Ottomas family in Seasons - normal brokenness and more brokenness

[zoebme]

The Ottomas family in Seasons is broken. As some people already noticed, when the mother gives birth, the babies get Patricia Wan as the father (or other random sims in other neighbourhoods. Apparently even dogs!). I also have this problem, but my problem goes further... The mother never gives birth to the second baby but resets after going through the labour motions. I never had the option to name the first baby, either.

Debug mode comes up with the following errors:

"Missing neighbour for data access" both for the mother and the first baby (guess that than makes them have the wrong father) and
"Required cinematic actor is missing" for the mother during the second birth. Error logs are attached (although not all error logs seem to have been produced, and one seems to be a duplicate).

Does anyone have any ideas, especially about finishing the birth?

[PlayLives]

I hope someone can find a solution for this quickly. I've played that family the most so far, they are my farming-country bumpkins. I put some animals in the barn and had big plans for them.

[zoebme]

Okay, I worked out why I couldn't give birth properly. The culprit was the new Seasons version of TwoJeffs Age Duration Hack. Once I took that out, there were no errors anymore and both babies arrived normally and could be named. I of course forgot to check who their father was, though  I'm guessing it is still Patricia, but I will go and have a look in a minute.

*off to TwoJeffs thread first to report*


Edit: Yep, Patricia is still the "father". Oh well.

[J. M. Pescado]

This is basically an unresolveable problem. What happens is that when the game crude-splices this family into your neighborhood, it doesn't correct the token data. Therefore, while in the template hood, the pregnancy token contained the correct NID, when they're added to your neighborhood, they get new NIDs. As a result, the NID of the father from the old neighborhood now belongs to an arbitrary sim instead.

They're basically irreversibly corrupt, and you should use either the rollback technique or blank templates.

[cwykes]

............... the rollback technique or blank templates.

    Please could somebody explain what those are   
I guess the alternative is to leave them unplayed in the lotbin.

[jsalemi]

I guess the alternative is to leave them unplayed in the lotbin.

Or use the Insimenator or SimPe (when it's updated) to fix the parentage.

[Li'l Brudder]

Is it okay that one of my families offspring is friends with one of their daughters?

[cabelle]

I dunno. I was tempted to wait until Insiminator or SimPE is updated but from what JM said about them being irreversibly corrupt I'm not sure if I want to try. I'm definitely not awesome enough to repair character files. I wouldn't even begin to know how to use the rollback or blank template techniques. I'd also hate to find that there was something else FUBARed with the Ottomas. I'm finding myself leaning toward a tragic family death. They could be the first residents of my Riverblossom Hills Cemetery. 

This is basically an unresolveable problem. What happens is that when the game crude-splices this family into your neighborhood, it doesn't correct the token data. Therefore, while in the template hood, the pregnancy token contained the correct NID, when they're added to your neighborhood, they get new NIDs. As a result, the NID of the father from the old neighborhood now belongs to an arbitrary sim instead.

They're basically irreversibly corrupt, and you should use either the rollback technique or blank templates.

[J. M. Pescado]

Or use the Insimenator or SimPe (when it's updated) to fix the parentage.

Field reports say SimPE functions mostly as-is, unless you're doing something really esoteric I haven't heard of yet. Fixing the parentage won't be doable until after the baby exists, however, which means the genetics are already FUBAR'ed.

I'd say the best way to "fix" the problem is to try "Deleted 2".

[cwykes]

Thanks - I can manage deleted 2!  I don't have and don't want Insim.
It'll be interesting to see what kind of fix Maxis come up with for this one ...... if any...

[PlayLives]

Don't want to go through the process of fixing the character files, so...

- What happens if you let the twins be born but never have them reproduce, is this still bad for the game?

- Can I kill them off once they reach childhood, and continue to play the rest of the family?

- Can I get rid of the pregnancy all together with SimPE or someother program (not the Kitten/Puppy kliler) so she never gives birth?

- If I can't do any of the above and have to move them back to the sim bin, does it matter that they've already interacted with other sims?

thanks

[ZiggyDoodle]

If I can't do any of the above and have to move them back to the sim bin, does it matter that they've already interacted with other sims?

I've found that Sims exiled to the bin eventually disappear from the radar screen.  I've had two large families sitting in the bin since last year (created by a houseguest who will not be invited back).  A few times the kids came home from school with my Sim kids, but the minute they got off the bus they were asked to leave.  Their activitiy has ceased now and I don't even seem them as townies. 

Of course, I have tons of my own playables so perhaps that has something to do with it. 

[J. M. Pescado]

- What happens if you let the twins be born but never have them reproduce, is this still bad for the game?

Allowing them to be born will already do the damage due to their corrupted pregnancy token, yes.

- Can I kill them off once they reach childhood, and continue to play the rest of the family?

See above.

- Can I get rid of the pregnancy all together with SimPE or someother program (not the Kitten/Puppy kliler) so she never gives birth?

Yes, if they haven't given birth, you can abort the pregnancy and they should be clean from there.

[KatEnigma]

You can fix them with the Pets version of Simpe. I waited until they were toddlers, and then went in. You have to open the neighborhood manually, since it won't show up in neighborhood browser, obviously, but once it's open, everything is like in any other neighborhood.

[PlayLives]

- What happens if you let the twins be born but never have them reproduce, is this still bad for the game?

Allowing them to be born will already do the damage due to their corrupted pregnancy token, yes.

- Can I kill them off once they reach childhood, and continue to play the rest of the family?

See above.

- Can I get rid of the pregnancy all together with SimPE or someother program (not the Kitten/Puppy kliler) so she never gives birth?

Yes, if they haven't given birth, you can abort the pregnancy and they should be clean from there.

Thanks.

[J. M. Pescado]

You can fix them with the Pets version of Simpe. I waited until they were toddlers, and then went in. You have to open the neighborhood manually, since it won't show up in neighborhood browser, obviously, but once it's open, everything is like in any other neighborhood.

You can't fix it after it's been born. If that happens, it already has spawned a host of garbaged memories and want trees.

[cabelle]

So time is of the essence and you have to do something before Sam Ottomas gives birth. What would be the best (and easiest for the technologically challenged) program for deleting/aborting Sam Ottomas' messed up pregnancy? I'm not familiar with Insiminator and I haven't used SimPE for a pregnancy. I wish there was a simple "Miscarry the demon spawn" hack.

Or would it be better to kill her off before the twins are born? Would I need to keep her tombstone somewhere or can I delete it?

[J. M. Pescado]

So time is of the essence and you have to do something before Sam Ottomas gives birth. What would be the best (and easiest for the technologically challenged) program for deleting/aborting Sam Ottomas' messed up pregnancy? I'm not familiar with Insiminator and I haven't used SimPE for a pregnancy. I wish there was a simple "Miscarry the demon spawn" hack.

I suppose I should have this added to the lot debugger.

[cabelle]

That would be wonderful. Thanks Pescado! 

[rhodaloo]

So what about those of us who allowed the sim to have the twins before we read this thread? I would say that Cabelle is more tech able than I am.  Do I just play until the game crashes, then uninstall and put back my pre-pets backup? 

[Ness]

You'll find that the lot debugger has just been updated.  No idea if it has the terminate pregnancy option, or it's something else.  But I thought I'd give you a heads up in the absence of any town criers.

[cabelle]

So what about those of us who allowed the sim to have the twins before we read this thread? I would say that Cabelle is more tech able than I am.  Do I just play until the game crashes, then uninstall and put back my pre-pets backup? 

I'd recommend rolling back to your most recent neighborhood backup now. No sense putting all that work into the neighborhood to just have it explode later on. If you made a backup right before installing Seasons then you've only lost a couple days of work. It's what I would be doing now if I'd played until the twins were born.

Thanks Ness, I'll go give the debugger a try.

[KatEnigma]

Eh, I never play a neighborhood long enough for it go kaplooie. I get bored and reset the neighborhood.  And I know from before I discovered the awesome, it usually takes more than 1 thing like this to mess it up, anyway. I did all sorts of VBT's (like moving occupied lots to other neighborhoods!) and the worst that ever happened to my game was an occasional lot going all bonkers and even then, rarely did I lose the family, just the lot. I'm not suggesting everyone ignore Pes, but weigh the risks.  OTOH, I don't get very attached to my Sims -only the lot.  I hate to lose a well-built lot! I usually remember to send the lots into the houses bin and back before moving anyone in, so I have a clean copy. If the neighborhood explodes, it explodes. 

Of course, if I'd known that Sharla was going to grow up to inherit her grandmother's cheeks, I'd have killed off the entire family! 

[Bangelnuts]

So what about those of us who allowed the sim to have the twins before we read this thread? I would say that Cabelle is more tech able than I am.  Do I just play until the game crashes, then uninstall and put back my pre-pets backup? 

I'd recommend rolling back to your most recent neighborhood backup now. No sense putting all that work into the neighborhood to just have it explode later on. If you made a backup right before installing Seasons then you've only lost a couple days of work. It's what I would be doing now if I'd played until the twins were born.

Thanks Ness, I'll go give the debugger a try.

The insimenator that was put out for pets works to abort the pregnancy immediately. I placed the Ottomas on an empty lot and spawned the insimenator and clicked abort pregnancy  the abortion was instantaneous. Mrs.Ottomas retunred to her non pregnant state and her normal everyday outfit. If She hasn't been allowed to give birth will this cure  the borked pregnancy token? as obviously I don't want my neighborhood I have worked hard on to explode.

[rhodaloo]

Good answers people, but y'all assume:

1) I know how to reset a neighborhood (have never done that before).  Is it possible to only reset one neighborhood?

2) I have a backup of my Sims2 but I haven't the foggiest idea of the steps to put it back into place.

Feel free to p.m. me the detailed steps.