Re: serenade on digital piano issue

@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. 🙂

@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?🤔 . (Unless @RandomBuzziness  doesn't have City Living... but she certainly has the Sims 4 base game! 😉)  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. 😢  

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. 😢  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. 🤔😞 

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! 🙂

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, ☹️  I would really like to see you enjoy your game and be able to have your Sims use the serenade action with their pianos! 🤞😇

Thank you for being patient! ❤️

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..☹️ 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. 😞  It is possible that this is your case with your new install.

I thank you for trying this without your Mods/CC. 😇

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. 😞  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! 😇  It could be a bug with certain Sims, but this seems very odd if it is.  🤨 

Hang in there! ❤️

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. 😇  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. ☹️
It is possible that some of the Maxis Sims are bugged , if Sims we make don't have this problem. 🤔 But that is just a far-fetched guess on my part! 😳

What is the lowest possible skill level for serenading (with any instrument)?🤔  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 do have the City Living EP, the only Expansion Packs I do not own are Get To Work and Get Famous (by choice, I have no real interest in either of those).
• My Level 10 Piano skill Sim lives in San Myshuno. Her apartment is in The Gallery (lol it's the only thing I have uploaded there) if anyone wishes to test this. I need to update it for the newest packs I have added but ughhh I am too lazy xD
• The serenade options work fine for her on piano, both with and without singing. She is able to serenade on guitar as well.
• She is not married (she is a Serial Romantic). There are multiple Sims with high enough romance levels that she is able to serenade on her piano.
• All of her romantic interest Sims are female.
• She is not a Maxis Sim.
• She's just a regular Sim with no occult status.
• This Sim and all of her romantic interests are Young Adults (I have aging disabled).
• I tested this both with and without Mods and CC. It worked fine either way. I am extremely careful with my mods and CC.

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

@aodoherty  Don't give up!  Things change in the game as you play and all kinds of things can happen.  Sometimes things sort of fix themselves just like what I just had happen with a long term problem I have had that just fixed itself somehow.  Actually I should thank you!  It was while I was going in and out of my game and lots in the game while trying to help you and another user with problems and spending some time in a test save that my problem fixed itself.  Had I not tried to help you and the other user, I might still have the problem.

So don't give up on this!  Keep trying things.   One thing I did that you can try is to make a copy of your saves folder and put it on your desktop.  Start the game and play a lot for a few minutes.  Save and quit.  Delete the thumbnailscache file.  Delete the saves folder or move it out of the Sims 4 folder.  Put the saves folder copy made earlier back in.  Restart the game.  It might not work, probably won't but it might too so it's worth a try at least.  Changing the save folder to a copy seems to be what worked for me but Idk.  You just never know with this game.

@CGrant56I unlocked all disabled packs and tried but Bella still cannot do it for Mortimer. I created a new game, then this time, I picked Landgraab Family, I set Jeoffrey and Nancy's Piano level to 6, and then tried but they still cannot perform. The occult doesn't matter because I have spellcaster, vampire and humans, and all of them cannot perform anyway but only ONE vampire. Also I considered the sims who completed musical Genius aspirations but the sims who didn't complete it also were not able to serenade. I also thought about their music lover traits but the sims who don't have that trait cannot perform it either. Now..I have only one hope that I can wait until another simmer appear who has the same issue as mine.

@aodoherty, I have some news for you. 🙂 First, instead of finding a EA Maxis made Sim that had level 6 piano skill or higher, I tested with Baako Jang and raised his skill up, since this was a Sim you also tested with.  I didn't use cheats, but I asked and it seems skill cheats usually work fine if you cheat one skill level at a time since if you do multiple skill levels, it tends to skip over some rewards/abilities.  So, after Baako's skill was up to level 6 in piano, he was able to Serenade his wife! 🙌

Also, I talked to a trusted person who has experience in matters like this and plays The Sims 4.  They said the following: "This is the first where I have seen anyone deleting something in the Registry If I suspect something wrong there I recommend CCleaner to look for corrupted entries but mostly a repair will do it. Sometimes a reinstall. If their saves has become corrupted because of Mods there is nothing to do about that. They must start a new game. This happens occasionally.  I think that it is likely some corruption in the savegame caused by a mod as it works fine with new Sims. "

I'm sorry the text sizes are different-- I had to copy and paste what they told me because I wanted to make sure I didn't tell you anything incorrect. 😇

So, some Mod must have corrupted you game, and now it isn't enough that you have removed your Mods. 😞  I'm sorry that your problem for that save game file isn't fixable.😢  It is very important that if you use Mods or CC to do regular maintenance on them.  You need to make sure that every time EA updates the game, that you check to see if any of your Mods and CC are affected (Usually the Mods/CC creators will know and be working on upgrading their items to work with new changes to the game.)  And then you can download the new versions of all Mods and CC that are affected and get rid of your old version.  And anytime that there is a problem with your game, especially after EA updates the game , to do the steps that I listed above in my other posts to either see which mod or CC item is the cause of the problem, or else to rule out Mods and CC.  Or, if you don't want to go through the trouble, then you can just not play with Mods and CC. 😉 

I'm sorry you had so much trouble with your game. Corrupted save files caused by Mods and CC is one of the reasons I stopped using Mods and CC in the Sims 3 😢 and have never used them in TS4.  I didn't want to have to bother with the upkeep required for using Mods and CC. 😞  So I feel your pain. ☹️  Whether you want to continue using CC/Mods is up to you.  I hope despite this setback you continue to have fun with your Sims! ❤️

Edit to add: Special thanks to @jpkarlsen! 🙌

@PugLove888 If I am reading all of the posts correctly (lol I know there are many of them!) @aodoherty has already tried the following in this order:

• Removed all mods and CC from the game and deleted the localthumbcache.package file
• Removed the Mods folder and launched Sims 4 to create a fresh Mods folder
• Repaired the game through Origin
• Uninstalled and re-installed Sims 4 + all game packs
• Started a new vanilla mod/cc-free save with default Sims with no imports from the Library or Gallery
• Tested with the Bjergsen family from Windenburg with increasing piano skills with testingcheats
• Tested with the base game Goth family in Willow Creek with manually increasing piano skills without cheats

None of this has fixed the issue. I cannot reproduce this problem in my game, but I do not have all of the game packs so I am not able to eliminate the possibility of this being a bug.

@RandomBuzziness @PugLove888 @aodoherty 

I do have all packs.  And I tested this extensively in my main save and my test and build save (no cc, no mods).  I could not replicate the issue at all in any way I tried.  It looks like an issue with @aodoherty game and his/her game only.  The only thing else that I can think of is maybe something related to a different language version at this point.  I have no idea how any of that works and since everything I have seen in the pictures leads me to believe that @aodoherty is running an English version of the game, that might not be a factor.  

@aodoherty  Which language are you running the game in?  English or something else?  In an earlier post in this thread, you mentioned that your nationality is Korean and you said something about your bad English, I assume English is not your birth language.  BTW, I have understood everything you have posted and don't consider your English bad at all. 

I don't know what all the languages are that this game is produced in so I don't even know if a Korean language version is made.   Another thing I don't know is if there are multiple English versions (US, UK, Austrailian, etc.)  or just one.   I always assumed that there was only one English version and it was sold in multiple countries where that was the predominant language.  But I don't know that for a fact.  

What I'm getting at is this may be a bug that only affects only one language version of the game and @aodoherty happens to have that version and since it worked before, a patch or something could have had a minor translation error or something.  I'm grasping at straws here though.  This one is a real puzzler.

@CGrant56Your posting made me smile 🙂

I think this bug would be only in my game. I already asked about this issue on Korean Sims community but there was no answer.

Sorry for deleting my story. I just read the guide lines and rules here and not supposed to show my personal information. So I erased my personal things here. Hope you understand.

@aodoherty  Well, so much for that idea.  Honestly, I don't know what is causing the problem in your game.  And since you reinstalled the game completely, I see no reason for the problem to be there in a completely new game with just the premades.  If it was happening in other people's game too, then it's a bug of some type.  But it's not as far as the rest of us on this thread can determine.  It's certainly not happening in mine.  And why just that one little thing?  I can't find a rational explanation for it.

Sometimes though, things like this do fix themselves.  Maybe when the next patch or pack comes out it will fix itself.  All I can advise is just keep playing the game and wait and see if it does.  I'm sorry that I haven't been able to help you fix it though.  I'll watch to see if anyone else has a similar problem and if they do, and manage to fix theirs, maybe their solution will work for you.  So check in on this thread every now and then.  If I find anything, I'll post it here for you. 

I changed my game to Korean language version. The language didn't matter. It's still going on. Anyway, I'm still waiting until other simmers appear have the same issue as mine. 🙂

@CGrant56 @RandomBuzziness @PugLove888

Hi long time no see. :D Actually I found the reason why all the sims were not able to perform serenade on piano. Since maybe....December last year? Because I was playing the sims 3 before that time for a couple of months, so I don't know what happened during in my saved game, Sept, Oct and Nov last year as I came back the sims 4 in December. Anyway..I noticed one thing is all the sims who married after September last year, they are able to perform the serenade. The sims already set as married couple since long time ago, they are not able to perform the serenade. I brought some screenshots.

I'm sorry for the Korean text version. I've been enjoying my language in game recently. :D

I created a new random sim in the newly created game today and visited BFF neighborhood.

I cheated the relationship with one of this family and leveled her piano skill up to 10.

Now she can perform the serenade.

In this current game, I switched the active household to Bjersen family in Windenburgs.

In this freshly created game, Bjorn cannot perform the serenade on piano. Therefore, my final opinion is the sims who have long term relationship cannot perform the serenade on piano. The sims who started to fall in love with other sims recently are able to serenade on piano. In my game, my sim fell in love with the sage and he can perform the serenade even with CCs on. My other sims who married looong time ago cannot perform the serenade on piano. There are NO First generation sims can perform this in my game. Just 2 sims can perform it and they are both 2nd generation. So I think it's definitely a bug.

@aodoherty

안녕하세요 Sorry, but that's pretty much the extent of my Korean. I seem to slaughter every word I try to say right, but I can at least say hello! 👋

I have tested with a couple in my game, and thought I would share the results of my test. I tested with my piano 10 sim (not cheated) and she had the option and performed it.

I have uploaded this couple to the gallery for you to test in your game if you would like. I think downloads come with only 50% full relationships, so you will have to have them interact a bit to raise this, but they get along well so this should be easy.

https://www.ea.com/games/the-sims/the-sims-4/pc/gallery/93518549599011EA8F4C56A050AF8D5F

Edit: If you would be willing to share your household to the gallery and share the link or the exact name of them and your user name there if it's different than here, I could test them in my game. Just let me know here when it's uploaded. Save all of the sims you want tested on this into the same household in your library first so that their relationships are preserved for the upload to the gallery.

We would also be interested in testing your game save, if you're willing to share it. Please see instructions below:
https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/INFORMATION-How-does-this-forum-work/m-p/7368675#M83549