University problems...help! Long winded description ahead.

homerette · 06-29-2007, 11:16 PM

Okay, here's the story. I had a neighborhood with a university attached that suddenly started "blinking." When I would go to college, the buildings would flash in and out of view. Sometimes the neighborhood decorations, i.e. clouds, would do the same. Other than than, I had no problems moving to, attending or graduating my sims from college. Said neighborhood crashed last week, and I couldn't start the game with the neighborhood folder in the game files, so I deleted it. I figured the neighborhood had some corruption issues and maybe the uni thing was a sympton of sorts.

Well, I recreated the neighborhood and used a different placement, N006 rather than N004, just to be on the safe side. I added my other neighborhood attachments, recreated my sims and went on my merry way. The first time I went to university, I had no problems. I had a sim go all the way through with nary a glitch. Then, last night, I moved a new batch of students in via the "send sims to college" button from the main neighborhood. I went into Uni and the buildings and decrations were pulling their act again, but more rapidly. I tried several things, even left uni and came back, and managed to get it down to a dull roar, moved my kids into a dorm and played through.

Unfortunately, a sim I had left in the dorm from my first trip to uni, suddenly disappeared and became totally unplayable. Only a plumbbob in the back corner of the lot was left of him. I played the rest of my kids through, and attempted to move them back home. The last one's taxi never came. Having had that happen before, I got out of that lot and went back in, all the while battling the blinking screen issue. By this time, the entire thing was blinking, from black screen to university view and back. I moved the cursor around and it started blinking rapidly, like a record skipping.

I mangaged to get back into the lot only to have the same prob, but the previously unplayable character was back. I left the lot again, intending to move her out and back in, but the screen was blinking so rapidly by this point, I couldn't select the lot to even move her out.

I went back to the main neighborhood and tried to go back to uni, but even the load screen was blinking and it wouldn't advance. I used the insimenator to rescue her and deleted that particular college, but the new one, while it did load, did the same blinking thing. Sorry for the long winded crap, but I have no idea what someone may need to know or not. Not to mention I have no clue what the heck is happening.

Points of interest: I have all the expansions and most of the stuff packs installed excluding holidays, celebrations and H&M, GunMod's camera hack, insimenator and various and sundry other mods. This only happens in university and thus far only this neighborhood. I re-installed the game about a month ago, with no incident, after a little bout with a corrupt bodyshop file momentarily made me lose my sanity, as I'd never had that happen to me before. How red was my face after I figured out all I had to do was take the last file out of the SavedSim folder?

Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated as I'm dumb as a stump and really have never had too much trouble with the game before.

Miros1 · 06-29-2007, 11:27 PM

This is a new one on me! I've never even heard of anything similar. Sorry!

homerette · 07-03-2007, 07:20 PM

After perusing the list of fixes in the patched Seasons patch, I think the issue may be related to the last patch I installed. So what am I going to do? Go get the new patch to fix the old patch, like the moron I am, and hope like anything I don't screw it up worse!

Greg · 07-04-2007, 03:56 AM

Yeah, if lots are blinking in the neighborhood view, my first suspicion would be something awry with the video card. It could be that the patch is exercising some bit of software in the video driver that the game was overlooking before.

In any case, I'd recommending checking for updates to video drivers and also installing any patches that Maxis has released.

And making backups of your game, of course. Backups are good.

homerette · 07-04-2007, 07:00 AM

Thanks for the info, Miros and Greg. I'm really hoping the patch helps. I haven't actually had the problem since I posted the message. Started a new uni in the same neighborhood and been through a couple of times with no probs. Ain't that always the way?

Addendum: Installed the patch, haven't noticed anything wonky yet, university loads fine, keeping fingers crossed!

Greg · 07-05-2007, 02:41 PM

Aha! So we can assume that in the absence of further data, the patch fixed whatever the problem was.

06-29-2007, 11:16 PM	#1
homerette Day late & a dollar short Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: central VA Posts: 206	University problems...help! Long winded description ahead. Okay, here's the story. I had a neighborhood with a university attached that suddenly started "blinking." When I would go to college, the buildings would flash in and out of view. Sometimes the neighborhood decorations, i.e. clouds, would do the same. Other than than, I had no problems moving to, attending or graduating my sims from college. Said neighborhood crashed last week, and I couldn't start the game with the neighborhood folder in the game files, so I deleted it. I figured the neighborhood had some corruption issues and maybe the uni thing was a sympton of sorts. Well, I recreated the neighborhood and used a different placement, N006 rather than N004, just to be on the safe side. I added my other neighborhood attachments, recreated my sims and went on my merry way. The first time I went to university, I had no problems. I had a sim go all the way through with nary a glitch. Then, last night, I moved a new batch of students in via the "send sims to college" button from the main neighborhood. I went into Uni and the buildings and decrations were pulling their act again, but more rapidly. I tried several things, even left uni and came back, and managed to get it down to a dull roar, moved my kids into a dorm and played through. Unfortunately, a sim I had left in the dorm from my first trip to uni, suddenly disappeared and became totally unplayable. Only a plumbbob in the back corner of the lot was left of him. I played the rest of my kids through, and attempted to move them back home. The last one's taxi never came. Having had that happen before, I got out of that lot and went back in, all the while battling the blinking screen issue. By this time, the entire thing was blinking, from black screen to university view and back. I moved the cursor around and it started blinking rapidly, like a record skipping. I mangaged to get back into the lot only to have the same prob, but the previously unplayable character was back. I left the lot again, intending to move her out and back in, but the screen was blinking so rapidly by this point, I couldn't select the lot to even move her out. I went back to the main neighborhood and tried to go back to uni, but even the load screen was blinking and it wouldn't advance. I used the insimenator to rescue her and deleted that particular college, but the new one, while it did load, did the same blinking thing. Sorry for the long winded crap, but I have no idea what someone may need to know or not. Not to mention I have no clue what the heck is happening. Points of interest: I have all the expansions and most of the stuff packs installed excluding holidays, celebrations and H&M, GunMod's camera hack, insimenator and various and sundry other mods. This only happens in university and thus far only this neighborhood. I re-installed the game about a month ago, with no incident, after a little bout with a corrupt bodyshop file momentarily made me lose my sanity, as I'd never had that happen to me before. How red was my face after I figured out all I had to do was take the last file out of the SavedSim folder? Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated as I'm dumb as a stump and really have never had too much trouble with the game before. __________________ May the roof above us never fall in, and may we friends gathered below never fall out. Last edited by homerette : 06-29-2007 at 11:21 PM.

07-03-2007, 07:20 PM	#3
homerette Day late & a dollar short Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: central VA Posts: 206	After perusing the list of fixes in the patched Seasons patch, I think the issue may be related to the last patch I installed. So what am I going to do? Go get the new patch to fix the old patch, like the moron I am, and hope like anything I don't screw it up worse! __________________ May the roof above us never fall in, and may we friends gathered below never fall out.

07-04-2007, 03:56 AM	#4
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	Yeah, if lots are blinking in the neighborhood view, my first suspicion would be something awry with the video card. It could be that the patch is exercising some bit of software in the video driver that the game was overlooking before. In any case, I'd recommending checking for updates to video drivers and also installing any patches that Maxis has released. And making backups of your game, of course. Backups are good. __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

07-04-2007, 07:00 AM	#5
homerette Day late & a dollar short Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: central VA Posts: 206	Thanks for the info, Miros and Greg. I'm really hoping the patch helps. I haven't actually had the problem since I posted the message. Started a new uni in the same neighborhood and been through a couple of times with no probs. Ain't that always the way? Addendum: Installed the patch, haven't noticed anything wonky yet, university loads fine, keeping fingers crossed! __________________ May the roof above us never fall in, and may we friends gathered below never fall out. Last edited by homerette : 07-05-2007 at 06:43 AM.

07-05-2007, 02:41 PM	#6
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	Aha! So we can assume that in the absence of further data, the patch fixed whatever the problem was. __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

06-29-2007, 11:27 PM	#2
Miros1 Goddess for Life Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: NY State Posts: 3,303	This is a new one on me! I've never even heard of anything similar. Sorry!