We know that The Sims 4 uses a game engine that was originally built for online gameplay but was modified to support the single player game we have today. However I don't recall the developers ever really explaining what are the specific limitations and capabilities of the engine. I would like to know why we can't have bigger worlds, open neighborhoods, complex emotions or traits, and better story progression. All of these issues are blamed on the game engine but never really explained in depth. I would also like to know if it's possible for TS4 game engine to be further upgraded.

Recently, the developers have nerfed the in game textures of objects in the game to make the game easier to run and it is highly suspected that it is because the game is starting to struggle. Lindsay talks about the engine somewhat in her Q&A with James Turner, however, It's important to keep in mind the background with how the game was created when it was "Project Olympus" and when there's mention of "what they could have done differently" and "adding flexibility" there was only so much they could do because of the limitations of the engine.(source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKzjiiox0Fk)Edit: Another great video in reference to "Project Olympus"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epxTbdLxc7o

They are also limited by their system requirements, I don't think they have ever said specifically the limitations they have to work with but gamechangers that have worked with them have mentioned things that they can't build lots that have too many objects and I can imagine this is also restricting them in how they are designing their worlds.I'm not sure the engine can be upgraded or improved, the thing is that people that are running really good graphics cards are experiencing lag or performance issues, this hints that the engine can't use better hardware very effectively. One thing that I have suspected recently is that the game is also very CPU heavy, if you don't have a good enough CPU you are going to experience simulation lag and even then, there are so many things that are running in the background now with so much DLC added to it.

The limitations seem to change, depending on the convenience it makes for EA... for example, in the beginning, the developers literally said pools would be "impossible" to add in the game due to the engine's incapability of processing it correctly, but after the huge inevitable backlash, they came to the conclusion of having no other choice but to actually start giving players what they want. In my opinion, it was just an excuse for their laziness and unwillingness to actually work on the game.They also said the game engine was purposely designed to have the capability of running on lower end machines, but many people have been experiencing issues (even on high end machines)... what gives? It's just funny how Sims 3's lag and bugs were constantly blamed on open world and create a style, which seemed like a reasonable excuse at the time, but since Sims 4 doesn't have either of those features, how do we explain the bugs and lag it has? lol It's just comical at this point. I think EA should just come out and be completely honest... they're just too incompetent to create a game that runs properly because they don't wanna put in the extra effort to optimize it correctly.Though, to be fair, Sims 4 was originally intended to be a game made for tablets, but EA turned it into a PC game at last minute for bigger profit.

I think the engine has its limitations but most of the limitations come from their desire for the game to work on any computer. Sadly they've cut back on so many things so that the game works for players with potato computers from like 2011 that take 30 minutes to boot up and overheat the second anything happens. From what I understand their decision to do that is responsible for a lot more of the issues than the engine.

"Lustianicia;c-17826277" wrote:It's just funny how Sims 3's lag and bugs were constantly blamed on open world and create a style, which seemed like a reasonable excuse at the time, but since Sims 4 doesn't have either of those features, how do we explain the bugs and lag it has? l@Lustianicia The lag in the Sims 3 was not caused by open-world and Create a style. Sure these two features contributed to the lag but a big part was also because of poor coding, which if fixed makes the game a lot more playable hence why mods like Overwatch work so well.The game just has a lot of routing errors and culling issues but has no in-built way to fix them once they keep happening over time. The open world and create a style excuse was just used as damage control to defend the Sims 4 after the backlash and give a good reason why these features were left out, when in reality Maxis just didn't have enough time to make them (similarly to pools and toddlers) because they had to build a single-player game in an engine that was not meant for a single-player game. But ever since they started spreading that excuse simmers keep spreading it without realizing that the developers never had to completely cut out these features to make the game work better, they simply had to optimize them (like what happened with the Sims 4 Cats and Dogs which came with a color wheel) but they were simply too lazy to optimize them so they decided to not even bother.

What are the exact limitations of TS4 game engine?

Loanet
Rising Scout
4 years ago
Sims 5 will probably use a different, newer engine, and different engines run games differently, even when they're almost the same game.
imahulazombie
4 years ago
idk ask ea cuz every year there was a different limitation lmao
Chicklet45368
Rising Traveler
4 years ago
"GoodGrim;c-17844100" wrote:
Like James Turner says, can't we break our own game?

That's the thing I don't understand, just like with the limitations of us not being able to build our own apartments. A guru once stated in an inverview it was "Because if players would make a 5 story building with 100 windows the performance would take a hit" ..... And so? Let the player decide what is too taxing for THEIR personal rig. We're not playing online, we're not playing on EA's servers to hinder any other player's game performance. If someone has a low-spec laptop and they continue to buy every DLC ever put out, they wonder why there's lag. Players need to be realistic on what they are willing to sacrifice (high or ultra graphics, all DLC, Mods, CC, etc) when playing on older low-end machines.
drake_mccarty
4 years ago
We don’t really know since the producers arbitrarily assign blame to technology even when the technology supports features they just didn’t want to make. Apartments are a great example since a producer said it was a aesthetic choice to make them bad not necessitated by technology.
krisparisian
4 years ago
@drake_mccarty Yeah, I don't understand why they couldn't animate sims using an elevator or design a lobby for apartments. Certain features like those aren't design choices made to optimize the game, they were simply chosen because they were cheaper and required less work and time.
drake_mccarty
4 years ago
@tweedle i think most of it stems from bad management/leadership and not necessarily bad technology. For that same pack another producer was super proud that the visual effect artists went over budget creating the animated city backdrops and in the same breath gave some arbitrary excuse for why elevators, or even the front door of these buildings aren’t animated at all. You are right on the money when you say things are chosen because they are cheaper and require less work and time. 100%.
drake_mccarty
4 years ago
"Sigzy05;c-17848465" wrote:
"@Loanet;c-17826679" wrote:
Sims 5 will probably use a different, newer engine, and different engines run games differently, even when they're almost the same game.

TS5 job openings mentioned the Unreal Engine. Which is a much more robust engine to use and probably easier to modify. Also...it's used in a lot of online games.... While EA has an in-house engine, the Frostbite, I'm not sure how good it is...it definitely has amazing graphics but I'm not sure how complicated it would be to use it and modify it.

Frostbite is a good game engine the issue is EA mandated all their games use it which has been problematic to say the least. Wasn’t designed to be widely used like Unreal Engine.
SEREFRAS
Seasoned Veteran
4 years ago
That looks like Sims 3 Bridgeport.
SEREFRAS
Seasoned Veteran
4 years ago
As for the engine, they said that they couldn't fix the CAS. Yet 6 1/2 years later they did. Personally, I think it's just the Big Wigs that have been dictating to the Devs what they wanted, because we somehow are getting what we were told would be impossible. Maybe, there were some Big Wigs that were fired & new better Big Wigs came in. Just a guess.
fjb792
4 years ago
"drake_mccarty;c-17848259" wrote:
We don’t really know since the producers arbitrarily assign blame to technology even when the technology supports features they just didn’t want to make. Apartments are a great example since a producer said it was a aesthetic choice to make them bad not necessitated by technology.

I'm still annoyed about apartments. There's no reason we can't make them in game. All the technology is there. We got the roommate system in Discover University- how is that any different from living in an apartment building? And it wouldn't even require a loading screen. Then they just need to unlock elevators, trash chutes and wall mailboxes.
I think they were afraid of players building apartment buildings that were too big and would break the game, but why do they just cancel the feature completely? I don't understand why they could not have just put a restriction on the number of residents in the apartment building. It's like they think we can't handle our own games, like what Chicklet453681said earlier.