Photos turning black (Patch 1.121.342/2.28)

When I place photos taken with phones or cameras in my Sims’ house, they turn black when I exit the game and come back to play!!!! 😢😢

Every time I take a photo with my Sims, the picture works normally while it is in my inventory. However, whenever I place it in my Sims’ house with a frame—for example, hanging it on the wall—once I exit the game and load it again, the photo turns completely black and there is no way to recover it. This is extremely frustrating, as I am losing all the important memories of my Sims.

Edit By crinrict: Adjusted Title, merged a few posts.

Note by crinrict

Could everyone in this thread please provide the following info

Are you using mods/cc and if so, did you remove them ?

What is your game version ?

What platform are you playing on ?

Is this happening to existing photos that were fine before the patch ?

Does it happen with new photos/paintings

Does it happen on new saves ?

Does it matter how you take the photo or if you add any filter ?

How big is your screenshot folder in documents ?

Other threads

Photos placed from the library going black: Photo Booth/Graduation Pics turning black when places from Gallery/Library | EA Forums - 13157274.

Photos taken with filters on camera going black: Photos taken with filter turn black after changing filter again (camera) | EA Forums - 13161807

Paintings: Painting by reference Turns white (Patch 1.121.342/2.28) | EA Forums - 13155844

Cross-Stich: [COL] Cross-Stich by Ref turning white/blank | EA Forums - 13016359

Puzzles: Please create a new thread.

Note from EA_Solaire:

Hello all,

If any of you are still encountering this on the latest game version (without mods), would you be willing to share your save file(s) in addition to the info above from crinrict?

If so, please send me a private message with a link to the file. Instructions can be found here: https://forums.ea.com/idea/the-sims-4-bug-reports-en/information-how-to-send-user-files-to-the-sims-4-team/5048472

Thanks!

build and buy

live mode

mac

32 Comments

nicekiara22435
New Spectator
1 day ago
I have been experiencing issues with this game since the last update in January. All my sims photos are gone. Wedding photos, baby pictures, first dates, proposal all of it. GONE! I waited for this stupid update on 2/3/26. I literally played last night 2/2/26 and decided to take NEW photos and place them in the house. I play TODAY after the update and NONE OF MY PHOTOS ARE THEREEEE!! ALL BLACK! HOW??? How?? I didn’t even try playing. I am livid with losing all of my freaking stuff. How do you release an update that’s supposed to fix something and screw the game up more??? I’m very annoyed. I need answers. I need a stuff back.
mari5125
Seasoned Vanguard
1 day ago
Initially, my photos were not impacted by the black photo bug. After today's update, however, all of my photos have turned completely black.
DeeliciousSims
Seasoned Hotshot
1 day ago
This was after the recent update? :(
mari5125
Seasoned Vanguard
1 day ago
Yes, it’s happening to me too. Crazy thing about it is that I didn’t even have this issue when it first came about.
DeeliciousSims
Seasoned Hotshot
1 day ago
Did you realize once you updated and then opened the game? Or did you check before the update to see if they were fine still?
CrazySims_3000
Seasoned Vanguard
1 day ago
It's an issue that came up in the penultimate update, and it was supposed to be a fix for another related bug. You can find more information here:

Photos/Paintings turn Black/white (Patch 1.120.140/2.26) | EA Forums - 13095325

[CM - Edited - Please post in the language of the boards]
mari5125
Seasoned Vanguard
1 day ago
My photos were fine for weeks. When this issue first came about in the last patch, my game fortunately wasn’t affected. It wasn’t until I updated and opened the game today that they all have turned black.
DeeliciousSims
Seasoned Hotshot
1 day ago
This bug is SO annoying! I don't think we will ever know whether it's truly fixed or not.
It can be random sometimes, so I wonder if your photos were affected the last time you played, once you saved and exited before the update.
It's honestly so embarrassing for them to have "fixed" this bug multiple times and for it is not truly fixed. You can try recovering your save to see when your photos are back to normal (hopefully!)
mari5125
Seasoned Vanguard
1 day ago
So I constantly save my game in case it crashes. I had no luck when I recovered my last 4 saves, since they were all made within a few hours of each other. I didn’t know it could happen at random, so I’m starting to think that maybe that was the case. The fifth save under “recover save” was one from all the way in October, and all of my photos were fine in that save file. However, I would hate to go back to that save because that means that lots of my progress would be gone. I know there’s a way I can manually retrieve saves, should I try that?
DeeliciousSims
Seasoned Hotshot
1 day ago
I didn't know you could manually do it, but if it that's safe it doesn't hurt to try. If that doesn't work, perhaps you could recover the save where the photos are good, save your pictures to room to see if you can get them back that way.