Re: [ARCHIVED] Thumbnails regenerate every session/localthumbcache file max size

Aye, I'm gonna suspect that this is some newer thumbnail glitch introduced with the Lovestruck patch where we can hide thumb portraits in Relationship Panel. Sounds about right.

And now we have the new Death EP that is just going to add to the file bloating problem. Specifically when generating one of those new townie "victims" who are destined to die, Generated as a living sim, with the usual assortment of living sim thumbnails, only to be killed, made dead, mere moments after coming into existence, to be given all new Ghost thumbs, rendering the living sim thumbs as garbage, junk thumbs, bloating the file and assuring its need to be deleted every five minute, which it will do automatically when hitting 100 mb.

Maxis, rein it in. please. Much, much needed a decade in.   

I figured it might be a different underlying issue for what I'm noticing now, but with exactly the same result.

I'm not sure when this started happening but the person that brought it up to me initially said the've been noticing it after October 22nd patch.

I also haven't been noticing the thumbnails regenerating in the relationsship panel before.

But I've noticed for a while now that the thumbnails in the Library keep regenerating - which is particularly weird because Library items should be using thumbnails that are stored in the Tray files. And if you check the affected households for example via the Sims 4 Tray Importer, you'll see that the original thumbnails are still there, but the game is not using them. I've been also noticing that the little sim thumbnails in CAS (household panel) recently keep generating for a long time, as if the game does it multiple times in a row or has a memory problem.

I have found these two reports describing the issue with portrait thumbnails in the Library and Manage Household menu. I feel like this is all related somehow, but I'm not sure.

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Mods-CC-Issues/Thumbnails-resetting-bug/m-p/13925595

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Mods-CC-Issues/Continuous-issue-with-manage-households-pictures-reloading/m-p/13480725

Edit:

I did some more testing and I believe for the Library it's a different issue.

It seems that deleting the localthumbcache.package will trigger the regeneration of thumbnails in the Library. So, for whatever reason, the game is indeed using the thumbnails stored in there instead of the Thumbnails stored in the Tray files. I don't think this is how it used to be. And I'm not sure if this was changed on purpose. But if this is how it works now, we will have this issue repeatedly, since deleting this file is necessary from time to time.

Yes, I too have been seeing the stored Library Sims thumbs also regenerating more than they should, seeing as they should, as you say, have their own Tray thumbnails separate from the localthumdcache file.

I wonder if this goes way back to a patch-fix-with-patch-glitch from about two years ago? If you remember back then, the thumbnails for Sixam aliens got messed up, so that all aliens were being depicted in their human disguise in all their thumbs. When Maxis got round to fixing this, reverting back to their true Sixam alien appearance in thumbs, the fix it came with a (supposedly) unintentional reduction it image size. In all family thumbs thereafter - not just aliens - the sims were smaller, the whole family further back in the picture. Typical fixes, doing something extra they shouldn't.

Only recently, when Maxis advertising the new Framed Family Portrait object players get free if getting Death EP before a certain closing date, did the family thumbs in the framed object in the promotion pictures of the freebie items, look like it has gone back to being the larger images - or more precisely family closer to the camera again - seen prior to the Sixam thumbnail fix years ago.

And now that I'm on the subject, do the thumb images of those Framed Wall Decor objects, - the most recent freebie one and the old sims mobile promo one from four or five years ago that can be modded into the game - also get added to the localthumcache? You would think it will just use the family thumb already generated. But as a few reports now are saying many thumbs are being doubled or even tripled unnecessarily, then if that large family thumb is being duplicated for the Framed Wall Decor Portrait that's really going to bloat out the localthumbcache in everyone's game, even if they have a minimal amount of sims.

Whatever it all amounts to, it's clear that thumbnails are broken, glitched or being poorly implemented in more ways than one now. So Maxis really do need to do a refresh on the whole thumbnail generating, storing and saving systems. To say they are outdated in this decade old game is a gross understatement.  

Hey all,

Just checking in to see if anyone is still seeing this on a modless game as we've been unable to reproduce it on our end.

If so please share your save file with us (instructions: http://x.ea.com/74420) so we can take a look.

Thanks!

@EA_Cade Thank you for replying, I didn't see the message until now.

I'm not sure how helpful this is, since you can recreate this quickly on your side, but sharing my save that I used for my testing (see my first message from above).

This is a fresh save, no mods and BG only. I uploaded this to my SimFileShare account, hope this is ok.

Also added 2 localthumbcache packages from launching the save for the first time and then the second time for comparison (see the duplicates that have been added after the second launch for no apparent reason, hence doubling the size of the file).

http://simfileshare.net/folder/234870/

Noting that you might not immediately notice the issue with only a handful of sims in the relationship panel (when you load into a new/newish household) unless you look closely when you load into the household. However, you should probably notice that when switching between household members for the first time after restarting the game, the sim thumbnail of the previously selected sim is being generated for a quick moment in the relationsship panel.

For me, it's really noticeable though when there are many sims in the relationship panel.

I think a reliable test either way is comparing the generated thumbnails in the localthumbcache from before and after restart like I did in my report above.

Also noting that the cause of the issue I'm encountering now might be different from the cause of the issue OP was encountering when originally making the report, even though the result is the same. There have been a few updates in between our reports that might have impacted how the game handles thumbnails such that the game insists on regenerating them each time after restart no matter the size of the localthumbcache or the amount of packs installed (I'm suspecting the new trait dependency for thumbnails that was introduced with the patch for Life & Death). Hence why I tested this with a fresh save and BG only.

Yes, I can also concur that something different is going on from the initial report I made. That report being related to something I'd been experiencing in game for over 18 months, and established that when localthumbs cache hits 100mb, it accepts no more images, any thumbs needed to generate in game could not successfully complete, out of memory, and cache always deleted when starting new session.

However, in very recent times, this newer glitch that folks are reporting is also hitting my game, and relationship thumbs, or travel panel thumbs, are being regenerated every single session, even though the cache has not reached 100mb yet.

So I now start a new session, and even though cache might only be 40-odd or 50-odd mb, all relationship thumbs are regenerating again.

Much different to the problem I'd long been accustomed to.

Also worth mentioning that this latest thumbnail deleting is most certainly verging on the side of being a glitch, erroneous coding, and is now widespread, so will most likely be patched and fixed eventually. But the problem I first reported is not a glitch. The game and cache are doing exactly as programmed without error. Capped at 100mb max and auto deleting when reaching cap. A state of affairs that worked 10 years ago, but is a repetitive hindrance today.