THE HORROR: The REAL TS3 Scoop As It Unfolds

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

Yes, there were naked pregnant meshes.  I can't remember who made them, but the belly was significantly bigger and more pregnant-like.  They were at MTS2 and Insim (way back in times of old before Pescado had to rescue it).  That gives me hope that someone will be able to fix this shitty mess eventually.

[Lurker]

Tasha, here's a preggy random townie at the pool:

Well, EA could have done the naked pregnant. This is too awful and lazy.

[TashaYarrr]

Yes, there were naked pregnant meshes.  I can't remember who made them, but the belly was significantly bigger and more pregnant-like.

I'm not sure if you mean to say they didn't exist without third-party intervention, but I just tested on unmodded (except for censor blur) TS2 and naked pregnant sims look pregnant.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

Oops, yes, I was talking about third-party meshes in that case.  I don't understand the laziness in this game concerning the lack of EA-manufactured pregnant bellies and the materializing into cars and whatnot instead of just getting in.  I have to admit that I miss the car interactions (like woohooing) from Sims 2.  Talk about cutting corners!

[linz]

I don't know if this has happened to anyone else: I saved my game and it seemed to have crashed during the process, when I started up the game again all of the lots I created were gone but the families and houses I had saved to the "bin" were still in the the bin. !!!

[daisywenham]

Oops, yes, I was talking about third-party meshes in that case.  I don't understand the laziness in this game concerning the lack of EA-manufactured pregnant bellies and the materializing into cars and whatnot instead of just getting in.  I have to admit that I miss the car interactions (like woohooing) from Sims 2.  Talk about cutting corners!

I'm thinking the whole materializing in cars thing is because of the fact that you can now place parking spaces anywhere on the lot. 

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

Perhaps.  Still doesn't make it any lease cheap and irritating, but cheap and irritating seem to be EA's motto.

[timelycorruption]

Can you pick people up with move_objects on?

Edit: I know you can select them, but can you pick them up and say, fling them across town, or are you limited to placing people in your lot?

[Zazazu]

Limited to your lot, and going into Buy or Build mode while playing a family zooms into the family lot. I suppose that can be useful, but I prefer saved camera points. I have one set to my family in play, and one set to spy on the relatives.

[Budgie]

Has anyone else noticed that when you zoom in on a rabbit hole quickly, you can sort of see inside before it disappears? For instance, if you zoom in quickly on the  supermarket, you can see some shelves with boxes on them.

[Roflganger]

Has anyone else noticed that when you zoom in on a rabbit hole quickly, you can sort of see inside before it disappears? For instance, if you zoom in quickly on the  supermarket, you can see some shelves with boxes on them.

If you get in at the right angle, you can do it intentionally... The classrooms have very pixellated blackboards and posters, the hospital has a little lobby area, with flowers on a table.  All very backdroppy looking, but fun to play around with while you're waiting for your Sim's workday to end.

[Lurker]

Has anyone else noticed that when you zoom in on a rabbit hole quickly, you can sort of see inside before it disappears? For instance, if you zoom in quickly on the  supermarket, you can see some shelves with boxes on them.

It also works on the neighbours' houses.

[Budgie]

Has anyone else noticed that when you zoom in on a rabbit hole quickly, you can sort of see inside before it disappears? For instance, if you zoom in quickly on the  supermarket, you can see some shelves with boxes on them.

If you get in at the right angle, you can do it intentionally... The classrooms have very pixellated blackboards and posters, the hospital has a little lobby area, with flowers on a table.  All very backdroppy looking, but fun to play around with while you're waiting for your Sim's workday to end.

Wow, I just tried it at the diner and it does look kind of cool. I heard that the first expansion is supposed to be job-related, I wonder if it's going to let us see our sims at work?

[TheCheat]

Anyone figured out how to get custom MP3's in the CustomMusic folder to actually work in-game? I even moved the game's default custom music *out* of the folder and somehow it still manages to play them.

[Pyromaniac]

My Documents -> Electronic Arts -> TS3 -> Custom Music

^ The correct file path. Not the one under C:/Program Files/.../GameData. (Assuming you made the same mistake I did when I first tried to load custom music in the game ).

[lingeringviolet]

Is anyone else having issues when mousing over wishes to read them? It flickers and disappears and I have to do it several times before it will stay put long enough to read. Unfortunately, it's not only wishes that are affected but anything that you mouse over to read. Other than that, I've thankfully had no other glitches.

[jello]

Has anyone else noticed that when you zoom in on a rabbit hole quickly, you can sort of see inside before it disappears? For instance, if you zoom in quickly on the  supermarket, you can see some shelves with boxes on them.

If you get in at the right angle, you can do it intentionally... The classrooms have very pixellated blackboards and posters, the hospital has a little lobby area, with flowers on a table.  All very backdroppy looking, but fun to play around with while you're waiting for your Sim's workday to end.

"fadeobjects off" = you can see the insides all the time.

Of course, there's not much to see, but there you go.

[diskoh]

ann song just moved in with my couple while i was playing another house. despite the fact that she hadn't met either of them (and still hasn't, i still have the menu option to introduce them).

this game is mind boggling sometimes.

[TashaYarrr]

I smell a faux noob.

Couple more things from the 'this has probably already been mentioned' file:

--There *are* bald hairstyles in the game...for toddlers.
--Speaking of which, part of the New Ugliness for toddlers is the horrible selection of female hairs for them.


With testing cheats on:

--Shift-clicking on another sim gives you "trigger age transition", avoiding cake rigamarole.
--Shift-clicking on self also gives "modify traits for active sim", which I assume is exactly what it sounds like.


Annoyances:

--Sims wake up sleeping toddlers to snuggle them. Leave that squalling brat alone.
--Hungry sims prepare meals and then walk away and do something else without eating them.

Overall, the more I play the more I think someone in a position of design authority spends all his or her free time playing World of Warcraft. A bit too much skilling & gathering, as has been often commented upon, plus the 'quality level' of items (purple = epix!), the skill journals (much like the achievement system in WoW, which to be fair is being used by a number of other games already too, such as Warhammer's Tome of Knowledge and Left 4 Dead's achievement unlocks), skill books, the questiness of opportunities, etc. I've got no doubt that the metal and gems will be used in a future xpac to make jewelry. Which I can already do in World of Warcraft.

Unfortunately it seems like this RPG emphasis came at the cost of of any depth in storytelling and relationships, which continue to fall horribly flat. No memories, no organic feeling to your friendships or extended families, and the horrible interaction trees. I've given up on the 'give X a massage' wish because damned if I can figure out which tree it's in, and I have limited patience for clicking random buttons to access an interaction that should be available at all times to a freaking married couple.

ETA: I loaded up TS2 earlier to test something, and it made me realize how much I miss my MATY-fied, lot-sync-timer'd hood full of houses that all have their own stories in my head, and genetics running around that go back many generations and a couple of years for me.

[tizerist]

The first lots are up for download at sims3.com.
Only two, and the odd-shaped roof one is in basegame anyhow (possibly both), but the ball has started rolling.

Gonna have a good browse on MTS on tuesday, I can't build this whole town on my own

[daisywenham]

Overall, the more I play the more I think someone in a position of design authority spends all his or her free time playing World of Warcraft. A bit too much skilling & gathering, as has been often commented upon, plus the 'quality level' of items (purple = epix!), the skill journals (much like the achievement system in WoW, which to be fair is being used by a number of other games already too, such as Warhammer's Tome of Knowledge and Left 4 Dead's achievement unlocks), skill books, the questiness of opportunities, etc. I've got no doubt that the metal and gems will be used in a future xpac to make jewelry. Which I can already do in World of Warcraft.

I agree.  They're trying too hard to appeal to the *finger quotes* hardcore gamer.  The charm of the Sims series has always been the open-endedness and the ability to make the game be whatever you want.    It's that whole toy vs. game thing again. 

BTW, it took WoW for-freakin-EVAR to implement achievements.  Warhammer's Tome of Knowledge is great though.  I wish I could have persuaded some of my WoW guildies to jump ship with me.

[asciident]

Has anyone arr'd the newer torrent that claims to be the final release + patch that EAxis has already released? It's close enough to release date that I think it might be legit. I'm wondering if anyone has gotten both and compared.

[Salomon]

Plenty of people, from what I've read here's a list with all the changes between the Reloaded version and the Razor version:

1. It doesn't crash as much.
2. It doesn't overheat as much.

So for people that didn't have crashing or overheating issues it may look identical.

[Whylorinda]

Has anyone looked into adoption at all? Specifically, I was wondering if you could put your own sims at the front of the adoption pool by having them taken by the social worker, like in TS2. Thanks.

[Lurker]

So for people that didn't have crashing or overheating issues it may look identical.

I'm in that case, no crashing, no lag. Not a single difference in fact.

Whylorinda: one of the help lessons mentions the social worker taking away neglected childs. It also has a pic of the SW doing it.