Juniper Finch
Locking Accessories, Makeup, and Hairstyles
You’ve just created a new Sim, complete with Aspirations, Traits, and a few great outfits. Now you’re ready to customize their appearance with a stunning hairstyle, killer makeup, and just the right accessories. But when you switch categories from Everyday to Formal, your Sim suddenly becomes unrecognizable. When TS5 arrives, I hope CAS has a switch to lock makeup, hair, and accessories across all outfit categories. I don’t know anyone who changes their piercings with their clothes, so why do I have to choose the same nose ring for seven different outfits? My hair doesn’t magically grow 10 inches when I put my pajamas on, so why does my short-haired Sim suddenly have hair down to her butt? For Simmers who like mods, the MCC Command Center mod lets you copy and paste fashion selections across outfit categories. Otherwise, we’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed that TS5 brings back this TS3 feature.
Layering Clothes and Accessories
CAS in TS4 has a lot of clothes and accessories to choose from, but it would be even better if Simmers could stack and layer multiple items. If you want your Sim to wear a jacket, for example, they can only wear it with the shirt that comes with it. Simmers want to see outerwear separates, multiple bracelets on one wrist, layered eyeshadows and liners, and skirts over leggings. Some CC categorizes clothing items like scarves and jackets as necklaces to make layering possible. But I’d love to see EA give Sims more fashion freedom in TS5.
Custom CAS Folders
My CAS catalog is bursting at the seams with clothes and accessories that I’ll probably never use for my Sims. The Sims 4 base game catalog is small enough to be manageable, but with all the Packs I’ve installed over the years, it’s gotten a little out-of-control. Add in some custom content and it becomes almost impossible to see everything your Sims can wear. Simmers deserve custom folders and collections built into CAS for TS5. That way, they could hide items that their Sims are never going to wear and save their most used outfits for easy access. Ultra-organized Simmers could even create custom collections for special occasion outfits, CC by their favorite creators, and trait-specific clothing.
Searchable Objects
The TS4 CAS catalog is basically just a jumble of thumbnails that Simmers have to scroll through to find the clothing they want. The more Packs and CC you have, the harder the catalog is to navigate. For TS5, Simmers want a wardrobe of named, searchable items to make creating and customizing Sims easier. The TS4 Build Mode catalog already has this feature, but EA has somehow left it out of CAS. Named clothing, accessories, and makeup would make it possible to search for keywords like “crop top” and “jeans,” or locate CC from a specific creator.
Save and Share Styled Looks
CAS has a section for Styled Looks – pre-designed outfits created by EA to make it easier to style your Sims and go. Some of them are so-so, but some are so good that I use them as a starting point for almost all of my Sims. But aside from a few new ones that come with each Pack, Simmers are limited to the Styled Looks that EA gives them. For TS5, we want the ability to save our own favorite clothing combinations as Styled Looks that we could reuse over and over, and even upload them to the Gallery to share with other Simmers.
Adjustable Height
There are a lot of ways Simmers can fine tune their Sims, from their body shape and muscle tone to the exact slope of their forehead. But all adult Sims have one thing in common – their height. Every Sim child is the same height as every other child, and young adult, adult, and elder Sims are all the same height, too. Simmers want to be able to adjust the height of their Sims to add a little more variety to their neighborhoods. The Height Slider Mod by Luumia adds a slider to the neck area in CAS, allowing Simmers to detail edit the height of their Sims. But EA could make Sims a lot more realistic by adding height variation (and the genetics to go with it) in TS5.
More Sim Diversity
In fact the entire Sims world could use a little more diversity in its next iteration. True, EA has come a long way in terms of diversity with beautiful Black skin tones, customizable gender and sexuality, and international culture. But there’s still a long way to go to make the Sims world look more like the real world. For TS5, Simmers want to see more diverse Sims going about their lives. We want Sims who use mobility aids like wheelchairs and braces, Sims who have limb differences, trans Sims who wear binders or have top surgery scars, and so much more. The Sims franchise has always been progressive in its portrayal of diversity, but it can do so much better with its next iteration.
Astrological Signs and Traits That Matter
Simmers have a wide range of Traits to choose from when customizing their Sims, but a lot of those traits don’t actually impact gameplay all that much. For example, Neat Sims like to tidy and Slobs leave messes lying around, but putting them in a house together doesn’t produce the conflict you would expect. Noncommittal Sims fall in love as easily as Romantic ones, and only occasionally get a Tense when they’ve been in a relationship or job for too long. In TS5, we want to see more in-game effects caused by Sims Traits, personalities, and even zodiac signs. For example, Sims with compatible Traits could get along better than others, and Sims with certain astrological signs could have improved skill gain for specific skills. The Have Some Personality, Please mod by PolarBearSims does some of this, but it would be nice to not have to rely on mods.
Bring Back the Color Wheel!
The Sims 3 had a revolutionary Create A Style feature that allowed Simmers to customize the color of every single object in Build Mode and Live Mode. It was great for creating one-of-a-kind outfits and perfectly matched furniture sets, but it caused performance issues for a lot of people. But computers (and consoles) have come a long way since those days, and it’s time for EA to give us back our color wheel in TS5.
Hats That Actually Fit
Hats are pretty much broken in TS4. Yes, they sit on top of Sims’ heads, but they don’t really fit them. They just kind of float there with a lot of empty space around the sides, leaving Sims looking very silly. Plus, every Sims hat comes with its own (boring) default hairstyle that Simmers can’t change. For TS5, along with some of the other accessory tweaks mentioned above, Simmers want hats that work, well, like hats. No magic hair changes, no goofy gaps on the sides, just a hat that fits on a head. Really. That’s it. What do you think of these hopeful TS5 features? What do you hope to see out of CAS in the future? Let us know in the comments!
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