New InZOI Update: Patch Notes (April 22nd, 2025)

Jovan

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April 22, 2025

New InZOI Update: Patch Notes (April 22nd, 2025)

Gameplay tunings, fixes and improvements this time around for InZOI!

Video game publisher Krafton has issued a brand new InZOI Update for Windows PC players on April 22nd. The new patch adds numerous tunings to Zoi’s emotions during dialogues, improvements to Karma interactions and crash stability improvements.

You can install the latest InZOI update simply by opening up your Steam launcher and checking for a brand new game update. Find out everything fixed in the patch notes below:

InZOI Update Patch Notes

Patch Date: April 22nd, 2025
Game Version: 20250422.2471.W

Gameplay Update

Conversation now reflects Zoi’s Primary Emotion

[inZOI Team’s Comment] Previously, Zoi’s conversations were primarily influenced by personality traits and chemistry with others. We’ve improved the system so that when a Zoi experiences one of 22 intense emotional states—such as euphoria, rage, or despair—their dialogue and behaviour now reflect that emotional context more naturally.

[Targeted Emotions] Excitement / Joy / Enthusiasm / Ecstasy / Elation / Laughter / Hysterical Laughter / Euphoria / Anger / Rage / Irritation / Discomfort / Displeasure / Humiliation / Embarrassment / Confusion / Fear / Dread / Surprise / Despair / Depression / Shock

This change reduces awkward interactions that don’t match a Zoi’s emotional state. Now, when a Zoi is experiencing an intense emotion, their reactions will reflect it in a more immersive way. When emotions are less heightened, conversations will continue to flow naturally based on day-to-day chemistry between Zois.
You may also notice more intense or even aggressive behavior when Zois are overwhelmed by strong emotions. To keep things balanced, we plan to introduce systems in future updates that help Zois calm down more naturally.

Karma Interaction Improvements

1) Psycat Alerts Disabled

[inZOI Team’s Comment] Psycat alerts that appeared when the city’s karma level declined will no longer be shown. This change is intended to reduce the feeling of unnecessary judgment during negative situations and help players stay immersed.

2) Karma Rating Criteria Adjusted

[inZOI Team’s Comment] We’ve revised the evaluation scale from “slightly bad or lower / normal or higher” to “bad or lower / good”. This adjustment helps prevent overly frequent negative evaluations caused by minor fluctuations.

3) Reduced Frequency of Karma Choice Prompts

[inZOI Team’s Comment] Karma-related choices were appearing too often and interrupting the natural flow of gameplay. We’ve reduced their frequency to allow for a smoother, less disruptive experience.

4) New Conditions for Karma-Related Interactions

[inZOI Team’s Comment] Karma interactions will now consider a Zoi’s emotional state and relationship dynamics, resulting in more immersive and context-aware dialogue.

5) 50% Decrease in Karma Interaction Selection Rate

[inZOI Team’s Comment] Karma-related interactions were occurring too frequently, sometimes triggering behaviour that felt out of place. We’ve decreased the selection rate by 50%, allowing karma changes to progress more gradually and in line with the game’s overall pacing.

Bug Fixes

Gameplay

Fixed an Issue where time continued to pass if the “Play as Existing Family” option was selected in ghost mode and the “No Household Members” popup was left open.
Fixed an issue where pregnancy attempts were incorrectly handled when the household has 7 members.
Fixed an issue where MY Textures applied to walls, floors, or ceilings were displayed with incorrect materials.
Fixed an issue where applying a building preset containing deleted or missing AI textures did not properly remove the unavailable textures.

Ambition/Goal

Fixed an issue where only certain dialogue options were counted toward the “Have a Positive Conversation” mission.

Career and Interaction

Fixed an issue where a married NPC with jobs would automatically change back into their work uniform even after manually changing clothes.
Fixed an issue where Zois would automatically switch to their rabbit hole work uniform even outside of working hours.
Fixed an issue where queuing the “Propose Marriage” interaction with a Zoi in a set relationship would trigger moving in without completing the marriage.

Crash Fixes

Fixed a crash that could occur when editing color or material during Build or Create a Zoi mode.

[inZOI Team’s Comment] Alongside this fix, we’ve updated the way textures are sorted. All imported textures will now be added to the bottom of the list in descending order. Previously used textures will also follow this rule. For convenience, newly imported textures will now automatically scroll into view and be focused in the list. We hope this helps improve usability.

Fixed a crash that could occur when deleting a 3D print mesh while the Zoi was wearing a 3D print accessory in Build Mode.

We’ll continue working to make inZOI more stable and enjoyable for everyone.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support and valuable feedback.

The inZOI Team

What are your thoughts on the latest InZOI Update drop? Let us know in the comments below!

Looking Back At The Sims 2 FreeTime Hobbies

Nate Alexander

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April 18, 2025

4

Looking Back At The Sims 2 FreeTime Hobbies

How does The Sims 2 FreeTime compare to The Sims 4 Businesses & Hobbies?

I try my hardest not to compare The Sims packs from one generation to another. I recognize that each game has its own philosophy and scope and systems. I understand that the designers don’t want to ever create a pack that is 1:1 to a pack from a previous generation. However, I think we really need to talk about the implications they have thrust upon themselves by naming the most recent expansion The Sims 4 Businesses & HOBBIES, especially when compared to the hobbies system in The Sims 2 FreeTime.

It’s a poorly titled pack. We all know this. We can all admit this. Yes, it’s an amazing expansion that has brought a ton of wonderful features to The Sims 4. That said, including the word Hobbies in the title is an incredibly odd choice. Truthfully, the game added one hobby, pottery. Tattooing and candy making are not hobbies. They just aren’t.

They could have justified having hobbies in the title by introducing a new system to the game surrounding skills, like they did in The Sims 2 FreeTime, but they didn’t do that either. The new skill classes and skill mastery perks are not enough to justify the expansion pack title.

With all that said, let’s take a look back at The Sims 2 FreeTime hobbies system.

The Sims 2 FreeTime Hobbies Guide

Hobby Enthusiasm

Hobby Enthusiasm was a new feature that separated each activity in the game into one of ten different categories. As your sims took part in these activities, their enthusiasm for that hobby type would increase. As their enthusiasm increased, new perks would unlock for them. These perks will be explained more in-depth later on, but they featured things like fitness sims being able to make protein shakes, nature sims being able to catch and collect different bugs, and cuisine sims being able to take part in cooking competitions on the unlocked secret lot.

Every hobby also shared similar or identical perks such as reading about the hobby in magazines or being “in the zone” when their enthusiasm reached the maximum for that type.

Sims were able to build enthusiasm for any number of hobby types at the same time; you weren’t limited in what they could focus on. If your sim didn’t partake in that hobby’s activities for a while, their enthusiasm meter would slowly drop similarly to personal relationships.

A feature that players both loved and hated was that each sim upon creation was randomly assigned a predestined hobby. Sims build enthusiasm for their predestined hobby faster than others and lose it more slowly. I personally enjoyed the randomness of this feature, but plenty of players wanted the ability to choose it for themselves.

Ten Hobbies

The hobby system contained ten different hobby types with all activities in the game being distributed among each. The ten categories were:

Cuisine
Film and Literature
Tinkering
Sports
Music and Dance
Fitness
Arts and crafts
Science
Games
Nature

Shared Unlocks

Each hobby had a list of different interactions and activities that could be unlocked as a sim increased their enthusiasm level. A lot of these perks are shared between the different hobbies, but flavored for their type.

Level	Unlock
1	Talk About “Hobby”
2	Read “Hobby” Section in Newspaper
3	Subscribe to “Hobby” Magazine
4	Browse Web About “Hobby”
5	Visit Secret Lot For “Hobby”
6	Share “Hobby” Tips With Sim
7	Blog About “Hobby”
8	None (Unique Interactions Only)
9	Instruct In “Hobby”
10	Be “In the Zone”

Unique Unlocks

Aside from the above shared unlocks, certain hobby types had unique ones as well.

Cuisine
3	Serve Chip Platter
5	Serve Cheese Platter
8	Serve Appetizer Platter
Film and Literature
3	Participate in Book Club
Fitness
3	Go Jogging
5	Drink Protein Shake
Nature
3	Go Hiking
5	Collect More Bugs
8	Collect Even More Bugs
Science
3	Search for Constellations
5	Search for Planets
8	Search for UFOs

My favorite of these unique unlocks is from the nature hobby. Sims are able to hunt and collect bugs of three types: beetles, butterflies, and spiders. As they increase their hobby enthusiasm for nature, they unlock the ability to collect more and more of these in an actual collection. It’s a framed object your sim can place in their house, and when viewed, it shows you the different ones you have collected so far.

Secret Hobby Lots

Once a sim achieves level 5 enthusiasm in a hobby, they unlock access to a hidden community lot specifically geared towards further building that hobby. Most of these lots feature items the player otherwise only has access to once they unlock it themselves by reaching a high level in a certain career type. This makes these fun, unique items more accessible to players without needing to always play through certain careers or by cheating.

MusicHobbyLot 1 — My Muse: Music and Dance Secret Hobby Lot

FitnessHobbyLot 1 — My Muse: Music and Dance Secret Hobby Lot

Two of the hidden lots also feature special competitions that your sims can take part in to try and win some money. The Cuisine hobby lot features a cooking competition and the Music and Dance hobby lot features a dance competition.

In The Zone

Once a sim reaches level 10 enthusiasm in any hobby type they unlock the ability to “Be In The Zone.” Whenever the sim partakes in an activity of that hobby type, the perk activates. Once they’re in the zone they’ll emit a white aura around them until they stop that activity. While a sim is in the zone, they build skills faster, create objects faster, and their needs drop slower.

Some hobbies also feature fun little visuals and sounds when a sim is in the zone. For instance, sims who are in the zone when playing basketball will hear cheering sound effects as if they’re playing in a stadium. Sims in the zone when playing an instrument or doing ballet will have a spotlight over them as if they’re performing in a theatre. Sims in the zone while reading will hear different musical tracks based on the genre of book being read.

This is one of the perks recently introduced in The Sims 4 Businesses & Hobbies as a skill mastery perk, but with some differences. Unlike in The Sims 2 FreeTime, the perk in The Sims 4 freezes a sim’s needs instead of slowing their decrease. Sadly, it doesn’t allow them to build skills faster or create items faster. While it does still emit a white glowing aura around a sim in the zone, it doesn’t feature any other visuals or sounds when doing certain activities like in The Sims 2 FreeTime.

Final Reflections

After looking at the depth of the hobby system in The Sims 2 FreeTime, it makes me even more disappointed with the word hobbies being included in the title of The Sims 4 Businesses & Hobbies. With the amount of skills and activities there are in The Sims 4 compared to the much fewer skills and talents in Sims 2, they could have created a system even more detailed and rich. Instead, all we got was a handful of skill mastery perks and the skill classes. They really should have workshopped the expansion pack title some more and went a different route with it.

Explore More

Sims 4 Businesses & Hobbies Guides
Sims 4 Businesses & Hobbies Official Site
Sims 2 Legacy Collection

The Sims and EA are investigating InZOI’s Game Launch

Jovan

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April 18, 2025

18

The Sims and EA are investigating InZOI’s Game Launch

The official survey from EA is researching into the success of Krafton’s new life simulation game.

Almost a hundred questions about InZOI. Electronic Arts and The Sims Team definitely want to know what’s behind the success story of InZOI, the new life simulation game on the market from publisher Krafton. Which managed to sell over 1 million copies in just under a week after its initial Early Access release!

EA really wants to know what made life simulation players, and their own player base, try out InZOI. Including a detailed research survey which includes tens of questions revolving around InZOI, its features and player base collection analysis.

the sims labs survey inzoi research — Screen: @TheSims4It

Down below we’ve included screenshots of all the important questions shared from the survey, including the full official survey link which is active at the moment.

InZOI Research Survey by The Sims Labs and EA

I took the official EA InZOI Research survey myself and counted over 90 questions which revolved around the game’s launch and features. The survey includes detailed questions and comparisons between InZOI and The Sims 4. From existing comparing systems like Canvas from InZOI and The Gallery from The Sims 4, Clothing and Graphics comparisons and more.

The research survey also gives optional questions about player’s nationality, sexuality and gender. Assuming that EA is collecting data for this The Sims Labs research, it could be possible that they’re inspired to take some of the features from InZOI into The Sims Franchise.

We often talk how both games can co-exist in their own lane. This could be the very first step of that positive competition in the life simulation game market that could, in the end, enhance both products to their maximum potential.

I highlighted some of the most interesting questions from the InZOI research survey in the gallery below:

You can choose to participate in EA’s official InZOI Research Survey by clicking the button down below. Do note that the survey is highly detailed, meaning that it’ll take more than several minutes to complete.

Take the official InZOI Survey from EA!

It’s not known how long this survey will be open for. But since both InZOI and The Sims are planned to stick around for years to come, I’m sure it won’t be the first research survey either.

What are your thoughts on the latest InZOI research survey? Stay tuned to all things The Sims and InZOI right here on Sims Community!

InZOI Update: April 15th, 2025 Patch Notes

Jovan

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April 15, 2025

1

InZOI Update: April 15th, 2025 Patch Notes

Krafton releases big improvements for Build Mode Camera, lighting & shadows and more!

A new InZOI Update has been released on April 15th, 2025 for Windows PC players. The v0.1.5 update release includes a free Graphics Update revamp, along with free camera for Build Mode. InZOI characters also look now more alive with brand now shadow casting features in the game options.

InZOI Update Notes

How to Install the InZOI Update

The InZOI Update can be easily downloaded through the Steam launcher. Simply open the launcher and check for new updates through the right click on the game (if you haven’t enabled automatic downloads already). Since Mods are officially coming to InZOI later this Spring, you don’t have to worry yet about keeping your InZOI Mods up to date.

April 15th, 2025 Patch Notes

Hello, Creators.

We would like to inform you that the following hotfix has been applied to inZOI. Please refer to the details below for more information.

Hotfix Details

Patch Date: April 15th, 2025 at 10:00 (UTC)
Game Version: 20250414.2252.W

Gameplay Update

Improvements of Build Mode default camera and addition of free camera

Default camera – improved usability for camera movement and rotation

Free camera – added free camera for Build Mode where players who are used to WASD control can use conveniently

Improved In-game character appearance: Light shadow casting update

[Official Comment from the inZOI Team] Shadow casting effects have been applied to both outdoor streetlights and indoor lights, delivering a more natural and realistic graphical experience.

We hope this update addresses long-standing feedback regarding the visual inconsistency between characters viewed in the Character Studio and those seen during gameplay.

Due to optimization limitations, this feature was not implemented during the initial development phase. However, in response to continued player feedback, we have introduced shadow casting as part of our ongoing improvements. Further enhancements are expected with an upcoming engine update scheduled for this summer. Please note that enabling shadow casting may impact performance depending on your hardware.

We recommend referring to the detailed settings guide below to adjust the feature according to your system environment.We remain committed to carefully listening to your feedback and continuously pursuing meaningful improvements.

1) Enable streetlight shadows

– Effect: When night falls, shadows appear beneath streetlights, making characters and surrounding environments appear more natural and realistic. All streetlight lamps placed throughout the city have shadow casting enabled by default, allowing for a more immersive nighttime experience

– How to apply: This feature is enabled by default

　ㄴYou can toggle it on or off by navigating to Options > Graphics > Custom > Streetlight Shadows

　ㄴPerformance impact: During nighttime, when streetlights are illuminated and shadows are rendered, a slight decrease in performance may occur

2) Enabling furniture lighting shadow

– Effect: Shadow casting options have been added to certain indoor lighting, including ceiling lights and floor lamps. When these lights are turned on, realistic shadows are cast beneath characters and furniture according to the light direction.

This enhancement significantly improves environmental atmosphere and immersion, allowing in-game visuals to better match the high-quality appearance seen in the Character Studio.

– How to apply: By default, this setting is disabled. You can activate shadows individually by selecting the desired ceiling or floor lamp in Build Mode

ㄴ Build Mode (I) > Select Light > Lighting Shadows (Off) > Turn On

ㄴ Performance impact: Enabling shadows for multiple lights placed in proximity may result in a noticeable performance drop

3) Realistic shadow option

– Effect: A new option has been added that allows players to maximize shadow quality. When enabled, shadows will appear sharper and more detailed, enhancing the overall visual realism of the game.

– How to apply: This setting is disabled by default and can be rendered through the following path

ㄴ Option > Graphics > Preset > Custom > Realistic Shadows (Off) > On

ㄴ Performance impact: Enabling this option may affect gameplay performance. Please adjust the setting according to your PC specifications