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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 14th Sep 2018 at 6:25 PM
Default Why is the build mode so restrictive?
In comparison with the previous games, I'd say there are much more restrictions. For example, not being able to build a balcony without a foundation. Or friezes that get removed when you make a new room on the floor. Do you want to tile a fenced area on the ground? Not in the sims 4. And I know there are more. Why did the developers decide to ignore that?
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dodgy builder
#2 Old 14th Sep 2018 at 9:25 PM
You have to learn to build in a new way. It's all room based, werther they have walls or not. You can put up floors to add on the house on the outside. That way you can build balconies. You can see them in the catalogue as yellow square boxes, but you will have to put in walls or fences on the edges if you would like to.
Scholar
#4 Old 15th Sep 2018 at 1:10 PM
The building mode in Sims 4 is very different. Look up a guide on how it's changed or watch someone build a house in YouTube. The Sims Supply does some good ones; even small or beginner ones.
Mad Poster
#5 Old 15th Sep 2018 at 1:57 PM Last edited by SneakyWingPhoenix : 15th Sep 2018 at 3:19 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by Casimir
Why did the developers decide to ignore that?

A) budget cuts
b) engine limitations
c) Isn't the priority
d) lazy developers

Your pick. I think the Sims studio know very well, but choose or force not to do for some reasons that I speculate could be any of the above listed.

Quote: Originally posted by Unsearchably
To answer your question, it's because the Sims community has no standards.

They have a standard for demanding, but no for the principle to restrain by keeping their money without opening their wallets for TS4 content. We would all get our flexible build mode foundation, terraforming and alike stuff that are missing in this particular game, If we simply stop shoving money into EA's stomach. Lack of money speaks louder than just our demand.

And simmers are demanding. Like there is a thread titled "SIMS 4 BUILD MODE IS ABANDONED: LACK OF REALLY IMPORTANT AND ESSENTIAL FEATURES." in the feedback section of the official forum, and If you go a few pages forward I bet ya you will find a few more. It's a recurring demand. Though that isn't enough to convince EA to bring great quality into the qualities they provide and blah blah. Boycott TS4 DLC and the base game, then they will have no choice but comply with the demands of the fans, and thus the game would become in much more better state.

P.S. Sorry for my bad english.
Mad Poster
#6 Old 15th Sep 2018 at 3:00 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Unsearchably
It's not just build mode, it's the whole game is more restrictive.

To answer your question, it's because the Sims community has no standards.

Hardly. If anything I'd say the community has a high standard that EA simply cannot meet.

Because the earth is standing still, and the truth becomes a lie
A choice profound is bittersweet, no one hears Cassandra Goth cry

Mad Poster
#7 Old 15th Sep 2018 at 6:06 PM
The room based build system, while having great build additions, also comes with additional problems.

A great example is terrain and foundations. In previous iterations we could lower the elevation beneath a foundation and attach a garage door to the foundation, creating a basement with a walk-up garage, or have a patio extend out of the basement if the lot is sloped, with an elevated deck extended from the upper floor above the patio.

You simply cannot have that in TS4 (without faking it). Room based builds and their ease is greatly appreciated, but I would happily give all of that up for more interesting lots.



White you may not be able to create that exact lot in TS2 or TS3, you can come pretty close with some patience. The TS3 build engine is more than capable of proving playing with enough parts to create this lot (with additional build objects). That’s a pipe dream in TS4.

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Scholar
#8 Old 15th Sep 2018 at 11:30 PM
Quote: Originally posted by HarVee
Hardly. If anything I'd say the community has a high standard that EA simply cannot meet.


You can't really blame the community, considering we got Sims 2, which was a huge stepup from Sims 1, giving us toddlers, better graphics, EPs with some great content, the addition of weather with an EP... and then we got Sims 3, which improved graphics again, got rid of the loading screens everywhere by giving us an open world (which had its problems with keeping places filled, yes), and a ton more customization that was simpler for everyone to get their hands onto. (I enjoy Sims 2, but CC was restrictive in that, if you didn't get it in that color, you either had to see if you could haphazardly recolor it in Body Shop or try to learn the whole meshing and making stuff yourself... which is still a thing with Sims 3, but you can at least choose to have that t-shirt be almost any color or pattern you want) ...and then we get Sims 4.
Lab Assistant
#10 Old 19th Sep 2018 at 4:21 AM
I will admit there are more limitations on what you can do with building, like for example you can no longer save appartments you decorated, you can't edit the terrain with hills, ponds, or ravines, and you can't use fences that border the lot anymore. But to be fair even though all of these have enraged me in the past, in my opinion it is better not to compare the Sims 4 to Sims 3 or any earlier games. Yes it is kind of a disappointment that it is nothing like Sims 3, but it does have a lot of cool things if you can learn to look at it as it's own game more than a sequel to an existing game. I think it was made pretty clear by Volvenom that you need to learn to build in a new way.

I use to hate Sims 4 and felt limited as hell with it, but I was able to learn to like it when I stopped making comparisons to earlier games and played it more as what it is then what it should be. Now it is on my top 5 list of games I am addicted to XD
Scholar
#11 Old 19th Sep 2018 at 10:02 AM Last edited by Squidconqueror : 19th Sep 2018 at 10:22 AM.
Well it was savaged from the leftover parts of Sims Olympic which was supposed to be an online game but they scrapped the idea and made it into Sims 4 and as a result we got stuff like that. Anyways back to my Sims 2 and 3 and Skyrim. I just wanted to write a quick comment here before I bolt. I do agree that the build mode is so restrictive that's why I went back to 2 and 3 to escape from all that frustration and that's another thing you could always play Sims 2 or 3 if you get tired of all the restrictions of Sims 4. Let's just hope they learn their lesson with Sims 5 but I really doubt it even though I wish it would come true.
One horse disagreer of the Apocalypse
#12 Old 19th Sep 2018 at 12:06 PM
This has been a big disappointment to me

"You can do refraction by raymarching through the depth buffer" (c. Reddeyfish 2017)
dodgy builder
#13 Old 19th Sep 2018 at 2:55 PM
Quote: Originally posted by HarVee
Hardly. If anything I'd say the community has a high standard that EA simply cannot meet.


I agree on that, but I don't blame the community. I think EA has too low ambitions. A followup shouldn't be a reduction the of the previous one.

When it comes to buildmode, it would be ok if they could only have some ambitions there as well. What about cfe, terrain and just some challenges for us. They have such a fear of unstable solutions. Like cfe for ts3 is totally unstable, but people find their way around. Have some trust in people, and don't think you should solve all their problems. Vi are intelligent adults most of us actually, but EA doesn't seem to realize that.
One Minute Ninja'd
#14 Old 19th Sep 2018 at 4:38 PM
I'm coming from a new viewpoint. After several years away from any version of the Sims, firing up TS 4 offers me a fresh perspective. So while totally subjective, I've looked around the TS4 world and felt "really, this is it?". I almost question why I ever enjoyed the Sims in the first place, but then remember what playing was like in the earlier iterations.

Maybe I'd I mod the hell out of this game it might become a light diversion. But right now I doubt I can get into a really deep immersive experience no matter how much I try to customize it. Which is sad as I do remember hours long play without a break in the earlier games. But maybe that was the whole point in the gane's development. Give players a simple dumbed down version rather than try to capture their imagination as it could be that based on market research that was an easier sell. They should have left this as an online version. Would have made far more sense.

If there are no plans on a TS5 for another 3 years, I'm not at all sure how much the current customer base will still even be interested in another round of this. Kind of a shame for such a successful franchise.
Field Researcher
#15 Old 19th Sep 2018 at 8:09 PM
I have always been a terrible builder. The build mode in Sims 4 is the best version of it so far and I actually enjoy building. To each their own!
Scholar
#16 Old 19th Sep 2018 at 9:46 PM
Quote: Originally posted by eskie227
I'm coming from a new viewpoint. After several years away from any version of the Sims, firing up TS 4 offers me a fresh perspective. So while totally subjective, I've looked around the TS4 world and felt "really, this is it?". I almost question why I ever enjoyed the Sims in the first place, but then remember what playing was like in the earlier iterations.

Maybe I'd I mod the hell out of this game it might become a light diversion. But right now I doubt I can get into a really deep immersive experience no matter how much I try to customize it. Which is sad as I do remember hours long play without a break in the earlier games. But maybe that was the whole point in the gane's development. Give players a simple dumbed down version rather than try to capture their imagination as it could be that based on market research that was an easier sell. They should have left this as an online version. Would have made far more sense.

If there are no plans on a TS5 for another 3 years, I'm not at all sure how much the current customer base will still even be interested in another round of this. Kind of a shame for such a successful franchise.

If the Sims 4 worlds are too small for you then the Sims 3 worlds might suit your needs but beware of the long loading screen and lag.
One Minute Ninja'd
#17 Old 19th Sep 2018 at 10:20 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Squidconqueror
If the Sims 4 worlds are too small for you then the Sims 3 worlds might suit your needs but beware of the long loading screen and lag.


Yeah, when I get my desktop out of storage I might well fire if back up as I never deleted it. It was way to modded to even consider without enough hardware to correct for those issues. Even then the loading screens did feel a bit long but once it was loaded all was good.

I'm trying to get a sense of the game play potential of TS4. Building wise it is lightweight although I can see the appeal of the simple controls and ease of use. I guess a standard and advanced build mode could have been one solution, but if ground contouring had been included, even a standard mode would be a bit more complicated than what was accomplished through the world and flat lot design.
Lab Assistant
#18 Old 20th Sep 2018 at 2:23 AM
To be fair though, I fail to see the purpose of you posting this considering it seems like you are simply doing it to disagree with anyone who has a different opinion on Sims 4 than you do and to do the whole "Agree" "Love" thing on comments by people with the same opinions as you. Perhaps if Sims 4 is not your cup of tea and you dislike how it is different in certain ways from earlier games, you should just go back to Sims 3 rather than post a complaint to the Mod the Sims community here. As I said I myself use to feel the same way as you at one point, but since I actually wanted to like the game I chose to give it another chance and find a different perspective on it that helped me be able to enjoy it some more.

Yes there are certain things that you could do in Sims 3 and earlier games that you can't do in here without faking it that is, but to be honest it is not that bad of a game. I understand some people's frustration since I myself have felt that same frustration in the past, still would say though instead of posting things like this to just simply stick to Sims 3 or whatever game you liked that was before Sims 4 if you can only see the negatives and not the positives in it. To be fair though it is a pretty good game on it's own when you don't compare it to other games.
Lab Assistant
#19 Old 20th Sep 2018 at 3:30 AM
There is the disagree again ^ I should keep a disagree counter for how many people give me the disagree reaction when it is mostly just opinions XD Welp have a good night/day whichever it is for you guys.
Mad Poster
#20 Old 20th Sep 2018 at 4:00 AM Last edited by matrix54 : 20th Sep 2018 at 4:11 AM.
It’s not that TS4 is a big game (different thread) but that that build mode has some issues, which it does. A lot of build mode is automated, but with drawbacks.

Wallpaper automatically applies edges for siding, but we cannot individual wallpapers like we can for counters, which makes lots look ugly.

Columns snap to fences and tile edges, but we can’t have a column in the middle of a tile.

Walls have 3 different heights, but we can’t have uneven walls.

All walls must be on a foundation if one exists on a lot.

Put a hole in the ground on an upper levels required additional rooms.

Sure, some builders my find this easier to handle to make basic lots, but it’s very much a chore at times to create anything a little more complex.

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Mad Poster
#21 Old 20th Sep 2018 at 4:00 AM
Quote: Originally posted by ShadowMT13
Perhaps if Sims 4 is not your cup of tea and you dislike how it is different in certain ways from earlier games, you should just go back to Sims 3 rather than post a complaint to the Mod the Sims community here.


You seem to be a newbie here. This is MTS and probably at least half the posts here are bashing the game or EA. This is just the way it is here. And I do not think it will change.
Lab Assistant
#22 Old 20th Sep 2018 at 4:09 AM
I will leave you guys to your opinions. On a side note here are two things I built, both nightclubs and I aimed for an elemental theme one being fire and the other water. I am pretty happy with it despite build mode's "limited" options.




Mad Poster
#23 Old 20th Sep 2018 at 4:11 AM
They look very nice!
Lab Assistant
#24 Old 20th Sep 2018 at 4:16 AM
Quote: Originally posted by daisylee
They look very nice!
Thanks I guess, I just wish people would stop their hate and just accept Sims 4 existed. I use to hate it, but I just stopped caring one day because I wanted a new game to play and thus got back into sims trying sims 4, since I have already bought it years ago and was pissed about it. But learned to like it, still does not make me agree with how lazy EA seems to be getting.
Mad Poster
#25 Old 20th Sep 2018 at 4:21 AM
Nice lots certainly can definitely be made with TS4, which no one doubts at all. The issues here is subdued freedom. TS4’s build mode wasn’t developed in such a way that shows me that EA wants it be the best it could possibly be. They’ve settled for good enough and take shortcuts.

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