Gallery full of potentially gamebreaking builds since For Rent

The new bug team are clearly not very good if after 7 months and knowing that the game breaking bug was introduced after a certain pack (For Rent), having loads of saves as proof, and cannot fix this, or do they not care, I seriously do wonder!

So something I have noticed in my game- I’ve been having these issues with the gallery since the December patch and I was in the process of creating my own save file- is that it does not seem to be tied to a specific lot. Which was what I had assumed before!

The infinite loading and crashing occurs mostly when I place multiple builds from the gallery back to back (in the process of creating my perfect save, when I’m searching for a park I like, for example).

Mostly after the third/forth time. I don’t know if something corrupts while placing the lot. 
Right now I’m clearing cache and restarting frequently and that seems to help. Obviously very tedious and thus progress on my save is slow lol

If I encounter a specific problematic build I will share it but at the moment I suspect it’s more of a core issue of the gallery itself? Which would be a relief if it was true because I was anxious to use newer builds before.. 

I will keep sharing but this is just my experience..  my game is still playable thankfully it’s not as bad as others have shared!! Trying to relax by being creative is kind of hard right now though ☹️

@Deniasims

Read through DeanXeL's replies here and check the pictures. https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/OPEN-Endless-Loading-Crashing-when-trying-to-load-a-certain-lot/m-p/13376161/highlight/true#M267196

EAxis mucked up something to do with object placement back in December 2023 and haven't bothered to fix it.

Save often, especially BEFORE downloading anything from the Gallery.

Open Lots up in Build/Buy and smash it up a little then return to neighborhood. Usually that's all it takes to trigger the bug. Sometimes just opening the lot crashes the game. If you find your game loading for too long, you need to kill it with Task Manager because you've been soft-locked. Don't do like some other simmers and think after an hour it's just "taking it's time".

Gallery is also chock-full of "CAS Unlock sims" including EAxis-made households, so be careful there too if you don't want that infecting your save.

@Sejian Thanks for sharing! That’s interesting cause I’ve been deleting debug stuff whenever I download gallery builds lately maybe that’s one of the reasons the bug has appeared less… Didn’t know that Sims from the gallery can be a trigger too though, wonderful 😢 I really hope the team is working on a fix for this this is not okay 

@Deniasims wrote: 

"The infinite loading and crashing occurs mostly when I place multiple builds from the gallery back to back (in the process of creating my perfect save, when I’m searching for a park I like, for example).

Mostly after the third/forth time. I don’t know if something corrupts while placing the lot. 
Right now I’m clearing cache and restarting frequently and that seems to help. Obviously very tedious and thus progress on my save is slow."

Yes, I've notized that too. Also I have a feeling that it helps if I change the current lot type to the lot type from the gallery. Means: If for example my current lot type is set as generic, but I want to replace it with a build that has a different lot type from the gallery like a park, I first have to change my current build from generic to park and then place the park.

If I don't change the lot type first I found out that often it loads infinitely and I have to forcefully close my game. But if I change the lot type first, then it places more smoothly.

But I'm not sure if it really helps or if I it's just me and my game. 

Before For Rent is was no problem to place a different lot type on a lot with another one.

Of course I'm speaking about older gallery lots, because I find it too risky to use gallery builds that were shared since December 2023.

And that leads us back to the original topic of this thread. It is so sad. Since last December we got 2 new beautiful worlds and people shared so many amazing builds in the gallery that fit perfectly in those worlds. But I don't dare to download any of them, because I'm scared that one of them could be a potentially broken lot. What a waste... There is the gallery right in front of me, but I can't use it unless I want to risk my save. I'm still stuck with builds that were shared before last December and I would have to spend so much time remodeling every single lot to fit the new world. 

That is one of the reasons why I still haven't bought the new lovestruck expansion. What use is a beautiful new world if I can't fill it with cool builds from the gallery that were specifically made for this world?

EA TEAM: Please break the silence. Are you working on fixing the gallery? The more time passes the more potentially broken builds are being shared. You made an error, and errors happen because we all are human. But please don't leave it like this! Stand up for it and fix it. Please!

Same problem/.Why are there only volunteers working on the forum and not a single response from the EA team? Why are topics silently closed as resolved?

This is exactly my experience too. I also have most Problems if i place another lot type. I checked it over and over again and the Problem is Not linked to a specific build in the gallery. I also faced the Problem that game crashes after i placed a few buildings in a row and it happens again every time but with different builds. So again: this Problem is Not linked to specific builds. Please EA fix this!

I wonder if there will be anything done about this in the future. I really would like to have an answer from EA. I gave this game a try again after starting a complete new game for the second time! (first the bug whith only white screen when you enter the residential world destroyed a whole save, the second time I had to start new again was when I realised that a lot was not playable because of never ending loading screen or instant crashing of game when I wanted to reach it.) NOW I build up house after house with checking each of it after downloading from gallery (and they all worked in the first place!). I thought that the issues could be avoided by this and by not changing a lot type (even though I could place a different type successfully, when I went to it in gameplay - again never ending loading screen). BUT now I can let go of the whole save again beacause I have a new nature of bug and I suddenly cannot delete or sell or place objects from the houses I placed and the whole lot cannot be bulldozed. It happens with EVERY house I place after a time. First everythings fine and after a few minutes nothing works anymore. I can successfully place them and replace them from the gallery but they all "behave" the same. The game is again not playable anymore. I am so disappointed. I spend so much time and money to come to the conclusion again that this is not worth it and I really cry out for all the money I wasted. It is no fun anymore. And no solution or answer from EA untill today. I read about all the great ideas for the future of this game, but how will this ever work if there are such severe bugs that never were fixed and with customers who are so frustrated and lost?

So, it's been almost a year since For Rent came out. Still no official statement from the Sims Team if they intend to figure out the cause of all the game corruption spreading from the gallery. 

I'm still convinced that the residential rental lot type is somehow the root for these problems. And with every patch I wonder: Is it now fixed? Is the gallery safe again?

Since last December until today I was too afraid to download one single build from the gallery that was shared after the Release of For Rent.

One full Expansion Pack, a Stuffpack and several Kits came out since then and soon there will be a second big Expansion Pack - so many fantastic new builds shared in the gallery that I missed out because of the lack of communication from the Sims Team. 

Please, would you consider looking into this problematic? If you need a reminder what exactly the problem is, please read the first and 5th post of this thread, I explained it there.

It is beyond frustrating that these big issues are being ignored. But I want to say also, that I really appreciate the new Bugfix team and the work they do. 🙂

Please consider taking the time to really look into this problem, as well as this one https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/NEEDS-SAVES-Orange-Green-Exclamation-signs-over-lots-Houses/m-p/10533991#M197875 and this one https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/OPEN-Endless-Loading-Crashing-when-trying-to-load-a-certain-lot/td-p/13326793, because it seems that they are somehow connected, and I assume the connection is still the residential rental lot type plus the gallery, as all these problems started or got much worse after For Rent came out. Many players reported that they notized game corruption after they started to fill their worlds with a few builds from the gallery!

If the Sims 4 is supposed to last for many more years, the Sims Team HAS to look into the residential rentals again and REALLY make sure that they get fully fixed! Otherwise the gallery will continue breaking people's saves which will cause frustrated costumers. Or unhappy players like me who used to love the gallery, but don't dare to download anything anymore that was shared after December 2023.

And I'm sure that's not what EA wants. 

Thank you for taking the time to read my post.

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@olga_k2 wrote:
There are a bunch of different bugs that lead to this result. 

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Yes, sadly you are right. And one of the reasons for save corruption is definitely related to the residential rental lot type. Clearly there is still something very wrong with it and it needs to be investigated and fixed. Better late then never.

I am not willing to accept the current gallery situation and will post here from time to time as a reminder - also for people who are not aware of this, so they can maybe avoid save corruption.

@alenarost Thank you very much for your kind words. 🙂 They felt like a comforting hug.

I mean, I try to be positive and make the best out of this sad situation by building my own lots or remodeling older builds from the gallery to fit something I need for the newer worlds Tomarang and the Lovestruck world. But it's not the same, often it feels like work instead of fun - but browsing the gallery for cool builds was so much fun!! And it always gave me new ideas for playing - the game never got boring because I filled the worlds with amazingly creative community lots from the gallery and after I played with one I often switched it up for a new one.

Although I would say that I'm a decent builder I often like to get suprised by the gallery. There are so many fantastic builds out there that are just out of my league - I could never recreate them even if I would try. 

I have every pack (except paranormal Stuff) yet I cannot use many builds from the gallery because of the possibility of corruption. It just feels so limiting. 

Nowadays I avoid watching speedbuilds (which used to be a big hobby of mine) because what's the point? I'll just get sad, because I know I will not be able to use the build.

Sigh...

@olga_k2 So sad that you lost your save to corruption even though you were cautious. ☹️ I hope that it never happens to you again. If my 7 year old save file would break I would be devastated. I do weekly backups so I could hopefully go back if something happens. 

Did you have any backups?

Noooo stupid me accidently pressed the solved button!!! ☹️ Please @crinrict or someone else, could you undo it? 

This is NOT SOLVED!

Thank you so much, I learned something new today! 🙂 

Oh and sorry that I tagged you instead of someone from the Sims Team. I will do that in the future. 

Just adding to this to say that it is not just residential rentals that are doing this. For me, it's any lot type. Also it is unbelievable to me that it has now been over a YEAR and this issue making the game unplayable is still not fixed.