Hi! So I recently did a fresh install of The Sims 2 on an external hard drive, I have the Ultimate Collection from Origin. I started downloading some Maxis Match CC, booted up the game. Made a sim with a custom skin, played with her a bit, decided to make another family and go into CAS again. Then I run into the problem.

For some reason Skin #1 aka the lightest skin has the face/neck of Skin #3. Huh, that's weird. I google stuff but it mostly points to CC being the problem so I think fine, I'll do the 50/50 and sort it out, no biggie. But as it turns out... biggie!
I gradually take more CC out, boot up game, go to CAS, issue persists. Finally I'm down to an empty Downloads folder - no mods, no build/buy items, no nothing. Glitch is still there. I delete cache files, thumbnail files, nothing changes. I google some more and found a reddit thread where someone said to try default skins, I try that, nothing changes.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?
I should mention, other life stages of S1 are normal. Teens, children, all fine. Just adult females that are bugged for some reason.
Same goes for outside of CAS too - I tried changing an elder into an adult and once she's no longer an elder, the glitch appears.

Attached below are three photos from CAS: the third one is with default skins by Lyran.
Also sorry for picture quality, looks like I've yet to up my photo quality in-game

Are they no-CC sims generated by the game in CAS, or downloaded sims with potentially removed CC? Some removed CC can cause glitches, though it usually in live mode/on-lot, and mostly when a sim has used the item (removing caches usually resets this).

If you're using the same version as before without the bug, and you've recently reinstalled, there could be an issue with the files in the reinstall.
Have you tried fixing the game via the EAapp/Origin? (not reinstall, just the "fix game" option).

It's a potential bug with some game versions, possibly also with a new reinstall (I think it can happen with the Mac versions, possibly Legacy. Unsure with the UC - my version is fine, so I'd think it would be glitched install files in that case).

And one more thing - do you have "Sim/Object detail" and "texture detail" on high in the ingame settings? CC can be affected by these being on lower settings (defaults...).

Did you test with your Sims 2 folder completely removed from your Documents folder, so that the game generates a clean set of files? Test in a new hood, not a maxis one.

Thanks for your suggestions, I really appreciate them!

@simmer22 I used CAS sims and sims from a custom neighbourhood I had downloaded. I played around in CAS on both a brand new, self-made neighbourhood, the downloaded custom neighbourhood and Pleasantview which shipped with the game. I'm not sure about my texture settings, I will check that next!

I repaired the game in Origin, went back in, same issue.

@simsample I tried this as per your suggestion and the issue persists attached below is a glimpse into my game *after repair & making the game generate a new UC folder & with no CC whatsoever present*

Well, I don't think I recognize that hair. Are you sure it's not CC?

It's from the Kitchen & Bath -pack, there's 4 variations with a different colour headband iirc

It's currently my favourite hair! Half my sims are walking around with it right now.

Did a bit of digging, and it seems to potentially be related to some graphic cards/chips, old graphic drivers, and/or a particular Mac version (Sierra).

Which graphic card do you have, and are the drivers updated? (Especially if you have changed computer, reinstalled/upgraded the OS, or any such).

For ingame pictures, turn the size and quality up to high. Or use some form of printscreen (Windows 10/11 has a dedicated printscreen option that saves the pictures in a folder - on my laptop it's the Windows button + Printscreen, but the shortcut could vary. The pictures end up in a separate folder in the "Pictures" location).

Ah, my bad, I played without the stuff packs for so long that I often don't recognize the items from some of them, haha.

I've updated my drivers, in-game textures are set to high as well as sim details. Still get a tan face on a light skin body Oh yeah, and I did repair the game aswell through Origin in case I didn't say that earlier.