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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 20th Sep 2014 at 11:15 PM Last edited by Buzzler : 13th Jan 2015 at 12:56 PM. Reason: Added staff note
Default Fix for Disappearing Sims - No Genealogicide
Another Staff Note This is now apparently non-functional and also unsupported. See http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=545615 for a recent and supported mod that incorporates the same functionality.

Staff Note Update 2014-11-25: As of version 1.2.24.20 this should be obsolete, see patch notes: http://help.ea.com/en/article/the-sims-4-updates/. Please post feedback on whether or not this is working properly now (without this mod), so we can remove the obsolete file and close this thread. The creator has not logged in here for a almost a month so we cannot expect them to take care of it themselves. Thank you!

Hi folks,
After researching the widely reported issues of playable Sims vanishing from the neighborhood, I have found a Story Progression action which seems to be the culprit.

The action, which does not appear to be critical to game stability, arbitrarily removes Sims from the neighborhood on Thurs morning in-game, if they have distant relatives or large families, regardless of whether the sim is marked playable. This is a huge problem for rotational play or large Legacy style challenges.

Before uploading the mod to the community at large, I would appreciate anyone who can install and play with it for a few in-game weeks. If you have found during the time that your sims are still being deleted, or if you encounter any new issues or instability, please let me know.

To install the mod, place the package file in your Mods folder.
You also need an empty folder "unpackedmod" in your Mods folder.
Finally, you must have the following line added to the end of your resource.cfg:
DirectoryFiles unpackedmod autoupdate

Thanks!

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
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Sesquipedalian Pisciform
retired moderator
#2 Old 20th Sep 2014 at 11:19 PM
Thank you - I am sure this will be a useful mod.

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Inventor
#3 Old 20th Sep 2014 at 11:37 PM
THanks.

I shall try it out tomorrow.
Lab Assistant
#4 Old 20th Sep 2014 at 11:37 PM
Posted in the other thread, but just to say here: I have tested this and so far it appears it does work. No sims have been deleted after playing on a save game where deletions *always* occurred in all my tests and workaround attempts.
Pettifogging Legalist!
retired moderator
#5 Old 20th Sep 2014 at 11:47 PM
So what did you do there, you removed the tuning for the genealogy thing? That is not going to change much .. if it's indeed a game mechanism related to those parameters that are the culprit, it's just going to use the default values instead (Sunday instead of Thursday). It's not going to stop doing its thing.

Stuff for TS2 · TS3 · TS4 | Please do not PM me with technical questions – we have Create forums for that.

In the kingdom of the blind, do as the Romans do.
Lab Assistant
#6 Old 20th Sep 2014 at 11:53 PM
I have a save game (actually 2) from just before the deletion event that I have used for testing workarounds for this bug for the last week or more. So far this has successfully prevented the deletion event from removing any played sims from my world.
Pettifogging Legalist!
retired moderator
#7 Old 20th Sep 2014 at 11:57 PM
When did the deletion occur for you withut this mod, on Thursday? Did you now play until Sunday?

(Actually I never know what people mean when they say "Thursday night", does that mean in the night between Wednesday and Thursday or in the night between Thursday and Friday? Since you're able to repoduce this reliably, can you tell an exact time?)

E: oh, and another question: are the deleted sims ones that you have made yourself in CAS and then imported, or are they pre-existing sims from the default game? Asking because EA are a bit vague about "game-generated" sims in their descriptions .. I can't tell whether this means preexisting ones or only autogenerated at runtime.

Stuff for TS2 · TS3 · TS4 | Please do not PM me with technical questions – we have Create forums for that.

In the kingdom of the blind, do as the Romans do.
Lab Assistant
#8 Old 20th Sep 2014 at 11:59 PM
In the EA Answers forum thread I've seen various dates and times mentioned, though for me it was a Thursday morning between midnight and midday, about 4-5 sim weeks into a game (or maybe a bit more).

I'm going to bed now and will update more tomorrow, I just wanted to make it clear to anyone who - like me - was desperate for a fix, that it does look promising so far. For now, over and out.
Pettifogging Legalist!
retired moderator
#9 Old 21st Sep 2014 at 12:09 AM
Thanks for the info! The timespan for the genealogy thing in EA tuning is Thursday 2-6 (on a 24-hour clock) so that would fit into the picture.

Also see these threads for those who don't know them yet:

http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=534717 ("Disappearing sims" in Game Help)
http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=535110 (removed "Reduced townie generation" mod (relies on the same file), discussion in comments)

I think there are some in Modding Discussion too, but less recent.

Stuff for TS2 · TS3 · TS4 | Please do not PM me with technical questions – we have Create forums for that.

In the kingdom of the blind, do as the Romans do.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#10 Old 21st Sep 2014 at 12:37 AM
Quote: Originally posted by plasticbox
So what did you do there, you removed the tuning for the genealogy thing? That is not going to change much .. if it's indeed a game mechanism related to those parameters that are the culprit, it's just going to use the default values instead (Sunday instead of Thursday). It's not going to stop doing its thing.


I'll try to do some targeted testing around this, but I don't think it is a problem. I understand what you are saying, but it simply doesn't apply here. If I Genealogy Pruner is instantiated without a schedule being specified, it will use the Sunday default as you say. But the change should prevent the Pruner from ever being instantiated in the first place.

The Story Progression object is not "hard-coded" to look for certain actions. It should only load the action that are specified in the XML.

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
Pettifogging Legalist!
retired moderator
#11 Old 21st Sep 2014 at 1:05 AM
Oh ok, the latter I didn't know -- thanks for elaborating! (The first post made it sound like you had only looked at the tuning)

What exactly do you mean by "whether the sim is marked playable" in your first post -- what does "playable" mean in that context? Is that the played/unplayed distinction (that doesn't quite work), or could it have something to do with EAxian vs. player-made sims too?

(I wish I could test this, but I haven't had any disappearances so far. Which also fits into the picture since I've only just had a few kids, no large interrelated families)

Stuff for TS2 · TS3 · TS4 | Please do not PM me with technical questions – we have Create forums for that.

In the kingdom of the blind, do as the Romans do.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#12 Old 21st Sep 2014 at 1:15 AM
Households can be marked playable or non-playable. There is clearly a distinction as they are categorized separately in the household management. The genealogy pruning doesn't care - it will go after any sim that is distantly related to one of the sims that is actively being played on Thursday morning.

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
Pettifogging Legalist!
retired moderator
#13 Old 21st Sep 2014 at 2:02 AM
Ah yeah that's what I meant by "played/unplayed" -- those two categories in household management. Not sure if it's worded differently in my game or I remember it differently.

Stuff for TS2 · TS3 · TS4 | Please do not PM me with technical questions – we have Create forums for that.

In the kingdom of the blind, do as the Romans do.
Alchemist
#14 Old 21st Sep 2014 at 4:58 AM
Now I have two files:
resource.cfg
resource.cfg DirectoryFiles unpackedmod autoupdate
I don't know what I did wrong.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#15 Old 21st Sep 2014 at 5:24 AM
Right click resource.cfg and edit in notepad or other editor of choice

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
Alchemist
#16 Old 21st Sep 2014 at 5:30 AM
Quote: Originally posted by MasterDinadan
Right click resource.cfg and edit in notepad or other editor of choice

I've right clicked. I don't have an edit option.
Lab Assistant
#17 Old 21st Sep 2014 at 8:01 AM
Quote: Originally posted by MasterDinadan
Right click resource.cfg and edit in notepad or other editor of choice


Do we just rename the file, or do we have to actually edit the contents of the file?
I'm getting pretty desperate, EA seems to have no idea what to tell me and it's now Wednesday morning in game, so I'm afraid to play the game now. If I played an in-game family with no relation to any of my other families all day Thursday, would that stop the deletion from occurring?

The Test of Time Challenge BLOG
Sims 4 stories blog HERE
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#18 Old 21st Sep 2014 at 8:06 AM
Quote: Originally posted by samd440
Do we just rename the file, or do we have to actually edit the contents of the file?
I'm getting pretty desperate, EA seems to have no idea what to tell me and it's now Wednesday morning in game, so I'm afraid to play the game now. If I played an in-game family with no relation to any of my other families all day Thursday, would that stop the deletion from occurring?


You should be editing the contents of the file. What happens if you try to open the file by double-clicking? It should either come up in notepad or similar editor, or it should ask you which program you want to use to open the file.

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
Test Subject
#19 Old 21st Sep 2014 at 8:37 AM
Wow, you are my hero. I haven't played an entire week yet but so far it seems to work just fine. The saves I have where I know the exact time things seemed to go wrong is fine, I'll keep playing just to be sure. Thanks so much
Lab Assistant
#20 Old 21st Sep 2014 at 8:52 AM
Okay, I just installed it.
Fingers crossed! :D

The Test of Time Challenge BLOG
Sims 4 stories blog HERE
Test Subject
#21 Old 21st Sep 2014 at 9:33 AM
I had my game saved a few hours before the mass deletion (at 2:00 AM Sim-Thursday), and so far this has prevented it from happening again. Thank you so much! It's now Sim-Saturday and all is well. I will keep testing and report back if I have any issues. :lovestruc
Lab Assistant
#22 Old 21st Sep 2014 at 10:11 AM
Woken up and resuming testing. All positive so far.
Test Subject
#23 Old 21st Sep 2014 at 10:45 AM Last edited by takemeunder : 21st Sep 2014 at 1:07 PM.
Holy !@#$ is it hard to create an account on this site.

I spent 10 minutes trying to "word" the answer to the "human verification" test properly.

Thankfully I can now finally login and download this mod as my Sims 4 game is completely ruined by disappearing family members.


EDIT: It works for me, I stopped playing this game a week after it came out because of this bug. Now it's finally fixed! (No thanks to EA) I can actually continue playing now.
Test Subject
#24 Old 21st Sep 2014 at 11:25 AM Last edited by Valefor : 21st Sep 2014 at 12:23 PM.
I second it being annoyingly difficult to make an account lol.

Anyway, haven't been able to play for about a week because of the disappearing sims. Trying this out and will report if there are any issues. Thank you so much!

Edit: Didn't work for me. I'm not sure why. I even went through and deleted a bunch of the generated townies. Sigh.

Edit #2: Okay, I think I may have found the problem. Didn't realize it needed to be unzipped as my computer has gone all wonky since a few weeks ago and there was no prompt and/or option to actually unzip. (Don't even get me started on all the hoops I had to jump through to actually unzip it, HA!) Well now it's unzipped and I am going to guess based on all the other feedback that it should work this time. Fingers crossed. No more deleting pregnant ladies EA!!!
Inventor
#25 Old 21st Sep 2014 at 11:58 AM Last edited by crinrict : 21st Sep 2014 at 5:01 PM.
It's now Thursday 5: 36. Usually all my beloved families were stripped of their children/spouse. Not this time.

Thanks so much.

I'll try playing through an entire week to see if it works.
Locked thread | Locked by: Buzzler Reason: Obsolete and unsupported now.
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