Suddenly Invisible Butler/Some Other Weird Glitches

[ZacSz]

So, I've been playing a game in which I really just wanted free range and wanted to be able to take full advantage of every feature the game has to offer. I have been using cheats (just money and testingcheats) but DO NOT use mods or have ANY custom content other than things I downloaded directly from the EA store.

My computer doesn't struggle too much with handling the sims, but the house my family is living in is massive, so there's a bit of a lag and there has been. Eventually, since maids in TS3 tend to be sloppier than cleaning up after yourself, I decided to hire a butler once there were two babies AND a toddler to take care of so my parents could have some down time. Well, she disappeared on a Saturday and no longer showed up as in the house.

This was right after she appeared as a "distant friend" to all of the people in the household. I honestly don't know how that happened, since they only hadn't had much interaction for approximately 20 minutes of Sim time. That's a slight exaggeration, but really, it seemed a bit abrupt. It always says to maintain a good relationship with your butler or they may leave, so I thought perhaps she had quit. I never recalled them leaving on the weekends before.

So, I hired a new butler. Not long after the new one came along, she walked off screen and I never saw her again. Oh, she still cooks copious amounts of food. There are burgers and dim sum and hot dogs all rotting on the counter because my family simply can't shovel it down. But she's nowhere to be found, and her icon says she's in my house somewhere. I checked the bed I set for her in the evenings, and nothing. Any ideas?

One time, I actually saw the oven door opening and closing without anybody in front of it, but it turned out my kid sim had asked his imaginary friend/doll (part of Generations) to "Get a Snack for Me" without my knowledge and I had a different sim selected, so I couldn't actually see the imaginary friend. I think....

Then there are just some other little strange things happening with this game, like, I just got a notice my baby turned "thin" even though he's being fed every time his hunger goes down past half. That seems slightly weird.

[Galena]

Do you know your butlers name?  If so try entering "resetsim name" in the cheat console, without quotes and their first and lastname replacing name.   

If you don't know your butlers name, enter "resetsim *", without quotes.  You game will appear to freeze for a while, as every sim in your town is being reset.

Your butler should appear after you enter one of those codes.

[ZacSz]

Good call! I'll try it the next time I play that family, thanks a bunch.

To the best of your knowledge, should my butler reappear in my home, or will they be reset somewhere else (i.e. their own home... do NPCs even have homes?) and I'll have to rehire a new one?

[Pam]

I've never had a butler stay for longer than a week.  At least, I've never paid one for more than a week.  They all just disappear from the house and show up in the relationship panel.  I'm starting to think that maybe butlers just don't stay around very long and we have to keep hiring a new one.

Using the ResetSim code may send your current butler off to oblivion, but you'll be able to hire a new one that will hopefully show up on your screen.

[ZacSz]

Oh, that's actually interesting about Butler's possibly not staying for more than a week. I hired this current butler (that I can't find) after the old one upped and left after her first week, so maybe their time with a family is limited? I don't make much use of them, but I could have sworn I've had butlers for longer periods of time... though I could be mistaken. The first butler is indeed now just in the relationship panel, but no longer listed as in-house. So maybe that is the case with Butler's. One week, and time for the new?

I'll be sure to report back what happens with resetsim; even though I don't know her name off the top of my head, I should be able to use resetsim name without having to reset everyone because if I mouse over her icon in the relationship panel her name should just pop-up.

[Blackrosea]

I don't know if you have found a solution to this problem or not, but I can give you experience I have had in the past with a butler.  I have had a butler with my family for more than 4 Sims weeks at a time in the past.

They will leave your house if your friendship with them takes a dip, and you don't try to repair it.   They also will leave your family if you move to a new house, and you will have to hire another one.  If you hire one, you need to introduce yourself as soon as possible and work on a friendship if you can or cheat and make them your best friend .   If you live in a house with a fence, be sure the gate is not locked so they can come inside. As soon as they are in the gate you can re-lock it (good if you have celebrities in your household)

In Bridgeport, they live in the highrises around town. In the other towns, I haven't seen any, but if there are apartments in your town they probably will be located there, otherwise they will be like the firemen, police, maids, paperboy/girl etc in the town.

In regards to them making you lots of meals, if your using cheats, don't let have your hunger motive get below 1/2 and he/she wont cook for you. If you aren't using cheats, I have some fruit or veggies with my Sims so they can eat one if their hunger motive is low and I don't want the butler to make meals.  This way when your Sims get home,  it wont prompt the butler to cook (or have your Sim go home after the butler goes to bed and they wont cook)  If you are home a lot, you need to keep up on watching the hunger motive or they will be cooking.  But I find them more helpful with my family when I have a lot of young Sims and/or pets that need a lot of attention then a bother really.

[MoMoll]

I've had a butler who stayed for many weeks. I think part of the reason is that he liked her and they had become best friends. I had her ask for a massage because she had a backache due to her pregnancy and after he put his hand to his chest and just stared at her with a goofy look. He stayed until the kids became toddlers and left the moment her new boyfriend moved in.
 
The next one was female and she just disappeared after 1 week.

[ZacSz]

Those are both interesting accounts on Butlers in TS3! As for my specific problem with this one, I just used resetsim, and the next Butler I made sure to keep the relationship high and she stuck around for a while until the nooboos grew up and were a little more self sufficient

[MoMoll]

They seem to stick around if you talk to them daily. However, the male butler was following my sim around (with a mod I found out he was a hopelessit was good she left. (Hopelessy romantic with a compatible zodiac sign). The female butler was tooo interested in the husband, so no problem she left.

[Blackrosea]

Well I am glad it all worked out for you