[HR] Wild Prairie Grass Spawns Duplicating On Top Of Itself in Chestnut Ridge

If there are any issues with this report I apologize as this is my first time reporting something.

Product: The Sims 4
Platform: Steam/PC
Which language are you playing the game in? English
How often does the bug occur? Every Time
What is your current game version number? 1.115.253.1020.DX11
What expansions, game packs, and stuff packs do you have installed? All EP's, All GP's but Journey to Batuu, All Stuff Packs but perfect patio and luxury party.

Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? Take a sim to Chestnut Ridge and then travel to another lot within the world. The wild prairie grass spawners in the world off lot seem to duplicate on top of themselves every time you travel and load into a new lot in any of the neighborhoods in chestnut ridge.

What happens when the bug occurs? This bug seems to occur over time but is hard to notice since the spawners create a duplicate directly on top of the grass. It is hard to see as sometimes the grass just appears normal, other times I can see it spawn back on top of itself. At first it appears it is just "regrowing" but in actuality it's just new patch of prairie grass. Over time it causes immense lag to occur when moving around the area with the wild prairie grass. I have played with a family there long term which is how I discovered this issue. This happens in every area in the world of Chestnut Ridge. The only way to get rid of this issue is to either use the "destroy object" cheat over and over until all of the duplicates are gone or you can edit your save file using SFS to remove all of the spawners and allow them to respawn again after opening the save. However I'm sure folks know from the festivals bug that editing ones save file is risky. Using the destroy object cheat can be very tedious if this issue has gone on for a long time. I know this issue still happens in a completely mod free save because I tested it on a clean save without any mods or cc and not only did I visually see the grass spawn on top of itself in real time but also using SFS I can see that the amount of wild prairie grass has increased after checking again. Note that I don't experience this issue with prairie grass placed on a lot whether it's via a lot challenge or via bb. What I do not know and haven't tested is if visiting a lot with the wild prairie grass lot challenge is the culprit or not.

What do you expect to see? For there to be no duplicates on top of itself, so that when you harvest the prairie grass you have to actually wait for the next day in order for it to grow and for there to be no lag long term when having your sim move around prairie grass or moving your camera around the areas with prairie grass.

Have you installed any customization with the game, e.g. Custom Content or Mods? Yes I did notice this initially on a save with mods and cc, but I took out all of my mods and tested this on a fresh save with no mods/cc and have been able to reproduce the issue.

Did this issue appear after a specific patch or change you made to your system? I can't say for sure if it came from a specific patch, because I only noticed it by accident when interacting with the prairie grass a few months back.

EDIT by crinrict: Archived thread for this is here: Wild prairie grass in Chestnut Ridge growing out of control | EA Forums - 11651946

14 Comments

PipMenace
Hero
2 months ago
I could have sworn there was an existing bug report for this, but I can't find a main thread for it right now. But yes, I've definitely seen this too, starting at least a year ago, maybe since launch.
It usually doesn't happen with on-lot prairie grass from the lot challenge, but from the prairie grass in the world.
You don't need to use the destroy object cheat though, you could also have your sim "uproot plant" repeatedly (different from harvesting).
mourningdove163
Seasoned Rookie
2 months ago
I tried looking for an existing thread one but couldn't find it either :( Apologies if it already exists.
Yes I agree that it happens in the grass off lot not the prairie grass on a lot, I only mention the lot challenge because I'm curious what the cause of it is or if it's just any lot that exists within the world of chestnut ridge.
I can definitely try the uproot plant option and that's great to know for folks who can't use the destroy object cheat or mods. I find the destroy object cheat quicker myself since it can become quite tedious, in my experience with the bug it duplicates every time I load into a new lot.
crinrict
Hero+
2 months ago
Status changed:
New
to
Reviewed
EA_Cade
Community Manager
2 months ago
Status changed:
Reviewed
to
Under Investigation
Hey all!

We're looking into this issue now, would it be possible for anyone experiencing this to provide screenshots (or even better, video) of this issue occurring to help us repro this one?

Thanks!
mourningdove163
Seasoned Rookie
2 months ago
Yes, I will try to provide a video a bit later in the day to demonstrate.
mourningdove163
Seasoned Rookie
2 months ago
EA_Cade
Hi, it took me a while as I had to recreate the issue in a new file. Here are 2 videos reproducing the issue.
On a fresh never modded save file I traveled to a new neighborhood, and then back again in order to get the prairie grass off lot showing up. Then I traveled back and forth between lots within the same neighborhood around 3-4 times.
Video 4 shows the fully grown prairie grass. I cut the grass and it shows it despawning to the harvested state, yet another fully grown patch appears to fade back in. I don't think it's regrowing like you would think, since I know that it is just another patch that is grown already spawned in underneath. At the end of the video you can also see a patch in the background "grow in" again. Except for I believe it's spawning another patch of grass on top of the harvested patch.
Video 5 shows me using the uproot plant option as PipMenace suggested. At first my sim resets. It appears like it's not cut, but you can see that I was able to create 3 trash piles, because I'm actually harvesting 3 different patches. It makes sense since I traveled around 3-4 times. I believe loading in causes the spawners to create another patch in the same exact area.
I can also send in this save file as it has never been modded before. Let me know if you have any questions and sorry for the low quality, I don't normally record videos!
Video-4.mp41.9 MB
Video-5.mp4916 KB
annh1996
Seasoned Adventurer
31 days ago
Yes, I am having this too (just started playing in CR today after quite a while), and exactly the same issue. I will try to upload some video tomorrow.
coloncocon
Seasoned Ace
17 days ago
I didn't know that this was a bug until I found the mod to fix this. Now I am curious if it's worth it or safe to manually delete the duplicate one, or better to wait for the official fix?
As I played in Chestnut Ridge for a long time, the damage might be too much already. 😂
mourningdove163
Seasoned Rookie
16 days ago
You can hit uproot plant (which is completely vanilla) or use the destroy object cheat which I have unlocked via MCCC. I've had no issues doing either, although it is tedious. I find it worth it though as the lag can get really unbearable if it's gone on for a while.
Editing via SFS is much riskier, so if your worried about your save file I would do the former options :) It's up to you ofc.
coloncocon
Seasoned Ace
16 days ago
Thank you so much for the suggestion! I want to use a safer method, like destroying the object. I didn't know that MCCC could unlock this cheat too (I downloaded another mod for this action already, but I will check MCCC too).
What I worry about is if I uproot the plant, will the prairie never grow off-lot again, or not, when the bug is fixed? But seems that it's okay to uproot them, right?
I never mind about a tedious job, I've done many tedious jobs in this game before lol. So, as long as it's safe, I will do this. I never use SFS and won't do so anyway. I stopped playing TS4 during the festival bugs rather than take a risk fixing with SFS.
---
I finished uprooting them in the town neighborhood, and found that there are 124 prairies in each spot! In the farmer neighborhood, I just moved in around the week, so it's only 24, not as many as the town area where I lived very long but still a lot.
I didn't have a lagging issue for now, but the never-ending cutting bothers me a lot. I keep the last one in some spots where I want to collect again, but I deleted it completely in most places because I was too lazy to count every spot.
Thanks again for guiding!