Was Multitasking worth the loading screens?

For me, the older Sims games feel so outdated without multitasking that it’s almost laughable.
It’s weird to think Sims couldn’t listen to music while cooking, or watch TV and chat while working out at the Gym.

And loading screens aren’t an issue for me (except Sims 2 which seems to always take the same time no matter what).

I can load a save in TS3 in about 10 - 20 seconds and each loading screen in TS4 is about 5 seconds, thanks to my SSD and Core i7.

And honestly, 5 seconds doesn’t bother me at all.

NOPE

By definition, it's not even really multitasking. Sims 3 (heck, even Sims 2 AND even Sims 1) showcased superior multitasking in some specialized cases. I mean if my Sims sit down to eat breakfast together, a Sim family in Sims 3 can successfully eat their breakfast and gain socialization without slowing themselves down at all. If a family does the same in Sims 4, it turns into a nightmare where you have to cycle around the table canceling everyone's social desire before they all end up late for work, and it's a never-ending battle cause the little jerks will constantly re-queue new social interactions even after they've been canceled.

Multi-tasking to me means multiple actions being done simultaneously for a boost to efficiency, such as doing the laundry while watching the news and chatting on the phone for an increase in social and fun while the laundry itself gets completed at about the same rate it usually would. In Sims 4, it means the game periodically cycles between action A and action B. When action A is being completed, action B is completely put on pause and vice versa. It's not multitasking, it's a dumb little automated toggle they honestly would've been capable of implementing in any of the past Sims game. The problem this has is that Sims in Sims 4 obsessively socialize at all times, even when they don't need it, so the multitasking system usually just means the player's desired action for the Sim will be slowed down by their obsession with social tasks. If not for the multitasking system, we wouldn't need to babysit our sims half as much as we do because they wouldn't constantly hunt chat partners.

"Multi"tasking and the emotion system are probably the two biggest bombs of Sims 4. Both of them were promised to be revolutionary and both are absolutely terrible. If there was an option to turn off multitasking in the game options, I think it would be very tempting to do so. It would more or less function as a mini-free will toggle that solely effects their obsession with socializing.

I can totally see why this isint possible at the moment, however i would like to visit my neighbor without having to go through a loading screen. Thats just my opinion

The thing that bugs me most, which isn't addressed in this poll, is how long my Sims will just stand doing absolutely nothing. I'm not talking about another Sim is on the way to interact with them. They have things in their queue, yet they just stand there as if I have all day long to wait for them to move!

As for the loading screens, I really don't mind them, but I started with Sims2. Sims3, for all of the niceties of the open world had its own set of problems. I usually use Razor to shut off the background processes whenever I play that game. Plus, I have at least 20 NRaas mods to improve things.

So, I'm ambivalent.

One of the major justifications for loading screens in the Sims 4 has nothing to do with multitasking, it has to do with the client base they are going after. The Sims 4 comes at the time after the open world concept was good for the Sims 3, but it had so munch problems with it as the target market of simulation games have never had much luck at generating enough high end game players to make it worth the higher details and attention with the MMORG and the first person single player or team shooting games they have not really had a chance. So to make up the difference they offer the most lacks system requirement they can go to make sure that most computers will be able to play the game. The major problem with TS3 is it really annoyed the lower end of the target market that don't have the best computers. Its not about whether they can do it as you can do anything with computer games now. So they had to make sure the Sims 4 would be able to be compatible with both PC and later on Mac a year later, and if they wanted more money they wanted to make sure they could eventually branch it off to console, mobile and that way you could play The Sims anywhere. So what I am saying its not about if they can or should do it, Its about making sure their target audience can play the game on any store bought computer which not many simmers know about how computers run and what computers would give you more bang for your money by making sure the game can run fresh off the shelf of a computer store they have a higher chance of making a lot more money and attracting new gamers.

Also, a side note. Most processors can run 2 or 3 games at once especially the dual and quad core processor the limitation is not the processors themselves but the ram and the input controls. In theory you could run The Sims 4, Car Mechanic 2018, Farming Simulator 17, but you only got one graphics card one keyboard and mouse and limited ram memory, which part has to be used by the OS.

"@DeservedCriticism;c-16286643" wrote:
NOPE

By definition, it's not even really multitasking. Sims 3 (heck, even Sims 2 AND even Sims 1) showcased superior multitasking in some specialized cases. I mean if my Sims sit down to eat breakfast together, a Sim family in Sims 3 can successfully eat their breakfast and gain socialization without slowing themselves down at all. If a family does the same in Sims 4, it turns into a nightmare where you have to cycle around the table canceling everyone's social desire before they all end up late for work, and it's a never-ending battle cause the little jerks will constantly re-queue new social interactions even after they've been canceled.

Multi-tasking to me means multiple actions being done simultaneously for a boost to efficiency, such as doing the laundry while watching the news and chatting on the phone for an increase in social and fun while the laundry itself gets completed at about the same rate it usually would. In Sims 4, it means the game periodically cycles between action A and action B. When action A is being completed, action B is completely put on pause and vice versa. It's not multitasking, it's a dumb little automated toggle they honestly would've been capable of implementing in any of the past Sims game. The problem this has is that Sims in Sims 4 obsessively socialize at all times, even when they don't need it, so the multitasking system usually just means the player's desired action for the Sim will be slowed down by their obsession with social tasks. If not for the multitasking system, we wouldn't need to babysit our sims half as much as we do because they wouldn't constantly hunt chat partners.

"Multi"tasking and the emotion system are probably the two biggest bombs of Sims 4. Both of them were promised to be revolutionary and both are absolutely terrible. If there was an option to turn off multitasking in the game options, I think it would be very tempting to do so. It would more or less function as a mini-free will toggle that solely effects their obsession with

Sims in The Sims 2 actually take longer to eat and talk than they do in The Sims 4. Often if you serve breakfast in TS2, it’s almost lunch if you don’t cancel the talk interactions (which I believe was a patched feature due to complaints as it’s not present in The Sims Life Stories from memory, I served Lunch Meat Sandwhiches at 1pm and it was getting dark once all 4 of them had finished).

And in The Sims 3 the eating animation is really unnatural it’s like they’re forcing it down.

I don’t think they’ll ever get it right.

Also, that’s my only experience of that happening is with eating. Often I can have Sims listen to music while skill building, or Sims talk while doing basic stuff. I don’t have them randomly cycle between actions to that degree.


Since you mention it, I love the emotion system.
I believe people don’t like it because of Sims being bipolar, but a quick test shows Sims can be just as bipolar in The Sims 3. Going from extremely unhappy to happy just from one bad Moodlet (like filthy surroundings). My Sim went from depressed to happy just because she was afraid of the dark.

It’s more an issue with the Moodlet system imo with Moodlets often being too strong (eg Nicely Decorated is way too powerful), but the Emotions expand on the mood system in TS3 in the best way. I just wish it wasn’t so huge in the UI.

"DeservedCriticism;c-16286643" wrote:
NOPE

By definition, it's not even really multitasking. Sims 3 (heck, even Sims 2 AND even Sims 1) showcased superior multitasking in some specialized cases. I mean if my Sims sit down to eat breakfast together, a Sim family in Sims 3 can successfully eat their breakfast and gain socialization without slowing themselves down at all. If a family does the same in Sims 4, it turns into a nightmare where you have to cycle around the table canceling everyone's social desire before they all end up late for work, and it's a never-ending battle cause the little jerks will constantly re-queue new social interactions even after they've been canceled.

Multi-tasking to me means multiple actions being done simultaneously for a boost to efficiency, such as doing the laundry while watching the news and chatting on the phone for an increase in social and fun while the laundry itself gets completed at about the same rate it usually would. In Sims 4, it means the game periodically cycles between action A and action B. When action A is being completed, action B is completely put on pause and vice versa. It's not multitasking, it's a dumb little automated toggle they honestly would've been capable of implementing in any of the past Sims game. The problem this has is that Sims in Sims 4 obsessively socialize at all times, even when they don't need it, so the multitasking system usually just means the player's desired action for the Sim will be slowed down by their obsession with social tasks. If not for the multitasking system, we wouldn't need to babysit our sims half as much as we do because they wouldn't constantly hunt chat partners.

"Multi"tasking and the emotion system are probably the two biggest bombs of Sims 4. Both of them were promised to be revolutionary and both are absolutely terrible. If there was an option to turn off multitasking in the game options, I think it would be very tempting to do so. It would more or less function as a mini-free will toggle that solely effects their obsession with socializing.

Thanks for saying everything I would have about multi tasking. Sums it up nicely for me.

My loading screens are not long, although I dislike them. But the multi tasking in my view is the games biggest downfall.

"jackjack_k;c-16286727" wrote:

"@DeservedCriticism;c-16286643" wrote:
NOPE

By definition, it's not even really multitasking. Sims 3 (heck, even Sims 2 AND even Sims 1) showcased superior multitasking in some specialized cases. I mean if my Sims sit down to eat breakfast together, a Sim family in Sims 3 can successfully eat their breakfast and gain socialization without slowing themselves down at all. If a family does the same in Sims 4, it turns into a nightmare where you have to cycle around the table canceling everyone's social desire before they all end up late for work, and it's a never-ending battle cause the little jerks will constantly re-queue new social interactions even after they've been canceled.

Multi-tasking to me means multiple actions being done simultaneously for a boost to efficiency, such as doing the laundry while watching the news and chatting on the phone for an increase in social and fun while the laundry itself gets completed at about the same rate it usually would. In Sims 4, it means the game periodically cycles between action A and action B. When action A is being completed, action B is completely put on pause and vice versa. It's not multitasking, it's a dumb little automated toggle they honestly would've been capable of implementing in any of the past Sims game. The problem this has is that Sims in Sims 4 obsessively socialize at all times, even when they don't need it, so the multitasking system usually just means the player's desired action for the Sim will be slowed down by their obsession with social tasks. If not for the multitasking system, we wouldn't need to babysit our sims half as much as we do because they wouldn't constantly hunt chat partners.

"Multi"tasking and the emotion system are probably the two biggest bombs of Sims 4. Both of them were promised to be revolutionary and both are absolutely terrible. If there was an option to turn off multitasking in the game options, I think it would be very tempting to do so. It would more or less function as a mini-free will toggle that solely effects their obsession with

Sims in The Sims 2 actually take longer to eat and talk than they do in The Sims 4. Often if you serve breakfast in TS2, it’s almost lunch if you don’t cancel the talk interactions (which I believe was a patched feature due to complaints as it’s not present in The Sims Life Stories from memory, I served Lunch Meat Sandwhiches at 1pm and it was getting dark once all 4 of them had finished).

And in The Sims 3 the eating animation is really unnatural it’s like they’re forcing it down.

I don’t think they’ll ever get it right.

Also, that’s my only experience of that happening is with eating. Often I can have Sims listen to music while skill building, or Sims talk while doing basic stuff. I don’t have them randomly cycle between actions to that degree.


Since you mention it, I love the emotion system.
I believe people don’t like it because of Sims being bipolar, but a quick test shows Sims can be just as bipolar in The Sims 3. Going from extremely unhappy to happy just from one bad Moodlet (like filthy surroundings). My Sim went from depressed to happy just because she was afraid of the dark.

It’s more an issue with the Moodlet system imo with Moodlets often being too strong (eg Nicely Decorated is way too powerful), but the Emotions expand on the mood system in TS3 in the best way. I just wish it wasn’t so huge in the UI.

I have never had any time issues with Sims 2 sims. Even if it were technically longer, this is not a matter of time spent, but rather time won/time lost by participating in multitasking. Sims 1, Sims 2 and Sims 3 barely adds any time onto a meal at all when Sims socialize while eating. Sims 4, it is actually possible to have a meal so long it takes hours.

Your example - even if it were true - has no clear answer anyways. The sky is the limit with Sims 4 because of the way group convos are programmed. It is completely possible to have a "neverending" conversation because everyone keeps attempting to queue up a social, and they all have to wait on each other. This is exactly why the retail system from Get To Work is such a nightmare: a group of Sims all chatting together is a lost cause, because if you try to greet a sim in that group, your social request is put in line behind the 4 other Sims all wanting to tell the group a story, and then when you try to show that sim an item, four other stories got queue'ed up in front of you in the meantime.

If this is truly multitasking, why is it impossible for two seperate groups of Sims to simultaneously hold a convo between themselves while in a larger group chat? If Sim A tells Sim B a story while Sim C wants to tell Sim D a secret, and all of them are in one giant group convo, then Sim C must now wait on Sim A to finish even though Sim C doesn't require the attention of either Sim A or Sim B right now. This is not multitasking, and this is a huuuuuuuuuuge culprit for the slowness of gameplay when multitasking comes into play. Multitasking on it's own is just very weak because it only cycles between two actions and doesn't accelerate the completion rate of both at all. Multitasking plus the horrible socialization system is a nightmare that results in nothing getting done, made even worse by the fact that Sim A.I. in this game seeks out socialization even when the social meter is full, even when the only available chat partner is a sworn enemy, and sometimes even when socialization demands their current action be canceled.


And going from unhappy to happy is not the problem. There will always always always be a point where that +1 point tips the balance, so the example you gave is neither a problem for Sims 3 nor Sims 4.

The problem is that emotions in Sims 4 siphoned a lot of what made personality traits special away from traits and towards moodlets. This means my Sims are identical when they have the same mood with very limited differences. It used to be the Genius Sim was just better at skill-building and the Absent-Minded Sim was worse at it. Just like that, I can make three sims with three varying degrees of building a skill. In Sims 4 however, even if I had such traits (no absent minded trait), all three would be identical the moment I get them in a focused mood. There aren't countless different Sims to make thanks to thousands of different combinations of personality traits. Instead, there's 15 different types of Sims based on 15 different types of moods.

The second problem is that happy moodlets are absolutely spammed to the point that it is legitimately challenging to make a Sim angry or sad. There's zero balance with the scale of moodlets, and the result is that negative moods are comparatively rare, happy is practically the default, and sometimes happy mixing with other moods can have strange or undesired results. Such a system needs very careful and cautious planning on when to add a new moodlet, how big it should be and what mood it should have. Instead, this is their go-to system to spam when they have no idea what else to do. Love Guru at a romance festival? Yeah he gives a moodlet. Laundry? Moodlet. Hugged a dog? Moodlet. Had a good upbringing with your family? Moodlet.

I only picked the third because there was no, "I don't mind the loading screens, but the multitasking, while sometimes useful, could still use some polish." I like being able to have my sims eat and watch T.V. to increase a skill at the same time. However, there are some serious tuning issues with multitasking (too much autonomous radio, taking their breakfast to the bathroom to eat and brush their teeth all at once when you tell them to eat and then brush their teeth, etc.) that really need to be fixed. As for the loading screens, I really don't care. I have loading screens in TS2 as well.

What I don't care for is the game's away system. You come back from being with one of the sims in the household off-lot and the game just randomly places the sims you left at home in spots they really shouldn't be. Mom is on Timmy's computer, Timmy is playing with Susy's dollhouse, Susy is eating the leftovers that you were saving for breakfast, and everyone is totally out of character. Makes you miss TS2's timewarps... -_-;

"jackjack_k;c-16286727" wrote:

"@DeservedCriticism;c-16286643" wrote:
NOPE

By definition, it's not even really multitasking. Sims 3 (heck, even Sims 2 AND even Sims 1) showcased superior multitasking in some specialized cases. I mean if my Sims sit down to eat breakfast together, a Sim family in Sims 3 can successfully eat their breakfast and gain socialization without slowing themselves down at all. If a family does the same in Sims 4, it turns into a nightmare where you have to cycle around the table canceling everyone's social desire before they all end up late for work, and it's a never-ending battle cause the little jerks will constantly re-queue new social interactions even after they've been canceled.

Multi-tasking to me means multiple actions being done simultaneously for a boost to efficiency, such as doing the laundry while watching the news and chatting on the phone for an increase in social and fun while the laundry itself gets completed at about the same rate it usually would. In Sims 4, it means the game periodically cycles between action A and action B. When action A is being completed, action B is completely put on pause and vice versa. It's not multitasking, it's a dumb little automated toggle they honestly would've been capable of implementing in any of the past Sims game. The problem this has is that Sims in Sims 4 obsessively socialize at all times, even when they don't need it, so the multitasking system usually just means the player's desired action for the Sim will be slowed down by their obsession with social tasks. If not for the multitasking system, we wouldn't need to babysit our sims half as much as we do because they wouldn't constantly hunt chat partners.

"Multi"tasking and the emotion system are probably the two biggest bombs of Sims 4. Both of them were promised to be revolutionary and both are absolutely terrible. If there was an option to turn off multitasking in the game options, I think it would be very tempting to do so. It would more or less function as a mini-free will toggle that solely effects their obsession with

Sims in The Sims 2 actually take longer to eat and talk than they do in The Sims 4. Often if you serve breakfast in TS2, it’s almost lunch if you don’t cancel the talk interactions (which I believe was a patched feature due to complaints as it’s not present in The Sims Life Stories from memory, I served Lunch Meat Sandwhiches at 1pm and it was getting dark once all 4 of them had finished).

And in The Sims 3 the eating animation is really unnatural it’s like they’re forcing it down.

I don’t think they’ll ever get it right.

Also, that’s my only experience of that happening is with eating. Often I can have Sims listen to music while skill building, or Sims talk while doing basic stuff. I don’t have them randomly cycle between actions to that degree.


Since you mention it, I love the emotion system.
I believe people don’t like it because of Sims being bipolar, but a quick test shows Sims can be just as bipolar in The Sims 3. Going from extremely unhappy to happy just from one bad Moodlet (like filthy surroundings). My Sim went from depressed to happy just because she was afraid of the dark.

It’s more an issue with the Moodlet system imo with Moodlets often being too strong (eg Nicely Decorated is way too powerful), but the Emotions expand on the mood system in TS3 in the best way. I just wish it wasn’t so huge in the UI.

I strongly disagree. Sims 2 sims do not take that long to eat. They just don't. My sims 2 sim gets up at 7:30 and breakfast is made and served, her children get breakfast before they go to school. Sims 4 sims take several hours in between moving chairs, not sitting down at the table, directing them to sit down, picking up and putting the toddler in a high chair then repeating it a second later. It's a nightmare. That's before you even get to sitting them all down and having them have a discussion.

I know you like to criticise the previous versions to make the sims 4 faults look better but don't make up things that are not true.