Sims disappearing after coming home from university

[sossanders123]

Did you ever find the solution to this? Because I’m having the same issue right now.

[puzzlezaddict]

@sossanders123  Please try the steps described in post 2 on page one.  If they don't help, let me know whether you use mods or would be willing to add a few.

[kaykaykaykaykay]

This is many months later, but is there any updates on this? I have gone through all the steps on the second comment and I also tried to download the traveler, overwatch, and errortrap mods and i was still having the same issue. Is there anything else I could possibly try?

[puzzlezaddict]

@kaykaykaykaykay  This is a relatively common issue that should also be solvable in one way or another.  One other thing you could try is removing your custom content, if you have any.  I'm reasonably sure bad cc caused this problem for at least one person and that removing it was the reason they were able to fix it.  Let me know if you need help removing cc.

If that's not the issue, I could test your save, if you're comfortable sharing it.  Let me know which expansion and stuff packs you have installed, as well as any store worlds you own and what world your sims live in when they're not at University.  For the save itself, open Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3 > Saves, right-click on the folder for your current save, select Compress, then upload the .zip file to a third-party filehosting site (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.) and link it for me.  You can post it here or send it via private message if you prefer.

[kaykaykaykaykay]

I have no cc, so that can't be the problem. My packs are pets, university, generations, late night, ambitions, outdoor living stuff, and town life stuff. 

Here's the save file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bPIQuaTqgoYqDHTnhznPH6NL9qKJaG9i/view?usp=sharing

He's originally living in Sunset Valley. For some reason he is stuck in the university town after they force them to leave, but the same thing still happens when I try to send him home via dropping out. 

Thanks for your help.

[puzzlezaddict]

@kaykaykaykaykay  I apologize for the late reply.  I needed to do some uninstalling and reinstalling as well as a bit of messing with some internal game files and only just found a way to get your sim home.  But he is home, fully intact as far as I can tell and no worse for wear:

Let me know when you've downloaded the save, and I'll remove the link.

Edit:  Link removed.

[kaykaykaykaykay]

I've downloaded it, thank you so much! I appreciate your help a lot. I think that I am just going to avoid sending my sims to university for now since it seems to be a lot to fix, but I am curious if this is a problem with the game that EA might fix soon or if there is something wrong specifically with my downloads or so that are causing this problem?

[puzzlezaddict]

@kaykaykaykaykay  The travel transition has been fragile, on all platforms, pretty much since World Adventures was released in 2009.  I can't say for sure, but I think it's just breaking for you the way it breaks for a lot of people.  It's possible that this particular transition, or this instance of University, had some problem that is unlikely to recur, but it's also possible that this is more about what the transition demands of your computer.  I don't know the specs of your Mac, but if you have a model with a weaker processor, you might not get ideal results.

This is all speculation, but there are some things you can do to see whether this is a game or system problem rather than an unusual outcome.  One is to only travel after restarting your computer and loading the game right away, with nothing else running, not even a browser.  Another is to play with NRaas ErrorTrap, Overwatch, and Traveler at all times—they can be helpful no matter when you add them, but they're most effective when they have an opportunity to prevent errors rather than repairing them after the fact.  I used these mods with your save and got a couple of scripterrors, although they were just cleanup and didn't point to any obvious problem.  Still, they won't do any harm.

You can also try traveling your sim to University and immediately back again.  If the travel transition isn't going to work at all on your system, you'll see the results right away.

I doubt EA is going to do anything about this issue because it's not a universal problem, and also because EA never bothered before now.  So the question is whether you can manage the issue well enough or whether you need to avoid traveling entirely.  If you do try to travel again, be sure to keep a backup save from beforehand, in case you need it later.  Just use "save as" to rename the save, and the original will remain intact under its original name while you play forward under the new name.

[cherryberry2208]

i'm having these issues as well is there any way you can help?

[puzzlezaddict]

@cherryberry2208  Please try the suggestions in post 2:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-Mac/Sims-disappearing-after-coming-home-from-university/m...

If those don't help, and you're willing to use mods, try adding NRaas ErrorTrap, Overwatch, and Traveler.

If that doesn't help either, you can send me your save, and I'll try to make it work.  In addition, please list the packs you currently have installed as well as any store worlds.  If your sims live in a custom world, please list it as well.