PDA

View Full Version : Have I completely messed up?


DJ.
18th Jul 2012, 04:04 PM
Hello. So, I'm back from my vacation, and I really missed my Sims. Yeah, it just couldn't go without problems! :(

So. I think it probably all started back at the beginning. I created two Sims in CAS (both in seperate households). I moved the first Sim (a guy) into the big mansion far away from the Sunset Valley (where the rich family with big house lived - I don't think that really matters). I played him a little bit (hired him in Medical Carrier and stuff). Then I switched households.

The EA Story Progression was ENABLED.

After I played my second Sim a little while (kinda like a storytelling mode, they're both new to the town, they've got the same job, they fall in love and have babies, she quits her job and becomes a journalist etc.) and since I got her all set up, I switched back to my first Sim.

Since I was so stupid, I didn't disable EA Story Progression. My Sim got her boss pregnant. I was so furious at that moment, I wanted him first to break up with her, but then, what kind of person would he be if he dumps a pregnant woman? So, I decided to delete my Sim. (I'm aware that if you delete a Sim in The Sims 2 you're doomed. But I didn't think that was the case with The Sims 3. Or it is?)

Anyway, I disabled the Story Progression from that point. Played the 'first' Sim only (didn't switch households), and married second Sim, reached top of the carrer and so on, had two babies, blah blah.

Since I'm making a 'replica' of a family tree from The Sims 2 (and in TS2 I made several households in CAS, not just that one), I created another household. I really like playing with (only the ones I find interesting) supernaturals, in that 'new' household (consisted of dad, mom, teenage daughter) I killed off the father with a fire and made the ghost controllable through Oh My Ghost opportunity. Didn't yet make him alive. Here's where the real thing starts (and yes, two kids from my first household are now teens). Again switching households.

The first thing I noticed is that the ghost from #2 household hangs out around #1 household's house quite a lot. In fact, he's there, haunts objects like crazy and won't leave. I even tried removing all the beds and espresso machines, because he used to sleep at my place. So I got an advice here (http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=480382), saying that I switch households and direct the ghost home. It works all the time, but switching households over and over again just to make the ghost away really makes me throw... a virus into The Sims 3 program folder! :lol: So, moving on. Everything starts from here.

My two teens (a girl and a guy) are excellent at school. Each day when they go home, one of them (always) brings a friend, who is (always) the ghost's daughter (the two households are best friends, if that matters). Also, the ghost's daughter is the girlfriend of one of the twins of the first household. (But personally, I don't think that would matter. Maybe it does, but I think not.)

Then one day (the day I got home from my vacation) I opened my game after a week or so not playing it. The father (first household) has a job in the Medical carrer and his salary is over $1000 (reached the top of the carrer). One day he got a big event at his job (something about a patient with an unknown disease, and that only my Sim found out what is the disease about), and immediately got a raise. Then, a wish popped up, saying "Discover 3 more traits of Karlo." Now, my "real" first Sim is named Karlo. And the one in the wish's thumbnail was the same guy! I was shocked. Immediately closed the game without saving.

When I cought my breath and courage, I opened the game again, and switched households. I selected the Jolina household ((don't know her name) Jolina was the woman my first first Sim impregnated). She got a son, and I checked the family tree - there was no father (because I deleted him).

But, DAMMIT!, she knows two Karlos. She invited both of them over, and I added both of them into the household to see, compare, yell at them for ruining my save.

It turns out that the 'fake' one has the same characteristics as the one I deleted long time ago. Like the game dug him up from the files' graveyard and just kicked him back into the world. He's a resident, and the second one (the 'real' one) is a World Reowned Surgeon. Didn't check the family tree yet, but I'm sure something bad's gonna happen (or, the 'fake' one will have an empty family tree, as he had an empty one when I deleted him).

---

So there I am. A controllable ghost from another household is stuck in my house, I have two protagonists who are clones of each other, speaking of that a messed household and possibly, a big firey ball visible from space.

The clones are best friends with each other, the real one says that the fake one is his co-worker, and the fake one says that the real one is his boss. The real one's boss is Jolina.

---

What do I do?! I don't want to recycle that save, it's the only one I have and my favorite one! Unfortunately, I don't have any backups. I don't use any mods for my game. I'm completely lost. First time after many years I put up this emoticon. :help:

whiterider
18th Jul 2012, 09:05 PM
Other way round - deleting sims in Sims 2 is fine (assuming you mean deleting them in build/buy mode), but we don't know what kind of problems it can cause in Sims 3. If you have duplicate sims and so on, the first thing I would try is installing ErrorTrap (http://nraas.wikispaces.com/ErrorTrap), to see if that finds and/or fixes anything.

Ghost sdoj
19th Jul 2012, 11:24 AM
Even if Error Trap doesn't help, you have now learned the importance of backups. If you really like this game, keep a safe backup after anything important has happened. Considering the condition of the game, I would suggest backing up after any play session where you didn't see things getting unplayably worse, and making sure to hang onto each one for a while. If you are headed for a bfbvfs, the backups will give you material to work with after it explodes and you want to see what can be salvaged.


(I assume you still had a copy of your sim in the sim bin? That's where the extra one probably came from. )

DJ.
19th Jul 2012, 11:45 AM
whiterider, sorry, I don't think you understood me correctly. I didn't delete the first first Sim in Buy mode with moveobjects on cheat, I went into Town Editor, selected the house he lived in, selected move out (IIRC) and he was on the 'clipboard'. Then, I exited Town Editor, and it prompted me what do I want to do with Sims on my clipboard, and I said to delete them. Thanks, I'll try the Error Trap. ETA: right after I patch my game. Uh oh.

Ghost sdoj, yeah, you have no idea how mad I am. I backup TS2 game every week (used to do it every day before, back when I didn't play those clean neighborhoods from a life saver whose name I cannot remember right now - sorry!), but I have no idea what made not to backup TS3. And yes, the Sim is still in the Sim bin. Every family I made is still there. Shall I delete it/them?

ellacharmed
21st Jul 2012, 02:59 PM
Sims 3 - Invisible Sims and/or User Interface Issues
If you are experiencing issues with Missing Sim(s) and / or User Interface Issues see the Game Help:UI and Sim Issues Guide,
If this doesn't resolve the issue, please post in the [Common] Missing Sims and/or User Interface (http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=411005) Sticky.


You have messed in a sense by relying on EA's StoryProgression. A lot of the issues you mentioned here could have been prevented by corrective mods which also has a preventive measure so the scenarios like those won't ever happened again.

The mods are mentioned in the Wiki article linked.

DJ.
22nd Jul 2012, 11:37 AM
Okay, but I don't have World Adventures installed. I'll follow the guide when I patch my game, which is going to happen - at the beginning of the next month, because my Internet traffic is a little bit uptight. And I definitely need Superpatcher, because my current game version is around 1.18, IIRC.

Ghost sdoj
22nd Jul 2012, 07:02 PM
Whether or not you delete sims from the bin is up to you. When the game needs sims to move in, it will tend to look in the bin. It isn't supposed to move in a sim who is already there, but it can sometimes slip. I like seeing my own fairy, demon, elf, or alien sims moving into the neighborhood, so my sims all stay in the sim bin. Other people don't like that idea at all and say they should be removed from the bin as soon as you have placed them into the neighborhood.

If you have not saved them to the library in CAS, deleting a sim from the bin means that the only copy you have is the one you are playing.

ellacharmed
22nd Jul 2012, 07:05 PM
WA has coding that exacerbates the problem (the traveling), but is not the root cause. The root cause is the StoryProgression engine and that is in the base game. Plus, if you have Generations, I understand the "Parent vacationing" scenario (to give Teens a chance to misbehave, or not) is somewhat similar to the WA traveling coding, on a smaller scale, so the root cause is then manifold.