Disappearing Dorm...Why me?!

[AxelNightFire13]

Can someone please help me?! This problem has happen to me twice and it's pissing me off. I'm just trying to make a Dorm for my college Sims and it's keeps disappearing on me! Could it be that I forget to turn moveObjects on to off when I save or exits the game...Oh WTF is this happen to me??

[ladymiriam]

I'm not an expert but I've never experienced any problems with exiting/saving when the cheats are still activated.  So what exactly is happening?  Are you building then leaving the lot and the problem occurs on re-entry?  Is this the only lot that has been affected by this glitch?  I know both individual lots and places in the neighbourhood can get corrupted so that they become unusable, maybe this is a possibility.  As always best to test your game without any custom content to see if something in there is a problem.  It looks like you've used the remove all walls cheat, I take it you didn't at any point do that.  Sorry I can't be of any more help.

[rwills]

Two questions:

1) Are you by any chance trying to build a dorm in a 'hood other than a college/university?

2) Have you used the changeLotZoning cheat on an occupied lot? (That's a big no-no.)

[ancienthighway]

I see you are in Neighborhood Mode for this picture.  What does the lot look like when you actually enter it, either with a sim in Play Mode, or through Buy or Build Mode?  It's not uncommon for views of a lot to be messed up in NM, yet the lot is exactly as it should be when playing.

[AxelNightFire13]

Alright...The lot looks normal on the inside, just the outside is a shadow with stairs. There was this one problem when this happen the first time is that when I move out my Sim, it was invisible in the Family bin.

The only problem with this the sec time is the outside, and it looks normal in both the inside and the House bin.

The only cheat I have use is moveObjects on and the Neighborhood is one that I download from ModtheSims2 and the hoods is based on the game Sims 2 Pets Story. And it's on a college/university hood.

I haven't use changelotzoning dorm yet, so it's still a Resident lot.

[rwills]

If I understand what you are saying correctly, this problem happens only with a custom 'hood and not with your regular 'hoods.

That could well point to the source of the problem being the custom 'hood itself, especially if it is a custom 'hood which requires EPs/SPs which you may not have installed.

[AxelNightFire13]

Well if it is the Hood that is causing this problem...Do you know other Hoods that I can use that are safe?

The only EPs I don't have are Seasons,OFB,and Pets. And no stuff packs.

[rwills]

There are pre-made college 'hoods out there, but I tend to using custom empty 'hoods and building on them specifically to make a college I prefer, using custom Greek houses, custom Sceret Societies, etc.

So I can't point you to any pre-made colleges/universities with which I've any experience, but can point you to a place with some empty custom terrains I've used for college 'hoods (not the biggest selection, but an interesting mix):

http://www.angelfire.com/va3/elstonebyrequest/ed-ter-riv/edterriv.html

http://www.angelfire.com/va3/elstonebyrequest/ed-ter-nov/edternov.html

And just to make sure (apologize if question is too elementary), you are putting custom terrains into the sc4Terrains folder and not into the Downloads folder, correct?

[AxelNightFire13]

It not the hood! I try building a house on a terrain that came with the game and still the same problem. Until someone tells me how to stop my houses and Dorms from disappearing...I'm going to give up playing the Sims. This is pissing me off!!! 

[ancienthighway]

If you haven't already, move the TS2 folder from My Docurments\EA Games to your desktop, then start the game.  As the game starts it will create all the necessary files to play the game, just as if you did a fresh install of it.  Then without making any changes to the newly created game files, try to build a house and see it you are having the same problem.

If you do have a problem, then I'd say you have a problem with most likely your video card not being powerful enough to run all the EPs/SPs you have.  Solution:  buy a better video card if possible or remove EPs/SPs until it works correctly.

If, on the other hand, everything on the new house displays as it should, something in the game files you were using is causing a problem.  Outside of mods, changes to the lighting and camera files could cause the problem.

[AxelNightFire13]

Never mind...The problem only happens if I use all doors. The house is only visible without the doors, but what can I do... And when I try a maxis door...Well new problem happen.



I'll try ancienthighway's idea..but I'm about to give up...

[AxelNightFire13]

Come on guys...I really need help with this. I can't build anything if the walls are going be invisible in the hood! If this problem can't be fix, I'm this close to trashing my game... 

[caffeinated.joy]

Don't bump your thread, please. First, did you try the suggestions ancienthighway made in his last post? It would be helpful if you let us know what steps you've taken.

This looks to me like a graphic card issue. What are your specs and have you tried updating your drivers?

[AxelNightFire13]

I have done what ancienthighway said, and it didn't help much. My driver is ATI Radeon Xpress 200.

[caffeinated.joy]

OK, that could be the problem right there. What EPs and SPs do you have?

Also, could you please answer the whole question. When I asked for your specs, I meant for your computer. RAM, processor, etc. Also, have you tried updating the drivers? Are you running XP or Vista?