Gameplay / Tuning
There is a reward store to spend your satisfaction points on consumables and traits – go spend them. There is now a tutorial tip that will remind you.
Fixed an issue with the way that relationship decay was functioning that was causing recently acquired friends to quickly un-friend. A buffer has been added to keep friends as friends, and provide the player the ability to react to negative outcomes as they happen.
Titan and Titanic will no longer be blocked by the Gallery profanity filter.
Sims were not informing their partners if they were pregnant after taking a pregnancy test. Thus leaving the partner in the dark until the "Whoa, where did they come from?" moment. Now, if the pregnancy test-takers partner is on the current lot, they will share the big news with them. If they aren't... well... what the Sim doesn't know...
NPCs will now wave goodbye when they leave the lot, and nearby Sims will return the wave (if they aren't busy eating, showering, sleeping, smashing doll houses…)
We fixed an issue where newly made households from Create A Sim, that had their future homes edited before moving in, would lose their relationships to one another upon moving into the lot.
Adults that were asked to read to children would often times become so engrossed in the story that they would forget to actually read to the child. We’ve fixed this issue by informing the adults that the purpose of reading to their children is to connect with them, creating a lasting bond of love and trust, and not so much about finding out just how far Spot can run.
It is no longer possible to use the Play with Genetics option in Create A Sim to create a child of a child or teen. The Play with Genetics Sim selector was incorrectly, in some cases, allowing a child or teen to be selected as the parent.
In addition we fixed a few other issues with the Play with Genetics selector that were creating confusion when setting relationships.
It should no longer be possible to create a child and parent of the same age.
An order of operations issue was fixed that prevented the player from setting sibling relationships that were valid to set.
And we fixed an updating issue that prevented the drop down from properly displaying relationship options.
The Grim Reaper is no longer available to age up from the Sim selector. Grim is in fact ageless, as you know, and the option was a test of The Reaper. Congratulations you passed, one additional year has been added to your life.
Children will find the computer less accommodating to…um, if two consenting adults should happen to be in a rocket… I mean, if there is a rocket in space, and you are at the computer, you can listen to the launch, and the broadcast from space. But if the adults are in the rocket… well, if the child tried to use the computer… and the consenting adults were to, that is to say, if they became friendly then… the child can’t listen at the computer anymore.
The second milestone of the Rambunctious Scamp aspiration has been changed to practice typing for 4 hours.
The Gym Rat trait was confusing, and has been updated. Gym Rats build fun and don't lose additional (does not affect the normal rate of hygiene decay) hygiene while exercising.
Now 50% less tutorial, because... well, you know.
We fixed an issue that would cause Sims to lose work performance unfairly if… here we go… Sim A and Sim B traveled to a non-home lot. Sim A (the non-working Sim) traveled to another lot just before Sim B (the working Sim) went to work, and then Sim A returned to the lot they just left, which would then cause Sim B to return from work early and thus lose performance.
If you could follow that bug, I should show you some of the bugs we fixed with generational game play… create an 8 Sim household, marry 2 of them, have step children, and some adoptions, then kill somebody. Re-arrange the family through manage worlds and splitting, and re-enter live mode. Notice that the Earth has stopped rotating…
We fixed an issue that was causing Gallery lots to break that was the result of saving a new lot on top of a pre-existing lot in the player’s library that had been shared to the Gallery.
Angry pregnant Sims will no longer choose to Take an Angry Poop when taking a pregnancy test (yep, you read that).
Updated the text when clicking on a Sim in the relationship panel to Travel With… instead of Invite To… The latter option was confusing and did not properly inform the player that they would be taken to the Neighborhood Map in order to travel.
Sims will no longer use the Observatory until they are near death. Rather, they will now exit after a reasonable time.
Fixed an issue that was preventing the Technically Adept goal “Maintain Focus for 2 Straight Hours of Video Gaming” of The Computer Whiz branch of the Knowledge aspiration from completing properly.
Sims can now have dates on their currently active lots.
Bartenders are back on the job! Autonomous and player requested beverages are once again being served.
Sims will no longer believe they can mourn their loved ones while they are doing other actions, such as cooking, which was causing the Sim to cancel the non-mourning action.
So fire… recently we informed you that fireplaces could catch nearby objects on fire and well they did. Including ceiling lights, objects on the mantelpiece… and apparently they did it a lot. We’ve lowered the chance of fire spreading to nearby objects and made the way in which fire spreads from the fireplace to be cone shaped, which should prevent mantel placed objects from catching fire…. which you couldn’t put out anyway. So yeah… oops.
As a result of bad hygiene, Sims were getting dirty, and then dirty and stinky. Now Sims will get stinky, and then dirty and stinky.
Sims will no longer get a whim to know themselves… that is to say to introduce themselves to themselves.
UI / Interface Updates
Using the game options to change resolutions will now properly save.
Btw, did you know you can also drag the window to resize it? (including very small sizes)
Hovering over the skills in the skill panel will now display example objects that you can use to help build those skills.
The “It’s Not Brain Surgery” achievement now has an icon when it slams your screen… SCREEN SLAM!
It’s 2015, did you know? We totally knew that... now. (patch notes now have the correct year)
The Sims Outdoor Retreat
Adding a log to the campfire while seated, will no longer cause the log to appear too soon, spin around, and then… feels like I’m watching some sort of talent reality show just before the really good talent arrives and they’re warming you up with the “you’re just not cut out for this” crowd.
The Bramble Patch is no longer available to explore if you are uncomfortable.
The horseshoe pit is no longer an exclusive hot spot for the focused and undistracted. Sims are now allowed to queue Join Game on the horseshoe pit no matter what they were doing previously.