impractical, at least, to my knowledge of game development.

    For example, let's look at your example of toddlers having interactions with children through elders. Toddlers can't interact with most objects in the game because they're too young to understand what they are (see the "What's That?" interaction) or simply can't reach, so the workload of adding animations and interactions for them were significantly reduced. Toddlers also cannot communicate and socialize with teens through elders as effectively as they can with each other for that same reason. A young adult Sim can communicate, socalize, and do way more activities with another teen to elder Sim than they can with a toddler, also reducing the workload. As it is in real life, a grown person is far more complex than a toddler. So it is with the workload. And finally, teens through elders are the same height. Once you add animations for one group, you've basically finished the rest.

    I thought we were going to talk about if height could be added in TS4 or not and look to other games to see how it could or couldn't be possible, such as the Conan example above, how the process of implementing it could go down, what the developers might have to do, the hurdles they'd have to overcome, how it could benefit the game, and perhaps lead into what the future of life simulator games as a whole could look like. At least, that's what I envisioned the direction of this thread potentially going. I get being passionate about a potential feature being added to the game, but if you're going to shut down any antithetical statement because it doesn't match up with yours, I fail to see the point of this thread.

  • "LJK;c-17855478" wrote:
    "Chicklet453681;c-17854036" wrote:
    I would like height sliders too, but I honestly at this point in time, don't see it happening. The game is going on 7 years, and yes they said TS4 has "many, many more years", but to implement height sliders, every single animation in the game would need to be adjusted for each life stage. (cooking at counters, opening fridges, riding bikes, showering, sitting, kissing, hugging, the list of animations that would need updated is massive. Just think about every single animation your sim does.

    I don't think adding height sliders will bring in a ton more people to the franchise to reap monetary benefits for EA to justify the time and resources it would take to modify all of the animations. TS4 is synonymous with reusing existing animations as it is.

    But, maybe if they're reading these Feedback threads it could be implemented into TS5 from the beginning.


    Basically this. I feel like folks who ask for this in TS4 probably don't know much about game development. This is not a criticism. Paralives has talked about developing a system into their game in which they have the game, if memory serves, automatically adjust animations in real time for Parafolk of differing heights. Difference is, Paralives is still in early development. I highly doubt Maxis can implement the same on a game that's already been released.

    "sunman502;c-17855423" wrote:
    We do know that sims that are taller have no problems with hugging sims that are shorter than them through the interaction of older sims hugging sims that are children.


    They have no problem doing it because the developers animated that interaction into the game. It could be possible within any game that encourages physically engaging with NPCs/playable characters, but the time and resources would be immense. Take a Sim taller than the average Sim. Animations for them throughout the entire game and its packs would have to be edited just so your taller Sims can be included without breaking immersion. Every single physical interaction a Sim can have with another one would need a new animation. Every single physical interaction with an object would need a new animation. Numerous objects would need resizing, a taller Sim may have to sit in a more awkward position on the average chair, couch, etc. Their feet could poke out from the ends of a bed. Bicycles would look ridiculous, a taller Sim would need a bigger bike, as it tends to be in real life. Casting a spell onto another Sim and duels would need re-doing for Tall vs Average, Average vs Short, and Short vs Tall. This can be easily replicated using height slider mods, I've used them myself only to uninstall them because they broke my immersion. If memory serves, the UI where it shows what emotion your Sim is feeling would need fixing since it would show my Sim's chest instead of his head because he was taller than intended.

    I can go on, there's tons and tons of examples.

    Now double everything I just pointed out and everything I implied, but reverse it for shorter Sims. Then add even more for ensuring that all short, average, and tall Sims can interact with each other without clipping, goofed animations, etc. That is an unbelievably massive amount of work just to include two other height options. I'd rather not ask Maxis to work that much/hard because if I was going to, I'd ask for more stuff for our Sims to do, more depth, more gameplay, not something far less relevant like height. Sure, it would definitely add more realism, but it's a visual feature only. As much I would love my Sim to be taller than average, I predict it would be more of a TS5 feature. Maybe even TS6. Or perhaps never. But definitely not TS4. Now if I end up being wrong and it does end up being added to TS4 seamlessly, I'll gladly take that L, but I would bet my cat that I'm not. And I love my cat.

    Well yes, they can because they have the developer's tool to work with. Which is why they extensively test things in the game before they add it to the game. I'll let you in on something. Now this isn't height adjustment in Sims 4. But it would need to go through the same type of developer testing just the same. A short time ago the developers for Conan Exiles did a live stream for Conan Exiles. And in it, a player ask a question about having boats in the game. A developer responded by saying that it's possible to do. But they would need run some extensive testing on this feature before they can add to the game. The same can be said for height adjustment in The Sims because of the amount of things that would need to be work on before we would see such a thing in The Sims.
  • "sunman502;c-17871579" wrote:
    "LJK;c-17855478" wrote:
    "Chicklet453681;c-17854036" wrote:
    I would like height sliders too, but I honestly at this point in time, don't see it happening. The game is going on 7 years, and yes they said TS4 has "many, many more years", but to implement height sliders, every single animation in the game would need to be adjusted for each life stage. (cooking at counters, opening fridges, riding bikes, showering, sitting, kissing, hugging, the list of animations that would need updated is massive. Just think about every single animation your sim does.

    I don't think adding height sliders will bring in a ton more people to the franchise to reap monetary benefits for EA to justify the time and resources it would take to modify all of the animations. TS4 is synonymous with reusing existing animations as it is.

    But, maybe if they're reading these Feedback threads it could be implemented into TS5 from the beginning.


    Basically this. I feel like folks who ask for this in TS4 probably don't know much about game development. This is not a criticism. Paralives has talked about developing a system into their game in which they have the game, if memory serves, automatically adjust animations in real time for Parafolk of differing heights. Difference is, Paralives is still in early development. I highly doubt Maxis can implement the same on a game that's already been released.

    "sunman502;c-17855423" wrote:
    We do know that sims that are taller have no problems with hugging sims that are shorter than them through the interaction of older sims hugging sims that are children.


    They have no problem doing it because the developers animated that interaction into the game. It could be possible within any game that encourages physically engaging with NPCs/playable characters, but the time and resources would be immense. Take a Sim taller than the average Sim. Animations for them throughout the entire game and its packs would have to be edited just so your taller Sims can be included without breaking immersion. Every single physical interaction a Sim can have with another one would need a new animation. Every single physical interaction with an object would need a new animation. Numerous objects would need resizing, a taller Sim may have to sit in a more awkward position on the average chair, couch, etc. Their feet could poke out from the ends of a bed. Bicycles would look ridiculous, a taller Sim would need a bigger bike, as it tends to be in real life. Casting a spell onto another Sim and duels would need re-doing for Tall vs Average, Average vs Short, and Short vs Tall. This can be easily replicated using height slider mods, I've used them myself only to uninstall them because they broke my immersion. If memory serves, the UI where it shows what emotion your Sim is feeling would need fixing since it would show my Sim's chest instead of his head because he was taller than intended.

    I can go on, there's tons and tons of examples.

    Now double everything I just pointed out and everything I implied, but reverse it for shorter Sims. Then add even more for ensuring that all short, average, and tall Sims can interact with each other without clipping, goofed animations, etc. That is an unbelievably massive amount of work just to include two other height options. I'd rather not ask Maxis to work that much/hard because if I was going to, I'd ask for more stuff for our Sims to do, more depth, more gameplay, not something far less relevant like height. Sure, it would definitely add more realism, but it's a visual feature only. As much I would love my Sim to be taller than average, I predict it would be more of a TS5 feature. Maybe even TS6. Or perhaps never. But definitely not TS4. Now if I end up being wrong and it does end up being added to TS4 seamlessly, I'll gladly take that L, but I would bet my cat that I'm not. And I love my cat.

    Well yes, they can because they have the developer's tool to work with. Which is why they extensively test things in the game before they add it to the game. I'll let you in on something. Now this isn't height adjustment in Sims 4. But it would need to go through the same type of developer testing just the same. A short time ago the developers for Conan Exiles did a live stream for Conan Exiles. And in it, a player ask a question about having boats in the game. A developer responded by saying that it's possible to do. But they would need run some extensive testing on this feature before they can add to the game. The same can be said for height adjustment in The Sims because of the amount of things that would need to be work on before we would see such a thing in The Sims.


    This is a really good point that I always try to keep in mind. And the use of Conan Exiles is okay cause you're using it to elaborate your point instead of using a game that currently doesn't exist yet as a go to answer because the possibilities of something that doesn't exist yet is endless where using an existing game as an example is ok. Arc would be mine. You can have orangutan proportions or slenderman proportions and all the animations are the same but are consistent with all the different heights and this is an online game that has a huge open world with dinosaurs and other stuff that tries to attack you while you survive on an island and eventually try to get out to sea. It wasn't even supposed to be a stand alone game either. It was originally supposed to be DLC for Sea of Thieves. And yet it works. Sure a little buggy, but we also live in the age of rolling updates. We no longer live in days where if a game's lifespan is over it's just done and dead. Ts4 is already formatted and plays better on the newest Xbox console. So they could have a team that is solely working on that. It could come to TS4!
  • "Tequila_Rose_13191;c-17872933" wrote:
    "sunman502;c-17871579" wrote:
    "LJK;c-17855478" wrote:
    "Chicklet453681;c-17854036" wrote:
    I would like height sliders too, but I honestly at this point in time, don't see it happening. The game is going on 7 years, and yes they said TS4 has "many, many more years", but to implement height sliders, every single animation in the game would need to be adjusted for each life stage. (cooking at counters, opening fridges, riding bikes, showering, sitting, kissing, hugging, the list of animations that would need updated is massive. Just think about every single animation your sim does.

    I don't think adding height sliders will bring in a ton more people to the franchise to reap monetary benefits for EA to justify the time and resources it would take to modify all of the animations. TS4 is synonymous with reusing existing animations as it is.

    But, maybe if they're reading these Feedback threads it could be implemented into TS5 from the beginning.


    Basically this. I feel like folks who ask for this in TS4 probably don't know much about game development. This is not a criticism. Paralives has talked about developing a system into their game in which they have the game, if memory serves, automatically adjust animations in real time for Parafolk of differing heights. Difference is, Paralives is still in early development. I highly doubt Maxis can implement the same on a game that's already been released.

    "sunman502;c-17855423" wrote:
    We do know that sims that are taller have no problems with hugging sims that are shorter than them through the interaction of older sims hugging sims that are children.


    They have no problem doing it because the developers animated that interaction into the game. It could be possible within any game that encourages physically engaging with NPCs/playable characters, but the time and resources would be immense. Take a Sim taller than the average Sim. Animations for them throughout the entire game and its packs would have to be edited just so your taller Sims can be included without breaking immersion. Every single physical interaction a Sim can have with another one would need a new animation. Every single physical interaction with an object would need a new animation. Numerous objects would need resizing, a taller Sim may have to sit in a more awkward position on the average chair, couch, etc. Their feet could poke out from the ends of a bed. Bicycles would look ridiculous, a taller Sim would need a bigger bike, as it tends to be in real life. Casting a spell onto another Sim and duels would need re-doing for Tall vs Average, Average vs Short, and Short vs Tall. This can be easily replicated using height slider mods, I've used them myself only to uninstall them because they broke my immersion. If memory serves, the UI where it shows what emotion your Sim is feeling would need fixing since it would show my Sim's chest instead of his head because he was taller than intended.

    I can go on, there's tons and tons of examples.

    Now double everything I just pointed out and everything I implied, but reverse it for shorter Sims. Then add even more for ensuring that all short, average, and tall Sims can interact with each other without clipping, goofed animations, etc. That is an unbelievably massive amount of work just to include two other height options. I'd rather not ask Maxis to work that much/hard because if I was going to, I'd ask for more stuff for our Sims to do, more depth, more gameplay, not something far less relevant like height. Sure, it would definitely add more realism, but it's a visual feature only. As much I would love my Sim to be taller than average, I predict it would be more of a TS5 feature. Maybe even TS6. Or perhaps never. But definitely not TS4. Now if I end up being wrong and it does end up being added to TS4 seamlessly, I'll gladly take that L, but I would bet my cat that I'm not. And I love my cat.

    Well yes, they can because they have the developer's tool to work with. Which is why they extensively test things in the game before they add it to the game. I'll let you in on something. Now this isn't height adjustment in Sims 4. But it would need to go through the same type of developer testing just the same. A short time ago the developers for Conan Exiles did a live stream for Conan Exiles. And in it, a player ask a question about having boats in the game. A developer responded by saying that it's possible to do. But they would need run some extensive testing on this feature before they can add to the game. The same can be said for height adjustment in The Sims because of the amount of things that would need to be work on before we would see such a thing in The Sims.


    This is a really good point that I always try to keep in mind. And the use of Conan Exiles is okay cause you're using it to elaborate your point instead of using a game that currently doesn't exist yet as a go to answer because the possibilities of something that doesn't exist yet is endless where using an existing game as an example is ok. Arc would be mine. You can have orangutan proportions or slenderman proportions and all the animations are the same but are consistent with all the different heights and this is an online game that has a huge open world with dinosaurs and other stuff that tries to attack you while you survive on an island and eventually try to get out to sea. It wasn't even supposed to be a stand alone game either. It was originally supposed to be DLC for Sea of Thieves. And yet it works. Sure a little buggy, but we also live in the age of rolling updates. We no longer live in days where if a game's lifespan is over it's just done and dead. Ts4 is already formatted and plays better on the newest Xbox console. So they could have a team that is solely working on that. It could come to TS4!

    I have played Ark too. It is a beautiful game and a good example to use here because of the many different things that would need to be work on. And then tested to see if it works well with the new featured content and or gameplay and animation.
  • Please, please, please EA!!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE MAXIS!!! PLEASE let lumiia add his height slider mod system to base game and add fitting animations to the different heights!!! HEIGHT = MORE REPRESENTATION = HAPPINESS! LOL
  • "Chicklet453681;c-17854036" wrote:
    I would like height sliders too, but I honestly at this point in time, don't see it happening. The game is going on 7 years, and yes they said TS4 has "many, many more years", but to implement height sliders, every single animation in the game would need to be adjusted for each life stage. (cooking at counters, opening fridges, riding bikes, showering, sitting, kissing, hugging, the list of animations that would need updated is massive. Just think about every single animation your sim does.

    I don't think adding height sliders will bring in a ton more people to the franchise to reap monetary benefits for EA to justify the time and resources it would take to modify all of the animations. TS4 is synonymous with reusing existing animations as it is.

    But, maybe if they're reading these Feedback threads it could be implemented into TS5 from the beginning.


    Basically this. I feel like folks who ask for this in TS4 probably don't know much about game development. This is not a criticism. Paralives has talked about developing a system into their game in which they have the game, if memory serves, automatically adjust animations in real time for Parafolk of differing heights. Difference is, Paralives is still in early development. I highly doubt Maxis can implement the same on a game that's already been released.

    "sunman502;c-17855423" wrote:
    We do know that sims that are taller have no problems with hugging sims that are shorter than them through the interaction of older sims hugging sims that are children.


    They have no problem doing it because the developers animated that interaction into the game. It could be possible within any game that encourages physically engaging with NPCs/playable characters, but the time and resources would be immense. Take a Sim taller than the average Sim. Animations for them throughout the entire game and its packs would have to be edited just so your taller Sims can be included without breaking immersion. Every single physical interaction a Sim can have with another one would need a new animation. Every single physical interaction with an object would need a new animation. Numerous objects would need resizing, a taller Sim may have to sit in a more awkward position on the average chair, couch, etc. Their feet could poke out from the ends of a bed. Bicycles would look ridiculous, a taller Sim would need a bigger bike, as it tends to be in real life. Casting a spell onto another Sim and duels would need re-doing for Tall vs Average, Average vs Short, and Short vs Tall. This can be easily replicated using height slider mods, I've used them myself only to uninstall them because they broke my immersion. If memory serves, the UI where it shows what emotion your Sim is feeling would need fixing since it would show my Sim's chest instead of his head because he was taller than intended.

    I can go on, there's tons and tons of examples.

    Now double everything I just pointed out and everything I implied, but reverse it for shorter Sims. Then add even more for ensuring that all short, average, and tall Sims can interact with each other without clipping, goofed animations, etc. That is an unbelievably massive amount of work just to include two other height options. I'd rather not ask Maxis to work that much/hard because if I was going to, I'd ask for more stuff for our Sims to do, more depth, more gameplay, not something far less relevant like height. Sure, it would definitely add more realism, but it's a visual feature only. As much I would love my Sim to be taller than average, I predict it would be more of a TS5 feature. Maybe even TS6. Or perhaps never. But definitely not TS4. Now if I end up being wrong and it does end up being added to TS4 seamlessly, I'll gladly take that L, but I would bet my cat that I'm not. And I love my cat.