Objects on Lot Appear as Silhouettes
I'm not quite sure how to describe this, so please refer to the video below. Basically, items aren't loading right ever since I got the Seasons EP a few hours ago. I decided to try clicking on the it...
Forum Discussion
OH and another peculiar thing I just discovered... two mail boxes where they clearly should not be (seeing as only one mailbox is allowed per lot).....
@Stardust547 When you installed Seasons, it sounds like you left your TS3 game folder (the one in Documents) in place. It, or rather any number of files within it, could have been corrupted by the install process.
The easiest way to troubleshoot now is to simply delet the five cache files in that game folder. They can fill up with old data and cause all kinds of issues, so they should be deleted regularly. Many of us do so after every play session. For reference, they are:
- CASPartCache.package
- compositorCache.package
- scriptCache.package
- simCompositorCache.package
- socialCache.package
If that alone doesn't help, pull the entire folder out of Documents and onto your desktop. When you launch the game again, a clean folder will spawn with no content. Try loading a new save in this folder, and then edit a couple of lots to see whether the objects behave as normal. If they do, copy the affected save into the clean folder and load it. If the save behaves normally, plus or minus some missing store or custom content, you can start transferring your other saves and everything else you want to keep into the new folder in batches. Be sure to test the game after each batch to make sure the issue doesn't reappear.
If your save is still behaving oddly in the clean folder, you can try saving the lot to the bin and replacing it. This should get rid of most if not all problems with the lot that remain.
- How will that affect the lot and my game??? I don't want to lose anything
@Stardust547 Clearing your caches will do nothing but help; like I said, many of us do this every time we play. Transferring your saves to a new folder will also be fine, but I suggested copying the affected save over rather than simply moving it because your store and/or custom content wouldn't be in the clean folder yet. But it's easy enough to test out the lot, quit without saving, clear your caches again, and then move your other content over as well.
If your active sims live on this lot and you evict them (in order to copy the house, bulldoze the lot, and replace it), the sims will keep their jobs and relationships but lose their promised wishes and opportunities, as long as you do everything in one Edit Town session and don't save the sims themselves and replace them with their bin copies. That's why I suggested it last—some people (like me) would be disappointed to lose those promised wishes. But this process is an excellent way to get rid of corruption, and it won't damage your save.
Of course, if you don't like the results of any of these steps, you can quit without saving. Or you could make copies of your saves now, so that if something goes wrong later, you can revert to the backups. But none of what I described should damage your game in any way, as long as you add or reinstall all of the content that save uses into your clean game folder.
The affected lot is unoccupied so I think I will try the last suggestion first....
- So I copied the lot and placed the copy elsewhere, that didn't work. Deleted those 5 cache files you mentioned, didn't work. And those 5 cache files??? They weren't like, in a folder together- they were just under "This PC/Documents/Electronic Arts/Sims 3".
@Stardust547 Then it sounds like you need to generate a clean folder and try out the lot in there. You could also copy it to the bin, quit, start a brand-new save, and place the house there, just to see if it's any better.
The Sims 3 folder in Documents is your game folder, and all of your user files, including saves and added content, are located inside it. The cache files are "loose" in there, so to speak; other content is organized by type.
Is there some kind of tutorial somewhere for all of this stuff you're mentioning? I don't quite understand a lot of it, to be honest. I'm not very tech savvy (except to my grandma, but you know how grandmas are). Sometimes it helps me to have things broken down.
