why are there copies of my characters on sims 4

[Figtree20]

I have created a few characters on sims 4 and I have seen exact copies of 5 of them so far during game play. This is very frustrating and it is putting me off playing the game. I definitely won't be buying anymore packs, etc until this is sorted.

[PugLove888 · Accepted solution]

@Figtree20 , thank you for explaining in more detail!    I haven't really noticed this happening, but that might be because I don't play rotationally.  Or, it could be that it is happening but with Sims that I've downloaded from the Gallery that I haven't played yet, and therefore don't recognize them! 

I have recently heard that this was normal in the game, so I assume it is intentional. But I've also heard from someone else that they have only seen it happen in modded games. 🤷‍♀️ I've seen something like that with the Realm of Magic Game Pack with the vendors in the Magic Realm , but they are duplicates that are made into ghosts, and not necessarily pulled from a players library as there are some Maxis-made Sims in those roles as well.  Also if you have the Get Famous Expansion Pack and your Sim is a star , the game will use your Sim in the world as well, but that is to be expected.

You can try to do a factory reset of the game and then repair your game in Origin.  That might help.  Also you can delete them from your library so the game can't pull them from there, but I also understand if you don't want to do that! 😉

Update: Try 1.) Remove all the duplicates through household manager ( from Map view choose the Household Manager button in the top right corner.  From there you can choose either your played households or your unplayed households , including those that are "currently not in world" ..  2.) Delete all Sims from your library and 'store in a save game/gallery instead. 

[PugLove888]

@Figtree20 , do you mean you have multiple copies of your Sims in your Library, or in your Saved Games?

  I don't know if this is the same thing as what you are experiencing, but when I start playing a family it will create a new save game file and it will be called something like Saved Game 32 or Saved Game 79.  And then if I play for a bit and choose to save it under a new name it will create a new save game file that I have named (like Oasis Springs Smith Family, or Alien/Vampire Test Family, or whatever I choose to name it), but it will still have the old save copy that is named a number from when the game automatically generated after I created them in CAS and started to play with them. 

Also, are you playing on a console or a PC or Mac?  Do you use any Mods/CC? Did this start happening recently or has it been happening for some time?

[Hallie22]

Did you randomize your sims? 

With the EP Get Famous i've noticed that there are a lot of NPC's who have the blond curly hair. And they all have the same last name. I just grouped them together and turned them into a family. Or you could delete them.

[Figtree20]

Hi

No they are not in my library. They just show up at different places with exactly the same name as my characters.

For instance some of my characters went to a bar in another town and when they got there the partner of one of them was working at the bar. I wondered what he was doing there because her partner is in the business career but it wasn't him, it was a copy. the same thing happened with another character working at another bar. Another one turned up at a gym that one of my characters were at and he was a gym instructor. So far I've seen 5 of them. The last one I saw was when one of the characters I'd created came to visit at a house I was playing on at the time and she was sat chatting on the sofa. Then I saw the exact same woman knocking at the front door and she had the same name and the exact same clothes.

If I make the mistake of interacting with any of these copies they show up in my contacts on the phone.

I use a pc and no I don't use mods/cc. I recently started buying the game after giving up on it a few months after sims 4 first came out and it happened soon after I started playing.

I'm really not happy with this. For the amount of money paid for this game there are too many gliches, faults, etc.

[Figtree20]

Hi

I created them.

To delete them wouldn't I have to interact with them and move them into a home, etc. The thing is I don't feel this should be happening and want to know if this is going to continue to happen.

Someone I know uses a playstation and he says he's never had this problem.

[HERB405]

@Figtree20 That is frustrating & I think I've had this problem aswell, especially with diseased sims showing up like dobbelgangers. I've also seen it on YouTube Streamers Let's Play episodes such as Kelsie With her single girl 100 baby challenge & captain Sauce with his Life of Kevin Series. I wonder if you have Mc Command Center? Perhaps try deleting the copies via 'Maintain Sim' that way? It might be an idea to find which save file on origin your sim originally became duplicated & then delete that file if you don't need to keep it? It might also be ne essarry to check the date of that save file & tally it with the save files in your sims 4 folder.. You might be an idea to research how to locate save files in your sims 4 folder. Hope these pointers help.

[PugLove888 · Accepted solution]

@Figtree20 , thank you for explaining in more detail!    I haven't really noticed this happening, but that might be because I don't play rotationally.  Or, it could be that it is happening but with Sims that I've downloaded from the Gallery that I haven't played yet, and therefore don't recognize them! 

I have recently heard that this was normal in the game, so I assume it is intentional. But I've also heard from someone else that they have only seen it happen in modded games. 🤷‍♀️ I've seen something like that with the Realm of Magic Game Pack with the vendors in the Magic Realm , but they are duplicates that are made into ghosts, and not necessarily pulled from a players library as there are some Maxis-made Sims in those roles as well.  Also if you have the Get Famous Expansion Pack and your Sim is a star , the game will use your Sim in the world as well, but that is to be expected.

You can try to do a factory reset of the game and then repair your game in Origin.  That might help.  Also you can delete them from your library so the game can't pull them from there, but I also understand if you don't want to do that! 😉

Update: Try 1.) Remove all the duplicates through household manager ( from Map view choose the Household Manager button in the top right corner.  From there you can choose either your played households or your unplayed households , including those that are "currently not in world" ..  2.) Delete all Sims from your library and 'store in a save game/gallery instead. 

[graciesimssss]

@Figtree20 Do you have any mods? Specifically, do you have the MC Command Centre Mod by Deaderpool? There's a tool on there in which the mod populates your save with sims from your saved gallery, so perhaps this is what is causing the issue?

[Figtree20]

All my characters are in my library, which is fine, but then when I checked as you suggested the copies were in the other folder as "currently not in world". Of all the characters I created there was only one, the first character I created, that there was no copy of. Since then I've not noticed any turn up so hopefully it's sorted.

Thanks for your help and thanks to the others that offered suggestions.

[Figtree20]

@graciesimssss I don't have any mods but thanks for your suggestion. I think I've already sorted the problem out a following a suggestion from another player.