The mod that isn't there but still works? Help!

Beck1590

Okay so.. a long time ago the very first time I used sims 3 the censor grid drove me batty. This would be ca. when Seasons came out as that was when I first got Sims.. I followed instructions and installed the mod properly and it worked (YAY!). At the time I was very afraid of messing up my game so I didn't add anymore mods and to this day I don't use CC at all. A bit later I got supernatural. But I found that the mod I had for the censor messed up the fairy wings and that made me upset because the faeries were why I wanted it in the first place. LOL. So I just uninstalled supernatural and have never used it or installed it again. Because I valued the mod more and at the time didn't know I could've used a different one.

Fastforward a bit. Here's the tricky part.. About two years ago I moved all my sims games to my new macbook pro. I downloaded them off origin and reinstalled and moved my folder over so that my saved games, saved sims etc would come to the new computer. All of that worked fine. I don't remember having to reinstall the mod.. I'm pretty sure I did not.. I think it just worked automatically.

Now a bit ago @igazor started teaching me about using NRAAS mods to add more functionality to my sims 3 so I could play multiple families which I'd never done before.. in the process of this we discovered that oddly... though I still have no censor grid or blur... the mod I once used to control that feature is nooowhere in my packages folder. Which means it shouldn't still be in my game. And yet it is.. I can still find it in my downloads.. April 2016 "xSims_The_Sims_3_Censor_Remover" but it's nowhere within my EA files I've run searches and everything.

Now at the time of doing xSims I wasn't too enthusiastic that my sims now looked like ken and barbie dolls so I looked for a skin. When I tried to use the skin I could never get it to work in my game and just gave up eventually. During one point it had me make a "copy" of my mods folder and put it outside my main sims 3 folder ("in case something went wrong") basically.. that folder is still there.. it's within EA but not within my folders that say sims 3 and sims 4 and all that's in it are the files to put in those skins.. as far as I can tell that means they may be sitting there but they are NOT installed in my game.. I even looked in there and the main mod that I originally used is NOT in that backup folder either.. the only place it's located on my computer is in my downloads.. and yet it's still working in my game which should be impossible.

Now on to the REAL point of my question... I'm a lot more into sims and I'd like to try supernatural again.. and I noticed that NRAAS has a censor remover... I suspect that one is not bugged with supernatural.. so I wanted to install it and use it and try.. the problem is I know stacking mods like that doesn't work.. they mess each other up.. So does anyone have any ideas? It would seem literally impossible for a mod to be running in my sims that's nowhere in my EA but I've checked the files.. one by one.. it's nowhere.. except for the skin I mentioned and even that doesn't include the main mod and isn't in my Sims 3 folder.. just within EA..

So.. since this mod is ghosting in my sims somehow does anyone have any idea if I can safely install NRAAS version of decensor and use supernatural without messing things up? Does it need to be removed (I have no idea how since it's not anywhere in there...)

igazor

Mod settings are not kept in the mod file, they are stored in the ongoing saved games. The effects some mods will have will therefore persist in those ongoing save even if the mod is removed. In this case, it sounds like the mod provided the on/off switch but removing it only removes the switch, not what it has already done.

Upon removing the older mod, I hope you have cleared your game folders five cache files by now?

If so this doesn't sound like ghosting, but let's check to make sure. If you start up a new game now, just as a test, does the removed mod's effects persist?

And did the mod come with any player-controlled settings or was it all or nothing while the mod was in place? As to whether ours will work properly on those older game saves, can't really tell without trying but let's make sure the older mod isn't really still "there" with the clearing of caches and the new game test first.

Beck1590

@igazor Some of what you said doesn't make sense.. When you say clear the cache folders.. you are talking about the ones you can delete that regenerate each time you launch EA ? (if so can you remind me of what ones they are) and if not you'll have to tell me HOW to clear my caches.. if you're talking about those files yes I deleted them when I installed NRAAS mods.

I never removed the older mod because there was nothing to remove?

When I start a new game the mod still works in it. I've made numerous saved games over the couple years since and it worked in all of them including the one I started just a couple days ago.

The mod didn't come with any player controlled settings that I know of.. you just installed it and it did its thing.. it did not even pop up with the box that "finds" mods in your games when you're ready to load a game (and that box still doesn't find it as installed)

Minx

If you remove your Sims folder and save it with a different name and let your game regenerate a clean folder, do those saves still have this issue you speak of? I know I added a fitness mod to my game to make sims look crazy buff. After removing it my SIM still had the extreme buff look from the mod, but other sims in the town and new sims did not. Some of the mods are like that, but it should be effecting your new game if you have removed whatever was added.

And I'm confused by what you mean when you say there wasn't anything to remove.

igazor

This mod that you never had on your current computer except in a downloads file. Can you link me to it and its installation instructions assuming they are still up online by PM? I am thinking there might have been more to it than just a package file like a standard mod would have.

But we are doing a pretty good job of confusing each other, yes. You said in your top post that you moved your TS3 game folder (I am assuming in its entirety) from your older computer to your newer one. Unless this mod is totally non-standard, it would have been part of that move at the time. Mods are kept in the Mods\Packages TS3 game folder in Documents or at least they have been since the Ambitions patch in 2011.

Can you confirm that your mods are actually in the location I have described and not in Applications (blah\blah\Transgaming, etc.) where TS3 for Mac's program files are?

The five cache files to delete whenever the contents of Mods\Packages changes in any way, though I'm now thinking this isn't the issue here:
CASPartCache.package
compositorCache.package
scriptCache.package
simCompositorCache.package
socialCache.package

Beck1590

Hi @igazor I'll send you a PM with it if I can still find it. I checked the read me file but it wasn't very helpful it just said "unzip and follow the instructions." lol.

Yes. I moved the folder in its entirety.

I always look for my mods with my TS3 folder within documents >> EA. I don't know any other place to look for mods.

Yes I've cleared those cache files numerous times after installing NRAAS mods.

igazor

Responded by PM, afraid you do have quite a mess on your hands there.