More Awesome Than You!

As the release date for BV looms I feel deep uneasiness about my game mods and losing them, however temporarily, but I will get the EP(I've had it ordered and paid for for months).

I just wanted any recommendations on how I should phase my 200 or so game mods back into my downloads folder. I will of course back everything up before I install the EP and keep checking the creators of said mods(most of them are Pescado's)for updates or conflicts.

Mostly I'm just miserable because I'm going to miss my mods. I'm not looking forward to my Sims getting stupid again. :'(

Cass :)

There is no new expansion pack. You have been fooled and stupidly paid for nothing more than Lies and Propaganda.

My procedure for mods is to redownload everything from scratch, so I always have the latest version of the mod even if it didn't need an EP-related update. (This is especially important for Pescado's mods.) I put the old mod folder somewhere else on my computer so I can refer back to it if I had anything that cannot be redownloaded, so I can look around for compatibility info or test it out myself.

Back-up game first (your downloads, lot catalog, and 'hood folders, anyways, plus any modified files you may have like lighting and stairs...and userstartup.cheat, for goodness sakes!). Move the downloads folder out of My Documents/EA/Sims2. Apply EP. Put downloads folder back in. Observe if anything croaks.

I've rarely had any big issues, but then I don't have as many hacks as some...maybe 50 total, and that's counting multiple files for Monique's Comp and ACR. If things do go bad, you can do that fancy binary search or just use the half-in, half-out process of elimination.

If something borks badly, you have your backup. Reapply it without the hacks and watch for updates. And don't tease Pescado about the EP before it comes out; he's one of those people who have to see it to believe it.

I only update my mods if something borks, and then I check everything. Exceptions being with the lot debugger. I just love playing with that thing.

My procedure is
1. Do not install new EP until Pescado has acquired his copy and has started putting out updated mods
2. Drag existing downloads folder to desktop and create a new, empty downloads folder
3. Attempt to play without hacks
4. Run screaming from the room when my sims insist on behaving like the idiots Maxis programmed them to be
5. Have a caffeine fix and come to my senses
6. Put in updated hacks/mods - generally at this early stage only Pescado and one or two others have updated hacks.  Delete the old versions of those hacks in the old downloads folder
7. Read the what works/what doesn't that the best modders provide - and move the working mods over from old downloads folder to new downloads folder
8. Keep checking back here several times a day for the first couple of weeks as mods are updated frequently just after an EP release
9. Check regularly at the sites I got my other downloads from to see if the modder has updated their stuff, or posted a list of what works - this is usually the longest step.  Not everyone is awesomely fast about updating their hacks
10. Once everything I had in my old downloads folder has a current version in my new downloads folder or is no longer needed, then I delete the old downloads folder

Hmm, maybe next time I should just skip steps 3, 4 and 5.

You could do what I do, and wait a month or two before installing it.  All of the hacks are updated by then, there's often a patch out, and the major game-breaking bugs are known so you can avoid them.  You've lived without it this long, it's not like you can't wait a little longer.  (I know that almost no one will find my advice palatable.)

You know, this year when I came back from Europe and finally got Seasons I was in the exact same situation. I got the game months after and so all fixes and patches and stuff were out already. It just wasn't the same...

I guess I rather liked the minor chaos that ensues every time an EP is released. And when it wasn't there I kinda missed it. :'(

Never skip step 5a (caffeine fix) - step 5b (coming to senses) is optional.

I have never put in an EP before mods were out and updated.  Thinking of making an exception for BV (if it should prove not to be just Lies and Propaganda after all).  Also not happy about the potential for totally stupid sims (yay, coffee cups in the bedrooms again and everyone freaking out about a former lover from university having woohoo with his wife that he's already had three kids with).

My strategy so far is to add in what I think are absolutely necessary (i.e. romance mod, notownieregen, etc.) and try to play.  If errors, then remove and retest.  When update, replace old versions.  Hopefully this will eliminate or minimise my total annoyance.  I've learned to live with a permanent background annoyance level, but there are limits to what is acceptable.  I'm not sure that one sim slapping another one as he washes his dishes in the bathroom and walks all the way across the house past the dishwasher to set his coffee cup on his daughter's desk necessarily counts as cause for total irritation on my part.  I'll probably just get a laugh out of it.

Anyhow, as has been pointed out already, it's all just L&P right now.

Ah, reading this strengthens my resolve :) I only managed to wait a week and a half before installing Seasons (probably because my sister, who trashes and remakes neighbourhoods at a rate of knots and thus has no need to be careful, had already installed and was taunting me with the cool things). But I'll probably only be able to wait for a month at the most! XD

I had to do this with Pets and Seasons as my DVD drive didn't work and I was waiting for my shiny new PC to arrive. It is actually easier than you think. I'm waiting to install until everything essential is updated :D I'm still going to buy it on first day of release though. Baa!

I create a new sims 2 folder by renaming the old one, then run the game vanilla for a bit, see what it does, then I usually add back the hacks I can't live without and see what happens again. I keep checking for updated hacks and this method seems to have worked fine for me so far.

This is why you are a stupid Vista-using Emma and deserve your Vista chair! Photos of sim-Emma and the Vista Chair forthcoming.

/me moons Pescado

Found my bathroomless house yet? No? Thought not. :P All Pescados Suck.

Actually, this is my usual modus operandi with new EPs.

It's not like I have a lot of free time to play as it is. I'll probably wait until December/break from classes to deal with installation hassles.

Option 1: Backup, then copy mods back in, and see what happens
Option 2: Wait a month or two for the hacks to be updated etc.

Option 3: Remove all Mods and Custom Content, and play it the great way Maxis/EA wrote it...
give that about 5 minutes (including a long boot time) and you will be pulling your hair out in no time...
Why did the entire queue just drop; why wont they do what i told them; No! don't go and play drums...
Why did my baby come out back when both parents are white and come from a white up bringing...
why why why why.

Personal I think ill go with a bit of option 1 and 2...

To add: its good when a new EP comes out, something new to do... and thank god we some peple
that are more awesome than you, and I that come up with these awesome hacks/mods. other wise...
we wouldn't know any different to the base game. *holds breathe and passes out*

10 more days... woohoo! (on a tropical island)

Check to see if your objects.package is set as read-only.  If so, change it before installing the new EP.

I used to be one of those first-day release people. With Pets, I procrastinated and actually just installed it a few weeks ago even though I've had it for several months. Seasons is in its case, uninstalled as of yet. Waiting until the mods are updated, bugs identified, and the game is patched is much, much less stressful for me. I'll probably buy Bon Voyage soon after it is released, but I doubt I will install it right away. I still need to discover all the cool Seasons stuff!

So if it is Read-Only... then change it to NOT Read Only?
Or If it is Read-Only... leave it that way?

And what does this cause if left the other way to what should be done?

It should be Read-Only

If it is not, there is a chance it may become corrupt at some point, requiring you to find the original file on the disk and replace it.

It should normally be read-only, but while installing it might need to be writable.

This is pretty much what I do, too. I wait until my "can't play without" hacks/mods are updated and/or tested before I install. However, I've always bought them on the day they came out, mostly due to my teenage daughter who can't be patient and wait to install her copy. She just plays vanilla for a while, ugh. Guess she'll have to wait this time tho' since she got a Macbook Pro for her birthday! :D

I'm usually a little bored with the game by the time a new EP comes out, so I jump on the chance to have something new to do.  I move my downloads and important neighborhoods out and play with a new, cc-less sim in a preset neighborhood until the hacks are updated.  With the hacks I've been using in my main 'hood in, and provided I don't notice any bugs, I'll put my neighborhoods and downloads back in and go on my merry way.  I have had far fewer issues with my game than most people and I have a high tolerance for Eaxis stupidity, so I don't stress over it too much.

I had a horrible experience with something in my CC folder causing all sorts of havoc with Seasons, which I installed a couple weeks after it was released, so I am very wary about the new EP.

Definitely back everything up. Definitely take out your downloads, and add them back in slowly. I replaced all of my hacks two or three times with Seasons in the process of trying to figure out what made the game crash, so I would also advise doing this as well.

Good grief.  It's a game!  Why is everything so fucking HARD!!!!  Someone is just trying to do my head in - it's a conspiracy I tells ya! 

I got things ass over tit, as per usual.  Bought H&M after Seasons..no biggie.  Until I went to install it.  >:(  Backed up my folders, I put the disc in, followed all the steps, registered the game, only to get to the end of installation and got an error message, saying that I had to un-install Seasons as the installation of H&M would not be complete without doing so. *headdesk*
 So I tried it again.  Same message, *double headdesk*  so I uninstalled Seasons, installed H&M, reinstalled Seasons, and got  **drumroll**  a totally vanilla game  :P  Somehow in the process I lost everything. 
Yes, a very flowerchile thing to do, and I'm half expecting it to happen again with BV, but this time - I'm prepared!!!  No, not really, but it makes me feel better just thinking that.  Stay tuned.......

/me points and laughs.

Flowerchiles Suck.

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

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.

 :)

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

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

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 :D

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

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

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.

Hehe..unless you FUBAR the back-up :D

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. 8). New CC!  :D

As for stuff packs, I have a stack of unopened ones. I don't trust stuff packs. (http://209.85.62.26/5685/53/emo/lurk.gif)

Moi?  *flowerchile chuckles*

No, I would never do something that silly  ;)

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.

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  ;)

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?  :D

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

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

.. 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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

My version of Tigerlilley's procedure.  8)

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

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.

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.

Well that would certainly be point & laugh worthy.

I suppose I'll pick up my preorder from the gamestop where my man works (hey, it boosts his performance) and let it sit on the shelf till MATY and Twojeffs update their hacks... maybe if it comes with a new hood I'll remove my entire game folder and play around with the new hood, then later transplant my hoods back in.