I've been playing some Sims 1 and Sims 2 again and, unlike in the past, I find myself wishing they had some of the features available in Sims 4. Merits include details (which are a two edged sword) that started getting fleshed out in Sims 2 and 3 and went further in Sims 4. So many choices of what to do with your crops, your meals and cooking (and baking!), your crafting, even showering. For me, one of the best features is how social the Sims are and the way they will multitask their socializing while cooking, eating, playing a game or any of the other ways they do. Sims 4 takes it to a whole new level. Now if random Sims would stop popping into conversations....it makes it hard to bond with a select few.

And other thing that is good IMO is that the community lots are filled with Sims. I have the empty lot issue in 3. I build what are some pretty nice lots and then nobody uses. It is not good that we see the same Sims over and over and over in 4, but at least the lots are active.

Speaking of Clint...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4BZB_7kiIU

I just love his reviews. I hope he'll cover Paralives and LBY as well. The MEH is strong with this one.

The empty lot issue is caused by several things, all fixable:

1. Have tons of sims with the trait that you want for a lot you'd like to have filled. So, for example, Party Animal for venues and clubs, bookworms for libraries.
2. Have several large 6-8 sim households, since venues are stocked by household, not individual sims.
3. Only take sims to venues when they're hotspots.
4. Don't have too many venues.
5. Larger specs.

If you look at the pics below, the reason why it's crowded is that there are several sets of sims from three large households.

There's a few mods addressing the population issues as well. Just saw a new one uploaded here that I'm gonna try out at some point.
https://modthesims.info/d/678267/ge...ghborhoods.html

I think NRAAS also tries to address this but eh. The real solutions is not too many venues/lots. By reducing the amount of choice, they'll start to huddle up in the same areas. Also consider putting the community lots near where people live so that they aren't driving 2 hours across the map to hang out and then leave immediately.

Adding to the list:

6. Adjust venue numbers to population size.
7. Don't expect venues to be completely full during the day when everyone is at work.
8. Mods. There are a few out that help with this.
https://modthesims.info/d/552227/ne...-in-clubs.html: This one seems to create some problems with traveling to other worlds, so it needs to be taken out when traveling.
https://modthesims.info/d/678067/7-...lation-mod.html (fairly recent).
And Shimrod's mod, at the Asylum. I can't find it at the moment, though. I've been using this one forever

8. and sometimes, you just need to wait until sims manage to get there. They don't just poof into existence. Well, except with LazyDuchess' one, they seem to.

Right. When a household visits a lot, other sims begin to flock there, unless it's a designated "cold spot" (because a venue has been tagged as a hotspot for the evening). It will take a few minutes for sims to show up at the lot, especially if they're just coming off of work.

Another thing I forgot to add: if you have Showtime, you'll have deserted venues when there are SimFests or shows happening in and around town.

Also: be aware of the sim swarm issue. When venues became increasingly empty, I always look for a sim swarm, this annoying LN bug where every sim in town shows up on one lot and never leave.

Thank you for the tips about the community lots. I do tend to put way too many community lots in my worlds I do. I also will look into the other things. I had 4 households of 8 Sims I used to plop in worlds to help fill them fast. I should find them again and use again .

IMO, 6 or 7 sims doesn't make a place crowded. Although for ts3, yeah I suppose it is considered crowded. My ts4 comm lots can get very crowded depending on the type of lot & the time of day (Nightclubs and bars aren't as busy in the morning as they are in the evening).

TS4 is so good that it lags because of groundbreaking horses. Surely Maxis love to crank games engine that instead of supRERB open world that revolutionize the Sims gets lagged because of horses route issues, now we have Sims lagging to do things in the teeny tiny neighborhoods they're in And there are people that are confused has to why TS4 is hated when people don't take elements like "sandbox" and CAS that creates lagged pixelated ppl for granted

Overall, the 'clunkiness' of the whole game is the main reason and biggest turn off that made me dislike the game. I'm confused how others don't mind (unless, they don't experience) it being there.

Now in regards of what I actually enjoyed is that you can hire cooks to your parties....
That its.

I don't have 6 or 7 sims. I often have double that. I think you knew, judging by how close the screenshots were, that I didn't capture the entire venue and that the point was to explain that those 7 sims I showed in the screenshot were from three separate large-sized households.

How about the following shots? Is this crowded enough? Keep in mind that I was just posting to help daisylee with their lots in TS3, not to brag about how crowded my venues get.



What's funny is that I used to have the opposite problem of empty lots. I used to have the sim swarm bug, where 60 sims wouls swarm on a lot. I only wish I had had empty venues! :p

Totally true, and we all know of the snafu that was the creation of 4 and that the whole foundation was/is shaky and inadequate. I do not have lag on this 12 year old PC that has all of 3 installed other than K Perry that I did not get.

I have maybe half of 4 (?), and my PC that can handle far more in 3 now clearly is slower on the loading screens. It is not horrible, but I can notice a difference. And my much newer laptop, is the same.

They admitted the tiny hoods are small as the game cannot handle much. I am not a developer or programmer but it seems to me they should not have rushed the game out as they did, and made a game with a more solid foundation. They are paying for it now.

And where are the bachelor party dancers? :D

Sorry about that. I didn't realize it was only showing part of your venue & the sims at it. My memories of TS3 include many of only a small amount of sims on comm lots. I don't recall larger households helping with that either but it's been years since I have touched ts3.

Sims 4 is all right if it's modded within an inch of its life. Though to be fair, I used mods for almost every aspect of 2&3 as well. I've enjoyed some of the fuller-feeling DLCs, like Get Famous and Spa Day (which I thought was fine pre-refresh and the GP least in need of said refresh), and I've really gotten back into the game since Growing Together launched.

I won't echo all the criticism, but I do share the exasperation you all express, too. Just sayin' Sims 4 is almost like a game at this point.