Forum Discussion

_Cmdr_Zach_'s avatar
7 years ago

Constant Rain

So I purchased the Seasons EP yesterday, started new game, set starting season to Fall (when asked), went to Options and set season length to 4 weeks (so I would have time to explore all that each season has to offer).

I'm on Sim day 22 now, and every single day it has rained. It even rains when it's sunny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :/ :o Now, to be clear, it's not constantly raining, but at some point during the day or night it will rain.

Is this a bug or a feature?


P.S. No mods.
  • "JimG72;c-16641735" wrote:
    "CommanderKeen;d-945125" wrote:


    I'm on Sim day 22 now, and every single day it has rained. It even rains when it's sunny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :/ :o Now, to be clear, it's not constantly raining, but at some point during the day or night it will rain.



    "CommanderKeen;c-16629736" wrote:


    Sorry, but no. In real life, it does not rain every single day.


    I returned to Illinois from California in May one year on Summer Break and it rained at some point in the day for an entire month straight....every freaking day. I was keenly aware of it because I had just spent the last 3 years living in Southern California where it's sunny all but 2 weeks of the year. So, yes, in real life, it is possible for somewhere to get 22 straight days with some kind of rain....not likely, but possible.

    "fadingaudio;c-16632577" wrote:


    That's great, but it's not random no matter how many people who don't understand coding, programming, and math says this, it will still not ever be true. That's not how programming works and computers cannot generate true randomness in their selection. It's not physically possible. Random number generators that are so popular aren't actually random either. They can't generate true randomness and everything they do is based on mathematical equations. This is true for every single game, program, and computer coding in the entire world. This needs to be adjusted because it's not playable when you have 28 straight days of rain. No matter how many people might like that, many of us don't. It's okay to not like it and wish it to be tuned differently.


    Actually, that's exactly how random number generators in game code work and I've used them before in coding outcomes for a text-based game. For example, each world has a percentage chance of rain based upon what season the game is in. Let's say Willow Creek has a 50% of rain in the Spring. So, for example, you run a line of code which selects a random digit from 1 to 100. You then assign outcomes 1 to 50 as rain and outcomes from 51 to 100 as no rain based on that percentage chance. So every day in Willow Creek in Spring when the calendar flips to the next day, a roll is performed from 1 to 100 and if it comes up with a number from 1 to 50, then there would be rain. While it's unlikely that would come up in the 1 to 50 range for 22 straight times, it's still possible and that result is what people are referring to as "randomness". It's no different than flipping a coin....theoretically, the coin could come up heads 22 straight times even though that is very unlikely. On the 22nd flip, the coin doesn't know that it's been heads 21 previous times in a row....the coin has the same chance each time of being heads or tails no matter what the previous flips have been. Now, they have more weather outcomes programmed into the game for rain (light rain, heavy rain, thunderstorms) and other types of weather so you'd have more possible outcomes assigned for each roll but the concept remains the same.

    They may need to adjust the percentage chance of certain types of weather for particular seasons or worlds so that it's more likely to create a variety of weather....and they could also program in some sort of weather check which looks at previous weather to adjust the chance of certain types of weather occurring for the current day......or it may have been intentional because they want each world to have a certain "feel" in each season.


    What you are describing isn't randomness. It's called PRNG and all games use it. Again it's not truly random because it's got a predicted outcome based on seed values. If I could look at your code and predict your values without having to run them then that's PRNG. It's not actually random. it has a predicted outcome based on seed values and once you know the starting point you can basically predict the outcomes. All games use PRNG it's just unless you are in the tech world it will appear "random" to you, but that's not the true meaning of "random". True randomness is incredibly difficult to do. The weather in TS4 is definitely based on some kind of algorithm and it's producing weird results in long term play.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudorandom_number_generator

    https://www.techopedia.com/definition/25842/pseudo-random-number-generator-prng

    Regardless, it's not tuned correctly and they need to adjust their coding. The bottom I agree with you.
  • Nindigo79's avatar
    Nindigo79
    Seasoned Novice
    I haven't had rain for Sim days now. It's currently autumn in my Willow Creek. Perhaps it has already been adjusted?
  • "fadingaudio;c-16650105" wrote:
    "JimG72;c-16641735" wrote:
    "CommanderKeen;d-945125" wrote:


    I'm on Sim day 22 now, and every single day it has rained. It even rains when it's sunny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :/ :o Now, to be clear, it's not constantly raining, but at some point during the day or night it will rain.



    "CommanderKeen;c-16629736" wrote:


    Sorry, but no. In real life, it does not rain every single day.


    I returned to Illinois from California in May one year on Summer Break and it rained at some point in the day for an entire month straight....every freaking day. I was keenly aware of it because I had just spent the last 3 years living in Southern California where it's sunny all but 2 weeks of the year. So, yes, in real life, it is possible for somewhere to get 22 straight days with some kind of rain....not likely, but possible.

    "fadingaudio;c-16632577" wrote:


    That's great, but it's not random no matter how many people who don't understand coding, programming, and math says this, it will still not ever be true. That's not how programming works and computers cannot generate true randomness in their selection. It's not physically possible. Random number generators that are so popular aren't actually random either. They can't generate true randomness and everything they do is based on mathematical equations. This is true for every single game, program, and computer coding in the entire world. This needs to be adjusted because it's not playable when you have 28 straight days of rain. No matter how many people might like that, many of us don't. It's okay to not like it and wish it to be tuned differently.


    Actually, that's exactly how random number generators in game code work and I've used them before in coding outcomes for a text-based game. For example, each world has a percentage chance of rain based upon what season the game is in. Let's say Willow Creek has a 50% of rain in the Spring. So, for example, you run a line of code which selects a random digit from 1 to 100. You then assign outcomes 1 to 50 as rain and outcomes from 51 to 100 as no rain based on that percentage chance. So every day in Willow Creek in Spring when the calendar flips to the next day, a roll is performed from 1 to 100 and if it comes up with a number from 1 to 50, then there would be rain. While it's unlikely that would come up in the 1 to 50 range for 22 straight times, it's still possible and that result is what people are referring to as "randomness". It's no different than flipping a coin....theoretically, the coin could come up heads 22 straight times even though that is very unlikely. On the 22nd flip, the coin doesn't know that it's been heads 21 previous times in a row....the coin has the same chance each time of being heads or tails no matter what the previous flips have been. Now, they have more weather outcomes programmed into the game for rain (light rain, heavy rain, thunderstorms) and other types of weather so you'd have more possible outcomes assigned for each roll but the concept remains the same.

    They may need to adjust the percentage chance of certain types of weather for particular seasons or worlds so that it's more likely to create a variety of weather....and they could also program in some sort of weather check which looks at previous weather to adjust the chance of certain types of weather occurring for the current day......or it may have been intentional because they want each world to have a certain "feel" in each season.


    What you are describing isn't randomness. It's called PRNG and all games use it. Again it's not truly random because it's got a predicted outcome based on seed values. If I could look at your code and predict your values without having to run them then that's PRNG. It's not actually random. it has a predicted outcome based on seed values and once you know the starting point you can basically predict the outcomes. All games use PRNG it's just unless you are in the tech world it will appear "random" to you, but that's not the true meaning of "random". True randomness is incredibly difficult to do. The weather in TS4 is definitely based on some kind of algorithm and it's producing weird results in long term play.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudorandom_number_generator

    https://www.techopedia.com/definition/25842/pseudo-random-number-generator-prng

    Regardless, it's not tuned correctly and they need to adjust their coding. The bottom I agree with you.
    So where are you basing this from because like I said this is a game not real life so it is randomness in the game. It might not be in real life but are you really going to judge a game like that. Most people won't care because they use the game as an escape or a place to be creative and share their creative talents with others on the gallery.

  • "CommanderKeen;c-16629736" wrote:
    "Jordan061102;c-16629633" wrote:
    As in real life it can happens. It's just randomly.


    Sorry, but no. In real life, it does not rain every single day.


    it really depends on where you live. Where I live it rained every day except for two days in July, and that's considered "normal." it rains more days than not here. Its just the way it is! so far this year we've had 115.2 inches of rain! But I do get your original point. I noticed that some worlds in the sims seem to be much rainier than others, Windenburg seems very stormy and rainy to me.
  • "CommanderKeen;c-16629736" wrote:


    Sorry, but no. In real life, it does not rain every single day.

    Actually...it depends on where you live. Ever experienced a Florida seasons? During certain times of the year it rains every single day without fail for about an hour almost at the exact same time each day.
  • I've tried to turn off the rain & thunderstorms in my game., but it isn't working. Is there some trick to it? I've repaired my game, deleted all the cache files. I'm playing in Willow Creek. I've played thru a whole year.
  • In the save I opened after installing Seasons, the first weather I saw was rain (the household I opened lives in Newcrest) . I started a legacy style save the next morning though and haven't seen rain once. In that save I've gone through 14 days of winter and 5-6 of spring without rain, even when my sim has visited other areas besides the one she lives in (Windenburg).
  • "fadingaudio;c-16632577" wrote:
    "pepperjax1230;c-16632478" wrote:
    I have it 14 days and during summer it rained everyday except a couple of days it was hot and nice.

    It is random and it depends on where your sims live because Willow Creek gets more thunderstorms then the other worlds.



    That's great, but it's not random no matter how many people who don't understand coding, programming, and math says this, it will still not ever be true. That's not how programming works and computers cannot generate true randomness in their selection. It's not physically possible. Random number generators that are so popular aren't actually random either. They can't generate true randomness and everything they do is based on mathematical equations. This is true for every single game, program, and computer coding in the entire world. This needs to be adjusted because it's not playable when you have 28 straight days of rain. No matter how many people might like that, many of us don't. It's okay to not like it and wish it to be tuned differently.

    This "I have it 14 days and during summer it rained everyday except a couple of days it was hot and nice." really shouldn't happen especially in worlds like Willow Creek where it's based on southern area of the US. While they get rain, they don't typically get that many days of rain. 3 out of 14 days being sunny isn't normal for that part of the world. That's 79% chance of rain for the entire summer season. That's crazy out of the ordinary for that area of the world. If you put it into real life terms you'd be looking at most of June, July, and August being just rain. I live in a state that's literally considered one of the rainiest in the entire country even *we* don't get that much rain. So it's not even realistic at all. You have to understand proportions are going to be off because sims don't have 3-4 months per season like we do in real life, but if you turn it into a percentage that's where it really shows how unrealistic and odd it is.


    Here's how randomness works:
    Unless you have a sample pool over SEVERAL THOUSAND, a true proof that something ISN'T random is if it's evenly distributed.
    Seriously, if you COULDN'T get 28 days straight of rain, it wouldn't be random.
    The problem is that our brains don't accept that but tries to find patterns. It's an instinct. That's why we think that hitting double sixes (or natural twenties, or whatever dice you are rolling) 5 times in a row "isn't random", when it truly proves exactly that.

    Or another example: If you play 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 at the lottery, you actually have exactly the same chance of winning as if you had submitted a random series of numbers. It's just that our brains assumes, wrongly, that it somehow would be more unlikely, because our brains do not like randomness.

    This means, that before you have played Willow Creek, In Summer, For about 2000 Sim Days, written down and then analyzed the weather data, you have no way of telling if the game is faulty, or rigged, or...

    Again, the fact that you got 22 days of rain in a row very strongly indicates that it is RANDOM. Not the other way around.