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Scholar
Original Poster
#1 Old 21st Dec 2018 at 1:18 AM
Default Finally stepping away from CAW: a vent post.
Hi, this is more of a vent post but ever since I discovered caw and world editing I've been hooked in creating cute but unplayable worlds. Now for starters, I began playing the sims on console. Vastly different, not that much creative freedom, not necessarily a bad thing. I get Sims 3 PC and caw and mods and I start going to town. Once I "learned" caw and world editing everything goes south. I'm an anxious perfectionist so I'd spend FOREVER editing worlds, not really wanting to stop or do anything else till I was satisfied. A huge chunk of my life had been taken over and it has always been a waste of time.

I'd "play" the edits for a few minutes to an hour and then hate it. Something would always be wrong. I'd want a rural world but then a modern world and would never marry the two because I'm a weirdo (I also have a weird obsession with the canning station). I'd often want all the opportunities and events you'd get from playing in an EA world like Sunset Valley, but on a tiny island with no room for anything. Today I called it quits and started playing in Sunset Valley just for the hell of it and it was amazing.

I was actually playing the game, not micromanaging or worrying about how I forgot to put a toilet in the home of all my neighbors or how the routing is broken and I might as well just start over. It was so refreshing! I just don't like big worlds in theory but when I play them there's so much to explore and I actually don't know where the spawners are actually located. So as of now I'm just starting something most people finished doing like years ago, fully enjoying Sunset Valley with expansions, making edits without caw here and there and actually interacting with more than 6 townies who also have stories and different personalities.

So for now I'm going to take advantage of lots and things but probably steer clear of player created worlds since they're what started my obsession. THE END

TL;DR Sims 3 but mostly CAW has given me waaayyy too much creative freedom and micromanaging power and I've finally broken free and started playing the actual game again.
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Lab Assistant
#3 Old 21st Dec 2018 at 4:16 AM
The best piece of advice I've heard for it was there's never gonna be a perfect world so just find one you like and stick with it.

I've also experienced burnout because of CAW. I used to get so obsessed with either finding the perfect world or making one that I couldn't even play the game because no world was good enough for me lol.
Lab Assistant
#4 Old 21st Dec 2018 at 8:18 AM
I know that feeling :/ i just wanted to edit Appaloosa Plains in CAW ...ehm... 2 years ago i think. I wasnt satisfied at all, so i tried my best with Sunset Valley - over and over again. I build lot after lot in the actual game and some month later i got tired of it. It was too big and i got scared that it would slow down my pc. (at this point my fears were ridiculous, because with master controller and other great mods my game never got unplayable - even in EA worlds). so i started a medium island. Over and over again. All i wanted was to play, but i kept on building in CAW and some lots until i got tired of it again and all the lots i built were build for nothing. In march or something like that, i started a world in CAW which i liked a lot, tiny world (one chunk) but it has 100 lots, even with a beach. I still like that world a lot, but for some reason i've got the feeling that there is something missing ):
Some weeks ago i saw Boroughsburg and started to play a bit in it and i loved it. I am still building lots for this city, but i try to stick with it. Because there so many things i like about that world compared to the things i don't like. I dont wanna go to caw ever again because it took away 2 years for nothing but frustration... that's sad, isnt it ? xD
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retired moderator
#5 Old 21st Dec 2018 at 12:27 PM
Quote: Originally posted by pretenshus
I'd often want all the opportunities and events you'd get from playing in an EA world like Sunset Valley, but on a tiny island with no room for anything.

Ach, yes I know that feeling. To have every type of lot in your world would mean having a stupendous number of lots, and adding more with the in-game world editor is never very satisfactory. I always loved the rabbithole shells, but hated that some of them needed a huge lot.

Nowdays I mostly play Sims 2, as I love the way you can sculpt and edit your world [almost] to your heart's content in-game. And the community lots are just that- there are no sub-types (like hangout, or dive bar, or junk yard) to limit things- you just control the purpose of the lot by what objects are on it. I think this is a much freer way of doing things- I know that some events and opportunities in Sims 3 were controlled by the lot sub-type, but this was very limiting from the world building viewpoint, and Sims 4's way of limiting it further with lot type depending upon a certain number of chairs being on the lot.... ugh!

In Sims 2 I can have a very tiny island and not sacrifice any game play, as I can add and remove lots as I wish, and if I want extra space I can add a sub hood.
Lab Assistant
#6 Old 21st Dec 2018 at 1:10 PM
I have no talent when it comes to world creating or lot building for that matter, and I'm almost glad because otherwise I would've perfectionisted my brains out tweaking absolutely everything. It took me years to break that mould with TS2 hoods. I'd so rarely get to the actual game play, and as I didn't really enjoy the creativeness of the tweaking in itself, it was just an obsession, it was such a relief to be rid of it.
Scholar
Original Poster
#7 Old 21st Dec 2018 at 4:12 PM
Quote: Originally posted by simsample

In Sims 2 I can have a very tiny island and not sacrifice any game play, as I can add and remove lots as I wish, and if I want extra space I can add a sub hood.


I'm so glad you mentioned 2. I desperately want to play the console version I grew up with but have no means at the moment. I am really thinking about playing ultimate again though without any cc or mods. Maybe I'll download some lots and just see where things go.
Mad Poster
#8 Old 21st Dec 2018 at 4:15 PM
Damn Wojtek, that first screenshot looks incredible.

insert signature here
( Join my dumb Discord server if you're into the whole procrastination thing. But like, maybe tomorrow. )
Mad Poster
#9 Old 21st Dec 2018 at 4:45 PM
Yeah that's the unfortunate thing about making your own worlds- you don't get quite the same sense of exploration and wonder as seeing work that someone else has done, and there isn't the same sense of finality that other people's works have (aka the "it is what it is" feeling).

It's almost like it's too familiar, but perhaps it could be said of literature and art as well!
Mad Poster
#11 Old 21st Dec 2018 at 7:52 PM
I'll settle for 40, where I'm awake for 16 hours then sleep for 8, then I'm awake again for 16, then sleep 8 more. And in this magical world where there's time for everything, I procrastinate no more than I do in this one.

insert signature here
( Join my dumb Discord server if you're into the whole procrastination thing. But like, maybe tomorrow. )
Mad Poster
#12 Old 27th Dec 2018 at 5:37 AM
I've found an almost perfect desert world in CAW and am about to get into live play with it and I've got a Riverview makeover to work on in CAW as I loved that world though not the routing issues generated in the EA version with their faulty builds and the population.
Field Researcher
#13 Old 30th Dec 2018 at 10:24 PM
I totally understand this feeling, I am forever making and starting worlds cos i'm a perfectionist with it and it takes over my life with ease and i get soo stressed and also have OCD, Anxiety and depression so have been wondering if i shouldn't be using CAW at all but since I kinda still love making worlds and have fun doing some of it plus i need one for a horse forum I'm on to take pics, I'm still gonna try and make a decent world and just not be so realistic with things as it is sims after all and it wouldn't matter if i did certain things that wouldn't be ok in real life because in sims its fine and safe! XD
Scholar
Original Poster
#14 Old 31st Dec 2018 at 2:28 AM Last edited by pretenshus : 31st Dec 2018 at 3:52 AM.
Quote: Originally posted by lloyd118
I totally understand this feeling, I am forever making and starting worlds cos i'm a perfectionist with it and it takes over my life with ease and i get soo stressed and also have OCD, Anxiety and depression so have been wondering if i shouldn't be using CAW at all but since I kinda still love making worlds and have fun doing some of it plus i need one for a horse forum I'm on to take pics, I'm still gonna try and make a decent world and just not be so realistic with things as it is sims after all and it wouldn't matter if i did certain things that wouldn't be ok in real life because in sims its fine and safe! XD


If it makes you feel any better I returned to CAW BUT!... Since playing a little bit I've found that I do like having rabbitholes and families and full seasons and now rather than rushing I actually carefully look at the houses I make to check for mistakes. I also now have worlds and projects I avoid. I've just kind of calmed down a little and it has definitely helped.

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edit: I just re-read this and have no idea why it would make you feel better. More venting I guess, but it sounds like we're kind of in the same boat.
Mad Poster
#15 Old 31st Dec 2018 at 8:03 AM
I LOVE to work in CAW and that is one of the many reasons I have not touched 4 since about last May and have not even gotten the latest EP there. Like most of us I have too many ideas and want more than I can do in a reasonable time. I have worlds in progress I have worked on off and on for a few years. I get burned out on one and then work on an other one for a while. And I take worlds done by others into CAW to look at them a lot. Fun!

I always find things I want to change in other worlds so like to make my own that are more to what I want. I am a CAW addict and admit it. LOL
Field Researcher
#16 Old 31st Dec 2018 at 5:19 PM
Quote: Originally posted by pretenshus
If it makes you feel any better I returned to CAW BUT!... Since playing a little bit I've found that I do like having rabbitholes and families and full seasons and now rather than rushing I actually carefully look at the houses I make to check for mistakes. I also now have worlds and projects I avoid. I've just kind of calmed down a little and it has definitely helped.

----
edit: I just re-read this and have no idea why it would make you feel better. More venting I guess, but it sounds like we're kind of in the same boat.


haha, it does make me feel better that you and others haven't given up and still use caw ! now i don't feel like so much of a fool XD
Space Pony
#17 Old 3rd Jan 2019 at 6:00 PM
I feel ya, I've been working on and off on a world for at least 6 or 7 years now. A year ago... I think I was almost done with it and realized I wasn't happy with the layout or theme. When I first started out I really loved Greek Mythology which was my theme. Almost done with the world, I realized how limiting that was in terms of how the community lot buildings looked. They also had very generic names as time went on.
Fast forward to now, and I'm 70% done with my current world. But I'm so tired of CAW, at the same time I want a world with a lot of community activities. So my sims are forced to leave there house, beyond going to work. I have a total of 157 lots, and now I worry about game play.
Top Secret Researcher
#18 Old 3rd Jan 2019 at 7:31 PM
That's why "deadlines" are important. Especially in creative areas. I think we are perfectionists and we tend to go over and over the same things trying to make it more perfect. We will never be done, ever!

ruffdog - if you want to see a really beautiful greek themed world check out daisylee's Greek Island - https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/di...greek-island/p1
Space Pony
#19 Old 4th Jan 2019 at 6:32 PM
Wow, that is jaw-droppingly gorgeous.
Mad Poster
#20 Old 6th Jan 2019 at 7:57 AM
AW shucks! Thank you. I have a partly done larger version. Many of my WIP projects.
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