"animation is empty string" errors

[Ellatrue]

I keep getting these bizarre "animation is empty string" errors, and having to reset the sim over and over again. I think the first is for one of the worst ones. Um.

[Zazazu]

Welcome to my world!

I had them awhile back and found it was a tight pants situation with cs_corefuncs. Now I'm having them with and without hacks with Freetime.

[Ellatrue]

Hmm, I did get a bunch of cs stuff. Argh! I like the stuff actually working!

So you got them with just BV?

[Zazazu]

I did, but they stopped once I figured out I'd put cs_corefuncs in my Downloads/Objects/Stories Ports folder as well as a newer version in Downloads/Hacks. Classic tight pants situation. Then, the first few lines of each error referred to the greet interaction. Now, I've gotten the same error with and without hacks+stories objects, with the first few lines referring to distress animations. In my rather crappy code-reading skills, they appear to be completely unrelated.

[anaximander]

Mkay. As near as I can tell, and believe-you-me, it has something to do with one of those idle-animations (ie framing a photograph for sims interested in art), and for me it's specifically the one related to science, having to do with a "logic puzzle". I've heard others describing a science - hobby sim pulling out a rubic's cube-like toy and playing with it. I've noticed that it's not happening with all sims, only the science ones, for me. Alas, I am very much awesome in many ways, just not in *this* way, and can't seem to go deeper than that. I have no idea if a re-install would work, even, and exploring the disk and directory are proving fruitless for me. Uninstalling / reinstalling hacks is doing nothing. There are exactly two things which are strange about my install, one is that I use a widely-available crack in order to play, and the other is that I installed the core game files to a different partition/drive. Zazazu, did you do either of these?

[Zazazu]

I'm cracktastic, yes.

No sims with science interest yet. My error logs are in the Podium bork thread.


Anyways, I'll retry on my absolutely no-cc test account. If it's happening on that, it's either the crack or the game coding. I can't remove my crack as I do not have a CD/Dvd. EAxis gets no more of my money until they stop using SecuRom.

[anaximander]

Well, I just attempted using an image instead, and that wasn't it - gamecopyworld is my *friend*. Still the same error, and the fact that it's occurring for two separate animations doesn't point to it being the crack, but something else instead. I updated all my hacks about five minutes ago, JUST to see if one of them might have updated?... I'm leaning towards it *possibly* being some kind of hack, but I haven't the foggiest idea what or which. The non-maty hacks I have are:

anybodybemanager - squinge
morecustomers - squinge
neverquit - squinge
ofb_customernomorecomplaining - squinge
ofb_nobadmakeovers - squinge
ofb_refreshemployees - squinge -

the maty hacks I have are: (edited out due to insanely long list and problem solution in new post below)

Some that I noticed I had, and kept, was bvchildanimfix, because I never could get patch 2 to work (kept telling me my sims install was invalid, or some such twaddle, even after properly un-cracking). Still another is engagewantfix, which I have no idea why I still have..., nobogartingofbtoys, same deal..., norandomcrush.., pianofix.., sandcastlefix, and that's it. I'm going to move them out, and try again without just those, just to see.

none of which I could see causing a conflict, but again, this is an area where i'm a little bit out of my depth

[anaximander]

ohh.... kay.......

Now I think my system is just possessed. While taking out all hacks did NOT work, taking out just those few *appears* to have. I've no idea which one of the few it was, though....

[Zazazu]

Binary Search time! Fun for the whole family!


FYI - I do not have any of the non-awesome hacks you do. I used to have "neverquit" back in the day, but trashed it when I got BRY.


EDIT: How the hell did I get tight pants again? Must have done something funny with my backup, because I somehow had the same issue with cs_corefuncs. Ran the Hack Conflict Detector and found it that way. I'm no longer having problems. Well, animation string problems.

[danicast]

Ok, here my suggestions so you can try to eliminate the problem:

anybodybemanager - squinge - suspect, messes with semiglobals
morecustomers - squinge - suspect, same reason, my sugestion is use Simwardrobe system, that one is safe
neverquit - squinge - suspect, again, try Simwardrobe system
ofb_customernomorecomplaining - squinge - safe
ofb_nobadmakeovers - squinge - I never used so I dunno
ofb_refreshemployees - squinge - funny, I have one called OFB_EmployeesAlwaysRested.package by Squinge, Seasons version. Check the version you are using.

And yes, run Hack Detector conflict, easy way to discover conflicts. If you don´t have any, try to remove those that alter semiglobals.

[Ellatrue]

To clarify: I have BV. I do not have Free Time.

[Gwill]

Happens every time child tries to drink hot chocolate.

[J. M. Pescado]

To clarify: I have BV. I do not have Free Time.

Do you have BVchildanimfixes?

Happens every time child tries to drink hot chocolate.

Known issue. Must have been imported from BV. Try the childanimfix from BV. I will reexamine it and probably reinclude.

[Zazazu]

I'm sure you've read this, but it bears repeating. Still getting animation string errors on autonomous Science & Culinary high-enthusiasm sims. My pants are now loose. I'm not alone.

[YoungOldPrude]

I don't know if this is considered a non-awesome website, but I installed the: Stop All Hobby Related Idle Gestures
It fixed my animation is empty string errors! My errors would only pop up for idle female Sims. Some of the hobby gestures worked, but others, like Rub Tummy...caused an error.

Link: http://www.simwardrobe.com/

Has anyone been able to max the Sports hobby though? I get an error every time my Sims are close.

[J. M. Pescado]

Are you using the latest bvchildanimfix? This hack was removed from the FT DC, but then updated and reinstated after the bug still existed.

[Zazazu]

Did that hack officially kill this animation error (with science and culinary)? I realized a bit after updating my hacks (perhaps a couple of days ago) that I could play in debug again in the 16-room dorm without wanting to kill myself due to all the errors. I just wanted to kill myself due to the incessant whistling.

[YoungOldPrude]

Did that hack officially kill this animation error (with science and culinary)? I realized a bit after updating my hacks (perhaps a couple of days ago) that I could play in debug again in the 16-room dorm without wanting to kill myself due to all the errors. I just wanted to kill myself due to the incessant whistling.

Yes, it killed all the idle gestures, for all hobbies, along with the error pop-ups. But the whistling? As to that I'll have to try again. I have four sister Sims who have high music enthusiasm, and I have left them in idle mode for hours on end and I have never heard them whistle since I installed the hack in question. So, I am pretty sure that it murders the whistling, but I shall check again.

[Ellatrue]

I'm not sure it's relevent. The error happens with no children present, and I never give them the cocoa machine anymore.

[Zazazu]

Did that hack officially kill this animation error (with science and culinary)? I realized a bit after updating my hacks (perhaps a couple of days ago) that I could play in debug again in the 16-room dorm without wanting to kill myself due to all the errors. I just wanted to kill myself due to the incessant whistling.

Yes, it killed all the idle gestures, for all hobbies, along with the error pop-ups. But the whistling? As to that I'll have to try again. I have four sister Sims who have high music enthusiasm, and I have left them in idle mode for hours on end and I have never heard them whistle since I installed the hack in question. So, I am pretty sure that it murders the whistling, but I shall check again.

I'm still seeing plenty of Fitness-related idle gestures, as well as Nature and Sports. Not terribly sure about the rest as my playables are all Fitness, Nature, and Sports. The others I just see floating by and noticed that the errors stopped. Anyways. No more errors has me happy.

It hasn't killed the whistling. Trust me. Zuniga Hall in Prospect University has a band stage with four instruments that my dormies can't keep off of. Consequently, all dormies are now high in Music interest. They whistle constantly. Out-of-tempo. Needless to say, the next playable to go to PU is either moving in with friends into the apartments or living in private housing.