Theory on The Sims 4 Seasons

"azxcvbnm321;15095134" wrote:

"kmaria;15095025" wrote:
I think it's silly that so many people comment about the game engine not being able to do one thing or another, but how many of you really know anything about it apart from what you assume? I wish EA or a guru would weigh in on that to set people straight, if they haven't tried already.

The surveys all mentioned things (like seasons) that a lot of people seem to be under the impression the game just can't run... Why would they be questioning implementing those things if the "game engine" couldn't handle it? I know it has its problems, but can we stop talking pretend truths about things we actually don't know anything about? I mean, I'm not sure how many of you have experience in game development but unless you do, and you've take a look at the guts of it, you don't know what you're talking about.

I am really looking forward to seasons. The first time I noticed the puddles, I was excited that it could be a sign of weather to come! I need some autumn vibes, personally. I hope when it does come that it's full of seasonal recipes. Pumpkin spice lattes anyone? :D

But we do know. And I've tried to tell everyone again and again but maybe some people don't understand.

http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/14988689/#Comment_14988689
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/14441474/#Comment_14441474

Then please review the all the information on Olympus, the canceled online game that was recast into Sims 4.

To summarize:

1) The minimum specs are incredibly important because EA guarantees that computers with the minimum specs will be able to run Sims 4. If they can't, then EA faces massive lawsuits from greedy class-action law firms who do nothing but troll around for these kind of things. That means the game must run on computers that are more than 10 years old. I don't think those computers could even run Windows 10 right now, but they have to be able to run Sims 4. I don't think people truly understand how limiting the minimum specs are to adding new features and content to the Sims 4.

2) EA/Maxis did the same thing for Sim City 2013, impose a ridiculously low minimum requirement. As one EA executive put it, they wanted grandma's laptop to be able to run Sim City. Well that tied the developers' hands as to what they could put in the game. These low requirements were a strategy that Maxis wanted to follow. Those strategies failed, which is why Lucy Bradshaw was fired (officially she left the company, but we all know the truth).

3) There is no reason why Maxis would ever intentionally put in relationship culling and culling in general unless they were desperate. The Sims are all about relationships and people interacting with others. For them to go to this step means that they are on their last legs, willing to do anything they can to reduce computing power so that it can still meet the minimum requirements.

4) No new EPs have been announced and none are set to be released anytime soon. This all fits the narrative. They're having massive issues with adding new features and assets into the game. Now they could just add a new minimum requirement for the EP, but all the free updates and the patches still must fall under the old minimum requirements. I think they are struggling with how to add a new EP. This last part is speculation, but I believe the next EP will be the last for Sims 4, whatever it is. The Sims 4 engine is the engine that never could in the first place. Maxis has a problem though, Sims 5 won't be ready until 2018 at the earliest. That means they must continue to get Sims 4 users to buy their products until Sims 5 is ready. I suspect there will be plenty of new SPs and maybe a few GPs, but I'm predicting only one more EP and they'll announce Sims 5 sometime in 2017-8.

#1 makes no sense to me. How could a company be sued for their game not being able to be run on older computers?

@MocaJava technically you can't but if you market a game to consumers and it sells in part because of your promise that t will run well on low-spec computers, and then you release an EP which suddenly renders the game useless on said devices, then you could - in theory - get sued by someone. Especially in the US ;)

"SimTrippy;15095665" wrote:
@MocaJava technically you can't but if you market a game to consumers and it sells in part because of your promise that t will run well on low-spec computers, and then you release an EP which suddenly renders the game useless on said devices, then you could - in theory - get sued by someone. Especially in the US ;)

Ok I get that, didn't think of that. I saw that happen with World of Warcraft, suddenly some people's video cards would no longer work with an update they did before a new expansion came out.

I mean, we really do need weather...I'm pretty sure we will get this in an expansion pack.

"MocaJava;15095652" wrote:

"azxcvbnm321;15095134" wrote:

"kmaria;15095025" wrote:
I think it's silly that so many people comment about the game engine not being able to do one thing or another, but how many of you really know anything about it apart from what you assume? I wish EA or a guru would weigh in on that to set people straight, if they haven't tried already.

The surveys all mentioned things (like seasons) that a lot of people seem to be under the impression the game just can't run... Why would they be questioning implementing those things if the "game engine" couldn't handle it? I know it has its problems, but can we stop talking pretend truths about things we actually don't know anything about? I mean, I'm not sure how many of you have experience in game development but unless you do, and you've take a look at the guts of it, you don't know what you're talking about.

I am really looking forward to seasons. The first time I noticed the puddles, I was excited that it could be a sign of weather to come! I need some autumn vibes, personally. I hope when it does come that it's full of seasonal recipes. Pumpkin spice lattes anyone? :D

But we do know. And I've tried to tell everyone again and again but maybe some people don't understand.

http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/14988689/#Comment_14988689
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/14441474/#Comment_14441474

Then please review the all the information on Olympus, the canceled online game that was recast into Sims 4.

To summarize:

1) The minimum specs are incredibly important because EA guarantees that computers with the minimum specs will be able to run Sims 4. If they can't, then EA faces massive lawsuits from greedy class-action law firms who do nothing but troll around for these kind of things. That means the game must run on computers that are more than 10 years old. I don't think those computers could even run Windows 10 right now, but they have to be able to run Sims 4. I don't think people truly understand how limiting the minimum specs are to adding new features and content to the Sims 4.

2) EA/Maxis did the same thing for Sim City 2013, impose a ridiculously low minimum requirement. As one EA executive put it, they wanted grandma's laptop to be able to run Sim City. Well that tied the developers' hands as to what they could put in the game. These low requirements were a strategy that Maxis wanted to follow. Those strategies failed, which is why Lucy Bradshaw was fired (officially she left the company, but we all know the truth).

3) There is no reason why Maxis would ever intentionally put in relationship culling and culling in general unless they were desperate. The Sims are all about relationships and people interacting with others. For them to go to this step means that they are on their last legs, willing to do anything they can to reduce computing power so that it can still meet the minimum requirements.

4) No new EPs have been announced and none are set to be released anytime soon. This all fits the narrative. They're having massive issues with adding new features and assets into the game. Now they could just add a new minimum requirement for the EP, but all the free updates and the patches still must fall under the old minimum requirements. I think they are struggling with how to add a new EP. This last part is speculation, but I believe the next EP will be the last for Sims 4, whatever it is. The Sims 4 engine is the engine that never could in the first place. Maxis has a problem though, Sims 5 won't be ready until 2018 at the earliest. That means they must continue to get Sims 4 users to buy their products until Sims 5 is ready. I suspect there will be plenty of new SPs and maybe a few GPs, but I'm predicting only one more EP and they'll announce Sims 5 sometime in 2017-8.

#1 makes no sense to me. How could a company be sued for their game not being able to be run on older computers?

Actually they can't - also EA has more or less fixed it so you can't sue them anyway anymore - Actually read the agreement you click "I agree" to when you go to install the game. They can do anything and you cannot sue them because you clicked you agreed by installing that game that you can't. It pays to read what you agree to.

Besides all that the only thing guaranteed to run on the minimum requirements is the base game - with nothing else added. It also does not have to run well either, as long as it runs. It is why they also give you the RECOMMENDED requirements if you want the game to run as it is supposed to.


This was posted before the game came out by the way:

"The Sims 4 is coming, as you may have heard, and as we told you last month , you'll probably be able to run it as long as you actually own a "PC DESKTOP". But what if you want to run it well? That's a bit of a different matter.

The recently-revealed recommended system requirements for The Sims 4 are a big jump above and beyond the minimum spec. This is what you'll need if you want to play the game in all its glory:

REQUIRED: Internet connection required for product activation.
OS: 64 Bit Windows 7,8, or 8.1
PROCESSOR: Intel Core i5 or faster or AMD Athlon X4
MEMORY: 4GB RAM
HARD DRIVE: At least 9 GB of free space with at least 1 GB additional space for custom content and saved games
DVD-ROM: DVD ROM drive required for installation only
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GTX 650 or better
SOUND CARD: DirectX 9.0c Compatible
DIRECTX: DirectX 9.0c compatible
INPUT: Keyboard and Mouse

The Sims 4 comes out on September 2."

"Neia;15095155" wrote:

"kmaria;15095025" wrote:
I think it's silly that so many people comment about the game engine not being able to do one thing or another, but how many of you really know anything about it apart from what you assume? I wish EA or a guru would weigh in on that to set people straight, if they haven't tried already.

The surveys all mentioned things (like seasons) that a lot of people seem to be under the impression the game just can't run... Why would they be questioning implementing those things if the "game engine" couldn't handle it? I know it has its problems, but can we stop talking pretend truths about things we actually don't know anything about? I mean, I'm not sure how many of you have experience in game development but unless you do, and you've take a look at the guts of it, you don't know what you're talking about.

I am really looking forward to seasons. The first time I noticed the puddles, I was excited that it could be a sign of weather to come! I need some autumn vibes, personally. I hope when it does come that it's full of seasonal recipes. Pumpkin spice lattes anyone? :D

Gurus have already talked about it, like for Seasons :

https://twitter.com/SimGuruDaniel/status/649019962204516352

Or Toddlers :

https://twitter.com/SimGuruGraham/status/481953870243831808

Or Pets :

https://twitter.com/purpleclauu/status/649038835129655296
https://twitter.com/SimGuruDaniel/status/649074639264591872

Or next EP :

EPs are absolutely still a thing and when we are ready to talk about them we will.

But apparently some people think they know what the game engine can handle better than the devs working on it. And brush off devs comments as lying/deceptive/marketing talk/whatever if it doesn't fit their narrative.

Oh, you've just totally made my morning. :D Thank you so much for these links!

I agree with kmaria, these should be stickied somewhere. Sure, these things as EPs, (or GPs or SPs, even) are not guaranteed to happen, yet still they can happen. In lieu of information about what's ahead, the fact these things are still possibilities is exciting enough.

Seasons is a gold mine EP. The Gurus know that. Not many fans complain about Seasons in the past so I doubt they'll be any concerns now. My only hope is that they don't take away what was originally in the old Seasons EP(s) and instead add on and improve on it. Bring back the special holidays, seasonal festivals and things like that.

@Writin_Reg of course they could get sued. It doesn't mean the plaintiff would win, but if you market a product quite specifically with the promise "this game will run great on low-end devices, as opposed to the previous iterations' & that is the reason a lot of people buy / play it (which, if you look carefully, they do), you can expect some kind of backlash from releasing an EP (but more importantly a patch) that nullifies this promise entirely. Especially if you do this after a couple of years, and people have spent tons of money on a game they can no longer play. And some of that backlash may very well come in the form of lawsuits. So yes, it is theoretically possible for them to get sued over something like this. And if you look at this list of frivolous lawsuits & check out which of them actually won, I wouldn't even be so sure that given the right circumstances & the right amount of plaintiffs, it'd be entirely impossible to win. http://www.businessinsurance.org/10-ridiculously-frivolous-lawsuits-against-big-businesses/

Most of these "waivers" are invalid because we have rights that cannot be waived. If I sell you a shoe and there's a sign saying that you waive your right to sue me or take any action if you buy the shoe, then you find out that the shoe is defective (falls apart right away), you still have the right to sue. I can also say that if you read and respond to this post, you agree to give me all your assets, forfeit all your constitutional rights, and become my slave in perpetuity or until you die, whichever comes later. :) This is not enforceable.

Companies put this stuff into the EULA to discourage people from suing and to have a first "battleground" for a legal trial.

EA has promised that if you meet the minimum requirements, you can play the base game. If after all the patches and new features that come with expansions, you no longer can play the base game, then that's misrepresenting their product and you have a right to your money back at a minimum. Some States allow punitive damages and so forth. You absolutely have a right to sue if you met the minimum requirements set by EA but couldn't play the game, that right cannot be waived by an EULA. This is why they had to add relationship culling and culling in general, so that minimum requirement computers could still run the game.

Again, I don't think people understand how ridiculously low the minimum requirements are. If you read my link, I go into detail to show you.

1.8GHZ Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon 64 Dual-Core 4000+ is decades old technology. This particular Athlon 64 was released in 2004!! I'm not sure these processors can even run Windows 8 or 10, but the point is that even the weakest modern 2015 LAPTOP CPU is far better than either of these decade old CPUs.

The GPU requirement is also decades old. I can't remember the last time 128MB of VRAM was standard on a GPU, but even the worst cards today have at least 512MB. To put it in perspective, the Nvidia GeForce 6600 performs worse than even a modern Intel integrated GPU, the worst Intel integrated GPU, Intel HD4600. A mid-range modern card like the Nvidia GTX 960 performs 7000% to 58000% better on graphics tests according to http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-960-vs-Nvidia-GeForce-6600/3165vsm8606. No there isn't an error with the amount of zeroes! We're talking about 70x to 580x better performance!

Sims 4 is really a tablet/mobile game because mid-range modern GPUs are 70 to 580 TIMES more powerful than the minimum requirements of the game. This is unheard of and astounding, I cannot think of another AAA game with minimum requirements so low. The developers must limit whatever they do so that computers 70 to 580 TIMES weaker than your ordinary mid-range, not top-range, but mid-range computers today, can run it.

"Swiftlover13;15095078" wrote:
I'm genuinely worried that EA is going to put Vacations and Seasons into a single EP. The survey suggested that only Summer and Winter would be added, and they'd be tied to specific vacation worlds. They even named a world after Will Wright. I'm sure he's happy....

That would be almost as big of a disappointment as the life stages and lack thereof in the Sims 4.