Hello,

After a while of learning about modding and custom content, I've decided to actually play the game for once. However, when I load into a lot for the first time, the Sims' clothing (clothing only, not the hair) randomizes. I have not gotten any clothing default replacements installed and the clothing the Sim randomizes into is also always a maxis one (even though their intended/supposed outfit is also a maxis one). If I save the game and then exit the lot and load in again, the outfit stays the same, as it should.

Removing my mods also did not help...

Why not manually edit my Sims' outfits and then save? Well, I am trying to play a custom neighbourhood and I'd like to see the intended clothing on the Sims. I first thought this custom 'hood might've been the issue, but this problem also occurs in another one of my hoods; a custom one of my own (created with "Create New Neighbourhood" button), which I haven't played in ages, but apparently has the same problem now (which it definitely didn't have when I first created it)...

Also, from a technical standpoint, I'd really like to know why this is occurring.

Has anyone here got any ideas?

Thanks in advance for your help! :D
CT04.

Do you have One Drive synchronising your Documents folder to the cloud as you play, or is your antivirus set to scan your Documents folder on-access? If so, exclude your Sims 2 files in case your game is being prevented from writing to the neighbourhood files correctly.

Next test would be to backup your game, and test the neighbourhood with a clean set of userdata (drag your Documents/ EA Games folder to the desktop, run the game to create a new one and then copy your neighbourhood into there to test). Do outfits save correctly then?

Did the sims use any CC clothes on the sims the first time around? If so, have you at some point removed the CC, or your downloads folder, or turned CC off - and then run the game? If you have, the game doesn't save the clothing references properly, and will "default" to putting sims into random maxis clothing and hair (at least for saved sims/visited lots). Even if you put the CC clothes and hair back into your downloads folder again, they won't return on the sims.

For a custom hood, it's possible the creator used default replacement clothes in the previews, so what you're seeing is probably the regular default clothes from your game, or the game can't find the references for the default replacements and randomizes the outfits (the new outfits stay when saved). I'd think this is likely normal behavior.

If you make sims in CAS, do they keep their clothes (as they should) when you put them on a lot? If they do, any of the above is most likely, especially when using custom hoods or if you've moved CC around.

OK, so I disabled OneDrive on the Documents folder (the only way I was able to do that was by reinstalling OneDrive and not selecting the Documents folder), but, that didn't help. I went through some of the steps on the troubleshooting page you linked and am now at the part where you let the game regenerate a new "The Sims 2" folder.

Well, the problem still persists; When I put my custom neighbourhood into the game, the outfits still randomise. And, even worse, I opened the standard "Pleasantview" and it wasn't populated with Sims at all! Strangetown and Veronaville work fine, however Veronaville has Pleasantview's Story panel/book now?!

Is this game corruption? It would suck if it is, as I then would have to reinstall my game and I've made quite a few adjustments to the game files over the years (camera mod, manually altered wants packages, etc.) and I don't remember them all of off the top of my head...

Anyway, thanks for your reply btw! :D

Nope, all maxis clothing. That is why I find it weird that it keeps randomising, as its intended outfit was also a maxis outfit. When I change the outfit and save the lot and exit (the lot) and come back, the saved outfit stays.

Just to check, did you test with the clean Sims 2 folder, as well as clean neighbourhoods?

Could you tell me about your game setup (where it's installed, what version of the game you are running and where your userdata goes)?

I gave my actual "The Sims 2" folder another name ("The Sims 2_Main" in my case), so that the game would generate a new one. This is the one where all of the corruption like stuff happened in. I just started up my "The Sims 2_Main" folder to see if any of that stuff happened there, but my already played Pleasantview was fine in that the Sims were still there (and not that they disappeared as with the newly generated "The Sims 2" documents file). Although, I do think my used Pleasantview is a meetmetotheriver's clean template...

My game is installed in E:\Program Files (x86)\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Mansion and Garden Stuff\TSBin . It is the disk version that I've cracked so that I can start it up without a disk inserted. I have all expansion and stuff packs installed and as far as I know all of the patches as well. I use Graphics Rules Maker , the 4GB Patch and the RPC Launcher (.zip version) to start up the game.

My userdata can be found at D:\Users\UserName\Documents\EA Games

In total I have 3 hard drives on my PC. The standard C: drive, A D: drive (where my userdata is located) and my E: drive (where my game is installed on).

Do the same issues occur in a freshly generated version of either one of the 3 main hoods (vanilla version or meetmetotheriver's clean templates)? - Check any of the premade families, they should have their regular outfits.

Is the custom hood old enough so it's possible you at some point had CC/defaults in it, took it out, and forgot you did? This could cause the issue.

Removing CC/defaults/clothes is usually what causes this particular issue. If the clothes can't be found, sims generate with random clothes on the first new load, and save with whatever they're wearing when you save them.