Drove myself up the wall the last couple of days trying to find out why my game always, always, no matter which neighborhood I played, no matter whether it was virgin or not, kept sprouting stub files with the label "Unknown", which both HoodChecker and SimPE identified as having "No Character Data".

Turns out the stub was Rod Humble, and the problem was caused by the "No Humble" hack. It doesn't just block him from showing up, it deletes him - and he's one of the class of characters you Should Not Do That To.

Ditched the hack (now trying "Picky Humble", which doesn't delete him but alters his behavior so he shows up less often), so hopefully the worst I'll have to deal with are those pesky split character files. But...what to do about neighborhoods in which he's still just a stub? Can he be retrieved, or do I write them off and start over?

Is there a particular reason you think stub files are problematic?

They worry me. And I was struggling with a deteriorating custom 'hood, which might be connected or might not.

A mod cannot delete a sim or a character file. A sim showing up as Unknown is a custom NPC whose character file is installed in your downloads folder. It's not a sign of corruption, that's just what happens when you install custom NPCs.

Either I'm wrong and the problem isn't Rod Humble after all, or there's something else going on. About the only thing it could be, now, is something gone kaflooey with LazyDuchess' "Playable and Improved Nannies" mod.

It all started a few days ago, when I thought (bad idea) of seeing if the mod could catch an existing Elder instead of the usual Teens. I aged up the Teens and started the game - and it generated a new female Teen rather than grabbing the Elder I had expected it to. I didn't like what she was wearing, so I tried to Gussy her Up - and out of the blue she decided to Run Away!!

So I quit without saving (probably another bad move) and restarted the game - which suddenly froze when I tried playing the same household. That meant a force-quit (probably not good). And the next time I ran the game, the female Teen was nowhere to be found. Ever since then, though, the game has spontaneously generated a minimal stub file - no character data, no name, no nothing - in EVERY neighborhood, EVERY time. I've gone through the entire "game problems" rigmarole up to but not - yet - including a full game reinstall. But if I can't get rid of the problem any other way, I'm afraid that's next.

No, that mod does not add any custom NPCs. The Unknown sim is a custom NPC added by a mod that adds a custom NPC. It shows up in every neighborhood because all of your neighborhoods are using the same Downloads folder. There is no stub file, the character file in your Downloads folder is a full character file, with all of the character data in it. SimPE just doesn't know where to find it because it's in your Downloads folder and not the neighborhood Characters folder.

If you install the Lazy Duchess nanny mod, it will not use elder nanny NPCs, that's basically the whole point of the mod. So yes, if you change the NPC it generated into an elder, they will no longer go to work as the nanny, and a new NPC will be generated.

Found the other problem. It wasn't a "custom Sim" in the ordinary sense, it was this thing: https://modthesims.info/d/522139/sp...t-summoner.html

Drat, I knew that was too good to be true!

Yes, that mod literally says it contains a custom NPC. Next time, read the (very short) mod description before installing the mod, and you will be less surprised upon finding out what the mod actually does.

No one expects things to cause trouble...until they do. ("Trouble" in this instance being "tools getting confused as to wtf that thing is".) So I added a heads-up in the comments.

Incidentally, LD's "Playable Nannies" mod can be tuned to allow Playable Elders (not Townie Elders, though). So if you don't want to be overrun with extra Teens, you can set that up.

Nothing cause any trouble, here, you just got upset about something that wasn't an issue.

The nanny mod doesn't have to be tuned to do anything. If you have elder sims in the nanny career, they will work as the nanny. You don't have to tune anything, that is just how the mod works.

...IF they are Playables, Kes - the mod does not pick up on Townie Elders. Found that out by doing.

Maybe you think I'm making much ado about nothing, but you didn't spend the last few days trying to troubleshoot a problematic custom neighborhood! One issue after another and another - kept thinking I'd found "the" problem, only to discover that I hadn't and there was still something fishy going on. (Not sure I've got it clean enough even now.)

Like I said, there were no problems here. There was nothing to troubleshoot.

And yes, the mod treats playables and townies differently. It is, again, in the mod description, if you cared to read it.

If you don't want SimPE/Hoodchecker to throw errors over the spectral assistant NPC then you could try putting the NPC file in the chars subfolder in your neighbourhood so the game can read it.

The one thing I wish that Lazy Duchess' mod would do is let you use either a playable nanny or the regular Maxis nannies.

The mod does allow Playables, but you have to set them up as Playables in a house and all, and make sure they are in the specified career track. Since you are not supposed to make the in-game Nannies Playable, you can try giving your Playable(s) similar clothing and appearance.

Check the mod (see instructions on the Overview page) to see if it is set to "Prioritize Playables" (it's supposed to default to Yes).

There's no reason you can't move the nanny NPCs in and make them playables in the nanny career. They don't have any particular dress code in that mod.

If I move the NPCs in won't it just spawn more though? I'd prefer if they stayed NPCs.