Why is the snow so flat? :(

"CoteDAzur;c-16490802" wrote:
Seems to be this way after reading a whole lot of these comments tonight..
Liked/Played more TS2 - Thinks the snow is fine.
Liked/Played more TS3 - Thinks the snow is flat.
Sims 4? Designed a whole lot more like TS2. Sims 2 has gradual snow build up, hopefully they'll do the same.

Sims 2 had snow accumulation so I have no idea what you are implying. I played both, this snow looks worse than all

I honestly don't care if the snow looks amazing or not, I'm just so happy there is snow. And fall. And leaves. Mostly fall and thunder, really. And 4 seasons in one pack. My expectations for TS4 have gotten to a point where my main concern was if we'd get all seasons in one pack or in 2-4 separate ones. Given that we get 4 seasons and a whole slew of new activities (ice and roller skating, kiddie pool, floralist and botanist jobs, snow / mud / water balloon fights, bee keeping, holidays, seasonal festivals or something like that, a make-it-yourself calendar for festivities, a weather machine to control the weather and seasons, different looking snowmen, snow angels, maybe picnic - looked like it anyway - and probably more I've forgotten) it's a definite pre-order deal for me. It's actually more than I feared it would be and more than my minimal requirements for TS4. So if the snow isn't perfect, whatever. Would be nice, but I'm just excited.

The flat-looking snow is my only disappointement with the pack so far. When watching the trailer, winter wasn't that breathtaking and I realized it's because the snow doesn't have depth, so the landscape isn't completely changing with snow, just the color.

Oasis Spring, Willow Creek aren't really the place where I would expect heavy snow, like Windenburg or Granite Falls, but there's a screenshot of Winter Windenburg and it looks flat too. I wonder if that's a design choice (things get lost in the snow, etc) or if there's a technical challenge behind.

Crossing fingers for heavy deep snow in some of the worlds (Windenburg, Granite Falls, or even some future world), but I doubt it.

I was hoping the snow might get deeper in Windenburg and Granite Falls, but doesn't look like it. I think flat snow kinda fits the other worlds. I suppose if we get a vacation world with deeper snow, then it will be worth visiting for the experience.

"icmnfrsh;c-16490990" wrote:
Someone posted this on luth's thread, and the snow on the roof and ground does look a bit flat:
https://twitter.com/SimGuruGeorge/status/999805490799394822

There are clearly different thicknesses of snow on that roof. Look above the dormers. The roof texture is visible in those areas, but covered elsewhere.

"EmmaVane;c-16491229" wrote:

"icmnfrsh;c-16490990" wrote:
Someone posted this on luth's thread, and the snow on the roof and ground does look a bit flat:
https://twitter.com/SimGuruGeorge/status/999805490799394822

There are clearly different thicknesses of snow on that roof. Look above the dormers. The roof texture is visible in those areas, but covered elsewhere.

Seems more like transparency to me

"AspenSims;c-16491230" wrote:

"EmmaVane;c-16491229" wrote:

"icmnfrsh;c-16490990" wrote:
Someone posted this on luth's thread, and the snow on the roof and ground does look a bit flat:
https://twitter.com/SimGuruGeorge/status/999805490799394822

There are clearly different thicknesses of snow on that roof. Look above the dormers. The roof texture is visible in those areas, but covered elsewhere.

Seems more like transparency to me

With the way roof tools work in this game (custom curvature etc) they would probably have to spend way too long on making 3D roof snow not graphically glitchy.

Using opacity to suggest the thickness variance is probably easier on dev times, and people's computers when rendering.

Either way, it depends on your definition of flat. Flat mesh, maybe. Flat texture, doesn't look like it.

i`m totally fine with it.

"EmmaVane;c-16491240" wrote:

"AspenSims;c-16491230" wrote:

"EmmaVane;c-16491229" wrote:

"icmnfrsh;c-16490990" wrote:
Someone posted this on luth's thread, and the snow on the roof and ground does look a bit flat:
https://twitter.com/SimGuruGeorge/status/999805490799394822

There are clearly different thicknesses of snow on that roof. Look above the dormers. The roof texture is visible in those areas, but covered elsewhere.

Seems more like transparency to me

With the way roof tools work in this game (custom curvature etc) they would probably have to spend way too long on making 3D roof snow not graphically glitchy.

Using opacity to suggest the thickness variance is probably easier on dev times, and people's computers when rendering.

Either way, it depends on your definition of flat. Flat mesh, maybe. Flat texture, doesn't look like it.

Okay but we're not talking about suggested thickness. We're talking about three dimensional looking snowpack like in TS2 and TS3. That is why it looks flat. It looks like terrain paint.

"AspenSims;c-16491246" wrote:

"EmmaVane;c-16491240" wrote:

"AspenSims;c-16491230" wrote:

"EmmaVane;c-16491229" wrote:

"icmnfrsh;c-16490990" wrote:
Someone posted this on luth's thread, and the snow on the roof and ground does look a bit flat:
https://twitter.com/SimGuruGeorge/status/999805490799394822

There are clearly different thicknesses of snow on that roof. Look above the dormers. The roof texture is visible in those areas, but covered elsewhere.

Seems more like transparency to me

With the way roof tools work in this game (custom curvature etc) they would probably have to spend way too long on making 3D roof snow not graphically glitchy.

Using opacity to suggest the thickness variance is probably easier on dev times, and people's computers when rendering.

Either way, it depends on your definition of flat. Flat mesh, maybe. Flat texture, doesn't look like it.

Okay but we're not talking about suggested thickness. We're talking about three dimensional looking snowpack like in TS2 and TS3. That is why it looks flat. It looks like terrain paint.

And I was talking about the roof in particular.

As for the ground, I'm waiting to see if snow accumulates in different thickness on the ground over time like it did in TS2. It's only the announce trailer, there will be several more.

E.G. Some of the plants didn't look like they were frosty in the trailer (around ice rink) so it may be that they are still working on snow cover and seasonal texture changes etc.