Hacked Objects Not Available for Seconday Windows Accounts?

[Hegelian]

Okay—it's my turn to ask a question. I recently set up a second account in WinXP in order to have a game free of all custom content and hacks, for building uploadable lots. The first one I made was the default Guest account, which has very limted rights. On one lot I was working on, I moved in two CAS sims (I don't remember why) before I had packaged the lot. I didn't want to move them out and have to redecorate the whole thing, so I installed Inge's stay things shrub into the Downloads folder (and also the stuck object remover), but they don't appear in the catalog. A few distributable custom walls I also installed do appear.

I then created another account with Administrator privileges, but again, the objects do not appear although the recolors do.

So the question is, is this normal behavior for secondary user accounts in Windows? If not, does anyone out there have an idea about what is happening here (I hope it isn't something painfully obvious)? If it matters, the PC is on a home LAN, but not part of a domain (so I can't create a Power User account).

[simmiecal]

I'm not sure what the problem could be, but I have five different XP logins - all with full administrator privledges - and I don't have this problem. I keep certain downloads (medieval themed, urban themed, etc) under the different accounts as a way to try and keep the downloads manageable.

I did create the user accounts first and then started Sims under the new user login and it created new folders. Are you sure you capitalized the Downloads folder name? I know that for many people, if the word is not capitalized, it won't see the folder.

Edited to add: I think you have to enable custom content under each user login ID as well.

[Hegelian]

I did create the user accounts first and then started Sims under the new user login and it created new folders. Are you sure you capitalized the Downloads folder name? I know that for many people, if the word is not capitalized, it won't see the folder.
Edited to add: I think you have to enable custom content under each user login ID as well.

Yes, I did all those things. I thought maybe it had something to do with the Guest account, since limited accounts can, apparently, access only files they create (or download, presumably); and I copied the custom neighborhood to the account with admin privileges after starting the game with that account and letting it create the default neighborhoods. I did try going into one of the Maxis neighborhoods to see if I could get the objects in one of those lots, but they still were not available.
   

[simmiecal]

Try creating a brand new user account, adding a downloads folder with a couple of downloaded items. Go into the game and see if the custom content shows up in one of the default neighborhoods. If it does, then I think it's like what you seem to suspect - the hood that was created under the guest account is having problems for some reason even tho you've moved it under another user ID.

[ElviraGoth]

I have a question related to this.

I also started a second account, full admin privileges, for another set of sims hoods so I could start Pleasantview from scratch without losing my old one.

Is there any way to put the downloads I want to use in both accounts in the Shared Documents folder?  I tried to set one up, but the stuff I had in there didn't show up in the games for either account.  Anything I want to share has to be put in the Downloads folders for each account.  So if I do a recolor in my main account, I have to copy it to the folder in the second account.  Same with mods/hacks I add, has to be one in each account's folder.

I have a big hard drive, so it's not a problem of space - yet.  But it does seem like a waste of space if I have to have multiple copies of the same files for each account.

[jsalemi]

Sorry, that's the way windows works -- you have to have duplicates in each account's My Documents.  Silly for home edition users, but it's based on how the Windows XP Pro works, where each user's My Documents is actually private, and no other users of the machine can access it. XP Home doesn't provide that same level of security, but keep the same basic operating structure for consistency.

[ZephyrZodiac]

I use the method Inge outlined wome time ago, where you simply rename your Sims2 file to something else, eg Sims2 Play, then reload your game.  A complete set of game files will be created which you can use as a vanilla game for building, or to start a separate theme (eg historical).  If you want to include custom content for your houses, you would need to close the game, create your downloads folder and move across whatever you want to use to build your houses and decorate them - and if you have stuff which the creator has placed restrictions on, then you can leave such things out.

[ElviraGoth]

Natch.  Put a Shared Documents section in that you can't really share.  Makes sense.  (NOT!)

In looking at the Sims2 folder's contents, wouldn't the only things that actually change (basically, from one account to the other) be the Neighborhoods folder and the Storytelling folder?  And the Logs folder, too, I guess.  But everything else, like movies, music, lots, would basically be the same in both accounts, right?\

I'm thinking that maybe I could rename just those folders (Neighborhoods and Storytelling) if everything else would be shared between the two accounts.  Then keep both folders, like Neighborhoods1 and Neighborhoods2, in the Sims2 folder, but rename the one I want to use back to Neighborhoods.

Would that work?  Or could it cause problems?

[ZephyrZodiac]

I'm not too sure about that.  I never tried it that way, but it's worth a try - only thing is, that way you'd have to close your game to switch hoods.

[Hegelian]

I'm thinking that maybe I could rename just those folders (Neighborhoods and Storytelling) if everything else would be shared between the two accounts.  Then keep both folders, like Neighborhoods1 and Neighborhoods2, in the Sims2 folder, but rename the one I want to use back to Neighborhoods.

In my experience, the game will find any neighborhood files that are in the EA Games folder, regardless of subfolder. I once stashed a backup Neighborhoods folder in EA Games and ended up with lots from both that Neighborhoods folder and the "real" one in play at the same time. To be safe, you should probably move (not copy) the Neighborhoods folder you want to deactivate to the desktop, although it may be that if I had renamed that backup Neighborhoods folder, the game would not have found those neighborhoods. 

I use the method Inge outlined wome time ago, where you simply rename your Sims2 file to something else, eg Sims2 Play, then reload your game.

I understand the procedure of renaming folders, but it seems cumbersome and open to error. Using a second user account for a clean game is much more elegant, and probably more efficient in the long run.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Well, yes, if you're a poor speller or poor typist, then maybe it's open to error.  Renaming a folder is one of the easiest things to do, and one of the easiest things to get wrong!  And if a second user account pulls the downloads folder from your original game folders, how can you theme your downloads without switching them over in some way.  Inge's method avoids this.

[Hegelian]

And if a second user account pulls the downloads folder from your original game folders, how can you theme your downloads without switching them over in some way.

??

The My Documents folders for any other accounts on the PC are not available to secondary accounts. Only Administrator accounts can even access other users' My Documents folders in Windows Explorer, and only the primary Administrator account can access its own My Documents folder. This is in WinXP Pro; my understanding is that security in XP Home is quite a bit more lax, but I've not used it myself.

The game only sees the My Documents folder of the user currently logged on.

In fact, although every user account has a My Documents folder (and thank goodness that Vista drops the "My"!), only one My Documents folder is active at a time. The various My Documents folders other than her own appear to the logged-on user as "XXXX Documents," where "XXXX" is the name of the account: Guest's Documents, Hegel's Documents, etc.; viz. C:\Documents and Settings\Guest\My Documents appears to other users as "C:\Documents and Settings\Guest\Guest's Documents."

My spelling and typing are quite alright, thanks.

[ZephyrZodiac]

I never meant to imply that your spelling and typing were not OK!

Since I live alone and don't share my PC with anyone, I've never needed a 2nd User Account, so know very little about them, only what I've gathered from what others have said!  I prefer to organise my files this way as I have plenty of hard disk space, and this way I can see at a glance what I have on it.  Having more accounts means I would end up with a lot more duplicated files!  And I wouldn't Have all my game files together in one place.

[Hegelian]

Having more accounts means I would end up with a lot more duplicated files!  And I wouldn't Have all my game files together in one place.

This is true (for the most part). You woud have duplicate My Documents>EA Games>The Sims 2 folders and files, but all user accounts use the same game installation as long as you make it available to each user by either adding the appropriate shortcuts to the user's Desktop and/or Start Menu, or having them in the "All Users" Desktop and/or Start Menu. Many applications install their Start Menu entries to All Users by default, including, I believe, TS2. Of course, if the purpose is to have a hack- and custom-content-free installation, there really aren't all that may duplicate files, especially if you delete the Maxis neighborhoods and use only a custom one.

I've made a correction to my post above (but not for spelling).   

[ZephyrZodiac]

Hey, now, it was you who said renaming files was open to error, not me!  (And if you mistakenly rename your Sims2 folder to Armageddon, it just won't load, and you'll get another set of folders, but it won't blow up your game!)  I actually meant to imply that if one is a competent speller and typist, one is unlikely to make such errors (at least not frequently!)

But I can't see the point in having to set up separate accounts for me, from which I would have to log out and log in, which all takes up time and effort when I can do it this way. I have a shortcut to My Documents (which is to all intents and purpose the whole of my second hard drive) and it takes seconds to get to the folder I want.

I think this is a case of you say eether and i say Eyether!

[ElviraGoth]

Well, it doesn't take that long to switch user accounts on my computer, so that's not a real big problem.  I just did it to avoid getting confused about which hoods were which, since I'm playing two Pleasantviews and two Strangetowns.  And I just didn't feel like renaming the files in the second set of hoods (I know, if you use the rename function in DOS it doesn't take that long) or having 9 hoods in one game.  I have 6 hoods in my main account's game.  One I don't play anymore, so I'll probably eventually move it out of there, and one that's the hood I use for making houses to use in the other hoods.

I'm the only one that uses my computer, too, so having a second user account is new to me, as well.  When I initially did this, I thought I could put some of the folders that I was going to be using in both games in the Shared Documents folder, but I guess I can't.  Since there's an EA Games/Sims2 folder in the Shared Docs folder, I thought I could just move those folders that would otherwise be dup'ed in there so they'd be accessible by both accounts.

Makes too much sense to be able to set it up that way, I guess.

[ZephyrZodiac]

I just use Oscar's Renamer if I want to have more than one Pleasantview in the same folder.  If I need to remind myself which version I want to play, I can always look at the pics and see which famiies are in each hood.