New EP procedure - would love recommendations.

[flowerchile]

That's a NASTY RUMOUR!!!    There is NO proof!

[Halouja]

I always pre-order each expansion pack as soon as it is possible to do so, but then I don't install it until most of the glitches and bugs have been found by other, more impatient, simmers and an official patch has been issued.  I also wait for a while before installing official patches, just in case there's a problem - something which stood me in good stead as far as Seasons is concerned; no problem installing H&M for me!

So, my advice: wait, wait, and wait again, until any bugs have been discovered and patched, and most mods/hacks have been updated.

 

[witch]

Nah, just go for broke and fix it on the fly. 

[flowerchile]

Ditto.  I'm way too impatient to wait.  Besides..I'd get bored if I didn't spend all my time fixing my game 

[Emma]

I think that is the whole point of this game really, we spend all our time downloading fixes, hacks to change gameplay to how we want it, custom content to make our sims and lots look prettyful and when we have added all this stuff we end up breaking things and trying to fix them! If we got a perfect game with everything we wanted and needed and no problems, I think we all would have got bored and stopped playing long ago

[snabul]

I have several game folders, one is clean, without downloads and custom stuff, one is my running neighboorhoods and the others are testing grounds... there i put the notalwaysawesome downloads in and watch what they do to the game (wintermuteai1s, simsonastick or what all their names are).

btw isnt that kind to kind to answer to that kind of question?

cant help me

[rohina]

btw isnt that kind to kind to answer to that kind of question?

cant help me

Perhaps if you wrote your posts in some dialect of English, people would be able to respond to your query.

[skandelouslala]

Eh besides a lot of the mods here which are mostly what I play with...Insim...Inteen and other drastically altering game mods or those that are known to break... I throw everything else CC related back in and finds out what works.

I used to be really meticulous about it all and then I realized it was pretty much a waste of time.  If you back up anything you truly care about, there's not much you can do to truly FUBAR something.

[flowerchile]

Hehe..unless you FUBAR the back-up

[MsMaria]

Which flower would never do.

When a new EP comes out, I buy it and play it immediately after removing my old downloads folder. Once the mods are updated, I add those and the real fun begins. . New CC! 

As for stuff packs, I have a stack of unopened ones. I don't trust stuff packs.

[flowerchile]

Moi?  *flowerchile chuckles*

No, I would never do something that silly 

[MsMaria]

The Kraonz Kween? Never. 
So, is it snowing in Kraonzland yet? Is Pes still the dancing Kween? I have been lax in keeping up the past few days. 
I promise to remedy that tonight.

[flowerchile]

The Yellow Kraonz got snow!!!  NVA made a snow angel and it was purty    No, Pes hasn't danced for a while..but, he loves it so much, I'm sure it won't be too long before we see those infamous moooooves again 

[MsMaria]

Hopefully, he won't expose his nipples and hairy butt anytime soon.

Ok, afaik, he hasn't exposed himself, but it was an amusing remark, no? 

[flowerchile]

Oooh, god no..  I have to watch this, remember!?   

Yes, it was quite amusing  ..but it'll never happen 

[kuronue]

.. I just realized... removing ACR's going to fuck up my game, isn't it? Should I not install until everything that doles out tokens is updated?

[Tigerlilley]

The good/bad thing about living at the end of the world is the later release dates.  This is my New EP Procedure:

1) Hear about new EP.  Proceed to dreaded BBS, Sims2.ea.com, Modthesims, Snoopysims to find out everything possible and excite myself over screenshots.
2) Stop playing game because its not complete with out the new expansion.
3) Continue following up every single site for little tidbits of news
4) Pre Order
5) Watch as the Americans and others get their Expansion first
6) Become outraged and dismayed about glitches, bugs and general disapointment. Bitch about this, even though I do not yet have the game.
7) Watch fixes slowly leak out, with many "this hack is not compatible!!" threads.
8 ) Get my game, set and ready.
9) Continue bitching, because hey, I am proud to be a Matyian.

[Aggie]

That sounds rather ideal, Tigerlilley, for those (such as I) that simply can't wait to install a new EP after they've gotten it. In being forced to wait before you can receive it, you're likely saving yourself a ton of headache in trying to fix everything. You also get the added bonus of observing the problems other people have and how they're inevitably fixed.

That's the reason I waited two months before I bought Uni; were you around when it was first released? As I recall, there were a lot of fixes/modding that needed to be done to get the hacks to even allow the game to run.

[Tigerlilley]

I was, I got it the day it came out here. And for some reason that was only about 1 day after the Americans.  Luckily i had no glitches whatsoever.  Well I might of, but i didnt try things like marry the cheerleader.

Maxis NPCs have always been ugly.

[KatEnigma]

.. I just realized... removing ACR's going to fuck up my game, isn't it? Should I not install until everything that doles out tokens is updated?

That depends. Are you planning on just removing ACR from your downloads folder? Then yes, it can screw you up. But if you use the adjuster to uninstall it from the neighborhood(s) and then take it out, it should be fine.

[J. M. Pescado]

.. I just realized... removing ACR's going to fuck up my game, isn't it? Should I not install until everything that doles out tokens is updated?

You should not load a new expansion for the first time with your actual neighborhood(s) even in the game directory. Wait until you have fixed the settings that get mangled by installing an expansion pack before you put it back, as loading the game with CC removed or disabled results in the permanent loss of all inventory tokens.

[witch]

The good/bad thing about living at the end of the world is the later release dates.  This is my New EP Procedure:

1) Hear about new EP.  Proceed to dreaded BBS, Sims2.ea.com, Modthesims, Snoopysims to find out everything possible and excite myself over screenshots.
2) Stop playing game because its not complete with out the new expansion. Continue playing hardout to try to get my sims to have enough money to afford to go on bloody vacation.
3) Continue following up every single site for little tidbits of news Sit at MATY and wait for everyone else to bring the news to me.
4) Pre Order
5) Watch as the Americans and others get their Expansion first
5b) Torrent the EP and load it in a vanilla game
5c) Order my game through the local shop - supporting local business
6) Become outraged and dismayed about glitches, bugs and general disapointment. Bitch about this, even though I do not yet have the game.
7) Watch fixes slowly leak out, with many "this hack is not compatible!!" threads.
8 ) Get my game, set and ready.
9) Continue bitching, because hey, I am proud to be a Matyian.
9b) 3 months later purchase the EP when it finally arrives in my local shop because all the big chains get the orders first and the little shop has to wait until orders for Outer Mongolia are completely delivered.

My version of Tigerlilley's procedure. 

[jolrei]

As for stuff packs, I have a stack of unopened ones. I don't trust stuff packs.

Which maybe begs the question, why buy them at all then?

[eevilcat]

We buy them because we like what's in them, but my copy of H&M is still sitting on the futon in its shrinkwrap. I haven't got round to installing it yet as the desire for the content is still outweighed by the ongoing horror stories of it breaking things. I'm enjoying playing the game without it at the moment and really can't be bothered with the whole backup/install/uninstall/restore cycle of pain that may ensue. Needless to say, I'm quite happy to buy a new EP as it's released but wait until hacks and SimPE are updated before installing it.

[notveryawesome]

The Yellow Kraonz got snow!!!  NVA made a snow angel and it was purty    No, Pes hasn't danced for a while..but, he loves it so much, I'm sure it won't be too long before we see those infamous moooooves again 

Yellow snow? Ewww.

And just so I'm on topic: I'm one of those waiting people, as of Pets. I had so many problems and irritations after installing Pets on the release date that I will no longer install new EPs until all of my favourite hacks have been updated and there are working patches/fixes available. I still haven't installed Seasons, mostly because I FINALLY got my Pets game just the way I want it and would like to enjoy the relative calm before installing a new pack. A vanilla game drives me crazy, though I do play vanilla for at least a day or so after installing an EP, just to see what all the new features are. That's about as long as I can stand it before I go running for my CC.

I store my backups completely away from my TS2 game files, so I don't accidentally delete something I don't want to lose. These include separate folders containing all of the original core game files, as well as the modified game files (such as empty neighbourhood templates), and of course my downloads, neighbourhoods, etc. When installing an EP or SP, I first double-check that I've made an up-to-the minute backup, and then move my downloads, etc to the desktop, for easy replacement once the installation is complete.