Today's friendly reminder to Playtest your Restaurants!

This should be applied to any lot being shared. Always playtest your lots.

"TombRaider_;c-17444137" wrote:
This should be applied to any lot being shared. Always playtest your lots.

Definitely.
However there are two reasons I singled out the restaurants:

1. It is the lot type most people have problems with in general (the "waiting 6 hours for food" bug and other things. Making sure your restaurant has at least two squares between most chairs* eliminates a lot of logistic problems for example)
2. It is very sensitive to mistakes. If you block the bathroom in a park, 9 times out of 10 you can find another bathroom in the world within walking distance without having to load another lot, for example.

*With that I mean not side by side, but back to back, between tables.

Thanks for the reminder! I haven’t posted that many community lots but I sometimes forget to playtest them. I’d say post in the comments section of these lots what is not working to let the builder know, otherwise If they don’t use it themselves they might never notice and fix it. I also tend to forget to indicate I use moveobjects. I usually don’t put TVs in restaurants, but thanks to you I now know I shouldn’t do it.

"Dianesims;c-17444163" wrote:
Thanks for the reminder! I haven’t posted that many community lots but I sometimes forget to playtest them. I’d say post in the comments section of these lots what is not working to let the builder know, otherwise If they don’t use it themselves they might never notice and fix it. I also tend to forget to indicate I use moveobjects. I usually don’t put TVs in restaurants, but thanks to you I now know I shouldn’t do it.

Thank you. I hope I didn't come off too harsh; I just find it very obvious sometimes that especially restaurants (also bars and clubs, but restaurants are the most unforgiving since you only go there for ONE thing, while it's okay if you can't get a drink in a nightclub as long as you can dance, or the other way in a bar) are just not playtested at all before uploaded.

I also think I should have put the crowded bit as no 1. It is by far the biggest problem. We all know how bad the pathfinding can be in sims 4 and having 20 small tables with 1 square between them and maximum number of Sims on the lot becomes well... a lot for it to handle.

Edit: I know people say bugs make them wait for food for hours. But a lot of times the waiter taking your order might not even have talked to the chef for two hours because he can't get thru the crowd, or can't get into the kitchen, or...

A lot of really good advice in this thread. I love to download people's builds from the Gallery, but I've had to tweak and rearrange a few restaurants to get them to work properly. Some of my observations are:

Using MOO too much does seem to cause a lot of small issues so I'd recommend to use it sparingly if you intend for the build to be playable.

I know that there are some builders out there who build for the art and creativity more than functionality, and that's perfectly okay. But it would be helpful if there was a tag for those types, like #nonfunctional or #justforshow or something like that, or at the very least, #NOTplaytested. This would give fair warning to someone looking for a working lot to plop down into their game.

I've noticed also that there are many "flexible" builds where the builder wanted the player to be able to use it as they choose, so they include all objects for bars, cafes, restaurants and night clubs. I find that, in the end, these end up causing more headache than convenience and end up with too much wasted clutter bogging down the lot as well as unused space. Sims will end up routing around for random things and not behaving as they're supposed to. So it's really best to keep it simpler and focused and let the player renovate themselves if they wish.

Finally, there are many restaurant lots that include a "liveable" space upstairs for the owner. While this is convenient for those who like to own restaurants and use that gameplay, these lots aren't the best for players who just want their Sims to visit and go dining. So this advice is probably more for the players. If you must download one of these lots to use, make sure you lock the doors to the residential section (or remove the doors altogether) so your Sims don't try to wander up there. You might even want to delete computers, TVs and stereos, as previously suggested, just in case Sims still get distracted by them.

I know there are players who say restaurants are very buggy, but I have several good working restaurants in my own game (some I've had to alter) so it's possible that many issues are caused by things mentioned in this thread. I'd suggest to try out a simple, spacious, non-MOO, focused restaurant (maybe one by Maxis) and see if it works properly. If it does, then you'll know that you just need to do some tweaking in the other restaurants in your game, or get new ones. If it doesn't, then you most likely have a bug.

I concur with OP and after running a restaurant for 2 Sims generation, I would like to add:

1. I don't have any extraneous objects that would distract Sims. No pianos, no stereos, no chess sets, no computers etc. I found Sims still got up and chat with each other but they returned to their tables much quicker if they were not distracted. I don't even put bars in my restaurants although they're maybe ok (don't know, haven't tested this).

2. If you use any custom content (especially tables and chairs), make sure they are updated for Dine Out pack. I used custom tables once and they really bugged out the game. I had once a bug where I couldn't customize my Sims staff's outfit. The culprit was CC. As soon as I deleted those CC from my lot, outfit customization was fixed.

3. Use the automatic garbage can (I can't remember the name) instead of the "manual" garbage can that needs to be re-emptied into the outdoor trash cans. Delete all outdoor trash cans. It saves your Sims staff from having to take garbage out and other sims from wanting to kick the outdoor cans (and you/your staff have to clean up after them). Your Sims staffs should be focused on doing food related things as much as possible.

4. Pathing: I now prefer to build my own public lots (whether it's retail or restaurant or gym). When I build my own I do not use MOO (I still use MOO for my Sims' house).

Sage advice, OP. I've had to 'remodel' a wedding venue because the way to the bar was totally blocked by a hedge. Mind you, it was gorgeous, so I very carefully made a hole, if you will, by just removing the smallest amount of the hedge to allow the bartender (Mixologist) to get in, and of course, the guests. I probably should have alerted the creator of that lot, come to think of it. Oh, well. I relabeled it in my own library so I wouldn't have to made the modifications all over again. Plus, I put potty chairs in the two bathrooms in case some of the guests are toddlers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq6nBigMnlg

Couldn't help it. :#

"Colton147147;c-17444397" wrote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq6nBigMnlg

Couldn't help it. :#

Yeah... Probably going to delete half your lamps :wink: .

...Seriously last restaurant I downloaded was so bright with a good graphic card that all guests looked like the Joker or Harley Quinn. I had to delete two thirds of light-sources to get it anywhere close to the "romantic Italian place" it was labeled as :neutral:

(I get it, with a basic graphic card you need tons of light).

Two thumbs up OP!
Usually I'm in and out of a restaurant in 2-3 hours (not that a bring a large family just 1-2 sims) unless I chose to stay and have more food or just hang out. I know it's because I avoid basically everything you mentioned. Especially hard on sims is placing fun activities. I downloaded on really cute diner with a basketball court and the waiters were drawn to it. It was obvious it had to go. Also the spacing is very important to not bottleneck the paths as you said. I try not to download MOO builds at all unless I know the builder playtests.