THE HORROR: The REAL TS3 Scoop As It Unfolds

[tedw]

I've spent more time experimenting with CAS and building than I have playing any of my sims lives, so I haven't experienced some of the errors others have during gameplay, but I wanted to chime in to say I'm disappointed in the way that EA seems to have taken a step back with some building options for TS3 compared to TS2.

We've lost stages, the ability to place modular stairs atop one another (the way most real houses work) or doors on the same tile as the staircase beginning/end with moveobjects on, individual roof heights, some of the pool shapes, moving painting decor up and down walls... and for some unfathomable reason, they declined to make chimney stacks, stairs or fences recolorable via CAST.

It's also a bit cheap that so many objects seem to be slightly higher res versions of TS2 models.  I suppose it could take a long time to make new objects for them (although I have built some myself for TS2, so I understand the length it can take) but it smells a bit of taking a cheap option by using meshes built by the designers of the last game and slapping them into this.

These don't amount to bugs, but for those of us who spend as much time designing/building houses as we do watching our sims pee themselves or try to navigate around each other, I think this is a poor choice.

[cyperangel]

In other news, I realized my Sims stereo only works when playing CUSTOM music! All other stations and Sims 3 music is not working.

sigh.

Mine does the same. At the gym, the 'Electronica' station worked for a short while, and also the buy mode has also worked, but it's very intermittent. I have just updated my audio drivers so I will see if that makes a difference but somehow I doubt it will.

I am not sure whether you already noticed this, but the stereos only play music in one room. Unlike sims 2 where the music played all over, albeit lower and lower the farther you gor from the stereo, in sims 3 it only plays in one room, the one where the stereo is. Go to any other room, or outside, and you cant hear the music. At least that is how it works in my game.


ETA: Btw, this bugs the crap out of me. In sims 2 i used the stereo as a kind of background music, but with this new system, i have to have stereos in all rooms and outdoors to get the same effect. Flard!

[BlueSoup]

I am not sure whether you already noticed this, but the stereos only play music in one room. Unlike sims 2 where the music played all over, albeit lower and lower the farther you gor from the stereo, in sims 3 it only plays in one room, the one where the stereo is. Go to any other room, or outside, and you cant hear the music. At least that is how it works in my game.


ETA: Btw, this bugs the crap out of me. In sims 2 i used the stereo as a kind of background music, but with this new system, i have to have stereos in all rooms and outdoors to get the same effect. Flard!

That's because now it's an upgrade a mechanically-inclined Sim can give their stereo system, along with unbreakable (comes first) or improved speakers (comes at the same time as the multi-room speaker system, I think).  Then it wakes up the entire family no matter which room they're in and they all get pissed off and have an unhappy moodlet about being woken up in a rude way.

ETA: It shows up at around Level 8ish or so for the handiness skill.

[cyperangel]

Yeah, i tried that upgrae, and then had to spend half the nigh getting rid of it again so the rest of the family could get some sleep. I still want sims 2 stereo functions rather than this!

[phyllis_p]

 -One thing I have not figured out yet is how to set up public places for parties. The method I'm using now is putting the things I need in the Sims' inventory and taking it from there. But even that don't work because I had a dilemma at the pool where the birthday cake would not place on the picnic table

You have to "edit neighborhood" and go to the site ahead of time and set up the stuff you want to use.  I don't know if you can put the birthday cake there in advance, but I don't know why not.  My political gal had a want to through a campaign fundraiser, so she threw it at the art museum.  I went there in edit neighborhood mode and put up balloons, a bar, and a buffet table.  Didn't cost my gal anything.  When she got there it cost her $250 to "serve" the buffet table.  I couldn't determine that there are any bartenders, but people were able to make themselves drinks.  When they finished eating, they set the plates on the floor and they disappeared, so no mess.  It was highly successful.  She raised something like $35,000 in campaign contributions.

I think I may just leave the buffet and bar there in case I have other parties there in future.

[jolrei]

My first impressions of the game are:
1) I like the look of it.  Admittedly, with the graphics settings I am forced to use by my old video card to run anything at any speed, things look a bit like a very hazy day.  Must continue tweaking the graphics settings and see if I can't improve that.
2) The interface is slightly different, (if it's a new game, why should it be exactly the same?) but not annoying so far.
3) The sims themselves don't look that bad - quite good actually.
4) I don't really know how to do anything yet in game.  The Martinez family has given up on me and has decided to read their lives away.
5) I hate the Martinez family already, and I've only played them for 20 minutes.  I will kill them very dead shortly.

I have not yet had a chance to become annoyed with the scavenger hunt aspect of the game.  I plan to become remarkably annoyed with that later today.

[mistyk]

EA claiming to have lost $9million due to "pirates"

"The current number of illegal downloads of "The Sims 3" suggests lost retail sales of $9 million to date, based on the $49.99 starting price."

Full Article

[SlickCee]

 -One thing I have not figured out yet is how to set up public places for parties. The method I'm using now is putting the things I need in the Sims' inventory and taking it from there. But even that don't work because I had a dilemma at the pool where the birthday cake would not place on the picnic table

You have to "edit neighborhood" and go to the site ahead of time and set up the stuff you want to use.  I don't know if you can put the birthday cake there in advance, but I don't know why not.  My political gal had a want to through a campaign fundraiser, so she threw it at the art museum.  I went there in edit neighborhood mode and put up balloons, a bar, and a buffet table.  Didn't cost my gal anything.  When she got there it cost her $250 to "serve" the buffet table.  I couldn't determine that there are any bartenders, but people were able to make themselves drinks.  When they finished eating, they set the plates on the floor and they disappeared, so no mess.  It was highly successful.  She raised something like $35,000 in campaign contributions.

I think I may just leave the buffet and bar there in case I have other parties there in future.

OH, so that's how you do it. I just found the edit neighborhood tool so maybe that's why I couldn't figure it out. Thanks a lot .

[Jack Rudd]

EA claiming to have lost $9million due to "pirates"

"The current number of illegal downloads of "The Sims 3" suggests lost retail sales of $9 million to date, based on the $49.99 starting price."

God, it's annoying when people do that. That's not the value of the lost retail sales, it's the total sale value of the pirated copies. They have no reason to assume each of those pirated copies is one that would otherwise be a sale.

[Zanahoria]

EA claiming to have lost $9million due to "pirates"

"The current number of illegal downloads of "The Sims 3" suggests lost retail sales of $9 million to date, based on the $49.99 starting price."

Full Article

Yeah, sure, because if you download a game, that automatically means you're not buying it... Great thinking. *sigh*

[Hook]

There are a lot of things wrong with that $9 million number.  First of all, not every store will sell the game at full list price.  Check around and see what you can get it for.  Second, EA didn't lose $9 million; most of that will be lost by retailers.  EA only gets a small portion of it.  But they like to imply that EA lost that entire amount.

I wish I had $1 for everyone who says they'll buy the game even though they torrented it, but doesn't buy it.  This includes people who wait until it's remaindered to buy it from the bargain bin.  EA probably wishes the same thing.

Hook

[Acid_fairy]

In other news, I realized my Sims stereo only works when playing CUSTOM music! All other stations and Sims 3 music is not working.

sigh.

Mine does the same. At the gym, the 'Electronica' station worked for a short while, and also the buy mode has also worked, but it's very intermittent. I have just updated my audio drivers so I will see if that makes a difference but somehow I doubt it will.

I am not sure whether you already noticed this, but the stereos only play music in one room. Unlike sims 2 where the music played all over, albeit lower and lower the farther you gor from the stereo, in sims 3 it only plays in one room, the one where the stereo is. Go to any other room, or outside, and you cant hear the music. At least that is how it works in my game.


ETA: Btw, this bugs the crap out of me. In sims 2 i used the stereo as a kind of background music, but with this new system, i have to have stereos in all rooms and outdoors to get the same effect. Flard!

Yeah I have noticed that; still doesn't work GAH!

[Madame Mim]

EA claiming to have lost $9million due to "pirates"

"The current number of illegal downloads of "The Sims 3" suggests lost retail sales of $9 million to date, based on the $49.99 starting price."

Full Article

Fuck me, but - no! I was not going to buy this game no way no how. I would not pay for their spyware, etc. I definately would not pay AU$100⁺ for something that Pescado is going to have to patch severely before it's playable (and I'm not talking 'bugs' I'm talking 'features'). In fact pirating may have done them a favour. If I decide that the 3rd party patches and all are enough to give the game more interest than a short term discovery bout I may even buy the game (when it comes down to a more reasonable price).

[J. M. Pescado]

EA claiming to have lost $9million due to "pirates"

"The current number of illegal downloads of "The Sims 3" suggests lost retail sales of $9 million to date, based on the $49.99 starting price."

A meaningless figure when you consider that it is not possible to buy it anyway. The numbers are obviously inflated because everyone is download the Unauthorized Demo.

[crunk]

I've always wondered how they could calculate figures of lost sales for games that aren't released yet. Obviously no one who has downloaded the leaked game will buy it - no one likes having hard copies of things! More whinning from EA while raking in tones of cash.


Also - new bug! I switched households to play the grown up sons of one of my sims, and when I switched back to the family home expected to find twin teens, a child, and a new baby plus the parents. One of the twins has disappeared. He shows in the family tree but is no where to be found, and no one can call him. Maybe I should check the graveyard - but holy hell, if the game let a teen die I'll be shocked. Almost as shocked as the fact that the game ate him!

[daisywenham]

- The only thing that's really annoyed me so far is how long it takes to sleep/work.  In TS2 a sim went to sleep/work, 3x speed comes on and you blink and it's morning.  On the other hand I started with a single sim so when they were sleeping/working I was twiddling my thumbs.  If I was playing a larger household I'm sure that wouldn't have been as much of an issue for me.  
- Jobs (the ones I've done, anyway) seem a little more trouble than they're worth.  They don't leave much time for anything else.  
- I'm not too keen on the look of the textures but I don't doubt the community will address that in the coming months.
- I have observed that a really really really lot of the complaints that I'm seeing about "this or that is a step backwards because it was in TS2" are referring to things that were in xpacks and not the base game.  Cars, gardening, Lifetime Wants, saving leftovers, were all xpack stuff too and they're in the base TS3 game but that seems to get overlooked.  
- I think people are over-reacting to build mode a bit too.  It's needlessly "clever" but still simple enough IMO.
- I like the variety of paintings they can do.  Different sizes for one thing and also different styles apparently based on their traits once they learn to do still life.  I had an opportunity to bring $450 worth of paintings to a restaurant for money which is cool.  Sims can actually DO something with their craftables.
- Opportunities are cool though they could be a bit more clear on wtf you have to do for some of them.  
- This "enforced legacy play" kerfluffle is getting blown waaaaayyy out of proportion, IMO.  Wishes aren't wants.  Promising isn't locking. TS3 isn't TS2.  Don't promise something you don't have time to finish.  Granted I don't see much point to not saving them but that's a far cry from "amg they're forcing me to play legacy style".
- Gardening is cool but...is randomly picking up a seed off the ground the only way to get them?  If so it strikes me as a little goofy.  I'd rather be able to buy a pack of seeds at the store.  You can always keep the uncommon and rare seeds lying around for sims to find.  Otherwise I'm having a good time with it.  

I'm pretty pleased overall.  What annoyances there are aren't game breaking for me.

[jadama]

"The pirated version is a buggy, pre-final build of the game," Holly Rockwood, a company spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed statement. "It's not the full game. Half the world — an entire city — is missing from the pirated copy."

So we know that this is a pre-final, as it does not contain "half the world -- an entire city" that the official release will also not contain either, since it has to be downloaded after install.  Holly should really talk moar to employees connected with a title before speaking nonsensical to the press.

[farmersimmer]

EA claiming to have lost $9million due to "pirates"

"The current number of illegal downloads of "The Sims 3" suggests lost retail sales of $9 million to date, based on the $49.99 starting price."

A meaningless figure when you consider that it is not possible to buy it anyway. The numbers are obviously inflated because everyone is download the Unauthorized Demo.

That is so right! If as EA says this is only a buggy pre release with "cough"half the world missing, then their superior Final release will sell itself.

[siminsc]

I read somewhere that the Sims can move from the house they're in directly into another house. Is that true and how do you do it?

[dorquemada]

I certainly hope that EA bosses indeed believe they lost 9M$ and are developing bitter, bitter ulcers while mourning. Mwahahaha.

As for the game, had a couple of crashes to desktop, not sure if it's the video card (ATI Radeon X1950 Pro). Might be because of low RAM+virtual memory or low free disk space.

Anyone figured yet if it's possible to split up married townies? My golddigger can't find any single geezer!  Oh, and playing evil character is a hoot. Unlike her nicey silly sleeps-with-teddy brother, Evil Neurotic Snob is always in high spirits. What is not really surprising, when you think about it -- in Simland, there are enough daily misfortunes to feed one's shadenfreude.

[blackcat]

I read somewhere that the Sims can move from the house they're in directly into another house. Is that true and how do you do it?

Check my posts on page 30.

[cyperangel]

- Gardening is cool but...is randomly picking up a seed off the ground the only way to get them?  If so it strikes me as a little goofy.  I'd rather be able to buy a pack of seeds at the store.  You can always keep the uncommon and rare seeds lying around for sims to find.  Otherwise I'm having a good time with it.  

Actually you can buy all the common types of veggies at the food shop, and then just plant those. The seeds that you find can be common, uncommon, rare or special. The latter ones tend to not show up till you have a higher gardening skill. But you can get started with the common ones with no need to go scavenging.

[daisywenham]

- Gardening is cool but...is randomly picking up a seed off the ground the only way to get them?  If so it strikes me as a little goofy.  I'd rather be able to buy a pack of seeds at the store.  You can always keep the uncommon and rare seeds lying around for sims to find.  Otherwise I'm having a good time with it.  

Actually you can buy all the common types of veggies at the food shop, and then just plant those. The seeds that you find can be common, uncommon, rare or special. The latter ones tend to not show up till you have a higher gardening skill. But you can get started with the common ones with no need to go scavenging.

Lol durr...I should have realized that because I noticed that I had a plant option on harvested veggies in her inventory. 

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

BUG!

Music isn't working in my game. Nothing is muted, but build/buy are silent. For a while, if I went from Live to Buy or Build, the TV in live mode would remain on complete with video and sound. Now it's back to doing its regular pause but all is quiet.

The radio doesn't produce any sound either.

Do you know what brand your sound card is?  I found out that mine had certain problems with Flash videos and video games, so I had to update drivers (which is ALWAYS important) and find a certain registry fix for the problem.

"SoundMAX Integrated Digital HD Audio".

I was playing before and all sounds were working fine. I updated my graphics card and then this happened... I can't imagine the two would be related. I think it might just be a glitch.

I had the stereo suddenly producing sounds a moment ago. When I have the Sim dance to the stereo it POOF! works.

And why would buy mode suddenly have the TV my Sim was watching functioning throughout it?

As for updating the SoundMAX driver, I'd love to. But I've never been able to. Ever! It always comes up with an error when I try to update it and going to device manager and doing "Update Driver" doesn't work.

Could very well be a bug, but it's interesting that you said that yours is an HD audio sound card.  Regardless of brand, they all seem to be a little wonky.  Mine would work on and off on various things (internet, Winamp, Sims 2, etc.) until I found the registry fix.  Might be worth some investigation on Google.

Still could be a bug though.  I've noticed that music sounds a little strange, and sometimes it takes a few minutes (real time) for you to hear anything.  Unless it's this damn HD card acting up again.

[casca]

A few random thoughts and comments:

~ My Sim had a boyfriend when she asked another guy (George, her boyfriend's roommate) who was classified as her "love interest" to move in with her. He agreed, and then suddenly he asked her to breakup with her boyfriend. A popup came up and asked if she would like to end her relationship with her boyfriend, and I clicked yes, and it said something like "Sheila has ended her relationship with Bob. However, Bob is not happy with George, perhaps they can regain their friendship over time" or something like that. I thought this was interesting and kind of funny.

~ I do love the career advancement system. I like the categories for advancement and the fact that they involve more than skill building. For example my journalist Sim needed to advance in charisma, and writing obviously, but also in freelance writings from interviews and articles. It's cool.

~ I also really like how you can chose how they spend their time at work and that they can - ahem - build their skills at work.

~ My game has frozen twice during saving. Pissed me off.

~ testingcheatsenabled might just be as buggy as it used to be. I had it on, and when I clicked on buy mode, everything was completely blacked out. Not grayed out as though I couldn't buy anything - a complete black hole.

~ The clothing is exceptionally limited on the male side. I searched for the life of me and couldn't find a simple suit and tie.

~ I do love the new options in CAS but with regards to facial structure, it can't hold a candle to TS2's Bodyshop. So much for high cheekbones and strong-jawed hunks. I am really going to have to spend some time trying to mess with the sliders to get the type of Sims I like.

~ We need more skintones.

~ The eyes are creepy. They have no depth, just pools of color.

Also a question:

Does anyone know how to put already-made food in an inventory? It just won't go. The little hand does not appear when I tried to drag it to my Sims individual inventory, and there was a red x when I tried to put it in the household one. I lost a friggin challenge because of this. :/