I get why townies were added in the first place, but at this stage in the game there is physically no need for them. Even if you just have 3 non base game worlds there is easily enough sims to populate the world and lots twice over. There is no need to generate tons of ugly townies to fill every single lot when the actual sims in the world could do the same job instead. What makes the townies worse is that the AI is horrible. They all look ugly, generate with the most ridiculous outfits and hair colors and it just totally breaks the immersion having every lot filled with 15 circus clowns.There's already mods which disable townies and they really just show how totally unnecessary they are as the game works perfectly fine without them. I just want to see the sims I've actually created in my world and the sims that live there rather than the travelling circus arriving every time I send my sim to a bar. There's physically no need for ugly townies so can the game just stop generating them already and use our own sims instead :s

I agree. Something more needs to be done about the ugly townie spawning issue. In theory the concept of randomly generated townies is good, because it creates more variation in the public landscape. It’s realistic. We don’t always see the same people. Right now however, these townies ruin that landscape and should probably not exist at all. I appreciate console players who cannot have mods, so it would be useful if we were to have a tool that: lets the player assign the townie label to existing households either via their own library or the gallery; an option to assign a generic townie fashion style; an option to choose the amount of townies generated per district. Begone ye pink pear shaped buffoon!

The townies themselves aren't even that ugly. It's the random makeup and clothing that's the problem in my game. They look like a bunch of toddlers playing dress up! I think I spend more time in CAS fixing these townies up rather than actual gameplay... I honestly think that only base game clothes should be randomly generated and nothing else. Limit the options. You'd think with the limited color scheme, it'd cause less mismatching. lol

I agree, there should be more effort made in improving it, I think this is just as important as everything else they put in this game. What's the point of making this life simulator if you don't care what your sims look like when you are walking around? You hire artists to make great looking clothes for our sims but then you let the your game just take all their hard work and throw it in the bin when it uses them on townies.When they are making their packs and updating their game they should try to improve townie generation as well. The game should be better at using existing sims for npc roles and the game should have more systems in place to reduce ugly outfits.

agreed and please give us a toggle to choose if we want new sims spawning or not.

This will be less irritating if the townies actually use outfit from the styled look template exclusively and not just randomized one.

Use existing sims rather than generating new townies.

15 Replies

CAPTAIN_NXR7
Legend
5 years ago
I agree. Something more needs to be done about the ugly townie spawning issue.
In theory the concept of randomly generated townies is good, because it creates more variation in the public landscape. It’s realistic. We don’t always see the same people.

Right now however, these townies ruin that landscape and should probably not exist at all.

I appreciate console players who cannot have mods, so it would be useful if we were to have a tool that:

lets the player assign the townie label to existing households either via their own library or the gallery;
an option to assign a generic townie fashion style;
an option to choose the amount of townies generated per district.

Begone ye pink pear shaped buffoon!
Missmagoo2
Seasoned Ace
5 years ago
The townies themselves aren't even that ugly. It's the random makeup and clothing that's the problem in my game. They look like a bunch of toddlers playing dress up! I think I spend more time in CAS fixing these townies up rather than actual gameplay... I honestly think that only base game clothes should be randomly generated and nothing else. Limit the options. You'd think with the limited color scheme, it'd cause less mismatching. lol
logionX
Legend
5 years ago
I agree, there should be more effort made in improving it, I think this is just as important as everything else they put in this game. What's the point of making this life simulator if you don't care what your sims look like when you are walking around?

You hire artists to make great looking clothes for our sims but then you let the your game just take all their hard work and throw it in the bin when it uses them on townies.

When they are making their packs and updating their game they should try to improve townie generation as well. The game should be better at using existing sims for npc roles and the game should have more systems in place to reduce ugly outfits.
imahulazombie
5 years ago
agreed and please give us a toggle to choose if we want new sims spawning or not.
timurjr96
5 years ago
This will be less irritating if the townies actually use outfit from the styled look template exclusively and not just randomized one.
AbbyBaba729
5 years ago
This is good in theory but not for base-game world players like myself. Assuming the average player in this category doesn't use mods, they only have Willow Creek and Oasis Springs. (Filling up Newcrest is horribly tedious.) That is a tiny amount of lots to work with, unless you fill them up with 8-sim households. (Also tedious.) So this would be fine if you have a lot of packs, but plenty of people don't. This is why townies are so helpful, imo.
I honestly don't mind townies; I barely notice their outfits. Usually I give them a makeover if my Sims becomes friends with them. I have no interest in making them all look like models.
I do like the toggle idea, tho. So people who have a lot of packs can stop townies from generating.
Onverser
5 years ago
"AbbyBaba729;c-17811931" wrote:
This is good in theory but not for base-game world players like myself. Assuming the average player in this category doesn't use mods, they only have Willow Creek and Oasis Springs. (Filling up Newcrest is horribly tedious.) That is a tiny amount of lots to work with, unless you fill them up with 8-sim households. (Also tedious.) So this would be fine if you have a lot of packs, but plenty of people don't. This is why townies are so helpful, imo.

True, I counted the built in households with the base game and there's 28 sims in total there which would probably get a bit repetitive if it was only those sims in every lot. They could possibly make it so townies will only spawn if there isn't enough actual sims - ie, if there's less than 50 sims the game will spawn townies and if there's more than 50 sims it won't spawn townies. I feel like that would be the best way of doing it so townies still serve their original purpose but aren't there when they aren't needed.
Cinebar
5 years ago
It's way past due because players don't have control of this in any game. Why not a toggle that sets the game to generate any townie for whatever reason (cashiers etc. or to fill houses) and a toggle to turn it off and allow the player to create and place their own townies, including those who would be cashiers (non played) etc. I know from my point of view and many others who still play TS2 and TS3 we like an empty world where we theme and create our own townies. Maxis needs to give the creativity back to the players, and expand upon it by letting them start out with a toggle whether the game generates the townfolk or if the player does. At least TS2 had an easy cheat to turn any Sim into a townie and or an NPC. That sort of creativity is a better way to go if you really want the player to play their way. Maxis of old understood this, I don't think Maxis of today does understand it.
talongirl6
5 years ago
I think some sort of toggle could be used to help with this. I personally enjoy the townies since I find them to be quite quirky and fun. However, I know not everyone plays like me. I totally understand why other people may not like them. And I do agree that their fashion choices can be a bit odd sometimes. I think adding more options to turn features on and off could definitely help with this problem.
Netzspannung
Seasoned Ace
5 years ago
Game-generated randoms, such a pet peeve. What bothers me the most is that the game constantly generates new townies. I make over townies all the time, because I find outfits like this very distracting and irritating, especially when I want to take screenshots in my game.

https://i.imgur.com/9nCrQyk.jpg

And I know if I make them over in 'Manage Households' they can lose their roles/jobs, so I do it by shift-clicking on them in live mode after activating the cas.fulleditmode cheat. And yet, when I visit the lot again the game does not generate the lot with the 10 townies I just made over but generates a bunch of new ones. I try to use as few mods as possible, but I will have to look into another mod for this, because making over townies has turned into such a chore. But I would very much welcome an in-game solution. I feel like the game developers can hardly be proud of how this game mechanic plays out in practice.