Forum Discussion

Legend

9 days ago

Solved

Please help --- Is Anyone Else Experiencing This?

I love to have my Sims go out to dine, What I have run into, lately, however is disconcerting. Some restaurants function and others don't. I find that newly built ones appear to be okay. And some of my slightly older builds I pull from My Library work, too. This is crazy. I lost a marvelous castle-restaurant because it no longer functions. I've even pulled a restaurant from the Gallery, and it works fine. Sadly, the second one I pulled doesn't. Face/palm.

I would blame mods for it, but I don't remove the mods in order to have a restaurant function. No, if it functions it does so with my Mods folder intact. So very strange.

I was curious to know if this was a universal problem or just something up with my game?

Please, and thank you in advance, for your feedback and if there are any tricks that helped you get over this problem.

~GalacticGal

advice

discussion

CGrant56
8 days ago
GalacticGal Yeah, I've been there, done that. No fun whatsoever when you download a lot that won't work.

Keep in mind that Dine Out still has bugs not fixed yet (that I know of). I doubt that those left unfixed are creating the issues you've got though. I only mention as it might be possible.

I have also found that Gallery lots, particularly those added since platforms and round walls were introduced can be problematic more so than other lots. They work just fine for the builder in their game but not so well in other games after being posted and downloaded. The more complicated the lot, the more likely it is to run into problems. So, it doesn't surprise me that you are running into issues with downloaded restaurants. Then there are lots that are just glitched with no way of telling if the lot will work.

So, my suggestions for dealing with the problem are pretty basic. For those lots you really want to keep, try changing things around. Change the venue to something else and visit the lot in live mode, then go home. Change the venue back to restaurant and see if there is any change. Pay attention to where essential things like the podium and stove are and send a sim to them, and use them, if possible, to ensure there are no hidden routing issues for the chef, maître d, waiters/waitresses or customers so they can get to where they need to go (including checking if doors are accessible and are locked only as needed. Make sure all the build requirements are met including adequate trash cans inside and out. And there are some lots that can't be fixed no matter what you do and will just need to be abandoned. Idk if this will happen, but as I understand it, fridges have been changed (Sept '25) so you can't cook (cooking option will be greyed out) if there are more than 2 fridges. If the restaurant has more, remove the extras. Check surfaces to see if they can be used. If there are obvious signs that MOO was on when the lot was built, check for things like accidental stacking of things sims need to use but can't (you might or might not get visible route blocking thought bubbles. So, you can spend hours looking for these type things. You'll have to decide if it is worth it or not to spend your time on it.

One last thing, downloading is always subject to introducing glitches for any file. So, when you get a glitched on, download it again to see if it is truly glitched or it happened during your download. You can even get glitches in lots you transfer from one save or another via your Library.

Hope this helps.

5 Replies

GalacticGal
Legend
7 days ago
I went into my game specifically to test two of my restaurants: Millie's Cafe and Knight's Valley. I am very pleased to say they worked!
Knight's Valley
GalacticGal
Legend
7 days ago
Well, now that is interesting. I did remove two from my castle, then realized upon looking at it more closely there was another one I missed. I had five in there.
On the other side of things, I sent the kids to Martha's Place, and it only had one refrigerator. They got served, while at the Knight's Valley, they were still waiting two hours after they had placed the order.

I have more testing to do to declare a solution. Please bear with me.
CrispySims619
Seasoned Hotshot
8 days ago
I just wanted to chirp in and mention that you do not need a refrigerator at all in a restaurant for the restaurant to functional. Most builders just put them in there for the realism or for staff rooms. But you don't need one at all for the place to function.
GalacticGal
Legend
8 days ago
Thank you so very much for the thoughtful discussion. I will try some of these things out to see if it helps. I also had no realization that you could or should only have one refrigerator on the lot. My thinking is if there are more than one cooking station (and this was a suggestion from quite some time ago to help speed up service) then perhaps more than two fridges would help as well. I will see if this is a possible problem. I don't use MOO myself, so when things downloaded suggested MOO was in use (even my own) I now discount the warning. My bad.
You have certainly given me something to work on. 😁
CGrant56
Hero+
8 days ago
GalacticGal Yeah, I've been there, done that. No fun whatsoever when you download a lot that won't work.

Keep in mind that Dine Out still has bugs not fixed yet (that I know of). I doubt that those left unfixed are creating the issues you've got though. I only mention as it might be possible.

I have also found that Gallery lots, particularly those added since platforms and round walls were introduced can be problematic more so than other lots. They work just fine for the builder in their game but not so well in other games after being posted and downloaded. The more complicated the lot, the more likely it is to run into problems. So, it doesn't surprise me that you are running into issues with downloaded restaurants. Then there are lots that are just glitched with no way of telling if the lot will work.

So, my suggestions for dealing with the problem are pretty basic. For those lots you really want to keep, try changing things around. Change the venue to something else and visit the lot in live mode, then go home. Change the venue back to restaurant and see if there is any change. Pay attention to where essential things like the podium and stove are and send a sim to them, and use them, if possible, to ensure there are no hidden routing issues for the chef, maître d, waiters/waitresses or customers so they can get to where they need to go (including checking if doors are accessible and are locked only as needed. Make sure all the build requirements are met including adequate trash cans inside and out. And there are some lots that can't be fixed no matter what you do and will just need to be abandoned. Idk if this will happen, but as I understand it, fridges have been changed (Sept '25) so you can't cook (cooking option will be greyed out) if there are more than 2 fridges. If the restaurant has more, remove the extras. Check surfaces to see if they can be used. If there are obvious signs that MOO was on when the lot was built, check for things like accidental stacking of things sims need to use but can't (you might or might not get visible route blocking thought bubbles. So, you can spend hours looking for these type things. You'll have to decide if it is worth it or not to spend your time on it.

One last thing, downloading is always subject to introducing glitches for any file. So, when you get a glitched on, download it again to see if it is truly glitched or it happened during your download. You can even get glitches in lots you transfer from one save or another via your Library.

Hope this helps.