Builders How Important Is TerraForming To You?

I do not play TS4 but this is one of the reasons why, I need direct control not just when I play but also when I build. Not being able to edit the terrain is a step back before TS1 as even then you could edit the terrain. We need more build tools, not less.

It'd certainly be a nice addition, but it still wouldn't make me buy more of TS4... TS4 is too flawed for me to buy it now.

Also, due to the way they've done the maps, it's impossible to add terrain tools at this point.

When I first started playing TS4 I was so confused because I couldn’t find the terraforming option. I just expected it to be a feature. I still have times where I try to add a pond in (although I’ve found there are pre made ponds I can add with the hidden objects cheat). I’ve gotten used to the limitations and Sims 4 does do a lot of other things better than previous Sims games tbh.

Okay before I'm tarred and feathered. I'm not much of a builder. I didn't build in 3 particularly and I always flattened my plot area in prior games to build my house on when I did attempt it myself. I think I dabbled in huge excavations though, like a kid at the wheel of a car going "vroom, vroom". I wouldn't mind if the tool came but I wouldn't hands on use it. It would have to take a skilled hand to have me download those few areas where I feel it could be used well also. I'm not against them bringing it into the game though if that's a possible.
The backdrops in the game raise areas for me enough to feel (especially in the last few worlds) like I'm in a region that is hilly or even in area that might be set in a mountainous region.. like Windenburg.. it has a higher elevation feel to me. I'm not against the backdrops also, it makes me feel like I'm in a distinctive area with some life.
I wouldn't be overexcited if it came to game. I'd just be happy others got it. I'd worry if them implementing it would go against the engine or if it would be more taxing on our computers for us to utilize areas that have been terraformed. I'd like to know that, epecially before downloading others creations for sure.

If anyone is not bothered by these options not being in the game then I understand and won't hold against them any hard feelings for not caring as much about it as I do or others do.

I often speak about cookie cutter Sims, you know, family, 2.5 kids and a dog or cat etc. with a white picket fence. I have played that way too, but sometimes (more often than not) I have to try building something that isn't part of the scenery or wouldn't fit in with the current worlds. Things like the Colosseum, or let's take my DS obsession with that Collinwood house I built. I can't tell you how many times I have built that house in all the games, and in TS4 it was impossible for me to build it correctly to have the landing visible (inside) with the stairs not very tall. All most sort of like split level but not exactly. With terraforming this would have been possible and I wouldn't have to resort to a sunken drawing room etc. Because I'm a stickler for stuff like that. The house doesn't have a sunken drawing room in the old show.

That stuff matters to me. True the house was never used for the TV show, only the outside a stage in a studio in New York, lol, but if I built the entrance as it looks on the old show I would have to sink the drawing room to be able to show the landing leading from the staircase. Which would not be a true replica. That means I would have to add step down stairs, too, to the living/drawing room. That annoyed me so much when I had to add a foundation (which it doesn't have on the old show) so I could sink the rooms by deleting the floors. That sort of stuff insults my sense of virtual truth. That is just a tiny example of things I can't build in this game and represent a true replica.

You never know what inspires a person and when we run into a brick wall some of us are so particular with detail that stairs going down into the drawing room would make us just give up and say forget about it. And something I know I won't be able to build is something like the Hanging Gardens...I hope developers think about how imagination is stumped when we can't build what is in our mind's eye. It's all very unfortunate for some of us. ETA: And as far as someone else downloading something that I have built, I have never built to please other people, I build my imagination and or other blue prints, and it's for me, and has always been for me. ETA: Terraforming is one reason I could build things like Gondor or The Keep etc. in older games. Don't keep squashing possibilities, because a lot of us don't play cookie cutter Sims.

@Hermitgirl, I would not be able to build where I live now, because my land and house is not flat. My land has several landings and not just rolling hills. Some of my house is back underground which is part of the basement. Details matter. :) ETA: And I might as well forget about building an old run down castle high on a cliff overlooking the town below. That winding path leading up to the gate is not going to happen. :/

To me it's very important. After a while all the flat lots just kind of started to bore me. So I tried to create a house in the dunes with roofs, but it looked absolutely terrible! It's just really sad that we have to use roofs to make a hill. Why can't we just have the real deal? Same goes for ponds. People make fountains and have to put all these rocks around them to make them look like ponds. I just hate how much this game has gone 100 steps backwards with certain features.

For me it's not life changing important, but if! we get seasons anytime soon, it will become more and more important for me. I want snow covered hills on my lot and not only in the distance. I think having a flat lot is just getting more and more boring, even for someone like me that's not too big on building.
I would looove to have the option to build a real pond I could even fish in. Kind of like in the Sims 2.

I think being able to customize lots and the sims world anyway you like is the most important. If you look at Planet Coaster terraforming it is amazing and most players can spend hours just playing around with the terrain tools.

I would like to be able to make my own beach, waterfalls, mountains, a park or forest with a river running through it with a bridge built over the river. The possibilities are endless.

I think terrain tools are very important and a big part of a game where you can play God.

I've never been that great at building, I tend to use the beautiful lots made by others. But even with my very rudimentary building skills, I feel that terraforming is essential.

While I don't personally use it in my builds- even in Sims 2 I tended to get the lots as flat as possible- I'd rate my wish for it at a 5. I would want it for L-Stairs if nothing else and I believe that for many other builders it is a must.