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@simgurumodsquad: March 26 Patch

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_A__A_ Posts: 56 Member
edited March 6 in Nominated Threads
Hi SimGurus,

As you are probably aware, the latest patch (3/26) has caused a lot of problems with CC. Since this patch came out, any CAS item that uses the high bit on group and instance, as EA requested that tool-makers number CC items, fails to get appropriately sorted by category. Instead the item is present in every category even if that category is not normally present for the gender of the Sim it is being used on. So, for example, adding a male t-shirt recolor to an otherwise empty mods folder, categorizes it in ALL upper body groups. It even goes as far as adding bra category to men's tops just to display a CC t-shirt.

It came as no surprise that the CAS Part Resource changed, as it often does with patches, but breaking the high bit on the group and instance number that we have been told to use from the beginning has created quite a problem. There is now over 6 months of CAS custom content made by our community that has worked until now. Creators have trusted the tools they use to make CC as the tool creators have trusted the SimGurus when they told us to number things this way. All tool creators followed your direction on this and, as a result, all CAS custom content is now broken.

S4S has updated to accommodate the CAS Part resource changes and for now has dropped the high bit on group/instance. As a result of abandoning the special group and instance numbers you assigned to modders, new CC now sorts properly. This, however, does not fix the problem presented by the thousands of CAS items made over the last 6+ months. If we make a batch fix to strip off the high bits from the instances, all that CC will have a new identity and any Sims that use CAS CC will need to be remade. Games will be full of bald Sims with the wrong clothes on. Further, this will create a second problem because there will now be two versions of CAS items, the one which was "fixed" and the one that was not. This will lead to confusion when players try to share saved Sims.

The only reason CAS CC items aren't working properly now is because we were instructed to number them this way by the SimGurus and we trusted you to make sure using this numbering system wouldn't target our content for failure in a patch. Please do the right thing and fix this. If you do not plan to fix this at least let us know as soon as possible so that modders can set about repairing the mess resulting from this patch.
Post edited by EA_Solaire on

Comments

  • SimGuruModSquadSimGuruModSquad Posts: 597 Member
    Yep, this is bad. We did not do this on purpose, sorry about that. We'll look at this ASAP. Stay tuned.
  • _A__A_ Posts: 56 Member
    I figured that it was an accident. Thanks for looking into it :)
  • _A__A_ Posts: 56 Member
    Thanks, could you give us any information about what your fix is and how it will affect custom content creators and the content that they have already created?
  • PaperfriendsPaperfriends Posts: 13 New Member
    This will work for Custom Genetic Skintones right?
  • SimGuruModSquadSimGuruModSquad Posts: 597 Member
    The problem has to do with the addition of Aliens for EP01. The code did not properly handle older CAS parts created prior to this addition. The fix will account for the fact that older data is missing some data we need to categorize items and fall back to the old behavior. Once we provide the new format for CAS Parts to tool makers they can update tools to use the new format. In any case, ideally once the fix goes live no one will be impacted.


  • SimGuruModSquadSimGuruModSquad Posts: 597 Member
    @Paperfriends Please describe what issues you are seeing with skintones. I am seeing the game fail to launch with custom skin tone with "unable to start" message ... grrr, that may be another bug.
  • MarianneSimmerMarianneSimmer Posts: 1,113 Member
    > @SimGuruModSquad said:
    > Update: We have a fix and it will be in the next update. As always, I cannot comment on specifically when this patch will arrive.

    @SimGuruModSquad

    There is an issue with Woo-Hoo. The initiator is always unsatisfied.
  • ScobreScobre Posts: 20,665 Member
    I hope the CCs are fixed. I noticed even before the patch CC hairs having issues in laptop mode. I heard mods aren't working well with this patch too.
    “Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
  • John4626John4626 Posts: 155 Member
    edited March 2015
    @SimGuruModSquad
    I followed the instructions posted here: http://notegain.tumblr.com/post/114...ter-26-03-patch to fix my 99 fully functioning custom skin colors. They are now working again!

    Right after the patch, the skin files were working in the game, as my colorful family was still colorful and producing colorful children. I just couldn't see any of the swatches on the skin selection screen to create new sims with.

    GlMmETul.png?1
    Banner_zpsa6d528fe.png
  • RoomouseRoomouse Posts: 99 Member
    CC is only one problem my game has since this last update. Last time I experienced this many game problems was in my Sims 3 game. Two of my young adult characters lost their personal inventories. The beds at the cabin at the lake (EA cabin too) all disappeared. The woohoo unsatisfied error occurred as well. No night time bugs except fireflies appeared in any of the campgrounds or forest or deep forest areas. And once they returned home all the beds, which are all EA made as well, were in the household inventory and if you tried to place those or even new beds (CC or EA) there would be a script call error. Luckily all my sims with CC hairstyles still have those styles. Oh, but I forgot ... my other two young adult sims now have a mystery baby that cannot be located in the house at all.
    I realize errors do occur when working on trying to repair old errors, give players new content, and prep the game for up coming content. I just hope these errors can be fixed ... especially the CC conflicts. I hate to think of the hours it would take me to replace all that content, especially when I have a new EP to pick up on the 31st. Please let us know soon how this can all be fixed. Thanks.
  • ShortyBooShortyBoo Posts: 160 Member
    edited March 2015
    > @Roomouse said:
    > CC is only one problem my game has since this last update. Last time I experienced this many game problems was in my Sims 3 game. Two of my young adult characters lost their personal inventories. The beds at the cabin at the lake (EA cabin too) all disappeared. The woohoo unsatisfied error occurred as well. No night time bugs except fireflies appeared in any of the campgrounds or forest or deep forest areas. And once they returned home all the beds, which are all EA made as well, were in the household inventory and if you tried to place those or even new beds (CC or EA) there would be a script call error. Luckily all my sims with CC hairstyles still have those styles. Oh, but I forgot ... my other two young adult sims now have a mystery baby that cannot be located in the house at all.
    > I realize errors do occur when working on trying to repair old errors, give players new content, and prep the game for up coming content. I just hope these errors can be fixed ... especially the CC conflicts. I hate to think of the hours it would take me to replace all that content, especially when I have a new EP to pick up on the 31st. Please let us know soon how this can all be fixed. Thanks.

    The bed problem is due to a mod. I believe it's the "all beds same energy" one. You might want to try removing your mods and playing to be sure your other issues aren't also caused by mods before blaming the patch.

    I'm glad the CC clothing problem is getting fixed. I just hope it can happen before GtW comes out. Because I certainly don't want to play the game (or buy a new EP) if I can't use the cc I have.
  • catmando830catmando830 Posts: 9,117 Member
    I didn't see Dave's Gardener Mod mentioned.
  • AyradyssAyradyss Posts: 910 Member
    Great to hear the CC categorization should be fixed -- sure hope that patch comes out soon!

    I'd like to ask about default replacement eyes too though. As far as I know, all default replacement eyes are having issues right now.

    What happens in my own game: Already existing Sims have the CC eyes as usual -- that seems to be working. The issue is creating/editing Sims in CAS. In CAS, when I create a new Sim, the initial Sim appears to have CC eyes, but there is no color palette at all -- no way to change the eye color. The random button is still there, but clicking it changes the eyes to a specific shade of brown and reverts them to the EA standard eye texture. (Not quite sure which brown -- it looks to be mid-to-light brown. It's always that same brown though, never actually changes to other colors.)
    Pay for product -- not potential!
  • oopsiesimsoopsiesims Posts: 6 New Member
    Wow! Really I haven't patched my game yet and don't plan to at this point. I have Get to Work pre-ordered and I don't know what to do now.(I'm thinking about cancelling it and get my money back!!) You should of had the Aliens in the base game. This is not acceptable, I have been playing the Sims since Sims1, this is not new that the community makes CC, they have been since the Sims1. This patch needs to be out before the 31st and all CC should work. You all need to get your act together. Money is hard to come by these days and if you can't depend on a product that has been out for years working as it always has it's time to not buy the product anymore. There shouldn't be any excuses. Fix It!
  • PaperfriendsPaperfriends Posts: 13 New Member
    @SimGuruModSquad
    Oh no worries! The wonderful creator fixed them! A modder/creator had explain a fix for genetic skintones, and they used that, I can link the link to you if you want?
  • RoomouseRoomouse Posts: 99 Member
    ShortyBoo, thanks for the suggestion about Shimrod's mod. I did remove my mods and have been checking them, just haven't gotten to that one yet, but I will leave it out and keep looking for an update to it. My beds are back without it in my game though; now if I could just get back the inventories of those two sims ... Oh well, small sacrifice I guess.
  • gkvincegkvince Posts: 3 New Member
    The cc isn't as much of a problem as the mods. Mods make the game better. It's always possible to go on a downloading jag later when the fix has been deployed, but I'd be very wary of any cc being made atm. I'm not convinced all creators are updating their tools as some stuff I DL'd yesterday created the same issues. I think I speak for us all when I say I'm pretty cheesed off with this nonsense.
  • CGamerPlaysCGamerPlays Posts: 74 Member
    Can there be a fix so that my sims hair and eye color won't constantly change every time I go to edit them in cas. That's something that has been happening way before the patch even came out and it's annoying and very frustrating.
  • AyradyssAyradyss Posts: 910 Member
    gkvince wrote: »
    The cc isn't as much of a problem as the mods. Mods make the game better. It's always possible to go on a downloading jag later when the fix has been deployed, but I'd be very wary of any cc being made atm. I'm not convinced all creators are updating their tools as some stuff I DL'd yesterday created the same issues. I think I speak for us all when I say I'm pretty cheesed off with this nonsense.

    Well, I agree that it's probably good to be wary of any CC being made during this period, between the 26th patch and the 'fix' patch for it. But on the other hand, I think creators 'updating their tools' at this point could actually be a bad thing, not a good one. Any tool updates that make CC 'work' with the current patch state are effectively making changes to accommodate the current bugs. Once the fix patch hits, those bugs will be (we hope!) fixed, and those accommodations could mean that any content created with such 'updated tools' will then be broken.

    Overall, it may be better for the creators to take a short hiatus, or at least just keep doing what they were doing before this patch hit.
    Pay for product -- not potential!
  • GoddessKarmaGoddessKarma Posts: 52 Member
    People wouldn't rely so much on CC if styles that are repeatedly made, mainly hairstyles, were included in the game to begin with. The clothing in game isn't modern nor the hair, so we download from people who work hard to create them to just have patches break them. Why create eps that would destroy months of people's gameplay? It's just wrong. I don't get much time to play with work and all and now all the things I have done over the last few months design wise have been destroyed and the response is simply oh we'll work on but can't tell you when we'll get around to it though. Horrible. No consideration for your consumers NONE.
  • JadeliyahJadeliyah Posts: 39 Member
    @SimGuruModSquad:

    I now have custom buffs that don't work... a couple weeks ago, they worked brilliantly. Now they don't. I compared the base XML files I used as a base for modifications before- and after-patch, and there are no differences. The alterations I had made aren't anything that should cause a problem either, since they show up in other buffs that also haven't changed....

    So has something maybe changed with the way the XML and SIMDATA files work for buffs in mods?
  • piratezevelynpiratezevelyn Posts: 100 Member
    edited March 2015
    > @SimGuruModSquad said:
    > Paperfriends Please describe what issues you are seeing with skintones. I am seeing the game fail to launch with custom skin tone with "unable to start" message ... grrr, that may be another bug.

    I have a skintone "[DecayClown] Pale Skintone" the game loads with it but it doesn't show up in CAS.
    I want to also say that I do hope that the issues with CC and Mods get fixed because they do make my gameplay more enjoyable but, I love The Sims and I appreciate all the trouble that the people (EA or Maxis, or whoever) go through to make the game better. So good luck and Thank You!!!!!
  • _A__A_ Posts: 56 Member
    @SimGuruModSquad said:
    > The problem has to do with the addition of Aliens for EP01. The code did not properly handle older CAS parts created prior to this addition. The fix will account for the fact that older data is missing some data we need to categorize items and fall back to the old behavior. Once we provide the new format for CAS Parts to tool makers they can update tools to use the new format. In any case, ideally once the fix goes live no one will be impacted.

    Thanks @SimGuruModSquad. The CAS part resources didn't seem to have very many changes, but it will be nice to put names to the new fields. Do you still recommend using the high bit on the group and instance number for CAS after the next patch?

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