FAQ - READ BEFORE POSTING, or don't complain when people insult you, n00b
Venusy:
The More Awesome Than You FAQ: version 3 beta
This FAQ is recommended reading for all newbies who don't want to be ignored or poked with sharp sticks. If you're too dumb or in too much of a hurry to read the FAQ, you might still avoid being the butt of our jokes by refraining from emo whining, keeping use of emoticons to a minimum, and showing a mature understanding of basic spelling and grammar. MATY is a site where you must be able to convincingly act 18 or older, so try not to be a whiny retard. When in doubt, lurk!
Table of Contents
1. Table of Contents2. Current Forum Policies3. Technical Help Generating an error log, torrenting and installing pirated games, etc.4. SecuROM and you5. Modders/Hackers The Who's Who of MATY6. Forum Descriptions This tells you where to post.7. Acronyms and Initialisms8. Sayings MATY lingo: now you can speak like a MATYzen in your very first post!9. Ranks Explains titles, like "Loitering Lurker"10. Links
Looking for something in particular? Try using the Ctrl-F (or ⌘-F if you're on a Mac) feature of your browser to find what you're looking for. If you have a question and it isn't answered here (really?), go back to the index and use the search box there. The search box only looks inside the subforum where you are currently browsing!
Venusy:
MATY rules and policies
Because not enough people RTFnewsbox:
Posting that you have the latest EP without posting the ISO/BIN/CUE when the existence of the EP has not been verified by a reliable site is a bannable offence.THANKS THIS IS GREAT posts in hack threads (and any other threads I feel like doing this in) will be moved to a Retardo thread for being useless wastes of space that get in the way of the main discussion. If you wish to give THANKS, please use the THANKS button. Do not post BAAAAAA! BAAAAAAA! posts either, as these are arguably worse.Posting sexually explicit (non-Sims) images is a good way to get your account banned or deleted, unless it is funny. It is alright in certain circumstances (for example, revenge against a download beggar) to post shock images such as Goatse. Zippocat will not get you banned, but will cause members to be pissed off at you for the remainder of your posting career. If you are offended by an image posted by another user, toughen up or find a site where the moderator cares.
And, most importantly of all:
READ THE FUCKING STICKIES BEFORE YOU POST. (Stickies are the threads at the top of each forum page with a small shadow under the leftmost icon.) If it says in a stickied compatibility thread that a hack is compatible with (expansion pack), don't post "hay guys duz this wrk with (expansion pack)?" in said hack thread. Also, reading the first post helps (to use a similar example, if the first post says "Compatible with all EPs", don't post the example I used above). Download links are normally given at the top or the bottom of the first post, so don't ask where they are either.If your first post is going to be "where can i find this hack?" in a dead thread, consider Googling before posting. It saves me having to split your post off from the rest of the thread and move it to RL.
Current Senate Policies
Users who flounce (vote to have themselves removed from the Senate) will be punished.
How NOT to post (thanks to Syberspunk):
The short version of this: Don't write like a wanker! MATYzens have no sympathy for new people who insist that we should have no problem with stupid usernames, massive signatures, colored text, signing your name in every post, etc. If someone complains about the way you post, flaming back will probably get your posts sent to Retardo Land for pointing and laughing. If that isn't specific enough for you, read on:
You might think it's okay in moderation... But NO, especially with LARGE FONTS or ADDITIONALLY EMBOLDENED! This is OFFENSIVE to the EYES and the BRAINZ!!!111oneone and is generally considered obnoxious. Color should only be used when appropriate, and never for your entire post -- show how special you are with the content of your post, not the color.
(NOTE: If you ever do this, then a moderator will probably remove all excess tags from your post. However, you will probably be mocked mercilessly for doing such a stupid thing in the first place.)
How not to post part 2: Emoticonning and Signature Images
:) :D ;) ;D :o :P Wow!!!!11! This is stupid!!elevnty1!!! >:( :( :-X ::)
If there are more than two emoticons in your post, your post is either too long or you are retarded. Fix it, without double posting. If you use off-site emoticons, keep them reasonably sized, please. Further, while cat macros and related images are encouraged where appropriate, images in signatures are often not appreciated. Signature images, if used, should not be taller than your avatar.
how not to post part 3 (thnks kyna have a bene):
i dont know what a capital letter is and im proud of my ignorance ... i dont wanna use periods commas or question marks if i can avoid it ... i aint gonna use no damn paragraph thingys cos theyre too hard for my puny brain to understand
(PROTIP: Posting like this is a really good way to get canned.)
how not to post part 4: NO SHILLING!
Do not link to Amazon, gush about items available in stores, or use the forums for advertising of any kind, even if you do not expect to profit from it! You may, however, freely link to torrents.
how not to post part 5: NO Double Posting!
Your posts should not follow one after the other. Give other people a chance to respond! If no one is responding to you, too bad. If you want to quote multiple people, you can use the "insert quote" function while writing your post to quote as many times as you like in the same post. You can also edit any of your posts at any time to add new information or remove false information.
how not to post part 6: Necromancy is bad, m'kay?
Do not revive a dead thread (no posts in over a month) except under special circumstances, such as discovering a flaw in a hack, or if posting a new thread about a certain subject would get you banned. If the post is especially useless (such as a "THANK YOU THIS IS GREAT" style post) it may even be deleted by a moderator (though this doesn't happen often). Necromancy is best kept to hack threads, not social threads.
How NOT to quote
It is impossible for the full text of this post to be reposted here due to restrictions on the number of characters that can be in one post. Please click here to view.
Venusy:
Technical Help
IMPORTANT: Required Reading For New Users
For a good guide to posting on MATY without getting canned and information about the general MATY attitude to various topics, see this post.
Did you update your hacks?
Before you whine about a gameplay problem, please ensure that all of your hacks are up to date and that you have removed all outdated hacks! Further, if you have problems related to your use of non-Awesome hacks (i.e. hacks from other sites), go to those sites for technical help.
How To: Get An Error Log
Activate testing cheats (boolprop testingcheatsenabled true), then When the error pops-up, hit cancel and then reset. In the log folder of your My Documents/EA GAMES/The Sims 2 folder (or equivalent) there will be an error log. If you are unsure of which one it is, arrange icons by 'date modified.' Pick the last error log and attach it to your post (additional options).
Guidelines for error log submission
Do:
Attach the error log to your post using the upload section under Additional Options... (below your post)Force an error if asked to
Don't:
Copy and paste the top part of the error log into your postPost a picture of the error message boxCrop the error log down to the first couple of lines. If a specific object ID is causing the errors by being called from a different object, then the first couple of lines won't help anyone (example: Garden Club Error).Compress your error log into a zip/rar/7z/(insert preferred archive format here) archive (note: this is acceptable if you are submitting more than 4 error logs, due to restrictions on the number of files you can attach to one post)Force an error if no one asked you toDelete the error log from your post. Someone will normally do this for you after they've had a look at the error log and determined the cause of the problem.
How To: Play A "Legally Backed Up" copy of The Sims 2 (and EPs)
NOTE: THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO BON VOYAGE OR FREETIME
Step 1: Get yourself an ISO, or BIN and CUE files of the EP you wish to play.
Step 2: Download DAEMON Tools. Do a scan for spyware after installing.
Step 3: Mount the ISO/CUE file in DAEMON Tools.
Step 3a: If you haven't already, you will be prompted to install the game. This may require mounting multiple ISO/CUE files, depending on what you've "backed up".
Step 4: Game won't run? Download the SecuROM loader (I use version 1.2), and extract it to the directory of your choice.
Step 5: Now modify your "Sims 2 (EP/SP name)" shortcut to the following: "(path to asr.exe) -r "(path to SIMS2(EP/SP whatever).exe"". Hit "Change Icon" and locate the "SIMS2(EP/SP whatever).exe" file to restore the icon back to its former glory.
FOR EXAMPLE: My TS2 install is located at "J:\Games\The Sims 2\The Sims 2\TSBin\SIMS2.EXE", and asr.exe is located at "J:\Games\asr.exe". So the shortcut I use is ""J:\Games\asr.exe" -r "J:\Games\The Sims 2\The Sims 2\TSBin\SIMS2.exe"". Normal command line options can be added after the SIMS2(EP/SP number).exe, such as "-w -r800x600" for a game in windowed mode, with a screen resolution of 800x600.Step 6: Run the game!
BON VOYAGE AND FREETIME INSTRUCTIONS: If you need to install BV, follow the above instructions to step 3a. Otherwise, read on: download the appropriate No-CD EXE from GameCopyWorld: Bon Voyage or FreeTime. If you have the BV patch, download the one for v1.10.0.122, otherwise download the one for v1.0. Go to your Bon Voyage directory, go to TSBin, rename SIMS2EP6.EXE to SIMS2EP6ORIGINAL.EXE or something. Put the No-CD EXE into the TSBin folder. Remember to replace it with the original if you need to patch! If you have FT, follow the BV instructions for the FT exe.
Using hacks in TS2 (thanks to: Dizzy)
1) Double-check that the hacks are in the correct folder (i.e. "My Documents\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\Downloads" or your regional equivalent).
2) Verify that they are <something>.package files, rather than <something>.zip or <something>.rar or whatever.
3) (Only necessary for EPs after Nightlife) When TS2 starts up, make sure that the custom content dialog that appears before the initial menu says that custom content is "enabled." If it is disabled, enable it and then quit/restart TS2. If the dialog doesn't come up, go to a neighborhood and enable the custom content dialog option.
Why my userstartup.cheat no work?
Most common problem: you've saved it as userstartup.cheat.txt. Two ways to fix; way one: in Windows Explorer, go to Tools > Folder Options > View and uncheck the box next to "Hide extensions for known file types". Then rename userstartup.cheat.txt to userstartup.cheat, way two: open userstartup.cheat.txt in Notepad, go to File > Save As... and make sure you save it as userstartup.cheat with "All files" selected from the "Save As Type" box. If this doesn't fix it, check that all cheats are valid, as the game will fail to read all cheats placed after an incorrectly entered cheat.
How to: conduct a binary search - Thanks Dizzy
Quote from: dizzy on 2007 June 23, 05:58:50
A binary search simply involves moving half of your hacks. Here's a simplified specification:
1) Observe problem condition and make a note of it.
2) Quit the game.
3) Move half your hacks in the "My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2" folder to some other folder. This other folder should always be a new folder.
4) Restart the game.
5) If you observe the problem condition again, go to step 2.
6) If you do *not* observe the problem condition, quit the game and swap the location of the most current set of hack halves you moved. Then go to step 4 (or 3 if you feel confident in your file management skills).
7) Once you only one hack left in the game, make note of that hack and see FAQ about reporting bugs etc.
Venusy:
How to remove SecuROM
What is it? - SecuROM is a "anti-piracy" measure, developed by Sony. Like pretty much every anti-piracy measure developed by Sony, it installs itself like a rootkit, and can fuck up your system pretty good.
Which Sims 2 based games have it? - H&M Stuff, The Sims Pet Stories, The Sims 2 Deluxe Edition, Bon Voyage, Teen Style Stuff, FreeTime, and IKEA Home Stuff. Until BV's release, it had mostly gone unnoticed, as most people used the Seasons executable for H&M Stuff, and no one bought Pet Stories.
When is it installed? - The first time you run the game from the legit executable.
I do not currently have SecuROM on my system. How do I prevent it from getting on there? - Use a No-CD crack. Seriously, it's that simple. Make sure that you replace the No-CD with the correct executable before patching.
I am not sure if I have SecuROM on my system or not. How do I check? - Run Sysinternals RootkitRevealer. Look for anything with SecuROM in it.
OH GOD I HAVE IT HOW DO I REMOVE IT - FANKOO Zazazu for compiling pretty much everything into this useful post:
Quote from: Zazazu on 2007 October 08, 02:14:51
Ok, kids. The instructions are in bits and pieces in the EA official admission/excuse thread, but it's getting long and understandably hard to find. These instructions have worked for several posters, myself included:
1. Follow the guidelines below ripped from http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/98241-13-remove-securom-malware-uninstalling-bioshock-demo:
Quote
* Step 2: Remove the Securom registry entries.
The Securom registry entries are deliberately made non-removable by default. In order to remove them download the RegDelNull registry editing utility from Microsoft and install it on your C partition.
Run the following two commands from a Windows command prompt: "C:\regdelnull HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SecuROM -s" and "C:\regdelnull HKEY_USERS\<Computer specific key>\Software\SecuROM -s" where "<Computer specific key>" can be determined by searching the registry for the "Securom" directory key. This "<Computer specific key>" typically has a form like "S-1-5-21-2052111302-1757341266-724545543-500". Once these two RegDelNull commands have been successfully issued the registry should be checked to confirm that these two keys have been deleted. If they are still present they will now be removeable due to the action of the RegDelNull utility.
* Step 3: Removal of the Securom service and related utilities.
Open a Windows command prompt and change directory to "c:\windows\system32". Type "uaservice7 /remove". This will stop the Securom user access service, and clean up its relevant registry entries. On the Windows command prompt type "regsvr32 /u cmdlineext.dll". Reboot and then manually delete the files "uaservice7.exe" and "cmdlineext.dll" from "c:\windows\system32". Note: Both of these files are Securom installed files which can be verified by checking their file properties (Right click - Properties).
* Step 4: Removal of Securom files under "C:\Documents and Settings".
Securom installs a hidden directory with 6 files under "C:\Documents and Settings\<Your Administrator name>\Application Data\Securom". The first 4 ordinary text files can simply be manually deleted once Windows explorer has been configured to show hidden files and folders. The two remaining malformed nominally unremoveable files require a special method to delete: Invoke a Windows command prompt with full Administrator privileges by typing the following into a Windows command prompt: "at <your current time + 1 minute> /interactive %systemroot%\system32\cmd.exe" e.g. "at 9:02pm /interactive %systemroot%\system32\cmd.exe". This will open a new Administrator command line when the time set has been attained. In this new command prompt change directory into the Securom folder e.g. "cd C:\Documents and Settings\<Your Administrator name>\Application Data\Securom". Issue the following command to show the two remaining hidden malformed files: "dir /A". To delete the two remaining hidden malformed files issue the following command: "del /F /AH *". Confirm "yes" for each of the two file deletions of the malformed files. Finally, the directory "C:\Documents and Settings\<Your Administrator name>\Application Data\Securom" can be deleted as per normal practice from within Windows explorer.
2. Double check your registry files. Still see any keys under HKEY_CURRENT_USER---Software---Securom? Just delete the suckers. Won't blow up.
3. If that damned SecuRom folder still can't be deleted, even after correctly following the instructions above, download DelinvFile from http://www.purgeie.com/delinv/dldelinv.htm . Run the executable and find the C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR NAME HERE\Application Data\Securom folder and open the sub-folder. (Sorry, mine's gone, but I believe it was named "User Data"). On the right, choose each malformed file and delete. Go back into My Computer and delete that SecuRom folder for once and all.
4. To not get it again, you need to start loading from a no-CD crack. I recommend the Fairlight version from http://www.gamecopyworld.com/. Go to "C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Bon Voyage\TSBin" and change the name of the current Sims2EP6.exe to Sims2EP6.bak. Then place the crack in the same folder. Make a shortcut to this on your desktop, and run the game from this new shortcut.
I have it , but I've never installed any of the games listed above, and my computer doesn't seem to have exploded... - Other games can also infect your PC with SecuROM. However, not all of these versions of SecuROM are as dangerous as the one contained in the packs listed above (version 7.20 and higher is where problems usually start occurring).
How to convince EAxis that this was a fucking stupid idea?
1. Vote with your wallets: don't buy any more Sims or Sims 2 branded software. Instead, learn how to pirate, and acquire the games that way.
2. Submit bug reports/formal complaints about it (yes, this will require you to get it on your system): formal bug reports for SecuROM related issues are more effective than anecdotal evidence, at least according to one of the Maxoids. Don't expect much if you try it this way, as it isn't in EA's best interests to acknowledge the problem.
Venusy:
Modders/Hackers
J. M. Pescado - Site Owner, Sims 2 modder, El Presidente, and Fat Obstreperous Jerk
FFS Hacks & Support
Pescado Hack Index
Trogdor the Burninator, JM's avatar.
Doctor Boris - A member of Flying Fish Systems, Doctor Boris rarely posts, although he is always credited in the FFS Manuals.
TwoJeffs - Sims 2 modder
Hacks are no longer here, see thread for more information, or go directly to his latest site (may change without warning: not our problem).
Lord Darcy - Sims 2 modder
Darcyland
Syberspunk - Sims 2 modder
Mundelow
CrammyBoy - Sims 2 modder
Propane & Propane Accessories
Director's Cut - a single zip file containing all the hacks JM uses in his game. Guaranteed not to turn your game into a BFBVFS when used correctly.
FFS Director's Cut for Apartment Life
FFS Director's Cut for FreeTime
FFS Director's Cut for Bon Voyage
FFS Director's Cut for Seasons
FFS Director's Cut for OMGPETZ!!11oneone
FFS Director's Cut for OFB
FFS Director's Cut for NL
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