Sims 3 64-bit University Bug

[alicestasiaj]

So I am having quite a few issues with the 64-bit update but one of the main ones is that the worlds tend to be empty, especially when a sim goes to university there is no one there except for non-interactable sims standing still and doing nothing. My sim was invited to a keg party but the only other people there weren't actually there. You can't reset, interact with, or delete these unresponsive sims as the cursor just doesn't recognise them as being there at all.

Along with the game suddenly crashing and closing out of nowhere, not having any other sims to interact with kind of defeats the purpose of the game, doesn't it?

Oh, and every time I start up the game it tells me about the 'supernatural winds' and the university mascot comes to drop off a package so I have about 4 of the green buckets outside my sim's house.

It's so annoying because I miss the Sims 3 after how much of a shitshow the Sims 4 has turned out to be but right now it's too buggy to be played, unfortunately.

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@alicestasiaj  What I meant about the money was that you wouldn't need to play a household long enough to save the funds if you started with a rich enough family.  That way you could test quickly without having to waste time earning the funds for a trip to university.  I guess you could use motherlode instead

Anyway, it looks like the NPCs are there but can't be interacted with, which makes it sound like the world isn't loading properly.  Please repair the game in Origin: open your game library, right-click on the Sims 3 icon, and select Repair.

If that doesn't help, please try playing in a clean user folder.  Move your entire Sims 3 folder out of Documents > Electronic Arts and onto your desktop, and when you open the launcher, a clean folder will spawn with no content.  Don't add anything to it yet; just start a new save and see whether the inactive sims load properly.

If that doesn't help either, try this:

• Trash the new Sims 3 user folder so the game makes another new one.
• Load a save, let the mascot arrive and leave, and immediately send your sim(s) to university.
• When they're finished arriving, let the game clock run for ten sim-minutes or so, use "save as" to rename the save, and then quit without saving.
• Delete the five cache files in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3 (CASPartCache, compositorCache, scriptCache, simCompositorCache, socialCache).
• Reload the new save and see whether the inactive sims can be interacted with.

[puzzlezaddict]

@alicestasiaj  Please start a new save and test.  If you pick one of the rich premade families, you won't need to worry about earning money for university and can just send them right away.

[alicestasiaj]

I did, the same thing has happened on two save files. It's not a money issue, it's the fact that there are no NPC's that actually exist in the worlds

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@alicestasiaj  What I meant about the money was that you wouldn't need to play a household long enough to save the funds if you started with a rich enough family.  That way you could test quickly without having to waste time earning the funds for a trip to university.  I guess you could use motherlode instead

Anyway, it looks like the NPCs are there but can't be interacted with, which makes it sound like the world isn't loading properly.  Please repair the game in Origin: open your game library, right-click on the Sims 3 icon, and select Repair.

If that doesn't help, please try playing in a clean user folder.  Move your entire Sims 3 folder out of Documents > Electronic Arts and onto your desktop, and when you open the launcher, a clean folder will spawn with no content.  Don't add anything to it yet; just start a new save and see whether the inactive sims load properly.

If that doesn't help either, try this:

• Trash the new Sims 3 user folder so the game makes another new one.
• Load a save, let the mascot arrive and leave, and immediately send your sim(s) to university.
• When they're finished arriving, let the game clock run for ten sim-minutes or so, use "save as" to rename the save, and then quit without saving.
• Delete the five cache files in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3 (CASPartCache, compositorCache, scriptCache, simCompositorCache, socialCache).
• Reload the new save and see whether the inactive sims can be interacted with.

[alicestasiaj]

Lovely, that sorted out the NPC problem, thank you!

I think the mascot coming every day is because the game is not letting me log in so it's not saving my progress. The launcher allows me to log in, but when I try to type the exact same thing into the game itself it says the details are invalid. And Origin says that I haven't played the game at all so I'm not sure what to do because I've been waiting for days to speak to someone at EA but nothing.

[puzzlezaddict]

@alicestasiaj  Origin says I haven't played the 64-bit version at all either, which is highly inaccurate.  And I never sign into the launcher or the Main Menu.  That has never been required and shouldn't have anything to do with your saving issues.

For disappearing saves or lost progress, the first suspect is iCloud automatically syncing the contents of Documents and also removing those files from your hard drive.  You can disable automatic syncing easily enough:

https://bluebellflora.com/2017/02/06/sims-3-and-sims-4-not-loading-save-games/

You may need to redownload your Sims 3 folder after changing the settings, but it should stay put going forward.

[alicestasiaj]

It's odd, it's not a complete reset, my sim will remain where they were when I left off but their inventory, memories and relationships are completely wiped and the game acts as if I'm starting for the first time all over again. It's a shame because I really love TS3 but I just can't play it if it will wipe my sim clean after I close the game down.

Thanks for being so helpful, anyway!

[puzzlezaddict]

@alicestasiaj  It sounds like something is seriously borked with your install or your user folder.  If you want to keep troubleshooting it, please disable iCloud's auto syncing, then move your entire Sims 3 folder out of Documents > Electronic Arts and onto your desktop.  When you launch the game, a clean folder will spawn with no content.  Don't add anything yet; just start a new save in Sunset Valley, let the game clock run for a bit, stuff some items into your sims' inventories, save, quit, reload, and see whether the problem is still present.  Let me know either way.