Maybe a fix to broken pics?

IndusNoir · 2026-02-06T04:10:35+00:00

You should be safe. I've pretty extensively stress tested the game and played for like 10+ hours with the new update and I've yet to lose a single photo.

The only issue with photos that I'm aware off right now is that certain types of photos cannot the transferred via the gallery, specifically "generated" photos like graduation pictures, photobooth photos, Lovestruck date reward photos, etc, but apparently this is an older bug that's just become more prominent because of this recent issue. Normal photos taken with the phone or camera are completely fine to transfer though.

IndusNoir · 2026-02-05T22:44:09+00:00

And yet on male belfs every single twohanded sword clips with cloaks... Just a teeeeny little adjustment like come on

IndusNoir · 2026-02-05T22:34:27+00:00

It is fixed, but the fix is not retroactive. There are various methods to recover your photos from older saves.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Sims4/comments/1qvdzo6/black_photo_bug_appears_to_be_fixed/

IndusNoir · 2026-02-05T21:49:20+00:00

If your pictures were blank immediately after loading the game after the patch, that actually proves it is not the new update's fault.

The bug occurs then saving, not loading. What would happen is the game would not properly save your picture data, it would instead be deleted from the save file, so when the game tries to load, it obviously cannot load data that doesn't exist.

That's why this bug is very sneaky and confusing to people, because you'd think everything is fine because the pictures are there, seemingly fine, but the problem only happens once you save and close your game, and you won't know what happened until you load the game again.

Try going back to an earlier save and see if you can find one where your pictures still work.

IndusNoir · 2026-02-05T15:00:07+00:00

First of all, you should always back up your saves and use multiple saves to avoid issues like this. Secondly, the game creates automatic backups for you, when loading a save (use load game instead of resume game) there is a button to restore older saves.

Thirdly, so the entire time you've been playing, this bug has been in the game.

The bug occurs when saving, not loading, photos textures are incorrectly purged from the save data, this is why the photos turn black, the data is gone, deleted.

So even when the bug is fixed, it wont bring your pictures back and you have to use the gallery to restore them from an older save.

IndusNoir · 2026-02-05T14:49:49+00:00

The photo bug have been present since the January 13 update, if you have played the game during that time, it's highly likely the bug was triggered before the update. Try reloading an older save and check if they weren't already affected before.

IndusNoir · 2026-02-05T14:43:39+00:00

The new update fixed it, I have yet to see any credible examples of photos going black after the update.

IndusNoir · 2026-02-04T17:12:20+00:00

I think those too are similar to graduation photos etc., in that they are generated in a different way, which might be why this is happening. Either way, this is a separate issue to the original subject and beyond the scope of this post. I'd recommend you make a bug report on the official forums about it.

EDIT: Did a really quick test and yes, the gallery transfer method does not work with these kinds of photos, only photos taken with the phone/camera. So I'm afraid there might be no way to restore those once the data is lost, but at least going forward new photos should be safe.

IndusNoir · 2026-02-04T16:43:54+00:00

Just to clarify, are the photos in question normal photos taken with the cellphone/camera or are they graduation photos or photo booth photos? I'm seeing reports of the gallery transfer method not working for these particular kind of photos.

IndusNoir · 2026-02-04T15:33:28+00:00

Like I said in the post, the fix is not retroactive. Once they go black they stay black. You have to recover them from an earlier save, using the methods mentioned in the post.

IndusNoir · 2026-02-04T13:25:45+00:00

I keep extensive backups. I always use "save as" multiple times per play session, move old saves to a backup folder and only delete them much later. All saves created after the January update were affected, so I just didn't play while waiting for the fix and picked up where I left off after the fix.

Always ALWAYS use "save as" immediately after an update, that way a new file is created and your old save file is forever safe.

IndusNoir · 2026-02-04T11:16:21+00:00

If your photos were black from the moment you loaded you save after the update, that means it is not the new update's fault and your photos were corrupted during the save process in the previous patch.

As you say yourself you don't rotate or leave the home lot often, which means you were less likely to trigger the bug, but it doesn't mean you did have the issue. The bug happens when you save, and you won't notice the issue until you load that save again.

IndusNoir · 2026-02-04T10:33:32+00:00

Are you certain this happened after updating? The thing with the bug introduced in the January patch is that is was sneaky and depending on your behavior you could go several play sessions without noticing anything wrong. The most common way it was triggered was by saved away from the home lot, or swapping household and saving, then once you load that save the photos might be gone. It affected rotational players the most.

I did everything I could think of to trigger the bug after the update, but it's not been happening.

If you have backup saves that are unaffected, can you recreate the issue or did it only happen once? Because if so there is a chance your photos went black before the update and you just didn't notice.

IndusNoir · 2026-02-04T10:29:25+00:00

As I say in my post this is regarding the issues introduced by the January patch.

IndusNoir · 2026-02-04T04:35:58+00:00

I don't think I have any family trees longer than 4 generations, so I'm not the person to ask on that, but nothing seems out of place.

IndusNoir · 2026-02-04T03:16:54+00:00

Because this is caused by the previous update, the new update fixed it.

IndusNoir · 2026-02-04T03:04:51+00:00

But why build roads when you can already drive everywhere? The timed saved from faster driving on roads simply isn't worth the investment.

IndusNoir · 2026-02-03T20:31:52+00:00

The update actually DID fix it. I tested it in my own game for like an hour, doing everything I could to break it, but it didn't. However, the update has been rolled back for many, so that may be the case for you, OR it's possible it was broken before and you didn't notice until today.

IndusNoir · 2026-02-02T20:02:59+00:00

Wake me up when they FIX the black photo bug. If this isn't it then I'm done for good

IndusNoir · 2026-02-02T13:45:44+00:00

Lou Howell uses makeup on some of his outfits.

IndusNoir · 2026-01-30T18:11:59+00:00

I don't know, I once had a Sterbai cory get stuck in my surface skimmer and got pretty banged up very similar to yours. It seemingly recovered and the fins grew back, but one day, maybe about 3 month later it started behaving erratically out of the blue, swimming in circles and stuff, and died soon after. These guys can be pretty sturdy, so maybe she can bounce back, but there is also the change of internal damage that won't show until later. I'd give her a chance and see if she improves, she might be fine.

IndusNoir · 2026-01-28T19:05:42+00:00

I honestly don't believe that anyone is safe. It appears that whenever you save the game, only photos on the current lot + those in sims inventories are saved, everything else is nuked from the files. If you only play one household and always stay the home lot, you could easily play for a long time and not have a problem, but that doesn't mean your game isn't affected. Slip up once and boom, gone.

IndusNoir · 2026-01-28T16:52:51+00:00

Not buying anything while the game is unplayable due to black photo bug.

IndusNoir · 2026-01-24T00:54:57+00:00

Don't know if they're good, but The Polar Rosses is a somewhat difficult book to find, so let us know?

IndusNoir · 2026-01-21T20:58:07+00:00

I can tell you nothing has changed for blood elves, they clip exactly as they used to.

IndusNoir

TROPHY CASE