I'v searched high and low and can't find a solution so here goes...

After making a female sim in bodyshop I loaded the game to put her in a family but she wasn't anywhere to be found. Below is a list of what I have tried to do to fix this in order...but none of these things has worked.

1-deleted all thumnails, groups cache etc
2-the sim had warlokks pinup mesh so I cloned her with a standard body
3-also have a third version of this sim in bodyshop with different cc...none of these 3 will show up in cas
4-packaged each of the three sims and installed them with Clean Installer 5-noticed a completely unrelated bodyshop female missing from cas
6-gave up and decided to put some other sims ingame and discovered at least 4 other females missing from cas (sims that I had previously installed in the game to test run)
7-Deleted all 3 versions of the sim in step 1 from bodyshop and tried installing the packages again. She showed up in bodyshop but not cas.
8-removed downloads folder and installed the packaged female again with no custom content. I checked cas and I dont think any of the sims there are her because she had very distinct facial features, but it's hard to tell because now most of the previously created or installed sims have grey heads from the neck up .By that I mean they look like their heads were dipped in concrete, eyes and all.

I have uni & nightlife. My comp is kinda low end but it's always worked fine (well, graphics aren't great but the game functions perfectly). I have a working copy of my game backed up onto a second comp and the problem seems to be there as well (although I did only get up to step 4 on the 2nd pc), so I guess whatever the problem is occurred Before my last backup (damn).

There's probably a simple explanation (please be simple!), but if anyone can help or direct me to a thread where this has been answered I'd be most happy Also, I wouldn't really care if I had to re-install or anything like that, I just dont want to lose the actual sims. Many of these sims are work-in-progress and are not packed or in the game, so I'm hesistant to keep fumbling my way to a solution incase more sims vanish (as far as I know they are all females).

First, delete your caches:
http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?p=1110082
Next, temporarily remove your other custom content (backup the game first). Then install the problem sim and content to the Saved Sims folder, test the game. Does she show up?

Thanks for your quick reply.

I got rid of the files listed in the above link. I had already deleted all of them except for the last 2. I removed the downloads folder & clean-installed 2 versions of her and added the hair mesh & 2 clothing meshes required. She stlll isn't in cas, but she was in bodyshop with maxis clothing. There is another female which I had 4 different versions of in bodyshop...now there in only 1 in both bodyshop and cas. I have so many sims in bodyshop (usually several versions of each) so it's hard to keep track of them, but the cas females bin seems very small. I think there may be more missing than I first thought

Edit...there are no more grey heads in cas if that means anything.

A good thing to do would be to temporarily remove all of the other saved sims too, so that you can see for sure what is happening. They are usually stored in the Saved Sims folder.

For some reason I have 2 folders. 1 called 'Saved Sims' & the other 'Savedsims'. oh well, thats probably irrelevant.

I removed both of them but it she still didnt show up, or any of the others missing.

Are you sure you're looking at the right age group? If you've created the sim as an adult in BS, they won't show up in the elder/teen/YA CAS, and vice versa.

I tried checking the other age groups but she wasn't there. I only ever make adult sims so when I open cas theres always familiar faces in there. The other girl that disappeared was also an adult who had been placed on a lot a few weeks ago & was married. I created 4 new sims this week in body shop and they all went into cas just fine. Why this one girl wont show up is a bit of a noodle scratcher.
It's seems a shame to waste all those days spent making her but I may have to just let her go.

When you remove the existing Saved Sims folders (the correct one is SavedSims- the one with the space in the middle will probably not work!), did you then try installing your Sim to the Downloads folder? Try running bodyshop to create a new Saved Sims folder, then putting the sim into that folder.

Hi again...you must be getting tired of this one by now

I removed the downloads folder & the saved sims folder and extracted her files to the empty ss folder. I also tried extracting her her custom content to an empty dl's folder and the 2 sims files into the empty ss folder. Again she was in bodyshop but not cas *sigh*

Sounds like something is definitely amiss with your user data! What I'd suggest now is this- create a clean Sims2 folder:
http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?t=139718
Run Bodyshop and create a new sim to generate a clean Saved Sims folder, then install a sims2pack to create a new Downloads folder. Put all of the files from your old Saved Sims and Downloads folders into your newly created ones, also copy over your Neighbourhoods, user startup file (if you have one) and any other files like SC4 terrains, music etc that you have customised. Ennter the game, enable custom content and disable the custom content startup dialog. Does that make any difference?

I did what you said step by step, also tried it without the saved sims or downloads folder but no go.

I guess it's just not meant to be, so she will be doomed to remain in her prison cell that is bodyshop.
Anyway there are people here with more serious game issues than mine. I consider myself lucky that it's really just one sim.

Thank you so much for all your help tho I really do appreciate you taking the time to help me try and sort this out.

No problem, but please let us know if you manage to find a fix. Hope this doesn't stop you from enjoying the game!

It'd take a lot more than that to stop me enjoying it! I will definately post back if I can figure out whats going on, and as long as the thread is here I'll check back incase a solution pops up. Thanks again

Maybe someone can help me. I have took out folders, I have deleted and reinstalled the sims2 and exp packs. I still have my sims dissappearing. I move them in a house and save the game, when I go back to play my game they are gone.