[Error Analysis] Sim can't return home

Yup, having the similar problems myself so throwing my name in the cap.

First time, new family in Aurora Skies, I got that and Uni at the same time. Other than that I have all of the expansion and add ons apart from Katy Perry and the Diesel thing.
New family started with teenagers. Teenage went to Uni, graduated did invite the family, they came, they went, she went and the game was left with no playable character and no way to get to the menu screen.

So I started a new town, new family, different problem, I'm about half way through the term, saved last night, no problems. Came back to it this morning and when I get to the load screen I see a blank screen in the box where it should show my character. That is still clickable but it just goes to "a serious error has occurred....." nothing has changed with my computer since last night. I've had this error before and I believe I just had to start over again, frankly I'm a bit fed up of doing this. No mods, no cc apart from items from the store. I'm not expecting anyone here to come up with a solution I think I'll just play SimCity for a while and forget about the sims 3 - I might even dig out all my Sims and Sims 2 games - I bet they'll look a bit rudimentary now.
(I always have problems with a new expansion until it is patched)

Instead of waiting for answers from EA which I don't know when it will arrived.... :cry: And I personally don't know if this is just luck or something else I have finally managed to get past the loading screen the first time after Sim graduation and thus found the solution to my problem. :P

1) Use reset factory settings, I found this solution in other web forums from google search and not EA site and it is only by chance where I finally discover this is stated only in the forum where you can't get to university but not when the Sim can't return home from university. That dosen't matter my sim never hv problems getting to university anyways.

2) Copy and paste the particular save file where you have the problem of getting past loading screen from Sims 3 saves back up to new Sims 3 saves file. Note: The Sims 3 back up is created using reset factory settings. Search google for detail procedures on resetting.

3) No the above 2 solutions isn't enough to solve this issue, now the next part is to SPLIT the household you are sending your selected sims to university dosen't matter how many, either into a new household or into a new home, but within the same town. This way you will not lose any relationship and once they returned from university just MERGE them back into the original household.


4) So if you have problems from transiting to and from between homeworld and vacation or university at the loading screen you might consider trying the method of splitting and remerging household. But this alone dosen't solved the problem totally because this issue shouldn't even happen in the first place and it means your file is definitely corrupted and no one I have seen so far is willing to solve any corrupted file.

4) I also have plenty of mods pasted to my new sims 3 file so yes I can safely agree this has NOTHING to do with mods but rather a corrupted file from playing a household for a very long time, and has done plenty of saves. I have also send my dxdiag to EA and they said my drivers is good for this game and I even update drivers from a recommended site. I have also delete all the cache files, thumbnail files etc in the Sims 3 folder everytime before I start this game. Everything I could have possibly done.


Ironic I never have problems with large games like GTA 5, Beyond 2 souls, Last of us, Thief, ME, ME2, ME3 and other large games etc etc for PS3 but when it comes down to Sims 3 for PC microsoft....it becomes rather complex and I dread to think Sims 4.

So I have come to this conclusion it seems eventually all Sims 3 file will be corrupted if you play the same household for generations. And nothing much can be done to it.

UPDATE - See Crinrict's most recent update here http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/75/655771.page

Also please answer Qs in first posting but also see if the two following options help. Please post results:

from BrittanyCurry:
I've been have the same issue of not being able to graduate completely and return home. I invited people to the graduation and had saved afterwards so I wasn't able to go back to a different save point. However, I was able to find a way to return them home and still play with the same skills and degrees that they had before. Here is what I did:

1. Go to edit town (in the university mode)

2. Click on the lot that your sim is staying in

3. Switch the dorm to a residential lot, instead of a community lot

4. Now you are able to see the household - Click on the household and make a copy to the library (the panel at the bottom of the page)

5. Save the game under a different name and go to the main menu

6. Start a new game/town and choose to move that household into a home - At this point the other sims are uncontrollable (can't click on their pictures to control them)

7. Go back to edit town, after saving under a different name again

8. Click on the home that you moved the household into, then choose to split up the household

9. Choose to move out your sim(s) that you were able to control in university

10. Move your sim(s)into a different home than the household

11. Click on the change active household button (on the left side of the bottom panel)

12. Choose your sim(s) new home as the active household

13. Save and then click the "return to game" button on the top of the screen - You should now be able to play with your original sim(s) with all of their skills and degrees

This might sound confusing but it is actually easy to do. The only thing that you will lose will be pictures and anything placed in family inventory. I hope this helps!

or this from Proteus42:

SO, I can only recommend those people who only have a savefile from the time after inviting their family/friends to the graduation ceremony, to install error trap and reload their savefile with it.


For more information on mods see http://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2011/01/modshacks.html
error trap link http://nraas.wikispaces.com/ErrorTrap

UPDATE -ERROR TRAP from crinrict:
Blank portraits that later disappear completely and unclickable Sims are typical signs of Sims corrupting. I just wonder what can corrupt them.

If they don't go home, it seems they get detached from their home lots and that messes them up as well cause they are homeless then.

Twallan has made a fix to re-attach such Sims and from what I see it works great.

Details can be found here: http://nraas.wikispaces.com/message/view/ErrorTrap+Issues/61135292#61239378

If you are not opposed to mods, go down that road.

For the moment, saving BEFORE you leave for Uni is the best thing you can do for your Sim. To me, it seems most Sims get corruption sooner or later and the game is very fragile about it.

If anyone can provide a save game BEFORE it all happens, I'm happy to look at it but it'll need to wait till next week.


ANOTHER Mod free suggestion
from HollyBob6

I've been having a sort of similar problem. Whenever i would try to go home i would make it to my house and before my sims could even make it out of the vehicle it would crash. I found a solution.

Step 1: go to edit town, click your household, and save it to your bin.
Step 2: create a new file
Step 3: click edit town *this is in the town not the university* then go to your households bin.
Step 4: click your household and place it

It should have all your university progress saved and all your skills and traits still there, aswell as your social group standings, you will however have lost all your relationships. ******, but its worth it to continue with your family.

Reports from the bug thread:

- Sim cannot invite friends to graduation --> Sim jumps (sugar_cookies, sweetbeloved)
- Graduation fails causing them not to be able to return home or get their extra trait (SolitaryGround, SimSassybree)
- Sim can't return home after graduation (Pillbug2, sweetbeloved, SimSassybree, kimikokama, SciFiWarlock, Lyrical)
- Too many Sims at graduation (mishymacd)
- After graduation Sim with talent to critique goes to every lot and then gets stuck (Djehm)

Hey I've got this issue also, but got it somehow fixed, decided to post it here, maybe it can help.

-Are you using mods or did you do so before installing UL ? NO
- Are you playing a game you started before UL or did you start a new one ? Playing a game I was playing before UL
- Are you playing with a fresh Sim or did you import one from the library ? The sim is one of my sons. He was the first born and grew into a young adult a couple of sim days after I installed UL
- Were you able to go to graduation or did all go wrong before ? I was able to go to graduation
- Are you able to invite friend/family ? I was able to invite family and friends (eventhough it was just the mom, not the father, brother and sister.
- Try to describe as detailed as possible what happens: (ok here goes)

I've done the graduation thing 3 times with the same sim, same game, due to saving the day before graduation.
In the morning I get a message saying I can invite friends and family to my graduation. And so I the first time I invited his mother and his romantic interest. Around 1 pm or 2 pm he get's a message saying it's time for his graduation. He'll leave the dorm to go there. When he arrives, everyone changes into graduation robes, except my sim, he just gets in. Graduation get's started and around 4pm or 5pm he comes out. Cheering and stuff, then I tried to blog on his phone, but when I clicked it nothing popped up ( hope you understand what I mean), so I tried to click my sim also nothing pops up. I send him home and around 9pm he get's a message he can go home. So he packs his suitcase and walks to the van. Get's in, drives off and I get a message saying, I'm leaving UL to go back home and if I want to come back I can do so via the computer at home. I click ok. And then nothing happens. He stays in UL, he even get's dropped out of the van. I send him back to his dorm, and even the next day he's still here. (tried to drop out of University, but even that doesn't work.) Still nothing pops up when I click my sim or his phone..

So I decided to go back to my previous save to try again. Story is the same only thing different I didn't invite mom ( who lives at home not on campus). He's still stuck at UL and this time he's also unable to find his dorm. He rides his bike around UL and stops at places that aren't his home.

So again I go back to my last save, and try again. This time I don't invite anyone to my graduation. Now everything works, except for the fact that he still doesn't change into his graduation robes, but he graduates, I get a pop up when I click him and his phone and when it's 9 pm he gets in the van and goes home.

I have no idea why it worked the 3rd time, the only thing I did different was not inviting anyone to the graduation. Who knows maybe this helps fixing the problem!

StessToCockpit

I havent treid to send sims to uni yet cause I'm having a different glitch but this still unfortunate that they can't invite anyone to graduation if thats the case. This is definatly a glitch and not CC related

- Are you using mods or did you do so before installing UL ?
Nope, I always play Vanilla

- Are you playing a game you started before UL or did you start a new one ?
It's an old one, wich makes it even more severe, this will be my third Legacy play that got corrupted before I even got them to 3rd Generation :(

- Are you playing with a fresh Sim or did you import one from the library ?
Is the youngest offspring from my Starting Sim and her NPC Husband

- Were you able to go to graduation or did all go wrong before ?
I got to graduation just fine, she got the extra trait and the diploma etc.

- Are you able to invite friend/family ?
Yes, I invited all her Uni Friends and her Parents

- Try to describe as detailed as possible what happens
She goes to Graduation, it takes a while she gets her trait and diploma then leaves the Rabbithole, she then went to the Dorm, where I noticed I couldnt tell her to interact with other sims anymore, I figured oh well, she goes home in an hour anyways.
She got picked up by the Truck, then she just got dumped on the sidewalk and nothing happens.

I've tried by editing town, but that resulted in a crash when I saw I had no way to get access to her again and closed it, then I tried again edit town and went to the hometown wich let me do nothing either, upon return to the Uni world, I saw her, but her portait wasnt in the controllable sims tab anymore, and she just went off to be an NPC...

- Are you using mods or did you do so before installing UL ?
Never used mods
- Are you playing a game you started before UL or did you start a new one ?
Existing Game
- Are you playing with a fresh Sim or did you import one from the library ?
Using a sim I made but have played for a while and one EA made one also that I have played for a while
- Were you able to go to graduation or did all go wrong before ?
First Try thing went wrong right before graduation, second time well fine but could not return home, third time went ok until graduating sim immediately exited the graduation without diploma or new trait.
- Are you able to invite friend/family ?
Able to invite fiends and family but none showed on any attempt
- Try to describe as detailed as possible what happens

On each try my graduating sim got the message that graduation would be tomorrow but within a sim hour to 3 sim hours later he got the message that graduation was starting.

On first try my sim, who is a celebrity, was askes for autograph which stopped him from going to the Annex for graduation. Clicking on building option to graduate was not there. He was sent home however along with the other sim. When trying to send the other sim back to finish Uni upon seeing the Uni map screen she was not there I could only choose to make a new household.

On second try my graduating sim was interuppted again but this time the option to attend graduation was there when clicking on the Annex. He went and graduated got the degree and a new trait. However, when he went to go home neither he nor the other sim could return home. They kept traveling around the Uni world over and over to random areas. I could not control them beyond clicking the return home arrow next to their avatars.

On third attempt my graduating sim went to the Annex without any interupption and entered in his graduation gown. Within real time seconds he came out with not degree in hand nor did he get a new trait. He and the other sim returned home but when sending her back once more to finish her degree again when the Uni map screen came up she was not there and the only choice was to make a new household.

It seems that I can send them home if the graduation does not work correctly but can never send the other one back. If graduation works correctly then they can't ever get home from Uni.

I hope I provided enough detail.

shadowmel333 wrote:
- Are you using mods or did you do so before installing UL ? MC and overwatch
- Are you playing a game you started before UL or did you start a new one ? Both
- Are you playing with a fresh Sim or did you import one from the library ? Fresh
- Were you able to go to graduation or did all go wrong before ? I was able to, but I kept a backup save just after the final exams, so when it screwed up I simply reloaded the game and tried again, then it worked.
- Are you able to invite friend/family ? Yes, but no one shows up

- Try to describe as detailed as possible what happens :

The sims get to invite someone, but nothing happens. The sims don't respond to the invite and they don't come either. So I usually don't invite anyone. Then, the get prompted to go to the graduation ceremony. In front of the building, they wait for hours because the place is way too crowded and the door is blocked. When they finally get inside, they come right back out without a diploma, nor do they recieve any additionnal trait. Then they go back home.

as a side note, my sim that gave me the "disappearing sim issue" was a victim of this glitch. When I wanted to send her back to get another degree, well ... it didn't work. Her boyfriend, who hadn't graduated yet, could return without a problem.

hey shadowmel333, thanks for posting info..i think u may be the first mod user posting ..can u tell me if u updated mods and cleaned out cache files since installing EP if not can u try to see if that helps any

also would u consider trying using nraas error trap to see if by a long shot this makes any difference? thanks!

shadowmel333 wrote:
Yes the mods are updated, and I cleaned the cache files. I had errortrap at first but removed it because I got a weird issue... (when I sent a sim to finish his degree, somoething weird happened and errortrap reset my sim. Then he was reset every time he wanted to touch his guitar. I removed errortrap and then, he could play it again.)

In other words, errortrap did not help.

so has this sim that couldn't play with ET have they graduated yet? also do u still have the error trap report generated from the resetting? thanks!