Family comes back from WA's China.. but not as a family! o_o;

[lazzybum]

Alright so I have a family of 4 go on a trip to China in WA (Parents and 2 kids). There is a problem being able to return the whole family back so I saved the game before it and have tried this at least 5 times.

The Problem:
When I make the family return home from their vacation and they arrive back at home, only the mother shows. On the side panel, it shows only the mother and the father are in the household now, but the fathers picture is totally blank and I cannot find him. I cannot click on his icon either.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v343/lazzybum/1-1.jpg

Now the kids are missing. In the relationship panel, they show they are still in china and clicking their icon, I can only invite foreign visitor and long distance chat, yet I made sure all 4 came home.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v343/lazzybum/2-3.jpg

Another thing interesting is that the only mod I use is twallan's story mod. And each try in returning the family back home, the mod would tell me the father and the daughter have moved in with someone else in the neighborhood even though the relationship panel shows the daughter in China.

I HAVE tried again without that mod twice, and I still get the exact results, except the notifications of them moving out.

I have tried:
-Having a different member call to return home
-Letting time run out in China so they are forced to leave at midnight
-Deleting Cache
-Without mod
-Sending each person home one by one
-Letting time pass when they are home in hopes the other 3 somehow appears but they dont :(

Only other downloads I have are just hair, clothes, defaults really.

Any advice to let the family return home normally? I also noticed that they dont drive back home, the mom just appears inside the house. :(

Also I have ambitions. Maybe ambitions boinked it somehow. Ugh.

[des-demmonia]

Check the family tree, maybe, because of family tree bug in WA, they became someone else's kids or parents and stayed in China (this happens if one of the original Chang Simla inhabitants dies).

Also if they have the Kolipoki's wands http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=394684 in their inventory and they have the magic skill, be sure to download the update. Doing that you'll have to switch to new package system, putting them in Documents folder instead of game folder. http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Installing_Sims_3_Package_Files/Old_Way_to_New_Way
I'm not 100% sure but some .package files cannot be used the old way anymore, you gotta move'em.

I hope I helped.

edit:
I'm pretty sure you have to update all script packages (they are shown in a popup right after you load your game as "mood scripts" or something similar) to Ambitions (most of creators updated their creations) and use them in the new way (put in Documents folder instead of the game folder).

[werismyki]

I'm assuming you have only tried with the regular saved game and not the backup?
If so, you could rename the saved game in Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Saves.
Then name the backup to replace the original save game name.

For example, if your save was named Sunset Valley2 you would find the files below:
Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Saves\Sunset Valley2.sims3
Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Saves\Sunset Valley2.sims3.backup
Rename Sunset Valley2.sims3 folder to Sunset Valley2.old
Rename Sunset Valley2.sims3.backup folder to Sunset Valley2.sims3

Note, you will lose any progress from the time the backup and the original game was saved.

[lazzybum]

des-demmonia:
I checked the family tree and it still showed the kids being part of the family. And my packages are all in the new way already, in my documents, since I found out about it when I got Ambitions.

werismyki:
I just tried playing the backup file and the save was just a few hours before where I left off. I again tried to return them home just a tad earlier and I still get the exact problem :( However I noticed that in my saves file, I saw a 3rd file for Sunset Valley called "Sunset Valley.sims3.bad" and non of my other saved towns had this 3rd one. Does it mean anything?

[werismyki]

Delete the .bad file/folder, you dont want that at all. It's the result of a corrupted save attempt.
Is the family intact while on vacation? The problem occurs when they attempt to return home?