Frozen After University [ Edited ]

[brinn1996]

My sims traveled back from University however now it doesn’t show either sim on the left side of my PC and I can only see one of my sims standing in front of me and she is half dressed in her every day wear and her robes from graduation but I am stuck on the sim that I can’t see. Actions can’t be completed, the entire system is frozen. The plumbob is dancing above my characters head but that is the only thing that’s moving. I can click on things… But actions can’t be completed and my person is missing. I can’t play. What do I do?

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@brinn1996  You'll need to quit without saving, if you haven't already.  When the travel transition breaks like this, there's no way to recover.  Once you quit, delete the five cache files in your Sims 3 game folder in Documents\Electronic Arts.  They should be deleted regularly anyway, and definitely any time you have an issue with the game.  For reference, they are:

• CASPartCache.package
• compositorCache.package
• scriptCache.package
• simCompositorCache.package
• socialCache.package

Reload, and try traveling again—sometimes it happens to work once when it doesn't another time.  But if you notice anything strange, quit without saving again, and let me know.

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@brinn1996  You'll need to quit without saving, if you haven't already.  When the travel transition breaks like this, there's no way to recover.  Once you quit, delete the five cache files in your Sims 3 game folder in Documents\Electronic Arts.  They should be deleted regularly anyway, and definitely any time you have an issue with the game.  For reference, they are:

• CASPartCache.package
• compositorCache.package
• scriptCache.package
• simCompositorCache.package
• socialCache.package

Reload, and try traveling again—sometimes it happens to work once when it doesn't another time.  But if you notice anything strange, quit without saving again, and let me know.

[brinn1996]

What happens if I saved? Because I quit without saving the first time but I didn’t delete anything. I also quit without saving the second time and then shut my laptop down to let it cool off and I left it alone for about 20 minutes and when I came back it was room temperature so I tried to play again and then since nothing had changed I tried to edit my town and I saved the data at that point so I wouldn’t lose what I have done when I edited the town. I was trying to find a loophole to see if I could get my characters to move. But I didn’t happen.

[puzzlezaddict]

@brinn1996  You can load a backup save instead.  Even if you never made one, the game will have saved the data from the second to last time you saved.  Go into Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Saves, and look for a folder labeled with your save name plus a .backup extension.  So if your save is called SunsetValley, the main save folder will be called SunsetValley.sims3, and the backup will be SunsetValley.sims3.backup.  Rename it and delete the .backup extension (e.g. SunsetValley1.sims3), and it will be avaliable to load from the Main Menu.

Before you reload the game though, it's a good idea to make a copy of this backup save.  That way, you can experiment on the one in your Sims 3 folder, and you'll still have a backup if you need it later.

If the travel transition fails again, don't try to recover it, just quit without saving again.  Without mods, the only other thing you can do is try to lower the stress on the game engine as much as possible while your sims are traveling.  Here's how:

• Empty your sims' inventories as much as possible.  A few items is fine; a hundred is not.
• Use "save as" to rename the save, then quit (without saving) immediately before you want to travel.
• Load the game just to the Main Menu.  Turn off memories, the in-game shopping experience, and the hidden object interactive loading screens.
• Lower all the graphics settings to the minimum.  (You can revert to your normal settings after the travel transition.)  Now quit the game again, without loading a save.
• Delete the five cache files in your game folder in Documents: CASPartCache, compositorCache, scriptCache, simCompositorCache, and socialCache.
• Empty out everything in FeaturedItems as well.
• If you play through Origin, sign in and then put Origin in offline mode.  Now disconnect your computer from the internet—turn off wifi and/or pull the ethernet cord.
• Now launch your game, load the save, and send your sims to the future right away, as soon as the game clock starts moving forward.

If none of this works, let me know whether you'd like to add a few mods to try to help.