*sigh* I have come to the realization that I need to do a complete re-install
#1 10-02-2014 
Uhgg! I'm just having too many issues - crashes etc... Plus, I found an interesting list of VBTs on MTS's wiki that I'm sure I've done a few of. My last complete install was shortly after Apt/M&G came out, so it's been a while. And, I took over a year off with my files just sitting there - I think, who knows what my OS did to 'clean out' my 'unused' files. *sigh*

I need to do a complete re-install. Which, of course, means saving as many of my buildings and sims as I can - and performing a complete UNinstall.
I have made N'Hood back-ups of each hood with SimPE. I've also made a copy of my Doc/EAgames/files to my external HD.

I'm a 'deleter' - once I've put the sim/house in the hood, I delete it from the bin(s) I also clean out my BS files after said sim is in a house.

I do not have any memories or relationships that I need to keep (as I've never really 'played' with the pixel peeps; I primarily build) But, I do want to be sure the Sims I've made in BS can be saved. Where exactly are those files?

And my buildings - where exactly are the files for the houses/shops/etc that I've made? They are all 'planted' in hoods - not in the bin anymore.

Thanks to BO - I've got my hacks/PT's etc in order. They are safely saved outside the game and ready to start fresh.


So - 1st step will be saving/backing up
2nd step - Uninstalling
3rd step - starting over...

With my fresh install I want to use these cleaned hoods
And my custom face templates, skins, eyes, etc, and names - so the new townies will look normal
I also want to be sure that no redundant NPCs are created, no faulty memories, gossip, etc - from the very start!

So, when I'm installing all the EPs/SPs/patches - should I install EVERYTHING plus the cleaned hoods, templates, hacks, before running the game for the very first time? In the past I've always run the game after each EP/SP's addition - to be sure everything worked. But, that will create townies/pets/NPC/etc before I can put the clean templates in - right?
Argh! So confuzzled - what order do I install everything in?

Another question - at what point in the order of installation do I untick the allow custom content box? If that can't be done until after I'm already in a hood - then the townies will be generated without my shiny new templates - right? Or can you untick that box before entering a hood?

Oh, and - what files should I absolutely NOT put in with the program files? The 'cleaned hoods' are going in there because I want them globally. Can I put defaults in there too? Or do defaults have to go in the regular DL folder?

What I want is a fresh start with clean/fixed neighborhoods and sims. Is that possible? Am I on the right track? Has anyone else done this that can share some pointers with me?
Please and thank you! Angel


Yikes! Sorry for the novel - at this point I am really confused and I don't want to mess things up even more. Slap
Proud member of LeeFish since Sep 2013. Angel
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Time flies like an arrow ~ fruit flies like a banana
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(This post was last modified: 09-03-2014 03:32 AM by leefish.)

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#2 10-02-2014 
Once a sim or house is removed from the bin, the only copy remaining is the file in the neighborhood itself. Those files all have non-descriptive names starting with 'lot' or 'character' and ending in some number. Finding the right one can be a crime, and usually requires a lot of work in SimPE. But if you have backed up your hoods, you can be certain that these files are in there, too.

The most practical installation order would be: all eps/sps in the order in which they were released. And where patches are available, patch each pack immediately after installation, before moving on to the next pack.

There is no need to run the game until EVERYTHING is in place, including the cleaned hoods, mods, ets. The custom content button can only be set once the game is running, but when started for the first time, the game will notice that CC is present, and will ask if it must include said CC. Once the game runs, you can change this in the settings to make sure the game never asks again, but includes CC automagically.

I'm slightly confused about 'unticking the CC box'. That doesn't seem to sound right. Normally, that box STARTS unticked, so it needs to be ticked to make CC work, unless you want the game to ask for it at every startup. Also, if CC isn't included, your fancy shiny templates are ignored too. Unless you mean the hood templates...

On the other hand, running the game after each install is not really a problem. As you said: it helps determining if everything works! And once you've installed everything, and you're certain everything works, you can simply delete the entire "EA Games/The Sims 2" folder from "My Documents" in order to force the game to recreate that folder from the cleaned up hoods Smile Besides, you will probably wish to restore your old playable hoods from the backups... Smile

However, there is a lot that can be fixed even without uninstalling/reinstalling. miros1 has a lot of info on the subject, over at The Wooden Simolean. I would start there, if I were you. Smile
(This post was last modified: 10-02-2014 09:11 PM by BoilingOil.)

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#3 10-02-2014 
Thanks BO, I'll check that out...
Proud member of LeeFish since Sep 2013. Angel
My Etsy shop
Time flies like an arrow ~ fruit flies like a banana
Ah, well... there is that
So, ...do you know the difference between roast beef and pea soup?

0
#4 11-02-2014 
Quick question why are you uninstalling/reinstalling your game?

Reading that list, the only problems that would actually corrupt your game (as opposed to your hood) is inappropriate actions with the Object NPC's.

All the others are about hood/lot corruption. And yes, there is a point at which you have to scrap your hood and start again. And I'm not convinced that you haven't reached that. But to be fair, just playing the game does that as well -- the older a hood is the more likely it is to corrupt regardless of whether you've done any corrupting behaviours.

For saving your houses - once you've deleted them from the bin, they're only in the hood.
There are a few ways of saving the houses.

1. Put them in sims2pack files. If you click on your house or shop, there is a button that will let you put them into sims2pack files and save them to desktop.
2. Use Rufio to export details of all your lots and houses into a spreadsheet. Then use the Lot numbers from Rufio to identify the actual lot from the lot folder to save.

I don't know whether you are familiar with Rufio but it is a singularly useful statistical/housekeeping tool for me.

How to use Rufio and what it does:

1. Open up SimPE, and select Neighbourhood Browser to choose the hood you want to do stuff in. (Ctrl+Shift+N)
2. Tool -> Neighborhood -> Export Neighborhood.
3. select a folder or create one to put it in. Select the Hood you want to export. Then wait a LONG while it does it's thing.
4. This will create a Folder called 'Rufio'.

Inside Rufio folder there are 4 Things -
2 text files One called "Exported Lots", one called "Exported Sims". These are in CSV format, and can be opened up in a spreadsheet.
2 folders with images - LotImage, SimImage.

LotImage has a picture (hood view) of each lot. The Image name is as follows <Neighborhood Number>_<Lot Number>
The Lot Number on the image matches the lot number of the package that is that lot.

SimImage has the same - where the Image Name is (you guessed it Big Grin) <Neighborhood Number>_<Sim Number>
And the Sim Number matches the number of the package that the sim is in.

The Text files are awesome.

The Exported Lot file gives the following info:
hood, HoodName, LotInstance, HouseNumber, HouseName

The Exported Sim file gives the following info:
hood, HoodName, NID, FirstName, LastName, SimDescription, FamilyInstance, HouseholdName, HouseNumber, AvailableCharacterData, Unlinked, ParentA, ParentB, Spouse, BodyType, NPCType, SchoolType, Grade, CareerPerformance, Career, CareerLevel, ZodiacSign, Aspiration, Gender, LifeSection, AgeDaysLeft, PrevAgeDays, AgeDuration, BlizLifelinePoints, LifelinePoints, LifelineScore, GenActive, GenNeat, GenNice, GenOutgoing, GenPlayful, Active, Neat, Nice, Outgoing, Playful, Animals, Crime, Culture, Entertainment, Environment, Fashion, FemalePreference, Food, Health, MalePreference, Money, Paranormal, Politics, School, Scifi, Sports, Toys, Travel, Weather, Work, Body, Charisma, Cleaning, Cooking, Creativity, Fatness, Logic, Mechanical, Romance, IsAtUniversity, UniEffort, UniGrade, UniTime, UniSemester, UniInfluence, UniMajor, Species, Salary, PrimaryAspiration, SecondaryAspiration, HobbyPredestined, LifetimeWant

As you can see - you get a cross reference between Lots, Families, and Sim Numbers for all your Sims (and pretty much everything else as well).

Regardless of whether you decide to rebuild your hoods or not - I would seriously suggest that you do this because

(a) it will help you to rebuild the sims, as close to what you can.
(b) it helps me keep track of what my sims/lots are and where they are.

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#5 11-02-2014 
Kiri, that's a lot of stuff I had no knowledge about. (Well, I knew about packaging lots, but without access to the game it's getting harder to remember the names and methods of such functions). Anyway, I'm glad that you agree that un-/re-install may not be necessary at all. Smile

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#6 11-02-2014 
Whew! Thanks Kiri, that's a LOT of info to process! I really don't WANT to un/re-install *sheesh*
I've never heard of Rufio - but I'm excited to learn more! If I can just restart my hoods, that would be great!

I'd still like to use the "clean 'hood" templates I linked to in my first post... I'm still researching, obviously, and I'm extremely grateful for all the help/advice I get - YAY! Celebrate
Proud member of LeeFish since Sep 2013. Angel
My Etsy shop
Time flies like an arrow ~ fruit flies like a banana
Ah, well... there is that
So, ...do you know the difference between roast beef and pea soup?

1
#7 12-02-2014 
I have a tutorial about using Clean Hood templates at SpG... I "think" that they are seeable as a guest. Just checked. Yes they are!!

OK. This is the link to the forum 'Tips, Tricks and Tutorials' Look for the tutorials 'Kiri - Setting up Sims 01/02' to '08'

You won't have to do all the steps because I wrote this for a friend who was installing as well, and I suspect you already have the hacks needed to minimise the NPC's - if you don't then read step 02.

I'm going out now - but I'll come back and walk you through the other things you need to do to either save or remake your hood.

BO - No problems. I wasn't aware of it either until a very kind friend helped me when I was having hood problems.

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#8 12-02-2014 
WOW! Again! Celebrate That couldn't be more perfectly exactly-what-I-was-hoping-someone-might-know-about awesome! Celebrate
Big Grin
I had another terrific thought too... since I spend so much time on my little netbook - which has 2 GB ram and an AMD graphics card - I'm going to do a clean/vanilla install on it, so I can create from there with no CC. Then import to my big rig to play. Other than a few hacks and defaults, I will have NO CC on my little netbook. I'm halfway through installing all the packs/patches now... And I'm going to follow your tute linked above.

After my little machine is up and running - I'll tackle my main game/big rig. Believe me - I'll holler if I get stuck or have a question Wink
Proud member of LeeFish since Sep 2013. Angel
My Etsy shop
Time flies like an arrow ~ fruit flies like a banana
Ah, well... there is that
So, ...do you know the difference between roast beef and pea soup?

0
#9 12-02-2014 
Good, good. Let me know how you go. Smile

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#10 12-02-2014 
So far:
The NL patch wouldn't run; I hope that wasn't death defying important?
GL doesn't have a patch - right?
Pets BS patch wouldn't run either - but, that's OK, right? Because it won't be my last BS - AL/MG will be.

That's as far as I got tonight... well, plus setting up the file structure etc that you recommended Big Grin
Proud member of LeeFish since Sep 2013. Angel
My Etsy shop
Time flies like an arrow ~ fruit flies like a banana
Ah, well... there is that
So, ...do you know the difference between roast beef and pea soup?

0


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