TOO MANY LOADING SCREENS!!

"TS1299;c-16212667" wrote:
Currently I am happy with how the worlds are set up. How the loading screens are set up. I think the same way as you as before, I also want to have open neighborhood, however it will come to a cost. The reason why to me I feel The Sims 3 is shallow is the openness it offers. We had no loading screen after the big one loading screen, however if I want to send my sims on a date, the only choice I had fully control of them is at the Park, Pool, and Library. Wanted to see your sim to date at the Spa? Restaurant? Movie Theater? well you had no control of them inside of a rabbithole. Of course we may not see the return of rabbitholes in the game but it will result of the removal of a lot of features.

An example is the business System. The reason why businesses didn't work on The Sims 3 is the open world itself. Without the open world the game can change coding of different lots during a loading screen just like The Sims 2. But since the world in 3 was open, it didn't happen. We didn't get a fully functioning restaurant, and the ability to run a business. Yes we got one in Midnight Hallow however the open world itself was the problem why we need rugs to make them functional, and there isn't a new big gameplay it offer, unlike in Sims 2 and 4 where the new gameplay is confined at that specific lot(e.g. Perks system). Now I don't want features I paid for which is the Retail, Restaurant, and the Vet business to be removed for the sake of loading screen.

Let us not forget that side from that we had simmers who doesn't had high-end computers. The limit per lot is 20 sims add more sims to that it will be a lagfest. Yes the team may give the players an option but what would be the purpose of an openness if the player feels it as a ghost Town because he/she dosen't have a very good computer?

That is my point of view. I however agree about apartments. They need to change that.

1.a) TS3 base game was pretty reliant on rabbit holes, but not an expanded game or with store objects. Using some creativity you could build extra lots and send Sims on dates there. With expansions there were more options handed to us. Are there really more date options in TS4 base game than TS3 base game? Yes, it seems like you're referencing the TS3 base game only because that is NOT my experience with dates in TS3. BTW, a beach date (base game compatible) is a great option in TS3. I also used an expansion pre-made bar-type hangout lot a lot in Sunset Valley. I forget what it is now, but it has the upstairs with pool a jukebox.

1.b) Yes, all the games have rabbit holes. TS3 just had larger, more obvious ones. Every time a Sim goes off to an inactive day of work it's to an invisible rabbit hole. I like having the buildings but preferred the rabbit hole rugs and making my own, because they looked better that way. TS4 does have some small, visible rabbit holes and that's good. Public restrooms, tents, maybe some others. How people don't notice that when a Sim walks off a lot to work that it's to a rabbit hole job ... mystifies me just a bit. It's obvious and it's arguable worse.

2. Sims 2 did not have sub-types of community lots so that's probably not true (changing the coding of the lots during the loading screen, from residential to community, sure). The objects in TS2 just simply worked and that was beautiful. A part of the simple, wonderful genius of Sims 2. The objects should just work.

3. All 3 versions need specific objects to make shops functional. I personally don't enjoy having to play a Sim to set up a shop to make it functional though, but I deal. Anyway, TS4 needs a lot of work to make shops functional, even if the only objects necessary are a register and, don't forget, a counter because the register requires one. Just saying. If you can't tell, I prefer (the idea at least) of sending my Sims to shop over running the stores. (Same with Dine Out, and probably any similar venue.)

4. Again, TS2 had very few lot types, and basically two. Residential and Community. There are also apartments and university-related lots, but those are aside from the topic. Community lots don't have sub-types in TS2 so I really doubt any new gameplay was confined unless it's residential vs. community (like skilling vs. not skilling). All we need to do is go to the hood edit and build mode and add the objects we want, and boom, they work.

Don't assume that TS2 and TS4 are similar just because they both have loading screens. They are very different.

5.a) With MCCC I have set it so that certain lot types (only some of them!!) allow 50 Sims around the zone (!!!). Now, are those lots more festive with lags than Sims? NO! They're just festive! (There might be a tad added lag.) I do have lag however, but mostly in large residential lots (NO extra Sims around the zone!) and large families. So, for me, having more active Sims might add noticeable lag but NOT increasing the amount of Sims at nightclubs and some other lots. ... Of course, different people with have different experiences, but your post implied the opposite.

5.b) My Sims 3 was never a ghost town. Lots in Sunset Valley are not only less visited at night (it's not a bustling city) but in fact they have a closing time that's forced and realistic, haha (for most towns) but that is soo different. My gym started to get too busy in fact, you know, for a gym, haha. Of course, I also didn't play in lowly populated towns. I don't know about Bridgeport so I can't defend that city (err, "world"). If one doesn't have a good computer, I'd suggest either not playing TS3 or try some of the small custom worlds. I think it's Rflong I've heard great things about??? I noticed someone on the forum was working on a town that runs really well, I'm intrigued about it. :smile:

A general reply, and I hinted at this before. Not having a loading "screen" doesn't mean that nothing changes in the background. There's a difference between active and loaded, which we see already. I definitely don't want all the lots in a block to be fully active at once. I think indoor space should be fully inactive on the secondary lots, and outdoor space should only be slightly active on all lots in a little district, which is usually about 3? That's not so bad, and it would look so good. And I don't mean that any outdoor space on secondary lots should be fully buzzing with activity, not close, just a bit with the possibility for NPCs to walk around looking alive. A few Sims here and there and not past any door, just "outside." There should be a loading symbol while code works behind the scenes, but not pulling us away into a full loading screen.