Chain Reaction, if you have nothing useful to contribute, feel free to fuck off and let those more knowledgable than you speak.

Actually, I have. Here's my Packages folder (under Program Files):



I've tried to avoid using the launcher, if that's what you mean. (I've been experimenting with a combination of jfadetool, delphytool, and s3rc.) Do these folders not exist if you haven't used the launcher?

I don't have anything labeled "DCCache" or "DCBackup" or "SavedSim" in my Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3 folder...



Is Pescado just referring to the various cache files or is there a specific folder called "DCCache" (et al) somewhere? A search of my C: drive brings up nothing, too.

What are the full paths of the DCCache and DCBackup folders? I would like to check them to see if I have useless crap strewn about, but I can't seem to locate them in either Documents or Program Files.

Also, what is the full path of the SavedSim folder? I'm not seeing it in My Documents, Electronic Arts, The Sims 3, etc. Is it supposed to be there, or somewhere else?

City Councilman Councils to the Contrary - Journalism Career Opportunity (Reward: + job performance)
1. Somebody high up in the Mayor's office secretly distributed orders to pass some shady legislation. Thankfully, a City Councilman disobeyed and blew the whistle! Go down to City Hall to interview this Councilman and your Editor will surely improve your job performance as a reward.
2. Perfect positive work performance.
3. At work -- the Journalism/Business building.
4. Frugal, Good Sense of Humor, Hopeless Romantic, Bookworm, Perfectionist
5. Max Athletic, Charisma, Gardening, Mechanical, Logic, Writing - 10. Mid Cooking - 8. Low Fishing - 3.
6. Star News Anchor - Level 10
7. Adult
8. Mood: Happy; Moodlet: Fulfilled, +20, 5 h
9. City Hall
10. N/A
11. Inventory: crapload of books and vegetables; collection helper; laptop, deed to the Journalism building.

Amateur Olympics - Athleticism Opportunity
1. The Stadium Committee is encouraging all Sims to come try out in the Amateur Olympics. In addition to feeling good about yourself, you might also win a cash prize!
2. Positive work performance.
3. Read in the newspaper, went to the stadium.
4. Frugal, Good Sense of Humor, Hopeless Romantic, Bookworm, Perfectionist
5. Max Athletic, Charisma, Gardening, Mechanical, Logic, Writing - 10. Mid Cooking - 8. Low Fishing - 3.
6. Star News Anchor - Level 10
7. Adult
8. Mood: Very Happy; Moodlet: Well Rested, +25, 4 h; Squeaky Clean, +10, 22 h
9. Stadium
10. N/A
11. Inventory: crapload of books and vegetables; collection helper; laptop, deed to the Journalism building.

A Co-Worker In Need - Journalism Career Opportunity
1. Your co-worker, Connor Frio, promised the Editor an incredible piece for the paper, but can't really deliver on that promise. You've been asked to step in and write a Hit Article for Connor Frio and bring it to work. You'll be rewarded with friendship... and cash.
2. Positive work performance.
3. At work -- the Journalism/Business building.
4. Frugal, Good Sense of Humor, Hopeless Romantic, Bookworm, Perfectionist
5. Max Athletic, Charisma, Gardening, Mechanical, Logic, Writing, Cooking - 10. Low Fishing - 3.
6. Star News Anchor - Level 10
7. Adult
8. Mood: Very Happy; Moodlet: Entertained, +25, 4 h; Squeaky Clean, +10, 21 h
9. N/A
10. N/A
11. Inventory: crapload of books and vegetables; collection helper; laptop, deed to the Journalism building.

Yeah, not so much. As you can see from my sim's writing stats here, Vaudeville can show up with only 2 of drama, sci-fi, humor, and mystery. (But now I can't remember when my sim wrote that third romance novel -- it was either right before or right after I started working on Vaudevilles and Masterpieces, so it possibly could have been the trigger, I'm not sure.)

Thanks for the tip on 3 humor --> satire. I think I'll test that out.

The Omnificent Plant - Gardening Opportunity
1. The chef at the restaurant has one final challenge for you to complete before granting you unlimited gardening power! You've been asked to bring in 10 homegrown Steaks of Outstanding quality. It's a nigh impossible order to fill, but you must find a way if you want the Omni Plant!
2. Positive work performance.
3. At home, sleeping after work (4pm-ish). Woke up to answer cell phone.
4. Frugal, Good Sense of Humor, Hopeless Romantic, Bookworm, Perfectionist
5. Max Athletic, Charisma, Gardening, Mechanical, Logic, Writing - 10. Mid Cooking - 6. Low Fishing - 3.
6. Star News Anchor - Level 10
7. Adult
8. Mood: Very Happy; Moodlets: Tired, -40, 3 h; Beautifully Decorated, +40; Entertained, +25, 4 h
9. Bistro
10. N/A
11. Inventory: crapload of books and vegetables; collection helper; laptop. I also bought the Super Green Thumb trait.

Reform Bill Amended by Fisticuffs - Journalism Career Opportunity (Reward: 114 raise, + job performance)
1. Oh no! Politicians working in City Hall have broken into an outright brawl over new reform legislation! Get to City Hall quickly after work to get the on-the-scene exclusive for the network, and you'll earn a job performance increase, raise, and who knows what else!
2. Barely positive performance, just the slightest sliver of green above the neutral mark.
3. At work -- the Journalism/Business building.
4. Frugal, Good Sense of Humor, Hopeless Romantic, Bookworm, Perfectionist
5. Max Athletic, Charisma, Gardening, Mechanical, Logic, Writing - 10. Mid Cooking - 6. Low Fishing - 2.
6. Star News Anchor - Level 10
7. Adult
8. Mood: Happy; Moodlet: Squeaky Clean - 13 h
9. City Hall
10. N/A
11. Inventory: crapload of books and vegetables; collection helper; laptop.

If no one beats me to it, I will test this out next time I play. (Write 5 novels of some other genre and see if my sim loses Feature Article Writer status and gains something else, or if both achievements can be maintained simultaneously.)


Did your sim lose Romance Novelist status after becoming a Satirist?

I can confirm that Vaudeville does not require 40 books, as my sim has only written 29 books and this option became available a couple novels ago.



I don't know why you're not getting the Vaudeville genre. Perhaps this is a trait/career issue?

Interestingly, my sim doesn't have the Romance Novelist challenge available. Maybe Feature Article Writer supplants Romance Novelist? You can only have three at a time?

On the subject of novels, there are two hidden genres that become available after you've mastered the three Writing skill challenges: Vaudeville and Masterpiece.

Vaudeville novels are 1250 pages in length and have a royalty value rating of 4.

Masterpiece novels are 2000 pages in length and have a royalty value rating of 5.

My sim earned around 8000/week for a Vaudeville novel, and over 12000/week for a Masterpiece. Both were best-sellers.

Journalism:

Skills Required: Writing from the beginning, Charisma at the higher levels. (Surprisingly, Creativity is NOT required at all. Because it no longer exists, my mistake.)

Friends: Indirectly required to gain Charisma skill after the first few points. It is possible to get quite far (around level 7) with minimal friends (3, in my sim's case) however. The game recommends you befriend the boss, though I didn't notice much benefit.

Other Requirements: At the higher levels, job performance is ostensibly influenced by the quality and frequency of your articles, interviews, and reviews, though my sim hasn't written anything but novels since level 6 or so with no effect.

Perks: Under "Special" interactions, your sim gains the ability to Interview. This allows you to discover all five traits of any sim very quickly. Also, there is a special writing skill achievement ("Feature Article Writer") that increases the chances of producing hits and bestsellers. This appears to be exclusive to Journalists. The indirect perk is you're more or less required to max Writing, which makes it an ideal career if you want to concentrate on novel-writing primarily, and do a traditional career on the side.

Salary: At level 10, Star News Anchor, I believe the starting salary was around 700 or 800 (not sure exactly.) With raises from maxing job performance, my sim is currently making 900+.

Hours: For level 10, Star News Anchor, M W Th F : 8:00 am - noon.

Opportunities: Interview City Councilman -- go to City Hall for a couple hours. Save your branch from being closed by the network -- write a bestselling article. A few other opportunities were similarly based on writing hit or bestselling articles. All successful opportunities result in higher job performance, money (not much, usually around 300) and sometimes, better relations with your boss, whatever that's worth.

Job-Specific Working Technique: Practice Writing (increases writing skill) and Discuss News With Co-workers (increases relationship score with co-workers).

Level 10 Vehicle: Margaret Vaguester - speed 10.

Like: Gems. Because of the high environment moodlet, they have a similar effect as snapdragons, but finding them and having them cut is a lot quicker than mastering the flower craftable in TS2.

Hate: "Your Sim is behaving inappropriately. If this behavior persists, I will have to ask them to leave." (Paraphrase.) Apparently 'inappropriate behavior' means showering during a sleepover, which results in your hosts running over to ogle you disapprovingly in the bath. The idea is interesting, but once again EAxian stupid fails in the execution.

Like: The "look in" function on windows. You can peer into neighbor's houses without being invited.

Yeah, I think I'll set up an alias for it, too. But it's kind of annoying that it doesn't just work outright.

These are the contents of my userStartup.cheat file, located in my Config folder:

boolProp allow45DegreeAngleOfRotation true
setQuarterTilePlacement on
faceBlendLimits off
floatProp tvVolume 0.1
boolProp petActionCancel true
bugJarTimeDecay off

All of those cheats work fine without my having to retype them in-game, except setQuarterTilePlacement. I cannot just hit Ctrl+F, and then start using quarter tiles. I have to bring up the cheat console first, type in "setQuarterTilePlacement on", exit, hit Ctrl+F, and then move my objects. This is tedious, and I don't understand why it's not working, so HALP PLZ?

Edit: Obviously, I have Mansion & Garden, as well as all the other SP's/EP's.

Two feature suggestions:

1. A "Hide Me" button for custom content, that would change the appropriate flags with one click. Useful for items you want in game, but don't want cluttering up the catalog, or dependent defaults, which replace, e.g., Maxis skintones, but leave a copy of themselves in the catalog.

2. A "Bin Filter" for the various accessory and hair bin numbers the WW applies to custom content. That way, one could see quickly if items have been misbinned, e.g., earrings using the left ankle bin number, or hats using the shoulders bin number, etc. Should make it faster to narrow down problem files.

I would like this, too. Besides giving you the ability to group all similar clothing items together, you could also group all similar hairstyles together. Then a user could switch between different types of, e.g., ponytails without a lot of scrolling through the catalog. Or recolors of a hair mesh made by different creators at different dates could be listed close to each other, instead of at opposite ends of the catalog.

Thank you, Cat and Amber, for your advice.

I am eagerly anticipating the duplicate texture remover, but I'm holding out for the GUI. Command lines make me a little nervous.

Can the technique described in part 2 of the original post be applied to skins as well? (Summary: Find duplicate textures and note their filenames. Go to Material Definitions and change the corresponding stdMatBaseTextureName references so they all point to a single texture. Delete the now unused duplicate textures.)

I have several skin packages where, for example, faces and scalps are shared across all genders and age groups. Could I delete all but one of the duplicate textures, and then point the material definitions to the remaining texture? Or would that just bork the package completely?