Thanks for the link Borsco.  Unfortunately that fix didn't work either.  No clue what to do now.

Ever since installing Generations and the 1.22 patch, I've been getting incredibly LARGE lifespan ranges in Options, and when I try to adjust to a different age span level, say from Epic to Long, it appears to change normally but as soon as I exit Options and return back to it, the crazy lifespan numbers reappear.  





I have Googled my ass off and can't find a solution for this, or even another instance of it for that matter.  I have Awesome Mod installed, but had Story Progression turned off b/c I was using Twallan's (updated to the latest).  All of the other mods I have (some NRaas and various convenience hacks and sliders) are updated for 1.22, and tonight I tried removing ALL of them, but the problem persisted.  I removed Twallan's SP mod, no improvement.  I tried testing the game on my 'troubleshooting' Win 7 account (a vanilla game, downloads, no cc, no mods, with AM installed), same problem.  I've cleared all caches, tried on different saved games.  Can't resolve it.  It wouldn't be SO bad (who wouldn't wanna live another 600,000+ days, right  ), except my sims seem to be aging FASTER than if the lifespan was set to Short.  All of them seem to be within 1 day or so of aging to the next level, no matter what I change the in-game settings to, Story Progression on OR off, Twallan's SP enabled or disabled, Awesome Mod's SP enabled or disabled.  





The only thing I haven't tried is starting up the game without AM -- I need to get a no dvd crack apparently (could've sworn I already had one, aside from AM).  Has anyone else seen this or heard of this happening?  I was just wondering if it could even be AM related -- I've tested with all other mods excluded but AM.  I don't have any other major issues in the game besides lag, my computer & graphics card are fully updated, yada yada.  Just stumped to shit and back with this one.

Oof, I'm afraid that's what it's come down to.  I wanted to exhaust all options before a reinstall, but it's looking eminent. 

Yes, I tried testing it with bare-naked folders (save for the original game files), including removing the .dll file and the resource.cfg file, deleting cache files, and replacing the censor blur Shaders file with the original).  I also tested it on another XP account on the same computer (the items in Program files were the same, but files in My Documents had never been tampered with).

I'll be bald before this is all over.    Thank you for the suggestion, though.

All of the lots in my game, regardless of where they are located or whether they are empty or populated, are covered in shadows, almost like overcast on a cloudy day (but in broad game daylight) or something huge hovering above. The rooftops of all lots in the area (and any high ground such as hills) will briefly flash as if the game is attempting to render normal daylight but can't fully.  Normal shadows, such as from trees and buildings, work fine, but I am having entire lots darkened out by shadows that have no discernible source.  Examples:

Empty lot in Build/Buy Mode:





Same area in live mode:



Another set of lots in shadow (all should be visible in full daylight like the house on the far left)



I have the base game only and am updated to patch 1.8.  This problem didn't start until I updated to that patch, and I never had the issue prior to that.  If I turn the Lighting and Shadows setting to LOW, the problem seems to go away for a while, but prior to patch 1.8 I was able to have that setting on HIGH with no problems whatsoever (my card is an GeForce 8800GTS).  I have the latest AwesomeMod installed and a few other non-core mods (no lighting mods), plus a great deal of custom content.  I have Google searched this issue extensively and posted on the TS3 forum with no solution found.

As far as actions I have taken so far, I have:

• updated my Nvidia drivers to the latest (196.21)
• taken out ALL of my cc, mods, & hacks
• adjusted the Lighting & Shadows setting to low (it had been on high with NO PROBLEMS before the patch - setting it to low seems to get rid of the issue, but it shouldn't have to be on low)
• tested it in live mode and build/buy mode in different hoods and with different saves
• tested it in all saved games in Sunset Valley and Riverview (the problem persists in both)
• tested several combinations of graphics settings in-game in fullscreen and windowed mode

I'm at my wits end here.  I've been having a Flagrant System Error with AwesomeMod in one neighborhood...could that be related?  I'm hoping to find a solution to this without having to reinstall (which is the only option I haven't tried as it's my last resort).

Has anyone else experienced this, or does anyone know of a fix?

Ouch...not good to hear.    Are we talking "kiss your sweet ass goodbye" terminal or "miracles do happen" terminal?

And thanks for replying so quickly, Pes.

I just read through all of these posts, and I plan on testing every fix offered.  I was wondering though:  is it at all possible that the Flagrant System Error can be caused by CC other than mods & hacks?  I have been experiencing the "blue lot syndrome" ever since patching to 1.8 and I have had nothing but problems ever since.  I have started to sift through all of my custom content and have begun sending each piece through Delphy's Blue Lot Object Fixer, but I still have a long way to go (about 2,000 more files done one-by-one).  

Is it possible that the FSE can be resolved after I fix all of my custom content?  Has anyone experienced that?  I have removed all other mods except for AM and the error persists (and I made SURE that I have no other versions of AM anywhere on this computer).

Thanks for all the helpful advice in this thread.  I'm hoping something will work short of having to reinstall this damned thing.

Oh brother...just when I think I can't get any stoopidrrr, I take myself to the curb.    Worked like a charm.

Thanks a million chazzhay.

I have the latest AM, and I have the 'more than 8 sims in a household' option enabled.  I had exactly 8 sims in my household, and today one of them delivered a baby girl.  There are now 9 sims in the house (including the infant), but only eight of the portraits are showing.  The very top portrait (belonging to the eldest sim in the household) was knocked off the 'list' and since I can't select her portrait, I can't control her actions.  Is there anything I can do about that?  I swear I don't see any sort of arrow or scroll bar or anything that would allow me to cycle through portraits...thanks for any help guys.