Black Photos/White canvases

Problem

All my photos are black although there used to be a picture
My painted pictures (by reference) are just a white canvas although there used to be a picture there.

Cause

There is currently a problem that photos/paintings aren’t properly saved. This happens if you leave the game with save and exit without saving beforehand.

There are a few other causes but it’s unclear which of those are still current. Make sure to always save your game before quitting (even under a new name).

Photos/Paintings that have been packed in boxes/chests are black/white when taken back out.
Photos/Paintings packed in boxes/chests are black/white after moving
Photos/Paintings are black/white after a move
Photos/Paintings are black/white when loading a savegame

Solution

Photos/Paintings that have lost their texture can be recovered if you still have the corresponding screenshot. I will make a separate post for that but I will need to do some more testing beforehand.

If the Photos/Paintings suddenly disappeared you can try to Recover a Backup Save Game. This won’t help with the current issue though as the texture isn’t actually saved to your game.

How to prevent

Always save your game first (even under a new name and multiple times) and then exit the game.

I also recommend to save important photos/paintings to the gallery/library.