I've been playing Sims 3 for the XBox 360 and wow but does this game have issues. I'm going to go through what I figured out on my own plus a lot of what I had to search for online, and sometimes the correct answer was so hard to find that it's useful to consolidate all this into one post. Hopefully it'll be helpful to someone else. I'm going to set this up like a FAQ and hopefully search terms will lead people here looking for these answers. Not all of this is bugs, some of it is helpful tips or major problems I ran into that aren't helped by the tiny manual that comes with the game, nor the in-game Lessons database.
-- How do I control my Sim directly in Sims 3 for XBox 360?
You can't. This surprised me too, as I was so used to it from Sims 1 and 2 for the 360. Apparently, that method of direct control is console only and the PC versions have always been what Sims 3 is now. You direct the Sims with the green beam of light, cueing up tasks for them like you had the option to do in the other console games but this time it is the only control method. You get used to it, but I do still miss running around with the actual Sim, especially as the camera controls in Sims 3 can be a bit wonky (annoying when searching the ground for anything or trying to zoom in on something).
Also take note that your Sims are completely stupid when you leave them alone in one location and go elsewhere. Usually they will get up even if they were dead tired, and if there is a baby or toddler in the house, I'll come back to find the baby on the floor or the toddler wandering around... which means an older Sim got them out, regardless of whether the youngling was sleeping or not.
-- Can I make my Sim stop aging or keep them from aging up to the next age bracket?
Yes, it's in the main game options (Start button) under Options. You can uncheck the Enable Aging button, then hit X to save and exit (be sure you hit X and not some other button!). See the question/answer below about birthday cakes and aging up if you want to make Sims reach a new age bracket while aging is turned off. Seriously, it's important. Go look.
-- My Criminal Sim won't go to work! The "Go to Work" button is greyed out, the car pool doesn't show up, and walking up to the building and clicking it doesn't give the option to go to work. It also doesn't seem to be affecting if he/she will get fired or not?
This happened to my criminal guy at a fairly high level, and since there is no edit town option I wasn't sure he'd ever get to work again. The solution given for the PC version was to delete a possible invisible wall in front of the criminal building door. I fixed it by choosing the "Retire" option, which sent him over to the building, and he went into the door like he should and disappeared like normal (going to work / shopping). The dialogue came up to say he'd been given an offer of $___ to retire and asked if I wanted to do this or not. I cancelled it (did not retire), then sent him back home. The next work day, the car pool message came up again like it should (it hadn't been for ages plus he would not come home after work on his own for several days in a row before the bad bug happened). He was able to go to work from then on.
This happened again to a non-Elder character who was not old enough to retire. After his strange three day weekend (the extra work day just magically vanished somehow), the carpool arrived as usual.
- My sim got stuck and won't move, he was in the way of another Sim I have control over.
I had this happen with one character making the bed while the other one wanted to, and there was only a 1-block width space because the character making the bed was right by the wall. I cancelled everybody's actions but the stuck Sim would not move at all and the cancelled action stayed cancelled and wouldn't clear. The other Sim blocking the way stood there tapping his foot with no actions showing at all (the cancelled action had cleared). I fixed this by having one Sim try to talk to the other (I think the stuck one, I can't remember exactly). This seemed to unglitch them both, and the blocking Sim walked away and the now-unstuck Sim followed him.
- My Sim wants to "Clean Entire House" but when I try this, he just stands where he is and shouts about not being able to get to something like he's blocked from it. I can't find anything messy in the house!
Did you put a dirty item into Storage using Buy/Build mode? I had this happen when I stored an unmade bed and realized what the problem was on my own after fruitless searches giving answers that were only useful in the PC version (sledgehammer blank areas of grass in the yard and something invisible might sell and "vanish" properly). I got the bed back out of Storage and stuck it in the yard and had the Sim go over and make it. He got his wish points and I put the bed back in Storage.
- I can't age my Sim with a birthday cake!
Firstly, you can only use one birthday cake per Sim in the 360 version (online search brought me to this via someone else's statement and gameplay appears to confirm it). This applies to any age bracket that can age up: Baby, Toddler, Child, Teenager, Young Adult, and Adult. Note that in the PC version you can use the birthday cake on the same Sim as many times as you want, but you may have to wait a day between uses.
If the problem is trying to get the cake out of inventory, you have to do it from Buy/Build mode. Select Buy, then Family Inventory and look in the Sim tab for the cake. You can select it from there and then place it on a table. And yes, cakes do get old and can't be used once they are spoiled (but they can be cleaned up). If a cake stays in inventory and spoils, a Sim will throw it out (or well, my Neat Sim did by default, it may be a selectable option once it has spoiled, or just get it out in Build/Buy mode and stick it on a table and make a Sim clean it up).
If you have already used the cake once on a Sim you want to age up again and have aging turned off in the main game options, the only way to age up them up is to do it naturally, with aging on. If you can do this while keeping other Sims in the age brackets you want to keep them in (they won't hit their birthdays first), then go for it. Turn Lifespan to Brief to make it faster, I'd recommend keeping a backup saved game just in case things go wrong. If this is not an option because one or more other Sims is going to hit their birthday(s) first, keep reading.
Aging up one Sim without aging up others who are near their birthdays gets trickier and you have a lot of work ahead of you... unless you can already make Ambrosia, including having all the right ingredients. If that is the case, then make it and feed it to the Sims who you want to stay in their age brackets if they already have too much time on the aging bar. Now turn aging on / set lifespan to Brief to make things faster if you want. If you have to feed the "non-aging" Sims Ambrosia at a later point because they are in a young age bracket with fast lifespan, do so. Have the Sim you want to age up do so, then turn aging back off once they've hit the desired age bracket.
Don't have Ambrosia or don't know how to make it? See the next question/answer.
- How do I make Ambrosia? Where do I get Life Fruit? Where do I get Deathfish?
Ambrosia requires Life Fruit and Deathfish, and brings a Sim back to life or resets their age days back to zero on their current age bracket (there is no way to age down a Sim into a previous age bracket). Most of the credit for the following info goes to a Yahoo answer by Goddess which can be found here. You need:
Cooking skill 10, buy/read Ambrosia recipe.
Gardening skill 7.
Fishing skill.
Cooking and Gardening can both be levelled to what you need (and/or max level) by reading books if you don't want to do it by cooking things and planting stuff. FYI, a sprinkler can be found under Build/Buy -> Buy -> Appliances -> Misc Appliances and can be tinkered to auto-water by a Sim with high level in Handiness. Cooking can also be learned by watching the cooking channel after skill level 2 if your Handiness Sim has upgraded the television to show more channels. Fishing skill you will be levelling anyways while doing this if you haven't gotten it up previously.
For fishing: Buy some cheese, say 10 per fishing trip or more if you don't care about them possibly spoiling. Note that fish themselves definitely spoil if kept in inventory for too long. Find a fishing spot, they're marked on the map with a blue fishhook symbol and usually you should see fish jumping out of the water when you arrive. Fish right on the spot with the jumping fish. At first you can't use bait, you need skill level 2. Once you hit 2, stop fishing and fish again, "Choose Bait" and pick one of the cheeses.
Cheese will catch Alley Catfish, and at skill level 5 you can use fish as bait. Once you can do so, use the Alley Catfish as bait, and catch Angelfish. You may end up catching other fish too but just keep trying, higher skill level helps for getting the better fish. Use the Angelfish as bait to catch Deathfish in the water right by the Catacombs/Graveyard (which is near the Criminal career building / Theater) from 12am-5am. You can also supposedly catch Vampirefish at that location during the same time.
Life Fruit: You need Gardening skill 7 for this. It is a seed of Special variety found randomly lying around on the ground. You can also get it from Science career level 9. If you have the Collector item, it's a lot easier to find seeds. I don't have the Collector and have no interest in trying to add another Sim to the household and slogging through Science, so the other option is to run around town and the residential areas and look for seeds on the ground. The most highly recommended place seems to be the Catacombs/Graveyard. I've had better luck near the water at the Moonlight Falls Fishing Hole (top-right corner of the map). Seek ye as many Special seeds as you can find, plant them and cross your fingers. You can also get Flame Fruit this way, which is required for angel food cake, and Deathflowers which are handy to keep in inventory in case a character dies, as they will trade it to the Grim Reaper for resurrection.
I'm not sure if there is a definite ratio for the odds of what kind of Special plant you will end up with, but here's my results for a round of nine Special seeds and what they ended up growing:
Deathflower: 5
Life Fruit: 2
Flame Fruit: 2
If that's anything hard-coded into the game then it seems Deathflowers are more likely to be the end result while the other two are more rare. As soon as you have harvested Life Fruit and Flame Fruit, remember that you can replant them to create more. Forget tromping around crossing your fingers for mystery seeds from that point onwards! Also, remember that if you move to a new lot, take everything out of the fridge and put it in main Sim inventory (and your books out of the bookshelf storage) or you will lose all that work when moving even if you take your furniture with you.
-- How do I make my child Evil? They were born or adopted after I started the game.
This is for the wish "See (child) Become Evil." This partly applies to the Genius wishes or any others that may be out there (I imagine maxing out the block puzzle toy might give Genius but I don't know). If you do well enough raising the child at Toddler, Child, and/or Teen stage, you get to pick the next trait at their birthday. Cha-ching! Instant trait acquired. In the case of Evil specifically, I was told via Yahoo answers that having one evil parent will give the child the Evil social interaction options. Choose to do a bunch of those to some random stranger while the child is growing up and the odds are good they'll be Evil if you can't pick their next trait. (I picked Evil when my Sim turned Child and Genius when she turned Teen so I can't confirm this but it's worth a try for anyone having trouble managing the kid well enough to pick traits or for skipping the grindwork of training/school.)
-- There's a plate or bowl stuck to my Sim's hand!
Select your Sim and the option for whatever food it was should be listed along with your Sim's name. Choose the food and put it in inventory. Go into Build/Buy mode and place the plate on the floor, then go back to normal mode and have the Sim clean it up.
-- My game stays on the loading screen after choosing a saved game to continue. It was just working, I don't think it's my game disk.
If your XBox is hooked up to the internet, turn the console off and disconnect the network cable (internet). Turn the console back on and load up the game and (hopefully) play as normal. I found this solution elsewhere and it worked for me. It's also a good way to stop repeated error messages about being unable to contact the EA servers, which I have had happen in the middle of playing (you'll want to save your game, exit completely out to the XBox dashboard, disconnect the internet, and restart Sims).
-- Having a ghost Sim in a part of town that isn't the same section as other player Sims, and returning the ghost to the Netherworld bugs out the game really badly.
This one is actually worth doing just for the lulz, but remember to save first. I had my ghost Sim over in the graveyard attempting to put his gravestone there (didn't work, must be a PC version thing). I had two other living Sims back at home. I told the ghost Sim to return to the Netherworld and he did, and then one of my other Sims was selected to be the current Sim. I got the message about them being in another part of town and did I want to go where they were, and picked "No" by accident so I was still looking at the graveyard. I hit Y to switch to the other Sim which I thought would give me that choice of going back home again.
Instead, the camera zoomed over lots of grass and trees and arrived in my Home neighborhood... but all the houses had really messed up textures and no ability to interact with the doors or go inside them, plus it was no longer my custom made house but the old default starter home. I didn't try to find any way to fix it (like see if I could use the Town Map to go to another part of the map and come back) since I had a saved game from right before saying bye-bye to mister ghost. Next time I play, I'll wax somebody and see if I can duplicate the bug / see if the Town Map will then fix it again and if my proper house is there or not.
One thing this does imply is that the 360 version has some kind of basic map with extremely basic buildings running at all times no matter what part of town you're in. I bet this effects the obnoxious build limit... in that, we could build more if the neighborhood maps actually ended past where you can't see anymore. Maybe it helps with load times between areas... but considering my custom house wasn't even there anymore and there didn't appear to be furniture or anything like that in the mis-textured houses (although there was one guy running around outside doing his own thing)... it's debatable.
I'm editing this and adding to it as I progress, since this game has a lot of weird issues, not just gameplay mysteries. Thanks for releasing an incomplete product, EA... again.
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