Why is the snow so flat? :(

Wow, I feel like this thread is getting too toxic among players and should be closed...

"Cheekybits;c-16493468" wrote:

"simgirl1010;c-16493301" wrote:
https://twitter.com/SimGuruKate/status/1000148815444234240?s=19

https://twitter.com/SimGuruKate/status/1000144689595465728?s=19

Thank you.

This makes me feel a little better!

The Sims 4 has no resident worlds.

So, if you want dynamic snow cover then you have to calculate per load.

So, you have to take into account that if you are in Bargain Bend - ie where the BFF household is and you want to go and visit the Goth household, then you will have to re-calculate the snow per load.

With TS3, the entire world is resident and therefore you can easily modify based on LOD - as an option, or an example.

TS4 is loading scenes - you cannot real-time access them - you have an instance that you have to re-calculate each time you go somewhere because you have to load each instance - ie treat them as scenes.

If you are in Bargain Bend and the snow is staring to melt, then when you visit The Goths (or anywhere else), you have to re-calculate that at load-time - you cannot real-time balance this

A snag with Seasons and TS4 is when you cannot access an entire world - ie you only have pieces of it.

So, loading times may well be the Achilles heel on this - it would probably be a concern.

Adding snow depth to roofs etc is child's play, but you have to re-calculate it per load or at least be prepared to do that.

TS4 is designed to be played whereby you keep loading to go somewhere - go to the park, go to a bar, etc. So, it kind of stacks that you would have to do any scene modifications at load time, prepare the world, then go and display it

You have to take into account that YOU, THE SIMMER, may decide to switch lots at a point when snow is either collecting or melting - but there is no real-time access to your destination as it is not loaded.

Guys, it doesn't matter if the expansion has not yet been released! The sooner we begin to complain, the sooner we will have an answer. Complaints about the ball pit started even before that stuff pack to be released, and what was the result of that? A fix in record time that came in the next update that improved its appearance.

On the issue of snow being flat, it will be flat anyway because there is no unevenness of terrain within lots. The point is that there is no depth in the snow. The snow can be flat and have depth at the same time, but unfortunately this is not the case.

I'm very sad that the snow doen't have depth. It's a big disappointment to me. Winter is by far the season that most people get more excited about in an expansion about weather, and unfortunately, winter is being the season most impaired.

For me, it will not be a handful of interactions that will fix this flaw with snow. It's a ridiculous setback when compared to The Sims 2 and The Sims 4.

But I am VERY HAPPY, VERY HAPPY to see that most people are not happy about what is happening, and only a very small minority sees no problem at all.

https://i.imgur.com/2wGcjAG.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/LDLhTFX.png

https://media.giphy.com/media/jbwe1cim0mvikQktlE/giphy.gif

https://media.giphy.com/media/4NgwxKyJzBqqTIrxhz/giphy.gif

f the decision behind not adding depth to the snow is due to performance issues, then make a separate graphic option that allows the player to decide for deep snow or not. Solved.


1. Good for those who have a bad computer and do not support snow in depth.

2. It is good for those who do not want deep snow because it is more important to see the feet of the Sims.

3. And it's good for players who like to have more immersion and like deep snow.


It is very easy to make an expansion pack when you ignore certain graphics challenges. I'm so disappointed my God.

And it does not make sense to me that they did not show deep snow in the trailer if there is, in fact, deep snow in the game. It makes no sense.

"celipoesias;c-16493601" wrote:
Guys, it doesn't matter if the expansion has not yet been released! The sooner we begin to complain, the sooner we will have an answer. Complaints about the ball pit started even before that stuff pack to be released, and what was the result of that? A fix in record time that came in the next update that improved its appearance.

On the issue of snow being flat, it will be flat anyway because there is no unevenness of terrain within lots. The point is that there is no depth in the snow. The snow can be flat and have depth at the same time, but unfortunately this is not the case.

I'm very sad that the snow doen't have depth. It's a big disappointment to me. Winter is by far the season that most people get more excited about in an expansion about weather, and unfortunately, winter is being the season most impaired.

For me, it will not be a handful of interactions that will fix this flaw with snow. It's a ridiculous setback when compared to The Sims 2 and The Sims 4.

But I am VERY HAPPY, VERY HAPPY to see that most people are not happy about what is happening, and only a very small minority sees no problem at all.

https://i.imgur.com/2wGcjAG.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/LDLhTFX.png

https://media.giphy.com/media/jbwe1cim0mvikQktlE/giphy.gif

https://media.giphy.com/media/4NgwxKyJzBqqTIrxhz/giphy.gif

f the decision behind not adding depth to the snow is due to performance issues, then make a separate graphic option that allows the player to decide for deep snow or not. Solved.


1. Good for those who have a bad computer and do not support snow in depth.

2. It is good for those who do not want deep snow because it is more important to see the feet of the Sims.

3. And it's good for players who like to have more immersion and like deep snow.


It is very easy to make an expansion pack when you ignore certain graphics challenges. I'm so disappointed my God.

And it does not make sense to me that they did not show deep snow in the trailer if there is, in fact, deep snow in the game. It makes no sense.

And do you know how much time that would take to implement???? Game development is not simple as adding a simple graphic button and done, it works, you have a lot more to work on, coding, programming, testing every single DLC (this probably isn’t true but I’m talking generally here) to make sure none of them break the game and make it unplayable.

Also can you seriously stop overreacting, that “I’m so disappointed my god” literally to me sounds like you’re just attention seeking... No offence, but I hate it when people complain and they literally just sound like their life depends on this one minor feature that doesn’t affect the game in any way apart from immersing the player.

I can understand people want this feature, but the way people are complaining is as let’s say if you were to put snow depth into a pack with nothing else that’s the best thing Maxis has ever done and that the player’s life depends on snow depth.... It’s so crazy lol

I’ll be honest, even I want snow depth as generally it’s been in earlier games but does my life depend on it? No it doesn’t. It’s just a feature would potentially take a while to actually patch in if it’s not in the game, but that’s fine, and besides, the development team HAVE said they’ve forwarded many complains about snow depth to the actual game programming team and such.

"Blayer98;c-16493623" wrote:

"celipoesias;c-16493601" wrote:
Guys, it doesn't matter if the expansion has not yet been released! The sooner we begin to complain, the sooner we will have an answer. Complaints about the ball pit started even before that stuff pack to be released, and what was the result of that? A fix in record time that came in the next update that improved its appearance.

On the issue of snow being flat, it will be flat anyway because there is no unevenness of terrain within lots. The point is that there is no depth in the snow. The snow can be flat and have depth at the same time, but unfortunately this is not the case.

I'm very sad that the snow doen't have depth. It's a big disappointment to me. Winter is by far the season that most people get more excited about in an expansion about weather, and unfortunately, winter is being the season most impaired.

For me, it will not be a handful of interactions that will fix this flaw with snow. It's a ridiculous setback when compared to The Sims 2 and The Sims 4.

But I am VERY HAPPY, VERY HAPPY to see that most people are not happy about what is happening, and only a very small minority sees no problem at all.

https://i.imgur.com/2wGcjAG.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/LDLhTFX.png

https://media.giphy.com/media/jbwe1cim0mvikQktlE/giphy.gif

https://media.giphy.com/media/4NgwxKyJzBqqTIrxhz/giphy.gif

f the decision behind not adding depth to the snow is due to performance issues, then make a separate graphic option that allows the player to decide for deep snow or not. Solved.


1. Good for those who have a bad computer and do not support snow in depth.

2. It is good for those who do not want deep snow because it is more important to see the feet of the Sims.

3. And it's good for players who like to have more immersion and like deep snow.


It is very easy to make an expansion pack when you ignore certain graphics challenges. I'm so disappointed my God.

And it does not make sense to me that they did not show deep snow in the trailer if there is, in fact, deep snow in the game. It makes no sense.

And do you know how much time that would take to implement???? Game development is not simple as adding a simple graphic button and done, it works, you have a lot more to work on, coding, programming, testing every single DLC (this probably isn’t true but I’m talking generally here) to make sure none of them break the game and make it unplayable.

Also can you seriously stop overreacting, that “I’m so disappointed my god” literally to me sounds like you’re just attention seeking... No offence, but I hate it when people complain and they literally just sound like their life depends on this one minor feature that doesn’t affect the game in any way apart from immersing the player.

I can understand people want this feature, but the way people are complaining is as let’s say if you were to put snow depth into a pack with nothing else that’s the best thing Maxis has ever done and that the player’s life depends on snow depth.... It’s so crazy lol

We could make a list with all the name calling going on here... Guys, why are you trying to derail this thread? Before starting to call everyone whiners, negative nancies and attention seekers, maybe you should just take a big breath a look at yourself in a mirror.

I don't think anyone ever thought their life depended on any feature on the game, or even on the game itself.
As for the life of TS4 however, that is another story. Making the decision to make snow paint instead of impressive weather effects (as someone would expect from an expensive EP specifically called seasons) is what is going to change people's perception of the game very quickly, going from a quality AAA PC game to a children's app in only a couple years. Honeslty, that saddens me. I know this is not good for TS4's reputation.

The thing is though with all the complaining, people are spamming the SimGurus about the snow depth feature among other MINOR features, that’s not okay at all. And what I mean by “their life depends on snow depth” is that I tend to think of that as an alternate for “I’m not going to buy this pack as there’s no snow depth” kind of thing. Which I CAN understand if snow depth was actually a major feature with gameplay enhancements, but they’re complaining about a minor feature. Sure it’s their money they can choose to not spend money on the pack and that’s their choice... If it was the My First Pet Pack they are complaining about then I’d understand completely but this I don’t...

I do apologise for name calling as that’s not appropriate, but still, you can complain without sounding like you’re overreacting in my opinion anyway.

"Blayer98;c-16493655" wrote:
The thing is though with all the complaining, people are spamming the SimGurus about the snow depth feature among other MINOR features, that’s not okay at all. And what I mean by “their life depends on snow depth” is that I tend to think of that as an alternate for “I’m not going to buy this pack as there’s no snow depth” kind of thing. Which I CAN understand if snow depth was actually a major feature with gameplay enhancements, but they’re complaining about a minor feature. Sure it’s their money they can choose to not spend money on the pack and that’s their choice... If it was the My First Pet Pack they are complaining about then I’d understand completely but this I don’t...

I do apologise for name calling as that’s not appropriate, but still, you can complain without sounding like you’re overreacting in my opinion anyway.

Well I think you misinterpreted. I will still buy the pack as I am interested in its other aspects and I am pretty sure the majority of people in this thread plan to do the same. Voicing our disappointment over a specific feature or decision has nothing to do with buying the pack or not, and is still important imo if we want the game to get better.

"Blayer98;c-16493655" wrote:
The thing is though with all the complaining, people are spamming the SimGurus about the snow depth feature among other MINOR features, that’s not okay at all. And what I mean by “their life depends on snow depth” is that I tend to think of that as an alternate for “I’m not going to buy this pack as there’s no snow depth” kind of thing. Which I CAN understand if snow depth was actually a major feature with gameplay enhancements, but they’re complaining about a minor feature. Sure it’s their money they can choose to not spend money on the pack and that’s their choice... If it was the My First Pet Pack they are complaining about then I’d understand completely but this I don’t...

I do apologise for name calling as that’s not appropriate, but still, you can complain without sounding like you’re overreacting in my opinion anyway.

When they take away "minor" features and seemingly get away with it, soon, like they already have done, they will start to take away more minor and major features. Sims 2 and Sims 3 had snow, this is a modern version of those games and yet this is what it looked like when Sims 1 had snow. They are cutting corners because they know people will just overlook it.

"loutredor;c-16493663" wrote:

"Blayer98;c-16493655" wrote:
The thing is though with all the complaining, people are spamming the SimGurus about the snow depth feature among other MINOR features, that’s not okay at all. And what I mean by “their life depends on snow depth” is that I tend to think of that as an alternate for “I’m not going to buy this pack as there’s no snow depth” kind of thing. Which I CAN understand if snow depth was actually a major feature with gameplay enhancements, but they’re complaining about a minor feature. Sure it’s their money they can choose to not spend money on the pack and that’s their choice... If it was the My First Pet Pack they are complaining about then I’d understand completely but this I don’t...

I do apologise for name calling as that’s not appropriate, but still, you can complain without sounding like you’re overreacting in my opinion anyway.

Well I think you misinterpreted. I will still buy the pack as I am interested in its other aspects and I am pretty sure the majority of people in this thread plan to do the same. Voicing our disappointment over a specific feature or decision has nothing to do with buying the pack or not, and is still important imo if we want the game to get better.

Yeah I understand where you’re coming from now, I’m also buying the pack anyway lol.