When building, why do windows disappear (but not really)?

[starrling]

This is something that happens to me quite frequently.  I'll be building a lot and suddenly notice that my windows are gone and in their place is ... blankness.  The wall doesn't close up so I know they're still there.  And if I exit (save or no save - doesn't matter) and return they appear in their proper place again.  Is this a shitty graphics problem?  The only thing my fairly new but budget comp can run is the Radeon Express 200 that came with it.  I know that's not the greatest and if that's the problem, well then I'm just stuck with it.  But I thought I'd ask anyway.  Thanks.

Oh, here's a pic of what I'm talking about:

[Simsbaby]

Try switching between buy and build mode.

[starrling]

Just tried it - it had no effect.  Windows still appear to not be there.

[Simsbaby]

Try switching to the save/exit game menu then back.

[starrling]

 
nothing

[Jorenne]

Eh, it used to happen to me a lot too, as far as I'm aware it's a graphics issue, I often had the windows of upper floors go like that, but sice upgrading, well, almost my entire PC is doesn't happen anymore.

[starrling]

I had a feeling that's what it was.  I'll just wait till I win the lottery.

* starrling rolls around on the floor laughing maniacally

yeah, like that's gonna happen

[ElfPuddle]

It happens to me too, but it always goes away if I go to live mode, then up (or down) a floor, then back into build.

[Ancient Sim]

I have a similar problem with doors insofar as I can't see them unless I put all the walls up, then I have to try to find the stupid things amidst all the walls.  What I hate most is trying to lay floors, all the stupid doors and windows get in the way.  Yes, the doors appear fine when I'm placing floors, but not when I'm placing doors!  Stupid game.

[neriana]

Yeah, the blank window and door thing happens to me all the time too, but it doesn't stay that way in live mode. Saving regularly while building helps somewhat, but doesn't eliminate it. Irritating, but not as much of an issue as doors staying open indefinitely while playing, for me.

[MissDoh]

The way I usually solve this problem is to go in buy mode, then lower 1 floor and then go up 1 floor and return in build mode.

[starrling]

Thanks everyone, for all the suggestions.  Since I'm on a building spree I have no sims to go into live mode with but I'll just live with the inconvenience of stealth windows   . 

Neriana - have you checked to make sure you don't have ceiling lights right in front of the door.  I read somewhere that this causes doors to stay open.  I moved a bunch of my ceiling lights and I don't seem to have that problem anymore!  wheeee!

[shanpooter]

I get this sometimes also, and as someone else stated, all I have to do is lower the walls and then raise them again.  It takes care of the problem everytime.

[RainbowTigress]

I've had this issue too.  I'm glad to hear that I"m not the only one to experience it.  I figured it was just another one of the annoying bugs features of the game.   

[DrBeast]

Add me to the list of people who've had windows replaced by empty frames. Just like everyone else has pointed out, problem disappears once I go into live mode. Can't say my computer is craptastic, but it ain't state-of-the-art either.

[Ness]

For me it disappears just by changing levels, or putting the walls down then up again.

[Ivy]

I've had it happen as well for no reason.  Same fixes as above, either putting the walls up and down, changing levels or by grabbing them and moving them seems to bring them back again. What's weird is when it happens to only one or two windows of the same style, instead of all of them.  I place my windows before my lights, so that wasn't the issue there.  My computer is middle of the road I s'pose.

Ivy

[starrling]

Well, I guess I can quit blaming my crappy (fairly) new computer then.  Funny, I'm never satisfied.  My old comp died.  I mean... really died.  So my son (who now receives SS checks because his mucholderthanme dad is 65 now, so the kid is rich and I'm still broke never having received child support from the shithead but that's another story and I digress...) loaned me money for a new comp.  Well, knowing that I'd have to pay it back forever, I just went for a low-end model.  I'm now kicking myself.  But oh well. 

Geez, I rambled and gave farrrrrrrrr to much info, didn't I?     Blame it on no tea/coffee yet.
 

[neriana]

Neriana - have you checked to make sure you don't have ceiling lights right in front of the door.  I read somewhere that this causes doors to stay open.  I moved a bunch of my ceiling lights and I don't seem to have that problem anymore!  wheeee!

Hm, I'll check that, but I don't have ceiling lights in my bathrooms. I will move the lights I have in there as far away from the door as possible though, thanks for the tip.

[MsMaria]

When I experienced this problem I realized that I had the "snapobjectstogrid false" cheat activated. Once I turned it off my windows reappeared.

[RainbowTigress]

I rarely ever use that cheat, so I know it's not the problem for me.  I tried using it once, and it messed up animations and they'd put things like thinking caps where the coffee table would have been if I didn't center it in front of the couch.     So I didn't use it anymore.

[starrling]

I only use that for ceiling lights over tables and for plants outside, so no, that wasn't the issue for me either.

[ElfPuddle]

I only use it when my angled furniture cuts through walls or some other idiocy....I stopped with couches after I found three boxes of Chinese food under one...eew.

[MsMaria]

I used it while building a house to upload. Wanted everything just right. I noticed my windows would not "seat", so turned the cheat off and the windows were fine after that. Hmm. Funny. May have been a coincidence or not.