Re: [ARCHIVED] [V] [ROM] Occult eyes/features disappear when entering live mode

Follow-up - even after 10/31/2024 update this issue still persists. Vampire characteristics on my Vampire sims still disappear when entering Live Mode. This is for both new Sims and pre-existing sims. Very sad was not fixed with patch - wanted to buy the new Life & Death EP but if my Sims are broken I see no point in purchasing now.

UPDATE 11/01/2024 (note I play on PC and currently have never had MODs installed) - I have had some luck with creating new Sims and their occult features staying from CAS to live mode. Unfortunately the bug persists with any existing Sims I made prior to the original 10/22/2024 update.

Any Sims I input from the Gallery that I created before the 10/22/2024 update have the Occult glitch where their occult features (eyes, teeth, scars ,etc.) do not save from CAS to live mode and are instead replaced with "normal" Sim features.

If I create am entirely new Vampire for example, (note - it must be a new Sim, not one from the gallery or your library), the past few tests I have done have had their occult features stay from CAS to live mode. 

A semi-work around for those who do not have MODs but want to keep the appearance of their OLD pre-10/22/2024 update sims would be to go into CAS and create a sibling of your sim. Make sure to use the twin option and they will come out looking close to identical to your current Sim usually (might need to randomize a few versions to get one you like/close to the OG sim).

The downsides to this are this is not your old Sim - any traits, skills. degrees, experience, occult skill levels, etc. will be back to zero/the beginning. You will either have to use cheats or earn them back.

I feel slightly conflicted regarding this. While I understand updating the game and adding new content is important and the quality of life upgrades, i.e. the CAS occult selector, are nice - it does come at the expense of glitching old saves and possible ruining legacy saves for some players - especially since most players should not have to expect new updates to glitch their games with no timeline of when said bugs will be resolved. Yet this has become an unfortunate norm for Sims players which is disappointing coming from such aa big publisher as EA and considering the monetary investment players put into this game with multiple DLC purchases.

Part or me really wants to get the new Life & Death EP and I am happy to have found a way to at least get the appearance of some of my occult sims working again - however these are not the same sims, and the save files I want to play the new EP are still affected by this bug.

Hopefully the Sims 4 team will patch this glitch regarding older Sims occult appearances however I am not sure if that is possible/or what the timeline that will end up being for that. 

@JulesGames98  I made a new vampire sims with vampire features on both dark and human form. Vampire features successfully stick on human form from CAS to Live mode, but I lost those features after showing then hiding dark form once.
At this stage, I can't see any other solution other than mods. Luckily you are playing TS4 on PC. We can temporarily fix this by mods.

Vampire features as face paint and details:

Vampire Details & Eyes for All - Vampires GP needed (Thanks to @Xngie7)

Vampire Face Detail Enabled For Human And Alien 

You can swithc the same vampire features to the mod ones.

If you forgot what details you used. You can edit from their gallery save by switching out features one by one.

Creating a precise copy of their original looks.

By using MCCC

On the new sims for the looks

MC CAS --> Copy/Paste --> Copy Genetics

On you old sims

MC CAS --> Copy/Paste --> Paste Genetics

You can delete the mods after EA officially fixed the bug, then fix it back using in-game CAS.

I think keeping your original sims with all the family tree, milestones and relationships with other sims are much much precious than a doppelganger copy with zero back ground.

This level of mod use really won't break your save. (make a backup save if your are worry) I have over 5000+ .package and 64 .ts4script running, and my save work when I disabled all the mods. The only down side is they are just... ugly. A double edge sword named slider.

@HomezLaw2It may be strange, but you have to edit your sim again (Be sure you select the mod one) in CAS after starting Live mode. Then the vampire eye will stick.

 I only have this wired issue once because I only have one magic caster sim with glowing white eyes.

Here's the proof. Meet Mister Bison my magic caster sims with 4 vampire features stick on his face. (with mod)

following up to say I am still having the same issues a few months later. I agree with a lot of the sentiment that these bugs affecting a lot of sims from legacy (and new saves) and this issue is making me play the game much less - only hoping on for event rewards and even then not playing the saves I like the most so those sims dont lose their occult features.

I thought to return to this bug report when I saw on my break the new 25 year birthday celebration video on YouTube and they mentioned the Occult Selector from the Sims Lab. While at first I thought yea I do like that feature in theory (nice idea to not lose all your work on a sim to change their occult type) - if its implementation causes the bug so occult sims to lose their features, what is the point? Who wants to go through the effort to make and play with  an occult sim when the features (which are part of DLC that was paid for and is what makes them look like they are in fact an occult sim) does not work?

Now I am not a coder and I am not sure that the new occult selector is what is causing these appearance bugs - however it does seem a bit in poor taste to bring up such a tool as an accomplishment when occult sims are broken/buggy for a large part of the user base.

I know a lot of people on the sims team care a lot about the game (not to mention they are employees and probably have a lot of pressure on them/decisions made for them from higher up)  and I do not post this to continually hate on what the sims team does - however it is getting harder to support a game developed by a triple A publisher who takes the money of a dedicated fan base and delivers a broken product.

I appreciate that recently the sims team has tried to be more open about bug fixes and what they are doing to work on issues - this bug report blog being an example of the good - however I still feel there is for sure a ways to go in improving communication. Like this has been a major bug for a lot of players (for a long time now) and it feels like little has been done to address this bug - in fairness that may not be true and the sims team might be trying hard to fix it behind the scenes - however I have not seen them say that anywhere. I know I would feel a bit better even if they came out and said they are trying to fix the problem even if they are having a hard time doing so or have not found a solution yet. Not to mention putting that information somewhere that is easy for players to access so we know what is actually being worked on. While I get it takes time to fix things and in coding/game development bugs do happen - people paid money for there features to work and should be looped in on whats going on when something goes wrong. I would also hope that maybe better communication could go aways to reduce some of the hate towards the sims team (not to mention while I think it is fair to air complaints - I would like to see it does in a respectful was and not personally attack anyone/make threats as that also hurts to see going on in the sims community).

I suppose the last thing I'd personally want to see is better quality assurance testing. From multiple broken packs (i.e. my wedding stories, glitchy infants on launch, etc.) to patches introducing new features at the expense of breaking old working ones - better testing (maybe limited opt-in player testing to limited number of players) before releasing patches to the entire player base giving the sims team more time between releasing new packs and whatnot to make sure they have the time to ensure everything is working (or at least the big features and making sure no large bugs arise) would be ideal.

I am also not sure to what extent at this point if  there are technological limitations (i.e. the game being originally developed in 2014/the engine the sims 4 runs on) can realistically keep up with the amount of DLC and more demanding features being implemented - even on higher end PCs. That point is why I was very discouraged at no plans for development for a Sims 5.

I am not sure what the future holds for the Sims, I have many fond memories of the Sims throughout the years (the Sims 4 included despite my criticisms) - but if going forward means more broken packs, bugs with long fix times (if ever), and in my opinion underwhelming gameplay for purchase price (which is a point that I understand is not the subject of this post but an issue I feel has been going on for a while for the Sims, EA, and the gaming industry as a whole in recent years) I am not sure it is worth continuing to buy anything new for the Sims 4 for the time being.

https://www.ea.com/games/the-sims/the-sims-4/news/update-1-14-2025

This is the last update. They didn't fix the occult bugs 

Honestly it's so disappointing to not have so much a word of reassurance. I know this bug has made myself and a lot of other players play less and less bc it's upsetting to have ur characters lose their apperance every time.