Console Controller Feedback

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@GreenPlumbob26 wrote:
@GreenPlumbob26sorry - typo used to use Right Stick (RS)not Right Trigger(RT)

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Yes I agree with this.however if you hit the little square window button right next to the three lines then you can scroll the build buy menu lilke you use two.

Please change backs the controls.PLEASE

I've been a dedicated console sims player since The Sims 1 on GameCube. Since that game I always felt like the controller experience was progressively getting better until it peaked on The Sims 2 on Xbox. That game excelled in the "console controller experience" category. This is what I think The Sims 4 and all future Sims games need to change to return to that Sims 2 console controller experience.

PROBLEM: PC mouse cursor. The mouse cursor is clunky, slow and makes world navigation and item selection way too awkward and difficult. When lots of objects are near each other, trying to select the right thing while slowly moving just on the X and Y axis on the screen is very difficult on controller.

SOLUTION: Return to previous console system of the green beam of light that tracks along the geometry of the world in X, Y and Z space during Live Mode. In games like The Sims 2, you could click in a controller stick to switch to this selection mode during Live Mode which allowed you to accurately select items that are stacked or near each other. This selection beam moved along the physical floor of the world which allowed for easy and accurate item selection on controllers. Then return to D pad window navigation in build mode, and more intuitive button hot keys in Live Mode. I shouldn't have to pull up a mouse cursor to select and open up my needs bars. Make these single button hot keys like in previous console games. 

PROBLEM 2: Moving your Sim around dynamically and realistically. Again, the pc mouse cursor is not what we want on consoles. It's very difficult, slow and awkward the navigate a house or building with a cursor because your constantly dealing with accuracy issue. 

SOLUTION 2: Real time, left stick character movement. The Sims Urbz, The Sims 2, and I believe The Sims 3 on console all gave players the option to move using the left stick instead of the press A to "Go Here" mechanics. This of course doesn't need to be the one and only way to play but having the option to do this would go a long way for console players. After you click in the right stick on Xbox and it snaps to your Sim, then you should be able to walk around in real time with that Sim with the left stick and then use the right stick to move the camera. Once you are standing in front of an object then you press A to interact with the object.

At the end of the day, just start by reducing the reliance on the mouse cursor on console and then see what changes would become necessary with that removed. Console players do not prefer mouse and keyboard game play which is why we aren't playing on PC. Take away that system and return to player and menu navigation with the left stick and this game will progress immensely on the consoles. Honestly, The Sims 2 had it perfect for controller users so if I could give any advice it would be to literally play that on Xbox for a few hours and see how intuitively the UI and core gameplay was with a controller. It was simple, but very effective in giving a AAA console Sims experience. The video link showcases all these features I believe would dramatically enhance the console controller experience.

https://youtu.be/1xWYvWvxbLc

So I was concerned at the patch notes and even more concerned at players experiences. Now I'm in it and I'm furious. But I'll try my best to be clear and constructive.

Nobody asked for this. To remove the function of the arrows and use the cursor instead, while making it more difficult to select and scroll through lists, I mean was this intentional? Plus some functions are only working half the time.

When I first go into build mode, instead of build options it defaults to pre-made rooms. It made sense to show walls instead as that's the section a builder is more likely to want to use ...walls.

It was easier to hold down the down arrow or joystick than it is to find the scroll bar and click and hold that to scroll instead. It could have been made optional rather than remove the button functionality. This is similar to what was done to the personal inventory a while ago and it causes the same problems and is also totally unnecessary. Sometimes the left hand side joystick works to scroll but half the time it doesn't.

The copy function on the Y button is also only working sporadically, so is the rotate function.

Clicking the colour choice bar at the side of each item now, it's so small I've had to enlarge the cursor to hit it.

As I click on the colour choices, it often shuts down and goes off to a different item on the list. It's going to be easier to place the item first and then change the colour later. I also have to remember to click the colour choice bar first or it gets stuck on the item and the colours won't pop up again until you click on a different item then go back again. Which is exactly like the problem I'd already reported on here with CAS items getting stuck and highlighted green until you exit.

If I'm in build and touch a furniture item it leaves build and takes me to the furniture menu. I've just been using terrain manipulation and accidentally touched a tree...it took me out of terrain manipulation and off tree shopping instead, so I've lost my place.

I keep pressing Back to close down the menu, it's muscle memory after all these years but obviously it doesn't close now. I'm playing on a pretty big screen but it's a third of it taken up with the menu. Every time I click an item the menu flickers, goes grey and then items return to view and move left then right. It's bad enough that moving across the list already often causes it to jump to the items above and below but now they have a mad case of the wiggles too.

I go to Save and you've inexplicably removed the function of the A button to replace it with RT for Yes. Again, why?

I can't see the logic to most of these changes and I'm sorry but this thread has been here long enough to consult properly. We've been right here giving you feedback and there was every opportunity to engage with us. This is something we've bought. This thread had no discussion from the development side, just like the crashing threads. It's not good enough. This game with about 54 add- ons and a next gen console purchased specifically for it is my most expensive entertainment purchase. I'm sure this wasn't the intention, but it's like someone reaching into my living room from thousands of miles away and breaking something that's important to me. I've only just started playing again due to crashing and only then after deleting my entire game.

If you want to improve the console experience don't make changes at us, make them with us.

@EA_Solaire Trying to get used to the controller modifications for the console (Xbox One in my case) after yesterday's update. After a few hours of play and the initial anger and despair have passed, I have a few thoughts to make:
( 1 ) in BB mode, using the controller as a point-and-click device disables scrolling, but just select the BB mode home menu (build, objects by room, objects by function, home inventory) and not choose objects individually with point-and-click, that all previous functionality like scrolling, choosing colors, using RT to access filters and using LT to access search will be available;
( 2 ) it would help a lot in choosing suitable colors and shades for environments if floors and walls had the possibility of rotating between colors with the use of the X button before the final choice (as is the case with objects);
( 3 ) this possibility of rotation between the colors of the clothes is FUNDAMENTAL and NON-EXISTENT in CAS;
( 4 ) I understand that the use of RT to confirm irreversible actions (such as deleting items, for example) was chosen because it is counterintuitive; since there is a convention in using the A button to select and confirm activities in games for XBox and even in other situations in TS4, but it would be desirable to be able to toggle in the Game Options whether or not we want the confirmation popup. The popups for selling isolated objects in the inventory are annoying and make immersion in the game very challenging.
( 5 ) it would be desirable that accessing commands/cheat mode did not involve the right button (RB), as this is related to exiting paused game mode.

After trying to play for a few more hours, it seems to me that the set of updates for the console is even more misguided, unwanted, unnecessary, and intrusive. Certainly, the trainee who proposed the "improvements" played very little (if that much) on a console. A controller is not a mouse, it lacks speed and precision. Perhaps for this reason, point-and-click games are generally not successful on consoles. If the Maxis team is really interested in providing changes "that align our console experience more closely with that of the PC", then let the console users use mods!

Scrolling through the menu before was a much easier process and made build/buy mode easier for me, because part of my screen is covered by figures I have no where else to place. Even by adjusting the UI and where it's placed, if my Funko is blocking the bar at the end of the menu, it's difficult to see, and like I said, there's nowhere else to put both Michael and his house.

Before, if I wanted custom cabinets, I'd hit turn off auto cabinets, then go to the one I want and scroll over to the side of the one I wanted and how it looks (half, tall, and end cabinets), but now it looks like I can't exactly do that.

If you want to change to way the build/buy menus works, go ahead, but make sure there's enough playtesting and that there's a way to go back to the way it was before so players who are used to the way it was and couldn't get use to the way it is now

Hi all,

Thanks so much for continuing to provide your thoughts on these recent changes. The team is actively reviewing any concerns and feedback around this update as well as any in-game bugs you may be seeing. 

Please continue to report your feedback here, as well as any issues you're seeing in-game. 

Thank you! 

1. How do the controls feel?
2. Where do you struggle most when trying to play with a controller?
3. What experiences or features are difficult to use?
4. Which buttons do you wish behaved differently and why?

1 - Much smoother if that can make sense - cursor feels the same but improved? Or maybe it's a placebo effect where you're trying to look for different aspects to what you already know.

2- No struggling with the controller - I'm an old lady whose been playing games religiously since 2001 when the original xbox came out(We won't even talk about DOS as some wont even know what that is LOL...).I play the sims on the console for comfortablity.

3-Build mode is where I have the issues - I really liked the old way because then I could scroll and select with the D-pad, that because said I didn't go out of my way to venture into any of the updates to see what the new bindings were and how they worked. Old dog, new tricks essentially. I do not like the RT to be the "okay" button. Feels wrong on a bunch of different levels.

4- I think because I have been playing the sims on the sole for a long while, I am used to the old button lay out. I do understand that effectiveness and convenience is vital to user experience, but I feel like there could be a default setting(Like the old layout which you could call Legacy if you really wanted) and then other selected key bindings, and if i can be so bold, as to let the simmer customize their own button layout for their individual needs.

Overall not a bad update but could have a few extra bells and whistles for customization.