Re: Cannot harvest alien plants on sixam (sims 4)

I do use quite a few mods and CCs but recently deleted all the ones that after the latest patch were giving me problems. Still I am experiencing this glitch along with another one that affects the inventory. ☹️ hopefully for the both of us it's going to sort itself out. 

@PugLove888

Plants in the wild only grow in their designated season and your sim needs to be in their vicinity for some time for them to mature.

Cutting and grafting is usually the best way to go. Luckily the Emotions tree is all seasons.

Tip. To get more than one type of fruit from a domesticated emotion tree. Take cuttings in the wild. It will be random what type of emotion fruit it gives so take some in different places in the jungle and graft those you do not already have on your Emotion tree. I have so far only tried with one so do not know if there can be more than that.

@jpkarlsen, no I know that you have to be in the area for some time before plants can mature to harvest, and I also know plants have to be in season. 😉  However, this was a Sim whose been to Sixam many, many times so the plants are all mature enough. Also, knowing that there are 4 types of Alien plants (3 from Sixam and one you get from traveling in the rocket ship), and that each Alien plant blooms in a different season, so each season should have at least one Alien plant in bloom if you have all 4 of them, I tried multiple plants on Sixam.  Well I must have overlooked the one plant that would have been in bloom in the Summer because it wasn't in any of the areas I checked. 🤒😳  So, I went back and found the right plant and was able to harvest it! :eahigh_file:  But I've played 3 different households in the science career and none of them will grow plants at work, only at home! All the plants are indoors, and even when in season they will not grow or produce! 😮☹️  They used to produce and grow just fine before the update to gardening. 🤨 In one household I've tied every day for 1 and a half Sim-years. 😕

So, @lilyinsimland, that leads me to believe that this isn't the same problem you are having.  So, since you play with Mods/CC, have you removed all of it?  If you haven't , please remove it at least temporarily and then test your game! 😉

Best of Luck! 😇

I haven't tested gardening at the science lab. Currently I play two archeologists that do not have other jobs. Perhaps I will test it in the weekend if I get the time.

@jpkarlsen, thanks for looking into it, if you can. 😇  If you can't look into it, that's alright -- its not a huge problem even though it is annoying! 😃 And thanks for the tip about the emotion berries and grafting! 😎

@SheriGR, yes, some of my grafts work but not others.  For example, I grafted Growfruit onto Sage and that worked fine for getting gowfruit , but it is the "magical" graftings that take 2 plants and create an entirely different plant that I think has the problem. ☹️

And yes, I have been playing one of these science lab career Sims for a long time so I know you have to maintain your plants even if it isn't in the task for the day.😉  I always check on my plants and often ignore my tasks because I'm busy taking care of them! 😳 😃  They are watered and also don't have any bugs or weeds.  I've even fertilized them!   And they aren't dead, they just don't grow or produce a harvest. ☹️ There were some plants that were ready for harvest before the update, so that after the update I could harvest those, but only that one time. 🤨 It is like my plants are suspended in whatever stage they were when the update took place!  🤔

Also, your video is interesting and is a good idea especially if you want to grow trees in a greenhouse! 😎  

Thanks for both of y'all's ideas and help! ❤️

Good to know about the lack of growth in the Science Lab plants. I will watch to see if I notice anything different if I play it again much.. Haven't done a lot of scientist stuff like you have at this point. I'm glad you mentioned it though, as I will not be surprised if it happens to me, then. Guess I'll have to make sure my 'scientist' comes with some harvested stuff, grafts and micro-samples in their inventory... which I hope would be good enough to use for the tasks there, though they obviously wouldn't get any 'credit' for doing the plant parts at work. Anyway, thanks for the helpful info, ad usual!

@SheriGR @PugLove888

After initial testing I can confirm that lab plants are bugged. Partial workaround: In build mode use the sledgehammer to destroy plants and planters place new planters and plant necessary plants. All seeds can be bought in build mode. I will test further later.

@jpkarlsen @PugLove888 You know, I didn't even think of this, but if you noticed in that video I linked to when adding the 'greenhouse' room, I tried to just drag over those plants (from the Science Lab's plant room) and found they could not be placed anywhere else - with or without the pot. I thought it was something involving some aspect of the new room, but perhaps that also had to do with them being bugged. In my game's science lab I just left the new greenhouse room and created an opening to the other plant room, but maybe I should just tear down that whole room and move the new one over top of it. Either way, I will do what you said and replace the other plants and pots. Good catch, @jpkarlsen and @PugLove888!

Just out of curiosity... have you tested if they plants still work for the purposes requested in the lab? So far I think I had to water and maybe take a micro-sample for a slide? Is there any chance that this behavior is intended and is some type of protection from them dying from multiple interactions you need to do on them (or from if they are not watered, etc.)? (Although the only interaction that will kill them if done over and over is grafting, right, and I'm not sure if you even need to graft in the lab.)

While I was in there for that day I added a small break room behind that receptionist area. They all seems thrilled, as I added a little table, coffee maker, microwave, fridge, dishwasher, and sink. I was tired of my sim needing to walk all the way to another building in the rain for a snack from the machine, plus I couldn't easily find the coffee maker she was supposed to 'tinker' with. We'll see how that goes. Initially all seems fine. Kinda nice that the place can be edited. 

@jpkarlsen, thanks for looking into this. 🙂  I'll have to see if new plants from home can grow here.  🤔  I have some grafted ones, but they are all grafted from the plants in the lab. 

@SheriGR, that could be why you couldn't' replace those plants! 🤨  It is possible that, like you said, this could be intended to prevent plants from dying when you weren't assigned to take care of them.  However, they used to grow and produce, so something is clearly broken! 😞  As for them working for the lab tasks, the only one that I can think of that wouldn't work is harvesting them, since there would be nothing to harvest 😉 (except for if they were harvestable at the time of the update, in which case they would only be harvestable that one time).  Usually a task will have you either harvest a plant, water a plant, or clone a plant.  The last 2 interactions can still be done, so that is good!

Also, the coffee pot that you were supposed to "tinker" with is located in the breakroom upstairs! but it is a pain to go up there, so it was probably for the best that you built another breakroom.😎  I also have built a extra bathroom off the corridor between the two buildings.  This has been a huge help! 😉😃 The one upstairs is a pain to get to and the one by the receptionists desk is also far! The one I built is kind of in the middle of everything! :eahigh_file:

I've had weird problems since the patch we got right before Seasons came out. I haven't even bought seasons because the patch messed up so many things in my game.

So my question is, if you haven't installed Seasons will the patch have affected when plants are harvestable?

Because I also have that problem on Sixam sometimes, and in my science lab, but have no way of knowing what season it currently is. 

I hate that dang patch and can't get any answers anywhere on how to fix things 

@ariannaneal I actually waited a while before getting seasons (I got it about a month or month and a half ago?) because I was thinking it would just be a hassle to deal with weather, and I'm not that heavily hung up on 'reality' impeding too heavily in my Sims game 😉 . But... I really do love the seasons and have somewhat embraced the 'hassles' of dealing with weather. To me it's worth all of it just to watch the snow! I was amazed how beautiful it was when I was doing something in the game in the middle of their night in Brindleton Bay and panned out and snow was in the process of covering their 'world'. I just sat there and watched it and looked around a bit. It was simply gorgeous! I do enjoy the Seasons pack, though, and I think it's my fave for a number of reasons.

Anyway, if you don't have seasons, it should not be anything but the normal, vanilla weather in any of the worlds, as far as I know. Also, I think that the seasons pack - not the patch - is where the splicing for rare plants stops working - as we have mentioned here. I am having trouble remembering what changes I noticed with the patch. Can you remind me of specific changes you are noticing? As far as the Science Lab goes, I had mentioned that I was wondering if the buggy plants were tweaked in some way to help them not die (or maybe in some way that buffers them from the effects of Seasons features) both for those with or without Seasons that are playing that career. Even if it was a tweak, we think it's buggy anyway since employees are unable to harvest after one initial harvest, according to @PugLove888 's findings.

That would explain the lab plants, but on Sixam, as with any of the 'worlds's plants', you probably have to live/play in that world for several Sims days to several Sims weeks to have the plants mature (I believe this was also mentioned earlier in this thread). I haven't gone to Sixam yet, but that is the case when I want to harvest wild plants, or even a Sims' from their lot. I have to play, live at, and keep checking the plants in that location to get them to the point that I can harvest them. They will, however, get to the point where you can take a cutting from them sooner, and you can graft that onto another plant at home. 

@ariannaneal, just like @SheriGR stated, I can only get one harvest out of my plants at the Lab -- and only if they were ready for harvest at the time the patch was issued! 🤨  However, I have not had any plants die at the lab! 😮  I also haven't had any die on Sixam (although I haven't spent as much time there).  But I've spent a lot of time at the science lab and all my plants seem to be in stasis. 🤔  I might have to check with another Save Game and see if it is the same.  I've played the lab on several different save games and have the same result but I havent' tried this on Sixam with multiple save games.

@ariannaneal, so you play with any Mods or CC? 🤔  I'm just trying to try to figure out what is different between our games, since I don't use CC or Mods.  I get the option to water them, but they just water the same two plants over and over with out end !  And my option to water them never goes away. 😕

@ariannaneal, I forgot to mention that the time of plants being able to be harvest shouldn't be changed without Seasons in the sense of all plants should be capable of being harvested at any time, but keep in mind that the gardening overhaul could have affected the rate at which the plants grow.  I know if does change the rate at which they evolve, and while I haven't noticed any growth-rate changes, it is still possible! 🤔

I hope my explanation is understandable! 😳

P.S.  I love the Seasons EP!  If it weren't for my needing dogs in my game so much, Seasons would be my favorite expansion pack! ❤️  I wish the pictures would do the pack justice, but you can't capture wind in a picture, nor rainfall rate or snowfall rate.  But you can see frosted windows, light reflecting in puddles, and snow will sparkle in the sunshine, but this is also best seen when moving the camera around! You can see the sparkles a bit in the following picture:

I'm sorry, I do have Seasons and I supposed it all was happening because of it, guess not. Hopefully the next patch will fix the issue.

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@ariannaneal wrote:
@SheriGR

Since the patch I have had a lot of problems in different areas. The one most related to the plants seems to be in all areas of collecting things.

It's much more difficult to find crystals and fossils in the world now, and the plants in the neighborhoods do take longer to be able to harvest.

The actual problem on Sixam, and in the science lab, is that the plants are dying constantly. So I cannot even take a cutting from the ones on Sixam, because they are dead, I get an option to dispose of them.

At the science lab I sometimes get an option to revive the dying plant, but then they just die soon after anyway. And I don't get many options for caring for them, like I don't even have the option to water them.

I am going to try the fix that was mentioned here, to tear down that room and get rid of those pots and try again. That would be great for the science lab, but I don't know what's going on on Sixam.

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@ariannaneal Yes, I think it sounds like a good idea for you to try a game repair and try removing any mods or CC, as both @PugLove888 and I don't have either mods or CC (I'm not sure if @jpkarlsen does), and some of the things you're mentioning are different from what we're experiencing (inability to water lab plants, lab plants dying - and I haven't been to Sixam but @PugLove888 and @jpkarlsen have and say they can harvest &/or take a cutting, plus neither has mentioned the plants there all being dead.) I have noticed myself when at Granite Falls that if I took a cutting too many times from a plant that the plant permanently gives off green fumes and the only option is to dispose of it (not revive). This is intended, to my understanding, in that you can only take cuttings a limited number of times with some variables including the quality level of the plant. This was in place before the patch or seasons.

Also, a factor to mention is I believe both @PugLove888 and I have seasons, and I'm not sure if @jpkarlsen does, but I think maybe so. These particular dynamics in this post shouldn't matter in that regard, but with some of your previous comments that may be good to know.

Update; Sorry if some of this is irrelevant or repeating others... I didn't see the next page of posts! Wow, lots of them tonight! 🙂

@SheriGR

Yes I have all packs there are including seasons.

I'm not done testing but I found another workaround. Advance in science career to the point where you can boss the others around and tell one of them to garden this seems to fix the bugged plants.

@PugLove888 Hahaha... I've got to get one of those kiddie pools! Looks like they like it better than a regular pool. Though my two little dogs in one game were so delighted when I added a pool in the basement they kept jumping and and out and swimming. Most fun I've had with a pool.

Speaking of Seasons EP... I had a first for me today... I've been building a restaurant and started testing it today. It was raining, and a customer randomly gets up in the restaurant and strips off (yes, pixilated thank goodness) this clothes, and walks outside to 'shower in the rain'. First time I noticed that was a thing. :eahigh_file: 😃 😬🙂

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@jpkarlsen wrote:

@SheriGR

Yes I have all packs there are including seasons.

I'm not done testing but I found another workaround. Advance in science career to the point where you can boss the others around and tell one of them to garden this seems to fix the bugged plants.

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@jpkarlsen  Awesome catch! Good to know, too!

@jpkarlsen, fantastic! :eahigh_file:  I will do that next time my Sims go to the lab.  

@ariannaneal, @jpkarlsen, @lilyinsimland, & @SheriGR, I tried playing another Save Game where my Sim could easily go to Sixam.  I found the same thing as in my other save on Sixam -- no dead plants, and only the one in season is harvestable. 

Here is the list of Alien Plants and their seasons of harvest:

Tentacle Tree (Fang Flower) = Spring

Quill Plant = Summer

Orb Stalk = Winter

UFO (Unidentified Fruit Object) = Fall {this is the one that you have to travel by rocket to obtain, so its not on Sixam}!

At the lab on this save my plants remained alive for the Sim week I played (no dead or dying plants) and the watering option is always available and the Sim usually alternates between the plant you clicked on to water and one of the ones right next to it.  To water the others you have to click on them.  I was able to fertilxize them and the option was grayed out once I did that, so that seems to be working normally! 🤨  One of them also was able to be evolved, which really surprised me! 😃 But not harvest so far, and watering them is messed up, so I will try jpkarlsen's suggestion to command a coworker to care for them! 😇