The Sims 4's Latest Patch Fixes Old Bug by Creating New Ones

What should have been a good start to July for people who play The Sims 4 has instead become a storm of bugs, glitches, and general chaos. EA released a major patch update for The Sims 4 on July 1 for PC, Mac, and console. The patch was meant to get the game ready for the upcoming Enchanted by Nature expansion pack. It added new inventory tools, upgrades for notebooks, and better interfaces. Things didn't quite go as planned, though, as usual in The Sims.

Although the patch added some good features, like better inventory sorting, visual cues for spoiled food, and even new glass walls and roof plants, things quickly got worse afterward. Players began reporting new bugs almost immediately. These bugs ranged from being annoying to being able to ruin the game. There were a lot of complaints, screenshots, and desperate pleas for help on forums and Twitter.

Players can no longer drag things like cups and plates into the trash, which is a very annoying problem with basic functionality. After an update, it's no longer possible to do something that was previously easy. This makes basic cleanup hard. And that's just the start. A PC user, Swifty Simmer, pointed out that the list of in-game tutorials will now remain there, regardless of the changes. Console players are also affected. For example, the "Sharing & Caring" hobby whiteboard from the Businesses and Hobbies pack now gives them a script call error and disappears from their lots.

Not one more bug report, though. People who play The Sims 4 have reported everything from Sims skipping career levels for no reason to a problem where pregnancy tests just can't be done. As part of the new Enchanted by Nature features, gnomes can be turned into "real people." This is known as the "gnome glitch." Unfortunately, for them, being "alive" means making strange noises and jumping around uncontrollably. It's both very funny and very scary.

The question titled "Drag not working for several objects" has already received more than 1,000 votes on the official Sims forums. There were over 600 on the hobby whiteboard that has since disappeared. The bug for the pregnancy test? Almost 400. These aren't isolated reports; these are widespread issues that affect every possible combination of platform and expansion. The patch that was supposed to improve things seems to have made them worse.

The patch notes for "Planting Seeds of Enchantment" from EA were hopeful, if not a little tone-deaf. In an update that starts with the strangely happy question "How's it growing?" (horny, apparently), the Sims team talked about the changes that will be made to get the game ready for Enchanted by Nature. Some of these changes are better inventory sorting, where items can now be filtered by rarity, price, and spoilage status; a redesigned notebook that makes it easier to get to discoveries and Sim stats; and much-needed improvements to the way you move around the console.

They even added some cool things on paper. Food that has gone bad now stacks separately and has a red background and a trash icon. New badges mark things in notebooks that can't be seen. Now, plants can be put on roofs to look nice. And townies are finally getting a wider range of names. And the eyedropper tool was "grumpy" before, but it's not as bad now, so there you go.

But what's the cherry on top of this digital mess? It still doesn't look like the weather system works right. The patch notes say that rain and snow should now stay out of rooms that are closed off. Still, players say that leaves are still falling inside during the fall and that rain is still coming inside when it shouldn't. It makes you wonder: did anyone test this patch before it was released?

The Sims community is used to chaos, but they are speaking out more and more about the game's direction. Every major patch claims to make things more stable, but it always seems to make things worse. And since Enchanted by Nature is coming out on July 10, Simmers are already getting ready for the chaos that will ensue.

In their update notes, the developers do respond to player feedback. They thank players for reporting bugs and encourage more use of the forum. But people can only feel sorry for you so many times when updates that are supposed to "fix" the game keep breaking it.

For now, The Sims 4 is both a life simulator and a real-life example of Murphy's Law. With each patch, there is less and less difference between fun gameplay and silly mistakes. It's not quite the life simulation anyone had in mind, what with the jumping gnomes, disappearing whiteboards, and dishes you can't throw away.

If you want to buy new packs like Enchanted by Nature, Businesses and Hobbies, or Life and Death, always check the discount links first. Some of them are as much as 50% off. Maybe you should wait until the next patch comes out, if the current one doesn't bring back the ghosts of your Sims' dead friends.