Unable to Progress in new tutorial due to greyed out selections

[Catlovedar]

Didn’t realize you could do it from there.

[BlackjackWidow]

I also had the issue of being unable to progress in the new tutorial, although mine stopped progressing in the 2nd stage of the aspiration. I could not make coffee, due to the option being disabled by tutorial. 

I was able to get past this bug by saving the game, exiting and repairing TS4 through Origin. Once repaired, the tutorial reset to the spot where it had stalled, and I was able to complete the tutorial. (However, I don't think this should be considered as a long-term workaround, as a Tutorial for new players should NOT require immediate research to complete. If I had not had a little bit of playing under my belt, this would have been so confusing I might not have continued the game)

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? 
What expansions, game packs, and stuff packs do you have installed? Only base game and free Holiday pack
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? Start a new game with tutorial mode, choose Athlete as your career path, get through the initial "meeting your roommate" part, and receive the gifts from Alex. In my case, she was cooking dinner and stopped to give my new Sim his gifts. I did not try to initiate any tasks unless I was told to do so. 

 
What happens when the bug occurs? I don't think the tutorial told me that I received the gifts, and didn't give me the "Thanks Alex" part of the tutorial. But, it definitely did not advance to the next step of explaining Aspirations. It was very confusing - it's as if the text and voice part of the tutorial just stopped. I got the list of things to complete (the Aspirations list), but could not initiate any of them myself. I could not go to sleep for the night; I could not initiate a conversation with Alex, nor workout on the exercise equipment.

It was a boring several Sim-hours watching them do autonomous stuff, with my new Sim mostly watching tv. I was able to direct my Sim to turn the radio off and on, sit in various places, and clean up. I was not able to direct him to socialize with Alex, take a shower, workout or eat. Thankfully, he autonomously ate and slept through the night, so he completed that part. While he was asleep, Alex stayed up all night, so I did fast forward to the next morning. I could not take possession of Alex at all, after the initial greeting phase, even when my Sim went to work. I was able to direct my Sim to "Discuss Interests" with Alex once or twice in the morning, but that did not complete the "Socialize with Alex" step. After he came home from work they autonomously chatted and the socialize step completed. Alex kept making coffee, the option for my Sim to make coffee was always grayed out and disabled by tutorial. He was able to empty the pot, but could not progress because he never autonomously made a pot of coffee, and I could not direct him to do so. 

Also, my Sim got promoted on the first day of work (I don't know if that's intended but seems like it should be for a tutorial). Since I couldn't direct him to do anything, the next day when he went to work he hadn't taken a shower and was already in the yellow for hygiene. When he got back home, he had already moved from grungy to disgusting (Alex didn't want to be around him lol) and I still couldn't get him to take a shower! He wouldn't even do it autonomously. That's when I decided to try repairing the game, was afraid he was going to die from filth before he ever decided to make coffee and progress. After the repair, the game successfully reset my Sim's needs and remembered that I had done the all the steps but "make coffee". However, the repair set the tutorial back to First Day of Work, and successfully walked me through the steps of taking a shower, using the toilet, and Surprise!

What do you expect to see? Being able to progress through the new tutorial without having previous knowledge of the game or completing troubleshooting steps
Have you installed any customization with the game, e.g. Custom Content or Mods? Never used.
Did this issue appear after a specific patch or change you made to your system? Yes
Please describe the patch or change you made. 11/13/2018 Patch, Prior to release of Get Famous. (I do not own GF)

I have the save folder prior to repairing if it would be helpful. I hope this is not too many pictures:

Spoiler

Spoiler

[bookmaster325]

Yep, yep....noticed a lot of this playing through the tutorial. Frustrated me to the point of wanting to cheat. :/ The topper was after I managed to 'travel fo a public venue', which I couldn't do by phone (because it's locked/options greyed out), had to do the keyboard shortcut (m key). When my sim returned to the lot, Alex was no longer a roommate. It essentially ended my tutorial (was on the last level of the aspiration) Ahh, sims. Buggy as plum sometimes, why do I play you again? *sims toddler looks at me tilting its head* oh yeah. :D

[MarcelTorak]

I had the same issues here where I could not progress because the tutorial failed a step. BUT when I saved exited and repaired the game through Origin. It works now and I can progress through the tutorial.

[crinrict]

Added

[jpkarlsen]

Note that several different Mods interfere with the tutorial. These include UI cheats, Mods that modify needs decay and <an adult mod that shall not me named here>.

So if you have Mods move them to the Desktop while doing the tutorial.

[Theophania96]

I've tried to complete the tutorial 3 times with different sims families. Didn't even know you got gifts from Alex cause I never have. Also getting stuck on 'socalise with Alex'. I use all the social options I have but it never clears, and then she leaves the house and never comes back?

[BlackjackWidow]

@Theophania96 - try saving and exiting the tutorial when it gets stuck. If you have any mods or cc, move the folder to your desktop so they're not used, and delete the localthumbcache.package file.

Right-click the TS4 icon in Origin and choose "Repair". (You have to have Origin online in order to get this option). 

Repairing the game reset the tutorial for me, and I was able to complete it after that. But every time I've done it, I've had to exit and repair. For me, it's always the first day of work part. Hope that clears it up for you.

[BiFelicia319]

I just bought and downloaded Sims 4 yesterday for my PS4 and not only is it disheartening to see that there’s not been any resolution found (nor have I seen it mentioned in patch update announcements) but what few suggestions I have seen are for PC (understandably so). Up until yesterday, I’d never played any Sims games on console. 

I’d had other issues with actions being disabled by the tutorial (like Fishing and Community spot) and in order to travel, I had to un-check the “Enable Help Tips” box. That freed up several necessary actions and I was able to travel by clicking on the Road and selecting the Travel option. 

But nothing I've tried has worked for being able to do my Sims’ “Take a Vacation” aspiration. I’ve tried Saving and Exiting. I’ve tried restarting my PS4. I’ve waited in vain for the Phone to be enabled upon my Sim receiving promotions since first seeing that mentioned over on the SimsCommunity page, but to no avail there either. 

I haven't even the words to describe how frustrating this has been, especially because I have been Googling like crazy since last night trying to find a solution. And finding out that this has been going on for almost 3 months now??? One would think that with as prominent as EA made the new Tutorial Patch, there’d be some form of acknowledgement of how exasperatingly broken the Tutorial is. 

UUUUUUUGGGGGHHHH!!!!

(And please don’t mind me; I’m just so terribly frustrated but I’m not intending it as being directed at anyone here, I swear. I just never thought that Sims 4, of all the games I’ve been wanting to play for years, would end up frustrating me more than Fortnite has been)

*deep breath* Ok, rant over. 

[chrolka]

I had the exact same issue. In order for me to progress I needed to do things that were disabled by the tutorial.

My solution: After reading this thread I did repair the game through Origin. Unfortunately, nothing changed... that is, for a while. I ended up doing something that prompted progression! What I did exactly was: i pressed ctrl + shift + C (i wanted to access the map through cheats to complete the aspiration like someone here had already advised), I typed in "m", pressed enter. Nothing happened. I typed in "\m", pressed enter, nothing happened. I unpaused the game and there it was! The VO telling me good job on getting a promotion and unlocking my phone! I'm not sure what exactly spurred the progression, cause I'm pretty sure I used the cheat wrong :D It was probably just pausing and unpausing... So yeah, ultimately repairing the game DID work for me.

Best regards

Alex