Forum Discussion

bellagoth23's avatar
5 years ago

Sims should listen to US

Recently tried playing the sims 4 again after a 2-year hiatus. After waiting for the updates to install, booted up the game, created a sim, and moved him into San Myshuno. However, not even 5 minutes into gameplay I was getting annoyed. The sims 4 boasted about having smarter sims and a better multi-tasking system. But why do I, the player, have to fight the system to get my sim to do as I say when I say it 6 years into its life-span? I've tried playing with the free-will option turned off but once a sim has made up their mind they are going to do something, they won't listen to you. Canceling actions take too long and often the action won't stop until the sim is already halfway through with it. In the Sims 2 and Sims 3, sims were quick to respond and quick to cancel an action when directed to. Yes, glitches can cause the actions to drop or not register the cancel action, but often those a few and far in-between. And keep in mind, the sims 2 is 16 years old and the sims 3 is 11 years old with no more updates or support. But the sims 4 is 6 years old with current support and updates and yet I'm still fighting my sim as he runs to talk to the random raccoon sim while carrying his curry when all I did was take him out to eat.

I don't understand why actions are still sticking/stacking/ and failing this far into the game's life. The old system where sims would just perform one action at a time and multitask where appropriate was just fine. You could queue up to 8 actions and the sims would do them in the order you assigned them in. There was no reshuffling and no annoying feature of the sims adding actions to do. The Sims 4 is inconsistent in how many actions can be added to a sim's queue and often the system will force drop actions and the AI will work against you. It's annoying and frustrating to say the least. I can't "tell my own story" in a game where I can't 1) represent myself 2) or my lifestyle and 3) tell my sims what to do without them fighting me.

It's almost like the Sims 4 is EA: It doesn't listen to you, let's you down time and time again, fights you on what you want, and frustrates the heck out of players......
  • "ClarionOfJoy;c-17669831" wrote:
    The community has been telling the devs everything you've written here during your hiatus - and as you can see, they haven't fixed many of it still!

    I play the Sims mostly in live mode. This is why I couldn't get into TS4.

    Have you tried installing mods to fix those thing though? It might help.




    Not even mod can help alleviate the issue, I installed many mods that I can count and my sims just like OP described, once they made up their mind it's hard to cancel their autonomous actions, you have queued 5 actions and suddenly they dropped everything just to take a glass of water.
  • "izecson;c-17669904" wrote:
    "ClarionOfJoy;c-17669831" wrote:
    The community has been telling the devs everything you've written here during your hiatus - and as you can see, they haven't fixed many of it still!

    I play the Sims mostly in live mode. This is why I couldn't get into TS4.

    Have you tried installing mods to fix those thing though? It might help.




    Not even mod can help alleviate the issue, I installed many mods that I can count and my sims just like OP described, once they made up their mind it's hard to cancel their autonomous actions, you have queued 5 actions and suddenly they dropped everything just to take a glass of water.


    the reset cheat is a godsend at times.
  • "Beardedgeek;c-17669922" wrote:
    "izecson;c-17669904" wrote:
    "ClarionOfJoy;c-17669831" wrote:
    The community has been telling the devs everything you've written here during your hiatus - and as you can see, they haven't fixed many of it still!

    I play the Sims mostly in live mode. This is why I couldn't get into TS4.

    Have you tried installing mods to fix those thing though? It might help.




    Not even mod can help alleviate the issue, I installed many mods that I can count and my sims just like OP described, once they made up their mind it's hard to cancel their autonomous actions, you have queued 5 actions and suddenly they dropped everything just to take a glass of water.


    the reset cheat is a godsend at times.


    you have no idea how often I used that cheat in Sims 4
  • these AI problems are one of the things that makes it so hard to like ts4, especially when they advertised the game with "the smartest sims ever". they knew they weren't yet they decided that scamming people was a good idea.

    the game code is a flawed mess due to the change of plans it had and i think it's one of the reasons devs keep ignoring some popular requests, because they can't fix it thus they can't make them. i don't know if it's because they don't have enough skills, if it's pure laziness, ea's decisions, arrogance or if it's a truly irreparable game. though, some modders have been able to soften some of the issues, while also making features that devs said were "impossible". which gives the feeling that devs ain't even trying.
  • It’s so frustrating. Yesterday I was playing a sim who was eating outside at one of those city living food stands. Of course I had to tell her to sit down. Then her friend was walking past so I had her “call over” her friend but she didn’t come. She kept walking and was getting pretty far away. So I tried another interaction. But then she did start to come towards my sim. But then my sim got up and went to the spot where I had clicked “call over” on her friend, and then she walked all the way to the place I had clicked “ask to hang out” on her friend. Her friend wasn’t even there anymore. There’s something really stupid about coding like that.
  • I hear ya. I had autonomy off the other day on one of my saves, but that irritating autonomous "Check Toddler" action kept coming up even though autonomy was supposed to be OFF. You know what happens when "Check Toddler" pops in, right? Everything in the adult sim's que is canceled. Everything in the Toddler's que is canceled. The world stops for those two sims for that obnoxious autonomous action. It's super annoying, especially when you've got the parents and kids up and the parent is supposed to be getting ready for work and the Toddler is about to pee themself so you're getting them to the potty right away (you know, since they're lv. 3 potty trained and can go by themself now)...and, bam, the potty interaction drops, the parent's shower interaction drops...because "Check Toddler" just barged in uninvited. Oh, or when the kid is really low on hunger and you're just letting them get a plate from the counter since the highchair is glitchy and poorly implemented...and when the kid is halfway to the counter and the parent is supposed to be sitting down to eat, BAM! "Check Toddler" ruins everything again!!

    I wish they'd scrap that interaction as an autonomous behavior entirely, because it is soooooo broken. Even worse that that autonomous water drinking nonsense...
  • "izecson;c-17669923" wrote:
    "Beardedgeek;c-17669922" wrote:
    "izecson;c-17669904" wrote:
    "ClarionOfJoy;c-17669831" wrote:
    The community has been telling the devs everything you've written here during your hiatus - and as you can see, they haven't fixed many of it still!

    I play the Sims mostly in live mode. This is why I couldn't get into TS4.

    Have you tried installing mods to fix those thing though? It might help.




    Not even mod can help alleviate the issue, I installed many mods that I can count and my sims just like OP described, once they made up their mind it's hard to cancel their autonomous actions, you have queued 5 actions and suddenly they dropped everything just to take a glass of water.


    the reset cheat is a godsend at times.


    you have no idea how often I used that cheat in Sims 4


    Actually I do. I have MCCC installed so the cheat is always available thru right shift click, and I use it on average twice per Sim day.
  • I can't remember where I read it or the exact details but I do remember reading that it's something about the way the AI had to be coded for multitasking. They can't immediately drop actions. So basically I don't think this would ever change and no modder has been able to change it. Might break something.