Unable to choose alternate career branch

[JonaO703]

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? 1.69.59.1020
What expansions, game packs, and stuff packs do you have installed? University, Island, Seasons, Cats and Dogs, City, Get Together, Get to Work, Star Wars, Magic, Parenthood, Vampires, Dine out, Spa day, Outdoor retreat, Tiny living, Pets, Toddler, Fitness, Bowling, Backyard, Kids, Spooky, Kitchen, Patio
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? Join and follow career path then choose one branch instead of another. Once a branch is chosen, there is no option to reset this.
What happens when the bug occurs? I am unable to choose a different branch of the career path.
What do you expect to see? While it can be beneficial to have the game remember the progress made in a career, I should have the option to choose a different branch within the same career path.
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? No

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I'm not entirely sure this would be considered a "bug", so please accept my apologies if this is in the wrong section.  I searched and found career related issues but I did not find a solution for this.  My primary sim was promoted in the Entertainer career to the Comedian branch while I was editing another household.  I wanted this sim to follow the Musician career path.  I had my sim quit Entertainer but the Musician path is not an option now and I am unable to reset the career path.  

[crinrict]

@JonaO703 I'm moving this to general discussion as feedback. It's always been like this so it's not a bug.

It is now actually possible to change career path if you go to uni to get a degree for the other path.

[Trismagistos]

@JonaO703  In your report you state that you use custom content do you also use modifications and cheats? Because you can always choose to cheat and demote the Sim in question back to the moment he/she had to choose the next fase of the career path. When you choose to do so you can open the cheat options

Spoiler

And type in the bar the words: 'careers.demote entertainer' without the quotation marks. You have to play the Sim you want to demote.

Have fun playing. 😉

[JonaO703]

@Trismagistos Thank you!  Why didn't I think of that?  I was just planning to revert to a previous save but I think using the cheat would be better.

@crinrict Thanks for the reply.  While I understand why the issue isn't exactly a bug, it should still be addressed.  Little glitches like the one I mentioned happen all the time.  The game continues for a few seconds while moving from in-game to manage worlds or travel.  I often get in-game notifications in the worlds view.  However, this time, my sim came home with a promotion during the transition and the game decided his career branch should be Comedian.  I didn't get the prompt to choose.  Even without a glitch or some other accidental selection, going to university to change branches isn't the solution.  What if a player doesn't have the University pack?  Actually, this sim just completed the Fine Arts degree specifically to set him up for the Musician track.  It takes a rather long time to get through the degree program and I don't relish the idea of going through it again just to change branches.

So, before using the cheat, I decided to look at a couple previous saves and one of them immediately loaded with the choose branch prompt.  I'm certainly glad to be able to recover that save and I'm not trying to be difficult but I still think it would be better to have the option for sims to change branches within career tracks at any time.  I'm so grateful to have this forum for discussion and feedback.  Many thanks to all of you helping players resolve issues!

(CM: Multiple posts merged. Check out this post for tips on how to edit and add more to a post.)

[crinrict]

@JonaO703 If you don't get a prompt to choose, then that would be a bug. You should always be prompted.

There's been lots of feedback on this since the game came out but for some reason, the devs decided to go this route.

It's good to give feedback about it but it's not a bug.

Just saying while there wasn't any options before, there is now one (to my knowledge demoting doesn't get rid of the branch)

[JonaO703]

@crinrict Perhaps there is a bug with in-game events occurring during a transition to travel or to manage worlds. Just a few minutes ago, I had one sim traveling home just as another sim in the household returned home with a promotion.  The notification popped up in the worlds view; "Traveling with...".  Fortunately, this sim is further along in his career track so there wouldn't have been any prompt for action.  These in-game notifications haven't been an issue before since I've only noticed things like mail being delivered.  

I get what you're saying that the lack of an option to change branches isn't a bug.  However, I stand by what I said before.  Going back to uni just to change branches is less than ideal.  I guess I'll just have to hope the developers change their minds and give us an option to change at any time. 

You're right about the demote cheat.  I went into an older save and tested it on two different sims.  In both cases, demote caused the sims to be fired (which by the way gave them both a 24 hour Sad +3 moodlet).  When I had them find a job again, the only available option for their careers was the level they had before they were fired.

Thanks again!  I really do appreciate your help.

[crinrict]

@JonaO703 If you get another instance of the prompt not appearing, feel free to create a new bug report for that.