Skin Problem.. HELP!

[pinkysim]

Um.. not sure if this is in the right place.. but I need help. Badly.
OKay..
Im panicking.. Hard.
SO I enter the game like 5 min. ago.. I go on the Legacy household (Beatles), and I see the people..

Like that! Now I didnt download defults, as I hate them, But for some reason, I have some..

I enter the game, to test my problem in CAS. I go into CAS, I still have the problem, and Im sure I have defults now.
But what also happens, is that I have no CC.. none whatsoever!
So I exit out, and check my downloads file.
And its gone. Gone gone gone!
AH IDONT KNOW WHAT TO DO!
So then I say tomy self, I will upload my Legacy families to the exchange. and Re-install my game... Risk taking I know.
Well.. it wont let me upload my Beatles Household, but its letting me upload the Vision Household..
So I could do that.. but any options before?

AHh im freaking out!

[Gwill]

Probably corrupt game files.  There are lots of threads about this exact issue.  Search.

[jsalemi]

Yea, ever since installing FT  I  had random EAxis hair files start doing that.  And it's usually only in one particular hair color.  In my case, I found it was caused by using XPTL297's hair color overrides (from over on the insimenator site).  Taking them out solved the problem.

[xoferew]

Some of my sims got that odd look when I had downloaded a default skin without intending to.  I took it out and all was well again.

No idea about downloads disappearing, though.

[Kazzandra]

lulzy, xoferew!

Here's what happened to me when I deleted a "custom" maxis university mesh using a hack:




The floating heads and missing torsos were pretty awesome, I tell you what. 
I just had to replace my university Sims packages in my program files. It was Gwill that saved me from the torture!

[pinkysim]

Thing is, is that I have no CC now,since it dissapeared. Yet I still have the problem, and obviously I have the defults. So It might be that I have the CC, but I have'nt?
Make sense? Like it could be somewhere else on my computer....But I dont know where

[notveryawesome]

It's probably a custom skin that is now missing because your Downloads folder has disappeared. Didn't you make a backup copy of your DL folder?

[jolrei]

It's probably a custom skin that is now missing because your Downloads folder has disappeared. Didn't you make a backup copy of your DL folder?

That would be my call as well.  If you don't have a backup of your DL folder, try to find your originally downloaded custom skins files (and hair, if that baby is anything to go by) and try reloading them.

If you think you have a Downloads folder, but may have accidentally moved it, you can do a search using Windows Explorer (use the advanced search that allows searching of subfolders) and search your drive for anything with a ".package" suffix.  That might find it for you if it's there.

Other than that, there are ways of changing custom to default skintypes using SimPE (there's a thread on this somewhere - you'll have to search).

[Kazzandra]

http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=285314

You can put the custom skintone selector in your downloads and change back to Maxis skintones in game.

[Sagana]

Skintones don't automatically revert to Maxis ones if you remove the customs from the game? I was pretty sure the thread I downloaded my defaults from said if I didn't like them anymore or wanted some others, I could just pull them out of the downloads folder. And I thought you only got numbers if a Maxis mesh was corrupt (like need to replace it from the disks)?

Yesterday my custom default skintones went kablooey - they look like what happens when something is too high polygon count for the game (I'm sure this is the wrong use of the term, but like the vertices stretch all the way out to infinity)? I'm hoping the game was just unhappy and it'll spontaneously fix itself next time I load it as they worked fine before. But if it doesn't, I thought I could remove the custom replacements and just have Maxis ones back again - is that not the case?

[notveryawesome]

I think you're right, Sagana. I had totally forgotten about that. The only time I had a weird skin like the OP has reported, it was due to a custom skintone that wasn't Uni-compatible, and I'd placed it on a YA sim. In that case, I don't know what the OP's problem could be, except for a corrupted game-file, as somebody else has you suggested. *headdesk*

[xoferew]

And I thought you only got numbers if a Maxis mesh was corrupt (like need to replace it from the disks)?

My numbers problem was fixed by removing a default skin I hadn't meant to dl in the first place, meaning I had the downloaded default plus the maxis default in at the same time.  No replacing anything from disks.  That was just my experience, however.  I'm sure other people have discovered many other ways to screw up their skins.

I would suggest if someone has discovered an alarming problem five minutes ago they should at least pretend they noticed it hours ago and have been diligently searching to no avail.  Then I would believe them and be sympathetic, because I sure couldn't find anything on "number skins" when I had my problem.  I basically shrugged and kept playing because it was only happening to my townies and npcs, and they're blechy looking anyway.   If it had been my pretty boys, I would have indeed been freaking out.  In a dignified, adult manner.  ^_^

[Sagana]

I guess with two meshes for the same texture, the game didn't know which to display so it gave you what it does if the Maxis texture is corrupt?

There's actually quite a few threads about numbers but they tend to be called things like "this doesn't look right" and "black and white dots" and other such terrible search terms. My game crashes a lot (my computer is crap) so I get corrupt game files a fair amount even, or maybe especially, if I set them to be read-only as they try to write to them or something, I dunno. Anyway there's 2 threads in "I broke it" with numbered trees now. Strange-looking.

The black and gray stuff in the pic though, that's not numbers. Looks to me like the hair file is a corrupt game file and maybe the skin tones are something else?

[J. M. Pescado]

Custom skins are Evil. Two meshes for one texture wouldn't do anything, though. Many textures can, and should, be mapped to multiple meshes, such as outfits between teen/adult. Also, didn't you Soup?

[Sagana]

Yeah, they are... but such attractive evil. Ya'll have something in common there.

Oh, good point about the two meshes... but then what would make the 'missing/corrupt texture numbers' show up and then go away if you removed a custom skintone?

Nope, didn't. Did you?

[xoferew]

The black and gray stuff in the pic though, that's not numbers. Looks to me like the hair file is a corrupt game file and maybe the skin tones are something else?

I had the "parts of body black and gray" at the same time as "number hair" and "number skin" and it was just my accidental default skin.  At first I thought, "Gee, I never noticed this particularly wacky and ugly Maxis cyber-outfit" thinking it was on purpose...

[pinkysim]

It is probably defults, I know that for a fact, but I didnt download defults (i hate them), so they 'snuck into my game' somehow..

But the thing is, I dont know what there called, or do I know where my Downloads folder is..

[Zazazu]

My Documents/EA Games/Sims2/Downloads

[Charamei]

And unfortunately, you're going to have to weed through everything else in there, too. That adult female's clothes are definitely CC and will be lurking in the Downloads folder, for example. I'd guess that you download off the Exchange a lot? That would also explain how any default replacements crept in. In addition, it means that none of your files will be labelled properly, or, if you've never touched the directory before, properly subfoldered.

Good luck with that.

And dude, get the Clean Installer.

[pinkysim]

ZazaZu: Duh! But I mean, its dissapeard! Like, its not there! One day it just wasnt there.
Nope, I dont get clothes of the exchange, I get them fom other websites. The only time I downloaded something on the exchange was my joint legacy family, but they dont have CC skin, and I played them and this problem didnt happen, and when I downloaded my friends simselves...
Come to think of it, when I downloaded the simselves, I think I had the problem starting...

[ElfPuddle]

Y'know, you said

But the thing is, I don't know what they're called, nor do I know where my Downloads folder is..

(Italics are my corrections...because I can.)

So Zazazu was telling you where they are. If you've moved your downloads folder, then how we would we know where you put it?

Not only do I think you need the Clean Installer, but were I you, I'd search my C: drive for the folder, delete the whole damned thing, and then seriously think before I downloaded anything more.

[xoferew]

If you run the game and cc shows up, your download folder must be somewhere safe and sound on your computer.
If you run the game and no cc shows up, you may have indeed lost your download folder.
What happens when you search your computer for "downloads" or "package"?

[pinkysim]

So I found my downloads folder. In my Pet Breeds folder.. Yeah I was confused aswell.. I dont know how it got there.
I am going to download the Clean installer, and I also was going to download Daphines thingy, but I cant get it to run.

Now, do you mean delete all my downloads? Or my whole game?

[xoferew]

Oh, my...

How do you know you can't get "Daphines thingy" to run if you have not yet downloaded it?

[Charamei]

Now, do you mean delete all my downloads? Or my whole game?

Oh, it's tempting...

Move - do not copy - your Downloads folder to a neutral location, such as the Desktop.
Start the game. Your CC will be missing. If it is not, go back and remove any other copies of your Downloads folder that may be lurking inside other game folders. Check that the problem is fixed.
Now create a new, clean Downloads folder. Begin the dance of the binaries.

Alternatively, just delete your whole Downloads folder and start again.