Two local nodes stuck in syncing state

I’ve followed the guide here, but my two local nodes are stuck in catchup mode. When I try to for example run this:

stellar-core http-command "generateload?mode=pay&txs=10000&txrate=29&spikeinterval=7&spikesize=789"

In the logs I see:

2020-06-22T17:46:02.592 GBUVR [LoadGen WARNING] Application is not in sync, load generation inhibited. State 1

Here are my two node config files:

Node 1:

HTTP_PORT=11600
PEER_PORT=11610
PUBLIC_HTTP_PORT=true
RUN_STANDALONE=false
BUCKET_DIR_PATH="buckets"
NETWORK_PASSPHRASE="Standalone Network ; February 2017"
NODE_SEED="SCFPAX2KQEMBHCG6SJ77YTHVOYKUVHEFDROVFCKTZUG7Z6Q5IKSNG6NQ self"
NODE_IS_VALIDATOR=true
COMMANDS=["ll?level=trace"]
FAILURE_SAFETY=0
UNSAFE_QUORUM=true
PREFERRED_PEERS=["127.0.0.1:11810"]
KNOWN_PEERS=[
"127.0.0.1:11810",
]
ARTIFICIALLY_GENERATE_LOAD_FOR_TESTING=true

[QUORUM_SET]
THRESHOLD_PERCENT=100
VALIDATORS=["$self", "GBJABNUCDJCIL5YJQMB5OZ7VCFPKYLMTUXM2ZKQJACT7PXL7EVOMEKNZ"]

[HISTORY.local]
get="cp /tmp/stellar-core/history/vs/{0} {1}"
put="cp {0} /tmp/stellar-core/history/vs/{1}"
mkdir="mkdir -p /tmp/stellar-core/history/vs/{0}"

Node 2:

HTTP_PORT=11800
PEER_PORT=11810
PUBLIC_HTTP_PORT=true
RUN_STANDALONE=false
BUCKET_DIR_PATH="buckets"
NETWORK_PASSPHRASE="Standalone Network ; February 2017"
NODE_SEED="SCTTRCMT7DVZHQS375GWIKYQYHKA3X4IC4EOBNPRGV7DFR3X6OM5VIWL self"
NODE_IS_VALIDATOR=true
COMMANDS=["ll?level=trace"]
FAILURE_SAFETY=0
UNSAFE_QUORUM=true
PREFERRED_PEERS=["127.0.0.1:11610"]
KNOWN_PEERS=[
"127.0.0.1:11610",
]
ARTIFICIALLY_GENERATE_LOAD_FOR_TESTING=false

[QUORUM_SET]
THRESHOLD_PERCENT=100
VALIDATORS=["$self", "GBUVRIIBMHKC4PE6BK7MO2O26U2NJLW4WGGWKLAVLAA2DLFZTBHHKOEK"]

[HISTORY.local]
get="cp /tmp/stellar-core/history/vs/{0} {1}"
put="cp {0} /tmp/stellar-core/history/vs/{1}"
mkdir="mkdir -p /tmp/stellar-core/history/vs/{0}"

And here are the log files:

Node 1 and Node 2.

They are slightly older versions of stellar-core, but it shouldn’t matter for this test..

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I’m not sure what else needs to be done? My goal is to examine the code flow when new blocks are created in various scenarios, I don’t actually want to connect to the stellar test-net, and that’s why I tried to use the generateload command but unsuccessfully.