Cleaning up Characters?

[jsalemi]

Yea, and so do I -- big whoop. Probably longer than he has. When it comes to programming (or life) there's no such thing as 'right in a different way.'  There's right, and there's wrong, and there's reasonable discussions so that people can come to a mutual conclusion as to what is right.  Someone who's 'right' but is unwilling to defend why they think they're right has no clue what right and wrong really is.

And with that, I'm done here -- I have real people with real problems to help in other threads.

[mitchellcjs]

I didn't expect someone to provide an example to what I was saying as to why people avoid this place. I state the problem, get some help, provide what is wrong with that in relation to my own game, and a fight starts because the answer didn't work. Your thing about who is right and wrong is exactly why he won't come here. You only believe one thing and find it impossible that someone else could be right in a different way.

You know what, forget it. Apparently I'm not going to get help here. I'm just wrong, according to you, and that is all that matters. Just forget it. I should have known better than to come here. I should have known I wouldn't actually get a solution, just have it pointed out WHY i'm wrong.

Your blind defense of your "friend" who apparently didn't mess up your computer, according to you, but DID do things you don't understand to your neighborhoods, files, and characters, is what has people up in arms.  They need to know exactly what you've done/had done to your files before they can assist you.  You should never allow someone to do things you don't understand to your computer.  EVER.  RTFM is helpful, friends who explain are helpful, blindly having faith that a friend is absolutely right, even if he can't/won't explain is not.  If your friend had posted the info here, lots of MATYers would have run off to try it, finding whether it works.  It would then be discussed, rehashed, modified, and applauded as needed.  Your friend is full of shit if he says he has the one true way.  Your files are screwed because not even YOU know what has been going on with them.  You don't know what your friend did to them.  You don't know what you've done to them.  No, you won't get help here, because to help, we need information, which you can't provide.

[Ness]

You do realise that if things went wrong at the merge neighbourhoods point, it would really only become apparent as you played?  The problems that too many characters, unlinked characters, and all those other bad things cause don't show up straight away.  They slowly become more and more obvious as your game appears more and more borked with time.  The BFBVFS is not an immediate thing - the lead up to it is slow, but the end result is pretty spectacular, as you appear to be discovering.

End result: You're screwed.  Start over.

[jolrei]

But he isn't putting himself out there as you do and gets very annoyed when everyone who plays the game comes to him for help while he is working on his own jobs that PAY him.

Doubtless, which is why you are here.  There are explanations on this site which tell you why moving sims between hoods is a bad thing.  You say there are no garbage files, but this is only as far as you have seen.  We understand that there are other garbage files which are not so easily seen.  I am not an expert on this, but I do read, learn, and take good advice.  As a result, my several hoods are still going, I do not have problems, have not seen an error message in about 3 weeks (and I play daily) and you, on the other hand have a hood going foom fast.

He didn't fuck up the game, I DID! If you would listen, you'd have gotten that several posts back! He won't share it because it requires a lot of work to make sure every single bit of information is correct. Most people don't want to do all that work and just ask him to do it.

We certainly understand his perspective.  As you can see, we do not tolerate this ourselves.

He doesn't have time to teach people. He took the time to check every single detail of every single character and fix it.

We, on the other hand, do not have the time to do all this hand holding.  We provide advice, mostly in the form of discussion threads where we have discussed problems.  New people are invited to lurk and read before posting, because a search often shows up a discussion where your problem is discussed.  There are several threads with hundreds of posts on why moving families and lots between hoods is bad.  

I'm trying to explain it, but you ARE NOT LISTENING and won't even answer my damn question about WHY the large number of characters is a problem!

Watch me listen - as per paragraph above, there are lots of discussions on here about "too many sims".  Mostly now it's a matter of what your computer can comfortably load (more takes longer - that's logic).  There is not a known critical number since NL.  People have hoods with over 3000 character files and they live.

He won't come here for one reason: He doesn't like people who only believe in the form of knowledge the possess and won't listen to it when people present a conflicting view. Dare to present a conflicting view, and I get "Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out."

Bullshit.  We listen to conflicting views.  The modders here do not listen to unsupported quasi-knowledge from outside that counters their own research and results.  The mods here work.  The solutions MATY modders and users have come up with work.  No other solution will be considered unless tested first, and it is unnecessary to use your friend's solution for a clean hood anyway, as it sounds needlessly complicated, and on the evidence, does not really result in a safe hood anyway.  

It's not that we don't like conflicting views - the place is full of them.  We don't like views that contradict good sense.  We are not here because we are loyal sheep.  We are here because stuff here works.  Your friend's stuff - jury is still out on that, and they may be having a really long lunch.  Your loyalty to his method appears ill conceived, and any method that requires a lot of his personal involvement and time is not one that sounds feasible for most players.  

It does not work well and yet you defend it.  Hence, you are a sheep.  Go away now.

[Kigan]

I made mistakes: I deleted from sim bin, I moved sims in houses, I did all those sorts of things before I knew their negative affects. Now I'm asking what to do to save my neighborhood from those mistakes. Let's forget about my friend, what he didn't or didn't do, and deal with the situation. I'm tired of defending him to you, you calling bullshit when I say you won't listen, but then you tell me he is wrong. Period. ENOUGH! I am done talking about that unrelated subject here. Let's deal with the problem: I did a lot that I messed up! Now I'm asking if I'm wasting time trying to salvage the neighborhood from MY mistakes. That is the focus here, so stop talking about him, because I'm done talking about him. That isn't the subject here.

[mitchellcjs]

There is nothing you can do to save your hood at this point, that I know of.  "Abort, delete, retry" is the only solution I am aware of.  Once things go borked in a neighborhood, they stay that way.  You cannot save them through any method known to me, and I've looked.  If I am wrong, I welcome the pointy sticks of the other MATYers, as long as the poke is followed by WHY I'm wrong.

[jolrei]

I made mistakes: I deleted from sim bin, I moved sims in houses, I did all those sorts of things before I knew their negative affects. Now I'm asking what to do to save my neighborhood from those mistakes...I'm asking if I'm wasting time trying to salvage the neighborhood from MY mistakes.

As was suggested above, based on what you describe, your hood is a big toasty ball of fire.  Don't waste anymore of your time on it, and certainly no more of ours.

[Ness]

Pescado did give a suggestion way back in the first reply...  deleted 2.  But, the consensus seems to be your hood = toast.  Start over.  Do we need to say this another 50 times?

[Kigan]

Alright. Then tell me, where is this neighborhood someone mentioned uploaded online that has all the neighborhoods connected supposedly safely? That would at least give me a head start on the rebuild, though I can't use simPE to extract the sims to CAS until it is updated.

[jsalemi]

And this is what we're talking about when we tell new users to do some searches here first. <sigh>  But since you asked somewhat nicely, I suggest you go to the Peasantry forum here -- there are a couple of threads there about combining hoods, using clean hood templates, etc.

[Kigan]

I did search, but I didn't find it uploaded anywhere as someone said. I may have overlooked it, but I only saw the tutorials. I thought someone mentioned that someone had done it and uploaded it....perhaps I misread.

[Xuriel]

Search is your friend:

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,4274.0.html

[jolrei]

I did search, but I didn't find it uploaded anywhere as someone said. I may have overlooked it, but I only saw the tutorials. I thought someone mentioned that someone had done it and uploaded it....perhaps I misread.

Somewhere in peasantry.  I would start search under "merged neighbourhoods" or "combined neighbourhoods".  Patience is a virtue.  "Clean templates" was also suggested.

@jsalemi:  you came back did you?  Morbid fascination was it?

[Kigan]

Thanks for that. I'm not sure how I missed it.

I see now, however, that Riverblossom isn't included. I suppose I'll take a (probably much needed) break from Sims until simPE is updated and I can try my best to follow the tutorial.

I'm sorry for all the trouble that was caused here.

[jsalemi]

@jsalemi:  you came back did you?  Morbid fascination was it?

Took a break to resharpen my pointy stick, and things took a somewhat turn for the better by the time I got back.

[J. M. Pescado]

The "everyone on one lot" merge is a relatively clean method of moving neighborhoods, but it can go horribly pear-shaped if you miss anyone, and is best not attempted on a neighborhood that is actually played. It does nothing to explain why you have *3000* character files, however, which means some irresponsible practice you've performed has caused it.

[cwykes]

glad you said that Pes, cos the "everyone on one lot" merge sounded pretty safe to me.  That's what I did to move the Green family to another hood.

Only you can decide whether you are going to spend a huge amount of time cleaning up files in the hood you are playing now or start over.  You are talking days, cos I've been there done that and I hadn't done too much damaget o mine.  I have to tell you I did more damage cleaning up than there was in the first place the first time I did it.  Second try went better.   Deleted 2 - the electric boogaloo is the way to go.  Good luck if you do it.  Why not burn your current hood to CD/DVD and start over?  See how you feel about it after playing that for a couple of days.... Most people have a lot of fun when they start over.

Keep an eye on that thread - maybe Riverblossom Hills will get added sometime.

[J. M. Pescado]

glad you said that Pes, cos the "everyone on one lot" merge sounded pretty safe to me.  That's what I did to move the Green family to another hood.

The everyone on one lot merge works, but you have to make ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that this is an isolated branch. Also, the process is believed to irreversibly destroy the source neighborhood, so once you blast off, there's no going back short of reloading a backup. If done incorrectly, your target neighborhood is also trashed. It is a rather risky process, all told. Done RIGHT, it works. The problem is, it's very easy to do it wrong.

[Kigan]

Is there a tutorial of some kind online about how to do that merge the correct way? I'm just going to throw that out there because, right now, I don't have time to search for it. I can search later, but I figure it doesn't hurt to ask. I'm guessing the way has some form of transporting gravestones and ghosts(still dead) as well? I figure that if it didn't, there would still be loose ends left hanging.

I just ask because if there is a tutorial, it at least lets me work to prepare the new neighborhood for when I can extract my favorite sims in SimPE and start new.

[Invisigoth]

Is there a tutorial of some kind online about how to do that merge the correct way? I'm just going to throw that out there because, right now, I don't have time to search for it. I can search later, but I figure it doesn't hurt to ask. I'm guessing the way has some form of transporting gravestones and ghosts(still dead) as well? I figure that if it didn't, there would still be loose ends left hanging.

I just ask because if there is a tutorial, it at least lets me work to prepare the new neighborhood for when I can extract my favorite sims in SimPE and start new.

Did you click on the link that Xuriel posted? The first words in that thread are

There is now a tutorial that anyone can follow to create a merged neighborhood.
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=4480.0

And seriously, stop asking for stuff before you look for it yourself. You've got to understand that we get tons of posters asking the same shit over and over again because they didn't bother to search. It's rude and we get sick of it very quickly. What you are asking us to do is to put aside whatever we are doing to help you when you are too lazy to help yourself. Beyond that, telling us that you haven't even bothered to search yet is unacceptable. You don't have the time? Next time you ask for help I don't think I'll have the time to post a reply.

[Kigan]

Did you even read my post?

I was referring to a tutorial on the method of moving everyone to the same lot. I am well aware of the other method, and just as well aware that SimPE is virtually dead until the new release is out, making that tutorial useless for BV owners. I have searched, but only had time to do a quick scan. Not to look into it, and I didn't see one using the different method, just the one. So before you bite my head off, get your facts right and make sure you are talking about the same thing.

And I said I was just going to throw that out there in case someone felt generous. "Right now, I don't have time to search for it." Not "I don't have time to search for it." The way I said it was meant to get it across that I didn't have time to search at the time I posted it, but that I wanted to ask anyway. Just a side thought for if someone wasn't busy. And if no one posted before I got the time to look myself, I would do the searching. Honestly, is it that hard to figure out what I meant?

Now, I'm going to go search before I head off to bed to see if I can find anything. If you are going to bite my head off about this, make sure we are on the same page. Saves time.

[jolrei]

Honestly, this guy would make a Jehovah's Witness tired.

[Insanity Prelude]

Guys, would you all quit flaming each other and get back on topic?

What sorts of things does resurrecting Bella do, exactly? Because, uh. I did that too back before I heard anything about it being a VBT. No problems so far, although I've only even played her house like once (I forgot about it because it was in Bluewater- is deleting subhoods okay? Because I don't play in Bluewater Village anyway. I've poured more time into the Sims series than I feel I should have as it is, although probably nothing compared to you guys, and I don't want to f*** it up now.)

[Invisigoth]

Did you even read my post?

I was referring to a tutorial on the method of moving everyone to the same lot. I am well aware of the other method, and just as well aware that SimPE is virtually dead until the new release is out, making that tutorial useless for BV owners. I have searched, but only had time to do a quick scan. Not to look into it, and I didn't see one using the different method, just the one. So before you bite my head off, get your facts right and make sure you are talking about the same thing.

And I said I was just going to throw that out there in case someone felt generous. "Right now, I don't have time to search for it." Not "I don't have time to search for it." The way I said it was meant to get it across that I didn't have time to search at the time I posted it, but that I wanted to ask anyway. Just a side thought for if someone wasn't busy. And if no one posted before I got the time to look myself, I would do the searching. Honestly, is it that hard to figure out what I meant?

Now, I'm going to go search before I head off to bed to see if I can find anything. If you are going to bite my head off about this, make sure we are on the same page. Saves time.

Why would you need a tutorial to tell you how to get all of the sims that you want into the same lot? There's an ingame feature that allows you to merge families from the hood screen. If you want to add townies to a family you can use Inge's teleporter shrub or another teleporter object of your choice. If you want to merge families beyond the 8 sim limit you just need to use this cheat:

uintProp maxTotalSims 50
uintProp maxTotalHumans 35
uintProp maxTotalPets 15

First number needs to be larger than or equal to the second two. You can change the numbers to fit your needs. I would imagine that you would have to do this in the hood screen. I have that in my userstartup.cheat. That makes things a lot easier. But it would be pretty crazy to try to merge all of the sims in a hood onto one lot. If you could be more specific about what you were trying to accomplish then maybe we could help you a bit better. And yes, you ARE that difficult to understand. I am not the only person who has expressed this opinion.

And you do a lot of bitching for someone who's gotten quite a bit of help while providing hardly any useful information. My previous post was hardly mean by MATY standards. Here's the deal. MATY is mean. Get used to it or leave. If you pick the second option please be sure to tell all of your friends that MATY is a horrible place that should be avoided at all costs.

And just to set the record straight, yes you can get simPE for Bon Voyage. It's incredibly easy to join the QA team over at the simpe website. All that you have to do is ask them and wait a day or two for your membership to get approved. There's a thread where you can "apply". It is a beta version but I have it and I haven't experienced any problems. Of course you should still backup your hoods and downloads before screwing around, but that's always good advice.

[Kigan]

When referring to how difficult I am to understand, I was referring to that one point.

And I'll admit, I can be hotheaded. Especially lately, I can't seem to control it, which I apologize for. But as far as helpful, it was mostly telling me I was wrong and not asking me specific questions, and getting angry when I said it didn't work, was wrong, etc. But that is aside, in the past, letting it go. At least I am trying to. No point in dealing with it now, as it didn't accomplish anything except to piss several people off.

Anyway, it was mentioned that it is easy to mess that up. As should be clear by my 3000 character files, messing things up apparently comes easy to me.

I'd never considered joining the beta for the same reason...I seem to have an easy habit of messing things up when it comes to Sims2. Mostly through the fact of finding out after the fact that something is bad. Especially with SecuROM in BV now. Had I been patient, I wouldn't have made the mistake of installing it and putting my PC at risk. But I guess that is how you learn. Now I just hope it doesn't do anything until I can read through the posts on what to do with it. I have a post here bookmarked to read through later.