Relationship issue - ex hangs on?

[aisile]

It feels like I only come on here to write my problems, so sorry about that! Anyway, I'm having problems -- yet again.
I'm playing the same game that I've been playing since September '13, which as most of you probably have experienced means that I've gathered a couple of bugs and issues across the generations.

At the moment I'm frustrated as my romantic interest Desiree cannot become my girlfriend (even if we live together and both are active characters). I just have to pause to excuse myself in advance, for all the relationship drama that you'll have to read through below! 
The background is that Desiree was my Uni girlfriend, who I couldn't manage to bring home because of a bug (old problem thread here: http://www.carls-sims-3-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=19873.0). The Add to Family cheat didn't work, and I haven't been able to bring foreigners or Uni people over at all since my 5th generation. What happened is I went to France, to find a new future wife. While there, I hooked up with my childhood friend Zoé who was now grown up. I break up-texted my Uni girlfriend Desiree in order to avoid the Naughty reputation.
Unfortunately, I realized that the relationship was still "active" when returning home with my new French romance Zoé, so I re-enrolled to go back and break up for good. Magically, this time I was able to add Desiree to my active family! Since I originally wanted her for my wife, I decided to take her back. After a little relationship-switcheroo, all was good and Zoé and my Sim even became best friends.

Now I'm trying to marry Desiree, but it's impossible. Their relationship bars are maxed out, and they have all interactions enabled (such as Try for baby), except for the Propose To Go Steady. In order to have a neutral relationship after the break-up, I Asked To Be Friends, which took them from exes to being neutral, but now when they are romantic interests it's impossible to take it further! They are linked with the pink line in the family tree, which may indicate that they're still involved on some level, but both are listed as "Partner: None" in the overview.
I went back to France, which was the place where I text-broke up. In this place, they have each other listed as partners, but only with a heart, i.e. Romantic Interest, which is weird since this usually doesn't show in the overview. And, when they kiss, my Sim Walter immediately gets the Naughty reputation, as if my Desiree is only the clone of the original Desiree, and Walter suddenly has two active relationships.

Please help!


I should add that I've reset all sims a couple of times. I'm playing the following EPs: Late Night, World Adventures, Pets, Ambitions, University Life, and I'm not using any mods at all.

[LivvieLove]

Hi there Aisile, this might be a question better posted in the Misc. Help section of our forum, as the Tech Board is mainly for issues with the game itself, rather than the gameplay. Mods, if this could be moved to the Misc. Help Board that would probably get Aisile some more direct answers...

As for the issue at hand... This sounds like a bug, or two working together to cause these issues. I'm not sure I'm able to help with those bugs much, but there once was a bug that you couldn't marry someone after being married once and ending the relationship. On top of how glitchy travel can be this sounds like a lot of things that could have gone wrong - did go wrong.

[aisile]

Okay thank you LivvieLove, I'll try to remember the distinction between the boards in the future!
Thanks for your comments as well, it feels as if this is not a solvable issue, but I thought I might just try and ask someone. 

[Dellena]

I would try saving them to the library and then starting a new game, import them and see if the problem persists.  It could be something in the save game has gone hinky.

[Pam]

I'll move this for you, aisile.  And don't worry about only coming here when you have a problem.  That's why we're here.

Have you looked to see if you can asked to become just friends with either or both of the ladies?  It only shows up after a series of many friendly interactions.  If you can get this to happen, I say do it with both and then start over with romance on the one you want Walter to marry.

[aisile]

Thanks Pam
Yep I asked both to be friends. That's how I became best friends with the French girl Zoé. Actually, they were never going out, they were just romantic interests, so I only had to "Ask to Just be Friends" and I never really had to repair the relationship. So I think the long distance relationship with Desiree actually screwed it up.

I've tried another trick now, doing the Clean Slate lifetime achievement award for both Walter and for Desiree, which erases all romantic connections and all romantic history. They still can't marry, so there really must be a bug for these specific characters. I've managed to marry Zoé with another Sim, so the interaction isn't impossible per se. I will probably just have them have their children out of wedlock and live with the bad celebrity reputation -- and hope that the next generation is more lucky!

[Shewolf13]

Have you tried traveling with the Sim you want your Sim to marry?  Sometimes, traveling can un...stick? a bug heh.  It's worth a shot, at least.

[ildapop]

I've had this problem before... Are either of them family oriented or hopeless romantics, or are either of them loners? I had to use the edit-sim in create-a-sim to change one of the sims to having one of those two traits before it would work. If they're both loners without either family oriented or hopeless romantic traits, they are really unlikely to want to marry or go steady with anyone. Hope that helps!

[aisile]

Thanks for all the advice!
ildapop: Yes actually Desiree is family oriented. None of them are loners or hopeless romantics, and none has the commitment issues trait. I guess Family oriented should be in favor here?
Shewolf13: I tried marrying them in France and in Egypt, but I never went to China. I guessed that it wouldn't make a difference.
Thanks anyway all of you!