What If Seasons is Confined to Specific Locations?

"Cinebar;c-16214166" wrote:

"JoAnne65;c-16212183" wrote:
Is this poll purely hypothetical or based on founded suspicions?
*waiting for the answer before getting baffled*

Now, you know I have no inside info or have anything to do with EA. :D

It's based on what has been said in post and tweets by gurus concerning this engine, when they discussed as Reg mentioned they would not be able to do things that break saves, which if IIRC was about allowing us to decorate common spaces or that was an answer I got a few years ago when I mentioned they patched the game to move a trash can in an open space but then I asked something else and they said they couldn't or wouldn't do things that might break saves.

This is TS4, we also never thought they would leave out toddlers at the release or not allow us to build apartments in any world did we? But they did, so it's based on specuation, some knowledge of what came before, what has been and might be, and how players feel about this touchy subject and EP.

Just gaging how others feel as I voted first and I would not buy individual packs with one type of weather only in particular places and not other places such as existing worlds or all new worlds. I would feel that is explotation of the desire to have sunny beaches, snowy mountains and rainy, wet forests.

But if we take them at their word Daniel did say they wouldn't do that....but I never expected I couldn't ever build an apartment in OS, or WC.
And I do remember they said months ago maybe a few years now, if Sims were ever going to swim in the ocean like in WB they would have to build a whole new terrain for that world. Now, do you think they would? I sort of doubt the cost would be worth it. And that possibly could break people's saves to patch in or add something that would change a FX terrain into a workable one, so that is why I asked if people would buy a pack that couldn't have weather in the existing worlds.

Yes, what Reg said in fact was what I was wondering when I aksed that question ;), if there were signs given it would be that way. I didn't know that. The Feb 21 tweet Neia's posted just now is hopeful though.

(no, I doubt if they'd build a whole new terrain for WB if that's what it would take to make the ocean swimmable there; I don't understand why they didn't have to do that in every single Sims 3 world prior to the Seasons patch though, that's just odd)

Maybe I’m giving EA too much credit but they don’t seem that stupid, the staff monitoring the threads obviously see our outrage whenever something displeases us and reports back to HQ to give feedback and maybe even warn them that any further pushing will result in customers leaving the franchise, and with EA already walking on thin ice with us as it is I doubt they’d go that far to get our money in their wallet.

I can imagine a world with the neighbour hoods varying in weather theme, however weather is an overall feature that expands all worlds, lots, houses, etc, what I mean is decoration wise similar to Forgotten Hallow, yes the may have a spring themed area, fall. Winter, summer, each sim designed accordingly HOWEVER it can still snow and rain and all the other things, but decoration wise it may be one season per neighborhood and personally that excites me, summer based sims freezing in a dreadful snowstorm and winter dressed sims melting in the baking heat of summer time, somehow I can imagine EA playing on this idea to make what will no doubt be a lackluster pack look more enticing.

If they were to make us purchase each season individually...it’d be a financial and promotional disaster, imagine the tweets and YouTube videos about fans leaving the sims 4, i know to say mass hysteria would ensue is overly dramatic but hey it’s happened with othe games so why should sims avoid that sort of thing?

Again, it seems like the worst possible move they could make and from watching their movements over the years via the community and advertising...I can’t see them doing something so idiotic and insulting to the fans, regardless of how insulting it is now to receive a half brained expansion pack.

Yes if they do make us buy the seasons separately then I will be the first to grab a suitcase and head to where the plumbobs are greener, but again, poor financial move and I hope someone on the staff board has some sense in their head to stop whoever may think it’s a good idea to stretch out the seasons idea, even if it means tackling them and making them listen to Katy Perry singing in simlish for a week straight.

What would be a good idea is to do another vote, this time on expansion packs and offer us seasons along with a selection of features we can decide on, that way we get what we want and they can actually do something right for once. Yes it’s easier said than done and many will sigh and my optimism but I’ve been at this long enough to stop being angry and start thinking more than the company dishing out these half finished games do. Also I take out my frustration on my sims so that’s a good way to relieve stress XD

"JoAnne65;c-16214319" wrote:

"Cinebar;c-16214166" wrote:

"JoAnne65;c-16212183" wrote:
Is this poll purely hypothetical or based on founded suspicions?
*waiting for the answer before getting baffled*

Now, you know I have no inside info or have anything to do with EA. :D

It's based on what has been said in post and tweets by gurus concerning this engine, when they discussed as Reg mentioned they would not be able to do things that break saves, which if IIRC was about allowing us to decorate common spaces or that was an answer I got a few years ago when I mentioned they patched the game to move a trash can in an open space but then I asked something else and they said they couldn't or wouldn't do things that might break saves.

This is TS4, we also never thought they would leave out toddlers at the release or not allow us to build apartments in any world did we? But they did, so it's based on specuation, some knowledge of what came before, what has been and might be, and how players feel about this touchy subject and EP.

Just gaging how others feel as I voted first and I would not buy individual packs with one type of weather only in particular places and not other places such as existing worlds or all new worlds. I would feel that is explotation of the desire to have sunny beaches, snowy mountains and rainy, wet forests.

But if we take them at their word Daniel did say they wouldn't do that....but I never expected I couldn't ever build an apartment in OS, or WC.
And I do remember they said months ago maybe a few years now, if Sims were ever going to swim in the ocean like in WB they would have to build a whole new terrain for that world. Now, do you think they would? I sort of doubt the cost would be worth it. And that possibly could break people's saves to patch in or add something that would change a FX terrain into a workable one, so that is why I asked if people would buy a pack that couldn't have weather in the existing worlds.

Yes, what Reg said in fact was what I was wondering when I aksed that question ;), if there were signs given it would be that way. I didn't know that. The Feb 21 tweet Neia's posted just now is hopeful though.

(no, I doubt if they'd build a whole new terrain for WB if that's what it would take to make the ocean swimmable there; I don't understand why they didn't have to do that in every single Sims 3 world prior to the Seasons patch though, that's just odd)

The Sims 3 used the world builder program (I believe it was either 3.1 or 3.4, ) to make the worlds (according to Sim Guru Smitty who made the Sims 3 store worlds) - where as Sims 4 worlds are all hand made - like an electronic picture almost. There are presets in a complete package like world builder that do a variety of things - like how easy we could repaint the terrain or apply a lake - a stream or what ever. Everything one needed to create any kind of map we wanted was in world builder (it's a Maya plug-in software and they used a simpler version of the tool to create CAW for us so we could create worlds too with out owning the very expensive Maya software and the world builder plug in software. It is also why CAW remained a beta because it was not EA's program/tool technically.

But Sim 4 worlds are hand crafted using a variety of software tools and very artistic people. It does not offer an easy change and from what I've heard over on reddit from other devs at other studios they claim not a one of them would dare attempt to do what Maxis is doing because it is so precise and hard to do - never mind toss changes into the fold. They called the Maxis devs extremely dedicated, brave, and talented. It was compared to building a world where every curb was different than the next one and every angle was an individual and not reusable pieces. Believe me it sounded very complex and I can understand how hard it may be to change something as simple sounding as the water and its use in just one world never mind if folks wanted it in others too. (I assumed they were talking about it because none of them could believe a team was actually doing the game as complex as the sims is in that style. This was right after Sims 4 came out that I saw that.)

I do like the seasonal mods that Simmers have made, but yeah it is sad you can only use one at a time. I think having each season come in different packs does not guarantee they will flow or rotate together. It will be like how multitasking works in the Sims 4, no smooth flow with it but choppy transition from one interaction to another with idleness. I'm just imagining the horrors of bugs that will come with multiple pack releases. Imagine how many patches that will take to fix too. More packs doesn't not guarantee stronger features. I think the SPs taking majority of pack release time so far and focus has proven that. Like how much more downsized do Simmers want their favorite themes to get? Seasons is a huge theme and shouldn't be downsized in any way. It will just give Maxis an excuse to do away with expansion packs all together for the future which I'm wondering if that has been the plan all along with how the Sims 4 has been handling EPs so far. Like "see Simmers don't like EPs anymore as shown with the Sims 4, so let's charge them more by extending the microtransaction system even more with the Sims 5 by getting rid of all the large packs." I don't want that.

I'm unlikely to buy a full Seasons EP, but I'd look into one, perhaps more, pack that adds a new location with an all-year season Sims 1 style. It depends on the actual execution of the idea, but on principle I'm not opposed to the idea.

I'm baffled that this is even a poll. That there is even a remote possibility that anyone would even think of doing this.

I think I would kill someone... Figuratively speaking.

No way. That's too much of a huge step backwards for me. It's bad enough that we only have the same worlds to choose from, same backgrounds, can't change the background, can't make our own world, etc. If weather is limited to certain worlds, nope. I'd be done.

Honestly I don't see what the deal would be if it snowed in Oasis Springs. In real life, it does snow in the high desert areas, like New Mexico or Utah. So why would it be wrong in Oasis Springs, what am I missing?

I would be all for them releasing another vacation pack, this time to a ski resort, and having that tie in with the seasons for all the other worlds.

"Sk8rblaze;c-16214670" wrote:

"Writin_Reg;c-16214027" wrote:

"aricarai;c-16213467" wrote:

"Writin_Reg;c-16212917" wrote:
Sims 1 vacations were all in one pack as well as I recall. You just did not have any weather in the regular game.

You do realise you're talking about a game that was released almost 18 years ago? That would definitely be a time warp to go back to something that came out that long ago.

It has nothing to do with time - as plenty of other games back then had weather effects in them - it had to do with game design and that is an issue in this game as well now there are issues with adding anything to the game that affects finished worlds. Sims 1 did have the added issue of being 2 D too. But I played games like Baldur's Gate - all of them - Diablo - and many others back in the late 1990's- 2002 all had weather - fierce snow and rainstorms in fact -

I think The Sims 1 came down to technical limitation. If not, then why did The Sims 2 and The Sims 3 both change this, allowing for different seasons/weather in ALL locations by the time of their release?

In a game whose goal is to simulate life and allow for us to rule, EA would be doing the EXACT opposite for both cases in restricting certain worlds to certain weather/season conditions.

Each one was different. Sims 2 used Sim City 4 to make their worlds and Sim City 4 already had the mechanics for not only weather - but disasters as well. You can use Sim City 4 to make templates to add to Sims 2 even - so you get all the mechanics in there. Sims 1 had a Unity 2 D game engine and just was not capable of world wide weather which is why they did vacation worlds for fall, summer and winter. Lightening and wind affects were added to the Makin Magic Haunted world only.

Sims 2 was actually meant to have weather in the base game - but they had issue in the game they didn't have in Sims City 4 - was the snow and rain was going inside all the building. Sim City 4 we did not go inside the buildings but in Sims 2 all our play practically was inside - so that presented another issue it took them a few years to figure out and fix and so we got Seasons when they solved that issue.

Sims 3 used Maya's plug in - World Builder 3.1 or 3.4 for worlds that had weather basics, - but again to get the effect even more accurate and out of the inside of buildings and vehicles - it too took a lot of tuning and work.

Now you have Sims 4 that doesn't use a specific world building tool on a Maxis made game engine using what they call smart technology that is all about multi-tasking and emotions - sims movements. They are hand crafting the worlds with a variety of tools not a world software program - that basically means no weather systems in a world/ map program or anything else - no road system, nothing much akin to anything they have used before. As I said each game is very different and technology wise with nothing similar other than it is a life simulator - but anything they put in this game they do from scratch and pure talent, with nothing to build off of. They have to make it all from scratch pretty much not having the additions of already built in software.

That said - it does not mean they are limited as long as they have the talent - but there sounds to me as if it is far from easy for sure -

None of us can actually say what they can or can't do as we really have no way to even know about that game engine or its capability as it is one of a kind. Nor can any us determine anything in this game by any of the previous sims games - as everything about it is different and unique - and it doesn't use any basic software program that we can know the things that software does or doesn't do. Many of us are familiar with Sims City 4, and some of us are familiar with Maya and the World Builders plug in (I only know it because my son had to learn to use Maya when he was in College studying programming) - but there is enough info out there even if you knew nothing on those product that you could easily learn their capabilities - but we are talking from scratch and various different tools - which even if you know the tools - you have no idea in many cases what one can do with them free hand - or on a game engine none of us know a thing about outside of the fact it is unlike any other game engine.

Really basing anything in Sims 4 off any of the previous games or years - does not mean a thing in this game without them at least sharing something about it all. So really not one of us can actually say to do this or that can be done in this game because 10 or 18 years ago it was done in those games. We might want that to be the case - but none of us can actually know. We can only judge by what performance we have seen so far - IN THIS GAME and the tidbits they share.

ETA - One important fact - they have never once said they were making a Seasons/ weather pack as far as I know. We just assume they will - so that may be another possibility I don't think any of us relish to be honest.

"Writin_Reg;c-16214469" wrote:

"JoAnne65;c-16214319" wrote:

"Cinebar;c-16214166" wrote:

"JoAnne65;c-16212183" wrote:
Is this poll purely hypothetical or based on founded suspicions?
*waiting for the answer before getting baffled*

Now, you know I have no inside info or have anything to do with EA. :D

It's based on what has been said in post and tweets by gurus concerning this engine, when they discussed as Reg mentioned they would not be able to do things that break saves, which if IIRC was about allowing us to decorate common spaces or that was an answer I got a few years ago when I mentioned they patched the game to move a trash can in an open space but then I asked something else and they said they couldn't or wouldn't do things that might break saves.

This is TS4, we also never thought they would leave out toddlers at the release or not allow us to build apartments in any world did we? But they did, so it's based on specuation, some knowledge of what came before, what has been and might be, and how players feel about this touchy subject and EP.

Just gaging how others feel as I voted first and I would not buy individual packs with one type of weather only in particular places and not other places such as existing worlds or all new worlds. I would feel that is explotation of the desire to have sunny beaches, snowy mountains and rainy, wet forests.

But if we take them at their word Daniel did say they wouldn't do that....but I never expected I couldn't ever build an apartment in OS, or WC.
And I do remember they said months ago maybe a few years now, if Sims were ever going to swim in the ocean like in WB they would have to build a whole new terrain for that world. Now, do you think they would? I sort of doubt the cost would be worth it. And that possibly could break people's saves to patch in or add something that would change a FX terrain into a workable one, so that is why I asked if people would buy a pack that couldn't have weather in the existing worlds.

Yes, what Reg said in fact was what I was wondering when I aksed that question ;), if there were signs given it would be that way. I didn't know that. The Feb 21 tweet Neia's posted just now is hopeful though.

(no, I doubt if they'd build a whole new terrain for WB if that's what it would take to make the ocean swimmable there; I don't understand why they didn't have to do that in every single Sims 3 world prior to the Seasons patch though, that's just odd)

The Sims 3 used the world builder program (I believe it was either 3.1 or 3.4, ) to make the worlds (according to Sim Guru Smitty who made the Sims 3 store worlds) - where as Sims 4 worlds are all hand made - like an electronic picture almost. There are presets in a complete package like world builder that do a variety of things - like how easy we could repaint the terrain or apply a lake - a stream or what ever. Everything one needed to create any kind of map we wanted was in world builder (it's a Maya plug-in software and they used a simpler version of the tool to create CAW for us so we could create worlds too with out owning the very expensive Maya software and the world builder plug in software. It is also why CAW remained a beta because it was not EA's program/tool technically.

But Sim 4 worlds are hand crafted using a variety of software tools and very artistic people. It does not offer an easy change and from what I've heard over on reddit from other devs at other studios they claim not a one of them would dare attempt to do what Maxis is doing because it is so precise and hard to do - never mind toss changes into the fold. They called the Maxis devs extremely dedicated, brave, and talented. It was compared to building a world where every curb was different than the next one and every angle was an individual and not reusable pieces. Believe me it sounded very complex and I can understand how hard it may be to change something as simple sounding as the water and its use in just one world never mind if folks wanted it in others too. (I assumed they were talking about it because none of them could believe a team was actually doing the game as complex as the sims is in that style. This was right after Sims 4 came out that I saw that.)

Thanks for the explanation! I have no doubt they are extremely dedicated, brave and talented (I think they always have been). I just wish they would have saved some of that talent and dedication to make it all a bit more customizable (for the players and for themselves ;)). It’s as if they kind of forgot that’s part of the fun for simmers. Like, my apartment system (with roommates) is pretty crippled and basic in my game at the moment, but I’m in love with it every second I play because it’s all my own set up, my own sims, my own apartment, and it does work to some extent.