Black square where nanites should be?

[enyaleigh]

I've recently come across a graphics issue where I cannot see my nanites either in the inventory or in the bot builder - they just show up as black squares. I'll provide a couple of screenshots for reference. 

It's still there when I quit and restart the game, though I don't yet know if this is happening in just the one save file. I couldn't seem to find anyone else with the same issue, too. 

Any ideas on how to fix this?

[puzzlezaddict]

@enyaleigh  It would be helpful to see whether this problem persists in another save, maybe in a different homeworld.  In the meantime, you can clear the five cache files in your Documents folder.  (For reference, they are: CASPartCache,package, compositorCache.package, scriptCache.package, simCompositorCache.package, and socialCache.package.)

The problem could be somewhere else in your TS3 folder.  You can test this by dragging the entire folder out of Documents and onto your desktop.  When you launch the gamea again, a clean folder will spawn with no content.  If the nanites show up normally in a new save in this folder, you can move over your existing save and see whether the problem reappears.  If a new save works but your existing one doesn't, that could be a sign of game corruption, or perhaps just the kind of data overload that often accompanies a long-running save.

If a new save in a clean folder still produces this glitch, please run a dxdiag and attach it here using the paper clip icon.  (This assumes you have a PC.  If you're playing on a mac, there's an entirely different conversation to be had.)

https://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-3/HOW-TO-DxDiag-PC-Only/m-p/1049584/thread-id/47181