I read that over in the CAW forum yesterday, as one simmer said that Twallan had just came out with OW 60 (apparently he had found the issue with simfests and OW that is in OW59 and another simmer went to get it, and came back and reported he had pulled 60 again with not much explanation. So that simmer was warning the other one she probably should go back to 59 until Twallan either found the problem or explained. I did not go check even though I intended to, where I have not been using any of his mods since ST came out and have been dealing with the issues the hard way that OW usually does for me. Groan - I do really love OW - so I will be really happy if it stops having or causing little issues. If i did not test other peoples worlds and lots I wouldn't care so much, as it does far more good than bad - but.... i can't chance a mod creating something in a world that would not be there other wise.
OH MY Goodness - i thought of all people who would understand ET - you would. That mod is such a Gem - as it virtually fixes bad script in the game - it is invaluable to testers and real useful for players. But what it does is find script errors, notifies you of the error - which you need to read in notebook or notepad or some program that can read what it tells you and pinpoints possible problems. If it is capable it will fix that error, and if it fixes it you will never see it again - but of course Twallan has not found every possible error on this planet so every now and then ET finds something it can't fix - in this case it will keep coming up with the same error. When it does this, Twallan wants us to send the post from ET to him and he generally can tell how to fix the problem. I believe he then adds that correction to ET once he has it so the next game that comes up in ET can fix it.
Oh but I love that mod. Still I generally just use it while testing a new world the first day or so - even EA's new ones too - just in case. But I have not used that either since ST. I always wait until Twallan is sure he has all the possibilities of problems worked out - so I don't see any chance of getting false problems in someones hard work. It sure makes work testing easier though having those two mods. I don't use any other mods though because of being a tester for the CAW folks. It is a choice - not a rule. I just try and be dependable and trustworthy - honestly. But learn ET and how to read it - and it is like the greatest mod ever - well to me anyway.
Hey Allspice - the next time you have a situation like you listed with a stuck baby, go to edit town and move the entire household to the clipboard by evicting just the family, then move them back into their house. This will reset the whole house and will not cause anyone to disappear. Do this also if you have one of your sims stuck somewhere or missing, the game will gather them all up and put them all on the clipboard, fix any of their problems, and then you move them all back into the house and no one will be lost. Make sure when you can get out of game after fixing them , that you delete the 4 caches that like to hold corruption in your game, so that instance is gone permanently from your game and can't corrupt your saves. Also on an added note, leave the social cache alone, unless you are having a problem or had a problem with any of the new Showtime careers as a few people have reported deleting that social cache sometimes causes them to lose progress in their careers. I do not know first hand as i never delete anything I don't know what info it holds, and have not searched into the Social cache yet. I know I should have, but I have no excuse - i just haven't done it yet. hehehe
Amjoie I haven't read your post yet, as I needed to get that info answered. Now to read yours. hehehe
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
Ah - I have to admit I have not even heard of that one before - but even if I had I doubt I would have looked into it - I hear translating and think it messes with language - human or machine - it's got to be tricky. So I probably would not even look into something with translate in it's title. i leave that kind of complexity to those more inclined to see something like that and be curious about it. There are just some places I don't care to venture if I don't have to. hehehe
I really thought it would be odd and possibly only an oversight that you didn't know ET. I mean - my goodness all the work you do helping every body and that mod has made my tiny steps in helping (compared to your gigantic ones) sooo much easier. I have a lot less hair pulling while testing particularly new CAW users worlds, as I rarely see script errors in the old hands at CAW worlds - heck in Rflongs worlds, it is rare to see any kind of error period - but I do find that tool very helpful. I do look at it as a tool though and not a mod really. But anyway - I did wonder if that statement was an oversight and good to know it was.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
Thank you so much for this really informative thread! This has opened my eyes to the what and why of so many lags I have had and are having now. Now I see my work is cut out for me.
I have used resetsim * several times on player made worlds, not Rflong's, and it has worked for a few minutes but lag starts again. Unfortunately I am one of those I want to play and not have to work for it...now, it looks like the handwriting is on the wall.
You guys are great at figuring this stuff out...bookmarked this thread to go over it a few more times so this stuff sinks in. I kinda knew on my own that MOO was great but could be dangerous...you all just confirmed it.
If I could, I'd give you all benes.
In my house, dog hair sticks to everything but the dog.
Writin_Reg, could you please give me links to threads that discuss the in-game world editor? I placed a few lots with that, in Lunar Lakes. Before I embark on my giant redo of LL, I think I should know the potential hazards of placing new lots with the in-game world editor.
If there are too many threads to link, at least give me an idea of what part of the forum to search, and what search criteria are likely to pop up the threads.
Amjoie - it is a lot of links as this has been a growing problem since at least LN, but most of those conversations went on over in the CAW forums. Most of the long time world creators are aware of this issue - but check Magic Dancers thread when she remade Sunset Valley and added streets, flattened area _ it's called Sunset Valley 2 I believe - but she first released it with no lots at all and people came out of the wood work asking her to place the lots. I have found out that adding more than 4 or 5 small lots seems to break routing - which gives you the bad playability of any world with broken routing - constant hiccups that grows excessively worse. But i believe the earliest discovery of this problem was when I was with a group of simmer in the CAW forums we called ourselves the "Sims of Caw Lane" and were totally comprosed of World/lot creators, and testers - that worked together helping other simmers test their worlds so as a group we could cover a world in no time and find all the kinks, then we would check over each others lists of problems to verify and find the problems - but along the way we started noticing the trouble with using the ingame editor - that placing more than one or two big lots would break the world - and placeing over 3-4 medium lots, and 4-6 small lots, seem to break it. We only later found out what was happening was placing the lots was breaking the final routing done on all worlds when they are ready for others to use. The only way to fix of course was to put the world back in CAW and it is not always a easy thing to do - especially EA world. But it seems with each ep we are able to place less and less lots before the breakage occurs. But anyway in Magic Dancers thread the people talked her into adding a ton of lots in CAW so we did not encounter the Hades of the fickle world editor. (ETA: I am one of the first who found this problem - it's just been reaffirmed constantly through others since. I also was one of the ones that found the work around for the fishing/seed/ and shopping problems with WA - so I find and try to fix or find fixes to most problems - but there is no fix for this if you don't use CAW).
Also regarding rest of your post - you can't really use Awesomemod with the same mod Twallan has that do the same thing from my understanding - so you are wise to just choose one. But in the case of Twallans mod you can safely delete those sims from what everyone tells me and then remove the mod if you don't want to use it - unlike awesomemod. Both Pes and Twallan are brillant modders - so it is really the choice and game play styles of the user. I just prefer to play modless anything that rewrites game code so I give things I am testing a fair test - so i have learned to play around the disadvantages of using totally EA gameplay. I am so used to it, it is second nature to me. But both of the SP from those two modders are fabulous - so I stand behind your decision to choose what ever works best for you seeing you do know all the ins and outs with using the mods. I only get annoyed with folks who don't bother learning what they are using and then jump all over EA. Some things people blame on the game is not very likely (I want to say impossible here, but know nothing is impossible) it was normal game play doing what ever. But I don't need to add all that hoopla in here. In my mind you are indeed a very responsible mod user and do know what you are doing - even if your have no idea which direction to go at present - I do think you have a plan anyway and know where you want to end up. i can see it working eventually with that much determination.
About the Mausoleum - you do know you do not have to have it in a graveyard. If you would like it just out of sight but there for the job use and any other uses it has - you can always put it on a small remote lot somewhere - It is a rabbithole, so it should even be safe to add to any lot with other RH buildings.
I also do not think the ghost hunter career is tied in with the Cemetary as the ghosts in that career are not the same as the ghosts in the cemetary. The game does not recognize the ghosts of one having to do with the ghost of the other. The career ghost I believe are object ghosts and not lifestates. I looked for the post I saw that, but cannot seem to find it - but it sounded correct for sure.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
Hey Allspice - the next time you have a situation like you listed with a stuck baby, go to edit town and move the entire household to the clipboard by evicting just the family, then move them back into their house. This will reset the whole house and will not cause anyone to disappear. Do this also if you have one of your sims stuck somewhere or missing, the game will gather them all up and put them all on the clipboard, fix any of their problems, and then you move them all back into the house and no one will be lost. Make sure when you can get out of game after fixing them , that you delete the 4 caches that like to hold corruption in your game, so that instance is gone permanently from your game and can't corrupt your saves. Also on an added note, leave the social cache alone, unless you are having a problem or had a problem with any of the new Showtime careers as a few people have reported deleting that social cache sometimes causes them to lose progress in their careers. I do not know first hand as i never delete anything I don't know what info it holds, and have not searched into the Social cache yet. I know I should have, but I have no excuse - i just haven't done it yet. hehehe
I didn't know the clipboard acted that way, I will do that next time. Thank you for the tip, Writin_Reg.
Like I said before, this thread is great. I'm learning a lot, and have already implemented a couple of the things mentioned here into my own game. I've spent some time going around Starlight Shores deleting and redoing various things that might be causing routing issues (mostly landscaping). I'm really thankful to everyone that has tested the game so thoroughly and found these things. It really makes a big difference. :thumbup:
I think my question may have been overlooked. I was wondering if editing the EA townies affects anything?
Well, that all depends, and the reason I didn't answer is that I am not familiar with the tool you plan on using.
What I use when I need to perform surgery on a non-playable sim is testingcheatsenabled true, and then I shift-click on the sim. The menu has something about editing the sim. Choose that option. I don't have the game open right now, and I don't remember exactly what it says. EditSim or Edit Sim in Cas or something about editing. You'll know when you see it.
That will instantly take you to the CAS screen, whether for simmies or critters.
Once there, you want to confine your surgery changes to only the head of a simmie. Change anything on the head, including the overall facial structure/head type and eye color. You can also change anything concerning the hair and make-up. You can change the clothes. All that is safe.
If you want to play absolutely safe: Do NOT change traits or wishes or favorites (you probably shouldn't change the star sign, either). Do NOT change the sliders for body shape, muscle size shape, or female chest size. Do NOT change the name. Do not change the skin tone.
There is a reward machine that changes body fat and muscle conditioning. If you click on it, you can choose to change either the sim clicking or specify a different sim. I'm fairly sure this works well for any sim that you can get to visit your lot.
In the same menu that you used to get the sim into CAS, you have the option of changing traits, which can by done on the fly, with any sim you see walking around town.
For playable sims, name changes are done during the day at the city hall. You can get rewards to change lifetime wishes (before you complete a lifetime wish), and to change favorites.
I have actually never used the in-game "take them to have surgery done" at the hospital. I don't know if that safely changes body shape or skin tone, but I'll be checking it out, soon.
Other than that possibility, I had a rather disastrous situation when I tried to change the skin tone of a genie. It changed the color of all skin tones in CAS. So, something is definitely not safe about changing skin tone when using the cheat, at least since ST.
You can also do a general makeover of any sim you can catch and persuade to come into your salon, but that won't change huge noses or misshapen facial bones.
For critters, you are limited to changing the body shape to one of the predefined sim critter body shapes for the respective type of playable critter. After that, you can change to one of the predefined head/ear/nose shapes/coat types, etc. You will not be able to access any of the more advanced head or body structure manipulations.
You can change only the base color of the critter, with somewhat unpredictable results for layer color. But if you like what you see, no problem. In addition, you can choose any predefined color combination in the saved pattern/color chart. So if you make or download a critter's color/pattern that you enjoy, save it to the chart and you will be able to use it just like the EA default color/pattern types.
You can also change a horses mane and tail types, saddles, accessories and etc, and recolor them. You will not be able to add unicorn horns, but you can add the unicorn beard, if you have a unicorn.
If you do use Twallen's mod, please ask your question of him, in his forum, so you get the correct answer.
Amjoie - it is a lot of links as this has been a growing problem since at least LN, but most of those conversations went on over in the CAW forums. Most of the long time world creators are aware of this issue - but check Magic Dancers thread when she remade Sunset Valley and added streets, flattened area _ it's called Sunset Valley 2 I believe - but she first released it with no lots at all and people came out of the wood work asking her to place the lots. I have found out that adding more than 4 or 5 small lots seems to break routing - which gives you the bad playability of any world with broken routing - constant hiccups that grows excessively worse. But i believe the earliest discovery of this problem was when I was with a group of simmer in the CAW forums we called ourselves the "Sims of Caw Lane" and were totally comprosed of World/lot creators, and testers - that worked together helping other simmers test their worlds so as a group we could cover a world in no time and find all the kinks, then we would check over each others lists of problems to verify and find the problems - but along the way we started noticing the trouble with using the ingame editor - that placing more than one or two big lots would break the world - and placeing over 3-4 medium lots, and 4-6 small lots, seem to break it. We only later found out what was happening was placing the lots was breaking the final routing done on all worlds when they are ready for others to use. The only way to fix of course was to put the world back in CAW and it is not always a easy thing to do - especially EA world. But it seems with each ep we are able to place less and less lots before the breakage occurs. But anyway in Magic Dancers thread the people talked her into adding a ton of lots in CAW so we did not encounter the Hades of the fickle world editor. (ETA: I am one of the first who found this problem - it's just been reaffirmed constantly through others since. I also was one of the ones that found the work around for the fishing/seed/ and shopping problems with WA - so I find and try to fix or find fixes to most problems - but there is no fix for this if you don't use CAW).
Thank you for letting me know. I'll check it out in the CAW section. I need to place at least one large lot and one medium, as a minimum, in order to do what I want to that map. This is really making me sad. Well, I'll read about it, and do what I must. Better to know, now, before I redo the world. Sigh.
As far as the mausoleum, I have the LL rabbit hole, which looks like every other LL rabbit hole. So I can always get the function without worrying about looks. Those LL rabbit holes hide nicely in shell buildings. I just don't like using the mausoleum, but probably not for the reason you might think. The truth is, when they come out with their hair all stuck up and blackened all over, I dissolve into a giggle fit of almost unmanageable proportions. Why, I have no idea. I do the same thing when the sim gets almost electrocuted and has the same look. I laugh to the point of feeling helpless and weak. So I avoid using it. I also avoid electrical traps in WA tombs, etc. It may sound silly, but I have asthma, and when I laugh that hard it can start me coughing really hard, too. Between the laughing and coughing, I'm in rough shape.
Sugar cookies - sorry I missed that - nope - you can fix them all up. EA actually made it very compatiable when they added the Salon and Tatoo parlour careers. So it does not hurt anything. ETA - I am talking about doing that normally as I see Amjoie mentioned a tool - I will go look at your post.... Ah Master Controller - no, you are safe. Many top sims creators and players do it with MC and I have tested their worlds and have seen no problem what so ever with the process. Twallan does not do anything half- a r s e d. hehehe. So redo away. hehehe
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
Amjoie - i know EXACTLY what you mean - it's a family curse I swear - I use Symbicort but having laughing fits does not make catching breath any easier. hehehe
But the burn factor I don't find quite as funny as that PC that stuff food in the sims face. Now THAT is funny - rofl funny to me seeing I literally fell off my chair laughing the first time I saw that. My sims face was priceless.
Yeah, I forgot that being a portal in LL. I played LL just until ST came out, so i haven't yet gone back to it. I think i am delaying hoping someone comes up with smaller Venues for ST so i can have some in LL. I'm chicken about trying it myself as those Venues are too touchy for me to mess with. I suppose i could just stick with the clubs I did make.
Anyway i think you will be okay with just 2 - just save you progress before you do any of lot placing so you don't lose the progress and keep that save on your desktop then move on to adding the lot. Also I have discovered if you place lots on a place where there was already a bigger lot previously, they seem to create no problems. In SS there is an big empty lot near the shoreline - that I tested by deleting and then adding in 5 of the 20 X 25 lots in it's place and added 5 family sized trailers for more living room and I had already added 3 20 x 30 lots and several 10 x 10 for subways and had no breakage what so ever. But i Save, move out the file, add the lot and play the world a sims day to make sure with each lot. That way I can back up at any spot to where it still works.
Post edited by Unknown User on
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
The truth is, when they come out with their hair all stuck up and blackened all over, I dissolve into a giggle fit of almost unmanageable proportions. Why, I have no idea. I do the same thing when the sim gets almost electrocuted and has the same look. I laugh to the point of feeling helpless and weak. So I avoid using it. I also avoid electrical traps in WA tombs, etc. It may sound silly, but I have asthma, and when I laugh that hard it can start me coughing really hard, too. Between the laughing and coughing, I'm in rough shape.
You aren't the only one. I can barely breathe for a good minute or so after a sim is electrocuted. There is something so humorous about the way they look afterward...XD
I'm sorry you have asthma. I don't have it myself, but I know people who do and it can be downright frightening at times.
Anyway i think you will be okay with just 2 - just save you progress before you do any of lot placing so you don't lose the progress and keep that save on your desktop then move on to adding the lot. Also I have discovered if you place lots on a place where there was already a bigger lot previously, they seem to create no problems. In SS there is an big empty lot near the shoreline - that I tested by deleting and then adding in 5 of the 20 X 25 lots in it's place and added 5 family sized trailers for more living room and I had already added 3 20 x 30 lots and several 10 x 10 for subways and had no breakage what so ever. But i Save, move out the file, add the lot and play the world a sims day to make sure with each lot. That way I can back up at any spot to where it still works.
Oh, I have tons of redundant backups. Always. I make too many mistakes to not keep multiple backups, even when I'm not taking any risks. And when I am doing something risky, I need even more. I'm a Backup Queen. LOL
I think, though, that I need clarification of what you mean by routing failure. Is that something that can be tested after each lot placement?
And if routing failure is not found after testing each lot placement, immediately, is this something that can then be assumed as safe? Or does it hide, just so it can slap you silly when you aren't looking?
I would have no problem with testing for routing failure with each lot I placed. Of course that begs the question: How do I test for routing failure, when it comes to lots? What am I looking for, and how many ways can routing fail? Do I need to test just simmies, or also playable critters? Cars?
I have no CAW background, so I'm a bit unclear with what you mean. If you tell me exactly how to go about it, I can usually follow instructions without too much hand holding.
Crinrict - that is a great idea for people who like to come back to it. I know once you know some of the things you know what to look for and how to prevent others.
Amjoie - it breaks routing - which is not exactly the same thing as routing failure. Routing failure is when a sim refuses to go somewhere and does that little fit they do and gets the crossed out thought bubble. I wish it was that as that is fixable just by getting things out of the way causing the problem. But what I am talking about is breaking the routing where little hole show up all over the map that become traps for tourists and sims of all type - you know you have it because the game will get little freezes for no reason - I call them hiccups and hesitations - but it will be all over the map with no pinpointable area of problem. But when routing breaks, it cannot be fixed in a save - all you can do is go back to a earlier save before the routing broke and try not to repeat what you did to break it. I encounter it a lot in testing worlds for mainly new creaters that did not reset the routing after they finished working on their world - as working on a world breaks the routing, but in CAW they just basically push one little button and it totally resets the routing in the whole world so it run smooth and doesn't have this constant freezing all over creation.
When the world editor first came out routing never broke - you could add lots through out an empty world, but it is as if the editor was never updated with each EP or something because every single ep since we started getting the routing to break after extensively using that editor. I found it right after Late night when I downloaded a totally empty world. All went well for the first 2 dozen lots i added, but then I started getting those indications of broken routing. Being a world tester i had learned to look for this, so i know what it is when I see it. After the first indication I did continue to add lots but it got progressively worse. So I went back and started over again. I did this 3 times and everytime I got around 28-30 lots added routing got broken.
Anyway I dealt with it all week, and it was the largest world size - so I thought maybe it just was not a stable world - like I said we did not used to be able to break routing in saves - so it was not making a lot of sense to me. But then I ended up trying to add lots to several other large world -these by top CAW creator that I had played the worlds many times before with no problem, and again it happened about lot 28 or so. So perplexed i turned to the creator - a dear friend as well, and eventually we figured out it was not the worlds but the editor doing it. I brought my info to the forum I hung on and shared it. So plenty of top testers - several of which thought I was nuts probably - finally found out what I was saying was true. But we all agreed well being able to do over two dozen lots would be okay in worlds that had lots already - as who usually adds that many anyway? But we learned with each new ep the number before that breakage has occurred has steadily declined. It is all a matter of luck if you can even get away with 10 lots - you can if you keep them small and are really lucky. But most people add the big lots, and the editor just does not seem to handle that well. But all you look for is steady hesitations all over the hood. Like a sim may freeze in mid jog run some more, freeze, run some more, freeze. Constantly. it is not a periodic little freeze every now and then - that is generally something else. It is a steady constant thing - it never last but a second but it is constant and almost impossible to play a game because sims all over the hood do this eventually and it will steadily get worse and spread.
But it used to only happen with new, generally a creators first world, where they don't realize they need to reset routing after they are through doing anything to the world. It is the last step they need to do before uploading or making it availiable for othrs to test the world. Then when they make any corrections in the world they have to again reset the routing. But you can't do anything about it at play level - or if you can I have yet to find a way to do it. So I was going nuts trying to figure out how game play can break a basically sealed worlds routing. Well it was not actually hurting the world technically - it was only breaking the routing in the save - so no one can fix it. But EA needs to figure out why laying a half dozen lots will break the routing and turn that editor to not do it or update it or something. But if you are lucky you might get in a hand ful of lots. If it starts that hesitating - which you best way to see it is put a sim on one of the new lots and send them jogging and bicycling. If you are getting the problem you will see it.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
If you know of any threads that address more technical issues and help people to educate themselves, let me know. I'm planning on linking some more threads on there.
Hydra gave us a great tool with that sticky.
It would also be great if you (WR) could skip over the thread to make sure I didn't miss any important information on what info needs to be included in people's posts. Let me know if I should add anything.
I will try and look it over tomorrow if that's okay - as I was just heading off to bed - it's almost 5 am here, but I had to stop by the thread and a couple others so got a bit waylaid. I really hate making anyone wait for me - but it's well pass the bedtime. If I see anything you don't have I will surely let you know. You do so much now - i just cannot imagine how you keep up - you are a blessing to Simmers every where. So any little thing I can do to help, I will surely do.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
This is a wonderful thread. I didn't know such small things could cause lag. It just sounds absurd, but I can see why the game would get "stuck" trying to figure why there is a tree in the middle of the driveway.
Believe it or not, I am running this game with all expansion packs, one stuff pack and countless mods/CC on a laptop with Intel Celeron 2Ghz, 1GB ram and Intel GMA-4 chipset. I play in a medium-sized world which is populated with my own library families (shameless plug: it is Richdre's DryGulch with multiple custom lots added). I experience little to no lag and there is only causal hanging when speeding up. I've got approximately fifty sims in this town and there is no wildlife whatsoever and very little service population (I use Twoftmama's mods for that). So, yes, I play this game on a laptop which doesn't even have the minimum requirements, and - knocks on wood - I still manage to enjoy it.
Thank you for all the information. I've bookmarked this thread and would be glad to read and bookmark any other helpful threads you all come across or start.
Thanks WR for the link. Makes sense that the skill modifier could conflict with the Premium Content.
I have linked this thread in my sticky thread in the tech forum, so if anyone looses the thread, just go there for the link.
Thank you! I was wondering what to do, so the important info wouldn't be lost in the shuffle. My first post was just going to be a quick FYI (for your information) type post, and then I intended to go back to lurking. I had no idea the thread would become so valuable.
My memory is failing me, again, so I can't remember what you have and have not linked. Did you ever link my spawner thread, that Jopie58 has been bumping to keep live?
Amjoie - it breaks routing - which is not exactly the same thing as routing failure. Routing failure is when a sim refuses to go somewhere and does that little fit they do and gets the crossed out thought bubble. I wish it was that as that is fixable just by getting things out of the way causing the problem. But what I am talking about is breaking the routing where little hole show up all over the map that become traps for tourists and sims of all type - you know you have it because the game will get little freezes for no reason - I call them hiccups and hesitations - but it will be all over the map with no pinpointable area of problem. But when routing breaks, it cannot be fixed in a save - all you can do is go back to a earlier save before the routing broke and try not to repeat what you did to break it. ... But all you look for is steady hesitations all over the hood. Like a sim may freeze in mid jog run some more, freeze, run some more, freeze. Constantly. it is not a periodic little freeze every now and then - that is generally something else. It is a steady constant thing - it never last but a second but it is constant and almost impossible to play a game because sims all over the hood do this eventually and it will steadily get worse and spread. ... If it starts that hesitating - which you best way to see it is put a sim on one of the new lots and send them jogging and bicycling. If you are getting the problem you will see it.
Ah, now I think I understand. Am I right in assuming that the symptoms will show up immediately after placing the lot that triggers the broken routing?
So, just to be sure I have this right. I do the following:
1. I place a lot with the in-game world editor
2. I go back to live mode and direct a sim to jog, watching for constant small freezes in the animation
3. If everything is normal, I save the game
4. (I am not sure if I need to quit the game, or go to the main menu, or just ?? before doing #4) I make a backup copy/redundant backup copy of the Save folder (I'll probably label the Save folder with an addendum of how many lots that save holds
5. repeat steps #1 through #4
6. When I can no longer place anymore lots without breaking the routing, I have reached the "do not go past this point" limit, and should probably go back to the lot just previous to the last safe lot before breaking point, or is that unnecessary? Can I just end it at the last lot that was safe before the break?
Well, this all depends on if this is a world you have been playing in or a just opened world - it really matters because a freshly opened world needs to "get going" technically before you start doing something with it if it has Sims. rabbitholes, spawners and everything else in it - as all of these things can cause little freezes, even a few major freezes as it is setting itself and it's population up - especially an EA world where programming specific to that world is often in play. It is different methods according to different worlds. Like Caw (user created) worlds with no Sims take the least "wait" time, because other than standard programming there is not generally anything specific to that world just it getting up to task with all the eps you have in your particular game - but in a store world or ep world you want to give the implants (sims) who are part of the overall EA story time to get settled - if you have pets ep you need to give the spawners time to spawn - so to be safe I generally make a game run and play it normally without additions for a good strong Sims full week - I send my chosen Sim to all the RH's for skills - especially athletics if you want a good strong character for helping you as a test subject - I generally will go in CAS and make a sim, go to a small empty lot and build a small starter house with just the necessities for the sim - that way I am not bringing in any problem to the world and I am not using a game sim that might have programming of some sort in the scheme of the hood. I also stick to basics as far as clothing and hair go by using the new content that comes with this new world - and the furniture if possible. That way you are not doing anything that this world would have to deal with. If I can't find something I need for the basic sim and home I generally use just base game stuff as all EA worlds are tested with the base game and the things in the world you are in. So both are safe choices. Don't even recolor anything. Just pick from the choices EA gives you to keep any conflict out of the picture.
After the test sim is set up and not going to complain about anything they need for basic survival - which are of course - a fridge - a cabinet - a sink - a toilet - a shower - a bed - a table and a chair, you should be in business to while away at good 5-7 sims days. I do generally give my sims for testing these traits - athletic, loner, loves outdoors, brave, bookworm - these all work in your favor. You want them a loner because you want to keep interractions with other sims at a minimum and you don't want the need to socialize to create any hesitations when you are working your sim. If they have the bookworm trait they learn faster and can be entertained and kept happy just by keeping a few books in their inventory. They do not need a whole bookcase. Just buy a couple of cheap books - you can find best deals in a consignment store generally or a sale at the book store. Now go about the business of skilling the sim with classes - first being athletic, cooking,and handy. Let the world spawn things. You can help this by sending your sims to places where service sims are required but remember your sim is a loner so they will not be happy when a lot of other sims start showing up - so once a register or barkeep or what ever service sim is needed is in place - have your sim leave.( If the service sim is in place already, you have no need for the sim to stop there unless you just want to.)
It is no reason to go by all the other little things I do to prepare testing a world - as those are the important first steps - you just basically want to help your sim survive - build up her athletic skill, handy and cooking and allow the world to do all the things that it needs to do that can cause tiny lags, freezes, and hesitations on it's own as your operation system looks for each thing it is programmed to do. It is especially beneficial if one has Pets because I have found out when I have seen at least two different stray type pets walking around - generally the world is ready for you to start adding your lots. So at this point I will make my first save that I make a copy of for my desltop back up - in case of problems this save is the most important as it takes the longest to get ready. I name it -testready- after that I name each one if adding lots as lot 1 - lot 2 - etc. But you do what works for you.
Now you are ready, add your first lot in town edit and save under the lot 1 or what ever name. Return to game. As I have generally put my sim to bed before I went into edit town - they will have needs to be met - I do this all normally with out cheats to get no other influence into my game - so I will send the sims for a shower, the toilet, and to eat - when they are happy they will then be directed for a bit of jogging. All this time you are also watching for that hesistation I mentioned which is another good reason not to cheat up the sims needs. But you want to test each lot one full cycle - which is a full sims day and night - you may get hesitations around 1 am that is the game spawning stuff, making plants go into the next cycle, moving sims in or out of town, things like that - it is not your lot and is not the same type of freeze. Broken routing will be steady as I previous described and constant - it is more of a hesitation than a pure freeze in the beginning, but very constant.
So if your sims makes it through a whole day and night - go to about 4 am if you have had no problem, then go back to edit town while the sim still sleeps. I go at 4 am especially if there are Venues or bars in the town, so they have closed and most sims are no longer active. You do not want to go later than that as activity gets underway again shortly - like Army sims etc - So 4 am is when you hit pause and go back to edit town. Save Lot 1, move the copy to your desktop of the save, and proceed.
But yes using the world editor is a pain to get a few lots in, but this is the best method I have found that allows me to add a few without breaking the game and routing.
Hope that is all understandable. I am like the worlds worse teacher I think. hehehe
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
Crinrict - can you give me the link? I just spent the last hour going through your blog and other links and my gosh that's a ton of info - but what did you specifically want me to look at. I swear you haven't missed anything - hehehe
But you know what was really scary - I didn't see anything I was not familiar with which made me wonder how people play this game so long and not know much of that. Maybe some of us play differently - we are wired differently or something. hehehe
I know I was never one to throw in the towel - I have tried and can't - when I find a problem there isn't a solution to. I think a part of me says it's not EA - so I keep looking and generally I eventually find either a solution or a work around without resorting to mods. If I resort to a mod, usually I have found other ways to handle a situation and just do so because it is easir. Like Overwatch. It makes the game so much easier, but I do know how to do pretty much what it does or that i use it for anyway.
But anyway - what I can't do is find which places you wanted me to read precisely. Help.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
Comments
I read that over in the CAW forum yesterday, as one simmer said that Twallan had just came out with OW 60 (apparently he had found the issue with simfests and OW that is in OW59 and another simmer went to get it, and came back and reported he had pulled 60 again with not much explanation. So that simmer was warning the other one she probably should go back to 59 until Twallan either found the problem or explained. I did not go check even though I intended to, where I have not been using any of his mods since ST came out and have been dealing with the issues the hard way that OW usually does for me. Groan - I do really love OW - so I will be really happy if it stops having or causing little issues. If i did not test other peoples worlds and lots I wouldn't care so much, as it does far more good than bad - but.... i can't chance a mod creating something in a world that would not be there other wise.
OH MY Goodness - i thought of all people who would understand ET - you would. That mod is such a Gem - as it virtually fixes bad script in the game - it is invaluable to testers and real useful for players. But what it does is find script errors, notifies you of the error - which you need to read in notebook or notepad or some program that can read what it tells you and pinpoints possible problems. If it is capable it will fix that error, and if it fixes it you will never see it again - but of course Twallan has not found every possible error on this planet so every now and then ET finds something it can't fix - in this case it will keep coming up with the same error. When it does this, Twallan wants us to send the post from ET to him and he generally can tell how to fix the problem. I believe he then adds that correction to ET once he has it so the next game that comes up in ET can fix it.
Oh but I love that mod. Still I generally just use it while testing a new world the first day or so - even EA's new ones too - just in case. But I have not used that either since ST. I always wait until Twallan is sure he has all the possibilities of problems worked out - so I don't see any chance of getting false problems in someones hard work. It sure makes work testing easier though having those two mods. I don't use any other mods though because of being a tester for the CAW folks. It is a choice - not a rule. I just try and be dependable and trustworthy - honestly. But learn ET and how to read it - and it is like the greatest mod ever - well to me anyway.
Hey Allspice - the next time you have a situation like you listed with a stuck baby, go to edit town and move the entire household to the clipboard by evicting just the family, then move them back into their house. This will reset the whole house and will not cause anyone to disappear. Do this also if you have one of your sims stuck somewhere or missing, the game will gather them all up and put them all on the clipboard, fix any of their problems, and then you move them all back into the house and no one will be lost. Make sure when you can get out of game after fixing them , that you delete the 4 caches that like to hold corruption in your game, so that instance is gone permanently from your game and can't corrupt your saves. Also on an added note, leave the social cache alone, unless you are having a problem or had a problem with any of the new Showtime careers as a few people have reported deleting that social cache sometimes causes them to lose progress in their careers. I do not know first hand as i never delete anything I don't know what info it holds, and have not searched into the Social cache yet. I know I should have, but I have no excuse - i just haven't done it yet. hehehe
Amjoie I haven't read your post yet, as I needed to get that info answered. Now to read yours. hehehe
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
And I do understand ET. It's UntranslatedKey, the other CoreMod, that I don't understand (and never bothered to try)
Please do not send me PMs/post on my wall if you're looking for help. I can't attend to those. You can find me at AnswerHQ.
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I really thought it would be odd and possibly only an oversight that you didn't know ET. I mean - my goodness all the work you do helping every body and that mod has made my tiny steps in helping (compared to your gigantic ones) sooo much easier. I have a lot less hair pulling while testing particularly new CAW users worlds, as I rarely see script errors in the old hands at CAW worlds - heck in Rflongs worlds, it is rare to see any kind of error period - but I do find that tool very helpful. I do look at it as a tool though and not a mod really. But anyway - I did wonder if that statement was an oversight and good to know it was.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
I have used resetsim * several times on player made worlds, not Rflong's, and it has worked for a few minutes but lag starts again. Unfortunately I am one of those I want to play and not have to work for it...now, it looks like the handwriting is on the wall.
You guys are great at figuring this stuff out...bookmarked this thread to go over it a few more times so this stuff sinks in. I kinda knew on my own that MOO was great but could be dangerous...you all just confirmed it.
If I could, I'd give you all benes.
If there are too many threads to link, at least give me an idea of what part of the forum to search, and what search criteria are likely to pop up the threads.
Many thanks! (hugs)
Also regarding rest of your post - you can't really use Awesomemod with the same mod Twallan has that do the same thing from my understanding - so you are wise to just choose one. But in the case of Twallans mod you can safely delete those sims from what everyone tells me and then remove the mod if you don't want to use it - unlike awesomemod. Both Pes and Twallan are brillant modders - so it is really the choice and game play styles of the user. I just prefer to play modless anything that rewrites game code so I give things I am testing a fair test - so i have learned to play around the disadvantages of using totally EA gameplay. I am so used to it, it is second nature to me. But both of the SP from those two modders are fabulous - so I stand behind your decision to choose what ever works best for you seeing you do know all the ins and outs with using the mods. I only get annoyed with folks who don't bother learning what they are using and then jump all over EA. Some things people blame on the game is not very likely (I want to say impossible here, but know nothing is impossible) it was normal game play doing what ever. But I don't need to add all that hoopla in here. In my mind you are indeed a very responsible mod user and do know what you are doing - even if your have no idea which direction to go at present - I do think you have a plan anyway and know where you want to end up. i can see it working eventually with that much determination.
About the Mausoleum - you do know you do not have to have it in a graveyard. If you would like it just out of sight but there for the job use and any other uses it has - you can always put it on a small remote lot somewhere - It is a rabbithole, so it should even be safe to add to any lot with other RH buildings.
I also do not think the ghost hunter career is tied in with the Cemetary as the ghosts in that career are not the same as the ghosts in the cemetary. The game does not recognize the ghosts of one having to do with the ghost of the other. The career ghost I believe are object ghosts and not lifestates. I looked for the post I saw that, but cannot seem to find it - but it sounded correct for sure.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
I didn't know the clipboard acted that way, I will do that next time. Thank you for the tip, Writin_Reg.
Like I said before, this thread is great. I'm learning a lot, and have already implemented a couple of the things mentioned here into my own game. I've spent some time going around Starlight Shores deleting and redoing various things that might be causing routing issues (mostly landscaping). I'm really thankful to everyone that has tested the game so thoroughly and found these things. It really makes a big difference. :thumbup:
Well, that all depends, and the reason I didn't answer is that I am not familiar with the tool you plan on using.
What I use when I need to perform surgery on a non-playable sim is testingcheatsenabled true, and then I shift-click on the sim. The menu has something about editing the sim. Choose that option. I don't have the game open right now, and I don't remember exactly what it says. EditSim or Edit Sim in Cas or something about editing. You'll know when you see it.
That will instantly take you to the CAS screen, whether for simmies or critters.
Once there, you want to confine your surgery changes to only the head of a simmie. Change anything on the head, including the overall facial structure/head type and eye color. You can also change anything concerning the hair and make-up. You can change the clothes. All that is safe.
If you want to play absolutely safe: Do NOT change traits or wishes or favorites (you probably shouldn't change the star sign, either). Do NOT change the sliders for body shape, muscle size shape, or female chest size. Do NOT change the name. Do not change the skin tone.
There is a reward machine that changes body fat and muscle conditioning. If you click on it, you can choose to change either the sim clicking or specify a different sim. I'm fairly sure this works well for any sim that you can get to visit your lot.
In the same menu that you used to get the sim into CAS, you have the option of changing traits, which can by done on the fly, with any sim you see walking around town.
For playable sims, name changes are done during the day at the city hall. You can get rewards to change lifetime wishes (before you complete a lifetime wish), and to change favorites.
I have actually never used the in-game "take them to have surgery done" at the hospital. I don't know if that safely changes body shape or skin tone, but I'll be checking it out, soon.
Other than that possibility, I had a rather disastrous situation when I tried to change the skin tone of a genie. It changed the color of all skin tones in CAS. So, something is definitely not safe about changing skin tone when using the cheat, at least since ST.
You can also do a general makeover of any sim you can catch and persuade to come into your salon, but that won't change huge noses or misshapen facial bones.
For critters, you are limited to changing the body shape to one of the predefined sim critter body shapes for the respective type of playable critter. After that, you can change to one of the predefined head/ear/nose shapes/coat types, etc. You will not be able to access any of the more advanced head or body structure manipulations.
You can change only the base color of the critter, with somewhat unpredictable results for layer color. But if you like what you see, no problem. In addition, you can choose any predefined color combination in the saved pattern/color chart. So if you make or download a critter's color/pattern that you enjoy, save it to the chart and you will be able to use it just like the EA default color/pattern types.
You can also change a horses mane and tail types, saddles, accessories and etc, and recolor them. You will not be able to add unicorn horns, but you can add the unicorn beard, if you have a unicorn.
If you do use Twallen's mod, please ask your question of him, in his forum, so you get the correct answer.
Thank you for letting me know. I'll check it out in the CAW section. I need to place at least one large lot and one medium, as a minimum, in order to do what I want to that map. This is really making me sad. Well, I'll read about it, and do what I must. Better to know, now, before I redo the world. Sigh.
As far as the mausoleum, I have the LL rabbit hole, which looks like every other LL rabbit hole. So I can always get the function without worrying about looks. Those LL rabbit holes hide nicely in shell buildings. I just don't like using the mausoleum, but probably not for the reason you might think. The truth is, when they come out with their hair all stuck up and blackened all over, I dissolve into a giggle fit of almost unmanageable proportions. Why, I have no idea. I do the same thing when the sim gets almost electrocuted and has the same look. I laugh to the point of feeling helpless and weak. So I avoid using it. I also avoid electrical traps in WA tombs, etc. It may sound silly, but I have asthma, and when I laugh that hard it can start me coughing really hard, too. Between the laughing and coughing, I'm in rough shape.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
But the burn factor I don't find quite as funny as that PC that stuff food in the sims face. Now THAT is funny - rofl funny to me seeing I literally fell off my chair laughing the first time I saw that. My sims face was priceless.
Yeah, I forgot that being a portal in LL. I played LL just until ST came out, so i haven't yet gone back to it. I think i am delaying hoping someone comes up with smaller Venues for ST so i can have some in LL. I'm chicken about trying it myself as those Venues are too touchy for me to mess with. I suppose i could just stick with the clubs I did make.
Anyway i think you will be okay with just 2 - just save you progress before you do any of lot placing so you don't lose the progress and keep that save on your desktop then move on to adding the lot. Also I have discovered if you place lots on a place where there was already a bigger lot previously, they seem to create no problems. In SS there is an big empty lot near the shoreline - that I tested by deleting and then adding in 5 of the 20 X 25 lots in it's place and added 5 family sized trailers for more living room and I had already added 3 20 x 30 lots and several 10 x 10 for subways and had no breakage what so ever. But i Save, move out the file, add the lot and play the world a sims day to make sure with each lot. That way I can back up at any spot to where it still works.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
You aren't the only one. I can barely breathe for a good minute or so after a sim is electrocuted. There is something so humorous about the way they look afterward...XD
I'm sorry you have asthma.
http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/537509.page
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
Oh, I have tons of redundant backups. Always. I make too many mistakes to not keep multiple backups, even when I'm not taking any risks. And when I am doing something risky, I need even more. I'm a Backup Queen. LOL
I think, though, that I need clarification of what you mean by routing failure. Is that something that can be tested after each lot placement?
And if routing failure is not found after testing each lot placement, immediately, is this something that can then be assumed as safe? Or does it hide, just so it can slap you silly when you aren't looking?
I would have no problem with testing for routing failure with each lot I placed. Of course that begs the question: How do I test for routing failure, when it comes to lots? What am I looking for, and how many ways can routing fail? Do I need to test just simmies, or also playable critters? Cars?
I have no CAW background, so I'm a bit unclear with what you mean. If you tell me exactly how to go about it, I can usually follow instructions without too much hand holding.
I have linked this thread in my sticky thread in the tech forum, so if anyone looses the thread, just go there for the link.
Please do not send me PMs/post on my wall if you're looking for help. I can't attend to those. You can find me at AnswerHQ.
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Amjoie - it breaks routing - which is not exactly the same thing as routing failure. Routing failure is when a sim refuses to go somewhere and does that little fit they do and gets the crossed out thought bubble. I wish it was that as that is fixable just by getting things out of the way causing the problem. But what I am talking about is breaking the routing where little hole show up all over the map that become traps for tourists and sims of all type - you know you have it because the game will get little freezes for no reason - I call them hiccups and hesitations - but it will be all over the map with no pinpointable area of problem. But when routing breaks, it cannot be fixed in a save - all you can do is go back to a earlier save before the routing broke and try not to repeat what you did to break it. I encounter it a lot in testing worlds for mainly new creaters that did not reset the routing after they finished working on their world - as working on a world breaks the routing, but in CAW they just basically push one little button and it totally resets the routing in the whole world so it run smooth and doesn't have this constant freezing all over creation.
When the world editor first came out routing never broke - you could add lots through out an empty world, but it is as if the editor was never updated with each EP or something because every single ep since we started getting the routing to break after extensively using that editor. I found it right after Late night when I downloaded a totally empty world. All went well for the first 2 dozen lots i added, but then I started getting those indications of broken routing. Being a world tester i had learned to look for this, so i know what it is when I see it. After the first indication I did continue to add lots but it got progressively worse. So I went back and started over again. I did this 3 times and everytime I got around 28-30 lots added routing got broken.
Anyway I dealt with it all week, and it was the largest world size - so I thought maybe it just was not a stable world - like I said we did not used to be able to break routing in saves - so it was not making a lot of sense to me. But then I ended up trying to add lots to several other large world -these by top CAW creator that I had played the worlds many times before with no problem, and again it happened about lot 28 or so. So perplexed i turned to the creator - a dear friend as well, and eventually we figured out it was not the worlds but the editor doing it. I brought my info to the forum I hung on and shared it. So plenty of top testers - several of which thought I was nuts probably - finally found out what I was saying was true. But we all agreed well being able to do over two dozen lots would be okay in worlds that had lots already - as who usually adds that many anyway? But we learned with each new ep the number before that breakage has occurred has steadily declined. It is all a matter of luck if you can even get away with 10 lots - you can if you keep them small and are really lucky. But most people add the big lots, and the editor just does not seem to handle that well. But all you look for is steady hesitations all over the hood. Like a sim may freeze in mid jog run some more, freeze, run some more, freeze. Constantly. it is not a periodic little freeze every now and then - that is generally something else. It is a steady constant thing - it never last but a second but it is constant and almost impossible to play a game because sims all over the hood do this eventually and it will steadily get worse and spread.
But it used to only happen with new, generally a creators first world, where they don't realize they need to reset routing after they are through doing anything to the world. It is the last step they need to do before uploading or making it availiable for othrs to test the world. Then when they make any corrections in the world they have to again reset the routing. But you can't do anything about it at play level - or if you can I have yet to find a way to do it. So I was going nuts trying to figure out how game play can break a basically sealed worlds routing. Well it was not actually hurting the world technically - it was only breaking the routing in the save - so no one can fix it. But EA needs to figure out why laying a half dozen lots will break the routing and turn that editor to not do it or update it or something. But if you are lucky you might get in a hand ful of lots. If it starts that hesitating - which you best way to see it is put a sim on one of the new lots and send them jogging and bicycling. If you are getting the problem you will see it.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
Hydra gave us a great tool with that sticky.
It would also be great if you (WR) could skip over the thread to make sure I didn't miss any important information on what info needs to be included in people's posts. Let me know if I should add anything.
Please do not send me PMs/post on my wall if you're looking for help. I can't attend to those. You can find me at AnswerHQ.
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"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
Please do not send me PMs/post on my wall if you're looking for help. I can't attend to those. You can find me at AnswerHQ.
How to report bugs at AnswersHQ
AHQ Tutorial
Believe it or not, I am running this game with all expansion packs, one stuff pack and countless mods/CC on a laptop with Intel Celeron 2Ghz, 1GB ram and Intel GMA-4 chipset. I play in a medium-sized world which is populated with my own library families (shameless plug: it is Richdre's DryGulch with multiple custom lots added). I experience little to no lag and there is only causal hanging when speeding up. I've got approximately fifty sims in this town and there is no wildlife whatsoever and very little service population (I use Twoftmama's mods for that). So, yes, I play this game on a laptop which doesn't even have the minimum requirements, and - knocks on wood - I still manage to enjoy it.
Thank you for all the information. I've bookmarked this thread and would be glad to read and bookmark any other helpful threads you all come across or start.
-M.
Thank you! I was wondering what to do, so the important info wouldn't be lost in the shuffle. My first post was just going to be a quick FYI (for your information) type post, and then I intended to go back to lurking. I had no idea the thread would become so valuable.
My memory is failing me, again, so I can't remember what you have and have not linked. Did you ever link my spawner thread, that Jopie58 has been bumping to keep live?
http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/523406.page
Of course, I suppose I could just go over to that part of the forum and check ... ack. This is not one of my better days. LOL
Ah, now I think I understand. Am I right in assuming that the symptoms will show up immediately after placing the lot that triggers the broken routing?
So, just to be sure I have this right. I do the following:
1. I place a lot with the in-game world editor
2. I go back to live mode and direct a sim to jog, watching for constant small freezes in the animation
3. If everything is normal, I save the game
4. (I am not sure if I need to quit the game, or go to the main menu, or just ?? before doing #4) I make a backup copy/redundant backup copy of the Save folder (I'll probably label the Save folder with an addendum of how many lots that save holds
5. repeat steps #1 through #4
6. When I can no longer place anymore lots without breaking the routing, I have reached the "do not go past this point" limit, and should probably go back to the lot just previous to the last safe lot before breaking point, or is that unnecessary? Can I just end it at the last lot that was safe before the break?
Is this correct?
After the test sim is set up and not going to complain about anything they need for basic survival - which are of course - a fridge - a cabinet - a sink - a toilet - a shower - a bed - a table and a chair, you should be in business to while away at good 5-7 sims days. I do generally give my sims for testing these traits - athletic, loner, loves outdoors, brave, bookworm - these all work in your favor. You want them a loner because you want to keep interractions with other sims at a minimum and you don't want the need to socialize to create any hesitations when you are working your sim. If they have the bookworm trait they learn faster and can be entertained and kept happy just by keeping a few books in their inventory. They do not need a whole bookcase. Just buy a couple of cheap books - you can find best deals in a consignment store generally or a sale at the book store. Now go about the business of skilling the sim with classes - first being athletic, cooking,and handy. Let the world spawn things. You can help this by sending your sims to places where service sims are required but remember your sim is a loner so they will not be happy when a lot of other sims start showing up - so once a register or barkeep or what ever service sim is needed is in place - have your sim leave.( If the service sim is in place already, you have no need for the sim to stop there unless you just want to.)
It is no reason to go by all the other little things I do to prepare testing a world - as those are the important first steps - you just basically want to help your sim survive - build up her athletic skill, handy and cooking and allow the world to do all the things that it needs to do that can cause tiny lags, freezes, and hesitations on it's own as your operation system looks for each thing it is programmed to do. It is especially beneficial if one has Pets because I have found out when I have seen at least two different stray type pets walking around - generally the world is ready for you to start adding your lots. So at this point I will make my first save that I make a copy of for my desltop back up - in case of problems this save is the most important as it takes the longest to get ready. I name it -testready- after that I name each one if adding lots as lot 1 - lot 2 - etc. But you do what works for you.
Now you are ready, add your first lot in town edit and save under the lot 1 or what ever name. Return to game. As I have generally put my sim to bed before I went into edit town - they will have needs to be met - I do this all normally with out cheats to get no other influence into my game - so I will send the sims for a shower, the toilet, and to eat - when they are happy they will then be directed for a bit of jogging. All this time you are also watching for that hesistation I mentioned which is another good reason not to cheat up the sims needs. But you want to test each lot one full cycle - which is a full sims day and night - you may get hesitations around 1 am that is the game spawning stuff, making plants go into the next cycle, moving sims in or out of town, things like that - it is not your lot and is not the same type of freeze. Broken routing will be steady as I previous described and constant - it is more of a hesitation than a pure freeze in the beginning, but very constant.
So if your sims makes it through a whole day and night - go to about 4 am if you have had no problem, then go back to edit town while the sim still sleeps. I go at 4 am especially if there are Venues or bars in the town, so they have closed and most sims are no longer active. You do not want to go later than that as activity gets underway again shortly - like Army sims etc - So 4 am is when you hit pause and go back to edit town. Save Lot 1, move the copy to your desktop of the save, and proceed.
But yes using the world editor is a pain to get a few lots in, but this is the best method I have found that allows me to add a few without breaking the game and routing.
Hope that is all understandable. I am like the worlds worse teacher I think. hehehe
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
But you know what was really scary - I didn't see anything I was not familiar with which made me wonder how people play this game so long and not know much of that. Maybe some of us play differently - we are wired differently or something. hehehe
I know I was never one to throw in the towel - I have tried and can't - when I find a problem there isn't a solution to. I think a part of me says it's not EA - so I keep looking and generally I eventually find either a solution or a work around without resorting to mods. If I resort to a mod, usually I have found other ways to handle a situation and just do so because it is easir. Like Overwatch. It makes the game so much easier, but I do know how to do pretty much what it does or that i use it for anyway.
But anyway - what I can't do is find which places you wanted me to read precisely. Help.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....