completely clean install opportunity - What would you do?

[janeyw]

I've had problems recently involving the EA store addition to my download manager and with subsequent attempts to uninstall and reinstall.  I got an email from them upstairs today to say they will give me a full refund for all 7 EP's and stuff packs I bought through their site.

I've managed to get all the missing packs on disk and am going to do a full uninstall of everything and a clean install, without their download manager or store lurking.  I would love to keep my game intact and use my backup after install to get it back to where it was.

If you had this opportunity, what would you install in the game to make it better and less irritating to play.  I'm already on a mission to find notownieregen so no need to mention that.

Help and your infinite wisdom  much appreciated. 

[BlueSoup]

The entire Director's Cut, minus a couple of hacks I don't like for my own personal style, is great for cutting down annoyances.

Twojeffs has several I love, like Higher Abduction and Satellite odds, and giving me options for visitors (visitor controller) and bringing home friends from school or work, and of course the Sim Blender.

I personally like reorganizing the buy catalogs so they make more sense for me.  I use Phenaoh's from MTS2 as a jumping-off point, and add to/change hers as necessary.

The rest is just stuff I like for my game - default replacements, extracted items from Peasantry, custom content add-on pieces that round out incomplete EAxis sets, etc.

[Captain Swooptie]

A good place for you to start is http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,7.0.html. It has links directly to the awesomehack directories for the various EP configurations. The Director's Cut is the moreawesomethanyou.zip file you see in there. It contains the hacks from the /hacks subfolder as well as a few others. The Director's Cut doesn't contain any descriptions of the hacks, but for most of them, it's easy enough to tell what they are by looking at the filename. For the rest, http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,14444.0.html has descriptions collected in one convenient place.

[rosess]

It's smart to think about it ahead of time because it's easy to forget something that is a pain to change later.  Here's my list from last time, with just the basics to get a nice, clean game.

PREP:

• Do the steps for removing Securom because last time you just didn't know better
• Download the latest-version no-CDs at Game Copy World (offhand, I think Securom was just an issue for BV+ and the Deluxes, but grab whatever is available, especially if you will be using AnyGameStarter later)
• Download the empty or cleaned templates here
• Download the patches from EA
• Get the Director's Cut, especially antiredundancy, notownieregen, and nostrayrespawn, and take out what doesn't suit you
• Get some good face template replacements and default replacements for skin, eyes, etc. so randomly generated townies will have a chance for a better life
• Get a name replacement generator (check MTS2) to get a better variety of townie names
• Keep a backup folder for all that stuff for future use

Installing:

• Install one disk according to release order
• Replace exe with no-CD BEFORE OPENING THE GAME!!1!eleventy!
• Open game, but DO NOT ENTER NEIGHBORHOOD (no townie generation yet)
• Close game
• Install next, rinse, and repeat until all disks are installed

Before playing:

• Replace neighborhood templates with clean/empty ones according to the instructions here
• Pull unnecessary files out of Program Files (see this thread)
• Add hacks, face templates, and default replacements to Downloads folder
• Install CEP and Scriptorium (from MTS2)
• Using other custom content, season to taste
• Take a nap because now you're too tired to play the game

[rosess]

I can't think of any reason you couldn't just pop in your backup neighborhood and run with it, so long as you make sure custom content in the old neighborhood makes it back into Downloads before you play it.  New townies would still have the better faces and names, and new neighborhoods would be nice and clean.

[Annette]

Do we have to open the game after every ep is installed? Is this to activate each patch?
When I get my new computer I was thinking of installing up to Seasons then opening to make sure everything was fine, then not opening again until the M&G no-cd patch was in. We were secuRom free until Seasons right?

[Malapietra]

Installing:

    * Install one disk according to release order
    * Replace exe with no-CD BEFORE OPENING THE GAME!!1!eleventy!
    * Open game, but DO NOT ENTER NEIGHBORHOOD (no townie generation yet)
    * Close game
    * Install next, rinse, and repeat until all disks are installed

Does it matter at all what order you install the game in?  What is the point of opening the game and then closing them before installing the next one?

[morriganrant]

Installing:

• Install one disk according to release order
• Replace exe with no-CD BEFORE OPENING THE GAME!!1!eleventy!
• Open game, but DO NOT ENTER NEIGHBORHOOD (no townie generation yet)
• Close game
• Install next, rinse, and repeat until all disks are installed

I would not open the game between EP installs ...well not like this anyway. The installs often choke on No-cd cracks. Better to just install them all and then use a no-cd on the last one. Although you may be able to keep it from choking on the No-cd by making sure that you patch your game between installs. Using a no-cd on every single ep and sp is just overkill and unnecessary.

[morriganrant]

I said that because i didn't think she had the no-cd crack.  I don't have it and I find running the game after each instal is by far the easiest and cleanest way to do it.  The no-cd crack thing you quoted was just a recommendation to me but as I bought all my games I don't need it.  I give up on the securom issue so not required.

I believe you only need the no-cd crack if you want to keep securom off your system

Basically what I'm saying is that you can check that everything is working properly between ep installs, but removing the no-cd and replacing it with the original after testing and before the next ep install is a better idea if you want to make sure your next install actually installs.
A better idea would be to change the name of the no-cd to something other then the name of the original exe and to re-direct your shortcuts. That way, anything looking for the original exe will find it and not freak out, while still staying Securom free.

It is true that you need a no-cd to stay Securom Free, but you only need a no-cd for the EP you are running from. I have All eps and SPs installed, some pirated, most not. The only one that needs a no-cd is M&G because that is the only one I am running from.

[rosess]

I'd have to guess at the technical details concerning why opening each EP after installation is recommended, but read it enough to figure it should probably go on the list.  If nothing else, you find out if something didn't install correctly before moving on to newer disks.  Multiple No-CDs made it on for that reason, and for AnyGameStarter.  There are other ways to do it, absolutely.  Since janeyw probably has to go through the Securom removal steps anyway if she wants to be rid of it, she could just do it at the end of the process and use the one No-CD.

[Annette]

I'm getting a brand new computer, so I'd like to keep it as clean as possible. I guess the easiest way is to open all the pre BV ep's and then just install all the others until I get to M&G. I am too lazy to put in no-cd cracks and then take them out again. I am now on a quest to find no-cd cracks for my other games, just in case they have SecuRom on them too. Most are probably too old but I may as well be careful.

[morriganrant]

I am now on a quest to find no-cd cracks for my other games, just in case they have SecuRom on them too. Most are probably too old but I may as well be careful.

Daemon-tools site has a game database listing the piracy protection on many games, you could start there, although, using a no-cd on everything has benefits other than avoiding Securom. Watch out for anything with Starforce, it's just as bad as Securom.

[J. M. Pescado]

Actually, as of late, SecuROM is worse. At least Starforce has never actually been implicated in phoning home. Starforce is an extremely draconian protection that will damage your computer to perform its listed function. SecuROM will do all this, AND it will secretly SPY for its masters!