I've googled it, I deleted the thumbnail caches, and I still get this weird error.

I have all games up to Generations Installed, but yet, I get this weird thumbnail error, the thumbnail icons for most objects, tatoos, even collectibles (version 3.19 or the newest one) are messed up, completely, they appear to be screenshots from my game, with black lines going over it, weird really, and I don't know what caused them.

I have everything up to date, original games, etc., the only mods I have are NRaas mods + No Intro + No Memories.

Anybody has any ideas on how to fix it or what's causing it?

Your graphic card might be not up to par or dying. I know Sims has killed a few cards for me. And sims specs are really the bare minimum.

That cannot be it, since the game runs fine, the only thing at fault are the thumbnails, the game runs on High Details, doesn't even remotely lag (with the exceptional weird movement, but I doubt that's graphical. seeing as it only happens during CAStyle).

I also would like add the following.
I've installed The Sims 3 - it worked fine.
I've installed TS3 World Adventuers, the game patched no problem, installed no problem.
I've installed TS3 High-End Stuff, the game patched no problem, I've encountered a i/o device error, took desperate measures.
I've then decided to skip the above, and went with TS3 Ambitions, the game patched no problem, I've enountered an i/o device error.
I then decided to do something despereate, I won't say why, but super smart people might figure it out, anyways, this effectively meant that I've installed High End stuff pack over the patch that comes with Ambitions, I then did the same with Ambitions and then installed the other EPs up to Generations (with no issues)

I guess I could technically re-install all the games again, but I would like to know what exactly is the issue or if anybody else has encountered that issue.

Moved to Help.

You might want to post a screen of what your thumbnails look like.

This is what I have to deal with,


ATM, I'm leaning towards re-installing ALL of the games, but I feel that this might be little bit pointless, seing that with every new EP I will install, I will continue to re-update my game constantly, and if that's what's causing it, then I will just waste time instlaling all of the games.

To be quite frank, this is nothing more than a minor annoyance, like an O.C.D tick, but it's still annoying seeing as I can't actually see the things I want most of the time, and have to rely on their name (like the fences).

• General - Check Temps
  In some cases, game bugs/crashes/general computer issues can be caused by your computer overheating. To ascertain whether or not overheating is a cause of your problem, please follow these steps:
  
  Firstly, download and install HWMonitor. Run the program - you should see lots of numbers; if you don't know what any of them mean, don't worry - you don't have to.
  
  With HWMonitor running, use your computer normally for twenty or thirty minutes - no games, just browsing the web, using IM, playing minesweeper etc - and at the end of the twenty or thirty minutes, take a screenshot of the HWMonitor window and save it.
  
  Then do the same again, keeping HWMonitor open, while you play Sims for twenty to thirty minutes. If your game is crashing before the thirty minutes is up, just play until it crashes. If your computer is freezing, shutting down, or restarting itself, play for as long as you think you can before the freeze/shutdown/reboot, then quit the game. Take another screenshot of the HWMonitor window.
  
  Finally, attach both screenshots to a post in this thread - you can upload them to photobucket or tinypic etc, or you can hit "Go Advanced" in the Quick Reply box and use manage attachments to upload them to MTS.
  
  
• General - Post System Specs
  We need more information before we can help with your issue.
  • Please post a Quick summary of your System Specs
    Instructions on finding them are here: Game Help:System Specs^wiki.
  Please Do NOT post your complete DxDiag report in your thread.
  
  

Similar issue here: https://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=486668
You don't happen to have the same GPU, do you? If you do have an AMD GPU, what Catalyst version?

Welcome to the club, JohnBigOz. Do you also have an ATI Radeon HD 4800s video card and/or 12.6 Catalyst version?

Yeap, and my brother warned me about the possibility of my computer overheating because of the graphic card. That's why I've turned off all of my heating (radiator and the portable radiator), and tend to open the window if it gets too hot.

Is this something I should be worried/alarmed, or is it just simply a graphical error caused by the Graphic Card/Drivers?

I'm gonna skip the DxDiag, and tell you that my Display Device
is ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series,
Chip Type : AMD Radeon Graphics Processor
Approx. Total Memory : 512.0 MB, Display " 1440x900 (32 bit, 60 Hz)

And, Catalyst ver 12.6?
Does rolling back to the older version not help any?

Yes, Catalyst 12.6, I'll try rolling back.

Actually, does anybody have a safe link? I can't roll back myself because 12.6 is the first graphic driver (I'm using my brother's computer now, which needed to be re-formatted/recovered/something-along-those-lines).

http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticle...124bhotfix.aspx
Make sure though you do a complete uninstall of the 12.6 version before installing it, choose express uninstall as that remove all including catalyst software.
Though if you have any AMD driver for other hardware they will be removed too when choosing that.

That 12.4b hotfix does not appear to be for the 4800 model series?

@JohnBigOz,
what Catalyst version did you update to 12.6 from? Another member has 12.4 and still have this issue, but then she has 2GB RAM that may play a part.
You may need to rollback to even earlier versions to find a good working copy with Supernatural. If confirm all Catalyst 12.x versions are bad, then it is time to bring this issue to both EA's and AMD's attention.

And...this is why I need System Specs: do you have Windows 7 or Vista or XP? 32- or 64-bit?

[eta]
OK, I found a website that has archived all the older ones for all the OSes, rollback to your heart's content.
http://www.techpowerup.com/download...I_Catalyst/old/

I got windows XP Professional. and I cannot rollback, because like I said, I got this PC, which lacked ANY Drivers at all, so there is no "previous" drivers.

No, 4800 serie is not listed but neither is 3800 serie and i could still install it on one of my computers which have a 3870 card as it's a full driver install.
Sadly, that card have issues (due to have been overheated) so i can't say if it got any problems with using that driver.
The hotfix was mainly released to fix an issue with the listed cards also it seams like AMD have pulled the 12.4 version from there site and only have the 12.4b hotfix.

Why is there a 12.8? I've never noticed that, and it was released in August o.O?

Alright, before I actually go with updating/roll back.

Is 12.8 working with my Windows Xp 32bit OS? I did not see it being listed.

ALSO.

When was this corrupted thumbnail error first seen, and what are the suggestions as to which version should I actually roll back?

AMD have basicly stopped supporting cards older then 5000 serie from 12.4 version, the 12.6 was released for older cards to fix a security bug in catalyst control center, nothing was done to driver.

So no the 12.8 won't work for your card.
You could try the 12.3 version, you can find it on the link ellacharmed posted. or try one of the 11 versions but i think it would be good if we can confirm if the other 12 versions have problems.

12.3, doesn't work..

This is getting really annoying, I mean, why on earth is this caused? Can heck, EA fix this (not that they will). Is there ANYTHING that can be done for FREE without BUYING anything new?

Have you checked the temps like ellacharmed suggested a few posts ago, so it's not simply that card or CPU get to hot?
I think you can check the temp on card in catalyst control center also under performance/AMD overdrive

AMD has decided to classifiy the HD 4000 series and below cards as "legacy cards", and concentrate on newer series, and 12.6 is the last supported driver version. This is from their Catalyst 12.6 Download page:

You can always rollback, no matter if you have a previous version or not. What I mean by rollback is not to use the "Previous" or "Rollback" button on the Driver Properties, but manually uninstalling the driver in Safe Mode. This would force Windows to revert to the default drivers and set your resolution to 800x600. The Safe Mode is to ensure none of the driver files are in use at the time of uninstalling and can be safely removed. And you can install a different version on a clean slate.

For AMD HD models, sometimes the Catalayst software itself is the issue. When I rollback, sometimes I choose the option of just installing the driver without the Catalyst software. They used to offer it separately, but these days it is hard to find this.

Shouldn't you know this? That's why I asked what version you updated from, before being on 12.6. Was it 12.3? Or, is this your first time playing Sims 3 on this machine, which is your brother's? Does he remember the previous Catalyst version, before being on 12.6?
This issue started cropping up here on MTS with the Supernatural EP and patch 1.38. We've only just established that every one who has this issue has HD 4800 on Catalyst 12.6; one member has 12.4. And now you're saying even 12.3 is not working? You downloaded this http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2125/mirrors.php ?

Maybe it is the 1.38/1.39 patch, then? Rollback to patch 1.36 (yes, need a base game uninstall + reinstall + repatch to an Archived version) on AMD Catalyst 12.6 so we can have a definitive answer?
You can find the archive patch versions in this FAQ. Get the Superpatcher, so you can patch all the way to 1.36 from retail 1.0.631 version. Game Help:TS3 Patching:Patch_Download/Archived/BG^wiki

If you read:

There was no previous version.
Also when testing diffrent versions i recommend one use a driver cleaner program since even when unistalling in safe mode not every trace of previous version is removed.

Yep, it registered then. But I suppose by the time I reach that next paragraph, I'd forgotten. That always happens when I have multiple tabs of multiple issues open at one time while I multi-task when doing research and await tabs to load. I usually catch it, when I reread over my post, but seems I didn't catch this one...

...And Safe mode has not ever failed me yet. Current driver version sometimes need the Uninstall from Control Panel first while NOT in Safe Mode. I log in to Safe mode to manually remove all traces anyway, but that's the way I roll.

As a victim of this same glitch, I can share my short system specs:

- Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 2,6 GHz
- ATI Radeon HD 4830
- Windows XP Pro 32 bit
- 4 GB RAM (I know I know, my op system can only see 3,5 GB RAM)

The glitch started since August as far as I remember, AFTER installing Showtime and AFTER updating for Catalyst 12.6.
I will make the rollback (uninstall and install the driver) for a previous Catalyst version (a 11.x maybe) as soon as I can and I report back.
And thanks for all your help,ellacharmed. It's a great help to discover what is causing this annoying bug.

I found something intresting when i did some testing on one of my computers which have a 3650 card.
The 12.6 version appear to have no display driver, though the card on that computer is AGP, so that might be the reason.
This is only seen if one choose custom install as express install will just flash by that screen.

Note:
I saw this after i removed all trace of any previous driver and was doing a reinstall of driver.

But even when I went back to 12.4, I still had the issue.

Try 12.3 version but make sure you do a "clean" install = remove 12.4 version completly before installing that.
I had problems with 12.4 on computer i talked about earlier, not same as you but there was horrible distortions making the game totally unplayable and 12.3 worked for me.

The more people that can confirm that 12.4 & 12.6 (which is mainly an update of ccc) have problems and a previous version works is better when pointing this out to EA as they can put presure on AMD to fix it.