The time, OH GOD THE TIME!

[Cheencheela]

I've always been bugged about the time in The Sims.

Yeah, sure, I understand that to progress the time needs to be quite fast to keep the pace. But unlike real life, it doesn't take 23 minutes to wash your hands. Neither does it take an hour and a half to shower. My sim has to get up at around 5:30 every morning to cook breakfast (Often something as simple as a salad), shower and pee. And in a total I barely, just barely can squeeze this in for the little (Huge) time until the Carpool comes.
Waffles are impossible to eat, so I often go for a salad or a quick meal, which surprisingly fills up the whole bar.

None the less, so I've been thinking. Now with The Sims 3 that is a bit more 'free'-ish, I'd love if you were able to slow time down a bit. Like... 2 seconds are 1 minute instead of a 1-1 ratio like it is now.

Imagine how much more realistic it would be.
Of course, some things will get messed up, like work performance. But that could somehow be halved and it's fixed. You'd be able to actually make use of some cheap beds instead of sleeping in a double-luxury mega bed.

I'm not sure what kind of modding capabilities you can do (yet). But it sure would be a huge step into more freedom and less restriction and non-awesomeness.


What would you think of The Sims 3, if the time was halved? Would it be good? Bad? Crap-tastic? Share your thoughts, lads! Don't be shy!

[McCrea]

I'm just winging it:

I agree with your impression.  However, I don't have a big problem with it after I accept that I do know a sizable minority of people who get up before 6 am to get to work at 9. [I don't believe in reality, and in fact I insist that reality have no place in either video games or the real world.]  These people could be considered fully fed, showered and peed, but then again maybe not.  They are going to have to eat again in 3 more hours, so they really couldn't have been fully fed sims style.  Most will pee in 2 hours, and many will poop.  I do believe many Americans prefer to poop on company time. So real people aren't fully peed, either.  Showering is different.  Showering clearly takes too long.  Some real people certainly are fully showered before going to work.  The norm is also to brush them teeths too, after eating (snacking).  But in game terms, if you stopped eating and peeing in the morning, you would have time to shower and brush.

What I feel the largest problem is that walking is too slow compared to the ticking time.  Fairly often we have to head outside 20 minutes early.  A 40 minute shower is only made worse when it takes 10 minutes to walk to the shower, and 10 minutes to back to whatever you were doing before.  Pez made this more realistic with his AlwaysRun in sims2, IIRC.  It's surprising that you can often run to the car in 4 minutes when walking would have taken 20.  (unless there are stairs:  run moar on the stairs, ya tard)  However:  I didn't find always running aesthetically pleasing.

I would almost happily like to try a slow-ticking (longer day) mod. Yet actually, I don't need to waste more time than I already do.   But I think only the walking time is significant.  If we want to shower faster, it's maybe easier just to turn the shower's hygiene level up to 30.  But is the need really to address "23 minutes to wash your hands"?  or is it "time until the Carpool comes."  For the later, one solution that occurred to me is that I'd be happy if my sim awoke 90 minutes before the car pool rather than 60.

My strongest "No" point is that which I opened with.  I do know people that get up 2 and a half hours early for work.  If we changed it so that so that sims could get everything done in one hour, then how would the early birds benefit?  They wouldn't (currently):  there would be no reason to get up early.  I think having the early bird aspect adds to my enjoyment.  Currently:  It is a hassle to get up early enough to get ready for work.  That is just like real life, for me.

Again I do like the idea, but I'd rather have the gigantic list of specific changes to consider rather than the general "longer day".  *Walking time is unrealistic.  *Not enough time before work.  *Not enough to do before work.  (Changing the speed of time changes an infinite number of things, and now I won't be able to stop talking until I detail the rest of infinity.)  Now it has occurred to me that I want more to do before work, and I'm forming the specifics required for a mod, but then I look at the topic and say "what the fuck am I posting in a wet-dream thread for anyway"  

Edit:  One EA selling point was that "bladders last longer -- you'll only have to use the bathroom once or twice a day."  That made me mad, because it is less realistic.  The urologist said peeing 7 times a day is normal.  I hate EA, and realism.

[Drakron]

The issue of giving time would have a similar effect to giving more days.

Play on Epic and your Sim will raise to the top of the career and max a few skills before leaving the Young Adult age.

Also only Energy, Hygiene and Fun really matter, Sims can take of the rest in work themselves and I do not think TS3 job performance works as it did before, even a tired stressed Sim will not get fired immediate, they matter more because of the moodlet system if you want to use the "work hard" option.

Oh and there are more quick meal options that do not require preparation so its possible for a Sim to wake up 1 hour before work, go take a shower and eat something before missing the ride, also there is the option in case we did missed it to go to work.

[Sagana]

And the car pool is still happy to wait a full hour for you. When the 'go to work' thing comes up, click it off and click on the car to add it to the end of the queue. Don't cancel the action out unless there's only 15 min or less to time for work and even then if you miss it, you just go to work auto because it's in your queue and your sim and the game doesn't even notice.

[Angelo]

There are certain compromises you have to do when designing a game, in regards to realism. The most popular one, is "Lives". Another one is time advancing faster. In a game like The Sims, the more time advancing reaches closer to realtime levels, the more boring the game would be. Sure you would have enough time to do all the preparations before heading off to work, but if it takes 1-2 hours to max all your needs, what about the rest of the day? Are you going to keep reading a book even though your fun is already at max? Are you gonna visit a community lot? Watching your Sim do certain activities, like reading a book or talking with another, is not as interesting as doing it yourself in the real world. Also, in the real world we have so many different day filling activities to engage in, that it would take EAxis 20 expansions to add them all in. Lastly, there's technical issues. A feature like this would require the addition of more, faster game speeds, something that only a few powerful PCs would be able to handle.

[rufio]

I gave my sim the multi-tasking trait and she still got positive job performance even when going to work in a mood rated as "foul" and slacking off the whole day.  Of course, she was also at level 10, so...

[Cheencheela]

Not sure if some people misunderstood, but the game feels so static.

You mostly just work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep. Normally you'd be able to hit the town after work if you've got the energy, but here you've literally got to sleep, because for some reason my sims require about 10 hours of sleep to get a full bar.

None the less, the only time where I actually have time with friends is on days off. And that's normally 2 days. I'd at least be able to invite them over or go out and buy my girlfriend some dinner. But there are so many things that takes... Forever to do, basically.


I just wish the clock didn't go so damn fast... Damn you Eaxis...


But, oh well. It's fine as it is. I guess it's 'good enough' as they say.
*Cries quietly*

[Drakron]

Energy recovery is still tied to the beds, cheaper beds = lesser energy recover.

What hold true in TS1 and TS2 still hold true in TS3, the first thing that should be "upgraded" are beds so they recover their energy faster.

And I guess it depends on the job working hours so you have to keep tabs on how long their energy recovery takes and plan according, there are no "hotel" rabbit holes to recover energy and no traits for less energy drain.

And on good things, the seamless neighborhood makes things a lot easier that before, not only loading times are gone but the faster motive depletion also seems to be gone ... I can actually make Sims go visit community lots without being a pain-in-the-ass.

Also Sims appear to sleep the entire night instead of wake up when their energy bar is filled, my Sims now actually look to have normal sleeping habits unlike TS2 were their sleep cycle was just bizarre.

So far I have no problem in "hit the town" in TS3, in fact considering most jobs buildings end up being in town its easier since I just cancel the carpool return home and direct then to the restaurant or theater that end up being just a few blocks away from their workplace.

[rufio]

Energy recovery is still tied to the beds, cheaper beds = lesser energy recover.

Apparently it also has to do with Athletic skill.

[Marq]

I'm strange when it comes to games that have their own time scale.  I always want to slow the game down to at or close to real time.  But, I don't think the sims would benefit from a slow down, I think it just needs the actions to be sped up.  As far as activities before work I treat my sims like I treat myself.  I wake up for work at 5:30a and leave the house by 5:50a to get to work by 6a.  (I'm lucky that I only have a 5min drive to work)  In 20min I get dressed, brush my teeth, grab a lunch to take with me, and grab a bowl of cereal and watch Angel.  I do all of the time consuming stuff the night before.  So, my sims pee and shower right before bed.  Depending on how hungry they are they eat right before bed as well.  When they wake up in the morning (if I feel like they need the moodlet) I send them to the shower and it only takes a few minutes before they're 'fresh' again.  I have them eat a quick meal of cereal or I have them eat left overs.  They spend the rest of their time raising their fun, and skills, by watching tv.  This method has worked quite well for me.

I do think that the hunger and energy bars go down way too fast and I've been tempted to just have my sims buy the hunger reward but then the hunger bar goes down way too slow.  Haha!  I do think that jobs take up way too much of your sim's day though.  But then again it's just like real life.  I work 6a - 3:30p daily.  I have to go to bed by 10p at the latest.  By the time I get home it's almost 4 because I never leave work on time.  That leaves six hours of fun time which never feels like enough.

So, in a way TS3 seems like the most realistic.  There just isn't enough time in the day to do everything you want.  But, unlike real life, sims can survive without having a job quite well in TS3.  A day of exploring brings in big bucks.  A day of romancing a rich sim can pay off big time the next day when you marry them.  A day of writing and painting gives a pretty penny as well.  I tend to play with two sims in a house.  One sim is a crafty sim so that I can get all of my urges to explore out of the way and one sim is an all business sim so I can see what the jobs are like.

Okay, I'm done rambling now.

[awrevell]

Another possible approach to the problem you pointed out in your initial post is perhaps changeing the deltas (ammout of change per tick) that occurs for certain activities.  Instead of changing the second to minute ration change the amount of time it takes to empty the sims bladder so they take a reasonable amount of time to use the toilet.  Change the time it takes to shower and eat as well so that a person can wake up, pee, shower and eat breakfast before catching the carpool.  However, while I understand the concept here,  I lack the skill to make even a lame attempt at it.

[Czezechael]

Apparently it also has to do with Athletic skill.

Source?  That's... nice, I guess, but a bit of a pisser if you don't have an athletically-inclined sim and don't want to break the paper-thin characterisation.

[Drakron]

Athletic Sims need higher energy recovery due to how raising Athletic skills requires spending energy for it.

Now that I think of it, when I used the workout option on the TV I had the option saying "cardio" and later after I gained a skill point I had two option, Cardio and Strength.

I suppose its possible to just workout without gaining any muscle mass.

[Roflganger]

I suppose its possible to just workout without gaining any muscle mass.

Yes - cardio lowers the fat slider, strength increases the muscle slider.

[Cheencheela]

Ah, well.

I guess we'll have to settle with some type of increased mood gain instead of time slow-agenessz0rs.


But it'd still be interesting. Interesting, but impossible.
None the less, I'm off to kill my sim's daughter's boyfriend. Because I am a sadistic little asshole.
<Insane laughter> HAUSHDUAHAUHAUHAUHAUHAAa

[J. M. Pescado]

Athletic Sims need higher energy recovery due to how raising Athletic skills requires spending energy for it.

Athletics no longer drains energy, like some actions did in TS2. Now it drains a fatigue motive instead. Sims no longer pass out from working out. In fact, the oppsite effect occurs: The "Pumped" buff blocks energy failure so sims cannot pass out and do not check energy while it is in effect.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

Ouch, if you're going to have the same username, could you at least remember to end your sentences with some sort of punctuation?

Ah, I'm having a problem with time, one could say.  More specifically, the game is crashing to desktop whenever I select ultra speeding.  I've only had this damn issue since I got the -- le gasp! -- the legal version (I broke down and got it on the 2nd because I wasn't sure if anyone would figure out how to get the crap off the Store's site and into the Razor version), but I never had it with the Reloaded or the Razor (actually, ultra speed just didn't work in my copies).