TOOL: TS3 Recompressor

[jfade]

For those of you still confused and/or messed up with the command line stuff, you can use the GUI version which is available here:

http://forum.jfade.com/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=473

I'm content that it works as anticipated.

[J. M. Pescado]

According to some people in the Pudding Factory Store Tech Help thread, decrapified fireplaces don't show in-game.  I've also confirmed this.  Any idea what's happening?

Give me an example of a missing fireplace and I'll look into it. Something that is not part of a set is preferrable, since it will be easier to track down.

[Capitaine Marie]

Give me an example of a missing fireplace and I'll look into it. Something that is not part of a set is preferrable, since it will be easier to track down.

It's every fireplace from all store sets: Gothique, Collection Stancke (Minimalist), Regal Living (Victorian), and Ultra Lounge.  Sorry, but I don't remember if it affected the new Club Vaindenbuger fireplace; which is the only one I actually bought.  

Once decrapified, there are empty thumbnails where the fireplaces should be; and they cannot be placed anywhere.  TashaFaun is just one person having the same problem, and she's definitely more awesome than me.  

[Removed link.]

[Phthon]

It did affect the new Vainberger set.

—Phthon

I found a work around for it. It seems to work in my game, but I can't verify that it would in others.

I just uninstalled them from the launcher and created my own DBC with those sets. I had to use my original sims3pack files and run them through an older version of s3rc then extract them with jfade's 3viewer.

It took me three days (I also had RL work to do) of trial and error before I hit on the correct work-around.

[Capitaine Marie]

I just uninstalled them from the launcher and created my own DBC with those sets. I had to use my original sims3pack files and run them through an older version of s3rc then extract them with jfade's 3viewer.

I used manual .dbc files before trying to decrapify.  But a lot of people, including me, would like them to work when decrapified, too.

[lowprofile]

@Pescado: I have no idea if this can be done (Delphy is saying his program will never be made for this, so I'm a little bummed!), but I wanted to ask in any case. Is there any chance you would consider developing an optional switch for s3rc.exe that would look through sims3pack files and strip out all images - like .png, jpg, gif, etc - before re-saving them? (By the way, if it is already supposed to be doing this during the ensmallaging process, it isn't happening to my files. By this I mean that when I open a decrapified file using Delphy's Sims3Pack Cleaner, I can still see all the images inside and must remove them manually.)

Additionally, I wanted to report that Windows 7 complains that my s3rc.exe "has stopped working" after every 50 or so files that it decrapifies. Is there anything I can do on my end to stop this from happening? (I was going to ignore this problem, but in JFade's thread for the The Compressorizer Redux!, he states that we should be reporting such errors here.)

(Original post removed because it was not complete. Thanks.)

[Phthon]

I used manual .dbc files before trying to decrapify.  But a lot of people, including me, would like them to work when decrapified, too.

I would too, but this is a work around in the meantime. I only did a manual DBC of those 5 sets. All others were installed through the launcher.

—Phthon

[J. M. Pescado]

Is there any chance you would consider developing an optional switch for s3rc.exe that would look through sims3pack files and strip out all images - like .png, jpg, gif, etc - before re-saving them?

This is easy, but why would you want to?

Additionally, I wanted to report that Windows 7 complains that my s3rc.exe "has stopped working" after every 50 or so files that it decrapifies.

Has it REALLY stopped working, or is Windoze merely SAYING so?

[Capitaine Marie]

I only did a manual DBC of those 5 sets. All others were installed through the launcher.

—Phthon

So are all your other objects decrapified?  According to Pes, it's not wise to have both decrapified and crapified objects in the game. 

[jfade]

Additionally, I wanted to report that Windows 7 complains that my s3rc.exe "has stopped working" after every 50 or so files that it decrapifies.

Has it REALLY stopped working, or is Windoze merely SAYING so?

Windoze says it does, but that sims3pack I sent you that didn't work before was one of the ones that Windoze said s3rc stopped working with, and you fixed the problem caused by it, so I'd say it's a genuine error. lowprofile should probably try to narrow down which file caused it, which wouldn't be hard to do (find which files hadn't been modified by sorting by date in your downloads folder.)

[boy_ptk]

I am new in MATY. Please to meet you.

I also had problem with fireplace (no thumbnail).
And also the 2 stairs (Manor and ?, I forgot the name) from Store. The stairs don't showed up in build mode, but the strange thing is the railing for the 2 stairs is there.

Did someone had this problem too? Thank you.

[lowprofile]

Is there any chance you would consider developing an optional switch for s3rc.exe that would look through sims3pack files and strip out all images - like .png, jpg, gif, etc - before re-saving them?

This is easy, but why would you want to?

Because it would make the size of each sims3pack that much more ensmallened. If I understand correctly, the image files are unnecessary. I mean a sims3pack is just a packaged package, right? And from what I've been told in the forums on MTS, the images are only space hogs. I have over 20 GB of sims3pack files; therefore, I am interested in getting more space on my hard drive back. Delphy's new Sims3Pack Cleaner is made to do it on a one-by-one basis. The user opens one sims3pack file, pulls out all the image files, and then re-saves it - all in the name of re-claiming hard drive real estate. I'm looking for a similar solution that will work on a much larger scale. People have been responsive to that tool; therefore, I think they would also be responsive if you added that functionality to the Recompressor. In fact, there were some users in the Sims3pack Cleaner dev forum requesting this same functionality already. But unfortunately, Delphy has said his tool will never be designed to handle more than one file at a time. I thought that since your tool was originally designed to ensmallen, this would be a good addition.

You know, it just dawned on me that maybe you meant that if someone is going to remove all the images anyways, why not just remove the package files from the sims3pack and be done with it? In my opinion, it's because a) some people are uncomfortable with package files and b) some people like their stuff to install with the Launcher since it will have the cute little Custom Content icon in-game. There may be other reasons as well, but those are the first that come to mind.

Additionally, I wanted to report that Windows 7 complains that my s3rc.exe "has stopped working" after every 50 or so files that it decrapifies.

Has it REALLY stopped working, or is Windoze merely SAYING so?

I will go ahead and do as JFade has recommended and look for the files that did not get modified. Anyways, hopefully I can pull those out and run the Recompressor on them separately. Hopefully at which point I will have gained more information and can report back with something useful! Wish me luck!

NOTE: The error occurs with both package AND sims3pack files - I haven't tested any other types at this point.

UPDATE

using jFade's suggestion (and using Delphy's Dashboard tool), I found the problem files. For packages, the problems were identifiable in most of them - they were not Sims 3 packages - they were Sims 2 packages. But I have about 10 files that were leftover that are still causing the "s3rc.exe has stopped working" error. I do not know what is causing it. For Sims3Pack files, all of the problem files were incomplete downloads. Why they caused it to "stop working" instead of just giving me a stat error, I do not know.

I ran the Recompressor again on the cleaned directories of both package and Sims3pack files and voila! No more problems. The only question I still have then is what is wrong with the package files that I still couldn't get to work? (Unfortunately the packages are mostly over 640K, so I couldn't upload many for you to look at. However, I did manage the two below.)

I apologize ahead of time if there are typos or grammatical errors - it's late and I'm super tired.

[J. M. Pescado]

Fireplace and Staircase issues fixed. Re-decrapify the offending items to fix. If you already installed them, you can decrapify your DBCs to fix them.

[lowprofile]

Fireplace and Staircase issues fixed. Re-decrapify the offending items to fix. If you already installed them, you can decrapify your DBCs to fix them.

Was there an update to the tool itself to fix this issue? Should we re-download?

[anthonyfatale]

There is no way this would work on a mac right? I have Parallels and it won't run these programs.

[J. M. Pescado]

Was there an update to the tool itself to fix this issue? Should we re-download?

No, the update will magically apply itself to your program through your web browser thanks to the innovative system I made for automatically installing executable code to your computer without asking you. Just run it on your files. Payment will be automatically deducted from your credit card or bank account information found on your computer. If such information was not on your computer, the new update will not run.

There is no way this would work on a mac right? I have Parallels and it won't run these programs.

Nobody seems to want to offer me shell on a Mac to compile it with, so I have no idea if it will run on a Mac. It is an extremely simple Windoze DOS program, though, so it SHOULD run on just about anything. If that isn't good enough for you, I'm pretty sure there are ways you can run LINUX software on a Mac, and you could use the Linux version.

[lowprofile]

Was there an update to the tool itself to fix this issue? Should we re-download?

No, the update will magically apply itself to your program through your web browser thanks to the innovative system I made for automatically installing executable code to your computer without asking you. Just run it on your files. Payment will be automatically deducted from your credit card or bank account information found on your computer. If such information was not on your computer, the new update will not run.

Nice. Well the reason I asked is because I re-downloaded last night after i read your message about the fixed issues; the file had the same date as previous versions. Now I see the file date has changed and obviously there has been a modification.

Also, I posted an update above to my "stopped working dilemma", along with files to look at if you wanted to examine them. If you don't, that's fine too. Thanks.

[J. M. Pescado]

using jFade's suggestion (and using Delphy's Dashboard tool), I found the problem files. For packages, the problems were identifiable in most of them - they were not Sims 3 packages - they were Sims 2 packages.

Why on EARTH would you do an UTTERLY DUMBASS thing like that?!?

But I have about 10 files that were leftover that are still causing the "s3rc.exe has stopped working" error. I do not know what is causing it. For Sims3Pack files, all of the problem files were incomplete downloads. Why they caused it to "stop working" instead of just giving me a stat error, I do not know.

Because s3rc doesn't perform extensive input validation, as it is a single-user program that will never be deployed with advanced user permissions, and therefore, I did not invest any effort in attempting to make sure that the user was not trying to feed it evil input, as the only thing you'll fuck up if you do that is yourself. If you feed in packages containing garbage data, the program can very well go into an endless loop or crash, because those are not valid packages. This program was originally written for my own usage, and if I were going to rewrite it to be bulletproof-usable by any random idiot, it would be about 100x bigger, all of it consumed by processing for error conditions and generating error messages.

Also, I have reviewed your mystery file and conclusively determined that it is problem is described here: WHY ON EARTH DID YOU WRITE-PROTECT THE FILE, THEN EXPECT A PROGRAM TO MODIFY IT?!?

[lowprofile]

using jFade's suggestion (and using Delphy's Dashboard tool), I found the problem files. For packages, the problems were identifiable in most of them - they were not Sims 3 packages - they were Sims 2 packages.

Why on EARTH would you do an UTTERLY DUMBASS thing like that?!?

Obviously, I did not know they were Sims 2 packages. I had no way to determine if they were TS3 or TS2 packages until The Dashboard came out. Many download sites do not specify which game their downloads are compatible with - and when people link from one site to another, sometimes they are incorrect about game compatibility - or have just linked to the wrong item. Especially when the sites are in languages other than your own, this can be especially difficult to navigate. However, I acknowledge this was my rookie mistake. And honestly, now that The Dashboard is here, I have no excuse not to catch these types of problems in the future. I didn't have to come back here and own up that it was my own fault, but I wanted to help others who may be experiencing the same thing. Now they, like me, may have a better understanding of what things to check for before reporting an error and bothering you about it.

But I have about 10 files that were leftover that are still causing the "s3rc.exe has stopped working" error. I do not know what is causing it. For Sims3Pack files, all of the problem files were incomplete downloads. Why they caused it to "stop working" instead of just giving me a stat error, I do not know.

Because s3rc doesn't perform extensive input validation, as it is a single-user program that will never be deployed with advanced user permissions, and therefore, I did not invest any effort in attempting to make sure that the user was not trying to feed it evil input, as the only thing you'll fuck up if you do that is yourself. If you feed in packages containing garbage data, the program can very well go into an endless loop or crash, because those are not valid packages. This program was originally written for my own usage, and if I were going to rewrite it to be bulletproof-usable by any random idiot, it would be about 100x bigger, all of it consumed by processing for error conditions and generating error messages.

As stated above, I did not know those files were Sims 2 packages - nor did I notice that these files had not downloaded properly. Pescado, you assume everyone understands the Sims 3 files and Sims 3 file system like you do, but many of us do not - we just want our game and custom content to run better, so we search the Interwebs for tools like yours to help us out to that end. Both downloading incorrect package files (example, for Sims 2 vs. Sims 3) and not downloading files completely are just mistakes - ones I'm not sure the average person is able to determine until they have tried to use a tool like yours and have encountered problems. Guaranteed, others will (and have already) made these same mistakes. I was not trying to ruin your program. In fact, I love what it does and am thankful to have it as a tool to fix my game - I am also very thankful you decided to share the tool with the rest of us!

That brings me to my next question. I don't know if you are interested or not, but I would be willing to compile an FAQ for this program, containing all of the dumbass questions I've asked and others have asked and anything else you would like to add. Would that be something you would be interested in helping me put together? It might make it more unlikely that people will fill your thread with dumbass questions like mine. I mean, RTFM and all that would apply and you would be able to defer people to the FAQ rather than waste your time in here with them. We could also add basic instructions, like command line switches, etc. There could be a section on downloading and using cygwin to batch files - and also an explanation of how to make cmd files for batching fixes under Windowze. Pescado, you may not have intended it to be, but your tool has become one of the most important Sims 3 utilities to date - more people are going to come here and ask you questions that, in your mind are 113.43% retarded. A FAQ or manual would probably help alleviate some of that retardation from filling this thread.

Also, I have reviewed your mystery file and conclusively determined that it is problem is described here: WHY ON EARTH DID YOU WRITE-PROTECT THE FILE, THEN EXPECT A PROGRAM TO MODIFY IT?!?

I am new to Windows 7 and had no idea the files were write-protected. In fact, I just checked them again and on my system, they are not write-protected at all. In fact, I am able to manually open them in S3PE, and in the Package Explorer, make changes, and save them again. This makes me wonder how Windows 7 may be handling files and permissions - I will have to investigate this further. :/ At any rate, I appreciate you taking the time to look into the problem.

[Capitaine Marie]

Fireplace and Staircase issues fixed. Re-decrapify the offending items to fix. If you already installed them, you can decrapify your DBCs to fix them.

Cool.

Yoo-hoo, Jfade!  Are you going to update your Compressorizer Redux?  ETA: Will just replacing the s3rc.exe work?

[jfade]

Fireplace and Staircase issues fixed. Re-decrapify the offending items to fix. If you already installed them, you can decrapify your DBCs to fix them.

Cool.

Yoo-hoo, Jfade!  Are you going to update your Compressorizer Redux?  ETA: Will just replacing the s3rc.exe work?

I'll update the zip in a bit, but yes, in the future, just replace the s3rc.exe file.

[SIMone de beauvoir]

Someone mentioned somewhere in MATY before, that the Recompressor is not working for XP, right? Well, I can confirm that because I have XP. Then, I was told that instead of dragging and dropping files into Decrapify, I should right click on them, go to "open with" and then manually choose Decrapify then (I say manually because it won't, evidently, appear on the list, you need to search for it). For many people that worked. I learnt that from a friend who showed it to me. But for me it doesn't. Decrapify does not get on the list of applications. Why? How can I make it work?

[jbrspop]

Someone mentioned somewhere in MATY before, that the Recompressor is not working for XP, right? Well, I can confirm that because I have XP. Then, I was told that instead of dragging and dropping files into Decrapify, I should right click on them, go to "open with" and then manually choose Decrapify then (I say manually because it won't, evidently, appear on the list, you need to search for it). For many people that worked. I learnt that from a friend who showed it to me. But for me it doesn't. Decrapify does not get on the list of applications. Why? How can I make it work?

I got it to work in XP by right click>open with>Browse>locate where you saved Decrapify and S3rc and choose Decrapify.exe

Next time you right click it will be in the list of programs to Open With.

Hope this helps.

[SIMone de beauvoir]

I know, that's just what I'm saying. I did those steps, and it didn't work. I choose Decrapify, and it does not show on the list. I don't know why... I'm frustrated because it seems to be working for everyone else but me.

[Capitaine Marie]

@SIMone:  Why don't you just use Jfade's tool?  There's a link in this thread.