Wonky Colored Question Mark Tiles

[rosharley]

I have tried numerous ways to salvage my Goth lot infected by ?s as I had spent a lot of time on a complete re-design, I have now come to the conclusion that this is an Impossible Mission! Nothing I have done has resulted in a permanent fix and I am now of the belief that the base lots, as shipped by EA, are corrupted and, whether you have AM installed or not, CC of amy kind installed or not or have never even played one of the affected lots or not, eventually the Riddler tiles WILL appear.

I have established the following facts about these lots while trying to salvage my own:

1) ALL wall and floor tiles on the lot become unselectable by the 'design tool'
2) Copying any remaining wall patterns or applying new patterns to affected areas is possible but only works while you stay on the lot
3) Repairing the lot by re-applying wall and floor coverings from scratch (ie: not copying and pasting from remaining walls) will return the design tool functionality BUT again only while you stay on the lot
4) Saving a lot to the library (with or without a familly) after it has been repaired as above may reduce but not eliminate Riddler infestation
5) Transferring a repaired and saved lot from Sunset Valley to Riverview has no effect, riddler tiles may be reduced but not eliminated
6) Repairing a transferred lot in Riverview has no effect, once you leave the lot the tiles will return
7) The Art Gallery has terrain under the foundations which is covered by floor tiles but after deleting the tiles a flat grey surface is left which cannot be modified or deleted
The Wolff house has no floor tiles below the foundations as the terrain is already covered by the same flat grey surface found under tiles at the Gallery
9) The Goth house does not seem to have this problem as there is only clean terrain below the foundations, but if you apply floor tiles and then delete them the same flat grey area appears
10) Although only some of the terrain below the Gallery appears to be affected applying floor tiles and then deleting them shows that, as with the Goth and Wolff houses, all terrain underneath a foundation is the same
11) All 3 lots reported as having Riddler Wall infestation also have Grey Terrain blight
12) The Grey terrain problem is linked to the house and not the lot, replace the house on any of these lots and the problem disappears, if the Grey terrain problem has gone so, I assume, will the Riddler tile problem have been cured
13) Grey terrain cannot be deleted even using the sledge hammer tool nor can it be modified using the terrain tool, it can be covered up but not eliminated
14) One other possible symptom of Riddler tile infestation I have seen is that ghosts lose their colouring and glow more brightly, their thumbnails assume an appearance like that of a photo negative (black face & white hair etc:)

As far as I can see there is only one possible cure for Riddler Tile infestation and that is to replace the three affected lots with duplicate lots not of EA origin each time a new game is started, any of you builders out there up to a challenge?

I am off to try an an experiment to see if replacing all the graves from an affected Goth house with graves from one not yet affected will cure the ghost problem. My Riverview Goths finally moved out of Goth Manor taking their dead relatives with them, they moved into another haunted house that came with the Riverview neighborhood and the already resident ghosts are fine but living alongside the overlybright, monochrome mutants imported by the Goths (which at least tells me it's not a graphics card problem)

[Simsample]

Nothing I have done has resulted in a permanent fix and I am now of the belief that the base lots, as shipped by EA, are corrupted and, whether you have AM installed or not, CC of amy kind installed or not or have never even played one of the affected lots or not, eventually the Riddler tiles WILL appear.

I'm not so sure that the lots are corrupted; I've played Sunset for 10 sim generations (55 sim weeks now) and have not encountered these tiles. One generation of my sims lived in the Wolff lot and raised kids there- I even made an alteration to it after a while, and redecorated parts with no problems. Many of my sims visit the art gallery and there are no problems with that lot; and although I have not played the Goth house, a sim in the previous generation visited a friend there often, so I know that it is okay too. I'm thinking there must be something which causes the corruption, which has not occurred in my game, perhaps.

[coconnor]

I had never experienced this problem until recently.  I am playing in Sunset Valley.  The tiles affect both the Goth & Wolff houses.  Unfortunately, I tried to make alterations to them (Wolff house - added an extra room for kids & in Goth Manor, just tried to redecorate) and now the Riddler tiles appear in both lots.  This seems to occur even when starting a new game.  Next thing I'll try is simply bulldozing & replacing both lots with different houses. 

I read that EA is blaming this on video cards, but that cannot be the culprit if so many people have the problem.  Typical.  I believe that when they built the lots originally, they did something that prevents players from changing them without this consequence.  Why they would do this is beyond me.

[Simsample]

I believe that when they built the lots originally, they did something that prevents players from changing them without this consequence.  Why they would do this is beyond me.

I wonder what changes have to be done to cause this? I altered the Wolff house with no consequence; just to check I switched to the family that live there now to be sure and there are no question mark tiles, everything is fine. Several generations ago I moved some walls, added some walls, altered a staircase and changed some of the wallpaper/ carpet. This is why I don't see how the lots can be inherently faulty; there may be something occurring in certain games that causes this corruption.

[coconnor]

In the Wolff house, I actually added a kids' room and bathroom, which involved placing another staircase, placing floor tile, walls, etc., and then decorating.  I think I also changed the floor tiles in the kitchen.

In the Goth house, I basically redecorated both interior and exterior walls and floors on the interior.  I also redid that garden room (sunken) they had which contained plants into a sort of family room (which involved placing floor tiles on the foundation, level with the rest of the house).

It's very strange.

[shadow]

I had those tiles in the Wolff and Goth houses and the Art Museum/Gallery and I didn't do any alterations to any of them. In fact, I had never even been to the Goth house. I finally bulldozed most houses in the neighborhood and the museum. I didn't bulldoze the Wolff house because I heard that deletes the 'beautiful view' moodlet for those. I'm planning to tear down the Wolff house 'brick by brick' and rebuild.

[coconnor]

There's program at MTS2, link here:  http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=366436 that replaces the Beautiful Vista moodlet now.

On another note, after you bulldozed the lots (specifically Goth Manor), did you put another house on the lot?  Did that eliminate the riddler tiles?  Just curious if they will reappear (perhaps somehow tied to the lot?).

[witch]

I've heavily modified both the Goth and the Wolff houses and - fingers crossed - five sim weeks into the game I've had no problems.

[shadow]

There's program at MTS2, link here:  http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=366436 that replaces the Beautiful Vista moodlet now.

On another note, after you bulldozed the lots (specifically Goth Manor), did you put another house on the lot?  Did that eliminate the riddler tiles?  Just curious if they will reappear (perhaps somehow tied to the lot?).

Thanks for the link. I'd missed that one.

I didn't rebuild on the Goth lot but I have rebuilt the Wolff lot and so far so good.

ETA: I also rebuilt the Art museum on the same lot. It's okay, too.

[coconnor]

I've heavily modified both the Goth and the Wolff houses and - fingers crossed - five sim weeks into the game I've had no problems.

I wish I was having that experience.  I even started a new game and they still appear on the unmodified version of Goth Manor.  It's very strange.  Let us know how it goes.  Otherwise, I'm just going to place new houses on the lot(s).

[Tingeling]

I noticed I had question marks in my newly started save today. Goth Manor, Wolff house and the Moderna Art Gallery are all affected. I have played the game since last spring so I don't think it's a question of the graphics card not being up to par. I did however download a truckload of cc from various sites yesterday, including from tsr (yes, yes, I know, it's bad!). Since I haven't checked the status of the aformentioned buldings before this morning I am not sure if the ?'s appeared after I added the cc or if it is something related to a mod. If a game save can become corrupted, then why would it only affect certain saves and so fast, i.e. in a day from creating it to playing it? This baffles me. I will continue to investigate the issue and if I find anything I will report back.

[coconnor]

I noticed I had question marks in my newly started save today. Goth Manor, Wolff house and the Moderna Art Gallery are all affected. I have played the game since last spring so I don't think it's a question of the graphics card not being up to par. I did however download a truckload of cc from various sites yesterday, including from tsr (yes, yes, I know, it's bad!). Since I haven't checked the status of the aformentioned buldings before this morning I am not sure if the ?'s appeared after I added the cc or if it is something related to a mod. If a game save can become corrupted, then why would it only affect certain saves and so fast, i.e. in a day from creating it to playing it? This baffles me. I will continue to investigate the issue and if I find anything I will report back.

Please do let us know if you find out that certain cc causes this.  That's interesting.  It never occurred to me that a fresh (untouched) lot could be affected by cc.

[snowbawl]

I noticed I had question marks in my newly started save today. Goth Manor, Wolff house and the Moderna Art Gallery are all affected. I have played the game since last spring so I don't think it's a question of the graphics card not being up to par. I did however download a truckload of cc from various sites yesterday, including from tsr (yes, yes, I know, it's bad!). Since I haven't checked the status of the aformentioned buldings before this morning I am not sure if the ?'s appeared after I added the cc or if it is something related to a mod. If a game save can become corrupted, then why would it only affect certain saves and so fast, i.e. in a day from creating it to playing it? This baffles me. I will continue to investigate the issue and if I find anything I will report back.

Please do let us know if you find out that certain cc causes this.  That's interesting.  It never occurred to me that a fresh (untouched) lot could be affected by cc.

Actually, this makes perfect sense.  I played Goth Manor through three generations with no riddler tiles whatsoever anywhere.  Now I have them in all three places (Goth, Wolff, and Museum), even in a new hood where I have never played any of the aforementioned lots of doom.  I do not download many things, so it actually is easy for me to try and narrow this down.

[Luna Doll]

I also had this problem for a while affecting only my paintings that my sim made in a custom home. I deleted the paintings, and there was no problem for a while. Then I noticed the art museum had the problem, so I saved my custom families, and started a fresh new Sunset Valley. This was yesterday. About half an hour ago my sim visited the Goths, for the first time in this brand new Sunset Valley, and the Goth house is covered in question marks. Again, I had not ever played in that house nor touched it in any way, it's only existed since yesterday.
My specs are very good, more than good enough to run the Sims 3, so I doubt it's a problem with card, ram, etc.
I have the latest Awesomemod and the latest patch. In fact, I reinstalled the entire game two days ago.  
I have pretty much every custom hair that's available, as well as tons of patterns, everything from the store, and a few hacks.  Although someone here said that they had the problem with a vanilla game, so it's probably not one of my mods.

[gelfling]

I added two residential lots to one of my towns earlier today and noticed that one of these pesky tiles had appeared on the road! In case it matters, I don't have any customised road mods in my game.



I have used these lots in other saved TS3 games without incident for the past two weeks.

[coconnor]

Actually, this makes perfect sense.  I played Goth Manor through three generations with no riddler tiles whatsoever anywhere.  Now I have them in all three places (Goth, Wolff, and Museum), even in a new hood where I have never played any of the aforementioned lots of doom.  I do not download many things, so it actually is easy for me to try and narrow this down.

Would you please, Snowbawl, and let us know what you find?  Perhaps we all have the same cc download file that is causing this.  I'm afraid I have too much already.  I love custom content (since the Sims 2 days, when I had tons more than is currently available for Sims 3) and hence have probably overdone it again!

Thanks in advance!

[LVRugger]

I have no clue if I get the ? tiles at the Goth's or Wolfe's, but I know that the art gallery is full of them. I can help narrow it down in cc (if that is indeed the case). I have only downloaded:
- most of the store hairs
- some hairs from MTS (all by HP)
- penis mesh
- nude mesh (HP)
- some patterns from MTS (stone and granite)
- buyable fish spawners from MTS
- twallan's pollinator
- buzzler's mirror
- lockable door from MTS
- male pregnancy clothes from pudding factory
- teen pregnancy clothes from MTS

That's it. I'm not much of a cc accumulator. I'm at work, but I can get the exact list in the morning.

[Tingeling]

I think we can rule out the cc then. Unless it does something weird to the game files, which I do not believe is the casem but I'm not much of a modder and as such have no idea what is happening. But, compairing LVRuggers list with my own compiled list of cc, we have no cc in common at all. It must have been something else that was causing this. A new plague? Plus, according to gelfling the tiles even appears on the road. I don't have any mods changing how the roads should appear.

If there is a file that has become corrupted somehwere in the game, how do you find it? Deleting the caches didn't seem to work; I did that yesterday. Neither does reinstalling the game, according to some people here. As I said before, this baffles me to no end.

[Simsample]

There have already been people in this thread with no CC except for store content who have said they've had a problem, so I don't think it's CC either. It might be helpful though to know what game version people are running, whether the hood is started from a 'clean' template or not and whether they have in the past had any custom content or core mods in game. I'm trying to think of the types of situations which could possibly cause data corruption of any kind. For example, I am fully patched (1.4.6) and my game contains only store items, but I recently added Twallan's supercomputer which I used to 'fire all NPCs' and remove a stuck car. My 55-week old hood which has no problems is started from the original Maxis templates, and has no 'riddler' tiles, nor have I ever had error 12 or 13 when saving (in case it's relevant). All subsequent hoods seem to suffer from no riddler tiles too, although I have not played another for so long. I have altered and played the wolf house, but only visited the Goth and Art lots.
Also I just thought of this: Sunset Valley by default uses the Sunsetvalley.objectcache in Program Files \Electronic Arts \The Sims 3 \Caches. It is worth deleting that one and replacing it with a fresh copy off the install disc; I think the size should be 979kb 979Mb.

[caterpillar]

My game is fully patched. For me the riddler tiles did not appear until after the latest patch.
I used awesomemod to 'destroy all humans' before I added any families of my own. I have riddler tiles in the Goth and Wolff houses, and had them in the art gallery until I bulldozed it and replaced it with a gallery I built myself. I've never seen the riddler tiles appear anywhere else except for the Goth and Wolff houses, and the art gallery. My new art gallery has never had the problem. My Goth house is occupied, my Wolff house is not.
I also have a Sunset Valley I use just to build houses. I emptied that hood with awesomemod and have never placed an families back into it, and it also has the riddler tiles in the Wolff and Goth houses, and had them in the art gallery until I bulldozed it.

I have never even entered the Wolff house in these neighborhoods. I haven't entered the Goth house in the build neighborhood, but I did in my play neighborhood. I added some beds to it before I moved a family in, but I didn't touch the walls or floors, or alter anything in CAST.

[gelfling]

My game and my copy of Awesome mod are fully patched and up-to-date. I also have the following mods installed: Twallan's Supercomputer, the No Intro mod, Absimiliard's Realistic Aging Mod and No Mosaic. These are the only TS3 mods I have used and I have the latest available versions of each of these.

The riddler bug has so far struck two of my five worlds - one of which was started after I installed the latest patch. I did not see any riddler tiles before I installed the latest patch. I recently switched from Windows XP Pro SP3 to Windows 7 - 64 bit where I still have the problem as evidenced in my previous post.

[Simsample]

Could you both also try replacing your Sunsetvalley.objectcache file as I mentioned in my previous post? Also delete the four cache files in your userdata folder. I'd be interested to know if this affects any currently corrupted lots. It's worth a try at least.

[Havelock]

7) The Art Gallery has terrain under the foundations which is covered by floor tiles but after deleting the tiles a flat grey surface is left which cannot be modified or deleted
The Wolff house has no floor tiles below the foundations as the terrain is already covered by the same flat grey surface found under tiles at the Gallery
9) The Goth house does not seem to have this problem as there is only clean terrain below the foundations, but if you apply floor tiles and then delete them the same flat grey area appears
10) Although only some of the terrain below the Gallery appears to be affected applying floor tiles and then deleting them shows that, as with the Goth and Wolff houses, all terrain underneath a foundation is the same
11) All 3 lots reported as having Riddler Wall infestation also have Grey Terrain blight
12) The Grey terrain problem is linked to the house and not the lot, replace the house on any of these lots and the problem disappears, if the Grey terrain problem has gone so, I assume, will the Riddler tile problem have been cured
13) Grey terrain cannot be deleted even using the sledge hammer tool nor can it be modified using the terrain tool, it can be covered up but not eliminated

Its not a Terrain this are Floortiles.
And you could delete them but you have to remove the foundation first. If Floortiles are covered with a foundation you could only remove the Pattern but not the tile. You get the default Pattern on them.

14) One other possible symptom of Riddler tile infestation I have seen is that ghosts lose their colouring and glow more brightly, their thumbnails assume an appearance like that of a photo negative (black face & white hair etc:)

The have no missing colors, the simdata file is corrupted and the real skintone the Gostsim had while he was alive gets inverted causing with the Gost overlay this photo negative effect . You could see this if you use the editsim command on the Gost.

[fatkitty]

For what it's worth..
I do not have the latest EA patch.  I've visited the Goth house, remodeled the Wolff house and have been to the art gallery several times.  I have several mods (not AM), some cc and all the store stuff.
I think I'm in week 30 something and I do not have the riddler tiles anywhere.

[Tingeling]

I just started a new hood, plonked down a family and have been playing for about three sim weeks. No sign of any ? tiles yet. I have awesomemod up to date, latest game patch plus various cc. I haven't encountered any shifty ghosts. I do not have Twallan's supercomputer, so it can't be it. Well, at least not i my game, anyway.

Some of you have stated that the tiles haven't appeared until after the latest patch. By patch, do you mean the game patch or the awesomemod update?