I'm playing the normal Sims 3, yea i've googled it and a few people are having the same problem, i've tried saving it to a new save slot but it doesnt help, i'm gunna make a new family today and see if that does anything.
not sure how many weeks i've got to, but i'm on my second generation of Sims.
Also i'm not sure what you mean by patching my Sims, is that just me?
Thank you for your help though!