Pets... sometimes stretch when idle...?

[Werusek-2000]

So... pets... stretch? Mostly when idle, but just anytime. They stretch into these long, tall, stingy weird-like forms as if they're trying to morph into the skeleton of a sim...? I heard this is a bug, not an issue with a graphic card because apparently some animations haven't been fixed. So my question is- is EA going to fix this problem? Ever? I know they've given up on Sims 3 but it's disconcerting, and this has happened to me so many times- all across different computers and systems so I know it's not an issue on my end. It's just honestly horrifying and freaks me out every time, I usually pan my camera away from pets because of how freaky it is. So I just want to know if there will ever be a fix for this. Even like a mod that prevents this?

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@Werusek-2000  Graphics glitches shouldn't happen because of overheating.  In theory, that might appear to happen:  A slightly overheating graphics card or chip, that's therefore throttling its workload to keep from getting even hotter, could be slow to render an object (or sim), or render it in a stuttery way, and thus cause what looks like a graphical glitch.  However, that's not really a glitch per se, just a slowdown.  And it wouldn't account for what you're seeing.

A GPU that's overheating more than just a little bit, more than throttling could compensate for, would simply cause the game to crash.

[puzzlezaddict]

@Werusek-2000  This is more commonly caused by bad custom content, but it can also happen when a pet stretches to perform an idle movement meant for a human sim.  IT's not really related to the graphics card, at least not most of the time.

If you have any custom content at all or any mods that affect idle interactions, please remove them and see whether it helps.  If you notice examples of what the pets are doing when you see this problem, I mean aside from sitting around doing nothing, please list those.

[Werusek-2000]

It isn't. Happens way too often even without custom content.

[puzzlezaddict]

@Werusek-2000  It is in fact most often related to custom content, whether that's what's happening on your particular computer or not.  Given the relatively low rate of reports and the fact that the majority of people who do report it find they have bad cc or a mod that affects idles, it's pretty clear that this isn't a typical game bug outside of some very specific circumstances.

Anyway, if you have a mod that governs idles, for pets or for sims, remove that and see what happens.  Otherwise, test on a different lot, preferably one without a foundation or stairs, just to see whether the issue has to do with lot routing or something similar.

[Werusek-2000]

And what if it keeps happening even without mods and custom content? I don't even use store content anymore.

[puzzlezaddict]

@Werusek-2000  Then I'm not sure.  I've been messing around with a lot of pets lately, and I haven't seen this at all.  I'd still be curious to know what the pets do immediately after stretching, and also what graphics settings you use; I'm playing on ultra.

Additionally, please let me know whether there are any stairs or ladders in the house and whether you happen to be playing in a houseboat or a house with stilts.

[Werusek-2000]

Definitely not a routing error, this happens on pure flat ground. Anywhere. Even without foundation, anything. It mostly happens with cats but with dogs too. Never seen it happen with puppies or kittens but probably because I don't play with puppies or kittens. So they usually stand around before doing the horrifying spingly thing, and they have no action when you click on them, completely idle. Then right after the horrific stretch, they "snap" back to their normal self and glance around as if nothing happened. (The AI becoming self-aware LOL)

Cats are more wide and stretched, dogs are more spingly and disoriented. This only happens ever so often, like a glitch- so it's like a horror movie lol. You ever seen the toddler stretching into adult sim glitch? That's what happens here. Additionally, I don't play with buggy EPs such as World Adventures, Showtime or Island Paradise. Don't own any stuff packs. Also, NEVER happens to horses. Never happens to minor pets either (Terrarium ones). Raccoons? I've never seen it with them but I'm pretty sure they can glitch out too since I've seen people talk about it. Deers don't glitch either. 

How do I find my specs? ^^

[Werusek-2000]

Nevermind. I have a built-in-retina display, with 8GB RAM which, isn't that tragic I'd assume. My last one, which was a windows laptop had intel graphics with 4GB RAM, you can assume how that went.

[puzzlezaddict]

@Werusek-2000  I guess I don't know what to tell you.  I know about ladder issues and houseboat issues and some weirdness when a house is built on stilts, but I don't really understand why this would happen without any of those factors, and no custom content or mods that affect idling.  I also haven't seen it in my game at all, including in my current save, where the main household has a dog and there are plenty of cats roaming around.

Raccoons are built on the cat model, and deer on the horse model, so it makes sense that raccoons would be affected and not deer.

For the specs, I was looking for the info under About This Mac: everything except for the serial number.  And I'd like to know what graphics settings you're using as well; mine are on ultra other than water and high-detail lots.

For what it's worth, World Adventures isn't buggy at all if you exclude the mostly minor routing issues in the WA worlds.  Even that isn't too bad—my sims just got back from a 10-day trip to Shang Simla, and I think I had a total of three notifications about stuck sims.  The only Showtime glitch that affects performance in any meaningful way is the overproduction of career performance limos, and that can be disabled with NRaas Traffic.  The world of Isla Paradiso has many issues, but the rest of the pack's content is fine to use in any world that has room for it.  I understand if you don't want to use all the packs; I'm just saying you could.

[Werusek-2000]

I keep it as the settings that sims 3 automatically gives me, which is high. I uninstalled Nraas mods because I got scared that would be causing the glitch but is Nraas fair game? I’m playing with pets in my current save just to ensure it’s not a settings issue or  CC issue like you said.