The sims 3 destinations won't load

[Nanyska]

Hi, I traveled to all three destinations several times, but now the destinations just won't load. The loading bar is almost full, but then it gets stuck on 95%, the music stops and it keeps loading forever. I got traveler mod and successfully traveled to Egypt. But I still have problems with the Future and I guess traveling to University will be a problem too. I don't know what to do and I can't find any answers that will help me.

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@Nanyska  Well, the problem isn't your computer's specs; it should be able to handle ITF without too much trouble.  (The very highest settings might be a bit hard on your graphics card, especially if you have Pets and Seasons, but that's unlikely to affect travel to one particular world.)

I'm not sure either why only the future world would be affected, especially in a save that has never loaded that world before. There was a weird issue a month ago with traveling while OneDrive was enabled, but the players affected couldn't travel anywhere.  Still, you could disable OneDrive as a test, just to see whether it makes a difference.  I imagine it wouldn't, but there's no harm in trying.

One more thing you can try is traveling a family in a clean game folder.  Pull your entire TS3 game folder out of Documents, and load the game to the Main Menu to spawn a new one.  Once you quit, you can copy your NRaas mods into the new folder (delete the cache files again), but leave out any other mods.  Then load a new save, pick a random family, and send them to the future.  Test while your computer is offline, just to cover all your bases.  If it works, copy over the original save where you had the travel transition issues and test it.  (Don't worry about a "missing objects" message when you load the save—you can copy over your store and custom content later.)

If this works too, there's a problem with your old game folder.  Are all your NRaas mods updated?  Do you use mods from any other source?  Most custom content wouldn't cause this issue, but you can copy it into the new folder and test again, just to be sure.

If you can't send sims to the future even in a new save in a clean folder, with no mods other than NRaas ErrorTrap, Overwatch, and Traveler, while your computer is completely offline, then the only other possibility is something wrong with your install of ITF.  If this is a disc install, what patch level are you on, and have you ever run the Super Patch?  (Ignore this for a Steam install, as the game is already fully patched.)

[puzzlezaddict]

@Nanyska  Try installing ErrorTrap and Overwatch too.  Errortrap is a core mod, so be sure to get the version that corresponds with your type of install—Origin/1.69, disc/1.67, and Steam/1.67 each have a different version.

If those two mods alone don't fix the issue, let me know and I'll walk you through how to decrease the stress on the game while traveling.

[Nanyska]

 I just traveled to University and even tried the other worlds and it loaded perfectly! But there's still problem with the Future. It's loading and loading then the music stops and nothing happens.

[puzzlezaddict]

@Nanyska  Okay, then there might be a problem with the future world itself.  You can delete the old instance of it and force the game to spawn a new version.  You'll lose any progress you made in Oasis Landing though, so if you'd rather not go this route, I can list ways to decrease the stress on the game engine.  On the other hand, the fact that your sims arrive in the other travel destinations suggests that perhaps this is only a problem with the one world, and there might not be much you can do to recover it.

Anyway, start by loading your save and using "save as" to rename it, so you'll have a backup in case anything goes wrong.  Then quit the game (delete the cache files), and go into Saves inside your game folder.  Inside, you'll see a folder for each save.  Open the one for your newly renamed save and delete the .nhd file for Oasis Landing.  I think you can delete the ExportDB file for OL as well, although you may want to experiment a bit.

[Nanyska]

@puzzlezaddict  I really appreciate your help, but I've never traveled to Future with my family so there are no files for OL.

Okay, I just tried to go to Future through town editor (the icons of worlds in the left corner) and everything worked fine. So I don't know why traveling with family is such a problem.

[puzzlezaddict]

@Nanyska  Alright, then the only thing to do is to lower the stress on the game engine as much as possible.  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).
• 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 you still can't get your sims to Oasis Landing, start a new save and pick some random household to test.  It might be that your current save is a bit overloaded; I think the transition to the future world takes more resources than traveling anywhere else.  (Something about rolling the future descendants.)  If you can't even send sims to the future in a new save, then please run a dxdiag and attach the results to a post here.

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/

Please also list the packs you have installed.

[Nanyska]

@puzzlezaddict  I tried new family in new town and still nothing. I have all packs and collections and here is the result of dxdiag.  I've never had these problems with the Future so I don't understand.

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@Nanyska  Well, the problem isn't your computer's specs; it should be able to handle ITF without too much trouble.  (The very highest settings might be a bit hard on your graphics card, especially if you have Pets and Seasons, but that's unlikely to affect travel to one particular world.)

I'm not sure either why only the future world would be affected, especially in a save that has never loaded that world before. There was a weird issue a month ago with traveling while OneDrive was enabled, but the players affected couldn't travel anywhere.  Still, you could disable OneDrive as a test, just to see whether it makes a difference.  I imagine it wouldn't, but there's no harm in trying.

One more thing you can try is traveling a family in a clean game folder.  Pull your entire TS3 game folder out of Documents, and load the game to the Main Menu to spawn a new one.  Once you quit, you can copy your NRaas mods into the new folder (delete the cache files again), but leave out any other mods.  Then load a new save, pick a random family, and send them to the future.  Test while your computer is offline, just to cover all your bases.  If it works, copy over the original save where you had the travel transition issues and test it.  (Don't worry about a "missing objects" message when you load the save—you can copy over your store and custom content later.)

If this works too, there's a problem with your old game folder.  Are all your NRaas mods updated?  Do you use mods from any other source?  Most custom content wouldn't cause this issue, but you can copy it into the new folder and test again, just to be sure.

If you can't send sims to the future even in a new save in a clean folder, with no mods other than NRaas ErrorTrap, Overwatch, and Traveler, while your computer is completely offline, then the only other possibility is something wrong with your install of ITF.  If this is a disc install, what patch level are you on, and have you ever run the Super Patch?  (Ignore this for a Steam install, as the game is already fully patched.)

[Nanyska]

@puzzlezaddict  Yay, it works. I moved the sims 3 folder out of the documents and everything is fine. I think I just need to test my mods one by one and find out what's causing it. THANK YOU

edit: Okay, it looks like the traveler mod is the only problem. I hope my world adventures will work/load without it I'm really confused. Or the mod just doesn't work with other mods.