DESTROYED WINTER: Snow is flat, no depth. Snow looks like white paint on the roofs.

It's very sad for me to be here talking about it, but after what I saw in yesterday's trailer, unfortunately I see myself with no choices.

The snow of The Sims 4 Seasons doesn't have depth level as in The Sims 2 and The Sims 3. Yes, that's exactly it. Basically all they just did was change the texture of the floor to something with a whitish appearance and just that. It's like the "First Snow" mod in which the texture of the floor changes, and the only difference between the mod and what we see in The Sims 4 Seasons is that in the expansion pack the Sims have specific interactions for the snow in the winter period, and the texture of the snow disappears automatically when another season of the year arrives.

https://i.imgur.com/hs6fE5e.jpg

For me, personally, this is a very big disappointment. Winter was always one of my favorite seasons because of all the drastic visual change going on in the neighborhood, and the level of snow depth was one of the coolest features that was provided, especially in The Sims 3 where there were 3 different levels depths: low, medium and high.

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What left me still more disappointed was the roof of the houses during the winter. It seems they threw a bucket of white paint on the roof and what we see in the pictures is the end result of the prank.

https://i.imgur.com/2wGcjAG.jpg

If I did not know this is from an expansion pack, I could say it was the work of some modder.

Meanwhile, in The Sims 3 we have depth levels of snow that even affect the roof. In addition, the texture is very beautiful

https://i.imgur.com/LDLhTFX.png

https://media.giphy.com/media/jbwe1cim0mvikQktlE/giphy.gif

Reproduction of similar house made in The Sims 3,

Even though the image of the gif is small, we can already see the grotesque difference between The Sims 4 and The Sims 3.

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https://i.imgur.com/kKDf8nj.jpg

Now see these two pictures taken from The Sims 4 Seasons trailer. As you can see, in both images, the Sims' feet are on top of what the snow would be like. There is no level of depth at all.

I even considered the possibility that, in fact, they just did not show the levels of depth of the snow in the trailer, but not just in the trailer, but in the images that the producers have already made available, it's always the same thing.

In The Sims 3, snow levels are there. Low, medium and high.

https://media.giphy.com/media/4NgwxKyJzBqqTIrxhz/giphy.gif

The interesting thing about The Sims 3 is that it is not possible to build snowmen when the level of snow depth is low at the level of the Sims feet. The game requires that the snow be at a higher depth level so that the Sims can make the snowmen.

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I know some people may come up arguing that maybe this has been done in The Sims 4 Seasons so the game does not get so slow but well ... graphic options exist for that, right? What's more, there are people with powerful computers who quietly support many layers of snow.

Please, right, we're in 2018, The Sims 3 Seasons was released 6 years ago. Even The Sims 2 Seasons that was released 12 years ago have levels of depth in the snow.

What is happening? Is this one more of the limitations that are always present in the expansion packs of The Sims 4?

Unfortunately we are less than a month from the launch of The Sims 4 Seasons, so it is unlikely that any positive changes will be made in the same period.

Fortunately, I'm not the only one who noticed this problem with snow, and I've seen several people commenting on Twitter.

Happy Seasons for all, and enjoy the winter.

astridentanja
7 years ago
Real snow on a real roof.

https://www.lodderoofing.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Snow-covered-roof.jpg

Sims 3.

https://i.imgur.com/LDLhTFX.png

If that’s hideous 2000’s, give me hideous 2000’s, I’m perfectly fine with it.

As for sinking in deep snow.

https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/man-wearing-rucksack-walking-through-deep-snow-rear-view-picture-id200135160-001

That’s what happens.

(needless to say I agree with the OP, thanks for creating those gifs)
MidnightAura86
New Spectator
7 years ago
Back in the sims 2 days there was a graphics setting to enable heavy snow fall or not if your graphics card couldn’t handle it. I think that should have been applied here.

If there is no snow accumulation and it’s just the thin white layer, that looks a little disappointing. It will be the first for the series. Even the sims 2 has two layers of snow accumulation- light and heavy. If the sims 4 just has the one.... thats not good.
pepperjax1230
Rising Novice
7 years ago
No offence to anyone but how can you tell from a 10 second clip of the trailer that the snow will be flat? I mean I would understand that you would be mad if you saw a livestream of the game and the snow was flat and not what you were wanting . But a trailer and screenshots aren't doing it justice right now and you are mad over the fact you are basing all your facts on screenshots and a trailer.
SHODAN001
7 years ago
"pepperjax1230;c-16495342" wrote:
No offence to anyone but how can you tell from a 10 second clip of the trailer that the snow will be flat? I mean I would understand that you would be mad if you saw a livestream of the game and the snow was flat and not what you were wanting . But a trailer and screenshots aren't doing it justice right now and you are mad over the fact you are basing all your facts on screenshots and a trailer.

Simple, they're building snowmen on flat snow... Snowmen can't usually be made until the snow has fallen to a high level on The Sims 2 and 3.
LiELF
Seasoned Veteran
7 years ago
"pepperjax1230;c-16495342" wrote:
No offence to anyone but how can you tell from a 10 second clip of the trailer that the snow will be flat? I mean I would understand that you would be mad if you saw a livestream of the game and the snow was flat and not what you were wanting . But a trailer and screenshots aren't doing it justice right now and you are mad over the fact you are basing all your facts on screenshots and a trailer.

Well, to be fair, it's all we have right now. But by the same token, we also can't really judge how good something is either. That's why personally, I am eager to get more information.
boni06
7 years ago
"ApparentlyAwesome;c-16494532" wrote:
I'm feeling pretty neutral maybe even semi happy, but cautiously so about a TS4 EP for once instead of just vast disappointment but I seriously wonder after reading through a bunch of comments just why no one can be critical of this game? What is wrong with criticism? Criticism has lead to improvements so I think it's a good thing that people are bringing up their issues with the snow, literally one of the only issues, I've seen in relation to this pack. I would be inclined to agree that maybe this isn't how the snow will turn out because they're probably still working on it but the thing that makes me doubt that is that one sim was shoveling a small pile of snow on a ground with barely any accumulation of snow (even without terrain tools, I'd still expect more snow on the ground before breaking out the shovel), and some sims were building a snowmen in the same little snow accumulation. It's not impossible to make a snowman with just a little snow but it is impossible to make a snowman that big, speaking from personal experience.

The thing is, even with this little bit of criticism, EA set themselves up for this kind of scrutiny beginning with and even before the launch of The Sims 4. It's their own fault people have this kind of mistrust and skepticism. If people are used to being continuously disappointed, even with something they initially thought they would like or love then of course everyone in that category is going to look deeper and more critically into everything they do. They've been burned before. They want to be happy and excited like everyone else but the last time they got excited they probably got disappointed in the end. I should know, I'm one of them. EA and Maxis will have to work to earn the trust back. The switch isn't going to flip for everyone with just one EP.

Also, it was just with the last EP when everyone was a stickler for realism and now when people point out realism here in the instance of snow some people want to shoot them down. I don't understand it. First of all, no one's criticism should bring down another person's enjoyment or happiness with something. People dislike, are more critical of or even hate things I think are awesome but I don't let that stop me or put a damper on my enjoyment unless they're making a valid point. Even then sometimes it doesn't matter, I'm still going to like what I like.

Puppies, kittens, and small animals get lost in the snow. It happens. That's realistic. My youngest dog when he was a puppy could barely be seen in the snow or even the huge accumulation of leaves in our yard. We could literally only see his little tail sticking out. My older dog when it snowed so heavily one year it was over 17 inches had to step so high he lifted his front paws to his his head and the back ones up to his sides to walk. I laughed so hard when I saw him trying to do his buisness. We also lost objects in the yard after it snowed and unless I walked outside to go find them before the snow stuck and got higher they couldn't be found until the snow cleared. That's realistic. And snow would accumulate so much on people's roofs to the point it'd damage them there was so much snow. They even warned home owners on the news to be careful because some of them were trying to clear snow and ice from their roofs and falling off of them. We're in the southern part of the US so we don't often get snow or even winter here, but when we get it, we get it.

To the issue of lag due to heavy accumulation, I have never experienced that so I can't actually speak to that. My game, even when I played on a low end laptop never lagged in heavy snow or heavy rain. That's odd, but instead of limiting everyone because it lags for some people how about finding a way to make it work for all people? Why do we always let them get off with doing the least whether it's because when they did the most it affected our gameplay or because we think the least is better than not at all? Some of us act like it's impossible to have a well thought out, well functioning game that strives to be the absolute best. Some of us would also rather hold the game back than let it be great.

Thank you. I keep seeing this lag thing and I also played on a low end laptop and neither snow nor rain lagged. I played so many different world too and never had an issue.
simgirl1010
Hero
7 years ago
"LiELF;c-16495053" wrote:
I have to wonder if the amount of snow is related to the specific map and the climate that is set for it. The devs have mentioned the word "climate" now a few times, and I feel like there have been hints that every map will have a slightly different weather result. I mean, Oasis Springs is a desert area and not likely to see much snow at all, just maybe some rain instead. They could still have a winter season, but it might actually be more realistic, like in places like Southern California, their winter doesn't get cold enough to snow. So if the trailer was made using only the base game maps, and the winter scenes were recorded in Willow Creek, which was inspired by New Orleans, it might not get much snow to begin with. But places like Windenburg or Brindleton Bay might be programmed to get full on blizzards sometimes (blizzards have also been mentioned) and so the snow level very well may look completely different during those storms. Even Newcrest might have harsher winters.

If this is indeed how they designed Seasons to be, to follow unique climates in each map, then I would say it might be the most immersive Seasons expansion yet. But if the snow is indeed just made to look like terrain paint, then I agree it would be a big disappointment. But I think it's wise to stay tuned for more information before jumping to conclusions just yet.

Keeping my fingers crossed that you're right. :)

https://twitter.com/SimGuruEmory/status/1000452435528237056?s=19
squirulez
7 years ago
"pepperjax1230;c-16495342" wrote:
No offence to anyone but how can you tell from a 10 second clip of the trailer that the snow will be flat? I mean I would understand that you would be mad if you saw a livestream of the game and the snow was flat and not what you were wanting . But a trailer and screenshots aren't doing it justice right now and you are mad over the fact you are basing all your facts on screenshots and a trailer.

Well every single winter scene and every snow activity shows the flat earth policy that Sims 4 is running with this season...
keekee53
New Spectator
7 years ago
I am waiting and seeing. I wouldn't be surprised the snow is flat though. I am glad people are bringing it up because well they fixed the ballpit after people voiced their opinions so hopefully they will add depth to the snow as well if it is not already there.
SimsTime
New Spectator
7 years ago
"BMSO;c-16495113" wrote:
Think I'm part of the majority that likes it flat. Except, I'd like to see it a little more accumulated on the roofs.

Majority of where? In all the discussion topics related to this subject, most people are complaining about snow not having depth. Hahaha.

"pepperjax1230;c-16495342" wrote:
No offence to anyone but how can you tell from a 10 second clip of the trailer that the snow will be flat? I mean I would understand that you would be mad if you saw a livestream of the game and the snow was flat and not what you were wanting . But a trailer and screenshots aren't doing it justice right now and you are mad over the fact you are basing all your facts on screenshots and a trailer.

And why would not they show deep snow in the trailer? We can expect everything, and that is fact.

Discussions related to the fact that we could not build our own apartments and the elevator had no animations in The Sims 4 City Living started long before the expansion was launched, and in the end everyone was right about what they were discussing.

One does not necessarily have to wait for something to be thrown to draw conclusions, the point is just to wait and see if they will prove right or wrong.

:)