For those BBS-phobics....there's a new patch out.

[Pegasys]

I'm going to try it again because it might have been a glitch.  I have the noroadpillows installed, and I tried having a pillow fight in a bedroom last night with the patch, and it kept dropping immediately out of the queue. So there may be an issue with that hack. I'll try it again later.

[JaneSims]

vilia

You probably need to swicth your graphics rules.sgr file back to the original file. You probably modified it to allow more party visitors & the installer is looking for the original.

[vilia]

vilia

You probably need to swicth your graphics rules.sgr file back to the original file. You probably modified it to allow more party visitors & the installer is looking for the original.

I actually hadn't modded that file as I prefer to only have about 2 guests at each party - helps get up to Roof Raiser level quicker.  6th time I downloaded the patch it worked so no idea what was causing the problem.  [shrugs] I just hope it was worth the effort 

[cwykes]

There is only ONE new patch right - for NL!!!!  So everyone without NL who has these bugs in their Uni or base game CAN'T install it.  Same as last time and it really ticks me off!  Please can someone point out to Maxis that most of these bugs and those in the previous patch were not actually related to gameplay and objects in the EPs but to the base game and they should do a complete set of patches every time.   

I'm not the only one playing base game only - I do meet others occasionally especially newbies, who are particularly vulnerable.   Anyone buying the game new now really needs the maxis patch, plus all the old hacks that JM isn't supporting any more.  Otherwise their game will be fubarred before they ever get an EP.  That's bad customer handling apart from bloody annoying.   I also know people who uninstalled NL and went back to Uni only - they can't use this patch either. 

Two specific questions:
1.  If you uninstalled NL, Is there any point re-installing it, patching and then uninstalling NL again?  Will terrain paints still be partly fixed for example and the Uni graduation bugs?

2. When I get OFB - will my base game get patched with everything in the UNI/NL patches? juggling, Headmaster bug, cancelling readme etc etc etc

[Sandilou]

I've taken a gamble and installed the patch.   I have the 3 core games (no Holiday).  As I have a UK version of the game I only had to load the patch onto disk 2 - I don't know if it's the same for others.  It installed first time.  I'm going to try it out now.  I've already removed stuff listed in The Scrapyard.  I do use most of the MATY mods from both the Firing Range and The Armoury, Inteem, Insim, Monique's computer, Quaxi's mod, Crammyboy' s bits, Twojeffs' Casual Romance and Triplets and Quads,  The Rewards package, The Toddler fix, The Mechanical skilling FIY TV mod,  Numenor's NoJittersAfterExpresso and  a couple of custom careers, so I'll flag up anything unusual, should it happen.   Of course, as you can see,  I don't believe in using hacks or mods because they kill all sorts of animals - not just kittens. 

[ThyGuy]

Installed the patch, now my sims jump to the mail box in default stand position anytime I leave them with no commands. Strangely, plumbob is completely dissapearing for a couple sim minutes each time it happens...

reminds me of SimCity 4. Everytime the modders figured something out, Maxis -fixed it- and totally ruined screwed up everything.

[ElviraGoth]

I went ahead and installed the patch, and the only wierd thing I've had happen is that every house with a toddler in it has someone holding the toddler.  And if they were palying with the wabbit, the wabbit sounds are still playing and the toddler has that action in his/her queue.  The wierdest one was a mom that was asleep in bed, her toddler in her arms, and the toddler holding the wabbit.  When I woke up the mom, she stood by the bed holding the toddler and the wabbit was going through her body AND the toddler's.  But when I had her set the toddler down, everything went back to normal.

Kind of like NPC's thinking they are part of the family if they were on a lot when I installed the patch for the base game.

[JenW]

I had something similar happen. The "camera" was in the garage near the drum set when I saved the last time, and when the lot loaded after installing the patch the "sound" animations were coming off the drums (no audio though). It went for a few seconds and then stopped.

[Emma]

I was expecting the energy bar to be virtually full, but there was absolutely no difference in my sims! I am starting to wonder if I actually installed the patch!

[ZephyrZodiac]

Well, if it's midnight on your lot, be thankful, at least they'll all go to bed and sleep till morning!

[BlueSoup]

I did extensive testing on the terrains issue tonight....

And it appears to be completely fixed!  Even on lots that were previously corrupted.

[skandelouslala]

Wow Blue..thanks for the update!  That's great news

[BlueSoup]

Yep, I corrupted the lot every which way I could think of pre-patch.  Then I installed the patch, and tried every which way to get it to crash and it wouldn't.

I also packaged the lot after going into the terrain tool and painting the entire lot with a Maxis terrain, with custom terrains enabled, and the only thing that packaged was the lotsegmentforupload.  The only thing I haven't tried yet is packaging the lot with a custom terrain painted, to see how many terrains come with it, but that'll be next.

I'm confident it's fixed. 

Edit:  And it only packages the terrains you actually use.

YAY!!

[Sandilou]

Well, my game is less than awesome.  It's crashed 3 times with an audio sound error (among many others).  After the first crash I took out possible duplicate fixes after checking the Uni and Nightlife patch updates lists.  It crashed at 11am.  I figured maybe its one of the NPCs.  So I took out any fixes/mods that could be linked and fired the gardener.  It still crashed around 11am.  So I went into debug mode and it kept listing audio sound errors.  I took out JM's folder, set all the graphics and audio settings to low.  It managed to run until 3pm (the return of the schoolkids).  Then it crashed.  I'm using TJ's school dialogue, but I don't believe that's what's causing the crashes.  The music/audio jams as if its a stuck record and that's what's triggering the crash.

I must confess that I'm using an unstable lot anyway: I've been using Doc Doofus' mod so there are 19 sims on the lot.  I guess it's too much for the Patch to handle - but it ran smoothly before this Patch with the MATY mods (and all of the others) in place.  This looks like a System Restore jobbie because I don't have the time to beta test Maxian patches.  

[ZephyrZodiac]

Sandilou, do you have a vanilla game?  If so, you could try that and see if the patch is working as it's suppose to, then go back to your original game and try making a new lot and a family of maybe 3 or 4 sims to see if that runs OK.  If that all works fine, but your large family keeps crashing, maybe it's time some of the members moved on?

[jrd]

FWIW, I have updated and removed the hacks I listed. No apparent conflicts.

[maxon]

Well, my game is less than awesome.  It's crashed 3 times with an audio sound error (among many others).  After the first crash I took out possible duplicate fixes after checking the Uni and Nightlife patch updates lists.  It crashed at 11am.  I figured maybe its one of the NPCs.  So I took out any fixes/mods that could be linked and fired the gardener.  It still crashed around 11am.  So I went into debug mode and it kept listing audio sound errors.  I took out JM's folder, set all the graphics and audio settings to low.  It managed to run until 3pm (the return of the schoolkids).  Then it crashed.  I'm using TJ's school dialogue, but I don't believe that's what's causing the crashes.  The music/audio jams as if its a stuck record and that's what's triggering the crash.

I must confess that I'm using an unstable lot anyway: I've been using Doc Doofus' mod so there are 19 sims on the lot.  I guess it's too much for the Patch to handle - but it ran smoothly before this Patch with the MATY mods (and all of the others) in place.  This looks like a System Restore jobbie because I don't have the time to beta test Maxian patches.  

Report back some more Sandilou if you can.  My set up is very similar to yours and I was just about to use the Dr Doofus hack because I want to move a student back to the family home and it's full.

[Emma]

Ditto Jordi-I removed the hacks you listed too No problems, and is it my imagination...or does the game load and run faster? It used to take up to 5 mins to load up, and I timed it yesterday and it took just over 3. My game in play seems more smooth too.

I'm going to test out the inventory thing soon too, I need to move out my sim couple who have just had a new baby. I am going to put everything in there I can, and move them from downtown to my main n'hood.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Pity they can't put the baby in the inventory!  then they could get settle into the new house, deal with the visitors etc. before having to change and feed etc!

[Emma]

Well by the time the baby is fed,cuddled and put to bed, the welcome wagon comes over...so it isn't too bad

[RainbowTigress]

The music/audio jams as if its a stuck record and that's what's triggering the crash.

The music/audio getting stuck may only be a symptom of the problem, not the cause.  Those audio erros are common in everyone's game.  JM and TJ both said they don't mean anything.  Have you tried running the game in debug mode and seeing if you get an error log?  It could be that the lot is too full for your computer to handle, but then that doesn't make sense because it handled it prior to the patch, so I am not sure what they could have changed.  Perhaps you could try lowering your video settings.  I know you said you didn't have time to test this out though, which I totally understand.  But if you haven't already restored your system, maybe you could try the debug mode just to see if it spits out any kind of error log for us to look at.

[Sandilou]

Oh dear....just blew up my game. Completely.  I've reduced loading time to 0.2 seconds...as in CRASH!!!!
When I loaded the game the first time - it got to the neighbourhood screen but crashed when trying to load the neighbourhood.
OK....so I went to my vanilla account and loaded the game there - only it crashed withini 8 seconds of loading.
So I decided to take out the FIY Channel - as that has changes to the Program File EA Folder, which had made global changes to the game.
The game crashed in record time.  Now it won't even load at all. 

Thanks for the tips, ZZ and Emma.  The debug errors listed included doubles of recolours which I think referred to Echos farming foods.  On that lot, the stereo, the tv and the DJ's box were all on at the same time.  It might just have been too much for my sound card.  The lot slows down with the arrival and departure of vehicles.  I have no recoloured/mod vehicles, so its just specific to my pc, I think.

Maxon, I had a trojan on my pc account the day before yesterday, which I got rid of.  That could have done some damage prior to this install.  Others here have downloaded the patch without any problems.

I don't have much luck with Maxian patches anyway.  My TS2 game on its own worked perfectly until they patched it.  Multiple NPCs and stuck vehicles marked the beginning of the end of that era of game playing.  Then there was Uni (God!)...and the long wait for that Patch.  Nightlife's built in Patch worked far better.  Guess I'll have to wait for OFB, which I had planned on buying anyway.  I can't play the game without my hacks and mods.  The games on their own seem like pie pastry without the filling. 

[ZephyrZodiac]

Have you scanned your registry to be sure the trojan didn't damage any of your registry entries?

[angelyne]

What was the trojan anyway

[Tgdrysix]

Yep, I corrupted the lot every which way I could think of pre-patch.  Then I installed the patch, and tried every which way to get it to crash and it wouldn't.

I also packaged the lot after going into the terrain tool and painting the entire lot with a Maxis terrain, with custom terrains enabled, and the only thing that packaged was the lotsegmentforupload.  The only thing I haven't tried yet is packaging the lot with a custom terrain painted, to see how many terrains come with it, but that'll be next.

I'm confident it's fixed. 

Edit:  And it only packages the terrains you actually use.

I've just installed the patch but haven't run my game with it yet...have you tried deleting some of the terrain paints without any issues?  I have quite a few I would like to get rid of but haven't cause I didn't want to mess up any of my lots I may or maynot have used them on.... .... I also have a house I had uploaded which had custom terrain paints and I would like to get rid of it too but have been hesitant to do so....is this "safe" now?  Thanks, Tgdrysix

YAY!!