Question regarding problems launching, user files and login rewards

@puzzlezaddict - Thank you for your response and apologies for my late reply, but it was a busy weekend.

I followed your suggestion and looked for my son's as well as my user ID in my copy of the old UserSettings and fortunately they were both there, so this made me more confident that replacing the file would work beyond theory. By the way, the new accountDataDB.package hadn't been generated yet. That must happen at some point after the point where my game crashed.

On to the good news - creating a clean Sims 4 folder worked! The game now launches again and I got my Happy at Home rewards back after deleting the accountDataDB.package and replacing the UserSettings with a copy of my old one. Repeating the process in another clean folder where I then checked my son's account also proved successful with his rewards appearing as well. So all is well in that regard.

However, the bad news is that I now have the dreaded shopping cart in my game. Despite several updates that thing hadn't crept into my game yet although it was present in my son's and both were drawing from the same folder. Now if I could just figure out which setting or what string kept it at bay and replace it, I would be very happy. I'm so disappointed in EA/Maxis for putting that thing in there in the first place.

Anyway, thank you so much for providing advice and assistance. It is much appreciated 🙂

@Gyldenloev  There's at least one mod that removes the shopping cart icon.  I can't speak to its effectiveness because I haven't tested it, but you can check the comments on the download site.  Just make sure it's compatible with any other mods you're using.

I'm glad to hear the other part worked.  And this doesn't count as a late reply at all in my book.  People show up when they have time, and it's always fine.

@puzzlezaddict - thanks for your suggestion. I’ve read about a mod that removes it, but last I heard it was conflicting with the Reaper’s event. It may have been fixed since, but I haven’t kept up with it as I haven’t had cc or mods on this computer in quite a while. That’s reserved for a different computer where I rarely update my game. For this event I’ll just try to power through, ignore it as best I can and give it the evil eye from time to time.

@Gyldenloev  Since you originally posted, some details have changed.  The Happy at Home rewards have been added to the game for everyone because a number of people lost access to them through no fault of their own.  The accountDataDB file now only holds data about interim progress towards the Reaper rewards tasks.  (It doesn't hold data about what rewards you've redeemed; this is tied to your account.)  As an example, if you complete only one week 3 task and delete the file, you'll need to complete this task again; if you finish all week 3 tasks, your account and therefore the game will remember that and not offer them again.

If you'd like the event to disappear temporarily, disable Online Social Features, under Options > Game Options > Other, and remove accountDataDB.  Reenabling the setting will make the tasks reappear. 

@puzzlezaddict - Thank you so much for the detailed information about the changes. Good choice that they made the The Happy at Home rewards base game for everyone instead of tying them to various files that players would need to remember, not to mention need to know that they needed to remember to back up, if they even had that option.

And the Reaper’s rewards are tied to our accounts which I assume means that they are stored somewhere externally and not locally on our devices? It’s a good thing, because that should minimize the chance of them being lost if we need to generate a new folder or reinstall the game. I’ve already encountered a few oddities in my game, but I’ll open a new thread in Game Issues about those so as not to go too off topic in this one.

@Gyldenloev  Yes, Reaper event data is tied to the account: not only the rewards but the points you've earned and which sets of tasks you've completed.  I've gone back and forth on two computers testing this out, and progress is always synced as long as both systems are online and connecting.

There are plenty of bugs with the event though.  Hopefully you don't get hit by anything major, but if you do, removing accountDataDB is the first troubleshooting step.

@puzzlezaddict - sorry that I keep bumping this thread back up despite my problem already being solved, but I just wanted thank you for another  insightful response even though I’m a bit late (autumn break here and time just flew).

I’ve been meaning to ask about the accountDataDB and it’s relation to the library due to an issue after the new folder was created, but then I noticed a thread today which mentions the exact issue I’m seeing so I thought it was better to add to that one instead.

Thanks again 🙂