Game Help:Sims 3 Blue Lots Issue

Blue Lots Issue

Problem

After installing the version 1.7 patch or later, or after installing the World Adventures expansion pack, some or all of the lots in a neighborhood/world may disappear or turn blue. They cannot be entered correctly. With World Adventures, this often happens when returning from a vacation: a neighborhood/world that was fine before will suddenly have gone blue.

Cause

The cause of this issue is custom content objects made with a version of S3OC released prior to 13 Dec 2009. S3OC had an error in the way it would create the content. Before the patch/WA, this error didn't appear to cause any problems (though it was always present, and incorrect). However, with the change in coding of the patch/WA, this error suddenly caused a major issue in games with this problem custom content installed. This issue only affects objects made with that particular program - other content such as patterns and sim content made with other tools do not appear to cause any problems.

Solution

The following steps will get your game back in working order:

• Remove or Update Broken Objects: You can find the corrupted content in your game using Delphy's Sims 3 Dashboard.

Once you've run the program, any files which cause this issue will be highlighted in red, with their type listed as "Corrupt (BlueLot)". Once you know which files are affected, you can either select them and click Action -> Disable Packages or Delete Packages in the Dashboard; or delete them yourself from within the Mods/Packages folder, which can be found under:

Windows XP/Vista/7 (32-bit): C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Mods\Packages

Windows XP/Vista/7 (64-bit): C:\Program Files(x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Mods\Packages

Mac OS: Contents/Resources/transgaming/c_drive/Program Files/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3/Mods/Packages

You can then go to the site you downloaded the corrupt content from, and check for a fixed version of that object.

Be aware that there are also some corrupted Sims3packs - there's no widely available tool to detect these at the moment, but they are rare. If you can't find any corrupt .packages, check for updates to your Sims3pack objects.

• Delete Your Cache Files: Whenever you add or remove anything from your game, you should get in the habit of deleting your cache files. This will prevent any old data hanging around in your cache files from causing issues with your game. For more information, see: Delete Cache Files

• Restore a Backup: If you have old versions of your game saved, before the blue lot issue, you can restore an old version and continue playing. Look in your Saves folder to see if you have any backups. Backups will be located in a folder named the same as your regular save, but with .backup on the end. You can delete or rename the original save and remove the .backup part and then try loading the backup save in-game. Backups may be found in:

Windows XP/Vista/7 (32-bit): C:\Documents and Setting\<user name>\My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Saves\

Windows XP/Vista/7 (64-bit): C:\Users\<user name>\My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Saves\

Mac OS: /Users/<user name>/Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3/Saves/

If you don't have any backups, your only option is...

• Start a New Game: Unfortunately, once the blue lot stuff has happened in your neighborhood, it is completely ruined. There is no known way to fix a neighborhood/world that has blue-lotted. You can keep a copy of your old neighborhood/world save around, just in case a fix is ever discovered, but in order to continue playing, you'll need to make a new game. Sorry.

• Your Removed Content: What to do with the objects or suspected objects that you removed? You have three options:

1. Delete it and forget about it. Easiest and quickest, but you may lose some stuff that you liked and wanted to keep.

2. Check for updates. Check back with the creator of the content to see if they have updated their work or said that it's safe. If they have updated, download the new version.

3. Try to fix it. Delphy has created experimental tools that may fix the error in custom content that causes the blue lot issue. For the tools, please see: Sims 3 Dashboard Tool (Beta) ... for .packages and if you suspect bad .package files get packaged up in any Sims3Pack CC you downloaded, please see: Sims3Pack CUSTARD (Alpha) for .Sims3Pack but only works for Windows or Mac running a Windows emulator.

Related Pages

• Package File Lag
• Delete Cache Files