Patch has ended playing sims 3 for me.

[Svataben]

Hello sweet people. I've gotten great help from this forum before, and hope that you can do it again.
(I tried the official Sims community with this one, but since it didn't get me anything but sympathy from equally bothered players, so I'm turning to you.)

Originally, this was my post:
<i>So, my sim was in France, when I installed the latest patch.
At first the mood panel was missing, but that re-appeared when I opened the fridge. So far so tolerable.

Then I thought that it was time for her to go home. So I get her to go home. Then...
I get back to the home town and get prompted to create, move in, or pick a household, because I cannot pick the one I'm playing since IT DOESN'T EXIST!

I didn't save, obviously, but she can't stay in France forever, so I guess I'll lose her eventually?

Any help would be highly appreciated! </i>

But now I've discovered, that I can't start <i>any</i> family (new, old, or maxis-created) in any neighbourhood, even with custom content disabled.
I pick a family, a lot for it to live on, press OK, and then it just loads forever. I let it do so for hours.

So...

What can I do?
Should I re-install all games?
Just the base game?
What'd I do with download and modification folders, if I do?

Please, kind people, help me.

[simsample]

Sims 3 - Game Problems
Please go through this FAQ and follow the instructions, doing each step in order and not skipping anything:

Game Help:Sims 3 Game Problem
Most issues with the game can be resolved by following those steps.


Please run through the Game Help guide, this will help us to determine whether this is a CC problem, userdata problem or install problem.

[ellacharmed]

Yes, see if this occurs on a new Game - can a default EA Sims return home successfully from a WA locale, on vanilla user folders?
If yes, then load the Save and do the same test? Yes, still on vanilla User folders except for the one Save game in Saves (that you copy over from your backups). Return Home successfully? Don't Save, just Quit.
Then put back your content, making sure all CC that needs updating are updated. Test again. Return Home successfully? Don't Save, just Quit.

If no to all 3 tests....

Well, right after the first SP was released (or maybe earlier with only WA available), it was established that patching while in a WA destination is a VBT (Very Bad Thing™) to do.

So, I would suggest if you still have a backup of your Save while in France (well, you should have a backup of the User folders before you patched if you followed our FAQ correctly)
- uninstall the game
- reinstall but patch to the last level that you have before 1.31 Game Help:TS3_Patching:Patch_Download/Archived/BG
- use the Save of your Sim while still in France Game Help:Restoring Backup Saves
- play it through or trigger the "Return Home" action
- Save as a "ReturnedHome" version
- backup user folders (a separate copy now) and patch to 1.31
- load the "ReturnedHome" Save version and see if issue you encountered above still persists

If you have been using Twallan's mods as recommended in the Missing Sim Sticky and Wiki article, have you tried those methods to bring the Sim back?
Are you using EA's default StoryProgression by any chance, or already using a mod? Twallan's SP, Traveller, or Awesomemod?

[Svataben]

Thank you both!
I'll be getting on printing out the problem finding steps etc., and getting to work on it now.

@Ella, I can't start any game at all.
I've discovered, that I can't start ANY family (new, old, or maxis-created) in any neighbourhood, even with custom content disabled.
I pick a family, a lot for it to live on, press OK, and then it just loads forever. I let it do so for hours.


Thanks again, both of you. I'll return later, to either tell how it all worked out, or ask a bunch more questions. :)

[Svataben]

Aaand I'm back.

It seems that one (or more) of my game mods is conflicting with the newest patch. My stuck-in-France sim got un-stuck, and is playable in her home town again. Now I have to somehow figure out, which of my 421 files in the Mods folder are being uncooperative...
I'm very happy though, that my Downloads folder doesn't seem to be the problem. Very happy!

I'm heading over to the custom content help section now ( http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:TS3_Custom_Content ) for more guides.

Thanks again for your help, and I'll be back here at least once more with update and/or questions.

[Svataben]

Last time: Found the problem file. There was only one, luckily.

I simply Took files out of the Mod folder in lumps after the alphabet. The problem remained, when I had only the very few files left from U to X. Among those were two files that were likely culprits, namely one for removing pixilation of nudity, and one for removing most of the memories that otherwise fill up your sim's book.
That last one was the problem: velocitygrass_only_important_memories.package, and I see she's made an awesome update, so I'm happy all around.

Once again, I'm so grateful for the help I can get in here. I know it must sometimes be hair-pullingly annoying to have to direct n00bs to the guides over and over, but you really do good.
Hugs all around!