Some very early concept art for Granite Falls
SimGuruSarah posted these lovely concept arts from Granite Falls, the world that comes with Outdoor Retreat!
Sims News
14 Jan 2015 - 23:11
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13 Jan 2015 - 22:53
Release Notes for 01/13/2015, Version 1.3.32.1010
Happy New Year Simmers!
It’s January, a new year has begun. There’s still a sun and moon in the sky, the rain falls, steam rises, and Plumbobs rotate – there must be a patch!
We had a few important fixes ready to roll to address some big community concerns, primarily the inability to load into a lot from a pre-existing save game, as well as a performance issue with large My Library trays that could cause the game to fail to load, and we wanted to get these fixes out to you! In addition to few others that we have at the ready.
Thank you again for all your feedback and help, we are humbled by your commitment and diligence.
Crash / Performance
- Fixed an issue that resulted in our players being unable to load their household after installing the 12/16 patch, and instead being bounced back to the neighborhood map. The community was very helpful in identifying this issue (providing feedback and save files), thank you!
- Fixed an issue where the game would become unresponsive on load if the player had a large number of households, rooms, and lots in their My Library sort.
Tuning
- Sim fertility levels had reached an all-time high recently, and twins were popping out all over! Our specialists have examined the issue, and administered a correction to the abundant babies. Sims should no longer find they are having twins (or triplets) at an alarming rate.
- Fixed an issue that prevented career progress from properly tracking the Sims skill progression towards career goals.
- Working out on workout equipment will no longer count towards the play chess daily goal for the Astronaut career.
- We fixed an issue that was a result of this: let’s say you had a Sim, we’ll call him Joe, and he lived in a household, say the Smiths, and you uploaded Joe, also known as Joe Smith, to the Gallery, and then you decided to add Joe to the Jones’ household by downloading him from the Gallery, thus now creating Joe Jones, and then you edited Joe Jones in Create a Sim, this would also modify Joe Smith.
- The "In Need of a Break" buff is no longer in need of a break, and now correctly displays its information in the hover tip.
- Zest Johnny will henceforth be known as… Johnny Zest!
- Fixed an issue that could result in “bad things” when attempting to merge a Sim from the gallery into a household that already has a copy of that Sim in it.
- Fixed an issue that could result in “bad things” when attempting to merge a household from the gallery into a household that already has a copy of that household in it.
- We however failed to fix the repetitive nature of some of our release notes.
- The Venue Wall Speaker: Spooky has made a return to the catalog after spending some time on the ‘other side’ to re-spookify itself.
- Lots placed from the gallery that have used the move objects cheat will no longer delete their moo’d objects when the lot is placed.
- The National Park venue now has tuning associated with it… so Sims who show up will know they can leave, rather than lingering around indefinitely, wandering aimlessly with no apparent purpose, direction, or desire (they could have at least played music…).
- Fixed an issue that was preventing the user from uploading multiple rooms to the gallery if the rooms were uploaded consecutively.
UI / Text
- Fixed an interface focus issue where the eyedropper tooltip was preventing the eyedropper from properly functioning.
- Fixed an issue that occurred when opening a modal window on top of an open inventory stack, which would cause the stack to fail to correctly display.
- Modal window is a piece of UI that requires input before the player can return to normal gameplay.
- UI is an abbreviation for User Interface.
- User is another name for the player, the individual for whom the software was intended.
- Software, as opposed to hardware, is the set of instructions that direct a computer to perform specific operations.
- Text will no longer overlap itself in the phone menu if the text string is too long.
- You can once again add a description to your Rooms and Lots that you upload to the gallery, rather than using the comment field… which was ingenious!
- You will no longer be told twice that you can take Family Leave if there is more than one eligible Sim.
Thank you for all your feedback, keep it coming!
-SimGuruGnome
1 Dec 2014 - 23:56
We have just released a new version of the Graphics Rules Maker. It now comes with better Windows Vista/7/8 support, a SimCity 4 plugin and a Dutch translation.
4 Nov 2014 - 18:09
Woooo check out the new trailer about pools. All the houses. I got so much inspiration now! 
*off to build*
4 Nov 2014 - 17:30
Yesterday I was lucky enough to attend a private Twitch stream from the Sims Studio. Graham Nardone and Stephanie Tran showed a bunch of fansites and YouTubers the pools in The Sims 4! I had no idea what to expect, but I did manage to write down some questions before the demo, and they were all answered. I made a Q&A overview for you guys to learn all about the new pools feature! Enjoy!
- Can we customize walls and floors in pools?
Yes, we can! So I've been making walls and floors for pools hehe, keep an eye on SNW for them. - Can we place pools on -let's say- the second floor?
Yes! You can place pools on every floor you want. - Can we have diagonal pools?
Yes, as well as rectangular, octagonal, triangle et cetera. No round pools at this time. - Do pools have height options too?
Yes, very much the same like normal walls do. Normal, medium, high. - Can you build a pool on a foundation?
Yes, you can have a pool on the ground and on the foundation. Both at the same time if you want too. - Can you have a rooftop pool?
You certainly can! - What kind of pool objects are there?
Pool ladder, several pool lights, several pool decorations (mozaic) like turtles. - Are there diving boards?
Not at this time. - But can Sims dive?
No, they can jump in the pool, but can't dive. - Can we decorate pools with plants and other objects?
Not really, though you can use the lily pads! - But we can use lights, right?
Yes, there are several pool lights. Some of them are to put on the pool walls. And by using the alt key you can position them any way you want. Also, there is a pool light you can use on the pool floor as well. You can also use the pool lights on normal walls and floors. - Can we change the colours of lights in the pool too?
Yes, and it looks very cool! - Can we move pools like we can move rooms?
Yes. If you want to move the pool to another location on the lot, you can pick it up like any other room and move it to a new location. - Can we use pool ladders on diagonal walls?
Yes! - How about swimwear?
Each age/gender category has their own swimwear. And I saw about 6 options for adult males (each have their own colour options too of course). For female's there are swimsuits and bikinis. You can mix and match the bikinis too. - Any accessories?
Yes, flip flops and sun screen face paint are among the accessories. - Are there any new styled looks in the swimwear category?
Yes! I saw Unbe-leaf-able, Beach Buddy, and Surf's Up. But there is more. These are just a few I wrote down.
- Can we use windows in pools?
Yes! And I also wanted to mention we no longer have that annoying seam on the walls we used to have in The Sims 3 when placing a pool above ground floor! - Are there any pre-built lots with pools on the gallery?
It's being worked on. - Can you build walls around the pools?
Yes, walls/fences can be built around the pool. Be careful to leave some space for your Sim to get out of the pool (or not, depending on how you want to play!) - What kind of activities are there?
You can choose to swim here or swim laps. The difference is that swim here will just get the Sim from point A to point B, whereas swim laps will actually get them to swim laps and exercise. Also Sims will spend more time swimming laps. - Are there any age restricted activities?
Kids can learn to swim with their parent there. Other than that the interactions are shared throughout all the age groups. - Any emotional gameplay involved with the pools?
When a Sim is angry, they can go swim angry laps. When they're playful, they can swim around playfully. So there are some custom emotional interactions. - Are there any new skills involved? Hidden skills?
No, but Sims can train their fitness level, and kids can train their motor skill while swimming. So you can still skill up - Is there a new gnome?
There is! And it's a pool gnome. It's also the first female gnome! - Can Sims float on their back?
Nope. - Can Sims socialize in the pool?
Actually yes. They can splash each other. They can also sit on the pool ledge and talk to each other. Either with both Sims on the ledge, both of them in the water, or one in the water and the other on the ledge. All possible. They can also splash each other in this position (with one sitting on the ledge and the other in the pool). It's pretty cool to see! - Any other interactions?
Well, Sims can pee in the pool now. If their bladder is empty enough they can choose to pee in the pool. You can see it. And other Sims will react to it as well. It's funny, and icky! Haha. - Do Sims need the pool ladder?
No, Sims can jump in the pool without a ladder, and they don't need a ladder to get out of the pool either. - So Sims can't drown anymore then?
Well they can. If you build a fence around the pool and prevent them from going out. It should also be possible without a fence if you try really hard. You'd have to prevent the Sim from going out the pool. Having them hungry and energy depleted will help. - Is there a new death type?
Most certainly! Sims can now drown. I've witnissed this new death type and it's heartbreaking especially with kids involved. I'm not one to kill off my Sims, but I'm sure people will love it. Once a Sim has drowned, they stay floating in the water for some time until the Grim Reaper is done. Oh and kids can drown too! - Sooooo, new ghosts?
Yep. They will be dripping water, and they'll feel really uncomfortable around water. - Is there any multitasking in the pool?
No, but then again what would you want to do while swimming? - When can we expect the update for pools?
Sometime this week (watch the broadcast today for more information on that!) - Will the update be free?
Yes, your game will update automatically
Thanks EA for giving me an early demo on pools. I enjoyed it very much and I can't wait to start building houses with pools again!
4 Nov 2014 - 17:17
The Sims team has posted a thread on the official forums, asking us to pick our favourite design from the above picture. I honestly cannot choose, I just want them all. Yes I know that sounds greedy, but they're so adorable! If I have to pick favourites, it's 3, 6, 2, 10, in that order. The Sims team will make the winning sweater for us in December!
Hello Simmers! It’s November and the holidays are approaching rapidly! To get into the giving spirit, we’d like to make a tacky (cheesy) holiday sweater for you all! Here are some concepts we have drawn up. Tell us which one you’d most like to inflict on your Sims this holiday season. Santa will deliver it in December!
4 Nov 2014 - 17:01
Be sure to tune in to today's broadcast. It will be at noon PST, 8pm in the UK and 9pm CET. Don't miss it!