I recently installed WA and once I had found which CC worked and which didn't started a new game. After my sim had gone on a holiday I found that the sim's house was a big blue hole in the ground. Zooming out I found that all the occupied lots bar one were also gone.
Has anyone else had this and if so is there a way to repair/stop whats going on, I have more than a few hours in this neighbourhood and would like to save as much as I can.
Possibly related is an error message I get on saving when quitting, it will not do it and 'error message 16' comes up, on looking in the readme, as it says to do, I see only 15 messages in the WA readme? http://modthesims.info/newthread.ph...ewthread&f=551#

This blue abyss effect you speak of appears to be caused by "bad" custom content which is incompatible with the new expansion pack. Furthermore, it appears as though only package files are to blame, as .sims3pack files you may have downloaded from the Store or TSR seem to be working without issue.

I would recommend you first restore a backup, and move around 50% of your downloads to the desktop. If the game loads the lots successfully, then I would create a new folder called "Safe" and move the working downloads here. And then go through the same process with the remaining downloads until you can isolate faulty packages. This method is described in greater detail in the Help FAQ.

Concurrently, lemoncandy's plants (which have now been updated) and several other objects found under the Decorative Category seem to be producing this issue.

Additionally, the Error 16 issue was resolved with the latest 1.7/2.2 patch. You can download it via the Launcher.

Hope that helps

Actually, that is not quite correct. This problem has been around since the base game. The above advice is incorrect. In addition, the latest patch is 2.2..

Error 16 was introduced with the latest expansion pack. Only Error 1-15 were known to exist with the Base Game. I checked the Help Manual provided with the Base Game for Error 16 when I first encountered it, and it's existence was not noted.

1.7 is the most recent patch for users with only the Base game.

2.2 is the most recent patch for users with the World Adventures expansion.

To the OP, if you don't want to update via the Launcher, you can also download the 1.7/2.2 patch here.

I think what Canoodle means with "this problem" are blue lots in general, not Error 16, perhaps? I know that you'd have blue lots in the base game when you'd try to install Riverview the wrong way (like I did!). I don't know if the actual reason for the lots to be blue is even remotely the same as the bork we're talking about here, but the effect is the same.

Oh, I understand now, my mistake. I would suspect the one we are seeing now is caused by a corrupted neighborhood save, but I could be wrong....

has anyone figured out this problem yet? i only get the big blue holes when i completely fill the big castle in france with furniture and save it. is it the custom content?

In order to better solve your problem, please go through the following as listed below:

• General - Problem Custom Content
  Your issue is related to conflicting, outdated, or badly made custom content. Please follow the Finding Problem Custom Content FAQ.
  

Yes it is the custom content, if you had patched to 1.7/2.2.
The above FAQ elaborates further on Jasumi's post on finding broken CC, just adapt the paths to Sims 3 \Mods\Packages\.

Or use the Process Monitor method as mention in this Package files and WA slowdown post#240 onwards.

On occasion you might be asked to do a long FAQ - please make sure you do all the steps and don't just skip over them. You'll often find that these long FAQs have all the details you need. If nothing in the above FAQs fixes your problem you may post again detailing exactly which you have done and which steps failed.

I encounter this problem as well, but I don't think it's custom content related. The lots don't disappear immediately, they only disappear after I've played and exited a couple times (I haven't kept track of the amount of times, whether there would be a correlation or not) and even when I moved every bit of cc from the folders, the lots were still blue. Anyone have any thoughts on this? I'd really, really like to resolve this issue -_-.

This is normal. Your saved game is messed up and nothing will ever make it right again.
The only thing you can do is delete the neighbourhood and start from scratch again.

Every time I've done that its happened again

I am right there with you. The only content i had in gmae was from EA. I could play for several sim hrs and not have a problem, but it seemed when i decorated a vacation lot, or had a child with a foriegn sim , all landmark lots went blue.

But did you delete the neighbourhood or not?

Yep, I've deleted them every time.

Oh, sorry, hahah, didn't notice that angel was quoting someone. (Is a lame-ass who isn't familiar with forums)

i have the same problem and i didnt even get to go on any holidays yet... first the original neighborhood went funny then last night riverview went both went funny after my game had crashed unexpectantly. but community lots dont seem to be effected just houses original and ones i made..

i dont want to have to uninstall and reinstall my entire game.
it may be the only way

I had to delete them.Once the lots have gone blue the game is corrupt. I started backing up my game every day .Nameing and dating them so if something happens i can delete the messed up file and try again without losing alot of time.Trust me i tried it the other way and it crashed the game. i even tried reseting my sim who was stuck underground.She popped out and i was able to send her to her vacation home.Everything worked fine in my house, so i thought maybe i could send her home," Nope" , she got home and all those lots were blue.Then i tried saveing just her house to library and go from there, that also crashed the game.You are pretty much Up the creek without a paddle. The game will not work again.You will have to start with a whole new neighborhood.

If you are getting blue lots you don't have to uninstall and reinstall, but you will have to scrap that hood and start a new one.I learned the hard way, you really should start backing it up.I do it every time i play becasue i have had issues so often.After it crashed three times i finally wised up.

Hege, please read this:
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=381553

i didnt delete my neighbourhood, i replaced the entire sims3 folder, with an earlier backup with all my houses and sims in it, i re-did my houses up to the way they were before the blue lots apperaed.

then i took another backup of the game and i will continue to do so everytime i play, so the next time it happens ill be ready to pick up exactly where i left off.

its not ideal but if i want all my sims and houses the way they were i will do it.