Sims disappear from family tree

[ejmcc18]

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? 1.72.28.1030
What expansions, game packs, and stuff packs do you have installed? Snowy escape, eco lifestyle, discover university, seasons, cats & dogs, city living, get together, get to work, realm of magic, strangerville, jungle adventure, parenthood, vampires, dine out, paranormal, tiny living, laundry day, vintage glamour, holiday celebration
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? Sims randomly disappearing from family tree—the ones I’ve noticed disappear so far are already dead and from two generations before current generation
What happens when the bug occurs? Sims disappear from family tree
What do you expect to see? Sims stay in family tree even after dying
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? Neutral/Not Sure 

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I am playing the 100 baby challenge so there are a lot of sims in the tree, but I didn’t expect them to disappear from it so I’m losing track..

[JonaO703 · Accepted solution]

@ejmcc18 Hi!  I'm not quite sure if this is your issue but I think perhaps those sims who died may have been culled from the game.  If that's the case, I don't think it's a bug but rather by design, to keep your overall sim population from exploding.  There are a few things you can do to keep sims from being culled.  If you get the urn or tombstone when they die, you can click on those to strengthen their connection to the physical world.  Typically, the urns and tombstones only appear if the dying sim is part of the active household or your active sim is present when they die.  Also, I think you have to do the "strengthen" interaction periodically to keep ghosts from moving on.  You can add ghost sims to an active household or one that is placed in-world somewhere.  If they are "homeless" I think the game considers them fair game for culling.   (Edit:  I decided to double check this last one and I was not able to find my family's ghost sims through Manage Households.    Perhaps take a look at all households through Manage Households from world view, and IF your ghost sims are in the "other households" tab.  When you click edit, it should send them to CAS which should also add them to your "my households" list [up to 150 sims].  This should protect them from culling. -end edit.)  Hope this helps!

Edit: Oops!  I forgot to mention the MCCC mod has an option which allows you to choose which sims will never be culled.  If you haven't used MCCC before and want to try it, I highly suggest you test it in a save you don't care about first.  It's best to understand the settings so you don't inadvertently make changes you don't like in your primary save.

[JonaO703 · Accepted solution]

@ejmcc18 Hi!  I'm not quite sure if this is your issue but I think perhaps those sims who died may have been culled from the game.  If that's the case, I don't think it's a bug but rather by design, to keep your overall sim population from exploding.  There are a few things you can do to keep sims from being culled.  If you get the urn or tombstone when they die, you can click on those to strengthen their connection to the physical world.  Typically, the urns and tombstones only appear if the dying sim is part of the active household or your active sim is present when they die.  Also, I think you have to do the "strengthen" interaction periodically to keep ghosts from moving on.  You can add ghost sims to an active household or one that is placed in-world somewhere.  If they are "homeless" I think the game considers them fair game for culling.   (Edit:  I decided to double check this last one and I was not able to find my family's ghost sims through Manage Households.    Perhaps take a look at all households through Manage Households from world view, and IF your ghost sims are in the "other households" tab.  When you click edit, it should send them to CAS which should also add them to your "my households" list [up to 150 sims].  This should protect them from culling. -end edit.)  Hope this helps!

Edit: Oops!  I forgot to mention the MCCC mod has an option which allows you to choose which sims will never be culled.  If you haven't used MCCC before and want to try it, I highly suggest you test it in a save you don't care about first.  It's best to understand the settings so you don't inadvertently make changes you don't like in your primary save.

[ejmcc18]

That is probably what is going on, thanks so much!

[JonaO703]

@ejmcc18 You're welcome!  Good luck with your challenge and have fun playing!

[Zzchnga]

I have this problem as well. The sims are definitely being culled, but I think this is still a glitch, seeing as they had a patch to fix this precise issue not too long ago. Officially, sims who have died should not be disappearing from their genealogy according to the notes.

Patch 1.68.154  was the one that was supposed to have stopped this from happening, so it's not by design, I don't think.

[JonaO703]

@Zzchnga OMG!  You're right!  I didn't remember that when I replied to @ejmcc18 's OP but I found the patch notes.   I do see that it is not retroactive for sims who disappeared before the patch though.  If y'all are seeing deceased sims removed from the genealogy after the November 10th patch, please do open a new bug report and please accept my humblest apologies.

[Gwilks171]

I’m having this same issue: this is my post: 

Hey...I have an issue that I need Some help with. I’m past 100 generations. I got The alphabet legacy achievement at 26....still haven’t gotten my achievement for the 100, it is only remembering the last 30 generations. How do I fix This? 
I have the house under “my households” not “other households” and I switched to “unlimited” rather than 150-220 Sims in settings. What else am I missing Because it keeps forgetting and going blank in my family tree around 33 generations. 

I play w no mods and don’t use any cheats. 
I have sims4, island life, get to work and a few small packs 

[pjthekick]

Hi! I see this is an old post, but I was wondering if anyone was able to somehow add their sim back to the family tree using MCCC. It's just one Sim in my legacy, I have her grave and everything. I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to sims and it sucks having worked on something for it to be erased. Any feedback is appreciated! 

[pjthekick]

Also, to add, when I have had this happen in the past, there is a placeholder image for where that sim is supposed to be. In this case, she's completely gone from the family tree.