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Criminal Mastermind
retired moderator
#76 Old 12th Jan 2011 at 2:45 AM Last edited by Chaavik : 12th Jan 2011 at 3:09 AM. Reason: Added Note
1. Which game(s) do you have?

Base, WA, HELS, AMB and LN. I do not have Fast Lane installed.

2. What game version/patch level?

6.1.11.009001

3. How many sims are missing/invisible?

Sometimes 1, sometimes 2 or 3, and the invisible Sims are usually in my family. BUT I suspect that there is a possibility that an inactive Sim may have become corrupted somewhere off the lot. But to pinpoint exactly -who- became corrupted off the lot is difficult or pointless considering if the Sim is an NPC and not visible in the world.

4. Do they have an icon or not?

Icon? If you mean the plumbob, then the answer is yes. Their plumbobs are visible.

5. Do you have any UI issues?

Yes, when the Sim becomes invisible, their face disappears but the affected Sim still remains on the family skewer.

6. Were the sims traveling?

No. I don't bother sending them on vacations.

7. How many traveling?

N/A

8. How are all travellers related?

N/A

9. Which country are the sims in?

N/A

10. How many days?

N/A

11. Did the sim(s) return via the phone prematurely or only when the vacation was over?

N/A

12. Returning together or separate?

N/A

13. Are you using SuperComputer or AwesomeMod?

Twallan's Master Controller (originally called Super Computer).

14. Are you using EA Story Progression, Twallan's Story Progression, or Awesome Story?

Twallan's Story Progression

15. When did the issue start?

Around November 2010. I reported this issue in Twallan's NRAAS Industries Design Discussion section on November 20th. The 'Invisible Sim' bug began affecting my game after I downloaded the patch for Late Night. This patch was released at the end of October 2010, but I waited a few weeks to hear comments about the patch. No negative comments were made about the patch, so I went ahead and downloaded it to patch the game to its current version.

16. What were your sims doing?

It varies really. Just tonight, my Sim hired a babysitter to look after the toddler while her wife went to the hospital to deliver their 2nd child. The babysitter showed up at my couple's house, appearing 'corrupted' (blocky with poor textures). Other times, the Sims in my family becomes corrupted after stepping out of the shower or bath. And sometimes one of my working Sims will come home looking 'corrupted' after a Sim in the same family step out of the shower/bath. So the corruption seemed random among the Sims on my active family's lot.

When I described the Sim looking 'corrupted' (blocky with poor textures), my Sim Detail was set to 'Low'. My game settings were set to 'Recommended Settings' using this guide at Neoseeker. However, my Sims do NOT look like blocky Sims with poor textures when they're not corrupted.

*Added Note*

The corruption affected the newborn baby while the corrupted babysitter was at my family's house. She arrived at the family's home before the baby was born.

The couple arrived home with an invisible baby. The parents themselves are not corrupted.

I have never seen this babysitter before, so I am only guessing that the corruption occurred during the -creation- of a new Sim, I.E. the babysitter.

However, the babysitter did look like an adult and sounded like an adult. I do not have a mod that allowed adult babysitters to be created. The babysitters were supposed to be teenagers, meaning that I did not modify or add a mod to modify the babysitters to be adults.

*Added Note*

17. What things have you tried?

I tried 'ResetSim' with no luck. I tried shift+clicking the Sim to bring up the Teleport Here option and force the Sim to teleport somewhere on the lot. I tried 'Fix Invisible Sim' via Debug and via Twallan's Debug Enabler (using the townhall and computer). I even tried Edit Town to get out of the family's lot, switch to another family and then switch back to my active family's lot.

I removed the custom skintones, eyes and faces. I removed HP's vampire tattoo removal mod. I tried everything I could think of that will affect my Sim physically.

18. What worked?

Nothing

19. What didn't work?

Nothing. I tried everything to fix the stupid 'Invisible Sim' bug.

20. Anything else you would like to add?

This 'Invisible Sim' bug goes further back to the base game, not just to WA. But the bug did not become more common until after World Adventures was released. I didn't have this bug then. I don't know if it became much more common after the patch was released for Late Night at the end of October, 2010. I cannot play Sims 3 for more than 2 to 3 Sim days (roughly 1 to 2 hours). The Sims become corrupt on the 2nd or 3rd day. That always happen every time I fire up the game to play my one and only family in Sunset Valley. I updated my ATI Radeon 4300/4500 series drivers to the most recent driver released on December 13th. I still get the 'Invisible Sim' bug no matter what techniques I employed and what other forums suggested to do.

This is an EA bug that EA refused to acknowledge and refused to fix. There are forums everywhere complaining about this bug, but the lack of response on EA's part to address this issue tells me that they are not willing to spend time and money to research the bug and to develop a fix for this bug.

I can only say that I started having the 'Invisible Sim' bug -after- I downloaded the patch from EA's Sims 3 site to update Late Night to its current version. My mods consist mostly of hairs, clothes, furniture, walls and a couple of lots here and there. I have very few XML/tuning mods on top of Twallan's NRAAS mods.

Hopefully this is more than sufficient information to figure out when the 'Invisible Sim' bug started. And if there is a real workaround to actually fix the bug, not work around the bug.
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Instructor
#77 Old 12th Jan 2011 at 11:39 PM
1. Which game(s) do you have?
Base game, all expansions, no stuff packs.

2. What game version/patch level?
Current patch level.

3. How many sims are missing/invisible?
Three sims seem to be affected by this and are intermittently invisible, one seems to be stuck that way and uncontrollable.

4. Do they have an icon or not?
Yes, their icons are fine.

5. Do you have any UI issues?
No.

6. Were the sims traveling?
Two of the sims had just gotten back from France when the bug occurred.

7. How many traveling?
Two out of the three.

8. How are all travellers related?
The two who were traveling got married in France.

9. Which country are the sims in?
The bug didn't occur until they arrived back in Bridgeport.

10. How many days?
It was a few hours after arriving in Bridgeport. They had been in France for 11 days.

11. Did the sim(s) return via the phone prematurely or only when the vacation was over?
When vacation was over.

12. Returning together or separate?
Together.

13. Are you using SuperComputer or AwesomeMod?
I am using Awesomemod.

14. Are you using EA Story Progression, Twallan's Story Progression, or Awesome Story?
Awesome Story.

15. When did the issue start?
Today.

16. What were your sims doing?
One was reading a cookbook, and one was working out.

17. What things have you tried
The reset sim cheat, loading a previous save (but the bug occurred anyway), clearing the cache files.

18. What worked?
The reset sim cheat worked temporarily a couple of times, but it isn't working now.

19. What didn't work?
Clearing the cache files. Resetsim, eventually.

20. Anything else you would like to add?[/pre]
Instructor
#78 Old 13th Jan 2011 at 1:10 AM
I don't know if you're already read my post above, so I am posting again because since making it I have found something that appears to have worked.

My sims first experienced the invisibility bug after they arrived home from a vacation in France. As a last-ditch effort I send two of the sims on a trip to Egypt, and so far the bug has completely disappeared and they are behaving normally, whereas in Bridgeport I couldn't go more than a couple of sim hours without experiencing problems. I have also installed the Overwatch mod, but I have no idea if that has anything to do with it.

For those of you with the WA expansion, have you tried sending your bugged sims on vacation? See if that helps.
Test Subject
#79 Old 13th Jan 2011 at 7:33 PM
1. Which game(s) do you have? World Adventures , High End Loft , Ambitions , Fast Lane , Late Night

2. What game version/patch level? 6.1

3. How many sims are missing/invisible? 4 sims on 6 different occasions( when it happened i didn't save i just restarted the game but it keeps happening)

4. Do they have an icon or not? Yes

5. Do you have any UI issues? no

6. Were the sims traveling? no

7. How many traveling?N/A

8. How are all travellers related? N/A

9. Which country are the sims in? N/a

10. How many days?N/A

11. Did the sim(s) return via the phone prematurely or only when the vacation was over? N/A

12. Returning together or separate?N/A

13. Are you using SuperComputer or AwesomeMod?no

14. Are you using EA Story Progression, Twallan's Story Progression, or Awesome Story?no

15. When did the issue start? right after i installed late night

16. What were your sims doing?inventing, mixing drinks, reading, and working at cemetery

17. What things have you tried? reset sim, new town, saving the family and putting them in a different house, uninstalling late night

18. What worked? nothing
19. What didn't work?everything,
20. Anything else you would like to add?[/pre] If i leave the sims invisible other sims can still see them and wave to them , if i try to teleport a sim whilee they are invisible they will appear for a few seconds and then dissapear again or as soon as they change outfits they get reset and invisible, if i send an invisible sim to the mirror to go into CAS i lose all of my menu buttons, and even after i uninstalled late night and made a completely new town and family they started to go invisible only a few minutes after game play
Test Subject
#80 Old 15th Jan 2011 at 7:42 PM
1. Which game(s) do you have?

TS3, WA. HELS, Ambiitons, as well as some additional neighborhoods including Barnacle Bay

2. What game version/patch level?

4.5.6.009001

3. How many sims are missing/invisible?

The one sim in the game I was playing

4. Do they have an icon or not?

They have nothing. The regular control interface is there but there is no sim in it. No sim or parts of sim visible in the game. No sim data in the UI.

5. Do you have any UI issues?

I couldn't get the game to simply quit using the Quit command from the F5 options. I clicked Main Menu and refused to save and that bounced me out.

6. Were the sims traveling?

Yes, to France, doing a Painter opportunity. One sim newly created in Barnacle Bay and played for about 3 hours.

7. How many traveling?

One

8. How are all travellers related?

N/A

9. Which country are the sims in?

France, this is the first sim I've taken traveling since my last update and the Barnacle Bay install.

10. How many days?

Happened immediately on arrival. France loaded but without my Sim. I could see the locals, could mouse over and see inhabited versus uninhabited mouse cursor changes. Couldn't see my sim or interact with anything.

11. Did the sim(s) return via the phone prematurely or only when the vacation was over?

I let the game sit for 9 game hours with no change, which was a few minutes in real time.

12. Returning together or separate?

No return.

13. Are you using SuperComputer or AwesomeMod?

Neither

14. Are you using EA Story Progression, Twallan's Story Progression, or Awesome Story?

None of the above.

15. When did the issue start?

Not sure what you mean.

16. What were your sims doing?

Traveling, moving from the Barnacle Bay neighborhood to France.

17. What things have you tried

Tried to do a resetSim command twice. Command went through but with no affect. Nothing else but to google for clues.

18. What worked?

Nothing other than what I mentioned above about not being able to quit normally.

19. What didn't work?

I think you've got all the facts now.

20. Anything else you would like to add?[/pre]

Thanks for the thread and the ongoing attention to the problem. Good luck!
Instructor
#81 Old 16th Jan 2011 at 8:47 PM
I just wanted to add that it appears that the solution I listed above worked. Here is a full run-down of when I experienced the bug and how I solved it:

My sims vacationed in France. No bug. They went back home. Almost immediately after they arrived they began to go invisible, stop responding, etc. I tried many solutions such as deleting the cache files, using the resetsim cheat, etc, to no avail.

Finally, as a last-ditch effort I sent them on vacation to Egypt. Upon arriving in Egypt the sims were bug-free. Spent 11 days there, and have returned to Bridgeport, with no reoccurring incidents of the invisibility bug.

SO for those who are experiencing this, try sending your sims on vacation (if possible) and see if that helps. I read on another forum that you should send them some place OTHER than the first area you experienced the bug in - so if your sims bugged out after being in China, go to France or Egypt.

I hope this helps or gives you guys some direction in finding a solution for this bug.
Test Subject
#82 Old 18th Jan 2011 at 12:32 AM
1. Which game(s) do you have?
Base game. Ambitions. Late Night.
2. What game version/patch level?
6.1.11.009001
3. How many sims are missing/invisible?
none are invisible
4. Do they have an icon or not?
no icon.
5. Do you have any UI issues?
yes.
6. Were the sims traveling?
no.
7. How many traveling?
not traveling.
8. How are all travellers related?
not traveling.
9. Which country are the sims in?
bridgeport.
10. How many days?
11. Did the sim(s) return via the phone prematurely or only when the vacation was over?
12. Returning together or separate?
13. Are you using SuperComputer or AwesomeMod?
no.
14. Are you using EA Story Progression, Twallan's Story Progression, or Awesome Story?
no.
15. When did the issue start?
two days ago.
16. What were your sims doing?
playing chess.
17. What things have you tried
restarting the game. removing all my custom content and playing without it.
18. What worked?
nothing.
19. What didn't work?
enerything.
20. Anything else you would like to add?[/pre]
I noticed, that when i switched to a different houshold, i could see them, and everything was fine. So i experimented and saved my bugged sims to the family library, and put them in a different house and it just froze in the map view. I couldnt do anything, so i have to use cntrl-alt-delete and exit out of it.
Test Subject
#83 Old 18th Jan 2011 at 4:18 PM Last edited by darkhjustice : 20th Jan 2011 at 5:56 AM.
:( this really sucks.
1. Which game(s) do you have? Sims 3 Deluxe (base + ambitions) and WA
2. What game version/patch level?
base: 1.18.9.009.001
WA: 2.13.6.009.002
ambitions: 4.6.6.009.001
3. How many sims are missing/invisible? just one
4. Do they have an icon or not? she had a blank one, then she didn't have an icon, then she had a blank icon again
5. Do you have any UI issues? i did but i fixed it when i played with the backup game.
6. Were the sims traveling? yes
7. How many traveling? it was she and her bf. her bf is normal.
8. How are all travellers related? boyfriend/girlfriend
9. Which country are the sims in? they were in France
10. How many days? 8, but the days didn't pass :s
11. Did the sim(s) return via the phone prematurely or only when the vacation was over? Prematurely because Chun Yen (the invisible girl) disappeared at the start of the vacation.
12. Returning together or separate? Together.
13. Are you using SuperComputer or AwesomeMod? No.
14. Are you using EA Story Progression, Twallan's Story Progression, or Awesome Story? No.
15. When did the issue start? 01/16/11
16. What were your sims doing? At the beginning of the vacation is when Chun Yen disappeared. Like, as soon as it loaded.
17. What things have you tried? Playing the backup game, patching WA, using Twallan's DebugEnabler, restoring .dll files, deleting the cache files, moving the family around the neighborhood (evict/move in), switching active families, using the resetsim cheat, uninstalling/reinstalling WA, etc. Pretty much everything I can think of.
18. What worked? Using the backup save file restored my UI, at first, Chun Yen wasn't in the family when I did that, like she had no icon or anything. She still had a relationship with her bf so I evicted them and moved them back in and now she's in the household again. I don't know if patching worked, I last checked it at patch 2.6.6 (or whichever that was) and it hadn't worked. Since then, I've patched it again, so I'll check and report back.
19. What didn't work? Once I used Twallan's DebugEnabler, the game would crash. Consistently, to the point that I narrowed down that that was what was causing the game to crash. However, when I used the option "Fix Invisible Sims" that didn't work. She remained invisible even though the game told me her outfit had been restored. After I removed the mod from the game, it continues to crash when I select Chun Yen.
20. Anything else you would like to add? I've had the game for only two weeks. I got WA on the 14th, and two days later, it started with this. None of this happened before travelling, as I hadn't travelled as soon as I installed WA. Also, have a family in another neighborhood, totally normal there.


EDIT: Patching it didn't fix it :/ and I tried to do Howabominable's method, however, Mr. boyfriend couldn't even make it to the computer to "Travel" before the game crashed again
Test Subject
#84 Old 28th Jan 2011 at 12:03 AM
1. Which game(s) do you have?
Base game, Ambitions, World Adventure, Fast Lane, Late Night

2. What game version/patch level?
6.1.11

3. How many sims are missing/invisible?
7-8

4. Do they have an icon or not?
Some do some don't. Those that do don't have their faces showing up in the icons.

5. Do you have any UI issues?
Sometimes when I try to switch families it the UI will disappear and I have to restart the game. This problem started first and then the sims began to disappear after a few weeks later.

6. Were the sims traveling?
no

7. How many traveling?
n/a

8. How are all travellers related?
9. Which country are the sims in?
10. How many days?
11. Did the sim(s) return via the phone prematurely or only when the vacation was over?
12. Returning together or separate?

13. Are you using SuperComputer or AwesomeMod?
No, but I am using Twallan's Master Controller (The Super Computer upgrade) but I downloaded it after the problem started, hoping something in it might fix the problem.

14. Are you using EA Story Progression, Twallan's Story Progression, or Awesome Story?
Twallan's Story Progression but that was installed the same time as the Master Controller.

15. When did the issue start?
About 1 week ago

16. What were your sims doing?
Most were at home, and as far as I can tell this problem only begins when I switch households to check on them, and then they malfunction.

17. What things have you tried?
Installing the Master Controller, restoring the entire Sims 3 folder, resetting the sims, resetting the town, restarting the game, deleting the cache files

18. What worked?
None of it. I'm not sure if restoring the sims 3 file worked or not because I might have saved the game before I noticed the problem.

19. What didn't work?
Pretty much everything else.

20. Anything else you would like to add?
This is super annoying. I have had previous glitches that may have been building up to this one great super annoying glitch (such as the UI disappearing while I am changing houses). Funny enough that first glitch only appeared with certain families and has stopped since the other problems have started.

Also when I tried to delete the cache files when I noticed they were glitchy the sims completely disappeared and their houses were listed as empty. All the sims working correctly were still there.
Test Subject
#85 Old 29th Jan 2011 at 2:02 AM Last edited by corapntr : 29th Jan 2011 at 11:43 AM.
Well scratch this idea. My game still borks out even after all the fixes.

I mean, yes you can force your game to work but imo not worth the trouble.
==================
If yours happens when traveling to work on families played prior to LN (I believe LN requires a sim household be "reset" to their expansion-specific needs), here is what I did.

Also note that I only play one active household. Adjust accordingly if you play more than one (saving more, etc. etc.)

First do a lot of saving to different files. This is a necessity unfortunately as corrupt files are totally possible even when the save seems OK. After saving under different file names find out which save is directly before the missing sims/ui issue. Then using that good file I moved the inventory of the known affected sims to a holder sim and then saved it to a new save. Then I downloaded awesomemod's fixall command (CTRL SHIFT C then type fixall) and saved immediately to a new file (I call my files version 1...version 2 or simply v.1...v.2). You may get save or loading issues but try twice. If it doesn't work, repeat the process from right when you moved the inventory and again use fixall. It will eventually work.

The next day at work the sims will still bork out or disappear if you save during or after they come back from work. However, if you switch active households then the sims will miraculously come back intact. Well...minus their inventory. So long as you move their inventory before they reset they should work as well as they can. I also do the double save (saving first before using the fixall procedure) and the errors seem to keep coming back.

I will be testing to see if they still bork out after these fixes. But it seems OK thus far though. Hope this helps someone until EA fixes this issue.
Mad Poster
#86 Old 31st Jan 2011 at 8:36 PM
1. Which game(s) do you have?
Base game only (questions 6-12 N/A)

2. What game version/patch level?
1.17 patch

3. How many sims are missing/invisible?
1, so far

4. Do they have an icon or not?
No icon

5. Do you have any UI issues?
I don't think so?

13. Are you using SuperComputer or AwesomeMod?
The only mod I used at the time was the NoIntro mod you get when you set up the Mods folder.

14. Are you using EA Story Progression, Twallan's Story Progression, or Awesome Story?
Nope.

15. When did the issue start?
A few minutes ago.

16. What were your sims doing?
She was dancing, and I tried to change her outfit. She got stuck and never changed, and then when I came out of Live Mode into Edit Town, and back in, she was Invisible. Now she's walking around doing whatever: Invisible. Eek!

17. What things have you tried
I tried to shift between Modes, like Buy and Build, Live & Edit, and I knew I didn't want to SAVE any of this nonsense so I went into Task Manager and forced the game to shut down.

20. Anything else you would like to add?
On my part, I suspect that the problem was bad CC. That's why I can't stand the FRAKKING LAUNCHER; unlike with Package files, we don't have a glorious tool like the Dashboard that can scan Sims3Packs for faulty items that can bork the game, and I've had some pretty shoddy Sims3Packs crash my game before, so I'm not even surprised that this happened, just upset. It wasn't a mod, I think, since my Mods folder is practically EMPTY, and she didn't have any kind of Package CC on her. It was all Sims3Pack stuff. When I click Change Outfit at the Dresser, I don't see any of the preview icons showing the clothes.

18. What worked?
It appears that after I removed the suspect CC from the sim and saved her all over again she's working fine. I was able to change her outfit and she's dancing again.
Test Subject
#87 Old 11th Feb 2011 at 2:21 PM Last edited by stasisesque : 23rd Feb 2011 at 6:29 PM. Reason: More information
1. Which game(s) do you have?
Base game, WA, Ambitions, Late Night.
2. What game version/patch level?
Base - 1.19
Late Night - 6.2.4
3. How many sims are missing/invisible?
One.
4. Do they have an icon or not?
Nope.
5. Do you have any UI issues?
Yup, entire UI has completely vanished.
6. Were the sims traveling?
Had been back in Bridgeport for a day following a 3 day vacation.
7. How many traveling?
One.
8. How are all travellers related?
N/A
9. Which country are the sims in?
N/A
10. How many days?
N/A
11. Did the sim(s) return via the phone prematurely or only when the vacation was over?
Only when vacation over.
12. Returning together or separate?
N/A
13. Are you using SuperComputer or AwesomeMod?
Nope.
14. Are you using EA Story Progression, Twallan's Story Progression, or Awesome Story?
EA Story Progression.
15. When did the issue start?
Today.
16. What were your sims doing?
Eating breakfast.
17. What things have you tried
Everything listed on the help page, aside from uninstalling and reinstalling.
18. What worked?
So far - nothing.
19. What didn't work?
So far - everything.


Edit with new info: Turned off EA story progression, same issue as above (UI gone, Sim gone, just the dotted outline, entire save game borked), then tried using Twallan's story mod - exact same issue as above. Will try again using Awesomemod instead.
Test Subject
#88 Old 11th Feb 2011 at 8:04 PM
1. Which game(s) do you have?
Ambitions, WA, High End, Late Night

2. What game version/patch level?
6.2.4

3. How many sims are missing/invisible?
Family of 5 (1 SimBot, 4 Sims)

4. Do they have an icon or not?
No.

5. Do you have any UI issues?
It's gone, too.

6. Were the sims traveling?
They had just returned home.

7. How many traveling?
All 5.

8. How are all travellers related?
2 parents, 2 children, and their SimBot.

9. Which country are the sims in?
They had just returned from China.

10. How many days?
They were there for 17 days.

11. Did the sim(s) return via the phone prematurely or only when the vacation was over?
Things got messed up on vacation so I sent them home. I could select the Sim but it always showed the father and his inventory. So I'd click the wife and tell her to use the toilet and she would do that but my UI would still show the father. I could not make that change. I told her to return home, their vacation would have been over the next day.

12. Returning together or separate?
Together.

13. Are you using SuperComputer or AwesomeMod?
No mods, no CC at all.

14. Are you using EA Story Progression, Twallan's Story Progression, or Awesome Story?
EA story progression = yes.

15. When did the issue start?
See above #11. Had problems while on vacation.
They all returned home, but no Sim icons or UI loaded. Nothing is selectable there is no way to change Sims or find my Sims even.

16. What were your sims doing?
See above #11 & #15..

17. What things have you tried
Everything listed in the help section and in this (and other threads).

18. What worked?
Nothing.

19. What didn't work?
Everything.

20. Anything else you would like to add?
I had been having small problems while on vacation since installing LN. Things would slow down drastically and I'd have to Reset all Sims almost nightly. No one can use a tent anymore, or even click on one or it makes that Sim get stuck.
Test Subject
#89 Old 24th Feb 2011 at 8:55 PM Last edited by aisthesis : 24th Feb 2011 at 9:42 PM.
1. Which game(s) do you have?
Base, World Adventures, Ambitions and Late Night

2. What game version/patch level?
1.19.44.010002/2.0.86.002002/4.0.87.006001/6.2.4.010001

3. How many sims are missing/invisible?
Just one, Cycl0ne Sw0rd, from Sunset Valley
4. Do they have an icon or not?

The icon dissapeared, but comes back after a while. The sim, however, doesn't.

5. Do you have any UI issues?
The sims clothes menu (Change Outfit) doesn't show any icon. This had happend just a while before with another sim, a custom one, but corrected after I entered plan outfit, made a few changes and applied. This second sim is okay.
Other than that, if I enter Plan Outfit with the invisible sim, apparently the game cannot recognize the sim's age and gender. Every single outfit installed can be chosen, as with hair and etc. Choosing one doesn't have any effect.

6. Were the sims traveling?
No.

7. How many traveling?
8. How are all travellers related?
9. Which country are the sims in?
10. How many days?
11. Did the sim(s) return via the phone prematurely or only when the vacation was over?
12. Returning together or separate?
None of the previous questions apply. The sim was at home, never travelled.

13. Are you using SuperComputer or AwesomeMod?
I have Twallan's Master Controller and Overwatch, both the latest, for the patch level mentioned above.

14. Are you using EA Story Progression, Twallan's Story Progression, or Awesome Story?
EA's.

15. When did the issue start?
When I loaded a game. The previous night, I saved and quit, no problems had occurred (except the clothing icons issue with another sim, above). Everything was fine by then.

16. What were your sims doing?
He was sleeping.

17. What things have you tried
I tried changing his outfit with Plan Outfit. I tried ResetSim. I also tried removing all CC and clearing the caches.
[Edit] Tried Nraas ErrorTrap (See post below).

18. What worked?
Nothing so far.
[Edit] ErrorTrap!

19. What didn't work?
Everything [Edit] other than the ErrorTrap.

20. Anything else you would like to add?
Other mods I had were NRaas Dresser, Register, SleepFreedom, Woohooer and CAF, all on the latest patch, and a bunch of clothing. The register was indeed throwing a few errors when trying to set (automatically) sims to the Tattoo Chair. Also, it was assigning many sims continuously to Tattoo (at a much higher than normal rate). No idea if related.
The sim was also in the middle of Vampire transformation (had the vampire bite moodlet, not yet a vampire).
Top Secret Researcher
#90 Old 24th Feb 2011 at 9:08 PM
Quote: Originally posted by aisthesis
Other than that, if I enter Plan Outfit with the invisible sim, apparently the game cannot recognize the sim's age and gender. Every single outfit installed can be chosen, as with hair and etc. Choosing one doesn't have any effect.


This particular issue is the result of a broken outfit on the Sim, a common occurrence in many user towns nowadays.

Install ErrorTrap, and the sim will have their outfit rerolled for them (though in the process it will also reroll their genetics, since that was lost as well).

If ErrorTrap is not to your liking, you can also use the "Fix Invisible" in DebugEnabler to manually perform the reroll.

Good Luck.

NRaas Industries: Sims 3 Mods for the Discerning Player, hosted by The Wikispaces.
Test Subject
#91 Old 24th Feb 2011 at 9:39 PM
Actually, twallan, I love all your mods, so if you say "do this", I will.
And did.
And worked! Like magic!
The genetics were indeed rerolled, but I think I like him a little better now. LOL XD
Skills and relationships are all OK and he is a full Vampire now, I have no problem with that.
The ErrorTrap accused 80(!) errors, many unrelated, I think. 11 ScriptError xml were created, only one had the sim's name on it.

You, sir, are amazing. Thank you so much! :D
Test Subject
#92 Old 4th Mar 2011 at 3:05 AM
1. Which game(s) do you have? I have all expansions and stuff packs

2. What game version/patch level? 7.0.55.010017

3. How many sims are missing/invisible? Nobody is missing, but my family portrait is missing in the main menu. I click to play the game, and my house & family are there, just my menu is gone and I can't click on anything or control my sims. I've pressed f5,f10, tab and none of this works.

4. Do they have an icon or not?As in a family portrait on the main menu? No, not anymore.

5. Do you have any UI issues? My menu is missing.

6. Were the sims traveling? My 1 sim had just returned from france. I invited his girlfriend to come visit. I went on a date with his girlfriend from bridgeport, but had to leave early because of work. I saved my game because I had to go. When I tried to load the game again, my family portrait was gone, and my menu had gone missing.

7. How many traveling? Nobody was traveling, he had went and returned safely.

8. How are all travellers related? The sim that traveled was the son of my family.

9. Which country are the sims in? Bridgeport

10. How many days? 3 days

11. Did the sim(s) return via the phone prematurely or only when the vacation was over? The vacation was over.

12. Returning together or separate? Only 1 was traveling.

13. Are you using SuperComputer or AwesomeMod? No.

14. Are you using EA Story Progression, Twallan's Story Progression, or Awesome Story? No.

15. When did the issue start? Today, about 3 hours ago.

16. What were your sims doing? My sim had got back from france, went on a date which got cut short because of work. The other sims were either at work, at school, or hanging around the house.

17. What things have you tried? Deleting cache, pressing f5, f10, and tab to see if the menu would come back, pressing buttons to try to get menus or into edit town.

18. What worked? Nothing.

19. What didn't work? Everything?

20. Anything else you would like to add? I hope this gets sorted soon, that was my favorite family/house.
Test Subject
#93 Old 9th Mar 2011 at 10:09 PM Last edited by azrazae : 10th Mar 2011 at 1:18 AM.
1. Which game(s) do you have?
World Adventures, Outdoor Living Stuff

2. What game version/patch level?
7.0.55.010001

3. How many sims are missing/invisible?
1

4. Do they have an icon or not?
No

5. Do you have any UI issues?
Sort of. It's a CAS problem I've been having for a couple of days. The make-up section has been faulty. I'll select something (like an eyeshadow) and it will come up as something else (a face paint mask). If I adjust the opacity, it returns to normal, but I still can't change the color or anything. Other than that, no UI issues.

6. Were the sims traveling?
Yes

7. How many traveling?
1

8. How are all travellers related?
Self

9. Which country are the sims in?
Just arrived in Egypt

10. How many days?
6 Day trip

11. Did the sim(s) return via the phone prematurely or only when the vacation was over?
She has not yet returned

12. Returning together or separate?
n/a

13. Are you using SuperComputer or AwesomeMod?
No

14. Are you using EA Story Progression, Twallan's Story Progression, or Awesome Story?
EA, set at medium

15. When did the issue start?
Well, my sim aged up from Adult to Elder (no birthday party) and her icon never showed up (It may have after a minute or so, can't recall). I dismissed that as nothing and continued on with the game. She immediately wanted to travel to Egypt, so I had her go. Immediately she was invisible, but I assumed she'd show up so I had her start an adventure. She got that far, she started the "Deposit the package into the computer room chest at the MorcuCorp HQ." adventure. She got to the house, was invited in, and has since stopped doing anything at all. As for the CAS issue, that's been going on for about... 3, 4 days? About that.

16. What were your sims doing?
*looks at question 15* yeah that's about it XD

17. What things have you tried?
the "resetsim" cheat, having her teleport from one place to another, going into CAS (she remains invisible in CAS as well), I've tried removing my CC and it hasn't helped.

18. What worked?
Nada, Zip, Zilch, Nothing.

19. What didn't work?
Everything

20. Anything else you would like to add?
Hmm... well, this has never happened before. I've had World Adventures for about two months, Outdoor Living Stuff for about one. The sim is a Maxis-created sim (Pauline Wan). I've been using Ahmad/bella3lek4's face sliders for about a week. Haven't used them in this particular family. EDIT: I saved the game and quit, went back to it later and the whole family was glitched. The main menu picture was the generic picture. The thumbnail of the house was the lot... but the house was gone. Upon clicking it, I was returned to Egypt (where I had saved) and Pauline was still there (for lack of a better word lol), but within ten seconds the game crashed. I restarted again and deleted them (never a huge loss for me, I don't ever get attached to my sim families... I delete and remake them almost every day XD). I'd still love to know what happened (and I still can't figure out my CAS issue... no matter what I do, it's still acting obnoxious.
Field Researcher
#94 Old 19th Mar 2011 at 10:07 PM
Quote: Originally posted by werismyki
We are collecting information from any user experiencing issues with Sims and/or User Interface that have gone missing or invisible and made the save game corrupt or unplayable.

At the moment, there isn't alot of help, if any, for this situation so any information you can provide will be of help to us as we try to build a database of issues and what users have tried to correct the issue(s).

There is a page in the Wiki now: Game Help:UI and Sim Issueswiki

Copy and Paste the questions below in a New Post and submit to the thread. Leave a blank space between questions so it doesn't get all jumbled up and difficult to read.


1. Which game(s) do you have?
Wold Adventure, Ambisions and Late night

2. What game version/patch level?
1.17.60.009002

3. How many sims are missing/invisible?
2 out of 3

4. Do they have an icon or not?
Icon and plumbo

5. Do you have any UI issues?
No, everything work nice except that the sims is invisible, they can still do all sort of stuff, however the sims are not "invisible" but missing as I can not activate them by clicking below the plumbo, the thought bobble for actions shows up at ground floor. In a savegame an invisible sim was reading a book, the book was sideway and on floor as if the sim lie down sideway reading.

6. Were the sims traveling?
7. How many traveling?
8. How are all travellers related?
9. Which country are the sims in?
10. How many days?
11. Did the sim(s) return via the phone prematurely or only when the vacation was over?
12. Returning together or separate?
Everybody was at home.

13. Are you using SuperComputer or AwesomeMod?
Supercontroller.

14. Are you using EA Story Progression, Twallan's Story Progression, or Awesome Story?
None of this.

15. When did the issue start?
Today or yesterday, Thursday two days ago I added some new content including a bugged pattern I had to track it down and remove it.
Played yesterday and a little today. Then starting up again I had the bug.

16. What were your sims doing?
Since last reload two days ago who works: mostly gardening, repairing inventing, one of my sims was able to make ambrosia and ate it, she also made it to another sim who is the only one who is visible. Except for this nothing they has not done before.

17. What things have you tried
Removed cache, removed all custum content, resetsim

18. What worked?
Only loading an old game

19. What didn't work?
same as 17

20. Anything else you would like to add?
One interesting thing is that this is not a save game corruption, I made two savegames as I was planning to remove a mod and both has a problem, a backup an hour earlier also have this. Only way it can happen is if I get a game bug who don't affect gameplay but mess up savegames.

For other, save often and use SAVE AS never just save, you can always delete old saves later.
Test Subject
#95 Old 12th Apr 2011 at 4:03 AM
Default Recovered my lost sim!
I had the missing UI issue and deleted my game under C:\Users\[username]\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Saves, then used the backup copy of the game, as per instructions I found online (sorry, can't seem to find the link again).

When I opened my game, I, now, have an UI; however, I was missing a Sim!! He is still part of the household but there was no icon for him, as if he didn't live there!

Since I spent a lot of time on him, desperation made me try the edit town option. I took him out of the house and put him back into the same house. When I went back into game mode, he's back
Test Subject
#96 Old 12th Apr 2011 at 4:29 AM
Quote: Originally posted by ladytr0uble
I had the missing UI issue and deleted my game under C:\Users\[username]\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Saves, then used the backup copy of the game, as per instructions I found online (sorry, can't seem to find the link again).

When I opened my game, I, now, have an UI; however, I was missing a Sim!! He is still part of the household but there was no icon for him, as if he didn't live there!

Since I spent a lot of time on him, desperation made me try the edit town option. I took him out of the house and put him back into the same house. When I went back into game mode, he's back



doh! but my recovered sims is all messed up: he's missing work but during his off-work hours and he's naked! guess it wasn't a good way of "fixing" the problem afterall
Test Subject
#97 Old 7th May 2011 at 1:23 PM
1. Which game(s) do you have?
Sims 3, Ambitions, Fast Lane Stuff, High-End Loft Stuff, Late Night, Outdoor Living Stuff, World Adventures

2. What game version/patch level?
Unpatched

3. How many sims are missing/invisible?
All five of them

4. Do they have an icon or not?
Yes, I do have their portraits on the left side of the screen, but the sims on the lot are gone.. they reappear when I move them somewhere but quickly disappear again. As for the plumbob, no, they don't have it, nor can I see their thought bubbles. It's like the lot turned to a ghost town.

5. Do you have any UI issues?
No

6. Were the sims traveling?
Yes

7. How many traveling?
Gen 3 Male Sim traveled to China where he married a Chinese girl
Gen 4 Female Sim traveled to China where she bought a vacation home
Gen 4 Male Sim (originally from China) traveled to France where he bought a vacation home

8. How are all travellers related?
Family; Gen 3 Male Sim & Female Sim are parents to Gen 4 Female Sim who married a Male Sim from China (the Gen 4 Male Sim above)

9. Which country are the sims in?
Twinbrook

10. How many days?
Week 30 (at least that's what the Nectars said)

11. Did the sim(s) return via the phone prematurely or only when the vacation was over?
Gen 4 Male Sim returned prematurely because he was stuck between two traps in the Landgraab house in France. Everyone else returned when their vacation was over.

12. Returning together or separate?
Together

13. Are you using SuperComputer or AwesomeMod?
No

14. Are you using EA Story Progression, Twallan's Story Progression, or Awesome Story?
EA Story Progression

15. When did the issue start?
First, my Family Tree completely disappeared when the Gen 4 Female Sim moved out to a different lot in Twinbrook. Then she married the Gen 4 Male Sim from China and had three kids; one's a teenager, one's a child and the third one's a baby. The issue appeared in Week 30 on Monday at exactly 20.00. I reloaded the game and the same issue appeared on the very same day, same time.

16. What were your sims doing?
Two of them were watching TV, the baby was being snuggled by dad and the child was in the bathroom.

17. What things have you tried
Googled for issues, didn't find anything... I also tried moving the sims and deleting them using the moveobjects_on cheat.

18. What worked?
Nothing...

19. What didn't work?
-

20. Anything else you would like to add?
Lab Assistant
#98 Old 13th May 2011 at 10:09 PM Last edited by candyapplegirl : 8th Jun 2011 at 10:38 PM.
1. Which game(s) do you have?
WA, AMB, LN, FLS, HELS, OLS

2. What game version/patch level?
7.0.55.010001

3. How many sims are missing/invisible?
2

4. Do they have an icon or not?
Yes

5. Do you have any UI issues?
Yes

6. Were the sims traveling?
Yes

7. How many traveling?
ONE

8. How are all travellers related?
N/A

9. Which country are the sims in?
Al-Simhara, and it's happened after returning from France, too

10. How many days?
THREE

11. Did the sim(s) return via the phone prematurely or only when the vacation was over?
YES & NO. I've had it happen both ways.

12. Returning together or separate?
N/A

13. Are you using SuperComputer or AwesomeMod?
NO

14. Are you using EA Story Progression, Twallan's Story Progression, or Awesome Story?
NO

15. When did the issue start?
Within 1 Sim-day of returning from vacation.

16. What were your sims doing?
Once, READING. Another time GARDENING.

17. What things have you tried
-I have tried uninstalling all CC and ECM. Deleted all caches. Still had issues upon restarting the game.
- I have uninstalled the game and reinstalled with no CC or Mods. Still had the issue upon returning from vacation.
- I have switched households immediately upon returning from vacation, but then the same issue occurred in the new household I had switched to.
- Copied Twin Brooks and named it something else. When the issue began in Twin Brooks, I started playing my copy file. Within 2 sim-days, the sims in that neighborhood began disappearing as well.

18. What worked?
NOTHING

19. What didn't work?
EVERYTHING ELSE

20. Anything else you would like to add?[/pre]
I have uninstalled completely and reinstalled only the Base + WA. I'll let you know if the problem persists.

Edit: The problem persisted with one particular household.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edit 2: Just a quick note... since installing Generations, my game has been working normally again, except for that same "problem" household. Every now and then, one of my Sims will go invisible in that family, but he doesn't "disappear" completely. He's still there, and I can control him. I just can't see him. "ResetSim" doesn't work for that problem anymore. I'm kind of wondering if maybe there's something in that household that's messing things up. Otherwise, all is well again (so far).
Test Subject
#99 Old 16th May 2011 at 1:00 AM
1. Which game(s) do you have?
Only Base Game

2. What game version/patch level?
1.19.44.010001

3. How many sims are missing/invisible?
2

4. Do they have an icon or not?
No

5. Do you have any UI issues?
Yes

6. Were the sims traveling?
No

7. How many traveling?
N/A

8. How are all travellers related?
N/A

9. Which country are the sims in?
N/A

10. How many days?
N/A

11. Did the sim(s) return via the phone prematurely or only when the vacation was over?
N/A

12. Returning together or separate?
N/A

13. Are you using SuperComputer or AwesomeMod?
No

14. Are you using EA Story Progression, Twallan's Story Progression, or Awesome Story?
No

15. When did the issue start?
First time it's ever happened...was working fine last week.

16. What were your sims doing?
General sim-existing until I deleted them with moveobjects on so I could take pictures without their sim-selves in the way.

17. What things have you tried
the debug mod - it didn't work, because i can't click on anything at all. i've spent MONTHS working on this town and I'm terrified to delete the game or reinstall without 100% confidence that the town and all the lot will still be there.

18. What worked?
Nothing

19. What didn't work?
Debug

20. Anything else you would like to add?[/pre]
i really, really don't want to lose this town. it's taken me months to rebuild all of the homes and losing it would be heartbreaking.
Test Subject
#100 Old 31st May 2011 at 12:06 AM
1. Which game(s) do you have?
TS3, Ambitions

2. What game version/patch level?
Most recent

3. How many sims are missing/invisible?
None

4. Do they have an icon or not?
Yes

5. Do you have any UI issues?
Yes

6. Were the sims traveling?
No

7. How many traveling?
None

8. How are all travellers related?
THERE ARE NO TRAVELERS!

9. Which country are the sims in?
The very first one in the base game.

10. How many days?
They weren't traveling

11. Did the sim(s) return via the phone prematurely or only when the vacation was over?
Nope.

12. Returning together or separate?
Not Applicable

13. Are you using SuperComputer or AwesomeMod?
No.

14. Are you using EA Story Progression, Twallan's Story Progression, or Awesome Story?
None of the above or EA Story Progression...

15. When did the issue start?
Today

16. What were your sims doing?
Working, doing her Stylist job.

17. What things have you tried
Clearing Cache

18. What worked?
Not sure yet.

19. What didn't work?
Not sure yet.

20. Anything else you would like to add?
I think it began after I installed custom content...
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