[PC] Households Fail to Load After Sept 18 Patch – Drama Scheduler KeyError

Platform: PC (Windows 11)
Game Version: 1.118.242.1030 (Sept 18, 2025 patch)
Mods/CC: None (tested with completely empty Mods folder, caches cleared, and after game repair)

Issue:
Household saves fail to load and return to World Select. This happens consistently after the Sept 18 patch. Better Exceptions reports a desync in the vanilla drama_scheduler.py script. The error occurs during lot spin-up before the household finishes loading.

Steps to Reproduce:

Launch the game with no mods/CC.
Try to load a household save.
The loading screen runs briefly, then the game kicks back to World Select.

What Happens:

Household does not load.
Returns to World Select.
Better Exceptions log shows a KeyError in drama_scheduler.py (CooldownGroup.INVALID).

What Should Happen:
Household should load normally without desyncs.

Error Log (excerpt):

Exception raised while processing zone spin up sequence: <CooldownGroup.INVALID = 0> KeyError: <CooldownGroup.INVALID = 0> File "drama_scheduler.py", line 802, in score_and_schedule_nodes_gen File "drama_scheduler.py", line 367, in _update_cooldowns Modded: False Game Version: 1.118.242.1030

Notes:

Happens even in a brand-new save with no mods/CC.
I repaired the game in the EA App, deleted localthumbcache, and tested again — same result.
Appears to be a base-game bug introduced in patch 1.118, not related to mods.
Please investigate the drama scheduler cooldown handling, as it seems to be throwing a KeyError when encountering invalid cooldown groups.