This has been a problem since the base game came out, but...Well, it's about the Generic lot type. It's the lot type that allows for the most creative freedom with community lots, since there's no item requirement list so you can build what or however you want. Unfortunately, in game, even with mods to increase the amount of sims on a community lot...no one shows up. Not a single NPC or townie ever enters the building. I built a bathhouse using the Generic lot type and (in spite of having other things that would attract sims, like motion gaming rigs, chess tables, and snack machines) no one but my sim was in the building...for hours on end! Sims walk around all over outside, but no one comes in...ever.This, of course, is a bad thing because only the specified types of community lots attract autonomous NPC sims. So, if the player wants to build a venue that's going to actually have people around, one that looks lively and busy, they need to follow one of the pre-determined templates or they get a deadzone (unless they can wrangle something together using the Get Together expansion...to just have a hope of getting people into one type of venue...See the problem?).So, please, please, please, someone do something about this. I miss TS2's high degree of freedom with community lots and the Generic lot type is the only one that affords me that same kind of creative freedom...but then my creative, fun new lots are empty and desolate! And, sure, I could pick one of the templates, but sometimes what you really want to make for your sims doesn't follow the established templates and might even be cluttered or hampered by having to squeeze those items in just to get some NPC traffic there. The checklists are great for beginners, but for old hands like me, what we want for community lots is unhampered, unpenalized creative freedom.(P.S.: Sorry if this came out kind of ranty. This issue just hit the "For crying out loud! Why haven't they fixed this yet?!" point for me, that's all.)

I think that this is a shame as 'busier community lots' was one thing that was 'promised' to the players because 'community lots are so empty in TS3!' yet in TS3 I have seen busy community lots with my own eyes :open_mouth:

"jusMeh;15610608" wrote:Huh? I thought only the Sims 3 had 'horrible ghost towns.' Interesting. Yes it is interesting how everyone likes to point out how 'empty' TS3 lots are yet there is a lot of evidence around that TS3 lots can be very busy!

"king_of_simcity7;15610544" wrote:I think that this is a shame as 'busier community lots' was one thing that was 'promised' to the players because 'community lots are so empty in TS3!' yet in TS3 I have seen busy community lots with my own eyes :open_mouth: "jusMeh;15610608" wrote:Huh? I thought only the Sims 3 had 'horrible ghost towns.' Interesting. This is getting ridiculous guys. Don't you have better things to do than jump on ts4 threads to boast about ts3? You're completely off topic, not helping, even trying to start an argument. It's getting old, feels like 2010 all over again when ts2 people could not stop criticizing ts3. On topic. I think generic lots were made so that you can pretend to own another lot for your family, like a personal museum or a secondary house (maybe a fancy vacation house on the island of Windenburg!), so that no one can intrude in your property. I like to use it on cemetery, those places aren't usually full of people. You can create any type of lot and just hide the required items in a closed off basement, just pick any lot type close enough to what you're creating!

"Ninoochat;15610639" wrote:"king_of_simcity7;15610544" wrote:I think that this is a shame as 'busier community lots' was one thing that was 'promised' to the players because 'community lots are so empty in TS3!' yet in TS3 I have seen busy community lots with my own eyes :open_mouth: "jusMeh;15610608" wrote:Huh? I thought only the Sims 3 had 'horrible ghost towns.' Interesting. This is getting ridiculous guys. Don't you have better things to do than jump on ts4 threads to boast about ts3? You're completely off topic, not helping, even trying to start an argument. It's getting old, feels like 2010 all over again when ts2 people could not stop criticizing ts3. On topic. I think generic lots were made so that you can pretend to own another lot for your family, like a personal museum or a secondary house (maybe a fancy vacation house on the island of Windenburg!), so that no one can intrude in your property. I like to use it on cemetery, those places aren't usually full of people. You can create any type of lot and just hide the required items in a closed off basement, just pick any lot type close enough to what you're creating!I thought I'm the only one who think Sims 3 fanatics are getting a little too annoying to deal with.Then, to OP, are you sure? In my game, I always have problem with crowd. Even if it is a generic lot, I always seem to have people coming especially the clubbers.

"Ninoochat;15610639" wrote:"king_of_simcity7;15610544" wrote:I think that this is a shame as 'busier community lots' was one thing that was 'promised' to the players because 'community lots are so empty in TS3!' yet in TS3 I have seen busy community lots with my own eyes :open_mouth: "jusMeh;15610608" wrote:Huh? I thought only the Sims 3 had 'horrible ghost towns.' Interesting. This is getting ridiculous guys. Don't you have better things to do than jump on ts4 threads to boast about ts3? You're completely off topic, not helping, even trying to start an argument. It's getting old, feels like 2010 all over again when ts2 people could not stop criticizing ts3. On topic. I think generic lots were made so that you can pretend to own another lot for your family, like a personal museum or a secondary house (maybe a fancy vacation house on the island of Windenburg!), so that no one can intrude in your property. I like to use it on cemetery, those places aren't usually full of people. You can create any type of lot and just hide the required items in a closed off basement, just pick any lot type close enough to what you're creating!I am sorry but are we not allowed to give our feedback in a feedback thread? Well, here is a picture of a busy community lot from TS3: :smile: https://scontent.flhr2-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/17218484_1896722467277103_8450878224184768901_o.jpg?oh=98d289170fd537589bdc23b1c4861f2a&oe=595FDBE4https://scontent.flhr2-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/17192009_1896805483935468_8274847794724086774_o.jpg?oh=a1f50046aa17192180e39655dd6f4020&oe=596FF417https://scontent.flhr2-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/17157587_1896805463935470_3258135629584658279_o.jpg?oh=4c3ced4c5797b1302e1bdeb47ce360f9&oe=59612C74

Generic Lots are Still Ghost Towns

ImMendota
New Spectator
8 years ago
"jusMeh;15610608" wrote:
Huh? I thought only the Sims 3 had 'horrible ghost towns.' Interesting.

It is only an issue with the Generic lot type. I tend to use that lot to create Hotels and inns. I then hire a bartender or barista for those objects as the inn keeper. It works out well, but I too would like a toggle to decide if I want the lot to have visitors or not. And as has been stated, your constant harping on Sims 4 is more than a little old. Is Sims 4 stopping you from playing Sims 3? No. Then what is the problem? Do you want those of us playing Sims 4 and enjoying it to stop and force ourselves to play Sims 3 because that is what you like? Doesn't really make a lot of sense.
CrunchedStars
8 years ago
Generic lots have always functioned this way in Sims 4, and it's clearly not a bug. Nor do I think it can be legitimately seen as having much to do with sims 3 or promises - I can't see that anything to do with generic lots has ever been promised. The current implementation fills a niche that would no longer be served if they worked as proposed so I don't think it makes sense to change this. A choice got made, and this is the way it is and has been.

I'd wholly endorse getting a new category that was similar and spawned sims - think it'd be really cool and probably more useful to me, but I'd say the empty version is more unique from a functional standpoint and taking away a current capacity probably won't make those that use it for what it is now happy.
TriX0099
8 years ago
"ChampandGirlie;15618912" wrote:
OP: I agree with you about generic lots. I tried making my own cinema with Movie Hangout Stuff by building a generic community lot with snacks, a bar and fun activities. I ended up needing to label it a "lounge" in order to get people to show up. I haven't visited that lot lately but when I did, it was weird. Only a few elderly men showed up and were hanging around in a creepy way. I guess that's why I haven't gone there much.

I still have my small cemetary listed as a generic lot because I don't want to add bathrooms and a hotdog grill to a cemetary. Lol. Whenever I am in a neighboring lot and I click on a generic lot, the travel icon says something like, "Travel to the Isolated Venue." Erm, that kind of works for a cemetary but NOT for a movie theatre complex.

I agree with you that it limits flexibility.

Not that I have tried it for a movie theater, but I use all-in-one community lots in all my towns, so I know a bit about what to use to "push" NPCs to do what I want them to, and I was wondering if you've tried the "bar" venue for your movie theater? The bar pushes NPCs to watch TV, and it spawns sims of all ages instead of mostly elderly, as with the lounge. Lounge is better for getting more visitors earlier in the day, but I'd still expect the bar to work way better than a lounge.
P4ncaketree
8 years ago
"SimsLovinLycan;15617410" wrote:
"@Pancakesandwich;15617071" wrote:
"LiELF;15615764" wrote:
I wonder if the intent for generic lots was so that people could have a place outside of their Sims home where they could have private weddings or birthday parties or what have you, without being interrupted by townies. But personally, I would prefer it to be a little more flexible, where we could have it act like a regular public lot. Are there any lot traits that could help with this? Maybe they could patch one in, or release on in the future.

If that was the case, the description wouldn't say "Visitors are allowed" though. Unless the German translation (where I took this from) is wrong and the English one actually says "Visitors are NOT allowed".

Nope, the English definitely says "Visitors are allowed". I've checked.

@SimsLovinLycan Okay, then it's definitely a bug.

"ChampandGirlie;15618912" wrote:
OP: I agree with you about generic lots. I tried making my own cinema with Movie Hangout Stuff by building a generic community lot with snacks, a bar and fun activities. I ended up needing to label it a "lounge" in order to get people to show up. I haven't visited that lot lately but when I did, it was weird. Only a few elderly men showed up and were hanging around in a creepy way. I guess that's why I haven't gone there much.

@ChampandGirlie It seems like all "lounge" lots are attraction points for elders, so try making it a "bar" instead. That should send more young adults and just the occasional adult in there.
FKM100
8 years ago
I designated my cinema lot a bar and then made a cinema club of sims whose main activity is watching TV. That way I do have some sims sitting and watching movies, so it's okay -- not great, but okay. Without the club, though, the sims just treated it like a bar (which is hardly surprising) and hung around the bar counter.

That said, I would love the ability to make customised venues - whether using generic lots, or some other newly-created type of lot. By this I mean the ability to set the type of sims that would be attracted to the lot (we can already set eligibility criteria for clubs, so why not for venues as well?), the dress code (which we can already do for restaurants) and the kinds of activities that sims would want to perform on the lot (which we can already do, to some extent, with the new lot traits feature). It would be great if all these features could be brought together.
astridentanja
8 years ago
"Gullveig;15610794" wrote:
"Ninoochat;15610639" wrote:
"king_of_simcity7;15610544" wrote:
I think that this is a shame as 'busier community lots' was one thing that was 'promised' to the players because 'community lots are so empty in TS3!' yet in TS3 I have seen busy community lots with my own eyes :open_mouth:

"jusMeh;15610608" wrote:
Huh? I thought only the Sims 3 had 'horrible ghost towns.' Interesting.

This is getting ridiculous guys. Don't you have better things to do than jump on ts4 threads to boast about ts3? You're completely off topic, not helping, even trying to start an argument. It's getting old, feels like 2010 all over again when ts2 people could not stop criticizing ts3.

On topic. I think generic lots were made so that you can pretend to own another lot for your family, like a personal museum or a secondary house (maybe a fancy vacation house on the island of Windenburg!), so that no one can intrude in your property. I like to use it on cemetery, those places aren't usually full of people.

You can create any type of lot and just hide the required items in a closed off basement, just pick any lot type close enough to what you're creating!

I thought I'm the only one who think Sims 3 fanatics are getting a little too annoying to deal with.

Then, to OP, are you sure? In my game, I always have problem with crowd. Even if it is a generic lot, I always seem to have people coming especially the clubbers.

Ya, the fanatics are very annoying indeed. The point is, what the 'fanatics' are adressing here, is a many times repeated claim about Sims 3 (ghost towns, empty lots) to justify the sacrifices that were made for Sims 4 (a claim in fact presented at many occasions when it wasn't even slightly the subject at all). Forgive us for being too annoying to deal with, but it's a direct reaction to arguments used by other 'fanatics'. That, like it or not, is feedback related to the subject of this topic. What people somehow fail to understand, is that we are not adressing you. We're adressing the creators. Wut devs? Ghost towns..? How's that possible when you sold us all those limitations by claiming there wouldn't be 'horrible lag' and 'ghost towns' this time around!?

I can see how your contribution is way more constructive. Hi OP, I don't have what you have in my game. Are you sure? Good day. Really helpful.
king_of_simcity
8 years ago
"JoAnne65;15633540" wrote:
"Gullveig;15610794" wrote:
"Ninoochat;15610639" wrote:
"king_of_simcity7;15610544" wrote:
I think that this is a shame as 'busier community lots' was one thing that was 'promised' to the players because 'community lots are so empty in TS3!' yet in TS3 I have seen busy community lots with my own eyes :open_mouth:

"jusMeh;15610608" wrote:
Huh? I thought only the Sims 3 had 'horrible ghost towns.' Interesting.

This is getting ridiculous guys. Don't you have better things to do than jump on ts4 threads to boast about ts3? You're completely off topic, not helping, even trying to start an argument. It's getting old, feels like 2010 all over again when ts2 people could not stop criticizing ts3.

On topic. I think generic lots were made so that you can pretend to own another lot for your family, like a personal museum or a secondary house (maybe a fancy vacation house on the island of Windenburg!), so that no one can intrude in your property. I like to use it on cemetery, those places aren't usually full of people.

You can create any type of lot and just hide the required items in a closed off basement, just pick any lot type close enough to what you're creating!

I thought I'm the only one who think Sims 3 fanatics are getting a little too annoying to deal with.

Then, to OP, are you sure? In my game, I always have problem with crowd. Even if it is a generic lot, I always seem to have people coming especially the clubbers.

Ya, the fanatics are very annoying indeed. The point is, what the 'fanatics' are adressing here, is a many times repeated claim about Sims 3 (ghost towns, empty lots) to justify the sacrifices that were made for Sims 4 (a claim in fact presented at many occasions when it wasn't even slightly the subject at all). Forgive us for being too annoying to deal with, but it's a direct reaction to arguments used by other 'fanatics'. That, like it or not, is feedback related to the subject of this topic. What people somehow fail to understand, is that we are not adressing you. We're adressing the creators. Wut devs? Ghost towns..? How's that possible when you sold us all those limitations by claiming there wouldn't be 'horrible lag' and 'ghost towns' this time around!?

I can see how your contribution is way more constructive. Hi OP, I don't have what you have in my game. Are you sure? Good day. Really helpful.

I am curious to know who these TS3 fanatics are as well? The ones who actually enjoy their games and are tired of the institutional bullying that we face on the forums every single day?

What about last week when we saw the thread asking for our creative corner closed? What about the occasion someone comes into the TS3 GD and tries to troll? It doesn't happen often but it has happened before and then there are those disappointed players expressing feedback who then get lumbered with the controversial 'hater' tag and see their own threads vanish off of the forums.

:disappointed:
Pegasyms
New Spectator
8 years ago
"JoAnne65;15633540" wrote:

Ya, the fanatics are very annoying indeed. The point is, what the 'fanatics' are adressing here, is a many times repeated claim about Sims 3 (ghost towns, empty lots) to justify the sacrifices that were made for Sims 4 (a claim in fact presented at many occasions when it wasn't even slightly the subject at all). Forgive us for being too annoying to deal with, but it's a direct reaction to arguments used by other 'fanatics'. That, like it or not, is feedback related to the subject of this topic. What people somehow fail to understand, is that we are not adressing you. We're adressing the creators. Wut devs? Ghost towns..? How's that possible when you sold us all those limitations by claiming there wouldn't be 'horrible lag' and 'ghost towns' this time around!?

This thread is not about community lots being ghost towns... it's about one lot type (labeled Generic) where sims don't show up. This has nothing to do with lag or the limitations of the game; it's how this one specific lot type was defined by the devs. For other lots (nearly all the other community lots in the game), they are not ghost towns and plenty of sims do show up.

If one reads the thread carefully they will see it isn't a complaint about the game engine or performance like the S3 fans are assuming.
Pegasyms
New Spectator
8 years ago
"king_of_simcity7;15634402" wrote:
"Pegasys;15634278" wrote:
"JoAnne65;15633540" wrote:

Ya, the fanatics are very annoying indeed. The point is, what the 'fanatics' are adressing here, is a many times repeated claim about Sims 3 (ghost towns, empty lots) to justify the sacrifices that were made for Sims 4 (a claim in fact presented at many occasions when it wasn't even slightly the subject at all). Forgive us for being too annoying to deal with, but it's a direct reaction to arguments used by other 'fanatics'. That, like it or not, is feedback related to the subject of this topic. What people somehow fail to understand, is that we are not adressing you. We're adressing the creators. Wut devs? Ghost towns..? How's that possible when you sold us all those limitations by claiming there wouldn't be 'horrible lag' and 'ghost towns' this time around!?

This thread is not about community lots being ghost towns... it's about one lot type (labeled Generic) where sims don't show up. This has nothing to do with lag or the limitations of the game; it's how this one specific lot type was defined by the devs. For other lots (nearly all the other community lots in the game), they are not ghost towns and plenty of sims do show up.

If one reads the thread carefully they will see it isn't a complaint about the game engine or performance like the S3 fans are assuming.

And what makes you assume that we were assuming that it was a complaint thread?

Not getting dragged into this. This thread has nothing to do with TS3.
TheGoodOldGamer
8 years ago
https://twitter.com/SimGuruGraham/status/844720355306459138