Why is Bella Goth missing? The REAL (technical) reason 

39:06 April, I did some digging and I think that the reason Mortimer and Bella don't have each other in the relationships is simpler than it appears. :D When you go to sim description of Bella or Mortimer and later you choose "Relationships" section, they don't have a Relation added there (relationship is marked with smiley) - Bella has the relations with her children. You have to have "Not related" ticked and with right mouse button you can add the second spouse to relationships and after saving Mortimer will have Bella in the relationships in game. Therefore to make a sim to appear in the relationships in the game, both relation between them must be added and "known" tick must be checked. Bella has relations with her children, but no "known" tick checked and she has "known" tick checked, but she has no relation with Mortimer.

I never thought I would see Bella Goth document and explain her own disappearance

I love that in the examples of Bella being found in the wild one was absolutely freaking out in astonishment and then Kevin didn’t even notice it amongst the carnage that was his play through

Crying at the Call Me Kevin footage 😭😭😭😭😭 his save file must be amazing for corruption research

I’m not sure if using Kevin’s cursed cloned Vidcund footage is clarifying anything or adding more confusion 😂

I’m so glad that you’ve dedicated the time to dispelling so many myths of The Sims 2. The coding for The Sims 2, especially for what it is and the time in which it came out, is not the Flying Spaghetti Monster mess that people really think it is, it’s actually quite sophisticated. Even it’s faults, I don’t think people realise how many games are technically hacked and slashed into function and the fact that The Sims 2’s most disastrous glitches and errors can take years to really accumulate, is a remarkable feat for such a huge game from 2004.

i genuinely hope we see more of your sims 2 technical deep dives even after the teased grim reaper vid, they're amazing!

14:21 the funny thing about this pop up is that you're actually supposed to say "Yes" if you decline and vice versa, because they're asking if you mind that they give them your number. So it's No as in I don't mind and Yes as in I do mind, this is how it works in the BHAV script. They should have really rephrased it lol, so confusing for no reason.

Oh, really neat to know that there is indeed a specific BHAV to fix Strangetown Bella. I remember testing about a year ago and observed that Bella always gets moved to the Townie household in a patched game, so I had a hunch they must have added a routine for this. Didn't think the BHAV would literally be named "Fix Bella" lol I still remember the DRAMA back when the game launched and no one could find her. The oversight ironically turned a purposeful "mystery" into a genuine one.

I think the I am dead token is there so visiting SIms who died somewhere else while playing another household will immediately die and won't just wander around as if they would be alive. I remember I had a bug where a collegue of a Sim died on another lot and they kept bringing that Sim over from work but they immediately 'died'.

I was wondering what was going on with Caliban's inventory I Am Dead Token lol. I didn't notice you could make all the tokens visible using that checkbox.

Aww, I have a cameo in this during the Bella patch part! After my comment on reddit, I realised the devs actually didn't mention the Bella fix in the patch notes but I sweeeaar I saw it mentioned somewhere. Glad to see that I didn't imagine it. Thank you again for your service, April! x

This is the only youtube channel where, if a new video drops, I instantly stop what I'm doing and go watch it. Great content as always!!

Maybe the disappeared Sim still appears in the relationship panel because the relation is set to spouse? Between Bella and Mortimer the relationship is not defined or unknown. This could overwrite the whole known tickbox. Hopefully you'll see this comment because I'm certain there's that possibility

Bella Goth died in a fire in my Sims 1 game, so when I first opened up Sims 2 for the first time and saw the Goth family had lost Bella I was SHOOK! Love your videos, I think you're one of the coolest people around x

whooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa 🤯 If someone watches any lore video about Bella (e.g. by Plumbella), then my video, then your video, it's like they're going deeper and deeper down into a mysterious dark cave 😆 PS The Helena pun is much appreciated!

THANK YOU for explaining what the "kill" option on the townie gun does! I had been wondering for years if generating and then "killing" a townie that way actually created a character file, let alone what would subsequently happen to said character file; I'd asked multiple times but nobody ever seemed to have an answer, or else misunderstood my question. I just double checked in SimPE and yep, my custom hood does indeed have a handful of randomly-generated Sims that must have been my townie gun rejects. As someone who hates unnecessary files, going forward I will just stick with the first generated option and AltSimSurgery them into what I want.

I love seeing the game from such a technical point of view. it really explains how the game works and makes me appreciate it WAY more

drop whatever shit you're doing self-aware bella goth transported herself into our reality and explains her disappearance from a technical point of view

For someone who's tragically never played the Sims 2, I kept watching the entire video and actually enjoyed it idk why🤣 also your style, the way you speak, and that gorgeous black cat gives some serious witch vibes.

...earlier today, i left a comment on squiggly lines video saying i'm watching that and corruption one interchangeably from time to time while waiting for the new one and HERE IT IS, THE NEW ONE.

I love your deep dives into the coding and behind the scenes behaviors of the Sims 2. I used to be really interested in game development until my comp sci 101 class in college scared me away because of all the math my professor made us do. Your content is unique and presented in a way that makes it understandable even without much game development knowledge.

As a QA Engineer, I'm impressed! Your video is so clear and detailed :) Amazing investigation!

She's back to school us ! 🥳 Really hyped for that game corruption video as well. Can't wait for everything I think I know to be ripped appart.

25:58 something pretty interesting here I think - your sims has a grey portrait in the family tree, yet she is still linked to Vidcund as his spouse there, despite not having any kids that would connect them. Is this perhaps why pre-made ancestors are also linked to each other as spouses in family trees? So much knowuledge I never knew i needed :P

a random thing that i *believe* is a side effect of the way that maxis built the 'fix bella' behaviour function: in one of my pleasantviews, which i had renamed to N002 as i already had another pleasantview in that folder, cornelia goth got moved to the townies family instead of bella. i found that out the other day while teleporting sims around using the sim blender... not exactly a game-breaker as ghost sims don't spawn on community lots, but pretty fascinating for some reason lol.

I really appreciate your investigation. The Sims community really needed someone like you because the number myths which were created around TS2 is reallly huge.

Your contribution to the debunking of Sims 2 most misunderstood occurrence, corruption, is phenomenal. And i'm impressed that you still pushing out videos. Good job!

So knowing all of this diagnostic information, is it possible to bring Bella back properly? Put her in the right household, get rid of the token, relink her, tick known relationships on, etc.

this was very usefull for me cause the clean template of Pleasentview removes all this and Bella spawns on community lots so i was able to replicate it so she doesn't, so thank you

WOW, I did not expect there was so much to Bella Goth’s disappearance! Excellent work, as always! PS. I love the April x Vidcund ship!

I love Sims 2 videos like that, especially those focusing on SimPE. It always seems so nice learning how Sims 2 actually operates and stuff (plus some nice remnant stuff that basically is a history of Sims 2 development, be it unused data or patches apparently). Now Bella's disappearance is finally explained fully (from technical point of view). Almost fully, there's still that weird thing with Mortimer's relationship tab with her (maybe it was also somehow fixed in that object.package file, like Strangetown Bella?). Also, as always, you're videos make me feel like Sims 2 in the end is quite stable and good game, without fix everything mods. I wonder, does next video by any chance will be connected to Nervous and Olive? Plus, that video basically made somewhat of a time travel in Sims 2 a possibility. Just hide a Sim in default bin for few generations then have them back, not knowing anyone notable etc. Not to mention you gave a fix to Brandi's pregnancy (or cloning process I guess).

I find it wholesome that, as a kid, you admired Bella so much that you made your sim look like her twin sister, and now, you look like you could be Bella’s twin sister irl.

Not Bella getting reanimated and immediately fawning over Don Lothario!

The fact that Strangetown-Bella showing up wasn't even close to the weirdest thing on screen in Call Me Kevin's footage is so funny 😄

Did Pleasantview Bella's sim description got broken somehow, making her lose personality points or was she never given any at all? Would it be possible to restore her intended personality?

THE QUEEN POSTED I REPEAT THE QUEEN POSTED IL BE BACK ONCE I WATCH THE VIDEO

Oh my god, thank you for finally revealing why all of my gravestones disappeared! I've had my neighborhood for 15+ years and when I moved my game to a new computer everything else was fine, but my graves were gone! I was so worried that I had finally corrupted her after messing with it for so long. I did find a mod to respawn most of my graves though, so I kept going. That was over a year ago now and that neighborhood is still going!

Bella having No Personality Points I Agree is a Oversight (as with Memories) but a Story Reason Bella may have no Memories may be because when she was Abducted, perhaps she lost all her Memories

Girl… You have done it again… explained something i had no idea on perfectly and with grace. I actually adore you and your content. ❤

Oooh thank you for this one! Very useful :D can you please explain why in most games Grim Reaper is locked from being interacted with much? A lot of special NPCs can be invited over and moved to your household and the game would easily generate a new one, but never the Grim Reaper. Idk, I just thought it would maybe make a fun video to corner Grim Reaper from a technical standpoint!

so excited to see a new video pop up! and super excited for the teased grim reaper video, im assuming it's going to be about the fact nervous is implied to be the grim reaper's child via olive.

This is so amazing, it's so cool to finally see a developer explanation because it shows a lot about the intention they had for her. Now I can double check if I have successfully retrieved my Bella

im really happy you found a new place to stay and are making videos again

I think is because she's sentient, she's free from the coding.

Wow! What a thorough explanation. I never knew about the "Fix Bella" BHAV, I remember reading that about her being in the Default family on the wiki and wondering if it was another case of the wiki providing incorrect information or if it had been fixed in the clean template I was using, because she was always properly in the townie household for me - it never would have occurred to me that it only is the case before opening Strangetown and that a patch fixed it. I love learning new things about the game after all this time 😎

I’ve been looking forward to your next video for ages, I’m really excited! I haven’t even watched the video yet but I’m a huge sucker for your Sims 2 technical videos so I bet this is gonna be just as awesome. Keep up the great work!

WOOO i was watching your other videos repeatedly just waiting for a new one IM SO HAPPY TO ADD ANOTHER ONE TO THE ROSTER! they bring me a sense of comfort so thank you for these!

Sims 2 technical deep dives are my all favorite genre of RU-vid video and I always look forward to you posting 🙏🏻

Yay!!! I've been eagerly anticipating another upload! I'm so glad you did a deep dive into Bella, since I've always wondered just how she operated on a technical level.

these videos are so comforting. just listening to sims 2 discussion with classic sims music in the background

Your videos are great! Glad you're continuing to bring such great content

Amazing! The video and the research quality is over the top, which made me think you've been doing videos like these for ages... I was impressed by discovering that you have only three uploads! I hope you make more of these in the future :)

I am so happy I got recommended this video!! Lore is fun but hearing technical stuff about my favorite childhood games is just so much better :)

I got very happy when I saw the notification for your video and was very exicted to see it and I'm glad that her disappearance is explained through the games logic and not soley on the lore. I really appreciate how sophisticated the Sims 2's mechanics is and that it has pre-planned back ups to avoid most undesirable situations. Skip Brooke's dissappearance was very weird to me so I'm very glad you also mentioned him in the video. Also the ending of the video made me very excited!!! Great video btw

Oh wooow!!! I still remember seeing that Reddit thread! It’s been so long since then!!! Holy Molly you put so much time and effort in to these videos! Thank you April! 🥺🙏🏼💖 I really love every single minute of these scientific treasures 🤩

I am addicted to your videos, they are always so interesting that I am glued to the screen the whole time. XD

i always love your videos! as a mix of my love for the sims and diving into the intricacies of game code your videos are right up my alley :)

its my 3rd or so vid of urs ive seen and im so in love like ur so pretty and nice to listen to i love how u explain each single little thing esp in the technical department

April!!!!!! You’re seriously one of my favorite content creators ever. I love all your deep dives and insights into the sims 2. It’s been my favorite game since i was little, and it’s thrilling to me to learn about even more about it so many years later through you!!!!! You absolutely rock and i hope you’re having a great day :)

I really enjoy your editing, style of video, and your commentary! Thank you so much for this fun and funny video! I love the sims community ❤❤

Wow, this is so thorough. Well done! 🎉

Thank you for the extremely interesting and well explained information, the gorgeous kitty (did you say her name is Gabby? That's my name too!), and the chuckle about Oli Sykes!

Subscribed! Thank you for all the work you put into this video 💕 Mad respect for going into the game files to investigate this, would love to see more technical breakdowns like this :)

Only three videos on the channel and already you are making incredibly helpful and worthwhile content. I want to say thanks and encourage you to continue. I don't know if you like The Sims 3 at all, we all have our preferences as to what games in the franchise we like, but I'd love to see content this detailed and exhaustive for that game as well.

You're back!! I missed you!

ur already my fav youtuber even tho u only made 3 vids t-t

Love this concept for a video and how thorough this is, that was an almost instantaneous subscribe

THE QUEEN APRIL IS BACK!

My theory as to why Mortimer knows her (but does not know her) is similar to the way that there exists a "Bella Fix". Perhaps on loading a household there is a check for sim number Mortimer, and if yes then known is false? I suppose if you could find a way to change Mortimer's sim number, it might bring up an interesting result?

just discovered your channel and i love your videos so much! really looking forward to seeing more from you

This is some good stuff. I have always been interested in programming and this video made me even more interested in getting into it. I'm a Sims 3 player muself, but Sims 2 has so many cool features I wish I could mod into Sims 3.

THE QUEEN HAS ONCE AGAIN POSTED

Great video, I'm glad it got recommended to me! :D

NO WAY LITERALLY 2 DAYS AGO I WAS THINKING ABT HOW BADLY I WANTED A NEW VID FROM YOU AND REWATCHED BOTH YOURS

Hi April! I'm wondering if the 'Relationship Type' setting is what messes up Mortimer's relationship to Bella? It's set to 'not defined or unknown' which has made relationships in games weird before with, say, siblings having romantic actions and wants enabled and being attracted to each other 😬😬 because the game doesn't realize they're siblings unless that relationship type is set and keeps romantic feelings allowed in case the sims flagged as 'family' are spouses. maybe the devs unticked a bunch (including 'love', 'married' etc) to enable Mortimer to move on with Dina without getting a 'had 2 loves at once" memory and all

I adore your videos. I grew up with The Sims, (like I suspect most of us) and also work as a software developer. I've always been curious about the more technical aspects but at the same time much too lazy to investigate them myself.

Your documentaries are sooo interesting ! It makes me want to play TS2 again. I tried but it keeps crashing for no reason…

Another very, very interesting video! I loved the deep dive, that explains so much. I have no experience with programming whatsoever, but I do really love to understand things from that point of view. And you do really explain things in a way that is easy to understand. Actually being able to recreate that dynamic of a sim going missing, that will be so helpful to try out for one of my stories. So thank you for that! ❤ And I do so hope that Grim Reaper teaser at the end will mean that's the subject of your next video! I would love to see that.

This is literally the most interesting thing! And you taught me so many fun things about SimPE that I wanna play with now.

This was absolutely fascinating. I love Sim PE and creating my own stories through it.

I really respect you and your channel! What an amazing creator.

I love these videos so much!! ❤ Can’t wait til the next one 👀

Your videos are a goldmine of information. I know you mentioned doing something about universal NPCs, but will you do one about so-called “unsafe” NPCs like carpool drivers, social workers, repo men, and human statue’s?

Wow. I love your videos!

Unrelated to the entire video, your hair is amazing

New subscriber here! It's really cool to see Sims 2 content in 2023. I have a lot of nostalgia for that game, and I always found Bella Goth's unique status in Pleasantview very mysterious, but couldn't quite understand why and how she pulled off her disappearing act without dying. This was a crazy deep dive into such a long unsolved mystery!

Great video! After your corruption video I had a look at my character files and I noticed I have duplicates of the same sims (mostly townies) in there which is odd, how has this happened.

These technical dives into the game are so interesting to me, im deffinetly gonna enjoy this video

Obsessed with this deep dive. Thank you for your services, Lorde

Amazing video, as always!

im so happy someone made video about this omg

I really liked this video even if in majority of times I didn't know what were you talking about! Still this is very well put essey like experiment and your voice and explaining things were really good❣️

I was beyond shocked to watch this and see my comment be part of the inspiration for this video!

Amazing! Keep up the good work!

Your videos are the most interesting shait i've seen in ages, love your dedication to make videos for us so so much!!❤❤❤ Now i'm gonna wait for the next one✨🌟🌈

Your videos are so interesting!!! I also love your references to BMTH and MCR (I hope I didn't miss any other references) :D

I've gotta say this video was fascinating stuff- I learned a lot thank you!

Omg I love your content, literally everything I need

Omg the queen is back!