Create-A-World Tips, Tricks, and Annoyances

[meresimp]

I have some problems with the Edit in Game that I heard many others have too.

(If this has been covered somewhere here,  please provide me with a link. TY - I couldn't find it on my own )

I can't use EIG unless I move the DCCache folder away from C:\Documents \Electronic Arts\The Sims 3

But that leaves me with very limited possibilities in the buy and build mode

Not only third hand CC disappears - so does all Store items


And the things you use to decorate your houses disappear if you put down a lot you made in another world in your new CAW project


It is so frustrating.  

You will only be able to upload a world with base game items in buildings
You can't use  all the houses you have spend time decorating

- I can understand it because that way you would give away Store items for free. - And EA would of course not allow that

But I only wish they where there to see if people who downloaded your world possessed them - like in TS2

Any ideas or comments on that?

[The_Goddess]

They shouldn't  be disappearing completely.  They will not show up in CAW; I'm not sure why but CC does not show in CAW.  The stuff is still there.   When you deploy the world they should be there.   The only things I have come across that CAW can't retain upon deployment are the ghosts and planted vegetables (Vegetables from BuyDeBug work fine but are of normal quality).  Try deploying the world and see if the stuff is there. 

[meresimp]

No they won't disappearing completely. They are still in the catalog in my game
But I can't use them in "Edit in Game"
and if I put down a lot from my bin in EIG only basegame-stuff will show - also after deploying the world...

[J. M. Pescado]

Edit-In-Game does not like massive DBC DCCaches for some reason. It is not known why this is the case, but if you have 800 megs of crap in there, it will not be happy. There's a way around this, which involves temporarily reverting to the old DBC-dropped-in-packages-tree method, and I have a widget that performs this conversion automatically, but it is not for stupids.

[meresimp]

Then it's probably not for me....
But thanks anyway.

The biggest problem for me is that my buildings will look so bad when I upload them if I am not very careful not to use anything else but basegame stuff

[The_Goddess]

Then it's probably not for me....
But thanks anyway.

The biggest problem for me is that my buildings will look so bad when I upload them if I am not very careful not to use anything else but basegame stuff

You could leave those lots empty and have people download the finished lots separately.  They can put them in place themselves and choose what CC to download.

[Zazazu]

Wanted to share something hilarious that just happened. The "Import Height Map", or maybe both it and the "Export Height Map" tools are very, very borked. I was working on another neighborhood for use when the next L&P drops. Of course, once I started plopping down lots I started getting road triangling even though the ground underneath appeared flat. Same old same old. So I tried exporting the map and making sure that the problem areas were the same exact gray tone. This is what I started with:


And this is what the result of the reimported, slightly modified height map was:

[The_Goddess]

Wow, those look a bit like my mountains started out looking like.  LOL

[Dragon Slave]

Yikes!  I've imported some maps I made a few times and they've never been that spiky.  Could it have been the format you saved in?  I could sorta see this happening if it became pixelated due to the quality being reduced.  On second thought, seeing as how none of the original elevation was retained, maybe not.  That's really bizarre.

[Zazazu]

I think it was more about the exportation process. When I opened the exported file, the many hills were like pure black and white swirls. It looked quite odd to me at the time. There should have been more of a gradation.

EDIT: Bugs in the creation aside, the finished product is beautiful and, so far, bug-free. I sincerely doubt I'll be sharing a built-up version as I'm being liberal with the cc.

       

[The_Goddess]

Cute house.  It looks like a mobile home.

[dragonic]

I found a solution to the "Selected file is not a 24-bit color png image" error when adding a thumbnail for your world.

Normally, .png images are in 32-bit (at least in GIMP). However, .jpeg images are in 24-bit.
So what I did was save my image as a .jpeg. Then I opened the .jpeg file and saved it as a .png file.

And BINGO! It works!

And also, your image must be 256px by 256px.

[Claeric]

So you're saying the solution to getting an error when using the wrong type of file is to use the right type of file. BRILLIANT.

[J. M. Pescado]

Actually, what he's proposing is an extremely awkward, convoluted, and quality-destroying method of removing the alpha channel from a PNG to make it 24-bit RGB instead of 32-bit RGBA, not that he was stupidly attempting to feed in a JPEG where a PNG was expected.

[MrsSoares]

Anyone else having trouble loading a saved custom world more than once? I have completed the world, gone into the game proper and set out lots, saved and exited the game, only to find when I go back I cannot load the saved game. It tells me I cannot load that saved game because it appears to use expansion data no longer available... I have no expansions... >.<

[MistyBlue]

I'm having an issue with CAW since I updated it. I haven't really used it for a while and when I tried to start editing terrain, nothing happens. It says the terrain editor is active, select a brush. I select a brush, but I can't do anything with it. Any advice or maybe I just need a re-education on using this. I can do everything except edit terrain.

[The_Goddess]

I'm having an issue with CAW since I updated it. I haven't really used it for a while and when I tried to start editing terrain, nothing happens. It says the terrain editor is active, select a brush. I select a brush, but I can't do anything with it. Any advice or maybe I just need a re-education on using this. I can do everything except edit terrain.

I haven't noticed anything different with the terrain tools.  Make sure you have a mode (flatten, hill, valley…) selected.  It should appear highlighted in blue when you do; then it turns grey as you start to use it. 
I did notice that sometimes when I select to move an object, I am unable to move it.  Going back and forth from move to rotate sometimes fixes it, but sometimes I need to find the object in the ‘World Layers' game objects list and choose "Find in reader panel" before I can get the object to move.
All-in-all there weren't many changes with the update.  You can now see Riverview objects in CAW.

[ihartsnape]

I'm having an issue with CAW since I updated it. I haven't really used it for a while and when I tried to start editing terrain, nothing happens. It says the terrain editor is active, select a brush. I select a brush, but I can't do anything with it. Any advice or maybe I just need a re-education on using this. I can do everything except edit terrain.

I ran into the same issue just this morning. I found out that it was because I was either zooming out too far or moving the camera too far to the side. Basically, I found that the camera needs to be located over the map or the terrain tool stops working. I hope that makes sense.

I'm completely new to using the program so I haven't quite gotten the hang of using the camera yet.

That solved the problem for me. I hope it helps you.

[Claeric]

CAW works in optimized "cells" meaning that only a small square of the map will visually change at a time depending on where the camera is. if the camera is too far you won't see any visual change. Try taking the texture brush and painting as far to all the edges as you possibly can, you'll notice it "stops" in a striaght line. Then stop painting and nudge the camera- it will show that it did indeed paint everywhere you sprayed. It simply didn't update outside that currently used cell.

[kazebird]

I'm finding that 'edit in game' is running very slow. To the point it took me about 7 minutes to place a couple of tables and chairs in the non-rabbithole portion of my diner.  I haven't used CAW in a while, and am just getting back to creating Avian Valley, but I don't remember it being so slow before the patch.

[The_Goddess]

I'm finding that 'edit in game' is running very slow. To the point it took me about 7 minutes to place a couple of tables and chairs in the non-rabbithole portion of my diner.  I haven't used CAW in a while, and am just getting back to creating Avian Valley, but I don't remember it being so slow before the patch.

It has always been slow as molasses.  The more your world grows and the more detail you add to it; the slower it gets.  One of the things I do to work around this is to create all lots in the actual game, rather than CAW's game mode.   Then I package them up and I only have to go into CAW game mode long enough to set the lot down.  If you are working with custom shapes, creating a tiny world with no detail, just a few lots that match your needs would be helpful just for building purposes.   If the custom shape also includes odd terrain shape, (like on a cliff) this method won't work as it will cause problems to set a flat lot onto a cliff.

[kazebird]

Ok, so I tried placing some of the pre-made lots in edit in game mode, only to find at least one white box on each lot.  I figured it was something non problematic, so I placed one, but when I went to delete the box, it was labeled "Should not appear in game" and wouldn't let me delete it.  Needless to say, I quit without saving.  Also, now that I think about it, they only seemed to appear in front of staircases.

Does anyone have any idea what these boxes are?

[The_Goddess]

Ok, so I tried placing some of the pre-made lots in edit in game mode, only to find at least one white box on each lot.  I figured it was something non problematic, so I placed one, but when I went to delete the box, it was labeled "Should not appear in game" and wouldn't let me delete it.  Needless to say, I quit without saving.  Also, now that I think about it, they only seemed to appear in front of staircases.

Does anyone have any idea what these boxes are?

I answered this one over here.
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,17804.msg520027.html#msg520027

[kazebird]

Deleting, and replacing them worked!  Thank you.  Here is an update on Avian Valley:



One thing to note about my neighborhood, is that most rabbit holes will have an accessible extension! (Usually, but not always a basement.)  For example the mausoleum will have a tomb underneath.  The diner, a WA style restaurant.  The bookstore, an actual WA bookstore underneath, etc.

[Claeric]

When you visit lots sticking into the water, their textures DO fix themselves in map view, but they will always look terrible in sim view. You should make sure no lots are sticking into the water the way yours are.