@SimGuruModSquad: cfe?

"pbox;12856636" wrote:
Thanks for following up, @SimGuruHolms! =)

I understand your reasoning regarding priorities – it just seemed odd that on one hand you seem to be catering to so many other “advanced” build mode features (like spandrels and corbels and roof edges and all those other nitpicky details that I’m afraid not even the majority of builders – let alone “casual” players – will ever really notice), but on the other hand a powerful tool like the cfe cheat is completely absent. I guess those were .. simpler to implement or something?

Anyway, not sure how this ties in to your decision-making, but you doubtlessly seem to be aware that happy creators –> loads of free content –> happy players –> PROFIT!?!?? That goes for builders, too =D. I have no idea how this compares to “the majority” of creators, but I reckon the majority of my uploads (most of which are lots) would not have been possible without cfe, and my running total of downloads is currently a bit more than 2.5 million .. let's say there are 100 people on this planet who are each 50% as insane as I am? That would mean 125 million downloaders are now very very unhappy because the lots they’re used to play with have been “removed”. (I realise how that's probably way more than there are actual players, but I am marketing-ing here!)

I can't help but think it would be a wise decision to not only “talk about” supporting this feature again =D


(And if it ever makes your brain hurt, I hear they have some good tutorials at some of those modding sites .. =P)


BTW, speaking of the build mode (and also other catalogue) UI: I’m starting to really miss that feature where one could “pop up” the catalogue to make it larger for browsing. This is already an issue for me with doors/windows (takes forever to find stuff when only two rows are visible), and with increasing amounts of CC this will become worse.

Also, if the cfe thing proves to be difficult, what are those “new ways to accomplish similar outcomes” you were talking about? I case you can give some .. purely theoretical examples, I mean?

ETA; another build mode thing while I'm at it: would it be terribly difficult to make that shift-bracket cheat (enlarging/ensmallenating objects) work in a .. seamless way? Not sure what the word for that is -- so that when you pull it with, say, alt-RMB it becomes smaller and larger but not in discrete steps? Like how changing the rotation works when holding alt and rotating (vs pressing , / .). That would be super useful for landscaping in particular.


ETA2, and yet another one: there seem to be quite serious bugs/issues resulting in “Wall does not exist” and “Could not generate Op” errors when roof walls meet normal walls, e.g. with the type of roofing shown here (this also resulted in being unable to save to library, according to that user). Where is the right place to report these? Is the modding forum the right place for Build mode stuff at all? I’d post screenshots and example lots if I knew where ..

Hmmm, let me try to answer some of your questions, but keep in mind I'm not actually a designer who has directly worked on any build mode features. I concentrate on the game as a whole, with some more emphasis on live mode for me personally.

As far as features like spandrels and corbels, I believe one reason those were added was as part of an effort to provide new stuff that you had never been able to do before. I wasn't there at the time of the decisions so I'm only hypothesizing, but I do know that CFE and spandrels etc. were never considered at the same time directly against each other. There was likely a meeting at some point that was like, "what are some cool new features we can add to build mode that haven't been done before?" Spandrels etc. likely came out of that, while I happen to know CFE wasn't considered until much later because it was never considered an actual "feature" in the usual terms being a cheat in all. I know for you guys it's something huge, but in general cheats are treated differently because they aren't part of the normal flow of play, which is why they are cheats :)

I don't know exactly how easy those were to implement versus how hard CFE would be, but I do know things like spandrels and corbels count as content...a lot of the time to make those is simply the modeling involved to create them, while CFE would be a feature completely implemented by engineers. As you might guess, those resources aren't interchangeable so that's another thing to keep in mind :)

Since we can't talk about future releases, all I can say is we recognize your guys desire for the feature and are talking about it :)

I'll ask about the expandable UI for browsing stuff.


As far as "new ways to accomplish similar outcomes", there isn't much I can say there. To try to answer, and address the question above about it being integrated into build mode instead of a cheat, the main difference between cheats and non cheats is if it's not a cheat it cannot create situations that we feel are broken, and in general has a higher requirement of usability. With a cheat if it sometimes breaks stuff, no big deal, it was a cheat and the level of usability doesn't need to be as high because it's not technically "supported" and we aren't expecting just anyone to be able to use it safely...we are fine with people needing tutorials from you guys and all sorts of edge cases where the use of the cheat might break stuff. Anyway, my main point is since this is a "feature" that would need to be completely reconsidered in the new system, it's something we might try to make as a non cheat if we can find a way to make it foolproof enough, which is one way it might (or might not) be different. If it wasn't a cheat, perhaps instead of having to do things like placing a foundation, then deleting it, then putting a wall under it, there might just be a button you could push to accomplish the same thing....I have no idea since it hasn't been designed. But I'm sure we'd at least take a shot at trying to make it easier and faster to do if possible. No promises though, often greater power = less usability so if we couldn't get the power you guys want and solve all the broken edge cases or usability issues, a cheat might be the thing we'd have to stick with.


I can also ask about the enlarging thing being smooth, but depending on how it works, that may or may not be possible.

As for bugs, the best place to report bugs is Crinrict's threads (here: http://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-4-Bug-Reports/bd-p/The-Sims-4-Bugs) assuming the bug is in the base game and not related to a mod.

As far as terrain goes (question above), I can't speak to that either, other than to say we know you guys want that feature as well.