Sorry, Crin, should have mentioned that I would test that 5 a.m. theory at the community garden. I knew you would need that done but should have realized you aren't a mind reader to know I would do it, lol.
The answer is yes, that's at least part of the problem. I say partly because it was a mixed bag of results, at the garden anyway. Sent sim prior to 5 a.m. and the only option on the apple tree was to collect microscope sample. The potato plant showed out of season but the bluebell, snapdragon, 2 chrysanthemum plants and the strawberry plant had no options whatsoever. After 5, the apple tree produced fruit and the snapdragon sprouted but had no options. The bluebell, chrysanthemums and strawberry plants still had no options. The frog log collected from sim weeks ago also didn't respawn. The snapdragon and chrysanthemums are supposed to produce in the fall, which is the current season in this save.
I'm attaching a pic because there was also some strangeness encountered. Mousing over those items showed a pic of her daughter who was at home in the new SE bed first, then the plant info overlay would appear over that pic. Above the daughter's image it said "Single Bed", which I mention because you can't see under the plant info overlay in the pic. Totally bizarre.
@crinrict To answer your question first, I don't think any plants have just disappeared. I can find plants but will add I've felt like there has seemed to be fewer plants in the worlds for quite some time. I had just figured there was some sort of design change, probably for performance reasons as the game is now so large. That's more of an impression I am left with rather than anything I know to be fact.
I play 14 day seasons so it is taking me some time to get to different areas at the 5 a.m. time frame. I can get most plants to produce at that time but some plants seem, well, broken is the only term that comes to mind. In that community garden besides the plants I already mentioned that didn't produce, in winter the potato plant didn't produce potatoes either. Potatoes also didn't produce in a home garden in winter. That particular plant isn't on a lot that I play in this save but had a sim visit by 5 a.m.
I also haven't had any of the plants in Sylvan Glades produce anything. The bottom line is that I simply don't know how much of what I am experiencing is "design" and how much is "broken". Something sure isn't working correctly for some plants not to produce anything in the proper season, as I am encountering. For example, in that garden behind the BFF household in Willow Creek, the snapdragon never produced a flower in season but the wild snapdragon plant behind the Nishidake household in Mt. Komorebi that I'm playing in this save does produce. I can only presume the snapdragon plant in the WC garden is broken, at least in my game.
This problem is cumbersome to test but it certainly feels like it should be looked at. A player should not have to jump through hoops to get a sim to an area by 5 a.m. to find a harvestable and then encounter some plants not producing at all. My poor sims are all exhausted from having been drug out of bed to be sure they arrive somewhere by 5 a.m. in the hopes they can get that harvestable they want, lol.
@crinrict I don't envy you trying to figure out what to do with this report. Part of me feels like the Granite Falls, Sulani threads you referenced and this one could all be combined because the issues probably all stem from the 5 am design, at least initially. BUT this is now all worlds for me and it feels like what may have started out as a 5 am issue has now progressed to more than just a time thing, i.e. some wild plants never producing. Something is broken, or not working as it should, imho.
