The clear explanation is much appreciated.  I had been snipping and pasting like mad, experimenting, and rebuilding this neighborhood, as well as having become interested in the modding aspects.  It's a little like Dorothy in Oz...  just so darned simple when you understand it.

Oh, Sarah, this is so incredible.  I love the research you do, all the good things you share, and the tutorials that make it so clear I can do it.  I can't wait to make my lots look more like the beaches I remember.

Wow...  what a break through.  *Loves that Sarah gets the time to dream.

I had read that before, and am trying to understand.  After one installs the games to program files, these do not change again until addition of another EP/SP, yes?  All the information that changes as you have a play session is saved to the local game?   

Please forgive, as after reading many, many posts, sometimes the information seems to conflict and I hadn't set up a new game in a long time.  I read one post that said the person found 15 packages to change, another elsewhere said that information gets written to the packages. 

Changing the entire directory will be much easier.

The awesome ness rules!

I have searched and found no list, per se, of the object packages that should be changed to read only.  I am wondering if any of you have a list of these packages, other than the single object package that shows up for each EP and SP in the program files, that you would be willing to share.  I have explored and found many other object type packages, but am not awesome enough to know which others are safe/recommended to change, and I would be grateful for awesome advice in this area.

After installing Celebrations and losing my video card, I have begun my entire game anew with a complete reinstall.  I wish to make this as pleasurable an experience as possible as well as have this set up to last through the rest of The Sims 2 reign, and so am trying to head _all_ the EA problems off at the pass.  Much obliged.

*holds up targe in anticipation of pokage

Hello, Dr Keith:

Some time ago, someone shared with us a nice little program that I am now using.  It is called Cacheman.  I have the free download and it works wonderfully for me.  You might give it a try.  It recovers from the paging system in real time, helps with all programs and shows me in the task bar just how much it is recovering and converting to free RAM. 

http://www.cacheman.com-about.com/

If I've gotten the wrong site, would someone kindly correct me?  Thanks so very much, and my best to you.

GWilly?  Please request?  I was informed, just today, that this is the proper procedure and there will be a ritual involved   

Thank you so very much for clarifying things, plasticbox.  I sincerely appreciate it.  I saw the very first brief post from Mootilda some time ago and was totally blown away with what I found in this recent thread of what was discovered and shared since.  I couldn't tell from the post other than it looked like you were making it a bit easier for others to begin to experiment with the methods Mootilda had found by way of your row houses.  One way or the other, I felt it was brilliant work by all involved and that it needed shared here as soon as possible, especially since Doc had asked the question at a perfect time. 

I agree, it sounds like an awful lot of fun ahead with these.  This opens up a new world, at least for this one.

I have been having some issues with my game cannibalizing itself, so I am trying to put things back together in a useable form, but when I have it finished, I am dying to try your row houses.  Seems for me the trouble began with the installation of Celebrations to an otherwise stable game.  I really want to try your houses, so I may bag the whole thing and start anew...  and it will be your and Mootilda's fault I couldn't wait     

Commence the fun!

Hello Doc Doofus,

While there might not be a mod for building to the edge of a lot, there is a method in testing.  I recently read through the thread by Mootilda who has been working with the Andi LotExpander and has updated that for BV.  In that thread at MTS2,

http://modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=175884

the link is given for the general discussion and within that discussion, the link for the discussion of the work being done by plasticbox toward being able to build to the edge of the lot.   

Please find Mootilda's  'Discussion: Lot Size, Orientation, Rotation, etc' thread here:

http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=250693

Please find the plasticbox thread here:

http://www.modthesims2.com/showpost.php?p=1801416&postcount=527

Great discussions. 

Sorry to be a latecomer to this thread, and I haven't had whole lots disappear on me.  I have, however, had entire contents of unoccupied lots disappear.  I had started a nice new custom neighborhood pre Pets and had some of nengi65's factory living lots in one part of it, as well as several others.  It took me some time to get it just right, and when I was ready to play Post Pets, I took a nice couple out for an evening spin.  Well, the two community lots they visited should have been furnished and ready for company, but to no avail, so the couple "enjoyed" the park bench outside one lot (no ACR here), as someone had cleared the place out, up to and including the light fixtures    Later, I found this had happened to a house that had come furnished, as well, but not yet occupied.  I thought I had done something wrong with the installation of the lots, or maybe my memory was getting way more than the better of me, but no.  Those lots installed fine later, and yes, they were definitely furnished.

Recently, Celebrations popped up in my neighborhood (this being after allEPnSPsnPatches).  Four lovely young ladies had been in the process of taking up residence and chatting on the sidewalk in the same neighborhood as above, newly delivered PostPets, when Seasons arrived (I had taken then current MATY advice and PetsP1P2 before Seasons installation).  There, they waited patiently for some time.  When I finally took them into their new home (a fabulously decorated by me, incredible jonesi lot of apartments) after Seasons/Holiday/Celebrations installation, it was utterly barren.  Now, I am sure the girls didn't mind, but I did, as it had taken weeks of learning cheats and 'shopping' to get it just right.  Know those hotels, every room a different theme?  Yep...  it was like that.  That was the first 'occupied' lot I'd had things go missing from.  All the other occupied/played lots were fine.  The conclusion I came to is that, while the information had to be in the game for the girls being there, the lot had not actually been played beyond delivery before the subsequent patches and installations so their goods must have been fair game for PC game gremlins along the way.  I have wondered, since reading this thread, if this might have been when people’s houses disappeared?

I like happy endings.  Consequently, I uninstalled Celebrations/Holiday/Seasons.  I got a many months old PetsP1P2 backup and shook that lot right out of it, and sent it sailing back into the game.  I saved it with the stay-things-shrub, binned the girls, and packaged it up.  I deleted the lot, uninstalled and re installed Pets because I suspected it due to the community lot fiasco earlier, but it wouldn't let me P1 and then P2, only P2. I re installed the lot as per MATY instructions, then re installed Holiday/Seasons/Celebrations.  Contents were present. 

Now, just for insurance, I had the girls delivered to what I thought was going to be the sidewalk once more.  Sims 2...  ya gotta love/hate it...  the girls arrive, but they don't wait outside the fence as they had before.  They walk right through the gate and start chatting inside the stone walls.  One even walked over to the pigeon hole/apartment fake mailboxes I have on the inside stone wall by the gate to check for mail?    Quite realistic.  I was stunned but took pictures, albeit too late, as the taxi had driven away already.  Showed those girls their beds and had them relax in their apartments before I exited the lot, hoping this will be enough lot/sim info to keep these hijinks from happening again.  Sometimes life happens, and it's a long while before I play a lot again.  The girls are home and happy, and so am I.

By the way, off topic, I apologize.  Son showed me how to put a floor above the pool and hot tub on that lot, made the tiles clear, and removed the columns (it did involve some temporary pool parts removal    ).  This should stop the lightening deathage problem, and the lovely cactus landscaping in the pool is still intact and enjoyable.  It casts a shadow, but at least I can see through to play without the frames of the glass awning blocking my view.  I guess the trick would be to change the info of a transparent floor tile so it wouldn't cast a shadow, and then I just might have it made… until it snows.  I have also considered learning to recolor just to clear that glass awning of its frames.

Blow the smithereens out of it!!!  Enjoy it!  Be wicked.  You know you want to.

Wow...  I can't believe your neighborhood has lasted that long.  Says a great deal for all your hard work, not to mention patience for the duration.  There's a lot to be said for a long attention span  ;o ) .

Well, if winds of change are in the air for you, I wish you the best and a grand trip.  Sounds like you could use it about now.  Since you'll be in the Southern Hemisphere anyway, why don't ya drop on by for a cuppa and a romp in the upper paddock with the roos and the rest of us loonies  ;o P  *ducks and covers now.

Have fun  

*modified because my typed smilie solicits the wrong animated one.  Old habits die hard.  Dang, I hate when that happens.

Hello, IronPhoenix,

I am probably the last person here who should say anything due to lack of tech experience, but when I read your post, it brought to mind the old MSBlast worm of years ago (we did have protection, but this sort of thing was new).  Your description is nearly identical to the one I found on the net just now when I googled to verify the name.  The trouble began with intermittent crashing but was rebooting so quickly in the end, you couldn't even reach the net let alone do anything else.  It lived on one of our old computers and my son went after it by going to a friend's house to do the look up at Symantec and Microsoft for the current advice at the time.  He then came home and went to work on it, ruthlessly.  He was able to rid the computer of it.  I would imagine by now there are countless worms/viruses that behave in like manner.  Have you considered such a possibility?

As far as if this rebooting could be the reason for your lost cc, I shouldn't think it would be good for the computer, let alone anything you might have running on it.  I am sorry not to have a solid techie type answer for you, and I do wish you the best.

Good Day to you,

Please let me introduce you to a site I met this week while searching for a lot.  It is meant to restore the things people might need to make recolors, replace things lost, and to make things work by people whose sites are now closed, rather than like a PMBD type site (two different needs, two different sites, perfect pair).  I really appreciate the person who sent me there, and I think you will appreciate the brilliance of the person who created this repository.

http://files.sims2graveyard.com/christianlov/

Some may have just lost interest or could no longer afford to support a site, but it is my feeling from what I've been reading on the net for months, that some site owners, creators, etc. appeared to be mean spirited and intended to hurt people in the community by withdrawing their...  er, ah...  wares.  I find it rather fitting that the wind is taken out of those particular sails.  After all, think of those innocents who created artwork, etc. built upon those site owners meshes.  But hark!  Isn't that what the site owners were doing to Maxis/EA???  Funny how what goes around comes around.

What I find even nicer yet, is that Pescado and company keep adding things to already awesome items, and we can take things out of burgeoning downloads folders.  *please note, no ty words being used here  ;P

Now if I could just find a copy of nengi65’s Yummy Night Out Seafood Restaurant/Summer Fun Seafood Restaurant/The Crumplebottom Trap which is not at the sims2graveyard, I’d be in business.  Yes, she is retired at the moment, too.

LL

Hook,

Thank you so much for your grand experiments.  And thanks for thoroughly testing the glass awning.  That was what I had wondered about earlier in this post, but hadn't tested, as I am busy culling cc and learning to bin things, so my game has been out to lunch (I am near completion of my restored, utopian neighborhood thanks to the incredible information at this site).  I just couldn't imagine that the game would now have been designed to require buildings around all these lightning attracting things, but then you never know with The Sims 2, do you?  It’s bothered me no end, these burning trees.  Upon re entry to my neighborhood, I will place those rods, no matter how poor my Sims are, community lots not spared, either. 

Would you have tested the weather vanes, by chance, or has anyone else and I’ve missed it?  I have had a feeling they may be what is needed for the higher structures.  Either that, or they would be something to strictly avoid.

I really appreciated all your descriptions of the funny goings on, as well.  I can now understand why people were so glad you'd returned, and let me add, "Most pleased to meet you." 

AmberDiceless,

Oh, much obliged for this one!  I can not communicate clearly enough my frustration with touring those pages endlessly with no way to pare the walls down as I had my own downloads.  I can't wait to see if we agree, and thank you so much for passing on the clear info in case we don't. 

Someone is smiling in Sim City tonight 

If this happens rather often, isn't it a VBT, contributing to larger numbers of sim files than one might wish?  I wonder if they took the lid off that sort of number to accommodate this?

Would putting the glass awning sort of a thing over the pool, hot tubs, work?  I haven't tested this yet, as my game is out to lunch while I participate in my first hair and clothing binning retreat.

Scratch,

Go for it!  I have often wished for the very same thing.  I wish you much success, and look forward to it 

Huzzah!!!  This is just too good!  Anything that assists the memory and doesn't require post-its on the monitor!!!  I applaud your on going interest in the game and your genuinely clever additions that help make things easier and more fun.  You are a credit to this gaming community. 

Much obliged.

*spews coffee in all directions*   Shoot!  I don't laugh out loud while sitting at the computer very often.  Thank you for that   

notveryawesome, have you an idea of how many it took to get that response?

When we installed Seasons on a computer that had EPs up to but not including Pets, we found the Body shop would not open.  Much obliged for this, as daughter has been learning to mod and has been using Body Shop.

Yikes!  This gives me the heebie jeebies. 

Would this hold true with a custom CAS made before Pets?  I haven't seen any visitiors in mine, but that doesn't mean they aren't on the outside, I suppose.  Would meetings and relations show up in NPC data a body could check out?

myskaal, Howdy     I apologize in advance...  I'm as green as they come.

I was having the same sort of problem for two weeks.  Mine hung up about two thirds of the way through.  It wasn't the program.

I had been wrestling with two lots that caused either flashing red and black lot in the game or crash upon trying to load the lot.  Persistence and a bit of sluething pays off here. 

One lot I had downloaded some time ago for a new neighborhood had a set of files included that I removed, as I'd never heard of them (numenor wall windows bizzo, I believe).  After that, I found the maker of the lot had found she'd included a non working phone behind a wall on a community lot (lot was Confession, pre Pets), so she re uploaded, and I re downloaded.  That fixed that one, though taking the oddly named package out had done the trick to get the lot to load, at least, so I did find the problem with the phone once I got in.  The other lot, also a community lot and pre Pets, was a nightclub with a go go cage mod included.  I had found the lot (Alcatraz) at MTS2, originally, but when I checked this week it wasn't there.  I found it later by doing a search, and this download had no go go cage included, and when re downloaded and reinstalled worked great. 

Point here is that I had two similar problems, and with both cleared up, Paladin's hack conflict utility works just fine again.  I agree with miros.  With the trouble I had, it might be worth your while to check recently downloaded lots?  Best of Luck to you.

That poor, poor child. 

I am with you, dizzy...  all the way.

I may be wishfully thinking, but perhaps EA will catch these things with whatever patch goodies go into Seasons.  Was it just me or did it seem like GLS cleaned things up and made them run nicely?  I find myself wishing whoever was in charge of that would have been put on this project.

*glad she listened to Pescado*

Oh, pinch me...  it's too early in the evening for me to be dreaming, surely? 

Am I reading this properly?  Is this for more than just Bodyshop/CAS?  If so... 

jfade's Fixit Toolbox (and yes, I do believe the contents of those change from time to time, don't they?)

I swear...  half the fun of this game is watching the brilliant minds that get involved. 

Thanks in advance *puts order in early and often*   

Jordi,  I would very much appreciate it if you would publish this.  What drew me to this site to begin with was the fact I needed and wanted help.  I spent months reading here, and very nearly put up the same tutorial as your first one on this subject.  I had the rough draft.  If I came here seeking such help, I would have been grateful to find an easily searchable document.  If you do publish, it will give me a souce I can send others to, directly.  *raises hand to vote 'Aye'*