UPDATE: Simmythesim wrote a new Reddit post about his progress on The Sims 4 Multiplayer Mod:
It’s been four days since I first posted about making The Sims 4 multiplayer. I’ve since worked on my mod and here are the changes!
First off, there’s no more massive data loss when transferring data between games. In the first ever video you can see that the game states are synced somewhat, but not tightly synced with one another.
Apparently, there was a major bug where every other message the first game instance sent to the second game instance was completely lost and not received on the second game instance. This has been fixed, and the sims should now be performing the same actions at the same locations most of the time.
Second, the second game instance can now send commands to the server, it can now change the time speed, queue interactions, and change the active sim. Previously, only the first instance could affect the game state. What good is multiplayer if the other clients can’t interact with the server?
Third, which is the news you’ve all been waiting for, the game state can now be synced across multiple computers! This took quite a while, because I’ve never touched networking before.
Simmythesim, The Sims 4 modder who just recently blessed us with a mod that fixes a simulation lag in the game released a video of his first multiplayer test!
As you can see in the video down below, he opened two TS4 games to see how one game window will respond to the other. From what I’ve seen a Sim from the first screen will repeat almost the same interaction or movement as a Sim on the second screen. This doesn’t necessarily mean that this multiplayer project will ever be realized but it’s still interesting to see talented modders ”unlock” features that were planned for the game years ago.
Wow, a passionate individual accomplishes what a entire company with 4 years could not? I would be interested to hear the reason why it was abandoned, though.
The funny/sad thing is, TS4 isn’t a game where the player base has unrealistic expectations (as they do with other AAA titles/genres). Player expectations are largely formed by the bar set by the dev team for the past versions of the game. They’re failing to meet their own standards. They make claims about changes being too labor intensive, or too expensive, when said changes/additions are literally things they’ve done before (several times, in some cases).
Maybe the platform TS4 was built on (intending for multiplayer) is more complex than what they built TS3/TS2 on… but I’m still blown away on a regular basis by how watered down their product is, and their constant failure/refusal to meet their own established product standards. They seem to be delivering less and less as time goes on, which is unfortunate considering the legacy they have. And the fact that they cop an arrogant attitude when asked about it is just icing on the cake.
They say they rely on metrics & sales figures to determine the direction of the product, but when they keep rehashing the same concept, there really isn’t much room for those metrics/sales figures to indicate actual player interests. Inb4 we get another young adult-centric night life pack, because metrics say that’s what players engage with most – even though it’s because most other content types are too shallow to be engaging.
Wasn’t it because of Simcitys terrible launch? I believe both franchises were meant to go online, but with all the hate for SC they scrapped it and had just over a year to rewrite a lot of code, I heard this was the reason they launched with missing features.
Okay, that makes sense. I remember that you could only play SimCity after logging into EA servers. Only after the outrage, did EA patch the game to allow offline play.
wat a scaam!! glupost
Yes there was so much negative feedback from fans also poor sales that drove SC 2013 into the ground. EA was already working on Sims Olympus (now TS4) I guess to see if online play would work just as well. I mean, they did it once might as well see if they could do it again. So when SC went down so did Olympus the developers realized that they couldn’t publicly mention that they had to scrap the coding to make this game even though most fans knew about Olympus already and there were so many similiarites between the two it couldn’t have been a coincidence. That’s why TS4 has a much different atmosphere and limitations than previous games. The engine that was use for the game was meant for online play which is why there are monthly challenges and triple boost weeks and things like that.
i’m amazed on what you’ve done so far its so cool that ive been waiting for some type of multiplayer expansion or mod and now its in the works! I’m rooting for ya!
It’s so great I’m looking forward to play with my companion xx.
This game would be so much better if you could play in a neighbourhood with other players who all have their own sims to control! It would make stuff a lot more unpredictable that’s for sure! You could visit places and meet other peoples sims and then go over to their houses and do whatever you want. I think they’re really missing a good way to get more sales.
were can i specifically rely on to get updates from this? Also, (I know game development is very unpredictable, but) how long to you estimate at least a beta of this mod coming out, because I’ve been looking for a mod to play the sims with my girlfriend; you know what, you don’t care why, however I appreciate the work you put into this, I know its a pain in the a**.
is this available to download as a mod yet?
This game would be so much better if you could play in a neighbourhood with other players who all have their own sims to control! It would make stuff a lot more unpredictable that’s for sure! You could visit places and meet other peoples sims and then go over to their houses and do whatever you want. I think they’re really missing a good way to get more sales.
Yes there was so much negative feedback from fans also poor sales that drove SC 2013 into the ground. EA was already working on Sims Olympus (now TS4) I guess to see if online play would work just as well. I mean, they did it once might as well see if they could do it again. So when SC went down so did Olympus the developers realized that they couldn’t publicly mention that they had to scrap the coding to make this game even though most fans knew about Olympus already and there were so many similiarites between the two it couldn’t have been a coincidence. That’s why TS4 has a much different atmosphere and limitations than previous games. The engine that was use for the game was meant for online play which is why there are monthly challenges and triple boost weeks and things like that.
Okay, that makes sense. I remember that you could only play SimCity after logging into EA servers. Only after the outrage, did EA patch the game to allow offline play.
Wow, a passionate individual accomplishes what a entire company with 4 years could not? I would be interested to hear the reason why it was abandoned, though.
The funny/sad thing is, TS4 isn’t a game where the player base has unrealistic expectations (as they do with other AAA titles/genres). Player expectations are largely formed by the bar set by the dev team for the past versions of the game. They’re failing to meet their own standards. They make claims about changes being too labor intensive, or too expensive, when said changes/additions are literally things they’ve done before (several times, in some cases).
Maybe the platform TS4 was built on (intending for multiplayer) is more complex than what they built TS3/TS2 on… but I’m still blown away on a regular basis by how watered down their product is, and their constant failure/refusal to meet their own established product standards. They seem to be delivering less and less as time goes on, which is unfortunate considering the legacy they have. And the fact that they cop an arrogant attitude when asked about it is just icing on the cake.
They say they rely on metrics & sales figures to determine the direction of the product, but when they keep rehashing the same concept, there really isn’t much room for those metrics/sales figures to indicate actual player interests. Inb4 we get another young adult-centric night life pack, because metrics say that’s what players engage with most – even though it’s because most other content types are too shallow to be engaging.
Wasn’t it because of Simcitys terrible launch? I believe both franchises were meant to go online, but with all the hate for SC they scrapped it and had just over a year to rewrite a lot of code, I heard this was the reason they launched with missing features.
It’s so great I’m looking forward to play with my companion xx.
wat a scaam!! glupost
i’m amazed on what you’ve done so far its so cool that ive been waiting for some type of multiplayer expansion or mod and now its in the works! I’m rooting for ya!
is this available to download as a mod yet?
were can i specifically rely on to get updates from this? Also, (I know game development is very unpredictable, but) how long to you estimate at least a beta of this mod coming out, because I’ve been looking for a mod to play the sims with my girlfriend; you know what, you don’t care why, however I appreciate the work you put into this, I know its a pain in the a**.