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Warning
If you want to add a glitch please go to the talk page and see if someone has already reported it. If multiple people are experiencing the same bug it can be added to the lists. Referencing at least one website which reports this glitch is a must.

Here is the list of glitches in The Sims 3 and The Sims Medieval.

All The Sims 3 era games[]

Severity Examples
Icon red beetle bug Severe Glitches that corrupt saves.
Icon yellow beetle bug Glitches requiring quitting without saving, unable to progress in opportunity, adventure or career.
Icon green beetle bug Avoidable features not working, causing game lag, minor annoyances.
Icon beetle bug Graphical abnormalities, no impact on gameplay.
The Sims 3 Glitches
Severity Info Notes
Icon red beetle bug Load game error N/A
A load game error can occur in either The Sims 3 or The Sims Medieval when the game is unable to load the saved game or World file. TS3 Icon
Icon yellow beetle bug Save game error
Save game errors occur in The Sims 3 and The Sims Medieval when the game is unable to save. Save game errors caused by World Adventures were fixed in Patch 7 but save errors can still occur from other causes such as corrupt Custom Content. TS3 Icon

The Sims 3 (Windows and Mac OS X)[]

The Sims 3 PC/Mac Glitches
Severity Info Notes
Icon red beetle bug Ramirez glitch N/A
If a folder for a saved game exists but there is no valid Meta.data file present, the game will display placeholder text when that save is selected in the main menu. The household name will be listed as "Ramirez", with 12:00 AM and "12:45AM" as the time and date respectively. The description will read "Lot description". Both the family and lot thumbnails will be placeholders. When hovered over, the tool tip for the lot thumbnail will read "Cannot load this save game. It may have been saved with expansion pack data that is no longer present on this system."

If other saves are present in the Saves folder, the corrupted save will use the household name, date, and description from the most recently played valid save. The time will still display as 12:00 AM.

TS3 Icon
Icon green beetle bug Law Enforcement/Medical and Take Unpaid Time Off glitch
On the Windows and Mac OS X, Law Enforcement[1] and Medical will override the Take Unpaid Time Off when it calls a Sim to work when the message is displayed. When Take Unpaid Time Off is used, it does not stop them from going to work but will delay the day they go to work. TS3 Icon
Icon green beetle bug No Bills Ever lifetime reward glitch
If a Sim in the household has the "No Bills Ever" Lifetime reward and moves out a member without the lifetime reward and switching control, or moves in a Sim without the lifetime reward, there would be no bills delivered to the mailbox, but still get a warning of unpaid bills, which can be paid by clicking on the notification.Fix: Have the Sim get the "No Bills Ever" Lifetime reward. The cheating way is to turn on testingcheats and clicking on the empty space between the chest icon and number on the Lifetime Rewards tab until Lifetime Reward points reaches 15,000. TS3 Icon
[2]
Icon red beetle bug Windows XP NVIDIA crash
On Windows XP with an NVIDIA driver version 191 would cause The Sims 3 and/or Windows XP to crash. A newer driver fixes this issue.

The crash does not occur in Windows Vista and Windows 7 (due to different driver versions), or in The Sims, The Sims 2 and The Sims Stories. The Sims 3: High-End Loft/Design & High-Tech Stuff later put a warning in the readme regarding this issue.

TS3 Icon
Icon red beetle bug Create a World is unable to start and crashes. Patch 12
Unable to use CAW after Ambitions and Patch 12. EA has confirmed the bug.
Temporary fix: Uninstall The Sims 3 and re-install The Sims 3 and Create a World, but do NOT install Patch 12.
Fix: Download Patch 14 and then a new Create a World patch.
Caw leftgraphic ver808032
[3][4]
Icon yellow beetle bug Unable to open tomb door or loot adventure item. Patch 5
This can happen if you go too far into a tomb or teleport there without having the appropriate adventure.
Note: It is unlikely that this will be fixed by official patches.
Fix: AwesomeMod fixes similar issues, but if you are already experiencing the bug there is a guide in the references.
TS3WA Icon
[5][6]
Icon yellow beetle bug Unable to capture certain motives with the Photography skill. Patch 5
The 'Town Theatre' and the Riverview spa and school were impossible to capture, but EA fixed that in Patch 9. Motives which continue to be uncaptureable are the Dropa Stone relic collection.
Fix: Follow the link for a mod which fixes this glitch.
TS3WA Icon
[7]
Icon yellow beetle bug A corrupt package file infects The Exchange and causes game to slow. N/A
Custom content star
[8]
Icon green beetle bug Mood is above/below half with no moodlets. Patch 17
Main article: Bad Mood glitch

When sleeping on a high quality bed to the point it triggers the 'Well Rested' moodlet, the mood bar remains above half even with no moodlets. Mood bar remains below half if the Sim sleeps on a low quality bed or uses the nectar machine.
Temporary fix: This can be fixed temporarily by quitting and restarting the game.

TS3 Icon
[9]
Icon green beetle bug Unable to open Consignment store buy menu. Patch 12
The game is supposed to return items to you which haven't been sold within 5 days, but it does not work. Instead the items start counting down into the minusses, preventing you from opening the buy menu.
Temporary fix: This can be fixed temporarily by cancelling your consignments. You will need to repeat this step every 5 days.
TS3A Icon
[10][11]
Icon green beetle bug Unable to excavate since Ambitions Patch 12
People with Ambitions cannot excavate if the site is on a slope, the terrain has to be completely flat. TS3A Icon
[12][13]
Icon green beetle bug Cemetery ghosts behave differently since Ambitions. Patch 12
Since Ambitions, ghosts appear to rise from their graves and then drive off in cars. This is possibly related to the new Ghost Hunter career. TS3A Icon
[14]
Icon green beetle bug Challenges and wishes with numbers reset when going on vacation. Patch 5
Some challenges and wishes which require a number of items or tasks to be done have been known to reset when going on vacation. Most notably the 'Vizard of Vine' challenge in Nectar Making. TS3WA Icon
[15][16]
Icon green beetle bug Cursor hand grabs something and cannot let go. N/A
The player hand would sometimes get stuck holding an object, unable to let go.
Temporary fix: Exiting to main menu and reload your saved game seems to clear it. Switching between game modes does not.
Note: This may have been fixed in recent patches 11 or 12 [citation needed].
TS3 Icon
[17][18]
Icon beetle bug The neighborhood is red N/A
The entire neighborhood (or part of it) is bright red.
Fix: There are five things that are known to have caused this: outdated graphics drivers, unsupported graphics hardware, The Sims 3 Mod Manager, an old or corrupt Resource.cfg file, or a corrupt savegame or game installation. First, check to see if you have the Mod Manager. If you do, uninstall it. If the problem still is not solved, delete the file Resource.cfg from your TS3 install directory (default is C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3). Failing this, update your graphics drivers to the latest version. Next, try reinstalling your game, and if the neighborhood is still red, delete some (or all) of your save games from C:\Users\*your username*\Documents\Electronic Arts\Saves and then adding them back one by one until the problem recurs. If that does not fix it, then the game is incompatible with your graphics setup.
TS3 Icon
[19]
Icon beetle bug 'A Great Lecture' moodlet has no icon. Patch 12
The moodlet has no icon and is an empty frame.
Fix: Install Patch 14.
TS3A Icon
[20]
Icon beetle bug "Try for Baby" with the Grim Reaper results in pitch black children Patch 2
The 'Try for Baby' interaction was available with the Grim Reaper in the base game and produced children with a pitch black skin color.
Fix: The interaction was made unavailable in Patch 2.
TS3 Icon
[21]
Icon green beetle bug Buy a Video Game System glitch Patch 9
In the 3.0 and 3.1 versions of The Sims 3: High-End Loft Stuff, the “Buy a Video Game System” wish would not be completed when buying the “GUGA JoyToy 3” and “Console 7” video game systems. Fix: Download Patch 12. TS3HELS Icon
Icon yellow beetle bug Ambitions lot crash Patch 17
In the original version of The Sims 3: Late Night, placing a lot in Bridgeport, editing the new lot and then returning to Edit Town will cause a Game Crash which is caused by Ambitions Lots. Fix: Download Patch 18. TS3LN Icon
Icon green beetle bug Skip Impressing Celebrity Patch 17
It is possible to skip impressing the Celebrity by switching households. This can be done by performing social interactions with a Celebrity and switch households. TS3LN Icon
Icon green beetle bug China freeze glitch Patch 21
When the player travels to Shang Simla, the game will lag and freeze for a few seconds. This does not affect Champs Les Sims or Al Simhara. TS3WA Icon
Icon green beetle bug Create a World Edit in game glitch Patch 22
If the update from May 31, 2011 is installed, using the Edit in Game mode will cause The Sims 3 Launcher to open instead. This will not occur if The Sims 3: Generations is installed as Generations will be opened by Create a World. Caw leftgraphic ver808032
Icon green beetle bug Motive Magenta 3000 motive glitch Patch 22
The Motive Magenta 3000 does not max out a vampire's Thirst need but maxes out other motives. Human Sims will have their Hunger need filled so these Sims are not affected by this glitch. TS3G Icon
Icon green beetle bug Mummy's Curse underwater death glitch Patch 54
When a Sim dies of Mummy's Curse while scuba diving, the ghost does not appear until the ghost jumps to their grave and the Grim Reaper will remain stuck underwater forever. TS3IP Icon


The Sims 3 console games[]

The Sims 3 PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 Glitches
Severity Info Notes
Icon yellow beetle bug Save freeze glitch N/A
Not to be confused with Save game error.

In the original version of The Sims 3 for PS3 and Xbox 360, the game may freeze when trying to save the game. Electronic Arts have released an update that fixes this problem.

TS3 Icon
Icon green beetle bug Cursor glitch N/A

In The Sims 3: Pets for console, the cursor might disappear and the camera will be stuck on the selected sim. Temporary Fix: Save the game, exit, and reload.[confirmation needed]

TS3P Icon

The Sims Medieval[]

The Sims Medieval Glitches
Severity Info Notes
Icon yellow beetle bug Tutorial glitch
In The Sims Medieval, if the player replaces a graphics card or updates the video driver, the player will be forced to redo the Tutorial. Fix: Edit the Options.ini file to disable the Tutorial. TSM Icon
Icon yellow beetle bug Make War Face
In The Sims Medieval: Pirates & Nobles, there is a responsibility that requires a Sim to Practice War Face. However, Make War Face interaction requires very high relationship which only works when the Sim is Best Friend. This makes it impossible to complete the responsibility in Time if the Sim is not a Best Friend. TSMPN Icon
[22]

Gallery[]

Notes[]

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