Warning about photos - please read «12...Next Go

plushtrap_107

Sorry if this is in the wrong place but I thought I would make this thread to help save people from a potential problem.

If you have (in game) photos taken at the photo booth or ones that you Sims took on their cameras, whatever you do, do not delete the file TravelDB.package! This file is found in Electronic Arts/The Sims 3/Saves and then the name of the folder that your saved game is in.

Deleting TravelDB.package will cause all your photos to go blank!

I found an old post about it on here that taught me this. Luckily, my old TravelDB.package file was in the recycle bin, so I was able to restore the old one and overwrite the new one that my game had created.

The reason I deleted it in the first place was that I was trying to fix a glitch and I thought TravelDB.package was safe to delete. It isn't, as it's needed to store the memories of all your photos that your Sims took in.

Odonata68

Good to know, thank you. I don't think I've come across this tip yet.

plushtrap_107

No problem I thought I'd post it up, as I've been plagued by glitches for the last 24 hours, though luckily now they seem to be becoming sorted.

carlystur03

Oooh! Thank you! I think I made that mistake in one of my previous saves that I've since gotten rid of, but now I know what caused that.

plushtrap_107

No problem, glad if I am able to help

Kandy

You just saved me a lotta hurt, so thank you!

plushtrap_107

Any time

LaBlue0314

Did not know this, thank you.

BatmanFanGirl

plushtrap_107 wrote: »

Sorry if this is in the wrong place but I thought I would make this thread to help save people from a potential problem.

If you have (in game) photos taken at the photo booth or ones that you Sims took on their cameras, whatever you do, do not delete the file TravelDB.package! This file is found in Electronic Arts/The Sims 3/Saves and then the name of the folder that your saved game is in.

Deleting TravelDB.package will cause all your photos to go blank!

I found an old post about it on here that taught me this. Luckily, my old TravelDB.package file was in the recycle bin, so I was able to restore the old one and overwrite the new one that my game had created.

The reason I deleted it in the first place was that I was trying to fix a glitch and I thought TravelDB.package was safe to delete. It isn't, as it's needed to store the memories of all your photos that your Sims took in.

Wow this LITERALLY just happened to me! Thanks!!

plushtrap_107

Glad I was able to help you guys I think it may have happened in my first ever save file too, where one of my Sims painted a portrait of Mars and after I had deleted the TravelDB.package, the portrait went blank. I never realised what had happened until now!

JoAnne65

Thanks for the warning. I discovered by the way some pictures show up perfectly when you take them with you to a new save/game, but selfies are not? Nor photos taken in any of the photo booths. I wonder if adding that file you mention to the new save will work... And when your sim travels, make sure you take the pictures out of their camera, because they'll have disappeared when they return.

nickibitsward

I've never deleted this file but I have noticed my photo booth photos go blank anyways every time I switch households.

plushtrap_107

@JoAnne65, no problem Also, thanks for the warning about the camera! Is that the Sim's phone camera or the camera in World Adventures? I don't have WA yet, though hopefully I can get it this year.

I haven't tried to make a new save yet (except for debugging purposes) but when my family in Bridegport grows too big, I may emigrate some of them to Sunset Valley. I'll have to copy the old TravelDB.package file over and see what happens.

@nickibitsward, that's odd and not in a good way I don't know why it is doing that; I often swap to other households and so far, their photos have all been fine. Do the photos come back if you switch back to the original household?

JoAnne65

Do make sure to make a copy of the save first, in case it won't work and corrupts the save. And keep us posted, I'm curious whether it will work, I'd love that. I regret some pictures can't be transported to new games.

I noticed when my sim had travelled to Oasis Landing. His phone had been filled with selfies and when he returned they were gone Which of course I found out days later, when it was too late to return and play it all over again (which I sometimes do when things go wrong).

JoAnne65

nickibitsward wrote: »

I've never deleted this file but I have noticed my photo booth photos go blank anyways every time I switch households.

In the same save ? (I don't play rotational so I didn't know)

nickibitsward

JoAnne65 wrote: »

nickibitsward wrote: »

I've never deleted this file but I have noticed my photo booth photos go blank anyways every time I switch households.

In the same save ? (I don't play rotational so I didn't know)

Yes, in the same save. I'm bad for switching back and forth sometimes. I just live with it. Sometimes I lose mounted fish as well. Strange.

plushtrap_107

@nickibitsward, that stinks Does it wipe photos in your Sim's inventory too?

coco

There is a way to keep all your sims photos and still life paintings. It requires using S3PE to edit the resources within the TravelDB file. This link explains it more in depth but basically you have to move all of your sims camera photos, prom pictures and still life paintings into your sim's inventory. Then you need to save your household to the library. After that you can delete all the resources that bloat up the TravelDB file such as memory or CAS snapshots. There's other stuff that you have to do but it's pretty easily explained in the link above. Hope this helps

nickibitsward

@plushtrap_107 Yeah it wiped them in inventory as well. I just don't bother taking them anymore unless my sim wants one, then I just do it for the points. It's no biggie.

plushtrap_107

@coco, thanks! That's a really useful link and it shows how the save file can become bloated. I had to disabled memories because in my first save file, the loading time had increased to 30 minutes! That's long even for somebody like me who grew up with loading games from cassettes

@nickibitsward, that's still a shame though, I'm sorry you're having that problem. I'll post up every time I find glitches/ways to solve glitches, so hopefully I can help more people that way too.

Sindocat

Something others probably already know, but new to me and tangental to the discussion:

You can lose your Sim's paintings if you use Edit Town to move the house to a new lot. Workaround seems to be taking down art your Sim created and putting it in personal or family inventory before making the change. I learned this the hard way, swiping the "Beautiful Vista" lot on Sunlit Tides from a less-deserving family.

Karritz

Sindocat wrote: »

Something others probably already know, but new to me and tangental to the discussion:

You can lose your Sim's paintings if you use Edit Town to move the house to a new lot. Workaround seems to be taking down art your Sim created and putting it in personal or family inventory before making the change. I learned this the hard way, swiping the "Beautiful Vista" lot on Sunlit Tides from a less-deserving family.

It can make a difference if they are framed or not. I forget the details now - but in some circumstances you can lose your framed paintings but the unframed ones are not lost.

Sindocat

Yes - these were framed, which I do as a matter of course if I am hanging them for display. Art school habits die hard.

Karritz

Sindocat wrote: »

Yes - these were framed, which I do as a matter of course if I am hanging them for display. Art school habits die hard.

I always try to not frame mine now and they seem to stay with the household regardless. The only things I've lost that I'm aware of are a bunch of photos my sim took of her babies (15 of them) and toddlers that she had hanging on the wall. But I think Save Cleaner got them.

I also lost some prom photos on display in a Sims room. Again I think Save Cleaner was to blame there.

plushtrap_107

@Karritz, how do you take prom photos please ?

@Sindocat, thanks for the warning! I'll be extra careful with my Sim's work of art from now on!

Karritz

plushtrap_107 wrote: »

@Karritz, how do you take prom photos please ?

@Sindocat, thanks for the warning! I'll be extra careful with my Sim's work of art from now on!

I don't. They go to the Prom and come home with them in their inventory.