Re: Phantom Restaurant Invitations

@Karababy52 I think building anything you wan to upload to the gallery in a new save , uploading/sharing it, then using as you like for your own play may be the safest bet. I hope this new plan helps. I would also combine the steps you try to clear out this issue with intermittent game repairs and removal of the cache in your Sims 4 folder, as previously mentioned. Also, if you have absolutely no restaurants for them to go out to (Do you have Dine Out? They will want to go to restaurants with that, and friends will call to invite you to them) this may be causing a glitch where the game is trying to send them to a restaurant but cannot find one (and perhaps holding onto the last bit of cache that seems to be a restaurant to it?). When you install your new game please try leaving restaurants in the worlds and see if this helps. Let us know how it goes. 

After figuring out exactly what lot was where, putting copies of them in my library, placing them in three different save games, doing another repair afterwards, clearing out all the caches, yada, yada, yada...it didn't work. 😞 *sigh* But at least now I know which lot is causing the problem since this time Lynn was asked out to breakfast at Vista Quarry.

Thanks for the help @SheriGR but I don't think your reasoning about the restaurants is correct. I had Dine Out a long time before I ever put any restaurants in my game and never got calls about going out from other Sims. I've had restaurants in my game and did get calls, then took that restaurant out and never got any calls afterward asking to go there with the name of the removed restaurant or lot name that replaced it.

It seems like perhaps somehow your other idea though might be valid, that there is a piece of code or something hanging onto that lot from when a restaurant was there, despite repairing numerous times, putting other lots there or original game lots there, bulldozing, etc. etc. I'm about to call Uncle on this one. I have three options left:

1. Put a restaurant on that lot (as suggested) and keep one on that lot forever.

2. Refresh my game folder. I've never done that before, but it doesn't look too hard. The only thing I worry about doing that is will the game reinstate all my deleted venues/lots I had in my library? I've been told by another very helpful Simmer, rosemow, one of the files in the game keeps track of that and would put them back in my library. Not really that big of a deal, but will take me forever to remove them all again. So, is that true?

3. Do a full reinstall of my game. I DO NOT want to do that if at all possible.

If the second option won't put allllll those files back in my library, I'm guessing that's probably my best bet. I could just do the first option and be done with it. But I don't like the idea of that lot being held hostage in case I want to put something else there in the future. Thoughts?

@Karababy52 I believe the tray file is the one with all of the lots/households/rooms that you have in your library. I will consult with other helpers and get back with you further.Thank you for your patience!

Yup, I know the Tray folder holds all your library items, I'm talking about a file named 'TrayDeletedItems' that looks like a sheet of paper. Thanks for all your continued help, very much appreciated. 🙂

@Karababy52 There is a bug thread that may be a match to some of the behavior you are facing - or at least part of why this is happening? Please check it out and read through the responses. If you think it is relevant to your situation you can click 'me too' on the original post, plus add a comment about your situation. All of this, along with information about your situation (you could link to this thread and add info about your experience), helps them confirm/identify if it is a bug and details about how it is manifesting. All of this helps them figure it out and prioritize. Thanks! https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/NEEDS-INPUT-Empty-residential-lot-as-location-for-date/m-p/6449096#M53150

Thank you @SheriGR I've posted on that thread with a link to this one and have clicked on 'Me Too.' I'll wait for a solution now before doing anything else at the moment. Happy Simming! ❤️

@Karababy52 Glad to hear it! Please let us know if anything changes. Thank you! 🤞

Update: I finally broke down and placed a restaurant in my game on patch day. It's on the lot across from Garden Essence or BFFs in Willow Creek. Since doing that, all invitations for meals name this restaurant. I should've done this before when it was suggested I guess. o.O I don't know if the problem is completely fixed though. I shouldn't be required to have a restaurant in my game just because I have Dine Out and had one previously.Perhaps the patch fixed the issue? I have no idea.

Anyway, I have a new 'problem' now since the patch. I do not own Get Famous, yet my entire Sim's meal, three courses for himself and his fiance, a bill of over 300 simoleons was free because he was told, "Don't worry about the bill, a star like you shouldn't have to pay!" or something to that effect. I don't remember the exact wording. lol Now, this is a bug/glitch I seriously don't mind at all. Even though my Sim it happened to does have a hefty amount in household funds and could afford the bill no problem. So weird! Oh and if you're wondering if he happens to be my Hero of StrangerVille, he isn't. Completely different save, different Sim. In fact he's only been there once to buy a bizarre fruit seed from Erwin at his stall.

@Karababy52 
We have found a couple of threads that seem to show the same issue. This one is a thread discussing it:
https://forums.thesims.com/en_uS/discussion/951063/is-this-new-didnt-have-to-pay-at-a-restaurant

...And this one is a bug thread. Perhaps if it seems accurate to you for the issue you are seeing you could 'me too' the thread and add your information, as this is very helpful both for troubleshooting and for bringing the issue higher on the radar/priority list for confirming as a bug and addressing with a repair:
https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/OPEN-DO-quot-Free-quot-restaurant-bills-for-non-celebrity-Sims/m-p/7175433

Thank you @SheriGR for the links! I've pressed 'Me Too' on the second one and I'm headed back there now to add a reply with some screenshots. It seems this has been a problem for awhile, but I just noticed it since I haven't had a restaurant in my game for a very long time. Thanks again!

I spoke too soon. I'm getting requests again to go out to eat on lots that are empty instead of the real restaurant I placed in the game. At first I thought it was lots that previously had a restaurant on them, but it seems in reality it's entirely random. *sigh* 

@Karababy52 Have you tried:

1. Bulldozing the lot and terrain on each of the lots you added this 'empty' lot to...
2. Immediately downloading to the lot a residence from your library and saving it... 

Do those two things for each of those lots... then after they are all filled to the repair and cache thing again:

• running the repair and removing the localthumbcache.package file, etc. as before.

It may be worth a try to see if this sort of flushes the old info from the lots because they now have new info to 'own'? Perhaps it would be good to make sure that each town has one restaurant, also? The onset of this behavior not beginning with your initial use of Dine Out may have been behavior that came with a patch or something else the changed in your game. It's hard to say, code conflicts can be incredibly challenging to track down sometimes, and can occasionally behave in a way that is not typical if someone has a 'perfect storm' of factors that just happened to set something off. Sorry this is being so stubborn in your case. I will post this within our helper chat room and see if I can get some additional ideas and feedback. I will let you know what I find out.