Photos turning black (Patch 1.121.342/2.28)

I just updated my game in mid-February, after the latest update. I went to houses that have not been played since 2025 and their paint-by-reference paintings were all white and their photos are all black: the latest update does NOT retroactively fix or maintain previous images, even if the household was never opened during this ongoing bug.

This bug is a gamer tragedy!! I can hardly believe there isn't better communication to users on what to expect, how to deal with this bug, and appreciating that this Brokeness isn't Okay! My heart hurts from even thinking about it. The explanation about compression in Hobbies expansion pack is Wild!! How is it possible that the developers didn't anticipate that Deleting images that weren't recently used would wipe out all photos in unplayed lots and allllll paint-by-reference photos, destroying the memories of countless Sims? As a 20+ year long Sims player, it emotionally feels like they broke the game on purpose cause how could they otherwise be so careless in implementing compression efforts? 

Even though The Sims is essentially a sand box game, I personally consider capturing Paint-by-Reference paintings to be my own personal Mission or Goal of the game, to remember the life stages of the Sim Fams, since a personalized Household Family Album doesn't exist! 

Instead of devoting energy & time to the, in my opinion, lame "events" that are always coming out now, wouldn't it be better to at least Maintain the original game function? Efforts should be focused on IMPROVING gameplay, by adding more heart, emotion, and special moments, not awkward "events" that are essentially irrelevant, unless trying to prep Sims players for a more mobile-like micro-transactions game play. Literally the most annoying practice. 

• Are you using mods/cc and if so, did you remove them ? Yes, did not remove
• What is your game version ? The latest update as of mid-Feb 2026 
  
• What platform are you playing on ? Mac 
• Is this happening to existing photos that were fine before the patch ? Yes 
• Does it happen with new photos/paintings Not yet 
• Does it happen on new saves ? I don't know 
• Does it matter how you take the photo or if you add any filter ? I doubt it 
• Did you play/save the save the issue is occurring on with the January patch at all (maybe different household) ? No
• How big is your screenshot folder in documents ? I can't tell 

😭😭😭 😢😢😢