Too Much Custom Content Can Be A Bad Thing...
When your Sim has an existential crisisI went to test my new mod/cc combination on Builder's Island, when the Sim I'd loaded up had a breakdown. He didn't want to exist anymore, but he had to. So in-and-out of existence he popped, his motives never changing.
NRASS ErrorTrap shot out notifications of my Sim's doomed, glum, near-existence, but I failed to discover the root cause for his Nietzsche philosophies (something to do with the weather, I suppose). So back to the drawing board I went.
Back to Square One
Complete ResetI renamed my Sims 3 folder (as a backup and/or reference), restarted the game, and re-downloaded a fresh folder. No downloads, no CC, not even the Mods folder I've come to love and dread. Sigh. Time to start over.
With the intention of sticking to the basics, I proceeded to install all of the Store content I had previously, probably half of the objects and patterns from Around the Sims 3, along with a humorously enourmous amount of content from The Sims Resource (hey, Cyclonesue has some great homeless-looking stuff, and Mutske has a great collection of gardening stuff, and, and... yeah), along with a chunk of awesome script mods from bluegenjutsu, my standard set of mods and objects from various Mod the Sims authors, and then iced the cake with some tattoos and interesting builds of the Brownstone/Projects/Warehouse persuasion from the Exchange.
Would you be supprised to learn that this didn't go over to well with my game? Probably not.
I downloaded Delphy's Dashboard in attempt to salvage the situation--and it did help, just not enough. I tried CCMagic too, and somehow it installed even more simpacks than I'd already done! Balderdash.
Rename, Restart, Re-Download... again.
Replaced the broken backup with the new, overcrowded one, and went to work sorting through my CC and mods, picking out what could be used to add functionality to the game without altering it too much. But this endeavor created problems and time-holes of it's own.
The Great War on Organization
Putting a face on CC files, and an end to SimPacks as we know them.Step 1, Fix and reduce non-CC hair, shoes, clothes, and accessories.
Code-Name: Hideous.
Personally, the most annoying thing about how long it takes for my game to load the Create-A-Sim screens is that the first thing I always see is the crappy, annoying "Into the Future" clothes. So as a part of reading up on NRASS Dresser I was directed to Easy CASP Editor, which allows you to go through all the EA and Simpack CAS items, setting individual items as "Hidden in CAS" or "Valid for Random" or even fixing Ambitions hairstyles so they can be worn to work (and pre-Seasons hairstyles so they can be worn as Outerwear). This program is truly a gift from Mt. Olympus. It takes a while to get through everything if you have many EP's and/or SP's installed, but the time put in is well worth it.
For instance: I've fixed the beanie hairstyles so they can be worn as outerwear, made the Late Night "hobo" outfit wearable as Formalwear, and removed numerous tops, bottoms, shoes, outfits, hairstyles, and accessories from CAS altogether.
I highly recommend this utility.
Step 2, organize the downloaded CC files by site, author, and type.
Code-Name: Hell.
Around the Sims (ATS3) was easy and fun enough: I decided to organize by the sets they were released in (Downtown - Bakery, Residential - Kids Room, etc.) and download an image of each item for reference offline. I eventually also organized the files by function, just in case I wanted a specific object and couldn't remember what set it was in.
The rest of my CC wasn't so simple. The archived files from The Sims Resource (TSR) are seemingly random numbers, and the files inside are not always well named by the authors. Image file names don't relate to the object file names, and my misery was soon complete when I approached downloads from various tumblrs and forums, whose image file names are often just "tumblr-####". Yay.
Eventually this campaign came to a satisfactory level of completion, and it was time to move on.
Step 3, package-ify the SimPacks.
Code-Name: Decomp.
Technically this campaign is ongoing, but I feel it's safe to announce that the ATS3 front is won. For this step I'm using the Sims 3 pack Multi Extractor from Delphy. This program scans all the Simpacks in a source folder and extracts the contents as package files. It even keeps their names the same if it's a single object per simpack. So as of a few days ago, my entire ATS3 collection is in the form of package files all nicely zipped up to save space (and prevent me from accidentally moving a file instead of copying it into my Mods folder). Phew. Next: TSR, but I think that can wait for a while.
In Battle, Casualties
Today, we mourn the loss of our valiant soldier, AMD Radeon graphics card.Amid the time and toil of CC organization, I took a break and instead took time to delve into preventative medicine. I waded into the mish-mash of technical and not-so-technical opinions and guides on speeding up Sims 3 performance, preventing or fixing lag issues, decreasing load times, and so forth. I wrote and successfully tested a batch file to clean out the cache files, Featured Items thumbnails, and so forth.
During the research for this program, I branched off into optimizing Video Card usage. I use a laptop with dual graphics cards--one a basic Intel model, the other a good AMD Radeon graphics card for gaming. I discovered that this type of graphics card setup can cause issues, where Sims decides the crappy Intel one is the one to use. So into the integrated video card information basket I went, looking for a way to ensure the Sims used my Radeon from now on.
First, I found a way to add my Radeon card model to the game listings (for some reason, EA hasn't added this model series to their scripts yet). Further research (*cough* Googling *cough*) showed that my particular laptop might not even be recognizing or activating the awesome gaming graphics card at all, so I downloaded a program to monitor its usage--nada. It's there, it's running, but it's not being used for anything.
Then I installed a new control panel for the graphics card, and now... the monitoring program doesn't even register that the card is running anymore.
:'(
So that's were we are on this journey of technical difficulties folks.
Game Plan Moving Forward
Do, uh... stuff. And things. Yeah, things. Definitely things.Installations and Testing:
- Install and test NRASS mods in conjunction with blue's script mods
- Install limited mods and usable objects from MTS, ATS3, TSR, etc. Adding new uses only, hopefully.
- Possibly adding a very limited about of Store content. Premium items definitely, Worlds and Venues only if required for Premium items.
- Replace original world files with "fixed routing" versions from MTS.
- Test velocitygrass's (MTS) Blueprint Maker script with a few basics (for future builds, want to make sure it works)
Homeless Challenge Sneak Peak
Technical difficulties prevent the story from starting, but not the planning.The founder's age, gender, name, general look, traits, favorites & such are mostly set.
His name is Arlan, and I'm currently of a mind to start him out in Bridgeport (hopefully living under a bride or overpass). I've only played a Sim once in Bridgeport for a very short time, so the city is still fairly new to me. I may make some basic edits to the town before beginning (adding a skill books bookcase to the library, for instance), but I don't plan on doing anything too drastic. The other location options I've been tossing around are the Showtime world (whatever it's called, never been there) and Hidden Springs (never played there either).
