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Field Researcher
Original Poster
#1 Old 16th Nov 2009 at 11:49 PM Last edited by secretsim : 17th Nov 2009 at 4:27 AM.

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 3
Default Did your Sims return from a World Adventures vacation to find uhh, 90% of the lots deleted?
I installed and played World Adventures without issue (by the way, was it made for small children or what?).

Once my two Sims returned home, they landed on a blue, blank lot where their house used to be. I zoom out to the Edit Town view and 90% of the lots, both residential and community, are blue and blank and unplayable.

The deleted lots were both the base game lots (Central Park, homes that came with the game) and also my own custom homes downloaded here.

By the way, the specs of my computer are more than adequate so I don't think it's a technical issue with my laptop.

Anyone else experience this problem?

------
Edit:

So I got the patch which apparently was available a few hours early. Didn't fix the problem.

I uninstalled and reinstalled the game. Didn't fix the problem.

I have no mods like AwesomeMod or IndieStone, etc.
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Field Researcher
Original Poster
#2 Old 17th Nov 2009 at 6:08 AM
I managed to fix the blue, blank lots by converting the Sunset Valley.sims3.legacy BACK to Sunset Valley.sims3 and deleting all other saves.

My neighborhood did not save correctly upon the departure of my Sim to his vacation, or else it didn't load correctly upon his return.

Either way, I hope this is a fluke others won't encounter and one I hope never to encounter again. What a PITA!
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#3 Old 17th Nov 2009 at 1:05 PM
Well, I SPOKE TOO SOON.

I reloaded a game that was playing just fine, and now all but a couple lots are blank and blue and unplayable again.

*sigh*
Scholar
#4 Old 17th Nov 2009 at 1:29 PM
Did you ever suffer from Error 12/13 saves? I think your computer isn't saving things correctly.
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#5 Old 17th Nov 2009 at 2:26 PM
Yes, I did suffer from Error 12/13 but they went away after I removed some bad CC.

Here's a screen shot. As you can see, there are only two lots/households that are playable.

Field Researcher
Original Poster
#6 Old 17th Nov 2009 at 7:57 PM
Looks like other people on the EA forums are having this same problem.
Forum Resident
#7 Old 17th Nov 2009 at 9:05 PM
You may want to post a screenshot of it during the day - that is very hard to see.

Shenandoah > please don't ask irrelevant questions on other people's threads. That question isn't even a help question, and should be posted in the Sims General Discussion forums, if it hasn't already been answered there.

"It's sticks and stones and broken homes, that taught us how to smile." - The Bens
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#8 Old 18th Nov 2009 at 12:01 AM
haylz320, it's clear enough for these purposes and perhaps you haven't considered that the game is unplayable once I return from vacation (which happens to land my game at night time). Hopefully you and everyone else can get the point from that image plus my verbal description.
Scholar
#9 Old 18th Nov 2009 at 12:56 AM
I'm having the same issue. I've freshly installed both the base game, WA and patched. I loaded the game, moved in my family (saved with their house) and all was fine. Changed the resolution and restarted the game. When I started it up again all my residential lots are blue blots. If you get closer you can see it looks like they were beamed up to the Enterprise or something.

Community lots, empty lots and rabbit holes survive, just no houses of any kind. Weird.

Field Researcher
Original Poster
#10 Old 18th Nov 2009 at 2:16 AM
aeval, let me know if you manage to fix the problem. I'll keep you updated, too.
Test Subject
#11 Old 18th Nov 2009 at 2:47 AM
This looks exactely like the error 16 problem with the patch; there's a topic about it I just found in this same subforum with a solution to it, only to prevend, unfortunately not to fix; I lost my game in the same way.
shiny!
retired moderator
#12 Old 18th Nov 2009 at 3:07 AM
secretsim, you've posted several threads in this forum now, and I really recommend you follow through on the others. Last you left your last thread you were still having some game crash issues and I had informed you that your computer is overheating. Adding another expansion has certainly complicated things for you now but we may still be looking at the original issues. Your last issue was caused by some combination of the overheating and something in your user files. Have you done anything about the overheating yet and do you still have this problem after removing your user files?
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#13 Old 18th Nov 2009 at 3:28 AM
Hi callistra, my apologies. I didn't see your reply to my thread. Thanks for your thoughts on that previous matter. I recently purchased one of the cooling pads you recommended. I did root out three user files that seemed to be causing the problem, and prior to installing WA, I could play the game without it crashing for any amount of time. It was three hairs. Thanks again for helping me with that issue.

The previous game (before WA) did crash once after I removed the three hairs. Then it had not crashed since in 4+ hours of play or any other instance.
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#14 Old 18th Nov 2009 at 3:32 AM Last edited by secretsim : 18th Nov 2009 at 4:03 AM.
For those of us experiencing issues, this was posted by EA (found in the thread here regarding Error 16):

Quote:
We have been made aware of an issue you may encounter while trying to save your game after installing The Sims 3 World Adventures or updating your game. The Sims 3 World Adventures and the Game Update have changed the way your save files are created, which can lead to an error during your gameplay when you save your game. If you encounter an error that says “Error Code 16,” please use “Save As” to save your game instead. This will allow you to create a new save file and circumvent this error.

If you are beginning an entirely new game or starting in a new neighborhood, you will NOT encounter this issue.

We are working to address this and will update you as soon as possible.


I guess all we can do is wait? Personally, I never got any message that said Error 16.

----------

Edited to add, I tried Pandora3co's suggestion (hope she doesn't mind me posting here, as her thread was closed):

Quote:
90% of my lots in Sunset Valley were turning blue after returning from vacations. Restoring my backup saves- reinstalling - nothing worked to fix it.

Until --- I decided to move my Resource.cfg file and Mods folder (the one that holds all the .package CC files).

Before World Adventures, the Mods folder and Resource.cfg file were placed in the following directory:

C/ProgramFiles/ElectronicArts/TheSims3 or where ever you installed your game.

When WA installed it created a new folder under:

C/Programfiles/ElectronicArts/TheSims3WorldAdventures.

This is where you need to move your Mods Folder and Resource.cfg file. to
C/ProgramFiles/ElectronicArts/TheSims3WorldAdventures

I did this on a hunch, and sure enough when I returned from vacation all my houses and all my precious CC showed up just fine! No more missing/blue lots!

Also make sure to delete your compositor.cache and simscompositor.cache files from your MyDocument/ElectronicArts/TheSims3 folder before restarting your game after moving the Mods Folder and the Resource.cfg file.


Unfortunately, this did not work for me.
Scholar
#15 Old 18th Nov 2009 at 4:17 AM
I'm definitely going to try the above. In fact, I wondered about that when I was putting my Packages file back after I installed the games. Mine is a brand new game though, except for one family/house. I'm not sure why missing cc would affect other lots. Hmmm.

Also, the family that I installed into my clean game was in a house with an sloped drive into an underground garage. I suspect that it might not be playing nice with the new basement system. It will have to wait until tomorrow for testing though. I'm pooped!

I'm hitting the "first impressions" thread and calling it a night.
Field Researcher
#16 Old 18th Nov 2009 at 4:20 AM
Sorry all, I just sent another family on vacation and came back to blue lots so my possible fix is not a fix at all. Seems as if my thread is locked... I went to edit it and couldn't. If a mod reads this it's probably best to delete the whole thread.

Sorry
Lab Assistant
#17 Old 18th Nov 2009 at 5:42 AM
Well, this happened to me too. I had the same thought as Pandora3co, but just decided that since I had everything backed up, I would do an uninstall/reinstall of both games instead, thinking that maybe some CC I had accidentally touched one of the "important files" and altered it. So I'm currently re-installing TS3. I don't know if I'll re-install WA now that I read the comment from EA. It may be better just to hold off until they know a solution.


So yea, EA...You guys really botched this one didn't you? Most people are having install issues and those of us that do get it going end up with lovely blue rectangles where our lots should be. And to think they're already gonna start pushing a stuff pack....I wish that they'd just perfect (or at least damn close to) their current games and EP's before they start working on new stuff. Oh wishful thinking, how I love thee.
Test Subject
#18 Old 18th Nov 2009 at 6:21 AM
I've also had the disappearing lots happen in my neighborhood. The thing is, it was a new neighborhood without WA installed, (I won't get my game till Thurs.) I have the patch installed and I have removed all my mods, but have left in some cc. I thought it might have been related to some stairs and fences I still had in my mods folder so I took those out. I've been playing all day trying to recreate the problem, but it hasn't happened again. Just wanted to say that I think that the blue lots problem is patch related.
Lab Assistant
#19 Old 18th Nov 2009 at 6:40 AM
Quote: Originally posted by bunds
I've also had the disappearing lots happen in my neighborhood. The thing is, it was a new neighborhood without WA installed, (I won't get my game till Thurs.) I have the patch installed and I have removed all my mods, but have left in some cc. I thought it might have been related to some stairs and fences I still had in my mods folder so I took those out. I've been playing all day trying to recreate the problem, but it hasn't happened again. Just wanted to say that I think that the blue lots problem is patch related.


I'm not surprised. That patch is nothing but trouble. EA obviously released it before it was perfected because WA was coming out in a matter of hours. Wish there was a way to get my money back on WA because I encountered a couple other problems after I did a fresh re-install with no CC or mods/hacks.

I'm gonna see if there's a way to remove patches.
Field Researcher
#20 Old 18th Nov 2009 at 12:33 PM
I'm having this same problem except for my lots are black. I wonder why the lots in my game tend to be black and everyone else seems to have blue ones. But luckily my current Sim's home isn't so I can deal with not being able to visit neighbors until they fix the problem. Also I did go to a previous saved game and it wasn't like that. But they also haven't been to any of the 3 locations. So if my problem was the patch, wouldn't it effect all of my saved games or not?
Sim Princess in Pink
#21 Old 18th Nov 2009 at 1:51 PM
I haven't got lots missing, I got a whole neighborhood gone!! I just loaded the sims up and when I got into the game it looked as if I'd never played before as it took me to the 'World Chooser' screen GRRRR. I have the newest patch installed and not World Adventures just yet (thank god by all accounts!).

Is there any way of removing patches without having to reinstall the game?

Please, Call Me Lou :D
Test Subject
#22 Old 18th Nov 2009 at 1:54 PM
This is what mine is doing i have tried everything and i dont know whats wrong i dont have mods or cc at all its all fresh and i have it completely updated =(


Quote: Originally posted by aeval99
I'm having the same issue. I've freshly installed both the base game, WA and patched. I loaded the game, moved in my family (saved with their house) and all was fine. Changed the resolution and restarted the game. When I started it up again all my residential lots are blue blots. If you get closer you can see it looks like they were beamed up to the Enterprise or something.

Community lots, empty lots and rabbit holes survive, just no houses of any kind. Weird.

Née whiterider
retired moderator
#23 Old 18th Nov 2009 at 2:11 PM
KeiraLou, unfortunately no, there isn't. However you may be able to retrieve your lost save by going into My Docs/The Sims 3/Saves and renaming savename.sims3.backup to just savename.sims3, if it's there.

What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact.
Scholar
#24 Old 18th Nov 2009 at 2:15 PM Last edited by aeval99 : 18th Nov 2009 at 2:25 PM.
OK, I got mine fixed (to an extent). I gave up on my family, deleted my save file and started again. I grabbed the Altos and sent them to China and they still had a house when they returned.

Thing is, I did a few things and I'm not sure what the problem was. Here's some food for thought:

Perhaps there was something wrong with the house I installed my family with (need to install just the family into an neighbourhood to test).

I found some lighting mods that I had erroneously put back. They were for less blue lights and longer shadows. I'd filed them with lighting, instead of mods. Duh! I also removed some pregnancy clothes, a set of "one more slot" tables and all my custom cars that weren't from the store. (Guess I didn't check that Packages folder as well as I thought before returning it to the game).

My family could be fubared. I had used the supercomputer to add a sibling relationship and I've been using Super Controller (part of awesomemod) on them (previously that is...no mods in WA).

Despite my protestations that I was going to bed, I was actually up until nearly 4 playing with it. There doesn't seem to be a way to end your vacation early, so I had to play the whole thing through.

I just wanted to report what I'd found and now I'm going back to bed for a few hours.

EDIT: The latest theory at MATY is that it's being caused by a corrupted pattern used by EA on most buildings in Sunset Valley. That would explain why it leaves the cheap houses and rabbit holes (which aren't decorated at all).
Field Researcher
#25 Old 18th Nov 2009 at 3:18 PM
Just so you know aeval99, you can end your vacation at any time by clicking on your cell phone in your inventory and choosing "Return Home" it will work no matter where you are in the destination, after a bit, the loading screen pops up to return back to your original neighborhood.
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