Invisible Sims?

[CGrouse]

I have random sims (human and pets) that are completely invisible the only thing I see are their little thought bubbles... It's always NPC's not ones that I control, and my sims can interact with them but they are completely invisible.... I ran a check on my computer and all it's components are above average for running the sims and my graphics in the game are all set at the lowest possible setting, so I doubt it's just having the graphics set to high... But it's really quite frustrating trying to interact with an invisible sim.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

[twallan]

What you described is how the game-engine renders sims that have broken outfits.  Broken/Corrupt sim outfits are unfortunately quite common in this game.

I'm unclear whether there is any EA Standard approach to correcting the issue, perhaps another poster will be able to provide a method.

If no solution arises, feel free to read my signature for further help.

Good Luck.

[Juxtaposition]

I have been having a problem recently with birthdays making sims invisible, I find that resetsim * command, plus cache clearing, plus restarting my game puts things back to right for me

[Noodles]

Every now and then I experiance this glitch - I'm not too worried about it because usually reloading the file eventually fixes it. But I'm curious to know if the cause is known and is there a way to prevent this, or if this is a sign of corrupted files. (this scares me the most)

When I load the town, every single sim (household and uncontrollables, everyone) are moving and functioning, but invisible. I can control my sims and they can do anything, but they are invisible, and any item they use sinks to the floor. This is not related to travelling, and is not in any way similar to travel related disappearing sims at least in my experience. I have not travelled in the games where this has happened, and the "invisibility" seems to be different anyway (they can function normally etc)

This time I haven't been able to fix it by reloading the file. I tried reloading several times, and cleared the caches, also restarted my computer... but no success. I know it's not necessary to load a backup as this has eventually cured itself, so to speak.

Would Errortrap prevent this sort of thing? It's frustrating to waste time by loading the game about 5 times, it's a bit slow at it's best.

[Figwit]

Here is a post about such an issue.   http://www.carls-sims-3-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=8709.0

[Pam]

Thanks for the link, Figwit.  I'm merging this thread with it.

[Axiom]

Hate to necropost, but I'm having the same issue. Random invisible sims [around town]. Is there a mod or something I can use that will cure this?
I've not taken my active family on vacation, I clear my cache every time I boot it up [I use the batch file], and I do use the resetsim * thing on a regular basis.  The only mods I have right now are Nraas StoryProgression and MasterController.

Found a list of solutions:
http://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2011/04/bug-invisible-sims.html

[twallan]

The only mods I have right now are Nraas StoryProgression and MasterController.

Try using the "Sim \ Advanced \ Reset Sim" from the City Hall menu on everyone in town.  That may correct them.

[Rainbow Dash]

Reviving this thread:

A townie has gone invisible, I can only see their thought bubbles & I cannot interact with them all, this is frustrating as I wanted to befriend that sim.  Rest sim does not work, neither does reloading the game. Any idea on what causes this & how to fix it? I don't use mods or CC & no vacations have been taken. (I never seem to have any bugs at all with vacations anyway).

[NearlyWitches]

I have no idea what causes it but when it happens to me, moving the invisible sim out of their house and then back in again resets them properly. Although if it happens to a lot of townies, it's pretty slow so I don't know if there's a quicker solution.

[Trip]

One particular invisible sim bug is fixed by changing outfits. If you don't want to use Edit Town/can't use Edit Town because it's a challenge or a dynasty, I'd try throwing a party with something other than casual wear as the dress code, which will force the invisible sims to change their outfits and hopefully appear again. It might not work, but it might be worth a try.

[Chimark]

I just came across this problem today. But it's the cat that is invisible. You can't change outfits on a cat right? I tried to reset the cat-sim. But it didn't work. Before moving the family in and out, can someone please let me know.

thanks

[athena]

Ive had this invisible sim before, check out your town file in EA folder see if there is .bad after the file name, that means your town/file is corrupt. The mods usually create havoc in the game in the long run so I steer clear away from them since my game crashed,

[ethyrdude]

If it weren't for the mods we would be at the mercy of EA and their somewhat sloppy QC.  TO cure an invisible sim in world and not on a lot, if you have Twallan's Story Progression, you can usually figure out who the person is and click on their icon to bring them into CAS to properly rezz their outfit.
If you don't have the mod it's a bit difficult to cure.  I had sims showing up at my door to visit and I didn't know they were there unless they were thinking or speaking.  It seems to be caused by some sort of corruption in the work outfits so what I did on my house was post a dresscode sign by Consort and set the sign to everyday clothes.  As for fixing the corrupt work clothes, having the sim change into them while in CAS seems to work at least part of the time.

[Bobbysox]

If it weren't for the mods we would be at the mercy of EA and their somewhat sloppy QC.  TO cure an invisible sim in world and not on a lot, if you have Twallan's Story Progression, you can usually figure out who the person is and click on their icon to bring them into CAS to properly rezz their outfit.
If you don't have the mod it's a bit difficult to cure.  I had sims showing up at my door to visit and I didn't know they were there unless they were thinking or speaking.  It seems to be caused by some sort of corruption in the work outfits so what I did on my house was post a dresscode sign by Consort and set the sign to everyday clothes.  As for fixing the corrupt work clothes, having the sim change into them while in CAS seems to work at least part of the time.

When this happened to me, it was on a sim I owned. I was stumped at first then stuck her in the shower and she came out visible again. Guess I got lucky!