@aodoherty, thanks for testing with another Sim that you had been able to do the piano serenade with more recently. But please also try doing the steps I listed in order. If it turns out this is a bug, you can make a bug report afterwards, but until then, we need to rule out any Mods/CC conflicts. ๐
@aodoherty I tested this last night and I cannot reproduce this issue in my game with my Level 10 Piano skill Sim. The "Serenade" option works just fine when I try it on a piano, both with and without singing. If it's a bug with either the pianos or the piano skill, then it does not seem to be something that is generally affecting all games like some of the other bugs we've seen recently.
I'm with @PugLove888 in that if you remove your mods/cc without also deleting the localthumbcache.package file, then you can't be certain an outdated mod or CC is not causing this. Sorry if you have already tried this.
If the serenade does work for Roy, perhaps it could be that J and Diana's relationship is somehow glitched? If so, the game might not be recognizing their relationship status as being sufficient to meet the requirements for serenading, as @CGrant56 suggested. You could try using the resetsim cheat on one or both of them or use Manage Worlds to temporarily move one or both of your Sims out of their home and then back into the same one (if this does not fix anything just exit your game without saving so you won't lose anything by trying).
It seems like you have put a lot of time and care into this family so I hope we can find some way of fixing this with you!
Today, I tested all family who has level 10 in Piano skill. First of all, I will post all screenshots.
I didn't remove any mods or ccs at this moment. This is J sim. His name is Jinwoo, a Korean name, my nationality.
He can play the tunes even though I didn't remove anything. Only different point is that his wife is Zoe Patel from Oasis Springs, Maxis sim.
I was so happy, so I recorded his playing. :D
So beautiful...I love this tune :D He is playing this tune in Roy Winn's house.
Looks like the video doesn't work properly so I brought this from youtube again.
And then, I switched the active family to Roy Winn Family.
Roy is exactly on the same spot where J sim performed serenade for his wife.
Also Roy's wife is in front of him.
I evicted whole Winn family at the managing world and put them back in but still didn't work.
This household is totally different one from J or R families. These guys even don't know about Roy and Jinwoo.
Both of them don't work. I created these sims when ROM was released. So this household is the latest sims I created.
Roy sim was born in 2017, Roy is a very old vampire sim. Jinwoo was born in maybe 2018 as the 2nd generations from his vampire parent sims.
Roy married with Jinwoo's sister. So Roy's wife is not a premade sim by maxis but Jinwoo's wife is.
The guys in the white box cannot perform serenade at all.
Only the guy in red box can do.
Now I just took out all mods folder one more time, then repaired whole game in Origin one more time.
Of course, deleting cache files is regular routine I do before starting the game.
Then I tried again.
They still cannot perform the serenade each other.
Even though, this Louie's violin skill is only level 6, but there's no problem to perform the serenade.
It doesn't work only for PIANO... If the game didn't recognize their relationship, then even this violin and guitar serenade wouldn't be available.
And Also...On piano, even singing serenade wouldn't be available if the game didn't recognize their relationship but singing serenade on piano works.
These guys are the 1st generation in that family tree screenshot above. They have 2 sons and one daughter, and that daughter married with Roy.And One of their son, Jinwoo married with Maxis sim in Oasis Springs.
Over all, Only Jinwoo sim can perform that serenade who has Maxis female sim as a spouse. The others have all my created sim or 2nd generated from this guys and they cannot perform the serenade. But the sim in the video from youtube I posted on the first writing, is Roy. He used to perform the serenade and the woman sim in youtube video is his current wife. But now he cannot do it any more. anywhere in the world.
Here is a question. If the game didn't recognize their all relationship, then why all of them can perform serenade on guitar and on violin? If the game didn't recognize their all relationships, then why all of them can perform 'singing serenade' on Piano? All the instruments were supposed to be inactive but only serenade On PIANO with no vocal(singing) doesn't work.
I feel like maybe the game doesn't recognize their Piano skill level?
(Post edited by CM to add spoiler tags. Click to expand and reveal images)
@aodoherty I have to say I agree with your logic here. Those are very good points you've made on this unlikely being a relationship status problem vs. a piano skill problem. I should have thought of those before I posted and sorry if I got any of their names wrong. For either of the affected male Sims, can their wives perform the serenade on the piano? This would confirm it's not a relationship status issue.
For one of the affected Sims, can you try a skill level cheat to manually change his piano level to see if this helps at all?
stats.set_skill_level Major_Piano {1-10}
https://simsvip.com/sims-4-cheats-codes/#Skills
Maybe go with stats.set_skill_level Major_Piano 9 to temporarily set his piano skill at level 9? If it works you can use the same cheat to restore him back to level 10 later.
If this does not work either, there is a mod you might wish to try that will allow you to see all of the hidden traits of your Sims. Perhaps this could provide more clues as to what is going on here. I do not leave this mod in my game as I rarely have a use for it, but I have temporarily installed it to find the cause of unusual behaviors with my Sim's roommates.
I hope some of this helps or that someone else will provide better answers than me. I very much wish to see your game work properly again so that your Sims may enjoy this lovely song!
@RandomBuzzinessI appreciate your posting. ๐ It's too late at the moment, I will try this tomorrow again. Thanks for caring words. After reading your posting, I began to think about their spouses' piano skill level. Because Zoe Patel's piano skill is 0 and her husband could perform that tune. The rest of the guys who cannot perform the tune, their spouses' piano skill is all level 10 as well. So I'm going to test putting their spouses' piano level down by cheats, then will have a look the issue is still going or not. And the 2nd time, as you mentioned, I will put the guys' piano skill level down to 9 or 8, then will have a look if that works. Thanks.
You know, the more I think about it, the more I'm beginning to think it is something glitched with the sim. I've got a similar thing going on with a sim who used to be able do something but now can't no matter what I do. So I think that sim is permanently glitched somehow. But I'm pretty sure when whatever it was happened and how it happened so it might be related.
So @aodoherty was the sim that can no longer do the serenade option playing that instrument using that option when you had another sim in the household travel, leaving the sim playing the instrument behind?
Here's why I ask. Household of 8 sims. I had a sim writing a research paper (DU added option after leveling up on Research and Debate Skill) on a laptop. I also had 6 other sims doing skill things at the time too. I had the remaining member of the household travel to Glimmerbrook alone leaving all the others doing whatever they were doing when that travel happened. While I was off with the solo sim, I clicked the portraits to have them continue building skills or socialize. When I got back though and went to send the sims I left behind back to what they were doing when I left, the one who was writing the Research paper no longer had the option on her computer and there was no resume option anywhere that I could find. I tried changing out computers, etc. But the option has not reappeared for just that one sim on any computer. Every other sim in that household and other households can still do it. Just not her. So I think I've got a glitched sim maybe and I'm hoping maybe something in a patch will fix the problem at some point. It's a very minor issue and really doesn't affect play but for that single sim.
But I wonder after all you tried that maybe you've got something similar going on with your sim and that's why I ask the question. So was travel involved?
I put his wife's piano level to 1 from 10. Still doesn't work.
The strange thing is that Sing Serenade works perfectly with even mods and ccs.
But it keeps saying 'Roy can only serenade a near by Romantic interest' only for serenade on piano without singing.
I put his piano level down to 9 but still doesn't work.
I put his piano level down to 6 but still doesn't work.
I put her piano level back up to 10. Now she cannot perform for her hubby.
It happened anywhere even in their home lot here.
These guys are fathers of the dark brown hair female above the screenshot.
I put his piano level down to 5 to see the serenade option still available or not. As you know the serenade option is available from 6. And the game recognized his changed piano level. The serenade option has gone.
I put his piano level back up to 10 again, then the game recognized his piano level again. But still doesn't work. And also this guy is a doctor sim and he was at the hospital as a nurse today. I don't know why he is wearing a Tech Guru uniform which is not related with medical career.
Anyway, now I really don't know what's going on with their serenade interactions. The 2nd suggestion of you is a mod that shows the hidden things but I couldn't find that mod on google. Do you have a link for that? Thanks.
@aodoherty I'm not sure if I can link to the site but the mod is called "Show/Search Sim Info Mod V3.8.1" by itasan2. You can find it at the MTS (Mod The Sims) website. It was updated after the Dec. 12 game patch and MTS says it is good for the most recent game patch as well. (Thank you to @DMDragonCT for previously sending me this info).
You can use it to compare the hidden info on your Sims who can perform the serenade with the info for the Sims who cannot. This might give you a better idea on what to try next.
Do you have any archived saves from back before the problem started? Here is a link to a thread with details, also provided by @DMDragonCT, on how to recover older saves:
https://answers.ea.com/t5/General-Discussion-Feedback/missing-sim/m-p/8662259#M21531
@aodoherty I'm sorry, I missed that there were 5 sims that could no longer get the option to serenade. I thought it was just one. I've gone back through the whole thread now a couple of times and am scratching my head about what it could be. I doesn't appear to be relationship, nor music in general if you're still getting the option on the violin and guitar. And the piano skill level tests you did indicate that the option shows up at the proper level of piano skill. I just doesn't activate when it appears that all the things that it should need are present. It is puzzling.
The only thing I did see in one of the pictures was that I noticed that one sim had a blue digital piano in his inventory. I don't know if that may anything to do with it. It shouldn't as far as I know. If it was just the one sim having the problem I'd be inclined to maybe try resetting the relationship but that doesn't make any sense when there's 5 sims that can't do it. Looking at the sims involved with the SimsInfo mod that @RandomBuzziness has recommended certainly can't hurt and you may find something odd. I think I'm going to look at one of my sims to see what may be there and check a few of my sims to see if it shows up in my game. But that will be tomorrow since it late where I am. If I find anything, I will certainly let you know.
Thanks a lot. I was able to install the mod you mentioned, finally! :D I had a look their all info but still don't see what's different.. So would you have a look those info? I will post all of them.
Jake Hendrix:
Adam Bowie
Roy Winn: It's so weird that Roy has never been in drama club..in his sim life. He has been created by me in CAS as a young adult human sim in 2017. Of course, he was the sliverscreen icon in actor career but now he is a doctor.
Diana Henry
Richard Henry
Jeongwoo Kim
So far, all of these 6 sims have level 10 in piano but cannot perform the serenade on ONLY Piano. Because almost of them have completed violin and guitar skills too includes singing skill.
Jinwoo Kim: Only this sim is able to perform the serenade and singing serenade both on piano.
Still have no clue what's different to the other all sims cannot perform it. Thanks for helping my issue with kindness. ๐
I'm adding one more screenshot. My 2 sims are living in University dorm. and they are now at the local bar while The Debate Guild meeting is on. They can't perform it anywhere in the world.
(Post edited by CM to add spoiler tags. Click to expand and reveal images)
@aodoherty Ok, you got about what I expected you would. I didn't think there were any hidden traits concerning the piano but wasn't sure since I haven't checked it myself. And you aren't showing any. I have been using the mod since it first came out and find it very useful for a number of things.
On the drama club thing with Roy, I'm not sure on that but that trait may come from the acting skill or from being an Actor. Has he been an Actor at any time and/or have high level acting skill? I see he's been maxed on Fame and has the Celebrity walk and so he's at least a 3 (or is it 4) star celebrity. It used to come on at 3 stars but I think that was changed later and now it comes on at 4 stars.
I haven't started my game yet today. So I haven't done any checking yet. I will get back to you when I have.
@CGrant56As I mentioned under his info screenshot, he was Silver Screen Icon in actor career but now he is a doctor.๐ Yes he is a global superstar. It has been very loooong since since Get Famous was released, and I moved him into a new game, and a new fresh game again, and a very fresh new game ...several times I've done it. So that's why he doesn't show all information about him. Also I tried to see his skill info, there were only 12 skills info but actually he has about 20 skills in total. Because I guess he has been living sim life veeeeery looooong...as a vampire, even he doesn't age up.
There is the oldest sim,Richard in those info screenshot. He has challenged the grow fruit event and got the pretty flower pot as a reward from Jasmine in 2016 real time. And his spouse, Jeongwoo is the 2nd oldest one, and then Roy is the 3rd oldest one. :D
@aodoherty Thanks. Sorry I missed that before. Then that's probably where the hidden trait comes from. And you just said something else that might be the source of the problem too. I have found that moving sims between saves sometimes create odd differences. I see it most in their portraits at the bottom when I travel with another sim in the household and leave them at home. For some reason, they don't have the little arrow on the portrait and I can't direct them to build a skill or socialize because I can't that little menu to come up. I've also seen some other things but it is not consistent and varies from sim to sim. Don't know if it has anything to do with your current problem but it may.
As I said earlier, I will check some things in game today and get back to you
@aodoherty Were you able to check if you have any archived saves from back before this problem started? I just checked my Save folder and there are files in there going all the way back to last July and I've only been playing Sims 4 for about 8 months now! If you can recover and revert back to playing one of those saves you'll lose some progress but maybe the problem will be gone. You might decide against losing all that progress but at least you'll have the option to choose it.
Here is a link to a thread with details provided by @DMDragonCT on how to recover older saves:
https://answers.ea.com/t5/General-Discussion-Feedback/missing-sim/m-p/8662259#M21531
I have no experience with long-term games and the effects they may have on Sims so there's not much help I can offer with that. I still have a save with my very first Sim (for Sims 4 anyway) but I've started 5 newer saves in the last 8 months.
@aodoherty Ok. I went into my game and took a look at a number of my households. In all cases but one, all the sims could do the serenade option on both piano and digital keyboard. Btw, if it works on one, it works on both. If it doesn't work on one, it works on neither so the issue isn't with the piano or digital keyboard per se. In one case, when I tried, the sim and his romantic partner were on different floors, the option was greyed out, but after getting both sims on the same floor level the option went active. I also tried on pipe organs but those don't appear to have the serenade option at all.
In the one case I couldn't get the option to come up for a sim with a romantic partner, was a special case and really doesn't apply to you since all your sims are YAs. I thought it might be an age difference thing then but after looking at your simsinfo pics again, it's not since they're all YAs. I use mods that allow certain relationships that the unmodded game doesn't allow. But what I found in that one case was the serenade option shows up as greyed out on both sims and neither sim has the serenade option active. It appears to ignore the romantic relationship altogether which I would expect in that case since it's one the game doesn't allow normally. Further checking showed that all relationship types (YA & Elder, YA & Adult, etc.) do get the option. I also checked my vampires and spellcasters and they still do as well. Didn't look at aliens since none of you sims are aliens.
So what does that leave to try? I am guessing now and the only other thing I can come up with is the possibility of CC interference so if you have any CC pianos or digital keyboards you might try removing those. I have a couple of cc pianos but the option did show up on them but it may not on others.
You may have to try recovering and using an older save as @RandomBuzziness suggests. Or you could try saving the sims one at the time to your library, deleting them and bringing them back in and recreating the relationships again . I wish I could help you further but I've run out of things to suggest.
Oh I tried to go back to the old save file. I usually save as other name for backup. So I have very old file was played in August 17. I uploaded the video Roy's perform the tune on youtube on 23rd of August last year.
So I opened this file.
This female is Diana who married to Roy later on.
The guy is right side is Joseph and he is still single.
Unfortunately, Diana and Roy is just a friend each other. And Jinwoo sim is completely single in this save. Also there's no spellcaster sim with his spouse in this game either. So I had only one choice that I can test Diana's parent sims. They were only the married couple in this game.
They are parent sims of Jinwoo and Diana.
Now It proves it's not my cc problem or save corruption. Looks like there could be a small problem with the Sims 4 base with City Living. So the final choice I can consider is deleting all the sims 4 with all Eps,Gps and Sps. Deleting all the sims 4 stuff in Registry, then I can newly install whole game from Origin. I will come back here after re installation of the sims 4 and test it again. Thank you all. ๐
@aodoherty, I'm sorry, but I don't understand how this could be a problem with "the Sims 4 base with City Living", when @RandomBuzziness has tried to serenade with the piano in her game and was able to do this?๐ค . (Unless @RandomBuzziness doesn't have City Living... but she certainly has the Sims 4 base game! ๐) I would test this my self, But I have many save games and cant' find my level 10 pianist right now to test this with. ๐ข
I understand that you never had problems with any of your CC before, but that does not matter because the game was just updated a week or so ago. That means that any Mod or CC item has a chance of being outdated. You did test them, but did not follow the instructions and did them in reverse order. ๐ข I've never heard of anyone testing CC and Mods in that way, so we can't be sure that that way will properly test them. ๐ค๐
This is the way that Mod and CC experts and tech experts recommend testing:
1) Move the Mods Folder to your desktop
2) Delete localthumbcache.package file in the game folder.
3) Fix you game in Origin by logging in and go to Library, then right-click on The Sims 4 and choose the "Repair Game" option from the list. Wait until Origin finishes repairing all your packs and not just the base game.
4) Now, when you turn on your game again, it will create a new mods folder that will be empty. Check to see if your game is now working without mods/CC.
5) Now you can try adding back items from your Mods folder one at a time checking your game each time to see which item is causing your game to not work properly. If you have a lot of items, you can try the 50/50 Method.
If you add back an item and check to see if your game works and it exhibits the same problem again, you know that it is that item that is outdated, and you can go to the creator of that CC item or Mod and see if they have an updated version that was updated after EA's latest patch to the game. Then if they do, download that updated CC item and replace it with the broken one! ๐
The only other possibility is that either your lot, one of your Sims, or that particular save is glitched/corrupted. Either @CGrant56 mentioned this possibility earlier, or else @RandomBuzziness did. And you are right in that older save games have more of a chance of developing problems due to file corruption. But it is still best to properly test your CC/Mods first to rule out that possibility, or to fix the CC/Mods if that is what is causing your problem.
I'm sorry if my instructions are not clear, or that I'm repeating myself. But you can't rule out CC/Mods without properly testing them, โน๏ธ I would really like to see you enjoy your game and be able to have your Sims use the serenade action with their pianos! ๐ค๐
Thank you for being patient! โค๏ธ
Oh..sorry but I already re installed the whole game before reading your posting. So I think I don't need to do it again. This is freshly installed game and I faced unbelievable thing happened.. There's NO CC,NO MODs at all. I didn't replace any cc mods in this Newly created The Sims 4 folder. I want to show this.
I deleted ALL The Sims 4 stuff in Registry Edit as well. And then I re installed whole game, then I didn't replace any mods and ccs. Also I didn't replace my saves file either. I started a new game, and started a randomly created sim in cas. and put her in New Crest, then I activated "Bjergsen' Family in Windenbourg. So These are NOT my sims, so it will be the perfect test without any 3rd parties.
And then I discovered unbelievable thing.
I activated testingcheats on cheat.
Then, I put Bjorn's piano level to 10 by cheat.
I like him so much :D He is so cute.
At the beginning, he doesn't have any piano skill. So I put his piano level to 10 by cheat.
His relationship. This relationship bar would be enough to serenade for her I think.
Unbelievable! Freshly installed game, erased all old stuff, didn't add any 3rd parties or creations. They are in their Home Lot. His wife is just standing by him. Well... He doesn't have any singing skill, so I don't think singing serenade will be available for him.
Now I don't know what to do..โน๏ธ I did my best. My save files are kept on desktop, not in the sims 4 folder. I'm about to give up.
@aodoherty, I don't know if this is the case or not, but I've been told by some reliable people that some of the cheats will sometimes do not work the same as going about things in the regular way through gameplay, and can therefore cause odd or undesirable things to happen in your game. ๐ It is possible that this is your case with your new install.
I thank you for trying this without your Mods/CC. ๐
I am going to see if I have any Sims made by EA/Maxis like Bjorn to test this in my game. But I have so many saves that it is hard to find the right one. ๐ I will also ask some people I know if they can test this as well. Also, @RandomBuzziness and @CGrant56 if you have any Maxis-made Sims that were base game or from an early pack, that have high enough piano skill to test this with, that would be a huge help! ๐ It could be a bug with certain Sims, but this seems very odd if it is. ๐คจ
Hang in there! โค๏ธ
Hi I tried with different Maxis sim living in San Mychuno. I found he works for entertainment career but unfortunately, he belongs to comedian branch. But anyway, I found he has 4 point of piano skill. So I sent him to the community lot has piano inside. Then I let him raise up his piano skill to 6. Then brought up his wife on the same floor just beside him.
I needed a time to raise up his skill, so I locked his needs bar.
Now he is ready
I didn't use cheat for his skill.
This will be enough to perform serenade, I guess.
Anyway, I don't know how to raise their relationship by cheat.
Because I usually don't use any cheat for sims' needs bar or relationship bar.
..........
@aodoherty, thank you for that additional information. ๐ I thought that might be the case, but I had to make sure, as I wouldn't' want to tell you something that is wrong. โน๏ธ
It is possible that some of the Maxis Sims are bugged , if Sims we make don't have this problem. ๐ค But that is just a far-fetched guess on my part! ๐ณ
What is the lowest possible skill level for serenading (with any instrument)?๐ค I am trying to find a suitable piano player in my game to test with, but if I can't I might just use someone from the Base Game to test with.
The lowest level is 6 for each instruments. I activated the Goth family and as you know they don't have any piano skill but they own a piano at home. So I picked Bella to learn the piano and raised up to 6 which the lowest level can perform the serenade. Also I don't need to test violin and guitar because my sim families have no problem with performing serenade on violin and singing serenade and serenade on guitar.
She stayed up all through the night to raise up the piano skill. I ran the game in triple speed while practicing the piano.
Now she's ready to perform.
Her husband, Mortimer is listening to her piano playing.
@aodoherty @PugLove888 Here is a little more information on how I tested this in my game, in case any of this is of some help:
I can come back and edit this later if anything new comes up.
UPDATE: She is able to serenade both Maxis and non-Maxis Sims on her piano. I just tested on both. Of the two Sims I just tested on, one has "Girlfriend" status while the other does not, but the romance and friendship levels for both are very high. It's amazing what you can get away with after completing the Serial Romantic aspiration. :D
