More Awesome Than You!

While looking through the XML from Ambitions I noticed Opportunities_EP2, Inventing, and SculptingData had the field <ProductRegistrationRequired>EP2</ProductRegistrationRequired> set on a couple of the items (2 investigator case chains, 2 inventions, and 2 sculptures).  The sculptures and inventions are the ones from The Ultimate Career Bundle Registration Reward, which also mentions exclusive investigator cases.  Looking in EP2RegIncentive.Sims3Pack provided by sunhair I couldn't find anything about the investigator cases.  I don't think simply installing the set would mark the product as registered, so I made a mod for those items to not require product registration.  When using this mod you need The Ultimate Career Bundle installed, since it contains the actual data for the sculptures and inventions.
http://www.4shared.com/file/jnwGL1Dt/ProdReg.html

ETA:  I updated the file to remove the tag <SKU_Registered>EP2</SKU_Registered> in JobsAndTasks found by Crysill.  That should unlock some interior design jobs.  The mod now modifies Opportunities_EP2, Inventing, ScultingData, and JabsAndTasks.

ETA2:  I removed the tags <SKU>Store</SKU> and <EPVersion>Store</EPVersion> found by Crysill.  Now the sculptures and inventions should work no matter how you installed The Ultimate Career Bundle.

ETA3:  Crysill found out changing the tags from Store to EP2 did not work for the sculptures and inventions.  He also figured out BaseGame worked fine, so I've updated the mod to reflect his findings.  Newest version of the mod was uploaded June 5th 7:00 PM UTC.

ETA4:  Updated for 1.17/2.12/3.8/4.5/5.2/6.0

Thanks Rothchild for your mod :)


Anyway I have a request for you.
PLEASE could you update your No-Mosaic mod for Ambitions ?
Thanks

I was wondering why some things were missing from my game after I installed the registration pack. Installed this and it worked.

The HELS no-mosaic mod from MTS still works in Ambitions.

From what I've read ghost-hunting ghosts disappear. I would assume various firefighting effects bork too, but I never bothered to test.

You're right.  I was playing a ghost hunter sim and I couldn't see the ghosts, but he free-will targeted them on his own.  I didn't even think about the no-mosaic mod; the same thing happened with the fish tanks in HELS before it was modified.  *slaps self*

Twallan has a mod called Decensor that is reportedly working with EP2.

Jackasses, this is not about a fucking no mosaic mod!  I explained how simple that mod was back when I did it for WA at MTS.

This thread is about the <ProductRegistrationRequired> tag in the XML.  I'm only interested in removing that tag (this mod), or information on how the game knows what's registered.

So, you can confirm those items weren't available without the mod?

ETA: grillcheesesammich is correct.  Twallan has a script mod that will remove the censor.  You'll get the censor for about a quarter of a second and then it's gone.

Another interesting set of entries is in JobsAndTasks (0xBAAB3D95EEA15F2E). There are three Interior Designer jobs (aptly named RegistrationIncentive(0, 1, and 2)) that include the property:
Besides those in use, it appears that there are a few other files with default "Undefined" registration-related properties that currently have no entries overriding them. Somehow I doubt that they don't intend to expand on this 'feature' in the future.

EDIT: Seems like it would be simple to bypass this in any core mod; everything that parses these values checks Sims3.SimIFace.GameUtils.IsProductRegistered(ProductVersion). Just need it to always return true.

EDIT2: I'm not in a position to be able to test it right away, but just threw together a mod which hopefully does what I just said. Most core mods do not modify SimIFace (the version of Awesomemod that I currently have does not), so it should be compatible with them. It is probably not necessary at all, since XML editing appears to unrestrict the content just fine. Still, it would be good news to me if this works without the XML tweaks; one can never be sure what else EA might decide to lock out from most of their user base.

June 9th EDIT: We've discovered everything we need to know about registration, and Rothchild's XML mod addresses all of it. The core solution no longer provides practical or experimental value. Attachment Removed.

There, there, no need to get upset and kermitflail.  Pop a valium or 20 and settle down.

My installer won't install the Ultimate Career Bundle.  So I'll have to play around with that until I get it to work.

In the meantime I have a question about what it includes.  Which inventions does it add and what do they do?

If the inventions are worthless I probably won't bother, otherwise I have some work to do to somehow get this to work.

Thanks

Hmm, I was running with this yesterday and no problems but I just tried yanking it out and the hairs and hospital gown are still showing as available. I assume the inventions would too but I have not gotten that far yet.

I hadn't actually checked to see if the ultimate career bundle items were showing prior to installing this, but when I yanked it out I cleared my cache files so it shouldn't be any sort of residual effect from having had this in.

For what it's worth, I did decrapify the ultimate career bundle prior to installing it but I don't think that should have any bearing on whether these items show or not.

Wouldn't be the first time EA bungled something up.

Oh and for those having issues getting the sims3pack file to load someone uploaded a package version of the ultimate career bundle (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,15100.msg536612.html#msg536612).

Out of curiosity, does the ultimate career bundle only work if you have EP2 installed? Or will it work with just the base game?

I dunno, I think this person fits right in.

Awesome find!  I updated the mod to remove those.

The hair and gown show up fine without the mod, but based on the XML you wouldn't be able to get the inventions and sculptures via inventing and sculpting unless the expansion is registered, same with the couple investigator cases and interior design jobs.

Been able to get around to testing:

I've tested by sculpting and inventing non stop with static moods. Neither with this nor the core mod was I able to sculpt an Octopus or Gryphon, and I wasn't able to invent a Robot Widget (different from Toy Robot, Claw something-or-other) or Fish Tank Widget (Presumably Air Bender). Due to the random nature of sculpting and inventing, I can't deny that I've just been very unlucky.

All the ones which had ProductRegistrationRequired=EP2 also had another suspicious entry, however: for the sculptures and for the inventions. Unsure if having the decrapified Sims3Pack would count for the version, I removed those values and tested again, eventually sculpting a Gryphon.

Only been testing for about an hour so the random factor is very high, but removing those properties didn't seem to hurt anything, and I can confirm that those objects can be invented/sculpted with only the XML edits. I cannot, however, confirm that EA ever correctly restricted this content in the first place, once again due to the random nature of it all.

EDIT: After some modifying to ensure that only Octopuses and Gryphons could be sculpted, attempting to sculpt without the above change resulted in "FailureObject"; big red cubes. Removing the "Store" version requirement caused Octopuses and Gryphons to be sculpted, as expected. This may be a quirk with my particular installation. I have yet to witness the invention the Robot (Claw) or Fish Tank (Air) widgets in any combination of tweaks.

For my testing, I managed to craft a robot widget with the mod. When I had it removed, it did not exist anymore. Due to the random chance, I cannot confirm or deny the chance it'll exist.

Perhaps people wouldn't be confused about what this mod does if the first post actually had fucking information in it.

WHAT is Claeric waving his dick around? It must be a day ending in "y."

Or the first post never once actually says what it does or why you need it, which is a pretty logical source of confusion.

To sum it up;

A package came out that adds a few extra inventions and sculptures (along with hairdos) to your Ambitions game. It's one of those packs that's free once you register your EP.

Obviously for us, getting the package without registering the game is easy-fuckin'-peasy.

HOWEVER, there is code stopping the inventions and sculptures from actually being made by your sims, unless Ambitions is registered in your online account. This mod simply overrides that and allows the added stuff to work.

How can I know that the mod is working for me? Like, what should I look for?

The content it unlocks showing up, maybe?

I know that... but what content?

The easiest one to spot is the hairstyle.  It's available for both genders, and shows up in CAS.  It's the short hair with random wisps and curls flipping up all over it.  Just look at its thumbnail on the Sims 3 Store site.

Seriously?  What part of that sentence are you having difficulty understanding?  No information?  I explained what tags where modified in which files and why I thought it was necessary.

Reiteration; In order to invent the Claw Dipper/Air Bender and sculpt The Guardian Griffon/Octavian from The Ultimate Career Bundle it appears you need to have EP2 registered.  Registration also unlocks 2 investigator cases (SpookyStory and TattooedThief) and 3 interior design jobs.  The mod makes it so that registration is not required.  It has nothing to do with the hair nor the gown from The Ultimate Career Bundle.

Hur hur hur.

(http://i47.tinypic.com/2zi0kdx.gif)

O, I get it now. Now I know what events are added with this bundle. Thanks Roth.
On a related note, I'm guessing that EA will release more of these bundles that have this type of anti-piracy installed. This time it was used to prevent people like us from accessing these extra jobs, but in the future it may be for regular store items as well. Nice move EA, nice move.

O, and you're awesome Roth.

After maybe 70 sculptures I finally got a red flashing cube with a missing name which I assume is one of the sculptures this mod is supposed to unlock. I have the pack installed (through the launcher) and the hair styles are working fine, so maybe as Crysill says something more is needed to get them to work. I don't care enough about the sculptures or widgets to look at or change the xml though.

Thank you, I completely missed the edit Crysill made to that post.  Out of curiosity how did you have The Ultimate Career Bundle installed (Sims3Pack via the launcher, or .package in the mods folder) when you got the red cube?

ETA: I updated the mod and the first post.  Since one person was able to successfully create one of the inventions and a couple people mentioned red cubes when sculpting, I believe that is based on how you installed The Ultimate Career Bundle (they both had the store tag).  If you installed via the launcher they were considered store items, if you installed as a package they weren't.  Now the sculptures and inventions are set as EP2 so they should function either way.

Sorry about that, I tend to over-edit when following up on my own posts.

Anyway, after further testing, this is behaving very counter-intuitively. I can sculpt and invent all the normally EP2 version objects, but I cannot sculpt or invent the objects provided by the Ultimate Career Bundle unless they are set to BaseGame version. I am running a fully updated game with all expansion and stuff packs. The store content was installed via decrapified Sims3Packs and the Launcher. My tests were as follows:

I set up a mod that made it so all other objects that could be invented/sculpted had a minimum skill level of 10 required. In a situation where nothing can be sculpted, a FailureObject (red cube) is created. In a situation where nothing can be invented, the Sim will simply "Dabble" or "Invent" for several sim-hours with no result.

With only the ProductRegistrationRequired properties removed (defaults to "Undefined" in the parent structure):
All sculpting until level 10 results in FailureObjects.
All inventing until level 10 yields no result.

With the ProductRegistrationRequired and the SKU/EPVersion properties removed (defaults to "BaseGame" in the sculpting parent structure, and "EP2" in the inventing parent structure):
All scultping until level 10 yields The Guardian Griffon or Octavian.
All inventing until level 10 yields no result.

With the ProductRegistrationRequired removed and the SKU/EPVersion properties set to "BaseGame":
All sculpting until level 10 yields The Guardian Griffon or Octavian.
All inventing until level 10 yields Claw Dipper or Air Bender.

To put it simply, the only way to get the objects to work correctly in my setup is to set their version to "BaseGame" and remove the registration properties. Even "EP2" does not work. Despite this, all other objects can be sculpted and invented just fine regardless of the version they are set to. These results lead me to suspect that there may something wrong with my installation, so I would be very interested in seeing the results of those with different setups than mine. The following mods are all set so that only these specific objects can be crafted before maxing out the skill. The only differences among them are what the SKU/EPVersion properties are set to.

I'll test the ones you uploaded to try and confirm your results.  It's really odd since IAmTheRad said he was able to invent them with the older mod.

ETA:  Tested InventSculpt_EP2.package and it didn't work.  Tested InventSculpt_BaseGame.package and it worked right away.  I uploaded a new version of the mod.

I installed the Sims3Pack through the launcher after decrapifying it, same as Crysill. I'm installing the updated mod now, I'll see if that works.

That's how I installed it also, and the inventions and sculptures wouldn't work.  They should work fine in the newest version (from after you posted).  I'm curious how IAmTheRad installed The Ultimate Career Bundle since the old version worked for him.

I've only tried inventing because of the randomness of sculpting, but aside from a minor aesthetics issue everything seems to be fine. Installed via decrapified sims3pack, and the invention isn't visible when the sim finishes it, but after he/she takes the invention I'm able to see it and place it and whatever else I feel like doing.

Edit: Finally got both sculptures to show up. The first time for each the sculpture appeared before the material block, but didn't for any specific sculpts. Didn't try the random sculpt after that, because it's an ignorable graphic issue and may not even be related to your mod.

The new mod works perfectly on my setup. Successfully created all four restricted objects. Confirming those is much simpler than the rest, so I haven't tested the new jobs, opportunities etc. at all. However,
they don't have anything suspicious about them besides the registration properties, so I think it's safe to say that everything currently unlocked by registering Ambitions can instead be unlocked with this mod.

Perhaps a silly question, but how does the game know if it is registered or not?  Is there another file that gets downloaded or a change to an existing file which would let the game know if the user has registered his EP or not?

I imagine you have to log in on the launcher and/or from within the sims store. It is a nasty, and utterly pointless, piece of shit that EA decided to throw in to make sure we were paying attention.

So if you don't do this with each game session or you choose to have the "store" unchecked and unavailable, then you would not have access to the downloaded content, at least for that game session?

It just seems that tricking the game into thinking you're registered with a single mod, hack, or copied file would be a better tactic than individually cleaning each download or releasing a supplemental patch for each future download package.

From a quick glance at the code, TS3 always assumes that the base game, WA, and HELS are registered. However, when it checks for Ambitions registration, it performs some sort of check using values from the two sculptures and two inventions provided by the Ultimate Career Bundle. I'm not sure if registering and downloading it from the EA store generates a personalized version for your game/CD-Key, or if it's just something that gets removed or altered in the usual methods we install Arr'd Store content (would love to hear the results of people who used a method other than decrapified Sims3Pack with and without Rothchild's mod). Either way, for legitimately registered games, the act of installing the Ultimate Career Bundle that EA provides you results in the confirmation of your registration in-game.

Due to that roundabout way of checking if the expansion pack is registered, it is doubtful that they perform any modifications to tag the game files themselves.

Normally from an elegance standpoint I would agree. That's technically what the core mod I posted should be. However, the Inventing/Sculpting items were further broken (again: only confirmed with the decrapified Sims3Pack installation) such that even having Ambitions "registered" wasn't enough, so Rothchild's XML solution which also addresses that issue is superior in every way.

In this case, the parts that are edited by this mod were already in the game data as of the 1.12/2.7/3.3/4.0 patch; not added by the Ultimate Career Bundle. If EA continues to use this method, the only time they could add more restricted content is with the release of a new patch. While it does concern me that this seems like a test swipe at the rampant store content sharing, I don't foresee them releasing restricted items rapidly enough that the mod catching up would become an issue.

I did not invent nor sculpt things in the career bundle when I installed it.

It was a case and a design job that I thought were in the bundle. Truth is, they were in the base ambitions game. Just human error that time.

Just thought I'd throw it out there; you don't actually have to wait to sculpt the statues randomly. They're available in buydebug, along with the new inventions.

Baaa for the mod.

My guess would be that it checks if the item is legitimately installed, which would make it nicely self-contained.

For example, shifting around the .dbc files results in them dynamically losing their "tag" in the buy or CAS menus.  Perhaps the game simply checks in the file is where it should be (is tagged as a "Sims Store" item) and maybe also does a hash check on itself to determine if it has been tampered with (decrapified).  If anything about the file is changed, then it will no longer match a fixed internal value.  If the file is not changed, then it simply won't install in an unregistered game.  The fix in the future would require a bit of programming ability beyond me, basically getting Decrapify to seek and destroy the hash check.

This is all just theoretical guesswork though, without having to look at the files.  As far as I know though, there is no legitimate way for a package to tell the difference between a cracked game or a legitimate installed one, just too many variables.  If some supplemental file or change to a file in the game directory took place upon registration, I'm sure it would have been posted somewhere.

Unfortunately, at least in my setup, the sculptures and inventions always exist but just wouldn't be created without their versions in the XML changed to "BaseGame". For example, here's a failed sculpture from the InventSculpt_EP2 experiment next to the fully functional statues from buydebug:
(http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/8461/sculptfail.jpg)
Even in a test without touching the ProductRegistrationRequired values, the inventions and sculptures were still available in buydebug despite not being able to be created normally. Very odd.

That seems to be the right train of thought. The drop-in-a-file solution you desire would probably be a "correct" Ultimate Career Bundle installation. Whatever the difference is between that and our installation is the only thing separating the "registered" and "unregistered" expansion packs.

I have the .package version of the career bundle and my sculptor sim makes those red cube failure objects, but her husband who is a level 10 inventor won't make the last two inventions at all. I haven't tried the other careers yet.

Newest AwesomeMod cripples this "registration" crap. Remember, kids: REGISTRATION LEADS TO CONFISCATION. Live free or die!

So that yanks it out of the game install itself. Nice.

If they put any of those crap tags on an object inside the package will it cause an error or just get ignored?

AwesomeMod ignores all the registration checks and disables all registration, because as everyone knows, registration leads to confiscation. Vote against it in your next election!

Does this shiny new feature of AM impact this mod at all?

I think it means this mod isn't needed. At least that's how I'm interpreting it.

Not really.

Pretty much. All registration checks are now crippled, so there is no need for another potential source of later conflict.

Has anyone tested trying to invent the career bundle objects without this mod but with the newest Awesomemod that removes the need for registration? I'm curious if it actually does work or if people are getting the red cubes since someone in the Awesomemod test thread reported getting them recently.

@Pescado: What did you change exactly? It was found earlier in this thread (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,18654.msg537594.html#msg537594) that not only did the <ProductRegistrationRequired>, <SKU_Registered> and <SKU> tags need to be yanked out, but the <EPVersion> of the objects needed to be change to base game. For some unknown reason that was the only way it would work and the objects would be created correctly and show in game.

If your changes don't trick the game into thinking these career bundle inventions are base game objects, unless you otherwise fixed whatever weird EAxian entanglement that was causing such behavior, then I suspect this package may still be needed to get the inventions to show.

I just tested inventing with only AwesomeMod and a test mod that set all inventions to level 10, except the 2 from the bundle which were set to 0.  I was able to invent the 2 bundle inventions.  I did install the bundle through the launcher though, so I'm not sure if it would work if it was installed as a .package.  I'll attach the mentioned test mod and hopefully someone who installed the bundle as a .package will test it.

Will test this and get back to you thanks.

Yup can confirm your little item works for anyone who may have installed their bundle as a package, like I did, THANKS!

Okay nevermind, it only  made them available in Debug to buy, however they are not learning for me, this could be because my sims is already at level 10 inventing, but spending another load of time trying to learn these 2 was unsuccesful. I'm going to try and reinstall the package using the launcher, for some reason it never works for me.

Can you make a test mod for making 2 sculptures from the bundle as well? And also a test mod for 2 investigator cases included in the bundle. I want to try these with Awesomemod. Thank you.

Nevermind, I have managed to sculpt The Guardian Griffon & Octavian with Awesomemod. Now I want try to see the 2 investigator cases (SpookyStory and TattooedThief).

For anyone that uses this mod, I updated it for 1.17/2.12/3.8/4.5/5.2/6.0.

The download link for this mod is down, is their a alternate? I have this problem for the Ultimate Careers Bundle and I usualy use Twallan other then getting Awesome mod is their a fix?

Yes. Search and ye shall find.

I found something about your 'to-do' list Kissing Toast here (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,21345.0.html?). Is that what you wanted me to find? Or has the mod been updated and I'm blind and can't find it? I'm sorry I'm not familiar with MATY's forums.

Doh... I've had the KT_Storefix_UnAwesome.package installed the whole time, the latest. I guess I have some other problem. Damn

What's exactly your problem Dark_Walker? Walking in the Dark?  ???