Painting by reference Turns white (Patch 1.120.140/2.26)

same

Hi. I’d like to add some information. 
I’ve had many paints by reference in my game. I do not use a filter.  

After the Jan update turned all my previously unaffected paintings white, I replaced the painting manually using sims 4 studio. 
The first time I opened the save (after I’ve restored all the paintings manually) the painting were all there. As I played the game and saved progress via “save as”, the painting slowly got deleted/ turned back to blank canvasses again. When I checked sims 4 studio, the custom game texture disparaged again.And I had to again, manually add it back.

I gave up after a while as I realise, as long as I had progress and saved my game, the paintings eventually turned white.  So this bug appears to be a “saving game” issue. Everytime I save the game, (and I’ve checked with just “save” and “save as”), paintings by reference turn blank randomly. 

According to LittleMissSam, the mod isn't responsible for the error, so yes, it sounds like it's safe to use. Or at least, it won't make things worse!

I'm on console (Xbox) and every single painting from reference and photo all went blank at once. Before the update, I had a bunch of photos on the walls that were staying out just fine and I was only running into problems when I put photos into containers. Painting by reference worked just fine as long, except copies made of them would always be whited out. My game crashed (which started happening because the program likes to "adjust my graphics so I can continue to enjoy the sims" while it was IN THE MIDDLE OF SAVING) and the first time it wasn't an issue but the second time every single photo and painting were blank. 

I checked into another save file that had never had the graphics being automatically adjusted screen come up and all their photos and paintings were blank too. I want to check to see if it would effect a new save file, but since the sims devs warned us about having too many save files (and I keep two of each, regularly doing a "save as" and deleting the older of the two, never reloading the game with the "resume" option on the main menu, or from an auto save, all the other save corruption hygiene) I'm honestly afraid to. Ive already had to restart the same family FOUR TIMES due to save data corruption so I think if I have to do a fifth im gonna crash out and get rid of the sims.

so is it safe to redownload the paint from reference anywhere mod? i figure i might as well use it if it isnt breaking the game or causing any bugs

I, also, did not have this issue before patch 1.120.140/2.26...now every Paint by reference painting is white, across all lots where they were present, in all worlds

Another Update - unfortunately, it seems it wasn't the mod after all, and LittleMissSam is now saying we'll have to wait for an EA fix. There's a post on the related error for photos, which recommends you back up your files and provides links saying how to do so.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/follow-up-info-148509316

https://forums.ea.com/idea/the-sims-4-bug-reports-en/photos-turn-black-patch-1-120-1402-26/13095325

Her latest post suggests it wasn't the mod but somehow EA's patch broke thing more ;_; 

Thank you for all you do!

I have been testing this one in both new and old saves. Painting from reference is fine until I leave the game and come back. They all revert to a white canvas after that. One interesting thing I noted in an older save; I had two paint from reference paintings from before the bug happened and they both seemed fine, even after jumping in and out of the game a couple of times. I had a sim in the household paint from reference and after saving and exiting the game and coming back the old paintings and the new one were white.

Unfortunately because I test on this PC I don't make backups. 

Playing on PC. Never any mods or CC. All packs owned, except some kits. 

This is soooo disappointing to hear! I haven’t done the latest update yet as I always play offline for a week or two after update in case it causes new bugs, but as a legacy player I was so hoping the paint by reference and photo issue would be fixed. I’ve noticed my photos and paint by reference seem like they might be more likely to go blank if I delete localthumbcache file after playing which I used to do every time I played (with no issue until a few months ago).

 Some of my paint by reference, even fairly recent ones do stay looking fine but most turn white and despite testing different things I can’t figure out what’s different about the ones that stayed.

Some of my photos also stay fine and some don’t, and it doesn’t really seem to matter if I use the phone or camera or apply a filter or not. I also want the cross stitch by reference fixed!

Unfortunately I've been playing this save file for over a year and a half and I was having the white paintings issue for a while before the latest update. I've played a couple of times since, so I just looked and all 5 of my recoverable copies are now from after the update. 

Hi Scorchio349​ ChelleBelle716​ 

Do you guys have backups from for the paintings went white that you could send me ?

Any save games from before the patch would be great. Just upload them to oneDrive or GoogleDrive (make sure they are public) and DM me the link.

I've been having the issue with paintings turning white since before the latest update, as well as it continuing to be an issue after the update, and I do NOT have that mod. 

Same here, no issues until the patch update yesterday. ALL my paint by reference paintings and puzzles are white.  I can't even redo them because they are of pets that were puppies and are now grown up elders and some are pets that now are deceased.  I've never used mods or custom content. And this save is only a few weeks old.  The paint by reference paintings that have turned white are masterpiece quality.  I painted a new paint by reference masterpiece quality just now, logged out and reloaded game. It shows up like it should. The others from before the patch update are still white. 

Is anyone in this thread on console ?

This is also still happening to me even after updating the game with the latest patch, which I believe was supposed to fix it. 

nooooo i was so excited to open up the game and have all my portaits be fixed, whyyyyyy!

Hi ElliSims​ 

as to not mix up photos and paintings, I moved your post over to the paintings thread.

Update - Paintings are caused by Scumbumbo's filter mod.  Paintings who previously had it applied may turn white, any that it is applied to now will turn white.  LittleMissSam is aware and is working on the mod.  

Paintings by reference that were white prior to the Jan 13 patch did not get corrected and restored as noted in the update text.  Paintings  by reference that were ok and not white prior to the update turned white, ruining many saved on walls in homes and apartments and in a "museum" I created for players paintings from years before.  Whey did the Jan 13 update do exactly the opposite of what was promised?  

Prior to the patch on 1/12 I had a couple paint by reference go white on various lots (maybe 3 total). Post patch every singe paint by reference across every lot and save file is now blank. 

I wasn’t having this issue before the patch. I am now. Mac, no mods. 

I played using save data that I hadn't used since playing in October 2025 until this update.

When I played in October, any pictures my Sim drew with 'Paint by Reference' while playing were returned to blank when I resumed playing, but any drawings my Sim had made before that remained.

However, when I checked after January update, all of the Paint by Reference drawings, including the right painting in the pic above, had been blank. 

And I checked new painting by refernce, that turned blank too after load game.

Play on PC via EA app, no MOD/CC

I've had this problem since November. After the last updates didn't help, I thought maybe it would work now. At first, it looked very good because after traveling and restarting, the images were there, but after about two hours of playtime and a longer trip with three stops, I came home and the images were all white again.

It's a completely new game without mods.