This, combined with the literal OCD the sims get from every enacted NAP have utterly ruined my save file. I'm surprised there is no more input on this. This is the root of most of the problems in the game right now, and it can only be fixed on our end as the player by completely disabling the pack, which begs the question of why the heck did we buy it if we can't play it?
I have isolated the following issues that are tied closely together in my own game:
1. By design, every neighborhood votes automonously for NAPs, no matter if the neighborhoods are visited by the played household (unless you know do disable it beforehand, which I didn't). This is followed by the following bugs:
- The NAP activities persist even after the NAP has been repealed or cheated away.
- The NAPs aren't restricted to the neighborhood that voted for them, instead clinging to the visiting sims ang being spread throughout the whole world.
These two bugs create an environment where eventually all the NAP activities are present in every single neighborhood at once. Which leads to the second point:
2. By design, most of the NAPs prompt the sims to suddenly be very interested in the voted for activities: fitness, gardening, performing arts, "regular" art, tech stuff etc. This, again, is supplemented by three issues:
- By bad design or bug, sims will drop whatever they were doing to perform those NAP activities instead. This even goes for important things like taking care of their own needs. Leads to sims prioritizing violin play over feeding themselves or push-ups over going to the toilet, even if they are about to wet themselves.
- By very bad design or bug, the frequency of those NAP activities is so high that most of the normal interactions get interrupted. With every NAP in place, it gets insane. The excessiveness is making it near impossible to accomplish anything. It is becoming increasingly hard to even take care of the sims' needs, let alone develop some skills. The player is forced to constantly watch over their sims, cueing the needed actions over and over again hoping that maybe third time is the charm and the sim will finally finish cooking dinner so their kids won't starve. (No? maybe fifth time is the charm, then...? ...please?)
- By weird design, sims will pull out items they don't actually own and interact with them, depending on what NAPs are ruining their life at this point, for instance the aforementioned violin, future cube, or lump of clay. Those items are supposed to disappear directly after this interaction. This leads to the bug where some of the items don't disappear again and stack up in the inventory. Reported are clay lumps and future cubes. While in itself relatively harmless compared to the others that break the game, this bug is still very annoying because those items need to be sold and then the money removed by cheats if the player wants their sims to earn their money fairly.
A third issue resulting from the NAPs is kind of on it's own, but still close to game-breaking. It results directly from the Sharing is Caring NAP that basically encourages theft.
3. By bad design, this means the sims will all become cleptomaniacs, and no one will mind. From the obvious problem of every visiting sim robbing the played neighborhood blind, to the less anticipated but very annoying issue of sims picking clean every pubilc lot they visit. Everything gets stolen, decoration, tech, furniture, even toilets, or sinks. Let it slide long enough and the public spaces will become skeletons of empty walls and rooftops. So far I feel it only happens on lots where the played household is on, meaning only those lots they own or visit will be stolen from, but I'm not sure it that is actually the case. Maybe anyone can confirm or add info?
Many of those issues have threads of their own, but I feel this one is the most important one to fix, with added "repealed NAPs be-gone" feature. As of right now, I am afraid of loading up my save file because I am honestly not sure how much more damage it can take before it becomes irreversibly broken.
