Players using low graphics settings will be surprised to find that Dolphins do actually exist in the waters of Sulani.
Fixed in Patch 1.59.73
Editing in this forum is quite difficult. I just wanted to change or delete this failed smily. Often, when editing, there is a message that any format is problematic, even if you delete or change only one letter.
I've got a variant of this problem as well.
My Sim is an Aquatic Ecologist and not a mermaid. When he's gone diving for various purposes, sometimes a dolphin appears and is "deciding whether he likes" my Sim. Twice now, the dolphin *might* have begun to accept my Sim - it's hard to tell. The dolphin swims away and my Sim is left splashing the water, patting the air, and making crooning noises at the non-existent dolphin, while phantom dis-embodied squeaking and chirping comes from where the dolphin used to be - if only he were still there.
I've never been able to summon a dolphin, so I don't know about this completely invisible business.
I would echo what others have said - it seems to be related to the queue. If you have other actions in your queue when the dolphin appears, he will leave before you've had a chance to react. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that the queue is slow to respond when attempting to interrupt actions.
UPDATE:
I have a dolphin friend!
I was very careful to not queue up actions while in the water near a buoy. That seems to have worked in my case. I'll do some more investigating to make sure.
