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@SimGuruSNelson: Simport hosting issues I run into repeatedly

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  • AnmirlaAnmirla Posts: 3,835 Member
    edited March 2012
    Cyron43 wrote:
    Faith mentioned yesterday Simport refuses to connect due to an incompatible game version when she tried with 1.32. That's an indication they changed something in the data structure which requires to be patched to 1.33.

    It was the same between 1.31 and 1.32. I guess anytime a new update comes out, we will absolutely need to update to use the features.
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  • genietwogenietwo Posts: 92 Member
    edited March 2012
    After updating to 1.33 via the launcher, SimPort worked for me for exactly the length of time it took to have one friend's performer come to my game. I even got the stamp. Then, the game and my pc froze and I had to restart my PC.

    After that, when I would try to send a Sim out, the booking would fail and the Sim would still be in my game but the note about the Sim going on tour as soon as her ride came showed up. Of course, her ride never showed up.

    I couldn't even post to My Page via the game. My Page would not update even when I used Firefox to view it.

    So...I'm quitting the SimPort feature of this game and going back to my other worlds to watch my Sims live.

    If SimPort is ever fixed, I would love to use the SimPort function. Until then, they will have to be stars in my worlds.
  • mnevin25mnevin25 Posts: 466 Member
    edited March 2012
    I too am having that same Issue but Mine isn't gigs. Nibe is Hosting accepting or declining and getting my SimPort to go to other peoples localations. My Level 7 Acrobat can find gigs. He also goes to the park and does it for tips. I swear he lives and sleeps in uniform... Just waiting for them to work the bugs out. Thats all we can do.. Patience pays.
  • LammashtaOtakuLammashtaOtaku Posts: 64 Member
    edited March 2012
    I just want to report a cause for the bug announced on the first post.
    However this can only be prevented on the sender's side.
    Just don't send sims that already have a simport slot allocated for them. You have to cancel that slot first, otherwise the host won't get a performance. If you have trouble cancelling it (due to another bug) just switch households, cancel it and then switch back. I suspect this is not the only cause for this bug but it's most definitely one of them.

    EDIT:

    Just made a new thread on the issue: http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/518237.page
    Post edited by Unknown User on
  • TheMomminatorTheMomminator Posts: 4,215 Member
    edited March 2012
    I'm having this exact issue with 1.33 installed. Has anyone ever successfully fixed this problem and started hosting again? Should I reinstall the game?
  • Cyron43Cyron43 Posts: 8,055 Member
    edited March 2012
    @TheMomminator: This is a problem in the game code and on the server side. So reinstalling wouldn't help anything. We can only sit and wait for another patch.
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  • Nik24X7Nik24X7 Posts: 7,865 Member
    edited March 2012
    Anmirla wrote:
    My experience is similar.
    However the icon above the lot only shows for Sims that are not in one of the three performing careers. I go to the lot at the appointed time (I don't delete the initial and only notification), but cannot set up the stage and no visiting Sim appears. I hang out for a few hours.
    After going back home, some time later, I get the posts from myself and the other Simmer saying how great it was. I did still get my stamp for hosting.

    It seems we can still receive credit, but are left wondering if it worked.
    I frequently encounter the same problem. Not only that, but I also had an issue last night with a failed booking when attempting to send a Sim out on tour. Not only did the booking fail, but my game is left in Pause mode and I cannot unpause or resume my game. I'm forced to kill the game via Ctrl+ Alt+Delete and then use the Task Manager to kill the game. This has happened three or four times now for me. Sometimes, the last saved game ends up corrupted and is no longer playable, which makes me rather upset.
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  • TheMomminatorTheMomminator Posts: 4,215 Member
    edited March 2012
    Thank you Cyron! I started the process for resetting the game to factory settings last night but I won't finish if it won't help.
  • crinrictcrinrict Posts: 18,771 Member
    edited March 2012
    Cyron43 wrote:
    @TheMomminator: This is a problem in the game code and on the server side. So reinstalling wouldn't help anything. We can only sit and wait for another patch.

    was this confirmed ? For me it was working, then suddenly not. Then I put in Overwatch which cleaned up some faulty steady gigs afterwards I could see the Sims again.

    No, I can't. Sometimes they are there but do not perform and sometimes there are not there but I get the Sims file every time.

    This was all on patch 1.33.

    Maybe I should try to get a sim in my game and then log out to see what happens if you're not connected.
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  • Cyron43Cyron43 Posts: 8,055 Member
    edited March 2012
    Guess I need to clarify what I mean with reinstalling. :wink:
    When I use this term I mean a) reinstalling the software and b) all store content, cc, mods and savegames you had before. That way you have the same problems as before because you also reinstalled corrupted data (if there was any).
    Reinstalling just point (a) results in a vanilla game, which might help if the cause of the problem was "just" coruppted data and/or cc.
    The latter case, however, can be achieved in a less cumbersome way by just uninstalling cc and mods and start all over with a new savegame and without using Sim templates from before.
    Post edited by Unknown User on
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  • carla70carla70 Posts: 575 Member
    edited March 2012
    I have reinstalled All EP and SP in my Sims 3 game including store content. When I simport some friends game I crash sometime and get a windows log on my MAC.


    refer to this
    http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/518797.page



    Now I don't have this issue with everyone either. And yesterday I actually had a very successful simport where When I requested a sim to preform at my coffee shop and then for the night logged off, in the morning when logged back in there was a person who accepted the request and in game me a message to host. And it did that very successfully. But that was not the case for some. I am on a MAC so I don't understand what these errors mean to me. Any help with be appreciated.
  • EIisabettaEIisabetta Posts: 5,708 Member
    edited March 2012
    I'm having this EXACT issue now. I do use Twallen's mods and they are all up to date (he's updating fairly regularly so I check for updates about twice a week). This is getting very frustrating because even though my wall will say it was successful (after I've had to exit to desktop because that's the ONLY way to clear the incoming simport in my game - just saving or exiting to the main menu does NOT work), I don't get the stamps. Out of the past 10 I have hosted, one has been successful.
    moxiegraphix on Origin
  • Cyron43Cyron43 Posts: 8,055 Member
    edited March 2012
    I have days where Simport runs smooth and I had days where it doesn't work at all. We (my friends and I) have found a possible cause. I need three players for the example.
    - Player A sends a hosting request.
    - Player B accepts
    Now the server communication is not fast enough to handle the following concurrency issue (possibly due to work overload).
    - Player C denies the request and removes it from his tour book
    - The hosting runs at Player B but the connections is lost because the request got deleted on the Server due to Player C's action (which should not happen). Furthermore the server should foward the removal to Player B but that also doesn't happen.

    We made an agreement to not delete requests from our tour book. They disappear 24 real time hours later anyway. After doing so we had only successful Simport hostings. :)
    Simporting and the other online activities have almost completely stopped in the last three days. Maybe it's because most of my friends got all their stamps or they gave up. I don't know. However Simport runs smooth ever since. Less server workload = less concurreny issues = less Simport problems.

    EA you see the the foul fruits of duct tape programming? Oh wait, I'm mistaken, you got our money and that's all that matters to you, right? :hunf:
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  • enkeli63enkeli63 Posts: 6,637 Member
    edited March 2012
    Cyron43 wrote:
    I have days where Simport runs smooth and I had days where it doesn't work at all. We (my friends and I) have found a possible cause. I need three players for the example.
    - Player A sends a hosting request.
    - Player B accepts
    Now the server communication is not fast enough to handle the following concurrency issue (possibly due to work overload).
    - Player C denies the request and removes it from his tour book
    - The hosting runs at Player B but the connections is lost because the request got deleted on the Server due to Player C's action (which should not happen). Furthermore the server should foward the removal to Player B but that also doesn't happen.

    We made an agreement to not delete requests from our tour book. They disappear 24 real time hours later anyway. After doing so we had only successful Simport hostings. :)
    Simporting and the other online activities have almost completely stopped in the last three days. Maybe it's because most of my friends got all their stamps or they gave up. I don't know. However Simport runs smooth ever since. Less server workload = less concurreny issues = less Simport problems.

    EA you see the the foul fruits of duct tape programming? Oh wait, I'm mistaken, you got our money and that's all that matters to you, right? :hunf:


    Some days I can host and send sims without any difficulties, but then there are days when I cannot use simport at all. I love hosting and I want to just host friends for the fun of it, but I am starting to feel a little annoyed about not getting the hosting stamps I've earned. I do want to build some new venues and houses and not be missing out on one of Simport's good days, so I'm forced to just keep simporting until I finish getting all the stamps.

    Each day goes by, there are less and less people using simport because they already got the stamps and don't want the headache of dealing with simport. It will soon be impossible for people to get stamps because EA can't hold up their end of the feature that was the main selling point of this expansion pack. :cry:
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  • EIisabettaEIisabetta Posts: 5,708 Member
    edited March 2012
    Cyron43 wrote:
    I have days where Simport runs smooth and I had days where it doesn't work at all. We (my friends and I) have found a possible cause. I need three players for the example.
    - Player A sends a hosting request.
    - Player B accepts
    Now the server communication is not fast enough to handle the following concurrency issue (possibly due to work overload).
    - Player C denies the request and removes it from his tour book
    - The hosting runs at Player B but the connections is lost because the request got deleted on the Server due to Player C's action (which should not happen). Furthermore the server should foward the removal to Player B but that also doesn't happen.

    We made an agreement to not delete requests from our tour book. They disappear 24 real time hours later anyway. After doing so we had only successful Simport hostings. :)
    Simporting and the other online activities have almost completely stopped in the last three days. Maybe it's because most of my friends got all their stamps or they gave up. I don't know. However Simport runs smooth ever since. Less server workload = less concurreny issues = less Simport problems.

    EA you see the the foul fruits of duct tape programming? Oh wait, I'm mistaken, you got our money and that's all that matters to you, right? :hunf:

    I read something in another thread about not declining Simport requests, so I don't decline them, but others may be doing that.
    moxiegraphix on Origin
  • Cyron43Cyron43 Posts: 8,055 Member
    edited March 2012
    EIisabetta wrote:
    I read something in another thread about not declining Simport requests, so I don't decline them, but others may be doing that.
    Tell all your friends. :!:
    Luckily I have only 47. :)
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  • EIisabettaEIisabetta Posts: 5,708 Member
    edited March 2012
    After failure after failure after failure and being FORCED to restart my game to clear failed incoming simports, I'm done with it. Add on to the fact my Sim loses all her wishes when I simport her out and I have to reset her to get new wishes (unlike with the parents going out of town with Generations, I get my memories back with that or used to).

    I like the expansion and will continue playing and will resort to the mod to get the rewards. I'm absolutely finished with this. I wanted the stamps (it appeals to the avid collector in me) but it's not worth this frustration. I probably won't turn off the social features completely because I've had fun conversing with people while we play, sharing custom memories and that sort of thing but I'm done with simport.
    moxiegraphix on Origin
  • anit1983anit1983 Posts: 886 Member
    edited March 2012
    I've had the same 'no show' problem, where I have to quit to get out of a failed simport.

    I also have an issue where I accept someones sim into my game, but I don't get the time/place notice. There will also be no icon on the map. Simport will tell me I'm hosting, but I can'tfind them anywhere. I once let it go on for 3 sim days to see if they would just go home but they never did.
  • SimGuru_AgentXSimGuru_AgentX Posts: 9 SimGuru (retired)
    edited April 2012
    Hi everyone,

    We definitely understand how frustrating this can be and would like to get some more information, if we can.


    When trying to host-
    What world are you trying to import a Sim to?
    What is the career and level of the imported Sim?
    What type of lot (park, coffeehouse, ect) is the Sim wanting to perform at?
    How long into the future is the show scheduled? (less than a day, more than a day) When the time passes for the Sim to perform, does a TNS immediately show stating the show is complete?
    If so, do you receive the badge and reward?
    Does your world have any custom content lots?

    Sending your Sim-
    Is this the first time the Sim has ever been sent?
    Does your Sim have any custom content in his/her costume?
    What is your Sims career and level?
    Does this sim appear in the Sims Away in Simport segment of the Simport book when you are trying to send them?

    We appreciate as much information as you can provide as we work to investigate this issue for you.


    EA_AgentX
    EA Community Administrator
  • enkeli63enkeli63 Posts: 6,637 Member
    edited April 2012
    Hi everyone,

    We definitely understand how frustrating this can be and would like to get some more information, if we can.


    When trying to host-
    What world are you trying to import a Sim to?
    What is the career and level of the imported Sim?
    What type of lot (park, coffeehouse, ect) is the Sim wanting to perform at?
    How long into the future is the show scheduled? (less than a day, more than a day) When the time passes for the Sim to perform, does a TNS immediately show stating the show is complete?
    If so, do you receive the badge and reward?
    Does your world have any custom content lots?

    EA_AgentX
    EA Community Administrator

    Here's some more information on the troubles I have with hosting sims. Like I've said earlier in this post, there are days where I can host without trouble but other days I cannot host at all.

    ~ I play without any mods or custom content. I do use Sims 3 Store content. I have all the expansion packs and all the stuff packs except for the Fast Lane one. I also have Hidden Springs installed and am desperate to get back to playing it.

    ~ I have been playing only in Starlight Shores with no custom buildings whatsoever. (Part of why I feel held hostage by simport.)

    ~ It has happened with every level of every profession and with every EA made venue. When I have troubles with hosting, I can't host at all.

    ~ Shows should be scheduled within 12 to 18 hours on some attempts, and others I've tried where the show will be scheduled in about 8 sim hours. I generally don't like to keep the other player waiting long for the results. Nonetheless, when Simport isn't going to work for me, it matters not what time the should would've been scheduled. For the record, though you did not ask, I did not even have a show booked for my sims in town, so there was no scheduling conflicts to deal with.

    ~ When simport fails, I usually accept a hosting arrangement (or someone has accepted my request and I confirm it within 2 minutes) and then nothing at all happens. No message, no sign from simport that I am hosting, no sim comes. Nothing happens except I don't get to host the sim and I have to send the request out again!! :evil:

    I've been held hostage by simport for a week and a half. I need to get 8 more hosting stamps and I am really upset that most people have stopped simporting already. I want to move on and have fun again. I don't want to be held hostage and desperately looking for a couple of friends who will actually help me get the stamps.

    If simport would work and be fun for everyone, I wouldn't have this problem.
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  • Cyron43Cyron43 Posts: 8,055 Member
    edited April 2012
    SimGuru_AgentX, what we face with Simport are typical concurrency issues. My friends and I found a pretty dumb behavior caused by concurrency:
    - Player A sends a hosting request to all players (means Player A wants to host a Sim).
    - Player B accepts
    - Player C declines
    Now the server seems to drop this whole pipeline due to Player C's action. That shouldn't happen but yet it does.
    Neither Player B nor Player A gets a notification about it.
    They play along and wonder why the hosting never ends for Player B and Player A wonders why he never gets his stamp.

    After finding that out we agreed to not decline any requests from our tour books and voila, Simport works like a charm!

    EDIT: I recommend the Simport developer team reads "Enterprise integration Patterns" and refrains from duct-tape programming.
    Further recommendation: Flow based programming
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  • christine400christine400 Posts: 5,554 Member
    edited April 2012
    and this is why i dont use simport :roll:

    hope you guys get your issues fixed !!!!
  • khynneakhynnea Posts: 265 Member
    edited April 2012
    Cyron43 wrote:
    SimGuru_AgentX, what we face with Simport are typical concurrency issues. My friends and I found a pretty dumb behavior caused by concurrency:
    - Player A sends a hosting request to all players (means Player A wants to host a Sim).
    - Player B accepts
    - Player C declines
    Now the server seems to drop this whole pipeline due to Player C's action. That shouldn't happen but yet it does.
    Neither Player B nor Player A gets a notification about it.
    They play along and wonder why the hosting never ends for Player B and Player A wonders why he never gets his stamp.

    After finding that out we agreed to not decline any requests from our tour books and voila, Simport works like a charm!

    EDIT: I recommend the Simport developer team reads "Enterprise integration Patterns" and refrains from duct-tape programming.
    Further recommendation: Flow based programming


    One thing I need to add to this is that it does not just affect people with requests that are one to many.

    I have been experiencing gross failure with one to one invitations because *anything* that interrupts that simport seems to cause the potential for a decline.

    Two examples of cases:

    Case I:
    * Player A publishes request to host Player B's sim.
    * Player B accepts request to perform for Player A at about 7am game time.
    * Player B is bored while waiting for ride to come and sends sim to do something while waiting, since "tour bus" has not come for five real time minutes.
    * Tour bus comes for Player B's sim; Player B attempts to cancel the action for the sim not realizing that the game is going to auto-cancel everything other than going on tour.
    * Player B now confused about what is going on and whether they missed the ride, or whether that was the limo taking sim to do intermediate action while waiting.
    * Two in-game days pass, no "tour bus" comes.
    * Player B becomes convinced that nothing is going to happen, since Player A has informed them that their sim has "come and gone" on tour.
    * Player B cannot send their sim out again because the game thinks they are going out on tour. Player B cannot figure out what to do to cancel this action, and eventually resorts to quitting the game.
    * Upon logging back IN to the game, Player B receives simoleans and stamps for going on tour even though they never did.

    HOWEVER, the next time that Player B tries to go on tour with this same sim, they cannot. Much gesticulating at game occurs, involving switching active households, removing caches, quitting and re-opening game. Player B is completely unsure what magically makes simport start working again.


    This happens with slight modification; wherein Player B successfully learns from mistake and does NOTHING other than let sim stand around after accepting tour and they do see sim go out of town and be greyed out. However, no rewards are earned upon returning. Sometimes, these rewards are recouped after quitting the game and coming back in, sometimes not.


    Case II:

    * Player A sends 3 sims and sets up a hosting request for Player B.
    * Player A's game is corrupted by a failed simport, and Showtime assets are lost from the game.
    * Player A has to reinstall. But Player A's simport requests are still hanging around out in the aether.
    * Player B has these simport requests sitting there, doesn't know that they should wait for them to disappear after 24 hours and deletes them.
    * Now Player A can't send sims out on simport gigs, but Player A CAN receive sims and host them.
    * Player B is getting stamps for gigs sending to Player A, and sometimes Player A is getting credit for these. Sometimes not.

    Honestly, I'd recommend learning how to study user behavior, perform user engineering and write use cases. I can think of all sorts of helpful notions that might be gleaned from a basic sqlplus manual too.


    As a side note, the greatest horror / realization that I am avoiding contending with at the moment is that it seems that all of the data on simport achievements is stored client side. Since I had to redownload everything to use my store content on a different machine, I'm now wondering if my simport stuff is going to seamlessly transfer to another machine or not. I don't have the heart to experiment.

    Knowing that a friend has already lost all their progress on stamps to date, and now is having trouble simporting at all, and that they may just walk away from the game entirely, I am left wondering why the rewards are not unlocked through the store.

    Who designed this mess.
  • Cyron43Cyron43 Posts: 8,055 Member
    edited April 2012
    khynnea wrote:
    I'm now wondering if my simport stuff is going to seamlessly transfer to another machine or not. I don't have the heart to experiment.
    Your Simport data are persisted in
    My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims3\Downloads\{Strange ID number}
    The stamps in specific are in the PassportData.package.
    I agree with you, it would be better if those data woould be persisted on the server side. We both know most Simmers don't do backups.
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  • khynneakhynnea Posts: 265 Member
    edited April 2012
    Cyron43 wrote:
    Your Simport data are persisted in
    My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims3\Downloads\{Strange ID number}
    The stamps in specific are in the PassportData.package.
    I agree with you, it would be better if those data woould be persisted on the server side. We both know most Simmers don't do backups.

    Thanks Cyron,

    I have mine backed up now.. but only because the friend I've been simporting with (and thus uncovering all these fun glitches with) lost all of their data on a reinstall. That's how I learned it was not stored server side.

    My concern that it won't port over to a new machine seamlessly is due to the fact that I can't port my store downloads back and forth any more. Used to be able to move them from machine to machine, and now had to reinstall everything going from PC bootcamp install to Mac OS and then back to PC (a LOT of downloading). It just had me reasonably wondering.

    Oh and on the simporting, just accepted a simport, got the message "you can't book in that venue (coffeehouse) because it either does not exist (it does) or is already booked (not that I can tell, not by anyone in my household)." Still got the stamp though. I do not understand. Do I need to demolish and re-place the coffeehouse? Or move my household to a new neighborhood?
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