Autonomous hugging more annoying than ever!

I feel your pain I have this problem. Not just with eating but interrupting random activities like watching tv.

Sadly I don't have any advice. My game is mod free and cc free so I know its not that. I'm beginning to think getting sims to sit down at a table and have a meal together is too difficult to code or something. :/

I think it came either with a patch or with the Cats and Dogs EP as I have noticed it when I bought it and played it for the first time. It really annoys me as well. It happens with most of the sims if they have enough relationship level, it can be a hug or a kiss in the cheek when it comes to couples. I hope they fix it, because personally I consider it a bug.

I must say I sympathize with the creators on this. All this nagging about robotic sims that never showed affection autonomously. In a game fcol. So this time they took care of that by adding this constant showing off affection, but it just doesn’t work does it. Next time: leave it to the player again. Or to rare autonomous moments where it actually makes total sense for sims to hug. And by total I mean total. Not just every kid automatically hugging a parent, regardless their relationship.

In Windenburg they do the annoying cheek kissing. I thought that map was German inspired and i'm sure they don't do cheek kissing in Deutschland. And yes it is annoying that they still play musical chairs in TS4 which makes them consume an hour or two for a task that should take ten minutes.

"Jestina;c-16241786" wrote:
In Windenburg they do the annoying cheek kissing. I thought that map was German inspired and i'm sure they don't do cheek kissing in Deutschland. And yes it is annoying that they still play musical chairs in TS4 which makes them consume an hour or two for a task that should take ten minutes.

So THAT'S why I haven't seen the cheek kissing for a while...because it only happens in Windenburg? Now I realize that when it became incredibly annoying, that's where I was.

Yeah, I just came here to post about this very thing. I can't remember the last time my Sims finished a meal sitting down. It would be fine to have pre-greeting like this if they did it with some sense; If either of the Sims are sitting, they should give a little wave or something instead of getting up. I've tried to go in and mod and nuke the flippin' things, but it's lead to all sorts of strange things (such as kids giving you a romantic kiss instead, and starting a romantic relationship) and I can't kill it all together. I wish someone with a better skill set would give it a go.

"JoAnne65;c-16241778" wrote:
I must say I sympathize with the creators on this. All this nagging about robotic sims that never showed affection autonomously. In a game fcol. So this time they took care of that by adding this constant showing off affection, but it just doesn’t work does it. Next time: leave it to the player again. Or to rare autonomous moments where it actually makes total sense for sims to hug. And by total I mean total. Not just every kid automatically hugging a parent, regardless their relationship.

I see it as a case of being careful what you wish for. I've seen many posts in the past asking for sims to have more AI and more autonomous actions. I never agreed back then, and I still don't. I felt having too much would cause the exact problems it causes. It takes the game out of the player's hands and causes frustration.

Anyway, people got what they asked for. They should be happy they got it. All I can do is hope they don't continue with this mess in the next iteration.

I agree with all your posts so far. @AnjaS, it must have come with the patch, because I don't have the Cats and Dogs ep and still have this problem.

@JoAnne65 I actually never saw complaints about robotic sims in TS4 to be honest, but maybe I just didn't notice it. In my opinion, this hugging whenever they want to talk is more robotic and "forced" than anything else, it just didn't fix anything and like you said, it doesn't work like this.

However, I also noticed that they only hug family members. Couples usually do the kiss on cheek thingy, which also interrupts story-telling. For example, I have a couple that I planned to divorce soon. They argue regulary, and the kiss on cheek just looks out of place in this case. Friends don't do anything like this, they just talk, like all sims should do it.

@Jestina This actually made me laugh. I haven't noticed because I don't play in Windenburg, but I can tell you that cheek kissing isn't a thing here in Germany at all, so that's even more odd.

"Huiiie_07;c-16242142" wrote:
I agree with all your posts so far. @AnjaS, it must have come with the patch, because I don't have the Cats and Dogs ep and still have this problem.

@JoAnne65 I actually never saw complaints about robotic sims in TS4 to be honest, but maybe I just didn't notice it. In my opinion, this hugging whenever they want to talk is more robotic and "forced" than anything else, it just didn't fix anything and like you said, it doesn't work like this.

However, I also noticed that they only hug family members. Couples usually do the kiss on cheek thingy, which also interrupts story-telling. For example, I have a couple that I planned to divorce soon. They argue regulary, and the kiss on cheek just looks out of place in this case. Friends don't do anything like this, they just talk, like all sims should do it.

@Jestina This actually made me laugh. I haven't noticed because I don't play in Windenburg, but I can tell you that cheek kissing isn't a thing here in Germany at all, so that's even more odd.

No, the complaints were about sims in TS3 and the sims in 4 are a reaction to that. I actually complain and have complained about sims in 4 feeling like robots, for the same reasons you give. For me it started when my sim got a son with a man she hardly knew and not only did this man insist on keeping visiting her, he'd also consequently be hugged by his son, who didn't have a clue who the fellow was in my mind. It's the same with your example of the couple that is about to get a divorce.

They have been programmed to act more spontaneous, but since they always repeat the very same actions, always and regardless the situation, it feels robotic. When such actions are left to the player's direction, our emotions are behind them instead of a mechanical code. It’s exactly like Kremesch says: be careful what you wish for.

"DominicLaurence;c-16244806" wrote:
I actually find it all right, it's a pretty common habit where I live.

But in my game at least they differ the greeting from sim to sim.

It's not the common autonomous hugging, I just play with free will off to prevent it, but when I, for example, have a family that eats dinner together and I direct them to talk, they both stand up to hug each other, just to sit down again and eventually beginning a conversation. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I couldn't believe that this is a common habit anywhere in the world :D