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Question on how to trick a MAC into allowing more sims in nightclubs.

So.. on the late night forum, Neverent found a way to fix dead clubs. I feel like this would be perfect for me, because the game thinks my cpu/ram whatever sucks because I have an i7 and he said it reads the speed of just one processor and does't factor in the fact that I have 8.

But, some of the steps just don't line up for macs, and I am not literate (as a new convert) enough with macs to figure out my own. Here is a link to the OP and a quote of the OP.

If anyone has any ideas, it would be GREAT!

Link:HERE

Quote:
Neverent wrote:
CAVEAT!

–noun
1.
a warning or caution; admonition.

CAVEAT! Use this at your own risk.



(((I've edited this and added a short version of the edit for those who are computer savvy, please read the checklist below, then if this guide applies to you, simply ctrl+F search for SHORTVERSION)))






Introduction:


Ok. That was a provocative title that may or may not be entirely true from person to person. The following checklist will determine this, however. You've got empty clubs? You want to solve it? Check the following checklist.

[ ] Lots of sims from my town are congregating on a lot where they never leave; they stay, starve, and die. Like a bugs to a flame, they refuse to leave the lot. Something is wrong. It's a glitch by EA! I must wait until it is fixed.

[ ] I have not-so-many sims in my neighborhood. Maybe the reason my clubs are empty is because I have few sims in my 'hood, and worse yet, they're all too old or too young, etc. to participate in the clubbing experience. These are reasons my club is empty, most likely. I should make more sims in my neighborhood.

If either of these apply to you, this guide isn't for you. You have a bug that needs fixed or there are other obvious reasons why your clubs are empty. If you have too few sims in your neighborhood, the game has a small pool of sims to ask to go to clubs.

If you're not experiencing a bug and your neighborhood is well populated with young hip teens/young adults/adults, then it's possible this guide IS for you.

Here's another checkbox.

[ ] I've gone into my:
C:\Users\[your user name here]\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3
and found the "DeviceConfig.log" file in that folder, looked at it and saw that my CPU (processor) has a rating of less than 4.

That is, you need to go into that directory, find that file, open it and look for what I've italicized, underlined and bolded in this quote:
=== Application info ===
Name: Sims3
Version:
Build: Release
=== Rating info ===
GPU: 5 GPU Memory: 4 CPU: 4 RAM: 4 CPU Speed: 2500 Threading: 3
Adjusted CPU: 2934 RAM: 8191 Adjusted RAM: 7679 Cores: 4
=== Machine info ===
OS version: Windows 7 6.1.7600
[...]
[/quote]
If you've got a CPU rating there of less than 4 (3, 2 or 1), then continue.

How to start (don't skip the above stuff! Seriously, read it.)

(((RIGHT NOW IS WHEN YOU SEARCH FOR THE "SHORTVERSION" OF THIS EDIT IF YOU ARE COMPUTER SAVVY -- IF YOU'RE NOT, PLEASE READ THIS USER FRIENDLY STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE)))

Sometimes the game looks at your computer and underrates your processor. What's this mean? It looks at your processor and says "Nope. His/her computer can't handle more than [this many] sims on a lot." If it's rated a 1, you may be stuck with a very small max number of sims on a lot. Keep in mind, even with the best computer in the world, the HARDCODED max of sims on a public lot is 20. A CPU that is rated a 4 (max rating possible) will be able to have 20 sims (that INCLUDES the personnel working on the lot like bouncers and bartenders), but those with lower scores for CPU will be limited to 12, 8 or less.

Even if it didn't glitch, and you legitimately have a processor rated low but REALLY want extra sims on your lot, you can make that happen by changing a file that the sims uses to determine how many sims should be on a lot depending on the processor.

You can use this guide to do that. If you KNOW your processor is pretty good, you can safely increase the number of sims max per lot. If you have a not-so-good processor, you can do this too (but be aware that if the increased number of sims becomes too much for your processor to handle, the game might shut off (crash) and you will have to lower it if it get's annoying.

This is for people who understand their processors are capable, or who at least understand that if the processor isn't capable that they're going to experience performance problems (a "laggier" game) if they increase the number of max sims on a lot. After all, that's why the game limits it based on your processor power.

Ok. That's done and if you're still reading, well, read on! You'll at least learn a little bit in this guide if you're completely unfamiliar with editing game files. I make this very LONG AND DRAWN OUT WITH A LOT OF DETAIL. Those initiated with this kind of stuff should blaze through it and be annoyed with how overly detailed I make these mundane steps. Those not initiated in this kind of thing may, instead of feeling like the annoyed initiate, feel rejoiced that I've been so detailed in this process.

Regardless, I hope it helps. I also hope EA doesn't hit me with the banstick for teaching people how to do this. Erm...

Here we go:

Go find:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 Late Night\Game\Bin

and find a file called "GraphicsRules.sgr". If you know any coding (and you don't have to) you'll recognize this file is what the Sims3 reads when it's supposed to do things to the graphics. The file I posted earlier tells the sims "Hey, when you check out this person's computer, I want you to set certain performance options according to what I see fit." In order to do that, it says "Ok, let me go check the Graphics Rules (GraphicsRules.sgr) to see what is considered fit according to the hardware." The GraphicsRules.sgr is like a manual the game reads to see what graphics settings to use based on how good the computer is.

If you're a Mac user, there's a good chance you can't find the "Bin" folder that I've talked about in the last paragraph. LydiaAmelia explained how to do this as a Mac users. Thanks LydiaAmelia!

To all of the mac users, this is how you can find the Bin folder on Mac

Go to your Sims 3 application (most likely in your applications folder).
Right-Click (or Control-click) on it to bring up the pop-up menu.
Select “Show Package Contents” (which will open a new window showing the contents).
Navigate through the folders inside the package as follows: Contents/Resources/transgaming/c_drive/Program Files/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3/Game/Bin/ (careful not to go one further into the next “Bin” folder)
(credited to Asille.com)

Anyway, you can rewrite this manual. You can make it say "Oh when you're supposed to set them to 'low', actually set them high." The game won't question it. Computers do what they're told. The problem, however, is that the computer won't let you simply open the file and change it. Not because the game doesn't want you to, but because the computer is uncomfortable with people who don't know what they're doing to accidentally change things willy-nilly. But you know better than that, you're knowledgable, if you follow what I'm about to say. The first thing you want to do (and this is a useful option to have on for more than just editing the sims) is to enable file extensions to be seen. So your files on your computer won't be called "My pretty kitty" but instead it'll be "My pretty kitty.jpg" (the file extension tells you what kind of file the file is).

To do that, if you have windows 7, go to your control panel (in the start menu) and find the icon for "Folder Options". You can search your computer for it to. When you find it, open it and find the tab called "View". That page will have a long list of things you can check off. Look in there for "Hide extensions for known file types." UNCHECK THAT! Knowing what the file is just from the name is both cool and useful. You'll see why.

If you've got Windows vista, follow this guide: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Show-or-hide-file-name-extensions

If you've got Windows XP, follow this guide: http://www.fileinfo.com/help/windows-show-extensions.html

Okay, do your files now say "Blahblah.bmp", "blahblah.txt", etc. in folders and on your desktop? If so, nice. That's a useful thing to have. You can move on to the rest of this. This is very easy to do, but I'm going to give a painful amount of details during this process so you learn as you go.

In order to change what it says in the "manual" file the game uses to find out what your graphics should be set to (the file you opened a bit ago), you have to do the following:
1) Leave that folder (I just wanted you in there to see the file)
2) Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts instead.
3) Right click the Sims 3 Late Night folder in there.
4) Click properties.
5) That properties window tells you some information about the folder.
6) At the bottom is a check box next to "Read only". It may not be checked, but instead look gray. Either way, click it until it's white (no gray filling, no check, etc.; just a white blank box).
7) Read only means "You can only read what's in here, you can't write/edit/delete stuff."
We want to write stuff because we know what we're doing and this is a harmless, child-like edit.
9) UNCHECK that box. Reading-only is boring. Again, we want to write.
10) Click okay.
11) At this point, it's going to pop up a box that basically asks if you want to make just that folder writable or every file in the folder in addition to the folder itself. Well, we want everything in the folder to be writable.
12) Say Ok (the option is already selected to do it to everything in the folder) It MAY throw another message at you saying you need administrator rights. Well guess what, if this is your computer, you ARE the administrator, so agree to give it the rights by saying ok.
13) It's going to throw a loading bar at you as the computer tells every file in the folder you want to be able to edit the files, not just read them. When it's done you'll be able to change the stuff inside that manual file I was talking about before.
14) Go make a sandwich; congratulations, you're learning to tell computers YOU'RE in charge. That's pretty cool.
15) When it's done and your sandwich is in hand, go find that file again, since we can now edit it; It's in
C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 Late Night\Game\Bin
if you don't feel like scrolling up to read it.
16) Open it up.
17) Copy everything in there. Why? Because as it turns out, this file in particular STILL hates you editing it. Oh well. We'll make a NEW ONE (this is super easy -- all of this is, in fact; I'm just being long and drawn out to watch you squirm. Even though we can't edit it, the changes we just made WILL let us replace it.
18 ) After you've copied everything in there, close the file.
19) Minimize that Sims 3 folder for now. We don't need it yet, since we're going to make a new manual.
20) Right click your desktop and say "New" and then "Text Document", because that's what the manual is.
21) Name your new document to, you guessed it, "GraphicsRules.sgr"
22) When you do that, it's going to say (in not these exact words) "But if you change the .txt to a .sgr, you changing my file type! I'll stop being a general .txt document good for all kinds of things, and I'll turn into a .sgr document which is a very specific kind of text file used by programs for stuff."
23) And you'll say "OK!" because that's exactly what you're trying to do. You may now realize you can change file formats by editing their names from, say, ".bmp" (a kind of picture file) to ".jpg" (a different kind of picture file). That's one useful feature about showing file extensions!
24) Open up this new GraphicsRules.sgr file and paste all the stuff that you copied out of the other GraphicsRules.sgr file. Congratulations, you now have a file identical to the original GraphicsRules.sgr file... but... we don't want the exact same file! Here's where you change stuff.
25) Open it up and look for the following section of code (it's almost at the top):
seti cpuLevelUber 4
seti cpuLevelHigh 3
seti cpuLevelMedium 2
seti cpuLevelLow 1

A bit of looking that over might give you a brainstorm. That's a bit of code telling the game what to do depending on how strong your processor is. It determines if your processor is awesome ("Uber"), Great ("High"), Okay ("Medium") or made of a sweet smelling pine or oak wood ("Low"). To the right, it assigns those qualities a rating (the rating you saw a while ago if you read the introduction in this thread). It says "If he/she has an 'uber' processor, give it a rating of 4!, but if he/she has a High processor, set the rating for it to a 3, etc." A rating of 4 means 20 sims can be on a lot. Lower ratings means less sims per lot.

Here's where the hacker in you comes out. If you change the 4, 3, 2, 1 to 4, 4, 4, 4, then regardless of how the game feels about your processor, it'll say "Yep, according to this manual, it's a 4!" even if your processor isn't very good. Like I said, computers aren't smart -- they just do what they're told. If you tell it that an Uber processor should be rated a 4, a High processor should also be rated a 4, a medium processor should be rated a 4... and a low processor should be rated a 4, it won't argue with you.

So go ahead and change the 1, 2, 3 and 4, to all 4s like this:
seti cpuLevelUber 4
seti cpuLevelHigh 4
seti cpuLevelMedium 4
seti cpuLevelLow 4


26) Save the file now.
27) Go back into the folder that contained the original manual (the original GraphicsRules.sgr) -- you should have minimized it a while ago, so check to see if it's minimized on your bar. If you accidentally close it out, go find it again by going to
C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 Late Night\Game\Bin
28 ) Do you see the original GraphicsRules.sgr? If you do, please make a backup of this file by copying it and saving it to somewhere other than your desktop. You're about to replace it, and if you want to revert the changes you're making in this guide, you'll have to put this version back into this folder. Now take the new one we just made from your desktop and drop it into the folder that has the original GraphicsRules.sgr in it.
29) It's going to ask you if you want to overwrite it. You sure do!
30) Agree to overwrite the file.
31) Close out of all the folders you might have open.
32) Congratulations, you hacker; you just edited the game to do what you wanted it to do.
33) Load up your game. You'll probably start seeing more sims in public lots. If not, there might be some glitch in your town preventing it (or if you're in a town other than Bridgeport such as Riverview, you may not have many sims in your neighborhood to begin with! Make more sims!)

Whew. That was long and drawn out! This is all extrememly simple to do; don't feel overwhelmed. Feel proud. You learned a few things here. You learned that you can edit files of a game to do other stuff, you learned how to display file extensions (so that you can change a file's format just by renaming what's after the "." in the name), and more. You've now told the game that no matter what processor you have, to allow the max (20) number of sims onto a lot.

Editing other games works this way, but each game is a bit different.

Above all else, it's NOT ILLEGAL! I've had weird friends ask if doing stuff like this is illegal somehow. Lol, no. It's the same as adding mods to your game. The mods do the kind of stuff you just did, but they do all the work for you (because mods are written by people who did all the hard work for you so that you could just plop it in your folder).

Pretty cool stuff.

NOTE: Since this is just a super simple edit (it really is, the long list of steps is not necessary, I just wanted to teach as you went along), a patch WILL revert the file back to before you did anything to it. A patch guts your folders in the Sims directory and replaces them with new ones. That means it'll overwrite the new GraphicsRules.sgr you just made with its own. Sometimes it's the same file as the one you got rid of. That just means you might have to do this again if you patch the game. An easy way around this would be to copy the file you made and paste it on your desktop (or elsewhere you know it's safe), so that after a patch, you can just put it right back in.

Also, if you find that all these added sims on a lot are just too much for your computer to handle, you can now easily just edit the GraphicsRules.sgr directly (without going through all those steps you did to create it) but right clicking it, selecting "edit" and then changing the 4s to something lower, like 3s or 2s. You could even change the 4s back to the 1, 2, 3, 4 that was default. Just make sure you save it after modifying those numbers.

Good luck!


EDIT:: The short version, for those who know a good bit about computers.

SHORTVERSION:
1) Be sure file extensions are shown on your PC.
2) Make sure you the Electronic Arts directory in your program files isn't write-protected so that you can edit/delete files within it.
3) Go into C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 Late Night\Game\Bin
4) Copy the contents of the GraphicsRules.sgr file into a notepad and edit the cpu levels from 1, 2, 3, 4 to 4, 4, 4, 4. Change the notepad's name to GraphicsRules.sgr.
5) Make a backup of your original GraphicsRules.sgr then replace it with the new GraphicsRules.sgr you made.
6) For safety, make the new GraphicsRules.sgr read-only.
7) The game now ignores your processor rating and allows a max of 20 sims on any lot. You may exerience a drop in FPS if your processor can't handle them. Revert back or lower the values from 4s to 3s. Also, patches to the game will overwrite this file, so you'll have to do this again after a patch.[/size]


Hardware issues, glitches and in-game issues in the Sims 3: Late Night that might cause Clubs to be empty


In this section, I want to go into some detail about issues that can be causing clubs to be empty. I will list all of the issues that I currently know about. These are things you should think about. While your CPU is the first thing that should be checked (because before all else, it is what determines the max possible sims on a lot. Regardless of other issues, if you've got a poor processor, you WILL NOT see many sims given even perfect conditions in-game).

There are innumberable glitches and situational factors that interact to cause your clubs to be empty.

Ok, so you've done the above tweaks but find that it didn't help. If your processor was rated anything less than a 3 or 4, then the guide DID help, but you're experiencing other issues that are preventing the max sims per lot to be reached.

Situational factors:

1) Your neighborhood has too few young adult/adult sims to participate in clubs. Children aren't any good for clubs and elders aren't either. The optimal town would have a lot of adult/young adult/even teen sims to populate the clubs.

2) You have too few sims in your town, period. If you look at Bridgeport, the premier town for clubs, you'll notice there are a LOT of sims. The game needs a large pool of sims from which to pull people into clubs. This goes hand-in-hand with issue 1.

In-game glitches:

1) Sometimes all the sims in your neighborhood are being called to a lot or other place. It's a weird bug that's been around since Ambitions. The tell-tale signs of this are a) a lot is FULL of sims who never go home, b) the sims are standing around doing nothing, c) the sims are dying. One thing to look for are sims in the obituary of the newspaper. Lots of them. If this is happening, delete the lot and replace it. If they are still drawn to it, then delete it and DON'T replace it.

2) This is a technical issue. When you arrive at a club (or go near it, or click a club and tell your sim to "go to", the game searches the neighborhood for sims who aren't busy and asks them to come to the club. It looks at your processor's rating and says "Ok, his processor is rated a perfect 4/4 which means 20 sims can be on this lot. I will look for about 16 sims and ask them to come to the club (your sim is one that will be there and 3 will be bouncers/bar tenders -- added together with the 16 the game will invite, that makes 20 sims on the lot). The problem with this is that the game isn't smart in who it picks to come; it just picks 20 sims randomly who aren't busy. The big issue with this is that it doesn't take into consideration if the sim can get in or not. If the club is even a little prestigious and requires even a tiny bit of fame to get in the door, these sims with no fame will never be able to get in. Despite them not being able to get in, the game doesn't look for other sims to come in instead. It just waits and waits for the sims it asked to enter the club. EA needs to change the lots to not pick sims randomly, but instead it should pick sims that have fame appropriate to get into the club. That, or the game should scratch sims off the list who can't enter, and replace them on its list with other sims.

Example: Let's say a club requires 3 stars to get in. The game randomly picks 16 sims (or less! It depends on your processor's power; see the beginning of this post) from the neighborhood to come to the club. Let's say 2 of these have 4 star fame, 2 have three 2 star fame, and 12 aren't famous at all. The game automatically puts a couple bouncers in and a bartender -- including your sim, that's 20 potential sims on the lot. The problem? Only 2 of the sims it chose from the neighborhood can actually get in. These are the only 2 sims you'll see when you get in there. Where are all the other sims? Locked out. And the game doesn't realize it. So it doesn't look for other sims. That night, the max you'll see is 2.

Hopefully in a patch, they'll make the sim-selection for clubs take into consideration the sims' ability to get in -- if it chooses only sims who can get in, you'll start to see the number of sims equal to what your processor can handle.

J. M. Pescado over at MoreAwesomeThanYou confirms my intuition:
Empty clubs should be somewhat reduced [in a new version of Awesomemod] with the removal of the DDoS factor where club visitor slots were being DDoSed with randomly selected visitors who are not actually allowed in the club.

Apparantly he's looking to fix EA's weird mistake in his AwesomeMod. My processor tweak + his correct invitations would equal lots of sims in clubs.

NOTE!: Your processor determines the max number of sims that the game will try to put on the lot. If your processor only has a max of 8 sims per lot, that's a SMALL list to choose from! The more "slots" on the list, the better the odds of choosing sims who will be able to get into the club. With such a short list (such as 4 or 8 [processor ratings 1 and 2, respectively]), the odds of choosing sims who can get in purely by random chance is quite low. Why? With a max of 8 sims on a lot, 2-3 of those are going to be staff automatically, meaning that it's going to randomly choose or FIVE or SIX from the neighborhood (and if they have no fame, well, they're not getting in). THAT'S why it's important to at least make sure your processor is rated for 20 max sims. You need as big of a list of possible sims as you can get.

Where do "hot spots" come in to play? Well, on a normal day, a club will not pick the max number of sims that your processor can handle to invite to a club. You might be able to have 20 max on a lot, but the game only tries to get that many sims if it's a hot spot today. If it's not currently a hot spot, it chooses even less. As we know, a smaller list of invited sims = smaller and smaller chances of anyone being able to get in.

Another example: So sally has a processor rated a 3. That means she can have up to 16 sims max per lot. 1 slot is taken up by her own sim. 3 are taken up by staff in the club. That leaves 12 potential slots for sims on the lot. But today the club isn't a hot spot -- The game says "Ok, there's room for 12 sims here... but today's not a hot-spot, so I'm NOT going to invite enough sims to fill all of them; I'll invite 6." So it looks around the neighborhood and randomly picks 6 unbusy sims. One happens to be a 4-star fame actor. The rest are peasants with no fame. The 4-star celebrity gets there and walks in. The other sims don't even go to the club because they know they can't get in -- so they turn down the hidden digital invitation from the lot. Sure there are sims in the town who COULD get in, but they weren't invited today (just by random chance, their ticket wasn't pulled), and won't have a chance to be invited until tomorrow. What do you get? A club with staff and one celebrity. Sound like your case? Now you know why.

ANYTHING you can do to increase the number of secret digital invites a lot sends out to the town will help the clubs fill. More slots = more chances to get sims who are able to participate. That's why this processor tweak is a good thing regardless of it having an obvious effect for you or not. It will increase the number of invites a lot sends out. This in-game issue is also why removing the velvet ropes can help fill clubs.

So what about clubs that don't require any fame to get in? Why are THEY empty? Well, the huge issue is that the secret invitation process the game uses doesn't drop sims who can't get in and search for sims who could. My assumption is that since it invites sims and then waits for them to show up all day, even if they don't come, is that oftentimes it must be selecting sims who can't make it to the club for some other reason than fame. I admit I do not know this reason. Maybe it's inviting invalid sims? Such as children or the elderly? OUR TOP SCIENTISTS ARE ON IT![/quote]

Comments

  • lydiaamelialydiaamelia Posts: 5 New Member
    edited December 2010
    TRY IT AT YOUR OWN RISK.

    So this is what I did after I read Neverent thread

    firstly, you need to check the CPU rating
    u might need to find the DeviceConfig.log - Go to your document/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3

    this is what you need to find:
    === Application info ===
    Name: Sims3
    Version:
    Build: Release
    === Rating info ===
    GPU: 3 GPU Memory: 3 CPU: 2 RAM: 4 CPU Speed: 2260 Threading: 3
    Adjusted CPU: 2613 RAM: 3839 Adjusted RAM: 3327 Cores: 2
    === Machine info ===
    OS version: MacOS 10.6.5

    as what Neverent stated in his thread, "If you've got a CPU rating there of less than 4 (3, 2 or 1), then continue"

    Second, you need to find the "GraphicsRules.sgr" from the Bin folder.
    this is the step:
    Go to your Sims 3 application (most likely in your applications folder).
    Right-Click (or Control-click) on it to bring up the pop-up menu.
    Select “Show Package Contents” (which will open a new window showing the contents).
    Navigate through the folders inside the package as follows: Contents/Resources/transgaming/c_drive/Program Files/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3/Game/Bin/ (careful not to go one further into the next “Bin” folder)
    (credited to Asille.com)

    Next, open up the "GraphicRules.sgr" that you find in the Bin,
    copy everything in there to a new one ( I used text edit) and save it as "GraphicRules.sgr" (I recommend you to save it in your desktop). When you try to save it this will pop up "You cannot save this document with extension “.sgr” in the end of the name. The required extension is “.rtf”, just click it (use .rtf).
    Then go to your desktop/ wherever you save the file you created just now, right click/get info, you will see the name of the file is "GraphicRules.rtf" delete the rtf and change it to sgr (as this is the format you need). Again when you try to change, there will be pop up asking whether you are sure to change the extension, click use .sgr.
    Open up the new "GraphicRules.sgr" that you put in your desktop, look for the following section of code (it's almost at the top):
    seti cpuLevelUber 4
    seti cpuLevelHigh 3
    seti cpuLevelMedium 2
    seti cpuLevelLow 1

    So go ahead and change the 1, 2, 3 and 4, to all 4s like this:
    seti cpuLevelUber 4
    seti cpuLevelHigh 4
    seti cpuLevelMedium 4
    seti cpuLevelLow 4
    Save the file now.
    Go back into the folder that contained the original manual (the original GraphicsRules.sgr) -- you should have minimized it a while ago, so check to see if it's minimized on your bar. If you accidentally close it out, go find it again by
    Go to your Sims 3 application (most likely in your applications folder).
    Right-Click (or Control-click) on it to bring up the pop-up menu.
    Select “Show Package Contents” (which will open a new window showing the contents).
    Navigate through the folders inside the package as follows: Contents/Resources/transgaming/c_drive/Program Files/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3/Game/Bin/ (careful not to go one further into the next “Bin” folder)

    Do you see the original GraphicsRules.sgr? If you do, please make a backup of this file by copying it and saving it to somewhere other than your desktop. You're about to replace it, and if you want to revert the changes you're making in this guide, you'll have to put this version back into this folder. Now take the new one we just made from your desktop and drop it into the folder that has the original GraphicsRules.sgr in it.
    It's going to ask you if you want to overwrite it. You sure do!
    Agree to overwrite the file.

    You should be done after you overwrite the file and you can launch and play the game.

    everything I write based on Neverent thread and some of it directly copied from his.

    this is the link of the OP: http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/307092.page
    Post edited by Unknown User on
  • rsm2150rsm2150 Posts: 17 New Member
    edited December 2010
    I did this last night and haven't had a chance to try running the game since, but if my CPU was rated as a 1 before I changed the settings, does it mean that it's unlikely that my computer can support having more sims on community lots/nightclubs? I wasn't having any of the glitches mentioned in the caveat (although the game did crash last night after about an hour and a half of play, but my laptop was running pretty hot at that point).

    Also, is it possible to change the settings from a lower number to a higher number that's not 4, in the interest of not overloading the computer?
  • BatmanBatman Posts: 302 Member
    edited December 2010
    TRY IT AT YOUR OWN RISK.
    Second, you need to find the "GraphicsRules.sgr" from the Bin folder.
    this is the step:
    Go to your Sims 3 application (most likely in your applications folder).
    Right-Click (or Control-click) on it to bring up the pop-up menu.
    Select “Show Package Contents” (which will open a new window showing the contents).

    I am lost.

    Do I need to find the sims 3 folder in the applications folder? Or the sims 3 folder in the documents folder? In any case when I right click and the option menu comes up but I do not find any "Show Package Contents" option. :(

    EDIT: After rereading, I found it! I think it went well. I will test later. THANKS SO MUCH!
  • rsm2150rsm2150 Posts: 17 New Member
    edited December 2010
    Batman wrote:
    TRY IT AT YOUR OWN RISK.
    Second, you need to find the "GraphicsRules.sgr" from the Bin folder.
    this is the step:
    Go to your Sims 3 application (most likely in your applications folder).
    Right-Click (or Control-click) on it to bring up the pop-up menu.
    Select “Show Package Contents” (which will open a new window showing the contents).

    I am lost.

    Do I need to find the sims 3 folder in the applications folder? Or the sims 3 folder in the documents folder? In any case when I right click and the option menu comes up but I do not find any "Show Package Contents" option. :(

    EDIT: After rereading, I found it! I think it went well. I will test later. THANKS SO MUCH!

    Please post what happens! Mine was rated a 1 and I changed everything according to the directions, but afterward my game wouldn't run until I changed the settings back. I hope it works for you!
  • DaiyuDaiyu Posts: 771 Member
    edited December 2010
    I tried this out, and well... my clubs are still quiet. Especially the lounge, but probably because I have a bouncer and the game asks any sim to come, and if they don't have enough stars they get turned away. I have a dive bar, and that never has many sims come even if it is a hot spot. Maybe 2-3 sims might turn up. So disappointing, my sims wanna paaaaartay...
  • StinalinaStinalina Posts: 2,396 Member
    edited December 2010
    Guys im impressed with you for trying!

    I read it on the LN forum and decided it would take me to long to figure out, so im just hoping hoping hoping for a patch that will solve this problem :)

    My sims usually dont go to the clubs anymore, cant be bordered. All of them are boring, no matter ropes, hot spots etc.
    I even build one without elevators to see if it would attract more sims, - nope.

    Wish you luck and will keep and eye out for your result. But sorry to hear it did not change for you Daiyu.


    ____________

    PS: Batman I just downloaded your Porter (due to a visit from Liam;) twice :)
    I rec'ed him. He's absolutely beautiful!

    Honestly I never download others sims, so I hope you take it as a compliment.

    But I just realized he has a harry chest, thats so funny! :)
    Post edited by Unknown User on
  • lydiaamelialydiaamelia Posts: 5 New Member
    edited December 2010
    I am so sorry that I forgot to let you know that I tried it before. It went well but my laptop could not handle it and the game crashed, this is what happened when I changed all to max which is 4. afterwards, I changed all of it to 3, it went ok. but the game lag and I was not patient enough to play it. At last, I change everything back to normal.
    Daiyu wrote:
    I tried this out, and well... my clubs are still quiet. Especially the lounge, but probably because I have a bouncer and the game asks any sim to come, and if they don't have enough stars they get turned away. I have a dive bar, and that never has many sims come even if it is a hot spot. Maybe 2-3 sims might turn up. So disappointing, my sims wanna paaaaartay...

    I'm sorry to hear about that, but at least we tried. from what I know, the sims popularity might affect the clubs. I play a 5-star celebrity and normally when I go to a dive bar or the others, even if it is not a hot-spot (except lounge and other places that uses bouncer), people keeps coming in. sometimes its not too many but it's just ok for me.
    I did some reading in the forum, I found it that you might need to frequently visit the bars/clubs at first until the game learn ur' sims pattern and hopefully the bars/clubs will get more sims. I guess it happens to me, when first playing no one in the clubs/bars/lounges but after frequently visiting it, I get more sims there. I do not know whether it is really connected or not but nothing wrong if you try it.
    Batman wrote:
    EDIT: After rereading, I found it! I think it went well. I will test later. THANKS SO MUCH!

    I'm glad it went well. hows the game now? are u getting more sims in your clubs now?

    rsm2150 wrote:
    Also, is it possible to change the settings from a lower number to a higher number that's not 4, in the interest of not overloading the computer?

    Yes, it is possible to change the settings to a higher number that's not 4, but remember the highest number is 4. so you can choose to change it to 2/3/4. As I read from the OP, it is not going to harm your computer at all. In case if your laptop cannot handle it the game will crash (as what happened when I change all of mine to 4). another case, the game going to be lagged but you still can play it if you choose to.




  • DaiyuDaiyu Posts: 771 Member
    edited December 2010
    Well I decided to stop my lounge bar being so exclusive, and found that a few more sims did turn up. So that is good news. I will do what you said and try to frequent the bars regularly at the same sim time and see if that makes a difference too.

    Thanks for posting all of this, it's good to know we have an active mac community willing to test and try things out.
  • lydiaamelialydiaamelia Posts: 5 New Member
    edited December 2010
    Daiyu wrote:
    Well I decided to stop my lounge bar being so exclusive, and found that a few more sims did turn up. So that is good news. I will do what you said and try to frequent the bars regularly at the same sim time and see if that makes a difference too.

    Thanks for posting all of this, it's good to know we have an active mac community willing to test and try things out.

    Its good to hear that, maybe the places that have lesser sims caused by the bouncer and the elevator as well. Hopefully the new patches will come out soon and fix it. Keep us updated :)
  • StinalinaStinalina Posts: 2,396 Member
    edited December 2010
    Stinalina wrote:
    Guys im impressed with you for trying!

    I read it on the LN forum and decided it would take me to long to figure out, so im just hoping hoping hoping for a patch that will solve this problem :)

    My sims usually dont go to the clubs anymore, cant be bordered. All of them are boring, no matter ropes, hot spots etc.
    I even build one without elevators to see if it would attract more sims, - nope.

    Wish you luck and will keep and eye out for your result. But sorry to hear it did not change for you Daiyu.


    ____________

    PS: Batman I just downloaded your Porter (due to a visit from Liam;) twice :)
    I rec'ed him. He's absolutely beautiful!

    Honestly I never download others sims, so I hope you take it as a compliment.

    But I just realized he has a harry chest, thats so funny! :)

    Hi Batman, i realized after i downloaded your Sim, im having problem uploading pictures... in not sure what the cause is since i did download some other CC, but do you know if there is any problems with the cc your sim have? Im a but suspicious of the hairy chest... ? Dont know if i have any reason to be so, but i have never used 3. part CC hair, but im wondering if this could cause any trouble?

    Does anyone know? :) Thank you

    __________

    Please forget the above, i just tried again and after a few days of no pictures i can now upload again... I tried to sign out of the launcher and apparently it works now...? Have no idea why, but if anyone else has this problem, maybe thats the key....(!?) Sorry for the false alarm.

    _________

    hmm... now it doesnt work again... I dont get it...?
    Post edited by Unknown User on
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