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Save Issues with Supernatural and Seasons CAW: Discussion and research thread.

Comments

  • fearywingsfearywings Posts: 6
    edited November 2012
    From Inge Jones on ModtheSims:
    I have been advised (and tested it successfully on one I was having problems with) that a workaround is to unpack the sims3pack and rename the .package to .world. Place in your C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\GameData\Shared\NonPackaged\Worlds folder


    Unfortunately, this does not help my issue. My world, upon opening in CAW, is still all roads and trees. No lots to speak of. In fact, I can create lots on top of places I know I put rabbit holes and houses on. I never even got to the point of exporting.

    While I'm all for being grateful for something so awesome and free from EA (considering how much they want to charge for their Stuff packs, website extra content, etc.), I am not happy by their complete lack of communication or acknowledgment. At least tell us that you know something is wrong and that you either intend, or don't intend, to fix it. Don't leave your loyal users in the dark! Users of CAW are not your run-of-the-mill players. They are your hard-core fan-base. They keep your game fresh and interesting with their own take on it.

    EA....say something!
  • diterminationditermination Posts: 84
    edited November 2012
    tea_and_blues, can you explain to little further on how to get the world in game?, maybe a step by step. I don't think I am doing it right as it does not show up. Also, I am very confused as to how to do this. Thanks
  • NuanceNWNuanceNW Posts: 53 New Member
    edited November 2012
    Hoping someone else can confirm my findings.

    Summary:
    Since this latest 1.42 patch and the reinstallation of CAW I had been experiencing crashes when opening a world in EIG from CAW at the 2nd phase of loading.

    Moving files around I ended up finding a work around. This makes absolutely no sense to me and am hoping someone else who is experiencing the EIG crash will confirm my findings.

    In C:\Users\YOURLOGINNAME\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 Create A World Tool\UserToolData\SourceTextures

    I moved all the default textures found in this folder to my desktop (in a new folder).

    I then copied my folder structure of custom paint textures back into the SourceTextures folder.

    Doing this, simply moving the default paint textures out, opening CAW and worlds I have been working on, then opening those in Edit in Game mode, I no longer crash.
  • AngelJaz1AngelJaz1 Posts: 53 New Member
    edited November 2012
    Finaly i got it to work just fine.
    thanks to all the tipps .

    what i did was:

    1: Deeinstall CAW
    2: Downloaded CAW exe (today- dont know if its the same as a few days ago)
    3. Let my game generate a new Sims 3 folder so that it is 100 % CC free
    3a. Made the Folder "FeaturedItems" in "My dokuments - ElectronicArts - Sims 3" to a "read only" folder to reduce lagg for me (prolly not neccessary for u all)
    4. Installed CAW
    5. Opened CAW and closed it again
    6. Deleeted all the files in the folder "My dokuments - electronic arts - Create a world - user tool data - SourceTextures".
    7. i placed all my downloaded and created custom Paints in this above mentioned folder. (i made a complete copie of the old folder be4 the last patch update)
    8. opend CAW created a small test isle...with a road...a waterfall one community lot and a streetlight. a bit paining and routing. saved and EIG. build a small house with a rappidhole underground.
    9. when done in EIG i ended the EIG when it asked me if i wanna save..i saved the world...waited a bit pressed ok and went back to CAW tool. (while loading EIG and saving from EIG i had it minimized)
    10. fast pic and short name and so added. then exported.

    Done

    hope that can help some of u too.

    only problem:

    i extracet the world to a .package BUT: How can i change the .package to a .world? if i wanna rename it just wanna change all be4 the .package (to get the world in my game like Inge Jones mentioned)

    Thanks to Inge Jones and NuanceNW for tipps.

    sy for my bad english im good in reading understanding english, but not in writing
  • NavazzahNavazzah Posts: 156 New Member
    edited November 2012
    NuanceNW wrote:
    Hoping someone else can confirm my findings.

    Doing this, simply moving the default paint textures out, opening CAW and worlds I have been working on, then opening those in Edit in Game mode, I no longer crash.

    You mean you opened your world without default paints in CAW and then in EIG? That's a quite a big paint job to do - at least for me - if so.
  • SimExpertJaredSimExpertJared Posts: 865 New Member
    edited November 2012
    Can someone just tell me yes or no, is the CAW tool up to date with the game?
    And I've heard there are issues with it and I'm worried to continue building on any world so what are they? Thanks!
  • martys15martys15 Posts: 7,790 New Member
    edited November 2012
    In the morning I wrote an email to EA U.S.

    Two things worry me

    1. A week has passed.. finaly CAW patches lack.. may not appear at all.

    2. I have a really "big world" in production, if EA breaks my save three months of work down the drain, I fail myself and my friends. :cry:



    Caw must work as it worked before. I will not use any experiments .. it's quite risky game and CAW is not stable.

    I do not think reinstalling the game to make sense. This CAW is faulty not game and update 1.42.
  • NavazzahNavazzah Posts: 156 New Member
    edited November 2012
    Can someone just tell me yes or no, is the CAW tool up to date with the game?
    And I've heard there are issues with it and I'm worried to continue building on any world so what are they? Thanks!

    It's supposed to be but EA managed to break it. What the symptoms/issues with the latest CAW are, you can find from the first page of this thread.


    martys15 wrote:
    2. I have a really "big world" in production, if EA breaks my save three months of work down the drain, I fail myself and my friends. :cry:


    I feel your pain. I have well over year and half worth of work on hold. :(



  • NuanceNWNuanceNW Posts: 53 New Member
    edited November 2012
    Navazzah wrote:
    NuanceNW wrote:
    Hoping someone else can confirm my findings.

    Doing this, simply moving the default paint textures out, opening CAW and worlds I have been working on, then opening those in Edit in Game mode, I no longer crash.

    You mean you opened your world without default paints in CAW and then in EIG? That's a quite a big paint job to do - at least for me - if so.

    Not an issue really.


    When CAW installs, it creates two sets of the same folders.

    1 - C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 Create a World Tool\

    2 - C:\Users\YOURLOGINNAME\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 Create A World Tool\

    Both locations have SourceTextures.

    I simply moved the ones in (2) Documents out and CAW EIG then works.

    I Did not have to remap the paints as it defaults to the CAW (1) folder paints.

    Seems redundant to have duplicates like this anyway. Perhaps they are preparing to follow how Sims3 Mods use our documents folder for mods framework instead of how CAW (still) uses the C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts folder for the package framework? Here's to hoping!

    To be clear. I added my custom paints back into the documents location (2) and now use the CAW default paints located in the (1) program files (x86) location. It means remapping six default paints, they show in CAW with their text names, but their visual image doesn't show until being remapped.
  • Writin_RegWritin_Reg Posts: 28,907 Member
    edited November 2012
    Even though I don't use CAW myself - I test worlds - but from an outsiders veiw this may be like the last time this happened where we got a new pre-patch and caw update based on the pre-patch and the CAW would not work right until the actual EP came out and we reinstalled everything. So it may be just a matter of waiting for the new EP - and in the meantime save your CAW files to some place safe so once the ep comes out, you can reinstall CAW once the ep is installed. I know this will be very inconvenient for simmer not planning on getting the ep right away or at all, but it might be the only way this version is going to work. I believe CAW did the same thing with WA and again I believe it was either with Generations or Pets.

    I guess if simmers want the new interactions they have no choice but buy the EP or not use CAW. I could be wrong - though - but seeing this has happened the same way twice before now - it stands to reason this is at least part of the problem if not the whole problem.

    I do know folks who did not upgrade to the new update or CAW is not having any problem with the SN version.

    Just a thought anyway. BUt I do hope this get fixed one way or the other for all you guys stuck in limbo with your hard work. I feel so bad for all of you. I really wish I had better answers.

    "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.....

  • SinkalaSinkala Posts: 475 Member
    edited November 2012
    Thanks Writin Reg, I really hope you are right about that as this is getting very frustrating. I remember the Pets issue well :( Luckily I exported a blank version of my world before this error so I can at least work on creating lots in the actual game.

    Thought I would update a few things I have tried.

    1. Deleted all cache files in the sims 3 and Caw before going into EIG - this seems to stop the EIG crashing before loading

    2. Only placing pre-built lots in EIG - unfortunately every time I edited or deleted an existing lot in EIG it would crash when exiting EIG or saving, but only placing lots seems to work ok

    3 Creating a "save as" version of the world before exporting - this appears to not cause the read only lots error and has exported ok.

    Things tried that did not work:

    closing caw while loading EIG (EIG loaded ok, but I still got a crash when saving)
  • GlamSugarGlamSugar Posts: 103
    edited November 2012
    For those of you still having problems with Edit In Game, I've found a solution after days of trying everything. It's hilarious because it involved changing one number. I'm able to go into EIG with no problems and save perfectly now.

    1. Go to your Create A World installation folder (not the one in Documents). It should be somewhere like this: C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 Create a World Tool
    2. Find the file called Default and open it. If it says to choose a program to open it with, choose Notepad.
    3. Once open, scroll to the bottom and find GameVersion = 1.18.5.019037 and change the number to 1.18.4.019037 (That's right, change the 4 in the middle to a 5).
    4. Go to File and Save and you're done.

    Keep the Default file open (reopen it if you've closed it already) while you're testing CAW, just to be sure. If things don't work out, just change that 4 back to a 5 and save. No harm done.

    Note: This will likely only work for those with the most recent version of CAW, and I can't make any promises that it will work for everyone. But try it! I'm not pulling my hair out over CAW issues anymore. Yay. I hope it works for you guys. Good luck. :mrgreen:
  • tchong62232tchong62232 Posts: 7 New Member
    edited November 2012
    Hello,

    I tried the Inge Jones tip : change .package in .world and put it in the folder "world". For me, it works !!!
    So thank you very much Inge Jones and the others members of the community! :)
  • anetherronanetherron Posts: 605 Member
    edited November 2012
    tea_and_blues, can you explain to little further on how to get the world in game?, maybe a step by step. I don't think I am doing it right as it does not show up. Also, I am very confused as to how to do this. Thanks

    This is what I did, ditermination, and it worked for me:

    First, follow these steps to delete all 'dead' files: (just, instead of 'Desert Quest', delete all your world's relevant files lol)... http://calinselene.wordpress.com/how-to-fully-delete-desert-quest-world-in-preparation-for-installing-eldrichtfalls/

    Then do this:

    1) Reinstall the world
    2) Go to My Documents/Electronic Arts/Sims 3/DC Backup. In it you will find a whole bunch of .package files with number/letter combo names.
    3)At the top of the screen click View - Arrange Icons by - Modified.
    4) The last file in the folder (most recently installed) should now be for your world.
    5) Rename it to a .world file. As in: 0x2db853d0721f456a8d90ba8e6b9b8fa7.package to My World .world.
    6) Take the renamed file and place it in My Computer/Program Files/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3/Game Data/Shared/Non Packaged/Worlds.

    When you next open your game you should have your world available for use.

    Hope this helps, good luck!
  • Babydoll3133Babydoll3133 Posts: 42 Member
    edited November 2012
    I installed the update for Supernatural as well as the new CAW yesterday. My world will save fine in CAW but it errors out when saving in EIG. :(

    I haven't read over all the posts yet - I just wanted to get my comment in. :p
  • happyscrubhappyscrub Posts: 101
    edited November 2012
    anetherron wrote:
    tea_and_blues, can you explain to little further on how to get the world in game?, maybe a step by step. I don't think I am doing it right as it does not show up. Also, I am very confused as to how to do this. Thanks

    This is what I did, ditermination, and it worked for me:

    First, follow these steps to delete all 'dead' files: (just, instead of 'Desert Quest', delete all your world's relevant files lol)... http://calinselene.wordpress.com/how-to-fully-delete-desert-quest-world-in-preparation-for-installing-eldrichtfalls/

    Then do this:

    1) Reinstall the world
    2) Go to My Documents/Electronic Arts/Sims 3/DC Backup. In it you will find a whole bunch of .package files with number/letter combo names.
    3)At the top of the screen click View - Arrange Icons by - Modified.
    4) The last file in the folder (most recently installed) should now be for your world.
    5) Rename it to a .world file. As in: 0x2db853d0721f456a8d90ba8e6b9b8fa7.package to My World .world.
    6) Take the renamed file and place it in My Computer/Program Files/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3/Game Data/Shared/Non Packaged/Worlds.

    When you next open your game you should have your world available for use.

    Hope this helps, good luck!

    ^ Confirmed. A pain to have to go thru all those steps, but it works.

    *Hugs*
  • ovelixovelix Posts: 13 New Member
    edited November 2012
    Hallo to you all..
    I had the same problems with sims 3 caw. I did what anetherron suggested and it worked..!!! so thank you very much anetherron.. :mrgreen: I still face the problem with failing the save in EIG.. It says it can't save due to errors of some lots even though in caw the save was succesful with no warnings... :?
  • Writin_RegWritin_Reg Posts: 28,907 Member
    edited November 2012
    Just for the information SimGuru Graham has confirmed that a lot of issues with at least our games with the new patch will indeed cease to be a problem once the new ep comes and is installed as there are lots of unlinked "ends" in the patch that link to the programming in the EP. Now how this is going to help anyone not yet able to have the ep or worse not planning on getting it - I cannot imagine - seeing they make it impossible to use the store or connect in game or anything else if everyone is not updated - so I call it poor planning on their part at EA and totally unfair for those who cannot buy the ep - but it is what it is - I guess and it has been confirmed that many game issues will indeed disappear once Seasons is installed. The only thing I cannot say positively is if all these issues with CAW will also disappear once the ep is installed, as the Guru was only responding to the very large list of ingame problems (some rather serious) since the patch - but to me considering the ingame issues - the things listed are most likely these open links in the programming. Now the question is - what happens to simmers worlds if you all do use a work around and then install the ep - will you block off something from connecting with the work - around? I do know Graham seemed to suggest - that if one used a mod to fix certain of the game issues (- as it is reported some of Twallans mods will fix a few - ) that using a fix may disrupt the fix when the game connects to the "dangling" ends.

    It is something to think about if you do not relish having to do reinstalls or having to find new fixes to undo what these fixes are doing. It is not really clear though if using a fix now will actually break the game when the ep is installed - I just know when we had this problem before ingame - those who had used temp fixes ended up having to do complete uninstall/reinstall of all there games to get them finally running right. Again I must stress this was the game itself and not CAW. The creators I test for the most - like Rflong for instance - just avoided updating until she had her actual copy of the game so she had not CAW issues - which she is also doing this time as well.

    But if anyone is interested to see some of the actual Game issues created by the patch and Crinricts affirmations from the Guru's these things will fix when the ep is installed - go to the Sticked Bug thread in the Seasons forum and read the first page - not sure how this will do much for CAW - but usually the two go together - if the game does not work right - neither does CAW.

    Just hope this helps you all a little.


    ETA here is the link:

    http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/604090.page



    and go down to:


    "Common Bigger Issues with solutions"


    and you can see some of the game issues and the Guru's responses - etc. Some things do seem a bit contradictory when it comes to mods so I think it is better to see it for yourself.

    "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.....

  • CinderellimouseCinderellimouse Posts: 19,380 Member
    edited November 2012
    edit: just wanted to say that I did read many of the posts but just got very, very confused!

    I hope the problems do fix with seasons.

    Just reporting that my world will not stay installed. It says it's installed then vanishes.

    Also, I placed a lot using EIG and the world did not save successfully, and when I reloaded the world in CAW (from same save file) several lots had dissappeared.

    AND... I don't know if this is normal or not, but my waterfall disappeared, when EIG loaded up the water fx just weren't there.

    I'm not great with computers so I'm afraid I don't know all the details but my operating system is Vista.

    I feel sad. :cry:
  • tea_and_bluestea_and_blues Posts: 889 Member
    edited November 2012
    @Writin_Reg I've got a shaky grasp of the issues with the game's programming. The engineers REALLY dropped the ball on this one, they've made some pretty basic oversights that they should have known - if fact they know but stupidly overlooked - would break functionality for those without the patch. It's a failure on a 101 sort of level.

    Like I said, my grasp of the underlying causes of the game issues is shaky, but based on what I do know I would risk saying it is possible installing Seasons will fix the issues with CAW, but it's not entirely probable.

    I hope you are right, though.
  • GlamSugarGlamSugar Posts: 103
    edited November 2012
    Just an quick update. The fix I posted in this thread last night is still working. I've used EIG and saved just fine at least 10 times now. The fix requires no uninstalling of anything, and literally took 2 minutes. Those of you who are still having Edit In Game saving and/or crashing problems should try it.
  • Writin_RegWritin_Reg Posts: 28,907 Member
    edited November 2012
    Tea - what gets me is that they are "aware" there would be problems and yet they post the pre-patch. I would like to know how they expect people to play this game, use the store or even use any kind of future updates if they cannot get Seasons. To me that make no sense at all. Granted I am not an ace when it comes to programming - and because CAW was not mentioned - I am basically assuming at least some issues will be solved once the ep is installed - as it has always been fairly common knowledge that if the game itself does not work right - CAW will not work right. Besides that the other instances where CAW miraculously was fixed after the ep was installed - which is why I assumed perhaps some of this is related. I sort of assume Creators might not have been aware of these bits of info that Crinrict received from the Sims Guru - had I not had an issue with a telescope while testing Rflongs world yesterday - and deciding to check the Seasons thread to see if others reported like issues with the telescope since the patch - I would not have known this info - but I did not want to blame the issue on the world I was testing - and a good thing I didn't. I also knew the telescope was fine before I patched as I like to use it for getting up logic along with often making some money on the side for the sims - so I use that a lot - it also dawned on me where aliens are tied to the telescope that possibly the tie in was in this patch and responsible. So I was not surprised to read that it was indeed a problem with the patch because it is tied to the ep and the patch - but what I find shocking is the people in charge of the game actually knowing this and saying nothing. It is like they just assume everyone will get the ep right away. It makes me angry they have done this as I know several simmers who have to wait to get this ep, and updated because they needed to use their store purchase history. It would not let them otherwise as apparently the store stuff is also updated. So seeing this connection and these sudden problems, I just felt I should mention it here.

    But I can tell you I don't know whether to be happy it maybe the fact is the ep is not out or to be outraged that EA allowed this to happen - as removing updates is not as simple as rolling back - and many simmers do not know where to get the older versions of CAW.

    Granted if this is not the issue creating this CAW problem I will be glad and apologize for saying anything. But it will still make me angry that there was no warning issued that this patch would break the game in places as well.

    What would Rflong be going through if I had said it was her world? But something in my head made me go check - just in case before I gave her a report. On top of it there is a problem with Bonehilda because of the patch too. The diving board - even the swimming has issues until the ep is installed - I know just about everyone was eager to try these - but in some system trying them might make sims disappear - the patch keeps sims from getting married properly - there is a host of things - so much so that I am pretty sure it is why CAW is behaving badly - as it has probably been updated to the next ep - not just the patch...

    "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.....

  • DigstarDigstar Posts: 308 Member
    edited November 2012
    GlamSugar wrote:
    For those of you still having problems with Edit In Game, I've found a solution after days of trying everything. It's hilarious because it involved changing one number. I'm able to go into EIG with no problems and save perfectly now.

    1. Go to your Create A World installation folder (not the one in Documents). It should be somewhere like this: C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 Create a World Tool
    2. Find the file called Default and open it. If it says to choose a program to open it with, choose Notepad.
    3. Once open, scroll to the bottom and find GameVersion = 1.18.5.019037 and change the number to 1.18.4.019037 (That's right, change the 4 in the middle to a 5).
    4. Go to File and Save and you're done.

    Keep the Default file open (reopen it if you've closed it already) while you're testing CAW, just to be sure. If things don't work out, just change that 4 back to a 5 and save. No harm done.

    Note: This will likely only work for those with the most recent version of CAW, and I can't make any promises that it will work for everyone. But try it! I'm not pulling my hair out over CAW issues anymore. Yay. I hope it works for you guys. Good luck. :mrgreen:

    I'll give that a whirl :D Thank you for the info :D /thumbsup.
  • tea_and_bluestea_and_blues Posts: 889 Member
    edited November 2012
    Either way, Reg, you need not apologise. We're in a situation where there's a lot of need to speculate cautiously, which is all you are doing.

    Most of the problems that are actually happening in the game are with systems that CAW doesn't really use. Even with sims in a world, there's no autonomy running in Edit In Game mode, so sims are not actually running many of the systems that are causing jump bugs, etc, due to the lack of competent coding. It is, by the way, a matter of incompetence, in this case. A competent coder working on an expansion pack simply does not overlook the fact that not all users will have the expansion pack, but that's exactly what EA's engineers have done. The mistakes really are at such a basic level as that, there's no particularly big mystery about them.

    The game might, of course, be trying to load a weather system that's not entirely there. The crash while loading Edit In Game is a big one that might actually be caused by the lack of a Seasons install, but the problems with Simpacks are probably due to some unwise or clumsy tweaks to the format of those types of files - they have added extra functions to CAS parts for the outerwear category, after all - that overlooked specific properties of world files themselves.
  • CinderellimouseCinderellimouse Posts: 19,380 Member
    edited November 2012
    About my world not staying installed...

    I'm sorry if I'm just being really thick, but I honestly have read through quite a few posts about this on a couple of threads and I just don't understand what is going on!

    Please could someone just explain it to me? Is everyone having this issue? Is there any way to fix it?

    I'd would really appreciate it if someone could explain this. :D

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