Broken Sim

[escapedpolarbear]

One of my sims is slightly broken:

1) Whenever I get him to read a skill book, he'll pick it up and it will disappear from his queue. He then puts it in his inventory and won't read it.

2) His fun need has been critical for a while, so I put testingcheatsenabled true on, and tried to drag it up. However it won't work. Not at home, on map view, live or paused, shift click or not, right or left click. It works on his wife and his children.

Please help!

[puzzlezaddict]

@escapedpolarbear  Try evicting him and moving him back in.  That's the best modless reset of a sim you can do.  First, clear your cache files in your game folder in Documents.  I think you're already familiar with them, but just in case:

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

Next, go to Edit Town, split the affected sim off from the family, and move him to another lot.  Use "save as" to rename the save (so you have a backup), quit, clear your cache files again, and move the sim back into your active household, again via Edit Town.  "Save as" again, clear your cache files again, and test the sim; instead of using testingcheats to drag his fun meter, try telling him to watch TV or something easy.

Alternately, you can evict the whole family in Edit Town, save their house to the bin, bulldoze the lot, replace the house, and move the sims back in.  Since the other sims are unaffected, it might not be necessary, but you could try it if moving around just the one sim doesn't help.  And quit and clear your caches again, of course.

One of the reasons the fun meter (or another needs meter) can get stuck is if you use the cheat "makeneedsstatic."  Undoing it ("makeneedsdynamic") doesn't always take full effect.  So if you've used the cheat in the past, you might try making needs static and then dynamic again, to see if it unsticks the meter.  But it probably isn't the reason your sim can't read a book.

If the sim's fun meter is fixed (by whichever technique) but he still can't read the skill book, try first telling him to sit somewhere or relax on the bed, and then directing him to read.  Try it with different objects and different books, including those that aren't skill-related.  The book itself could be borked, or the chair he wants to use; either issue is easy enough to resolve.  But if he can't read anything, or he can't read skill books specifically, then that's a more problematic kind of corruption, one that can really only be addressed with a full reset, if at all.

[escapedpolarbear]

I've discovered the actual problem - his fun need is stuck. I tried 'testingcheatsenabled true' and shift-clicked the mailbox. I did 'make all happy', and everyone in the families' needs went to maximum, naturally. Except for dad - his fun need stayed at critical. This is why he won't read skill manuals I think - it's stressful.

[puzzlezaddict]

@escapedpolarbear  That makes perfect sense.  But it still doesn't explain why the fun meter is stuck.  I think the best option is probably to move him out, quit, and move him back in, clearing caches after each step.  Without mods, there isn't any other reset that will help here.

[escapedpolarbear]

OK I'll try that. Thanks!

[escapedpolarbear]

If I reset the Sim, what will he lose?

[puzzlezaddict]

@escapedpolarbear  With the reset I described, your sim should keep his job and his relationships, including with his family; if the family tree gets messed up, that means the sim is probably too corrupted to fix my moving him out and back in again, anyway.  He'll also keep his Lifetime Happiness points and his rewards.  He will lose his promised wishes and opportunities, so be sure to have him complete any tasks that matter to you.  It's a good idea to move objects out of his personal inventory as well, since the game tends to randomly sell items from the inventories of inactive sims.

And as always, you can use "save as" to rename the save. so that if you don't like the results, you can revert to the older save file.  But without mods, there's not a whole lot else you can do to fix a sim that's starting to show signs of corruption.

[escapedpolarbear]

OK, I'll try this on a duplicate game as I have some important promised wishes