Neighborhood Stories off yet unplayed Sims are still aging and having kids.

Product: The Sims 4
Platform:Mac
Which language are you playing the game in? English
How often does the bug occur? Every time (100%)
What is your current game version number? 1.100.144.1230
What expansions, game packs, and stuff packs do you have installed? Get to Work Get Together City Living Cats & Dogs Seasons Get Famous Island Living Discover University Eco Lifestyle Snowy Escape Cottage Living High School Years Growing Together Outdoor Retreat Spa Day Dine Out Vampires Parenthood Jungle Adventure StrangerVille Realm of Magic Star Wars: Journey to Batuu Dream Home Decorator My Wedding Stories Werewolves Luxury Party Stuff Perfect Patio Stuff Cool Kitchen Stuff Movie Hangout Stuff Romantic Garden Stuff Kids Room Stuff Backyard Stuff Vintage Glamour Stuff Bowling Night Stuff Fitness Stuff Toddler Stuff Laundry Day Stuff Moschino Stuff Tiny Living Stuff Nifty Knitting Stuff Paranormal Stuff Country Kitchen Kit Courtyard Oasis Kit Industrial Loft Kit Blooming Rooms Kit Décor to the Max Kit Little Campers Kit First Fits Kit Desert Luxe Kit Book Nook Kit Greenhouse Haven Kit Grunge Revival Kit Modern Luxe Kit Poolside Splash Kit
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? I don't know
What happens when the bug occurs? I have Neighborhood Stories turned off yet my unplayed Sims are still aging and having kids
What do you expect to see? I expect my unplayed Sims to stay frozen in time until I'm ready to play them.
Have you installed any customization with the game, e.g. Custom Content or Mods? Never used.
Did this issue appear after a specific patch or change you made to your system? Neutral/Not Sure

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I have Neighborhood Stories turned off yet my unplayed Sims are still aging and having kids. I'm running Game Version 1.100.144.1230 with no mods or CC. I'm reporting here because another thread from last year listed this issue as "fixed". It is not fixed.

PipMenace
2 years ago
Aging is a separate setting from neighborhood stories. You can turn aging on or off for played and for unplayed sims.
They’ll never just be frozen if you’re playing in the same save though. Pregnancies will progress, university semesters will progress, and when you go back to the household they will be doing something different from where you left them. If you want to stop playing a household for a while and then come back to find them exactly as you left them, then you should play in a different save until you come back to them.

12 Replies

PipMenace
Hero
2 years ago
Aging is a separate setting from neighborhood stories. You can turn aging on or off for played and for unplayed sims.
They’ll never just be frozen if you’re playing in the same save though. Pregnancies will progress, university semesters will progress, and when you go back to the household they will be doing something different from where you left them. If you want to stop playing a household for a while and then come back to find them exactly as you left them, then you should play in a different save until you come back to them.
sparilis
Seasoned Hotshot
2 years ago
@PipMenace wrote:
Aging is a separate setting from neighborhood stories. You can turn aging on or off for played and for unplayed sims.
They’ll never just be frozen if you’re playing in the same save though. Pregnancies will progress, university semesters will progress, and when you go back to the household they will be doing something different from where you left them. If you want to stop playing a household for a while and then come back to find them exactly as you left them, then you should play in a different save until you come back to them.
I don't mind if they are doing something different. I just don't want to come back and find that a couple had 6 kids while I was away or a family's children have all grown up. Will turning off aging stop that?
luthienrising
Hero+
2 years ago
@sparilis Turning off aging will stop their children from growing up. It won't stop them from having children - that part is a Neighborhood Stories setting.
sparilis
Seasoned Hotshot
2 years ago
@luthienrising wrote:
@sparilisTurning off aging will stop their children from growing up. It won't stop them from having children - that part is a Neighborhood Stories setting.
I turned off aging and Neighborhood stories. Everything was fine for a while but now unplayed Sims are aging again. Also, getting married, having children, and moving to new houses. What am I doing wrong?
luthienrising
Hero+
2 years ago
Aging isn't controlled by Neighborhood Stories; it's controlled by your Gameplay Options. Check in Options again.

Getting married and moving from one house to another isn't controlled by the game at all; it's available only from mods. Mods can also override your having-children Neighborhood Stories setting and, I believe, your aging settings. If your mod settings are changing and you didn't change them, make sure you don't have OneDrive syncing your Electronic Arts folder in Documents.
sparilis
Seasoned Hotshot
2 years ago
@luthienrising wrote:
Aging isn't controlled by Neighborhood Stories; it's controlled by your Gameplay Options. Check in Options again.
Getting married and moving from one house to another isn't controlled by the game at all; it's available only from mods. Mods can also override your having-children Neighborhood Stories setting and, I believe, your aging settings. If your mod settings are changing and you didn't change them, make sure you don't have OneDrive syncing your Electronic Arts folder in Documents.
Thanks for your response. I appreciate you taking the time to help.
The only mod I was using was Carl DineOut Reloaded v3. I'll get rid of it and see what happens. A screen shot of my GamePlay settings is attached. I had Auto Age for the Active Household enabled as well as Pet aging. I'll turn those off also.
As for syncing with the cloud, I don't have OneDrive but I am syncing my Documents and Desktop folders with iCloud (I'm on a Mac).
luthienrising
Hero+
2 years ago
Perhaps try unsyncing those.
sparilis
Seasoned Hotshot
2 years ago
@luthienrising wrote:
Perhaps try unsyncing those.
I don't think I'll do that. I'm not using any mods now and unsyncing would cause other problems for me. Thanks for the suggestion, though. I appreciate your time.
DarkSimzzz
Seasoned Vanguard
2 years ago
I'm also seeing this suddenly.
I always have only active household aging but now when I switch to a household I haven't played for a while sims suddenly age up!
This has never happened to me before, only since the last update I've noticed this. I have aging turned off now completely and seeing if that helps.
luthienrising
Hero+
2 years ago
@DarkSimzzz Do you also use mods? A mod like MC Command Center can override your game settings for this part of gameplay.