Legacy Corrupt? :(

rinirae

Hi everyone

Ever since installing Pets on my laptop (basically a year ago) I've had constant crashing in my legacy save. Crash log analyzer has given me two reasons for my crashes: insufficient graphics and custom content. Usually my game will freeze after 15-60 minutes in game. It's completely random, but when it happens I get message "Sims 3 has experienced a problem and needs to close."

My other saves seem to be just fine when I play and have only had the occasional crash. My graphics card isn't great compared to what a gaming computer has, but in game the graphics run pretty smoothly, even maxed. It's a dedicated card, so I know that's not the problem. I've turned down the settings to medium and still get the crashes.

I use CC and have about 280 files. I manage all my CC using Delphy's Dashboard and CUSTARD. I've been considering merging the files for some time now, but last time I tried, the tutorial didn't work for me. I know lots of files can cause lag in game, and I've run it just fine after having no CC. It crashes with and without mods.

My game save is huge too since I don't play normal legacy lifespan, but I use the long lifespan.

So I have two questions:

1) Can the number of CC .package files cause my game to crash?
2) Is there anyway I could move my legacy over to a new town (including lots, current residents, and all the family tree info?)

Sorry about not posting this in tech help, but I never get responses there. My threads always die and are never seen again. :P

rinirae

And here's my computer specs if you're wondering:

HP Pavilion dv6t Quad Core Edition
8 gb RAM
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2670QM CPU @ 2.20GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.2GHz
Graphics card shows up as Intel(R) HD Graphics Family in DXdiag but it has switchable graphics to 1GB GDDR5 Radeon(TM) HD 6490M Graphics

WoWLynnia

Honestly, speaking from playing 23 generations, it's good to restart in a new neighborhood after each expansion is installed. Too many glitches exist trying to carry saves over to new patches. >_< It's an easy fix, though. You can use Twallan's Porter mod, but it's never worked correctly for me. I prefer to just have Master Controller allow more than 8 sims per house and move everyone I care to save into one household, save them to the family bin, and move them to a new neighborhood. All relationships and family tree will be saved, and if anything is incorrect, you can use Master Controller to reconnect them on the family tree. Keep in mind that you'll need one person of each generation to maintain the family tree link (ie. if you have a mother, child, and grandmother, if you try to move the child and grandmother without bringing the mother along, the child and grandmother will not recognize each other as family without the mother to link them on the family tree).

rinirae

Ah, Porter!! I kind of get what it does, but never figured out how to use it. Twallan's mods are genius. Will it replace all the default lots in the game? And will it get rid of unused townies that died in the first generation?

Thank you so much for the help.

Edit: and how would I transfer over the previous important sims that are now in the graveyard? Just put the tombstones/urns in my sims' inventories?

Stormkeep

In addition to what WoWLynnia posted I would also try to merge some of that cc. That is a lot of files worth to not merge.

Merging is very simple if you do it right. The first time I tried I misread one of the steps and it didn't work but once I figured out my mistake it worked great.

I read over at MATY that anything over 100 to 200 cc files starts to cause problems so you really should consider it.

Good luck!

rinirae

Stormkeep, thanks for the info. I was working with the 50% method to find corrupt CC and it did start acting strange after 125 files.


I tried following the tutorial on Club Crimsyn and there were a few steps that I couldn't follow when I tried it for the first time. Any other ones that are a bit clearer?

WoWLynnia

Stormkeep wrote:

In addition to what WoWLynnia posted I would also try to merge some of that cc. That is a lot of files worth to not merge.

Merging is very simple if you do it right. The first time I tried I misread one of the steps and it didn't work but once I figured out my mistake it worked great.

I read over at MATY that anything over 100 to 200 cc files starts to cause problems so you really should consider it.

Good luck!

Lol, I should probably do that too. >_> I think I have about 1,000 separate files of CC.

Unfortunately, you'll have to place all the lots again yourself, potentially the most annoying part of starting a new game save. As for the gravestones, I usually don't bring them with me to reduce additional save bloat and because I really don't keep a family graveyard anymore, but I believe if you put the headstones in a sim's inventory, you can bring them all with you. I don't know if they'll remain attached on the family tree, however. The one time I did have specific deceased sims I wanted to bring, I used DebugEnabler to resurrect them, added them to the household I was moving, then killed them off again in the new neighborhood. xD

rinirae

Unfortunately, you'll have to place all the lots again yourself, potentially the most annoying part of starting a new game save.

Doesn't that defeat the point of the porter mod then? If you are moving the lots then you might as well just save the households with them and then transfer the families. Either way, this game is in need of some help... I've had it since before HELS at least.

WoWLynnia

rinirae wrote:

Doesn't that defeat the point of the porter mod then? If you are moving the lots then you might as well just save the households with them and then transfer the families. Either way, this game is in need of some help... I've had it since before HELS at least.

I didn't use the Porter mod. When I tried to use it before, none of the family tree connections were there after the move, so I just use the safer route of moving them all to one lot and saving them to the bin. xD

rinirae

Oh, wow... :shock: That's going to be a really long process. I think I'll wait until the weekend before I do all these things. It's midnight here so I'd be up all night, haha.

rinirae

Wait a second... if I save the graveyard lot and placed it in my new world with my current household, would the family keep their relationships?

That would make things so much easier. O_O

WoWLynnia

rinirae wrote:

Wait a second... if I save the graveyard lot and placed it in my new world with my current household, would the family keep their relationships?

That would make things so much easier. O_O

No. For one, I don't believe ghosts moved across neighborhoods retain their family tree lines at all. Aside from that, moving sims on separate lots will not retain relationships or family lines, regardless of being placed in the same new neighborhood. They *have* to be on the same lot as their family to retain the ties and relationships. :?

rinirae

Darn it... This game is too complicated! XD

Ruedii

Well you clearly have either a bad CC file or simply too much CC.

You should start by removing any CC you don't currently use. This will likely trim down the list quite a bit.


You are right that you likely need to combine your CC. You need to combine them into reasonably sized files. I've heard different maximums, but the header database must be below 200MB for the file to load correctly, and the entire package including headers and actual attached data (models, images, etc), needs to be able to fit into a single segment of memory when being loaded (which will be either 2GB, 3GB, or 4GB depending on your system. I'd play it safe with the 2GB value.)

For your processor, make sure it is running in performance mode and has the active cooling on. Many manufacturers will turn off the active cooling on laptops and micro-desktops in order to reduce their power usage. It should be on in the performance power mode. (This is likely in the advanced settings.) Also


Your graphics chip seems reasonably powered. The Radeon HD 6450M should be able to handle The Sims 3 easily, however a few settings might be sticking points.

First and foremost that means turning off anti-aliasing. (I know, jagged edges annoy some people.)

Second, turn off animation smoothing. This simply adds more frames to the animations by generating them in real time using massive amounts of CPU time, GPU time, and video memory. Unless you are filming your scenes, or have a killer gaming rig, the cost/benefit ratio is not worth it.

Third, reduce effects to medium or low. This can seriously save on lag by turning off much of the post-processing done on the various effects, glows and distortions throughout the world.

Fourth, reduce the number of maximum number of lots loaded at a time to four. This is generally a good compromise. I've found if you set this value to one or two it will cause your game to lag a quite a bit when moving to and from adjacent lots. Depending on memory, video memory, and the amount of content you have installed, the optimal setting on this can vary a lot.

Finally, set your detail (both sim and objects/textures) to high instead of very high. This will reduce draw distance just a little, but will also remove turn off trilinear filtering which can really be hard on modern cards that are not optimized for it anymore. I personally don't like the effect, as it blurs the edges of all the lines on textures.


The last thing you will need to do to adjust graphics is outside the game. This should be in your video control panel. (I recommend using the Radeon one.) In addition to verifying that you are using the Radeon Chip, you need to make sure you have v-sync enabled. This will also limit your frame rate to your refresh rate. Thus, reducing the chances of an overheat of your graphics card.

Stormkeep

rinirae wrote:

Stormkeep, thanks for the info. I was working with the 50% method to find corrupt CC and it did start acting strange after 125 files.

I tried following the tutorial on Club Crimsyn and there were a few steps that I couldn't follow when I tried it for the first time. Any other ones that are a bit clearer?

The tutorial you followed may have been old. Changes to S3PE have eliminated some of the steps you used to have to do.

Try following these instructions. You already know how to get cc so you would start at step 5.

One thing the tutorial doesn't mention is not to leave the old files in your mods/packages folder. I keep them still in a subdirectory of my downloads folder but it is up to you what you want to do with them. The reason I keep them around is so I can use dashboard to scan for duplicates or conflicts as I add more new cc. I have over 1000 cc files but only like 6 after merging.

Good luck with your legacy move! I just did the same with mine this week but I was lazy. I grabbed the Sims for the 3 most recent generations and the tombstones of prior heirs only. Too much hassle to try to bring along more.