Merging mods to increase Performance!
Anach:
Support for the mod merge feature of s3pe is now located here. http://dino.drealm.info/den/denforum/index.php?topic=478.msg3049#msg3049
I've been experimenting with importing .packages to single .package/.dbc files using s3pe. Overall, upon initial tests, by decreasing 691 custom content .package files into 8 merged .package files, I've doubled my frame rate and halved my loading time for game start-up and entering CAS/Build/Buy. It is also possible to add new store content this way, by first unpacking the .sims3pack and then repacking it into a custom merged .package,
The only drawbacks with this system that I have come across are are that merging large amounts of .package into a single .package can take some time to complete, the difficulty of correctly merging different types of mods (including broken mods) and there is no way to uninstall one specific mod from the archive, and one is forced to re-merge the mods if they wish to make any updates or changes. The benefits are better performance, less files to manage, and the ability to learn the way mods work and discover problems or conflicts with mods you were otherwise unaware of.
As pointed out below in several posts, large single .package archives will have the same effect as .dbc archives, as they are essentially the same type of file. The performance increase is simply from merging, not from file type.
The process is pretty simple really.
Quick Guide
1. Get latest test version of s3pe
2. I sorted the .package files into categories that suited my method of organisation, and this is what I used for basis of creating separate .package archives (for me it was 5 total - body, clothing, objects, patterns, world.)
3. opened up s3pe, selected File>New.
4. From the "resource" menu of s3pe and chose "import as .dbc" and chose one of the categories of .package files. If you don't have an "Import as .dbc" option, then you have the wrong version of s3pe.
5. Hit CTRL+A to select all the .package files in the import dialogue box.
6. After the import was complete, I deleted all the type "0x73E93EEB" _xml files with a instance of "0x0000000000000000" , as these manifest files appear to be leftovers from the sims3pack versions of the file and don't seem to be required by the game, but will be a main source of conflicts.
7. After making any changes, i chose "Save" and saved the file as a .package. At this stage there doesn't seem to be any benefit to .dbc over a large .package, as the files seem to be one in the same. However, If you are using .dbc, you need to make sure your resource.cfg is configured to read .dbc files.
8. I run every new merged package through delphy's Sims 3 Dashboard tool to make sure the new package is readable and fix any possible mod issues at the same time.
Additional notes
Before merging new untested mods into your package files, I would suggest first trying every new mod in-game via a probation folder within your mods folder. It's worthwhile testing every mod you install using process monitor and available modding tools.If you are wanting to extract .sims3pack into .package (official or otherwise), then you will need this Delphy's sims3pack multi-extractor :oYou can also safely delete ICON file types as well as THUM file types from the merged package in s3pe. ICON are only used by the official launcher and THUM will be re-generated by the game. Deleting of THUM files is handy in cases where you don't like the custom Thumbnails provided by the mod author.
If you are extracting official store items from .sims3pack, run the extracted .package through s3rc.exe before attempting to merge with s3pe, or you will get errors.
aikea_guinea was kind enough to make up this visual guide with some handy screen-shots for those of you that find the text version difficult to follow.
Thanks to Inge and Peter Jones for the much appreciated updates to s3pe which now makes merging mods into a single file much easier..
Baarogue:
Quote from: Anach on 2010 January 01, 11:38:14
Another question, is whether or not the files need to be named .dbc, or can simply remain as a large .package. Does the game handle .dbc archives differently than .package in therms of memory management/caching? Also, I'm interested in hearing from someone willing to try extracting store sims3packs and merging them via s3pe into one archive.
In the spirit of Learning By Doing, I'm willing to try this out. Unless you have a quick and handy tutorial somewhere, I now go to read that thread to figure out what I need to do. ^_^ Any other criteria for this experiment?
J. M. Pescado:
There is no "benefit" to a dbc over a package, as they are identical in format and the game is unable to distinguish them. You could make them into .crap files and they would still work.
Anach:
Quote from: J. M. Pescado on 2010 January 01, 13:27:59
There is no "benefit" to a dbc over a package, as they are identical in format and the game is unable to distinguish them. You could make them into .crap files and they would still work.
Good to know. That means it's purely down to the sheer number of files which is causing the issue. My only worry was that possibly the game had some extra specific way of handling those files with a .dbc extension, as that is not the case, .crap files it will be from now on.
So with the above quickie guide, feel free to use .package in place of .dbc.
Ozrae:
Just wanted to mention that I followed Anach's tutorial for creating .dbc archives and have also had extremely positive results.
My game, before doing what was suggested was slow and sluggish with horrendous load times. CAS/Build/Buy modes were almost unplayable. My game now loads quickly with no in-game lag and no negative side effects. All my cc is showing and working as it should.
I am a complete novice when it comes to using s3pe but by following the guide posted by Anach I found the process to be relatively painless. I now have a total of 9 categorized .dbc files which I merged 1,4009 .package files into . The only .package files I left untouched were hacks and careers and any default replacements as I noticed they didn't work when I merged them.
Thankyou to Anach for sharing his experiment as I now have my game back and am enjoying playing for the first time since I patched...actually I think it's even running better than it was pre-patch! :-)
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