2015 Challenge Tournament Overview

[Metropolis Man]

I had a blast in my first challenge. I can't wait for more to appear!

In the mean time, I have a question. How will patches be dealt with? Two players doing the challenge may have dramatically different experiences if a patch is released during the tournament. For example, consider the changes to jobs recently. Pretend that it had happened during the tournament during an event where jobs were a scoring feature. In this hypothetical situation, some people would have submitted scores before the nerf to jobs, and some people would submit scores after. Obviously, when the player did the challenge would have a huge impact on their scores. If a patch shows up that dramatically changes things, would players that had already submitted their scores get another shot at it?

Yeah in your example the team would unquestionably have to address something that drastic with jobs. We might end up scraping the entire event and starting it at a later date and quickly tossing you guys something safer that would not be impacted by a patch. All I can say is - we'll have to see what the various patches bring. Hopefully they will not change things so drastically that the team needs to do that kind of action because personally I am not great with shifting gears that quickly. I like planning and predictability.

[pithenia]

Wow, I am still excited! I just started the first challenge for this years' tournament! I have never done one before, but I will do my best with all of the challenges. I am so happy that I found this site and that I actually read the forum. I am usually just looking for game tips . . . 

[Metropolis Man]

Wow, I am still excited! I just started the first challenge for this years' tournament! I have never done one before, but I will do my best with all of the challenges. I am so happy that I found this site and that I actually read the forum. I am usually just looking for game tips . . . 

Good luck in this year's Tournament, pithenia.

[ClayMask]

I assume auto aging for unplayed Sims needs to be on?

[Metropolis Man]

I assume auto aging for unplayed Sims needs to be on?

Yes, I will add that.

[GlazeyLady]

I didn't see anything in the rules about the gallery.  If in individual challenge doesn't specifically prevent it, can you move your Sim(s) to an empty lot, enter buy mode, open the gallery and download a new house/lot to play in?

[Metropolis Man]

I didn't see anything in the rules about the gallery.  If in individual challenge doesn't specifically prevent it, can you move your Sim(s) to an empty lot, enter buy mode, open the gallery and download a new house/lot to play in?

That to me sounds like a potential exploit - as in the house you download could be totally decked out. You just need to work with existing homes or build your own.

[GlazeyLady]

That to me sounds like a potential exploit - as in the house you download could be totally decked out. You just need to work with existing homes or build your own.

Ah, I wondered if it could be - I haven't done much with building or with the gallery.  I was playing around with Outdoor Retreat and came back from vacation and didn't want to build a house, so I went to the gallery and found that most of them I couldn't afford.    So I wondered if it still would be the same cost as if you built it, but just easier for those of us who aren't great builders.  So, since it wasn't in the rules, I was hoping . . . 

Thanks for answering so quick!

[Metropolis Man]

Some of the team members recently were talking about intentionally killing Sims. This was a hot topic back in the day with Sims 3. As of now the team has NOT banned this practice in the General Rules for Tournament Challenges. It is of course banned in the Sims 4 Immortal Dynasty. There may be specific challenges where we do not allow killing, so just be aware of that.

[ClayMask]

Some of the team members recently were talking about intentionally killing Sims. This was a hot topic back in the day with Sims 3. As of now the team has NOT banned this practice in the General Rules for Tournament Challenges. It is of course banned in the Sims 4 Immortal Dynasty. There may be specific challenges where we do not allow killing, so just be aware of that.

I haven't tried this, so I have a couple of questions about it.  Would you be able to have the Sim rejoin the house after intentionally killing them?  Also, how would this affect the Sim's age, if and if you did not bring them back to life with ambrosia or the book of life?

[Metropolis Man]

I haven't tried this, so I have a couple of questions about it.  Would you be able to have the Sim rejoin the house after intentionally killing them?  Also, how would this affect the Sim's age, if and if you did not bring them back to life with ambrosia or the book of life?

Maybe other team members know more about the whole dynamic than me because I am in the same boat as you and have not even tried it. If there is a potential exploit here than we need to know about it.

[Nutella]

On a lot of challenges, we state that no life extention methods allowed.  If killing sim and bringing them back alters their age (like prolong them), it would be consider life extention, which is against the rules. 

[Deklitch]

I had an issue with the jobs challenge that I asked about after the event was closed in the thread for that challenge. As of the time I'm posting this, it is still the most recent post in that thread, so I thought I'd ask it in here as well. It was an issue that involved my sims progression towards the next level of their career. It went like this ... the first day they advanced in it through the colours of the progress bar from left to right.

On their next day of work, their progress bar had dropped considerably from where they had been the previous day back to the start again. It didn't matter what mood they were in, whether or not they had completed their daily task or anything else. It just kept on returning to the start. On the day after that it returned to the start again and didn't move at all.

I took them out of their first careers and put them into other careers with the same result. Yes, I spent the entire time of their ya and a lifespans trying to get it not to do that ... each of the jobs I tried was having that same effect.

To me this seemed like that bug that most were suffering from and was supposedly solved by that patch that was put out mid way through this challenge. Anyway, I had told the downloader to download the patch to my game and it indicated that it was done. And I started this challenge AFTER that point. By the way, my sim from the first challenge of 2015 managed to get to level 3 or 4 of his career.

In the first post in this thread, Metro says: You must always play your challenge file under the most current EA patch — this applies to before creating your file as well as the duration of the event.

I don't want to start on the next two challenges, only to discover that something has happened and I'm somehow not patched properly. I can get awful scores on my own, I don't need anything working against me that doesn't need to be working against me in these things. So, if someone could please help me out, I'd be ever so grateful.

Can someone tell me
1) How I go about ensuring my game is patched properly and up to date? Is there a number thing to look for like in Sims 3?
2) Whether the fact that I don't have that game pack would impact on the patch/what I'm experiencing in some way?

Thank you

[IronicBeauty]

@Deklitch it does sound like a glitch or bug. I would try right clicking on the game in Origin and repairing the game. After I downloaded a few mods awhile back I was having some odd things happening with gardening and repairing the game along with clearing some cache files seemed to help. I also use AMD Gaming Evolved add on Raptr which really helps with the game's performance.

[MarianT]

Given the frequency of the cooking bug, it might be a good idea to tell players in the Rules that they're allowed to use "repair game" (in the menu when you right-click on your game in Origin). This doesn't alter your game except to get rid of a bug that might have come with a patch.