Sims portraits disappearing?

[Nalia]

Hello everyone.

I have an issue with some of my Sims' painted portraits and I was wondering if it is something wrong with my game or a game glitch happening to others players, too.
The issue in question is that sometimes [not always] when my Sims move to a new house and are about to bring their portraits out of their inventory and hung them on the wall, the portraits will change into some common Maxis paintings. A couple of times the same has happened to the photos they took in photobooths, only that the photos will appear completely black.  Whether it is a portrait or a photo, I find it sort of heart-breaking, role-playing wise speaking, because some of these portraits and photos come from their childhood and can't be replaced.

This issue has occured twice with young adult Sims who had finished their Uni studies and moved back to their home (their portraits were made during their student lives), and a couple of times with Sims from my regular neighbourhood when they moved to a new house.

I was wondering if anyone else has experienced the same, and if you have any idea as to the cause of it. My best guess so far is that these objects become corrupted over time, but I don't understand how. If, for example, it has to do with how long I have been playing with a particular Sim, or if there is a bad saved file somewhere. Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks in advance!

[Prudensh]

It has happened to me with photobooth pictures, but not painted portraits.
Very recently I had a Sim move house, and a photo in their inventory was black when they took it out. It was very sad in that case as well because the other Sim in the photo had died.
I just assumed it was a game glitch. It has never happened to me with the pictures taken with the luminous pro camera that came with Seasons. Only with photobooth pics stored in their inventories.
I have several camera mods installed so that might be a cause. I have no idea, really. Sorry. 

[Nalia]

Thank you for replying, Prudensh.

I don't think it has to do with camera mods, because I have none of those in my game. The first time it happened, a couple of years ago, I had only Pescado's mods/hacks, and I know they are perfectly alright. So, mods/hacks is not the reason either. I take it then as one of the game's glitches.  Such a pity, especially when the portraits of my Sims' kids painted when they were still children turn into Maxis paintings.

[caffeinated.joy]

I've seen something somewhere about this, or something similar to this, but I can't remember where it was. Is your game patched?

[Nalia]

Hi, Joy!
Yes, it's fully and completely patched.
-- Although EAxis hasn't patched every glitch in the game, like the one where student Sims receive a negative (red) memory when engaged, as if they were romance Sims. It was either Pescado or TwoJeffs who fixed it.

[caffeinated.joy]

Hi Nalia!

I've been looking around for the fix I know I saw for borked pictures, but I can't seem to find it. I will definitely keep my eye out for it and when/if I locate it (bearing that it's the right info lol), I'll post it here.

[Prudensh]

It seems to be an inventory glitch, does it not? I'm thinking that I've probably never had the problem with painted portraits because I can't recall ever putting painted portraits in my Sims' inventories.

[Nalia]

Thank you very much, Joy!
It would be helpful if we could determine what causes it in a first place, so as to know what to avoid. I'd be greatful if I could get a solution, too. That would be the best.

Prudensh,
Yes, it seems like an inventory glitch or some corrupted data.
Sometimes I feel reluctant to take the painted portraits out of their inventories once they move, because if my Sims need to move out again the possibility of them turned into garbage Maxis paintings is highly increased -- and some of my Sims will take a divorce or two, or their lot might become corrupted, as I keep playing the same 'hood for almost two years now (one and half to be precise). So a move out is a must, in which case they will take only the essentials: Uni diploma, a few photos and their portraits. 

[Nalia]

UPDATE:
It has happened again, and I'm furious [no, not really, but certainly very sad] as one of my adult Sims had three of his portraits (as a kid, as a teenager and as a young adult) disappeared. I googled again searching for a solution and found an old post by Simsample here: http://www.modthesims.info/archive/index.php/t-302371.html

What she says: For the portraits; the photobooth images and any custom paintings done on the easel are stored as images in the lot file. So if they have come up blank, are missing or have reverted to a default then this indicates file corruption/ data loss of some kind. Why it happens? There are numerous possibilities, ranging from software (antivirus programs damaging files for example) to hardware (disc errors/ damage). How to fix it? Restore a backup, or else try to splice the images from a backup into your current lot using SimPE.

In short, she confirms my suspicion about corrupted data, but I still have no idea what causes it. And certainly there is no disc error in my case. *sigh*