Sims stuck on the lot but not really

[C.S.]

Sometimes, after my sims went on home dates, the dates would be kinda stuck on the lot. I say "kinda" because they aren't really there, they still remain on the phone list and can be invited over via the phone. However, they are missing from email lists and they won't show up for parties even though they could be added to the invite list. Another tell-tale sign is the maximum number of visiting sims had suddenly gone down from the max 20 I had set with the startup cheat. Yet there's nobody to clear off with the teleporter painting/bush (I use Merola's mirror, the dates' names aren't on it so that's how I know) so I can't fix it.

I first noticed this problem on Uni lots and used the lot debugger to force errors and somehow managed to fix it. Not that I knew what I was doing, but because those were Uni rental lots and I won't care that much even if I messed it up beyond repair. I deleted some in-world/off-world invisible stuffs like 'Be Greeted Emitter' and whatever sounded like it had something to do with the 'stuckiness'. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't because I have no idea what I was really looking for and some stuffs I don't dare delete in case that messed up my character files.

It happened again while I was playing a family in the base neighbourhood earlier. Teen went on several home dates and suddenly I can only invite 19 sims. I suspect this may have something to do with not greeting her date the first time. Well, it looked that way to me because I was playing home dates on another lot yesterday and not all were 'stuck'. I thought about it and figured the reason some of those dates didn't end up getting 'stuck' was that they had been greeted.

Lots outside the Uni neighbourhood I care about, so how should I go about fixing this other than pushing buttons blindly or relocating my sims?

[jsalemi]

Have you tried using the lot debugger and deleting 'off-world loiterers'?

[C.S.]

I wish it was that simple, but that option never appeared on the lot debugger. They weren't even 'off-world', or else they wouldn't be on the phone list.

Am I the only one with this problem? Sims go on dates, dates show up but weren't greeted (either because I didn't know better and stupidly cancelled 'greet' or the action timed out and dropped off automatically from the queue) and then they get 'stuck'?

Edit: I *think* it has something to do with not greeting dates, but I'm not 100% sure of course.  I've been trying to find out why some sims were stuck after a date, so after coming back to the base neighbourhood to play, I usually use the 'throw party' option to confirm nobody's invisibly stuck on the lot before a date. I forgot to check while playing earlier, but the teen I mentioned in the first post was the only one in the family to have gone on dates since the family moved in. They've thrown 2 birthday parties for her little brother and I remember being able to invite 20 guests. She didn't go on any dates before that.