More Awesome Than You!

I had a look around and whilst some of my questions got answered, I have more, and for some reason am not willing to take Database's word for it ;) Also added a couple of curiosities...

1. Can you rename a package file? Will the game care? Does it matter if it's a texture for a mesh/mesh for a texture? Will this cause a FBVFOS?

2. There's no way to tell which file is what mesh-file right? Because stupid people don't label them correctly? Packaging a sim does not include the mesh-file, right?

3. With Nightlife, you can put anything in subfolders, ANYTHING?!

4. All Kewians need stomping ;)

5. How do you organise your downloads?

6. Can you rename saved sims stupid long number names or are they stuck like that forevermore?

7. Deleting stuff just results in blue static?

8. Terrains = death.

Thanks ;)

1. I've been renaming package files left and right lately with no apparent bad effects! I have Uni and Nightlife.

2. I suppose you could open them up in SimPE and do a preview to see the shape of it, otherwise you're probably out of luck. Creators who have poor naming schemes suck!

3. As far as I can tell, yes, although I left CEP free in the downloads folder.

4. Do they?

5. Folders by creator, although sometimes these folders are in bigger folders labeled by item. This is usually for genetics - I have a hair folder that has sub folders labeled by creator, and if I was really on the ball they'd have subfolders labeled by hairstyle.

6. I think so! They seem to work like item packages.

7. Depends on what you delete. Sometimes it results in blue static - with hair it can result in a bald sim. With terrain paints it results in blue static you can delete, but forget ever being able to package that lot again.

8. Why yes, they do!

I'll try to answer as best as possible, but fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it :P) I haven't experienced these kind of problems, so for some of your questions, I couldn't tell you for certain.

1. Can you rename a package file? Will the game care? Does it matter if it's a texture for a mesh/mesh for a texture? Will this cause a FBVFOS?
Unfortunately, this probably depends. I recall reading somewhere that older packages made, even with SimPE, you CANNOT simply rename. This is unfortunate because, I don't know if there is a sure fire way to tell what is older. If it only compatible with the base game, then it is probably that old. If it's been updated for Nightlife, hopefully that means it is new enough or was completely rewritten or repackaged in such a way that you can rename them.

I believe that newer packages made with the later versions of SimPE are easily renameable. I have renamed both hacks, clothes, meshes, etc. with no problems, well as far as I know. Maybe someone else would have a more definitive answer (either Pescado, or probably Motoki would know :P).

2. There's no way to tell which file is what mesh-file right? Because stupid people don't label them correctly? Packaging a sim does not include the mesh-file, right?
Er... I don't know this one either since I don't really use meshes... and by "stupid people" do you mean the people who created the meshes in the first place? Or people who packaged the sim? I thought that packaging a sim "in game" would also pull in the mesh. Then again, I'm not even sure how new meshes would work anyways. I imagine they either show up in genetics as selectable skins or show up in clothing connected to specific outfits that use that mesh. I do know that, if you have clothing that is based on a new mesh, AND you don't have that new mesh in your game, the clothing will just show up like the original Maxis outfit that it was cloned from (and therefore, it won't look as advertised from where ever you downloaded it from).

However, since I have never packaged sims using outfits based on a completely new mesh, I can't say for sure. Also, I don't really have new meshes in my game much, so I don't have a lot of experience with this. Sorry  :-\ Again, hopefully someone else can give you a better answer.

3. With Nightlife, you can put anything in subfolders, ANYTHING?!
As far as I know, pretty much almost anything. I've also read that you can have subfolders of subfolders. But beware the caveat that, if you put hacks in subfolders, certain hacks that need to override others should be in the same folder, and that they should be named in such a way that the one you want to take precedence gets loaded last. As I understand it, all packages get loaded in alphabetical order (from A to Z). This is why you have seen that for some mods, it is suggested to rename them to z_modname, so that they get loaded last, and override any other mods that they would clash with. This is sort of a work around so these mods can be compatible.

4. All Kewians need stomping ;)
Buh?

5. How do you organise your downloads?
Currently, since I mostly only have hacks, I organize my hacks in subfolders. I also have a few miscellaneous items, mostly clothes, and I have some changes to the default eyes. My Downloads folder is as follows:

gamehacks - hacks that fix or modify game behaviour
macrohacks - usually Pescado hacks that are related to macrostatics: i.e. macrostatics, skillinator, bathroomusesyou, sleepclock, etc.
objecthacks - hacked objects like the FFS lot debugger, Jeffys college adjuster and modified cow head
testhacks - any hacks that i am currently testing
legacychallengehacks - hacks that i only use for my legacy game
clothing - duh
genetics - duh
skins - usually contains just the anatomically correct nude skins

I had a meshes folder, with some minor stuff, but I need to resort, redownload, and what not. I haven't added any meshes back into my game since I've installed NL.

I leave the CEP "loose" in my Downloads folder.

6. Can you rename saved sims stupid long number names or are they stuck like that forevermore?
Again, see above. I don't know if the same thing applies to the older packages. I think they were named in such a way that the internal data also relied on the external name. But, with newer sims, it shouldn't be a problem. I've made tons of new sims via BS, and I just went into my SavedSims folder and renamed those hexified packages into actual name.package files, and they work fine. Worse case scenario, you could always go through your 'hood with SimPE, Export all the added sims to new name.package files, and then go through your SavedSims folder and delete the older hexified named ones, or you could go into the game and delete them from inside. I don't know if that also deletes them from the SavedSims folder, but I imagine it does. *shrugs*

7. Deleting stuff just results in blue static?
Randomly deleting stuff will most likely lead to this. Especially when it comes to custom objects or recolours that depend on custom content. "Blue static" may also occur do to having custom content that hasn't been properly updated for an EP.

8. Terrains = death.
Again, I have no experience with them. I tend to stay away from custom terrains. I don't even really bother downloading custom walls and floors. I used to download lots, but now that we know how that can lead to a BFBVFS, I stay away from them. I mostly suffer using the Maxis pre-made lots and build my own, horribly, hideously looking boxes. :P

Well, sorry I wasn't much help. Good luck!

Ste

Just to butt in - if you have a wall file called 12ab03j5h8di1..... you can rename it to wall_PurpleStriped.package with no problems?

Thanks for the input Renatus :) much appreciated.


Hmm, okie doke. Will ask.


By stupid people I meant whoever is responsible for the pointlessly inadequet filename... whoever that may be. They are only stupid for that reason as far as I'm aware - I probably love the meshes, I'd just love to know what they are.

I was trying to sort my downloads a lazyish way (packaging sims with the stuff I wanted, doing a mass delete and adding it back in), and meshes don't get packaged... it's a right pain... :-/

Will bear the hack information in mind - thanks :) I don't think I have any that come under that umbrella at the moment though.


Deleting from bodyshop does it seems. Thanks for that info also :)

You were help ;) This is stuff I needed to know.

My opinions on the matters at hand:

1. Yes, because as far as I know recolors/textures call for the guid not a filename, so it doesn't matter what the file name is.

2. Correct, based on simply looking at the file name.

3. Correct, although I leave CEP loose in the main downloads folder

4. I don't know

5. I have the following folders and subfolders:
Game mods
Sim mods - hair, skins, eyes, makeup (and a bunch of folders for each type of makeup), clothing, simmeshes (mathman, crammy and the like)
Maxis recolors
New Meshes (then by creator and then by what it is, I also put the recolor regardless of who made it with these new meshes)
Walls
Floors
Terrains

6. I do, or else I would not know who it is.

7. Not always, but sometimes yes. Especially if you delete all the recolors and not the mesh and have the mesh on a lot somewhere, which is usually what happens to me which is why now I keep all the new meshes plus recolors together.

8. Depends, it depends on what you want to do with that lot after you use them. I do find them however rather inconvenient as you can not remove them once you place them, definitely an oversight by maxis I'd say. I use them on lots that I know arent going anywhere, and if I get sick of the joint I bulldoze it all together. I only have 5 custom terrains that I really like.

To summarize: I rename many files--older and newer no difference found yet--but I've learned it's good to leave the original file name in the name for later identification looking for duplicates :) So I 'prefix' file names. For instance Marvine and BBBs body builder files are (actually 'were'...) prefixed likethis: BBBwhateverthe_originalnamewas.package and it works great. Now tho, since NL, I have many many subfolders. I like to organize by type of thing, then creator too. So those muscle guy files are now: blah blah.../..../downloads/Clothing/Men's/BBB/

I have renamed savedsims without any problem too.

Terrains? I hated those from the get-go so they always get deleted before installing into my game folder. So have no idea if they are death or not: I'd go with Pescado's opinion since he knows the game better than the Maxiods, sad but seemingly/apparently and somewhat appallingly too true.

Ignore no.4... kewians do not need stompination.. We rule. :D

Thankyou Nectere, MutantBunny :) I've given up on the downloads folder for tonight as it is driving me nuts - but those are all good things to know, really appreciate the help :)

/me stomps kewian

*agrees with Trubble about the stompination*

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!  :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( She won't believe me!!!!

Actually, most people never do believe me, so this comes as no surprise

* shakes i off*  sorry doesnt work.

Ugh, Database, that wasn't a direct direct insult, it wasn't intended as an insult really. You said you didn't know for sure :P Stupid Database.

It was sarcasm.

*insert further sarcasm here*

silly girls.  Don't you know that kewians are immortal, hence impervious to stompination?  I suspect kewians are close relatives of the phoenix.  Rising from the ashes and all that.

Shame you missed my sarcasm Database.

Pffrt, kewian is not immortal, everyone has a weakness.

Kewian's weakness is Email.  It's overcoming her.  Ask her how many times she's attempted and failed so far...

 ;)

/me Double Stompinates Kewian.


ewww now I have Kewian goo on my boots.

I just went though a bunch of stuff with terrains.  I deleted all but 3 of them ( I had an insane amount of these vile things) and the lots still loaded but there were flashing blue areas.  I was able to get rid of this problem by using Ctrl+the terrain sprayer.

Not sure if this comes under 1. but...

Files that are creatively named by the game as dkklaitejdjiewjlalidk394384alkdjraild.package are simply objects/hacks/other that have hitchhiked in on lots and can be safely deleted without Firey Balls of Doom crashing into my computer?  Please say yes as I want to do a cleanout of my downloads folder which seems to contain a large number of these files.  Only if I'm right though

For the most part they can be safely deleted (some may be sims) but they are not necessarily hitchhikers—they may be objects or recolors you have downloaded and want to keep, in which case you could end up with flashing blue objects or sims with invisible parts. Not all CC creators take the time to give their files a real name before making them available for download.

Scanning your folders with the Scan Folders function (!) in SimPE is the easiest way to see what these are, as the scan will show both the object name and its file name. You can also do it using the scan feature in Clean Installer but you really need to know what you're looking for, because the actual file name is only shown when you hold the cursor over the object name (in a pop-up box).

Just hope there aren't any terrain paints!

If you find objects that are in your game already (ie you already downloaded them yourself) then it's safe to delete any that are duplicated.  That's the easy part.  Anything that comes with the house that you don't have, but want to keep, I'd suggest going to the original site and downloading it, then deleting the thing with the crazy file-name - which is a problem you get with the Sims2Pack Installer, and has nothing to do with what the creator may have called the file.

The trouble with renaming, is that you don't get that "file already exists" message when you download something for the second time by mistake.  You have to clear up the duplicates afterwards which is always more trouble.  I do this a fair bit of TSR because I have so much already, I can't remember all of it.

Thanks ZZ - didn't know that.


I've been doing the same, hadn't spotted the mesh problem though - Oops and thanks for the warning

What I've done is to make a new Downloads folder which I've moved a lot of historical stuff to, and I'll maybe do another themed one later, so I can switch depending on what neighbourhood I'm playing.  That way, each folder will stay a reasonable size for a bit longer!

You're welcome - I checked with one package before going all out and doing the lot. As it is I've found a lot of the meshed stuff (all hairstyles, some clothes) that I want to keep and redownloaded them, so now I can implement a more organised downloads folder, I just don't have time to do it yet :)

this is a pain in the neck and other parts of the anatomy.  I have two families for the simpotence hood and can't send a working version because lotpackager doesn't find all the stuff they are wearing! I tested it last night. There is no way in hell I can find a missiing mesh or whatever amongst my mass of downloads.  Aaaarrgghh.  ....gives up and goes back to maxis defaults.....

I don't have that many new meshes for clothes but from what I can tell, they mostly have MESH in the filename.

Some meshes with MESH in the filename, well the rest of their filename makes no sense. So it doesn't help that much  :-\

Do you keep copies of your downloads, with the meshes and original recolours together?  Then, if you can find the name of the original outfit in SimPE, you can search for it.  Also, a lot of people who make recolours have a note of the required mesh in the Readme file.  I wouldn't give up just yet.  I know, in my case, if I do, then the following day I'll just happen on what I needed and that is soooo sickening!

No. I didn't keep copies.  If you could have folders for the actual downloads,  I would have done it.   I thought about it for all of 5 seconds occasionally, but there were too many already and doubling the volume of storage by keeping them twice seemed like a bad idea.  At least NL lets you put them in subfolders.  When I get Open for Business, I'll have a massive re-organisation.

The readme files are often named Helane.txt or just readme.txt, so you have no idea what recolour or mesh the relate to. "you need the mesh to get the recolour to work and don't pirate it" is the sum total of most readme's I've seen.

It's easy enough to find meshes regardless of what they're called. Scan with Clean installer, anything with no category (blank instead of clothing, etc.) will be either a mesh or a packaged Sim.
I just moved all the blanks to a separate folder, then checked them one at a time (the name will often be a clue) I haven't tried renaming meshes, but everything else seems to be safe to rename.

When packaging a Sim (cloning) I always name it ___Sim'sName so they're all in one place in the folder and I know who they are. If it's a Sim someone else created, I include a picture of them with the identical name so I can remember what they look like. I don't have them in the game unless I know I will need them.

5. Only base game so far, but am a bit anal and have a lot of subfolders (52).
__tstH&M -first stop for hacks and mods, they stay until well tested
__tstNM -same, but for new meshes, I rename recolours and include them so I can delete them if I don't like the mesh
__dizzy / Inge / JM / Merola / twojeffs -and a couple other modders who each warrant their own subfolder
__MTS2 - one or two hit mod wonders, this is where I got them
__ZMiscH&M - all other modders not from MTS
Floors
Objects -all new objects, mesh+ rc, also a picture with same name, some designers have their own subfolder, ie. ReflexSims
Recolours -for Maxis items, further divided by buy section in game, ie - appliance, comfort etc.. not sure why, perhaps to make myself question why I had over 600 'Decorative' recolours when I rarely use any of them, makes it easier to keep an eye on the numbers.
Walls

I keep everything else in SavedSims, one subfolder (new meshes) but once I have Nightlife, I will separate further.

I include a jpg of everything I download (named exactly same as item) so I will always know what's in there. Just so much easier to delete through windows explorer if there's a lot to delete.

6. I wouldn't delete the long name stuff without checking it. I put them all into a separate folder, ran them through clean installer and renamed them descriptively, if it was something worth the trouble (and some of it was among my favourites) I just used the description Clean Installer showed (78153840d1fbae89601ac95ab319241b reveals itself in Clean Installer as Loose Clipped Ponytail so I find it in Explorer and rename it such) I renamed over 150 such files and as far as I can tell, no fiery ball.

7. I rarely get blue after deleting regardless of where I delete it from, based on my experience, I agree it's items created with an old version of PE

8. I don't have any worth testing, I'll just believe the masses.

I usually keep the rar files or create them for hacks/mods because I want to keep the manuals, I have a separate folder for that (sub for each modder) Anything else, if the txt file/manual is just a 'do not share' I just delete it, because hey, I won't.

Well, I'm not that organised, but I do keep copies of everything I download on my second drive (which is twice the size of the main one), and I therefore prefer to delete files with Explorer so they all go if i decide I don't want something in my game any more.  The only problem I've had recently with blue objects is three bedding set and a counter top that refuse to get out of the menus!  I think there may be others, but these are the ones that annoy me because I see them so often!  I've checked for empty files, and I haven't any, I ran all my bedding through SimPE, and it all appears to exist, and I'm fairly sure I know which files they were that I deleted (some early bedding files from ATS that didn't work after Uni) but for some reason they just refuse to move!  I delete them in game, and they're gone until I exit the house and go into another one!

As to thumbnails of everything, I keep pics of sets/objects where I can, and I've started doing the same with skins, although I keep all the pics in my Saved Downloads folder, not in the game.  But please, if you managed to get pics at Sunair, I'd love to know how!

I guess I could do that - meshes are the only body files you can put in subfolders before NL.  I did I've never been sure what the no category ones were  thanks....   It still more work than I'm up for to hunt down exactly what my sims were wearing when I made them 2 months ago just so I can send them to the Simpotence hood.  I'm going to wait for OFB, make folders and have a big sort out then.

Duplicating something because you've downloaded it twice is a pain - you have to spot it in cleaninstaller and then check it is a duplicate not a GUID conflict, so you can't just delete everything pink in your "NEW stuff" area .... well you can.....

Putting 2 and 2 together - if lot packager changes file names on you, that's another reason, readme files end up being useless...

Anything where you have to use the Maxis installer changes file names which is a total pain in the posterior!  It took me I don't know how long to track down all my walls and floors that that had happened to and put them into their own named folder so I'd know what they were.  I use the Multisims2Pack Extractor now to open wall and floor Sims2Pack files, and I do it in an already named folder, then delete the 2pack and the temp file.  Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work on skins, but this method means all my walls and floors either have the short file name wall_ etc., or one the creator has changed to include a description.  So if I have six walls and three floors in a set, they end up in a folder with a name for that set.   Then, if I find I never use them in my game, I can just take the folder out.

Thank you Trubble, I had the same questions. My DL folder is a great big mess and I'm seriously considering making another one, sticking it on the desktop, and re-downloading things I really want. Then I can just replace the massive, bloated folder I have. All the other stuff is in separate folders (furniture, build, etc) and my mods are in individual creator folders, so its just the clothes, hair, and their meshes that I have to mess with. I have hair and meshes that I don't even use and that look awful in game. I have no excuse for slacking off like that, exept that I'm severly time challenged right now.

Heh, no worries :) I've been through my walls and floors, but haven't had time to do anything else yet. Bring on the holidays I say!

When I organized my download folder (post NL) I used the Sims Clean Installer.  Within the program I sorted items by description (i.e objects, hacks, genetics, etc) clicked the first sorted item, held the shift key and clicked the last in that group.  Everything in between would autmoatically highlight, then I right clicked the group, selected "Move to" and then choose new and names the folder.  It was actually a lot quicker and not as painful than I thought it would be.  What I ended up with in the end were the no description items which I found out to be meshes and Sims.

List of my subfolders:

Clothing
Costume MakeUp
Eyebrows
Eyes
Floors
Glasses_Earrings
Hacks Hair Make-up
Object Recolors
Objects
Package Files
Terrains
Walls
Saved Sims (for skins)

Now whenever I install an item, I just use the select subfolder to install to option so it remains neat and organized.

because of the mess in the downloads folder (before NL) I got rid of most of my downloads and all hair/newmeshs and clothes/newmeshs. I then refused to download anything that used a new mesh and ignored anything to do with custom hair. (sorting out stuff that didn't even work was a huge headache!)

The other day after downloading and installing LindaEtterlees self-sim, I checked out her self-sims custom hair and wow! custom hair has come along way! I loved it but I removed it and then I realized that with NL I can actually allow myself to have custom hair again! *went on a downloading spree*  currently quite a few custom hair files are neatly sorted in subfolders within subfolders by creator (and in the case of of one creator - Kaver - also sorted by male/female)

Unless you have paysite stuff that you know you can't redownload then I suggest you save yourselves a huge headache (and many many hours) an just remove your downloads folder and redownload what you really really want.  (Don't just delete your Downloads folder! you may have some favorites that are no longer available)

In the case of a Bodyshop item that you can't live without and don't remember were it came from (that has only numbers for a name) then you can always export it in Bodyshop as a new project and give it a good name(if it had a name in the tooltip then you can use that)  and then import it again and delete the other.

This is part of Zeljka's post earlier in the thread, and is far easier than running everything through Bodyshop etc.  and Clean Installer doesn't lock up files so you can't rename them until you close it down, as SimPE does.

Well I went for it, renamed, deleted, folderised the lot. Went from about 1500 downloads to only 300 :) Will try to load the game later ;) Cheers for all the help and such.

Congratulations Trubble, how about coming over and cleaning mine? :D

I can't believe I have some time to myself, it feels odd somehow. I need to get over to Posie's too, I've been everywhere far too infrequently. I had my last final last night, and boy was it brutal. I felt as if I had been beaten up physically, geeeesh.

By the way Trubble, I was completely sincere when I told you about my University. We have a great international program, worth checking out. You don't have to stay as long as me, some of our internationals stay only a semester or two. You could go visit LK and Twain, and kick them in person. I don't know where LK lurks, but Twain is only about 3 - 4 hours upstate from me.

I think I do it the easy way and just re-download, Sleepycat. Thanks for the encouragement. My genetrics folder is just too messy to deal with, I don't have THAT much free time :D

:D I would but... I'm too busy networking the house now ;)

I know what you mean, I got all my deadlined work done for yesterday so I wouldn't have to go down to uni today and tomorrow. Spent most of today on that downloads folder and then xmas shopping, then networking and now it appears to be nearly 2am...

Aww, well I'm sure it went ok. I have one exam and that's in January, the rest is coursework.

;) That would be amusing. LK's in Nebraska. Will email you sometime over the next few days :)

just because she may be planning on doing it to me.....


/me kicks Trubble....then runs away to safety...

This is what I get for not checking back....once again I have to shake it off and punish Twain SEVERELY...and smack Trubble as well.   OH and email is going fine...Ive got the hang of it now ..thank you blue soup.

NEW Question...

Installing lots. They go in the teleport file, what is the teleport file? Do the lot files stay there forever? I only have two so I'm guessing not as I know I have more lots in my lotbin than that...? Is there any point in renaming them? Can you rename them?

Lots go into the teleport file, and once you start up the game, they are taken out of there and put into the lot bin.  So, it will usually be empty.

And you want to rename what?

Never mind, you answered that question as well. Thanks :)