The Sims 4 Holiday Update (December 4th,2015): New Map view & New Items!

Celebrate Holidays with new Christmas Items!

Simmers, Christmas is coming and The Sims Team decided to treat ourselves with an huge holiday update, with new Holidays Items and new game features…It looks like Santa Claus paid an earlier visit!

Let’s see what’s in the box:

Simmers!

How is everyone? It’s the holiday season… have you been good?

…you know, nobody ever really defined for me the limits of good in the context of the holiday seasonal question of naughty or nice. I was mostly good… I hope.

Anyway, given that I have also failed to define “good” for you, we have plenty of gifts to pass around no matter what your naughty/nice standing may be with the polar ice powers.

So, on with the unwrapping… what’d you get?
THE NEW!

• There is now a 64 Bit executable for 64 bit Windows users.
  • Players with 64bit Windows do not need to do any extra action, you will automatically be using the 64bit executable.
  • To learn more, please visit the FAQ – http://help.ea.com/article/when-to-use-the-sims-4-64-bit-or-32-bit-version
• For those players that use Mods and may not realize that an update has occurred, or that their Mods may conflict with the new update, we now automatically Disable Mods when we patch.
  • To turn them back on, open up Game Options, select the Other tab, and check on the Enable Custom Content and Mods option.
  • Please use caution when re-enabling your Mods, as Mods have been known to modify your game.
  • To learn more about this update, visit this FAQ – http://help.ea.com/article/mods-and-the-sims-4-game-updates
• We have made significant changes to the behavior of groups.
  • You will now have the option to add (or remove) Sims to groups.
  • When a Sim is added to a group you will be able to pull groups of Sims around with ease.
  • In addition when you travel with a group of Sims they will automatically be put into a group with each other.
• Create A Sim has had the underlying structure of how relationships are built and remembered overhauled.
  • This has allowed us to close many issues that could result in the relationship data becoming lost or corrupted, which could break existing relationships (brothers could forget their sisters) and allow invalid relationships to exist.
• There is a new Hire [NPC] interaction available on several objects, such as Hire Bartender (on the bar), Hire Caterer (on the fridge), or Hire Masseuse (on the massage table).
• Sims will have more relevant greetings. You now may see parents and children hug each other when they greet, or Sims might shake hands if they are acquaintances.
• We have spent some time fixing up the Fire and Death reaction systems. Sims will now behave in a more expected manner when either occurs near them.
• Looking forward to spending the holiday season with your Sims? Good news! We’ve updated the free* Holiday Celebration Pack with new snowflake decals, a lighted tree, piles of presents, a tree centerpiece, and new formal outfits that are perfect for wearing to holiday parties.
  • *Requires internet connection, The Sims 4 (sold separately) and all game updates to play.
    • The Sims 4 – sold separately at participating sellers of things and stuffs.
      • Sellers and cellars – homonyms
        • Homonyms, hymns, and yeoman… not the same.
          • Yeoman reminds me of yeti…
            • We had a yeti in MySims™ Agents…
              • Sold separately.
• There is a new venue type: Pool Venue
• There is a new option to color your pool water – default or purple! Because… purple!
  • That’s such a weird word… puuur’pull, purple, purple, people, purple, purple people. Weird.
• We have made several interface updates:
  • The World Maps have been updated!
    • First and probably the most noticeable, they are now in glorious color.
    • In addition we have also updated all of the interface elements of the map! (pst… the play button is in the bottom right… I know right, it took me FOREVER to remember).
    • There is also a Return to Map button in Live Mode.
  • The relationship inspector (when two Sims are talking, it is the UI that appears in the middle top of the screen) has been updated.
    • You can also right click on the Sim portrait in the inspector to center the camera on that Sim.
  • We have updated the Screenshots & Memories interface.
    • We have also improved the quality of pictures your Sims take, so that they look better when in the screenshot viewer.
  • The interface used when an NPC calls your Sim has had been updated.
    • As well as… Sims may now call to offer condolences, or congratulate you on that new job or promotion.
  • We have updated the Events display for non-goal oriented events. They will now have a bar with the event name and the remaining time countdown.
    • This should help with those stealth Welcome Wagon events that would suddenly yell at you for not paying attention to them.
  • The camera controls have a new button option to swap between Sims 3 and Sims 4 camera styles.

But wait… there’s more!
More, Billy?
…we have a few issues we have been looking into as well.
But that’s not all?

Issues Fixed

General Issues

• Sims who are sitting next to each other (such as at a 2×1 table or picnic table) can now converse with other Sims directly next to them without feeling the need to reposition themselves.
• We fixed an issue that could result in all saved games disappearing if an individual save slot was found to be corrupted. We now ignore the corrupted save, allowing the remaining save to be available.
• Players who use IME, will now find that that it works properly with Windows 10.
• We fixed an issue that could result in employees not showing up for work.
  • Do you think they were watching ‘Kung Fu’?
• Doc Sweet’s Luke-Warm Tonic Dispenser (from Get to Work) and The Chillbox 2100 (from Spa Day) will now properly appear broken when they are broken, rather than being stealth broken. Because broken is broken, no matter how the visual broken’ness may appear.
• Convincing a Sim to leave their spouse while the spouse is present, will now cause the ‘leaved’ spouse to lose relationship with the ‘leaving’ spouse, should the action succeed.
• We fixed an issue that could result in event timers becoming out of synch with the actual time remaining.
• Super speed 3 will no longer trigger when there are still NPCs present during an active event.
  • In addition, super speed 3 will no longer attempt to run when there are NPCs on the active lot.
• Bring Here is now an available option on household ghosts when traveling… Because Ghosts are Sims too!
• Should the TV turn off when the Sim is no longer watching or should it stay on? The polls are in, the votes counted, and … I lost. Sims will now turn off the TV when they are finished watching.
• It turns out that a dancing tense Sim was not performing some crazy move called the “hold the invisible box.” They were actually attempting to rub their temples from the stress… they just couldn’t reach them. We have helped them out and allowed them to reach their temples.
  • So long “hold the invisible box” dance move… you were a good friend when I needed one.
• The BLT will no longer sit in a pile of unappetizing grey when on your plate.
  • Grey food and unappetizing grey food… pretty much the same thing.
• We fixed an issue where Sims would occasionally react to fire once, then just watch it burn.
  • I suppose this is just an issue in a game… but it feels like a societal commentary put forth by the engineer. Life isn’t about just sitting back and letting it happen. You have to get out there, dig your feet in, and put forth some effort.
  • Of course… I may be reading too much into it.
• Sims should now appear surprised to see the Grim Reaper.
  • Unless of course the Grim Reaper is there to see them… and then they will appear dead.
• Instant Upgrade and Insta-Repair interactions are now available on the Dishwasher.
• We fixed an issue that could result in an unplayable Sim when switching between Sims who are on and off lot.
• You can now put your Grills in your inventory.
  • The kind you cook on, right? Great, online chat has ruined my ability to understand the basics of language…
• We fixed an issue that could result in the game freezing when a Sim attempts to repeatedly socialize with another Sim who is currently unable to multitask a socialization action (such as showering or bathing).
• You will no longer be allowed to ask a working bartender, to star or cloud gaze with you. They just have no idea how to multi-task the action, and found themselves flailing about in conflict with the desire to gaze, and the desire to mix drinks… it wasn’t pretty. Don’t do it!
  • Interesting note, this action violated the forgotten rule #4 of the provisos (or quid pro quos) “you can lead a bartender on, but you can’t make him mix and gaze.”
• Sims with a significant other, will now lose the relationship with both the initiater and the initiated when they observe a jealous action betwixt their SO and their SO’s not so SO.
• We fixed an issue that could result in low fat Sims not properly displaying muscle tone when going from Create A Sim to Live Mode..
• We fixed an issue that could result in teens, sometimes, holding their cellphone backwards when using it.
  • “Hey Marge! This here phone is telling me to ‘afpao a;lodu3’ myself.”
  • “That’s just Alexander backwards texting you again George!”
  • “Dern that whippersnapper and his backwards cellphone!”
• We fixed an issue that could result in a Sim seated at desk, near a wall, first walking outside when performing their next action.
• We fixed an issue where Sims returning home with low motives, could cause them to fail to perform autonomous actions and just stand idle.
• Loading a saved game will properly focus the camera on the currently active Sim. This was primarily an issue when the Sim was on a floor other than the ground floor.
• Ambient critter effects (insects, fireflies, or similar) will no longer play on the buildable portion of the Comfy Cubby lot.
  • We have vigorously applied ample amounts of bug spray in order to keep them at bay*.
    • *no actual bugs were harmed in the eradication of the bugs on the Comfy Cubby lot.
• Sims were floating above ground on parts of the Crick Cabana lot in Willow Creek. We have addressed this issue by attaching gravitational stabilizers to the bottoms of all Sims feet which should keep them more firmly attached to the ground. Should the problem persist, please replace the batteries in yours Sims gravitational stabilizers. Thank you.
• Adding the Repair Service or Maid Sim to your household while in the performance of their duties could leave the “work tone” icon permanently attached to their portrait. This issue has been fixed.
• Sims will no longer spin in place when attempting a sneak up on (approach from the side) an ice cream machine.
• Also, it is not true that food that is unaware of your presence will not add to your waist line. Eating from someone else’s plate does not equal zero calories. And eating after midnight will not cause Stripe to get “grumpy”.
• The reach level 5 of the Tech Guru career goal for the Computer Whiz aspiration will no longer complete when you reach level 6… it will now complete when you reach level 5.
• You know, we could have just changed the text but that would change the whole dynamic. And if you haven’t got your dynamic, then you haven’t got anything.
• Previously the maid misunderstood the concept of Sunday and Monday, and turned their Sunday into a Monday, which meant their Monday was their Sunday… and really the whole point of a weekend is to have TWO days consecutively in order to refresh and recharge… breaking up and reversing your Monday and Sunday is just unfortunate… for all involved.
• Sims should no longer flash light and dark while washing dishes at the Pure Simplicity sink.
  • …who washes dishes? I just throw them away.

General (Build)

• Objects (such as ceiling lights or cabinets) will no longer pop out of the view of the camera when dragging them to a lot edge.
• Cabinets are no longer sent to the household inventory when an action would cause them to change models (such as moving them from a corner to a flat wall) while automatic counters is on.
• Sims will no longer ignore the existence of the foundation when attempting to use a door along a diagonal wall on a raised foundation.
  • Creatures with the power of flight however, will be able to enter the door without issue… so long as they are able to open the door, exist in the game, and have the proper permissions to enter.
• Rugs will no longer appear above the fog.
  • Fog being the highly technical term used to denote the “greyish fuzziness” that occurs when the game graphics settings are set to low (greyish fuzziness is also highly technical…).
• Corner Cabinets can now be placed on left wall corners that are adjacent with right wall corners.
  • Fun Fact: A corner adjacent to a corner, depending upon direction, is also called a U-turn.
• Placing a tall window on a roof wall should no longer cause an empty space to appear beneath the window
  • I did that once, was not easy to fix… Of course, I also had an empty space where the window was… and a lot of glass shards on the ground.
• Circular Neon Tiki Sign and Neon Parrot Sign are now visible from both sides.
• Floor tiles placed in a block that has had its floor removed can now be removed with the sledgehammer tool.
• Placing a basement should now only clobber the objects on the floors above it that should be clobbered when a clobbering action is warranted.
  • Clobber: to pound merci… no, um… to defeat overwhelm… no. Maybe go with “to defeat easily”? That one is pretty close… but it is definitely not “someone’s clothes, supplies, or equipment” – because that would just be weird.
    • “Did that basement just clobber your room?”
    • “Yes, and I had no idea it would look so good in a dress.”
• Wall decoratives placed in a room that is above a basement, will no longer vanish when changing wall heights.
  • Spellchecker does not like the word decoratives. What does it expect the plural of a decorative to be? Decoratice?
• Several build objects that are available pursuant to the bb.showhiddenobjects cheat, were only available on specific lots. We have removed the lot restrictions for these objects
  • I’ve always wanted to misuse the word ‘pursuant.’
• Dishwashers will no longer tell you that they “must be placed on a larger surface” when attempting to place them in an invalid location. Now they will tell you “must be placed on specific objects.”
  • It’s much clearer this way…
• The flat square block named “Rounded Deck” in the build catalog will no longer be known as the flat square block named “Rounded Deck”. It will hence forth be known as “Flat Square”, or, if you favor nostalgia, the flat square block formerly known as “Rounded Deck.”
• Rugs placed on the ground on certain lots will no longer disappear as the camera was brought closer to them.
  • A shy rug… huh… I’ve seen stranger.
• The audio during Build Mode will now play even when the audio quality is set to low.
• The Quaking Aspen tree is now visible at all angles on low graphics settings.
• Using MOO to place objects will no longer improperly position the objects when moving the lot/room to a larger sized lot.
  • MOO – move objects… on, except that we don’t use the “on” part in the current cheat. So, it’s really more of a MO.
• We fixed an issue where sometimes when deleting the deck of a home, it would leave behind floating objects, which would then allow the Sim to use those floating objects and get into all sorts of odd animation situations.
• Basement dirt floor is now an available floor pattern in Build Mode, named Bottom of the Basement.

General (Create A Sim)

• Changing the hair color of an alien child will no longer also change their eye color.
  • I suppose, being a color, one might be confused as to the intent of the desired outcome. After all, being an alien, it is hard to determine the motivations behind the color change… perhaps the desire was indeed to change all colors to be uniformed. Well, we’ll never know now, will we?
• We fixed an issue, whereupon resizing the male Aliens feet, their pinky toe would not resize.
  • Not kidding… their pinky toe would not resize.
• Randomizing your Sims sleepwear will no longer add a hat (or cap) to your Sims sleeping attire.
  • We will also not be applying a kerchief to your mother no matter how quickly you throw up the sash.
• The yfTop_BlazerRound is once again tucked in.
• cfHair_longStraight is now available for male and female children.
• Randomizing Sims from the gallery should no longer result in a baby being added to the household… surprise!

General (Gallery)

• Uploading a room to the gallery with a raised foundation will no longer cause the foundation pattern to appear floating in the preview image.
• We fixed an issue with objects outside of a room, being uploaded to the Gallery as part of the room if the MOO (MO?) cheat had been used.
• You will no longer be able to upload a lot to the Gallery if it is on fire.
  • For your safety while using the Gallery, please keep your flames and embers inside your game at all times. Young children should not be playing with burning lots, unless accompanied by an adult. Please honor curated content. Also, for the comfort of those who seek to download your lot, we request that there be no flash photography, eating, or drinking while uploading. Thank you, and enjoy your game.
• In the case that a player replaces a Sim in a household with a gallery Sim, or randomizes a Sim from the gallery into their household, and then re-uploads the household the original ‘created by’ data will be remembered.
• Shared items with Custom Content will now show in the Player Profile.
• Lots will no longer be allowed to be saved as rooms.
  • Turns out there is a difference between a room and a lot… and in California that is small fortune.
• Rooms cannot be placed from the Gallery if created using MOO (MO!) when wall height is set to short and the cheat is not enabled.
  • This change fixes a general issue where users could not place a room whenever a parent object would be suppressed. An example being, windows are not allowed on exterior walls of a basement room. If you attempted to place a room in the basement with windows and curtains, you would find you were unable to do so – because the curtain’s parent object (the window) was being suppressed.
• Players will no longer become stuck in Create A Sim, when downloading Sims from the Gallery who have traits that are not present in that player’s game.

General (Interface)

• Adding custom mp3 music files will now properly display in and play from the options panel.
• Exiting the game without closing the Game Options panel after applying changes, will no longer not apply the changes upon restart.
• You will no longer need to zoom all the way out in order to use the Design Tool on the rocket ship.
• We now allow edge scrolling along ALL of the edges!
  • Discriminatory bottom edge practices have been outlawed, and those practicing the practices shall find no safe haven within our borders.
• The cursor shall no longer flicker when you hover over the Play with Genetics button in Create A Sim.
• The Reset Tutorial option has been moved from the Gameplay tab to the Other tab. Why?
  • A fundamental question posed to development… are tutorials gameplay? or are they interruptions prior to gameplay? As you can tell we are still in debate over this one… however the result of the latest internal debate has given victory to the Not-Gameplayers Party, and has pushed their agenda to the forefront. Thus the shift in the options panel. Ultimately we are lucky the Marketeers Party (an independent third faction) didn’t get ahold of the victory, or this would be a modal interruption upon relaunch, asking “What are your thoughts of the tutorial system?” with a 5 part multiple choice question, and optional essay.
• We have made various updates to the lessons in the Lessons panel.
• You will no longer be informed that “A maid cleaned your house while you were away…” when your hired NPC was the repair service.

The Sims 4 Get to Work

• Alien mannequins now also have access to the styled looks… just like their human counterparts.
• Downloading a retail room from The Gallery, with mannequins placed inside, will no longer have a chance to crash your game.
  • Mannequins in a retail space… how absurd!
• We have addressed several issues when placing hats (or helmets) on the mannequins that could result in transparency or missing texture issues.
  • It’s odd that every time I write hat (or lid), I feel compelled to offer an alternate form of the word.
• Doctors that are at work, will no longer leave work to go to work, preventing others at work from asking the Doctor to take care of their patient because they aren’t at work.
  • Aka: If you were unable to transfer a patient to a doctor, you should no longer run into this issue.
• We fixed an issue that could prevent the user from entering Build Mode, or saving their game, if they had 11 or more mannequins on their lot, and had deleted several of them with the Sledgehammer Tool.
  • That’ll teach you to sledgehammer a mannequin… everyone knows you are supposed to take them to your nearest nuclear test facility for set dressing… or was that just the 1950s?
    • …I’ve been playing too much in the post-apocalyptic wasteland…
• The “For Your Protection Chain Link Fence” no longer has a reversed texture on one end.
• Sims in the Science Career will now find they can properly order their co-workers to invent, rather than the coworker having the option to ignore the issued directive.
• Replacing the rounded fence portion of the rounded fence deck with the “Be Prepared Security Fencing” will now appear as expected.
• Out of stock objects will no longer cast a shadow.
  • The Shadow will still cast a shadow however.
  • However it should be noted that only The Shadow knows why The Shadow casts a shadow.
• We have added the alien plants as additional collectibles to the gardening collection.
• Visual effects will no longer persist for the following objects after they have been sold: Stereo, Bonfire, Fireplace, Dartboard, Frogs, Butterflies, Tiki bar, Cloning machine, Waterfall, and the Arcade machine.
  • It should be noted that one of the above items exists in the game. As well as the other items. In fact, all of the above items exist in the game. There is no item above that doesn’t exist in the game. If there were an item above that didn’t exist in the game, then it wouldn’t be there… as it doesn’t exist.
• Sims tending bar will no longer be allowed to use the Sim Ray on the bar…
  • If you didn’t like tending bar, you could just walk away… you don’t have to ruin it for the rest of us.
• It will now cost you 875 Simoleons to purchase the Crime Map.
• We fixed an issue that could result in the APB guilty Sim not matching the Sim described in the notebook.

The Sims 4 Outdoor Retreat

• Sims should now be able to join a game of horseshoes when attempting to Join a Game… of horseshoes.
• The Bee, Walking Stick, and Blue Morpho Butterfly insects can now be found.

The Sims 4 Spooky Stuff

• Light Candle and Extinguish actions on a pumpkin worn by a ghost are now available Everywhere.*
  • *Everywhere is limited to places the ghost can actually travel, walk, or otherwise route to. Everywhere is exclusive to locations within The Sims. Everywhere does not include different game modes, such as Create A Sim, Build Mode, or the Gallery. Everywhere is a trademark of the Everywhere for All and All for Everywhere slogan corporation.
• Skeleton face paint will no longer paint on top of a Sims beard.
• Sims should find themselves to be far more comfortable in the hot tub once they have situated themselves, and will decide to reposition themselves far more infrequently.
• The Spooky Party will now count towards the Throw 3 Parties objective of the Welcoming Host milestone for Party Animal aspiration.

MAC

• Fixed several lot seam issues when on low graphic quality setting.
  • It may seem odd, but if you leave a seam un-seamed, it is unseemly, and it seems, can allow a Sim to fall through the seam, into a seemingly endless void. Seems like a good stitch.

Well, that’s about it for now… I hope that you have a wonderful December.

[/sappiness warning] Remember that it is better to give than to receive. Go out and give. [/end of sappiness]

Thank you for your time and attention… and Happy Holidays to you!
-SimGuruGnome

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Oops, I guess there is more… some post Release Notes notes…

Hey folks,

I wanted to take a moment to speak directly to one of our most important issues.

We have listened to your feedback on culling and performance. And we have been, and will continue to address these issues, and have a group dedicated to them.

Some of the work they have been doing recently has been focused on optimizing load times, reducing memory usage, and increasing performance… but what about culling? Well, it turns out culling happens because of the need of those three items: load times, memory usage, and performance.

• Outdoor Retreat was over using our compatibility region filters (when a Sim is requested for a “thing” we use a filter to determine who). Such that when the filter failed to find someone that fit the requirements exactly (male, bartending skill 5, young adult), it created a new Sim to fit the role rather than allowing for some flexibility (bartending 4 or 6 is probably just as well).
  • Along the same lines, we took the above fix and made it general – rather than always creating exactly what was requested by the game, we allow flexibility. Reducing the number of new Sims being created, that more often than not, would just come and go without the player realizing.
• Get to Work added aliens, and one of the requests of the spawning system was to create disguised aliens. Turns out we were creating A LOT of disguised aliens. Not on purpose, but there was a cool down assigned to the spawned Sim that would then prevent them from spawning again in a given period of time. Sadly, the system was requesting ‘in disguise’ aliens more frequently than the cooldown’s timer… and thus creating brand new Sims on each request. We adjusted the tuning, and saw an increase in performance.
• We have spent some time optimizing lighting draw calls, to assist with framerate issues while in Build Mode.
• We removed some data duplication between the game side code and Create A Sim code, saving around 50kb per Sim data (also known as SimInfos).
  • The smaller the size of a SimInfo, the faster it is to load a given Sims information.
• We discovered a large memory and performance spike as a result of inventories. Turns out that NPCs, who don’t need to know exactly what is in their inventory when they are an NPC, were carrying around large amounts of data and in some cases could have many hundreds of inventory objects, resulting in slow load times, and memory/performance spikes when the NPC was created.
  • Now NPCs do not instantiate most of the objects in their inventories until needed. This provides a much needed relief in the runtime performance spikes in our test environment.

These are some of the specific issues we have addressed recently, all with the goal of making the game stable, performant, and enjoyable. Please know that we are always looking at performance, culling, memory, and load time optimization issues among our highest priority issues. And while we can’t always speak to them, we are always appreciative of your feedback.

Thank you,
SimGuruGnome

Posted on behalf of SimGuruGnome who went on vacation to Windenburg to check out the new sites.

As always, don’t foget  to remove all your mods and custom contents before updating to avoid nasty issues and problems.

In most cases, your game should update by itself or, if you have disabled automatic updates, it should show an orange arrow on the top right corner that would invite you to download the new patch: However, if some reasons non of those things happen, to update your game, open the Origin client, go to the ‘My Games’ page, right click on the game cove and select ‘check for updates’,and that’s it, you game is up to date now.

What do you think of this new patch? Do you have a favorite item or feature that was introduced with the patch? Let us know in the comments!

Source: Sims Community