Why is Everyone So Stupid?

[SLagonia 68]

I'm sorry, I need to rant for a minute about the stupidity of my sims.

First, why are they constantly building massive residential towers just to abandon them a month later because of the commute time... And then rebuild them when I destroy them just to abandon them again? Why don't they learn?

Second, why do they all insist on taking the most idiotic route to their destination? They live right next to an onramp and work next to an off-ramp, but they insist on going in a large semi-circle through the entire city to get there instead of taking the highway... And then the guy who lives halfway along that route drives several miles to get to the highway, just to travel one exit down and several miles the other way!

And most annoingly, who the hell is running my planning board? Why do they insist on putting zones facing each other (as in, without a road in between) when just turning them 90 degrees would solve all the problems? Can I fire these idiots?

[airman15 4,111]

For questions 1 and 2: I think it's a path-finding issue the people who made the game overlooked. The simplest answer to fix this would to download the Network Add-on Mod (NAM). Why would I want to download a bunch of new roads? The latest versions has a path-finding bug fix that should solve the problem with sims and their commute routes.

For Question 3: Is this a problem that occurs when you try to put zones next to each other? if so, I would say plan the roads manually and leave a space in between the two zones. Then once everything is perfect for you, fill in the blanks.

[SLagonia 68]

I have The NAM - While it's a big improvement over the stock pathfinding, it still has a lot of problems.

As for the zones facing each other, the problem is when I try to fill what should be an easy gap - Let's say for example a 3x12 gap - Rather than make the zone three deep and twelve long like any sane person would, it has it face 90 degrees - making a 3x3 facing the side road, then another 3x3 facing away from it (with no road access), and another 3x3 facing this lot (obviously with no road access) followed by another 3x3 facing the other side road.

[dazza262 133]

As for the zones facing each other, the problem is when I try to fill what should be an easy gap - Let's say for example a 3x12 gap - Rather than make the zone three deep and twelve long like any sane person would, it has it face 90 degrees - making a 3x3 facing the side road, then another 3x3 facing away from it (with no road access), and another 3x3 facing this lot (obviously with no road access) followed by another 3x3 facing the other side road.

[goodyou 0]

hello~

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

hello~

I just took a look at your "image" statistics. Firefox says this is a .gif with zero size. You should try posting these things as JPGs.

[Duke87 1,070]

With regards to the zone facing, you can make the lots arrange differently by pressing a key (shift, I think? It's been a while. Might also be ctrl. Pretty sure it's one of those two) while you're dragging and holding it down as you release the mouse button.

[packersfan 666]

Ah, the rants of a new player who feels the game should do everything! Some things you have to do manually to get it right (like zoning)...as for the sims pathfinding, oh yes, it is frustrating, but the NAM is an improvement only. Nothing will be perfect, the game was created with this major pathfinding AI flaw. I have always thought that the commute time and distance was given WAY too much importance in determining whether a property abandons or not. Come on. In real life, rich people live many many miles away from their downtown hi-rise jobs. In Los Angeles, people spend hours in traffic (both ways!) to get to work.

To put it succinctly. SIMS are stupid. Have you ever played The Sims? They are all babies in that game!

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

With regards to the zone facing, you can make the lots arrange differently by pressing a key (shift, I think? It's been a while. Might also be ctrl. Pretty sure it's one of those two) while you're dragging and holding it down as you release the mouse button.

Key usage review:

Shift kills the automatic street generation

Control allows single lots to be any size

Alt changes the orientation of the lot.