Forum Discussion

EerieNoodles's avatar
7 years ago
Solved

[BY DESIGN] Spy Bug Effect Stuck On Sim

Product: The Sims 4
Platform:PC
Which language are you playing the game in? English
How often does the bug occur? Occasionally (10% - 49%)
What is your current game version number? Version 1.50.67.1020
What expansions, game packs, and stuff packs do you have installed? All of them.
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? Plant a "51M5 Spy Bug" on a sim and listen in. The effect might not go away.
What happens when the bug occurs? The effect of planting a "Spy Bug" on a sim does not go away after "Listening in" on the sim. The blinking is eternal.
What do you expect to see? When a "51M5 Spy Bug" is planted on a sim I assume that the blinking effect will go away after "Listening in" on them.
Have you installed any customization with the game, e.g. Custom Content or Mods? Not now. I've removed them.
Did this issue appear after a specific patch or change you made to your system? Neutral/Not Sure 

I have a sim in my game that has the "plant bug" effect from the "51M5 Spy Bug", but she is not bugged. I planted a spy bug on her and "listened in" on her to see if this would fix the stuck, and very annoying, blinking effect. It did not work. It just removed the spy bug I added but still looks as if she is bugged. I am fairly certain that I did not plant the original spy bug that is not actually there. I tried resetting her and reloading the game too. I do not want to remove her from the game, my sim is dating her. She is a randomly generated townie that works at the curio shop if that matters for some reason. I had mods but I removed them.

Unable to play video. Please try again later.
(view in My Videos)

  • SimGuruNick's avatar
    SimGuruNick
    6 years ago

    I'm being told this is the intended design. The Curio Shop owner is always "bugged" even when invited to another lot, or added to the household. The dev team does not consider this issue to be a "bug". Hah, I amuse myself 🙂

    Thanks much! 

18 Replies

  • AstralynGames's avatar
    AstralynGames
    New Rookie
    6 years ago

    The fix won't work for me, because I have no mods.  I'd be happy to hear any ideas on how to fix it without them.

  • luna2821's avatar
    luna2821
    6 years ago

    how did you use both the cheats please, none of this is working for me im about to kill this guys wife wanda because shes a bugged conspiracy theorist and the flashing is driving me nuts

  • AstralynGames's avatar
    AstralynGames
    New Rookie
    6 years ago

    It was never fixed for me...it drove me crazy, but I left it alone and eventually he died...but it was so annoying.  They need to add an option to remove those bugs from a sim when a sim selects himself...I could especially see suspicious/paranoid sims checking themselves for such things.

  • Same thing here: buff_ListeningDevice_bugged in the Moodlets/Buffs info when checked with SimsInfo, 'n keeps on blinking.

    The only bug-planting sim he's ever met (relatively new sim) cannot listen in on him, nor plant a new bug. I am guessing she planted the bug, but maybe she didn't listen in on him yet, and I switched families and played a long time with other households. I honestly cannot remember.

    The blinking sim is a Sage, and I have revamped the Magic HQ a couple of times, so no idea if that could have broken the spy bug. Maybe it short-circuited! 

    Since I treat this sim mostly as npc (what with being a sage and all), I'm not bothered so much that I'd start messing with another strong mod like that, just reporting here in the hopes that the devs will develop in-game cheats to match the issues that need occasional fixing.

  • It seems to me that any Sim selected to work the Curio shop stall will be "bugged" by the Feds and will remain "bugged" even after they're not manning the stall or have been relieved of the duty. In the saves where the original stall vendor Erwin had died (or at times wasn't the only one manning it that day), the other Curio shop vendors all appeared bugged with a spy bug, and no other conspiracy theorists were. I think it's meant to be intended that they were to stay "bugged" bc the Feds would want to keep a close eye on the Curio Shop vendors when they spout their nonsense that in Strangerville's case, is usually more truth than fiction...

  • SimGuruNick's avatar
    SimGuruNick
    Icon for EA Staff (Retired) rankEA Staff (Retired)
    6 years ago

    I'm being told this is the intended design. The Curio Shop owner is always "bugged" even when invited to another lot, or added to the household. The dev team does not consider this issue to be a "bug". Hah, I amuse myself 🙂

    Thanks much! 

  • Why not just give people the option to turn the effect off, like with the fame shine effect?

    It would make everyone who is annoyed by this happy. 🙂 

  • You probably don't have this issue anymore but I have found a fix as I also had this issue.

    If you download Paulson's NPCC mod and click on the sim with the Conspiracy Theorist Bug and click Remove NPC Job, the bug should go away for good. Hope that helps!

    (CM: Edited to remove link to modded content. Please review this thread for more on mod links and AHQ)