unwanted NPC guests in houses

[crinrict]

@rsemple123 I merged your report with existing thread

Could you send your save to QA as asked here: https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/NEEDS-SAVES-Random-sims-in-my-apartment-or-house-Patch-1-63-13...

[Player_h99fn6u3]

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? 1.354
What expansions, game packs, and stuff packs do you have installed? city living, tiny home, get to work, get famous, patio stuff, cool kitchen stuff, realm of magic, cats & dogs, seasons, university
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? it has been happening to me the most in the apartments and I know this is not "part of the game" because I've been playing it for a while and it just started happening after the update.
What happens when the bug occurs? every time i load a saved game where they live in apartments more than 8 random sims enter their apartment one by one. the no trespassing does not work on them either. sometime the "ask to leave" is there (but who the hell wants to keep asking sims to leave when more keep coming in???) and other times there is no option to ask them at all. I've read through the other threads about this issue dating back to 2017, the most recently was closed this past June but i saw no resolution. From reading through the threads I found that it is clearly a bug within the game that keeps getting ignored. It's super annoying and makes me not want to play at all when i have to lock my sims home from everyone and use the "private dwelling" trait when i NEVER had to do this before. Can you guys PLEASEEEEE fix this?? it's extremely exhausting to have to lock the doors and change the lot traits just to not have random sims entering the lot without permission like they live there. A lot of them are venders and others are just random NPC sims. before you ask my lot is residential and not listed as "generic" I have also noticed a bug with the babysitting job in which the sims who have the job become almost like NPC sims and cannot be asked to leave and will sit outside of the apartment for days, not moving at all. A sim I created did this to his neighbor, I had to constantly cheat his needs to make sure he didn't die seeing as though i made him. Honestly these bugs are getting out of hand..i don't think a lot of players want to have random sims in their homes/apts bc it's not realistic and it ruins gameplay when we have to completely lock the homes from their friends and neighbors just to keep out random sims. I'm really hoping something is actually done about this and you guys don't just give me tips on how to keep them out of the apartment, because i don't want 11 random sims who smell standing outside of the apartment in the hallway either. Also, my sims are unable to go outside of the apartment to the food stands, they just act as if something is in their way and i'm sure it's probably all of those random NPC sims who are waiting for their opportunity to come inside the apartment.
What do you expect to see? to not have random sims coming into my sims' home/apt.
Have you installed any customization with the game, e.g. Custom Content or Mods? Not now. I've removed them.
Did this issue appear after a specific patch or change you made to your system? Yes
Please describe the patch or change you made. the latest patch.

‌

Edit By Crinrict: Fixed Duplicate Template

[crinrict]

@Player_h99fn6u3 I merged your post with existing thread on this.

QA is looking for saves so if you could share yours that'd be great.

[CallMeMistress69]

I totally agree it's really annoying to keep locking every door just so people don't waltz in and break your things. (I had an angry NPC keep wrecking my daughters dollhouse). Whenever I play now I have to lock all my doors and whenever there's an NPC I do want over I have to go through a hassle of making sure no one else gets in. I was happy to see the send home option so we don't have to waste time asking everyone to leave, but with the bug that's not even there! So you just have these people acting like your lot is public when it's not. There are several bugs with very lengthy feedbacks from hundreds and thousands of people experiencing it, I do really hope they get to it soon. But yay I guess we can name cow plants! Looool

[BumblebeeCat9]

I’ve also had this issue since the June update/Eco. Random townies keep coming to my house, this happens usually within minutes if i forget to lock all the doors. It makes having parties/guests over so hard, because the second tour guests walk in, random townies appear as well and there’s no option to send them home! They sometimes they stay around only for a sim hour, sometimes days, even if I manage to lock my doors they might hang around on my yard, grilling, using the pool, and sleeping on my benches. This issue is so annoying! It ha ma made me to build many walls around pools as a revenge...

[Player_h99fn6u3]

From my research, sharing the saves have not fixed the problem. Multiple players have shared their saves, yet the problem still persists. It is extremely annoying to have to remove lot traits to put "private dwelling" so that this does not happen and even that does not work if they doors are not also locked (I just found this out recently with the penthouse). Having to have to doors locked all the time ruins gameplay bc I'm almost hurrying them inside so that I can hurry up and lock the doors, then I have to unlock them again in order for the sim to leave. There was a send home option, but with this glitch that is no longer available I can only "ask to leave" which takes a lot of time and I have to switch between players so they can cohesively work together to send all 10 sims home before more come in. This should not be happening within a game I've played since it's release. This has never happened until the newest patch update. I am really not trying to go through the same steps everyone else did, just for the issue to persist or the forum being closed "as fixed" when it has not been fixed. 

[Player_h99fn6u3]

@Player_h99fn6u3 I've even seen people saying it's only with the Sulani or Kava parties but I don't have that expansion so I know it has to do with the game itself. PLEASE fix this problem. It's making it to where I don't even wanna switch lots because I know i'll have to go through the process of locking doors and changing lot traits. It's super annoying.

[CallMeMistress69]

Yeah, I sent my saves to them awhile ago and they haven't even looked at it, I was hoping it would be a next patch fix sort of thing but it might be a long time. There are multiple other bugs with lengthy threads dating back months that are still unresolved. I understand similar issues to NPCs wandering in have always been around, but there's multiple people saying this is a lot different and new, I don't think it should be shrugged off. 

 @Player_h99fn6u3  What town is it happening in for you? Maybe if enough people collaborate we can make some progress

[Player_h99fn6u3]

@CallMeMistress69 It started for me in 122 Hakim (San Myshuno) in the apartments, I thought it was only that building..Both sims I had living in the building were neighbors and in the babysitting job, I saved and exited my game one night just to come back and her neighbor was like an NPC where he would just stand outside in the hallway, couldnt ask him to leave or anything..this did not stop until I made both of them quit their jobs. I tried other apartments, but the same thing happened in every single one of them where I would have to change the lot traits and lock the doors. I am now playing in Newcrest and it is doing it there as well, there has not been one concrete place that this happens, it happens everywhere in my game and using the private dwelling alone does not keep random strangers out. It would happen every not and again in Del Sol Valley, but it would just be the paparazzi coming in momentarily and then walking out, so I thought it was doing this in the apartments until 10 other sims showed up along with them..one even started a fire in my sim-self's home and left.

[gardenlobster]

I've seen this, too, most recently in Newcrest, in a lot marked as Residential, in a house, in vanilla game. Often they come in through back or side doors, because I monitor, lock and continually reset No Trespassing (because it will randomly reset to default allow all) on the front door. It's funny when it happens on stream and it's great when the Send Home option is available, but recently there's been an uptick of sims that don't have that option. They're walkbys, and some of them just pass through the house if both the back door and front door are unlocked. They'll walk in, take a moment, and then the hand up thought bubble appears and they leave through a different door. What's annoying is when they don't leave right away. You can see this happen in Kelsey Impicciche's 100 Baby Challenge videos. Apartments only differ in that they only have one door to the outside. I'm still seeing that in saves where I live in an apartment, whether it's City Living or Eco Lifestyle. The only lot type I personally haven't experienced it is Tiny Home Residential. A bug that makes content is great and all, but when it gets in the way of telling a story, it's time to fix it.