Frozen game/menu after ad

I am having the exact same issue. It started several weeks ago. I got it to stop doing it - I asked in one of my FB Sims Groups and was told to delete the DB files in my mods folder. I tried to load the game again tonight and it right back to being gray'd out after clicking out of the ad. I restarted several times, repaired my game and nothing worked. I was able to find my post from several week ago in my group and I deleted both DB files. I also clicked ESC when the ad popped up. I am not sure which one worked - but I was able to start the game.