Product: The Sims 4
Platform:PC
Which language are you playing the game in? English
How often does the bug occur? Every time (100%)
What is your current game version number? Whatever is most up-to-date
What expansions, game packs, and stuff packs do you have installed? -All expansion packs -Every game pack except Vampires, Jungle Adventure, and Realm of Magic -Tiny Living Stuff, Laundry Day Stuff, Luxury Party Stuff and Holiday Celebration free pack
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? Plant any plant and wait for it to grow
What happens when the bug occurs? Plants don't grow when planted, or if they already were plants they revert back to dirt lumps; also, plants never need water and never sprout weeds or get insects
What do you expect to see? Plants should grow and be harvestable as normal.
Have you installed any customization with the game, e.g. Custom Content or Mods? Yes
Did this issue appear after a specific patch or change you made to your system? Neutral/Not Sure
This started a few days ago, maybe 11/11/21. First, the plants I was gardening stopped needing tended to (never need water, never sprout weeds, never get insects). Then, the new plants I plant don't ever progress past the dirt lump stage. It doesn't seem to matter if they are sheltered or outside, in season or out of season. I do run UI Extension mod, but the issue started before I even installed the mod, and continues even if I stop using it.
It seemed to have started when I moved a family to a new household, placing plants in the household inventory to move with them. When I placed them back onto a lot, they stopped growing and needing to be tended. The garden plants on a separate lot were fully matured and still blossomed and could be harvested, but after a while, those plants went back to the dirt lump stage and stayed there. Some plants on public lots can be watered but won't grow. It seems nothing can get past the dirt lump stage, and any plants in various stages of maturity have now reverted back to lumps of dirt. The bug has been progressive, so has worsened with time. It started on one lot and has spread to all the others, residential and public.
I tried repairing the game; no luck. I tried running the game without UI mod; no luck. Even if I cheat the plants into the Blossoming stage, they cannot be harvested and are basically unusable objects. If I cheat them into any other stage of growth, they seem to stay that way but cannot be watered, weeded, or sprayed for insects and do not grow any further.
EDIT 11/14/2021:
It occurred to me that perhaps the issue was not the game itself but the save file I was playing with. I removed the save from my Sims folder and started a new game to test it out. New save, new sim, new everything-- gardening worked as normal. Plants are growing and can be tended to as expected, so it appears that my save file must be corrupted. I don't know how to fix it, aside from simply starting a new save, which sucks because I was three generations deep into a game. If there is a solution to the issue that doesn't involve creating an entirely new save, I haven't found it yet. My advice would be to keep backups so that if the issue happens again to someone else, you can revert back to the most recent save where this gardening thing isn't an issue.
EDIT #2 11/14/2021:
In an attempt to fix my original saved game, I deleted all the plants on one lot and replaced them. I had read that having more than 12-16 plants might be the problem, so I restarted the gardening process with 9 of the same plants (Bird of Paradise), some sheltered and some outside. I was able to water them right after planting and after a few hours they grew into their second growth stage. After that, growth and interactivity stalled. They stayed at their second stage of growth and could not be watered, and no weeds or insects appeared. I also started some new plants on a separate lot (peas) and they were only able to be watered once, though they did grow to maturity and were harvestable once. After the first harvest, interactivity stalled again, although the plants are staying plants and not reverting back to their newly planted stage. So maybe the issue is not only with the save file after all. This is a major bummer, guys.
