Re: [CURRENT ISSUE] Codes instead of text/ Blank text and bubbles

@ZeroFish122

[*]Close Origin (Click on "Origin" again and click "Exit")

[*]Navigate to Origin's game install directory (default is "C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games")

[*]Click on "The Sims 4" folder and press F2 and rename to "The Sims 4 Backup"

[*]Open Origin again

[*]Origin should think Sims 4 is not installed! This is normal. Click on Sims 4 and click Download. Accept all the popups asking language ect.

[*]The game should now say "Downloading: 0%". At this point, close Origin again (Click Origin > Exit)

[*]Go back to the installation folder and DELETE the new folder that says "The Sims 4"

[*]Click on "The Sims 4 Backup" and press F2. Rename this back to "The Sims 4"

[*]Open Origin again.
 
[*]Origin will recognise the files and force an update on the game

Following these steps completely cleared my whole game of code!! Thanks so much! It was everywhere - trying to go on vacation, on some lots, careers, actions, etc., I just completed your steps and checked and everything is in normal text now!

You're amazing, THANK YOU! n____n

You're a GENIUS!!!

It works according to your steps... Thank YOU

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@ZeroFish122 wrote:

Okay, so I was just on chat to customer support who were telling me to redownload the game.

The way it works is it reads strings (text) from a file called "Strings_ENG_US.package" (would be different if it was another language) and the way this is done is the game uses hexidecimal pointers instead of text. Why? Because a language file is much more portable and easier to update than an entire executable file, and they would need to recompile the whole game again for every single language.

Hexidecimal is a base 16 numeric number. So unlike our base 10 counting system (0, 1, 2 ,3 ,4 ,5 ,6 ,7 ,8 ,9) you have (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D ,E, F).

So the game points to this language file and looks for entry "4271A1A2" which should have "Business" assosiated to it, but it doesn't. So the game puts in the pointer instead of the text, making it *** 4271A1A2 ***

Enough about that though, you probably just want to know how to fix it! Onwards!

I managed to establish that this is not an issue with The Sims 4 at all and in fact an issue with Origin's updating service. So our next step was getting this game to update! I have a degree in Computer Games Development so I'll be damned if I'm redownloading a 9GB game for an 800KB language file!
So I continued to try and find a way to get this file to download! Asking support if they could just send me the file. They said they couldn't and the only way to fix this was to redownload the game. So I persisted and persisted and finally found a way to force an update on ANY Origin title! Which finally downloaded the right file!! So this is how you do it:

[*]Close Origin (Click on "Origin" again and click "Exit")

[*]Navigate to Origin's game install directory (default is "C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games")

[*]Click on "The Sims 4" folder and press F2 and rename to "The Sims 4 Backup"

[*]Open Origin again

[*]Origin should think Sims 4 is not installed! This is normal. Click on Sims 4 and click Download. Accept all the popups asking language ect.

[*]The game should now say "Downloading: 0%". At this point, close Origin again (Click Origin > Exit)

[*]Go back to the installation folder and DELETE the new folder that says "The Sims 4"

[*]Click on "The Sims 4 Backup" and press F2. Rename this back to "The Sims 4"

[*]Open Origin again.

[*]Origin will recognise the files and force an update on the game

Happy Simming!

Fish

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You're a GENIUS!!!

It works according to your steps... Thank YOU ZeroFish!😕mileyvery-happy:

Thank you! It worked😕mileyhappy:

Absolutely brilliant!  Solved all the codes and other issues in one go.  I was completely sick of unloading the whole game and reloading to solve these issues but until your solution it seemed to be the only option.  I don't know why Origin can't sort these problems out instead of leaving it to gamers.

Thank you very much for making the game much more playable.

@zyana27 Merged.

Please see first post.

It would be great if everyone could provide their OER-ID as asked on the first page.

@crinrict thanks for redirecting me here! followed the instructions of @Isabelle253 and it worked! Thanks!😕mileyvery-happy:

Thank you so much ZeroFish122, you fixed my game! Been frustrated with the stupid text glitches for ages!

This doesn't work for me! Tried it twice and still get codes and empty bubbles  😕mileymad: 😕mileysad:

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@ZeroFish122 wrote:

FIX:

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The problem seems to lay in Origin's updating service (which ignores the language-specific files sometimes) and not The Sims 4. To fix this problem follow these steps:

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• Close Origin (Click on "Origin" again and click "Exit")
• Navigate to Origin's game install directory (default is "C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games")
• Click on "The Sims 4" folder and press F2 and rename to "The Sims 4 Backup"
• Open Origin again
• Origin should think Sims 4 is not installed! This is normal. Click on Sims 4 and click Download. Accept all the popups asking language ect.
• The game should now say "Downloading: 0%". At this point, close Origin again (Click Origin > Exit)
• Go back to the installation folder and DELETE the new folder that says "The Sims 4"
• Click on "The Sims 4 Backup" and press F2. Rename this back to "The Sims 4"
• Open Origin again.
• Origin will recognise the files and force an update on the game

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Happy Simming!

Fish

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What date do your language files have now ? Instructions where to find are on the first post

This worked and was easy and not time consuming. Thanks Fish =]

I wish this would have worked for me....but the string file for the base game is still showing the 03/20/15 date (someone mentioned it should be showing a new date???) 

If the solution doesn't work, you'll need to completely reinstall the game.

Hi, I'm having this problem w/the notebook showing blank lines for ingredients needed for some serums. Following the instructions in this thread, I started to look for this to rename my C/ProgramFiles86/Electronic Arts/sims 4 folder, but it doesn't seem to exist! Is there any other path for it? The only thing I have in my program files 86/Electronic Arts is sims 3 and all of its iterations. Nothing for sims 4.

Try the language changing first. It's easier to do.

If that doesn't work. Check the Origin_games folder instead of Electronic arts.

This worked, thank you so much! 

this solution worked for me, thanks 🙂

Thank you so much! This was such an easy fix. I've been struggling and guessing with empty bubbles and notifications for up to a year now and never found an easy solution. Thank you!! 

Thanks so much Fish, a solution that finally worked, my daughter is over the moon, game has been half broken since the toddler update. Thanks again :D :D :D