But it seemed like such a good idea at the time!

[Regina]

Why do we do this to ourselves?  Why is it we end up downloading so much stuff that our games will barely chug along, then have to get rid of 90% of it to play?  AARRGGHHH!!!  I've been at this for something like five hours now, and there's no use saying a word here at home because no one would understand.

And does anyone besides me have something like 40 different bathroom sets, but never in the right price range?  Like the cheap sink, expensive toilet, expensive shower match, but there's no cheap toilet or cheap sink or even a tub, and there's no expensive sink for later upgrades.

I really thought at first it was going to be so much easier keeping track of objects with the way they're set up in TS2.  I've found it's a lot harder for me.  In TS1 I could find everything I was seeking at a glance.  In TS2 I have to dig and dig and dig to find the matching objects and even making categories don't always work because it would take something like 100 of them in order to get things right.

[bloodstainedkisses]

Yep, I know what you mean about download folders... I've got to go through mine, and try and organize, and get rid of some. If not, I may very well end up starting over again, with a fresh game. We will see... I doubt it, but we'll see. I'd hate to loose all my downloads. =(

[MsMaria]

I feel your pain. For weeks now I haven't really played the game because of the loading time. When I first installed it, I waited maybe 20 seconds to play. Now sometimes it taked 40 minutes! I spend much of my free time perusing sites for new downloads. It's insane. What's the point of having thousands of d/l's for the game if I can't really play it?

I need an intervention. (Plus a new motherboard so I can add more RAM).

[Verona]

Probably need to form some sort of support group for downloading Sims 2 goodies. Even got DSL to feed my addiction. Now I am getting extremely "picky" about what I download. Wish sometimes the price of the item was available because I download and then see the item in the game and can't afford to buy it.  Solved that problem by creating cheating and non-cheating neighborhoods in order to use some of the higher end items. Sigh, I'll still be downloading again tomorrow, and the day after that, and...

[Regina]

I don't mind some of the more expensive stuff because with Uni it's just too easy for my sims to get rich, and with my computer I don't dare build large houses, let alone clutter them up with a lot of objects because everything just gets so stinkin' slow.  Of course because it all gets so slow I get real lazy about buying new stuff for my poor simmies.

I think it's easier just to blow out everything in the game and start fresh.  I have back-ups of everything I downloaded.  Unfortunately that also includes the content I no longer really want so I can't just stick it all blindly back into the game, but probably can at least sort through and find most of what I do want to put back in. 

[J. M. Pescado]

Maybe you should restrict yourself to only downloading from MATY, and deleting all of your custom content that you are not actually using. Remember, a sim can only wear one hair, and one uniform of a type. Unless you have a few thousand sims, you definitely do not need hundreds of hairs and uniforms! Stuff the unused ones away, they don't need to be loaded just to take up space.

[Regina]

Actually, I have only been downloading from MATY for about three months now!    I don't download objects often and only have a handful of sites I visit about every couple of months or so.  Hair styles are one of the easiest things for me to resist.  At first I was downloading quite a bit more, but then when I got to seeing how they really look on my sims I quit getting so many.  Indeed, sims can only wear one hairstyle--at a time.

I also go through periodically and delete objects and textures in-game and delete unnecessary genetics, makeup and clothes through BodyShop (I got rid of all custom eyes and skintones a long time ago).  I've been keeping my entire DL folder's content to under a gig--right now it's at 442 megs, but I do have to put at least some clothes and hair back in.  And yes, my sims do wear those clothes and the hairstyles--my opinion of most of the in-game clothing is that they're disgusting. 

[JadeEliott]

My new rule is this. Once I get to the point where it takes more than five minutes to open my game, I will start a new Main Downloads Folder and put the new stuff in there to be used with a new hood. Having so many dls you can't play is not smart I found...but having another hood to rotate to that has all new stuff works.

I would DL stuff that fits into different hoods by type, like victorian stuff in one DLs folder for that type hood, but I do not do themed hoods. So it is just based on when each hood reaches it's custom content limit...add another hood with appropriate DLs folder.

That should help. :-)

[MsMaria]

Thanks Jade, that's a good idea.

[SaraMK]

Jade, it seems we think alike.

I have a whole bunch of different game sets (usually with just one neighborhood each), and each has its own custom content. There is some stuff that I want in each neighborhood (some of Helaene's makeup, etc), but mostly it's all individual. I have LOTS of "themed" neighborhoods, so this makes sense for me. Why have a bunch of Victorian-era dresses in a futuristic-themed neighborhood? Actually, it's my alien neighborhood that caused me to start doing this. Once I started it, I quickly realized it was really annoying scrolling past through stuff that I would never use in that neighborhood.

By doing this I have so far managed to stay under 10,000 files for each neighborhood (in many cases it's much, much less). The most I'm willing to wait for the game to load is around 5 minutes. If it creeps toward 6, I start culling. Most of my neighborhoods load in under 3 minutes right now... but this is after a bit of cleaning over the past few weeks.

I actually don't care much about objects. I can play with just Maxis objects and only a few recolors for the objects that otherwise just don't fit anywhere (like that stupid toilet stall that comes only in that hideous green). But I can't stand not having choice for makeup and hair, walls and floors, and to a lesser extent glasses and accessories. So that's what I have the most of.

[flowerchile]

My extremely UN-organised downloads folder has 429 MB.  There is no order or subfolders, index or system, it is just one big sloppy mess which I may sort out when hell freezes over.  I got to the point where my game took a cigarette and a coffee to load, was quite choppy and nasty me blamed all the downloads.  Then I got a new virus thingamajiggy, (thank you neighbor), which found a contaminated file, deleted that and everything has sped up beautifully.   

[Ancient Sim]

In my case, it's coming out of the game that takes forever with my downloads folder in, whereas with it out it's instantly back to my desktop. 

I do have a couple of questions relating to custom content that nobody seems able to answer.  First, if I delete a custom hairstyle or clothing item, will the mesh automatically be deleted and secondly, if I download a full Sim and use that Sim to make a character in the game, can I then delete that Sim from BodyShop, or will doing so mean the Sim will change totally within the game?

[Renatus]

Deleting a custom hairstyle or piece of clothing that uses a special mesh in-game or through bodyshop will not delete the mesh. You will have to hunt it down yourself to delete it.

Sims in the bodyshop/CAS sim bin can be safely deleted once a sim is made from them. Once the sim is made and in the neighborhood sim bin or a house they don't use any data from the CAS sim bin sim. I've done it many times myself.

[maxon]

Why do we do this to ourselves?  Why is it we end up downloading so much stuff that our games will barely chug along, then have to get rid of 90% of it to play?  AARRGGHHH!!!  I've been at this for something like five hours now, and there's no use saying a word here at home because no one would understand.

And does anyone besides me have something like 40 different bathroom sets, but never in the right price range?  Like the cheap sink, expensive toilet, expensive shower match, but there's no cheap toilet or cheap sink or even a tub, and there's no expensive sink for later upgrades.

I really thought at first it was going to be so much easier keeping track of objects with the way they're set up in TS2.  I've found it's a lot harder for me.  In TS1 I could find everything I was seeking at a glance.  In TS2 I have to dig and dig and dig to find the matching objects and even making categories don't always work because it would take something like 100 of them in order to get things right.

Here's an irritatingly smug suggestion.  I test anything I put in the game without all my other Downloads in.  If I DL a set of something (and like a lot of people I don't DL much nowadays), I make a collection of the set while I'm testing it.  That way I can find the parts of the set easily when I want them again.

[angelyne]

Maybe you should restrict yourself to only downloading from MATY, and deleting all of your custom content that you are not actually using. Remember, a sim can only wear one hair, and one uniform of a type. Unless you have a few thousand sims, you definitely do not need hundreds of hairs and uniforms! Stuff the unused ones away, they don't need to be loaded just to take up space.

That's like telling a woman she doesn't really need a closet full of clothes, she can easily do with pne dress and a good set of clothes for church on Sunday

What I do to feed my addiction is to have a separate download folders when I store everything I download.  Only some of it goes into my game.  I have the rest there "just in case"  Typical pack rat reasoning   Funny because I am not like that in RL.  I've long ago learned not to buy anything just for the heck of it.  It just turns into clutter.

I've considered doing just what you proposed JM.  Removing what I am not using.  The problem is a bit catch 22.  Since the game takes 5+ minutes to load, who wants to shut it down in order to put something back in the game.  So you have everything at hand in case you need it.  I wish that TS2 would let you add content on the fly, like a sort of file open type of thing.

The problem for me is that part of my enjoyment is constantly fiddling with the decor.  Adding this, adding that, changing the wallpaper.  I find that I tend to favor playing houses that are well decorated. 

As for clothes, well there are so many categories : toddler, child, teen, young adult, adult elder.  Then you have undies, swim, casual (top, bottom, full) , formal,  sleep.  That's 40 different categories.  So if even if you restrict yourself to few choices which is hard to do, it can easily add up to monstrous amount of files.

Which reminds me I am due for a culling

[angelyne]

and even making categories don't always work because it would take something like 100 of them in order to get things right.

BTW, Loverat on MTS2 has created a collection of icons for use in collections.  I don't know if there are 100, but there were a LOT

[J. M. Pescado]

That's like telling a woman she doesn't really need a closet full of clothes, she can easily do with pne dress and a good set of clothes for church on Sunday

You can. The ones that can't are stupid and just need a bit of smacking.

I've considered doing just what you proposed JM.  Removing what I am not using.  The problem is a bit catch 22.  Since the game takes 5+ minutes to load, who wants to shut it down in order to put something back in the game.  So you have everything at hand in case you need it.  I wish that TS2 would let you add content on the fly, like a sort of file open type of thing.

The definition of "not using" kinda precludes "putting it back".

As for clothes, well there are so many categories : toddler, child, teen, young adult, adult elder.  Then you have undies, swim, casual (top, bottom, full) , formal,  sleep.  That's 40 different categories.  So if even if you restrict yourself to few choices which is hard to do, it can easily add up to monstrous amount of files.

Considering that many of these categories of clothes are items you will basically never see, you don't need to get fancy uniforms in every category. Sims basically never use their underwear except for woohoo, don't swim all that much because it provides very little benefit, and the only thing they do with "sleep" is, well, "sleep". This is very boring and not at all worth paying much attention to.

[angelyne]

Spoken like a true man!! 

Oh I forgot to mention a little trick I use when i want to "store" some items without necessirely removing them entirely.  I zip the items and leave it in my download folder.  This way the game won't load the items, but the zip serves as a visible reminder that it's avalaible.

PS.  JM are you trying to tell me that 66 different bikinis for adult females is too much ?   Ok maybe you got a point lol

[Batelle]

I've always been financially disadvantaged and addicted to catalogues.  Downloading stuff for the Sims is like living out that compulsion in the lowest cost way possible (excepting identity theft).  Last night I realized that Sunair's content is like freaking Ikea/the Gap for sims.  I'm the least fussy person in the world and my sims are fashion plates (well, by my standards which is not a Miss America ideal of blowsy haired, overly made-up beauty).

I'm fortunate, though.  These days I keep my neighborhoods underpopulated and my households smallish.  I periodically do a quick sweep to eradicate the dead weight to make room for something new I just have to have.  Even though my initial load time is about 15 minutes (before I organized my downloads folder)  I can usually find something to occupy my time- like reading or Sudoku. 

[dawnkeeper]

I have 1.67 GB of sims downloads in my folder. That is way down from a few months ago when I decided to take measures and deleted most of what I never use. I also have my folder compressed. It seems to make a difference.

My game loads ultra-fast though. I have no problems there. But for now I do not need any more hair or clothing or anything else for that matter. Only critical fixes from MATY and such.

Usually when I am unhappy with my downloads status, I just remove my downloads folder, archive it on my slave drive for reference, then start a new neighborhood with a clean slate (except for critical fixes). That way whenever a hack, etc pops out at me as something I need I get it from my archived downloads folder. Works rather well I think anyway.

[jrd]

Before: 4.63GB, 9793 items
After: 767 MB, 1922 items

I always download far too much and then forget to delete the cruft.

[Issy]

I'm fortunate, though.  These days I keep my neighborhoods underpopulated and my households smallish.  I periodically do a quick sweep to eradicate the dead weight to make room for something new I just have to have.  Even though my initial load time is about 15 minutes (before I organized my downloads folder)  I can usually find something to occupy my time- like reading or Sudoku. 

If it takes you 15 mins to load the game, how does ure game run after? do you lag alot while playing? I've never had as many downloads as that on any comp Ive played and even tho it takes me like 2-3 mins to load, bigger lots that I load to play can get quite laggy.

[Brynne]

I wouldn't mind keeping only the stuff I actually have in play and getting rid of the rest. I wish there was a way to see what's being used or not, though, while out of the game. I'm tired of blindly deleting badly named files and going into the game to find every female walkby is now bald and wearing the same burgundy shirt/capris outfit. 

[yetyak]

We need a program like the "whatused" one for Sims 1.  Told you every item being used in each neighborhood, then you could make .far files of it all and name them after the negihborhood.  Decide which neighborhood you wanted to play and put in the right download file.  And yes, I even had a sheet of paper for each neighborhood with a chart of which families lived in which lot... With everything in the game at the same time, it took 45 minutes to load; and that was minimized!  There is no way I can even begin to say that I am not a downloadaholic...

[Batelle]

I'm fortunate, though.  These days I keep my neighborhoods underpopulated and my households smallish.  I periodically do a quick sweep to eradicate the dead weight to make room for something new I just have to have.  Even though my initial load time is about 15 minutes (before I organized my downloads folder)  I can usually find something to occupy my time- like reading or Sudoku. 

If it takes you 15 mins to load the game, how does ure game run after? do you lag alot while playing? I've never had as many downloads as that on any comp Ive played and even tho it takes me like 2-3 mins to load, bigger lots that I load to play can get quite laggy.

I just reorganized my downloads folder and it took about 7 minutes to load.  In game, depending on lot size, it takes about 3 minutes to load a lot and there are lags whenever something/one comes onto the lot, but nothing extreme or intolerable.  Huge lots take longer to load and are sometimes annoying to navigate if they're packed with detail.  When I play the Goth house, for example, I have to delete the fence running the perimeter of the yard because it slows my game to a crawl (actually, any house with lots of fencing is problematic).  After that, I have no problems.