So, what's the best way to sort through and cull one's downloads?

[Niomi]

Rip my lips off if you wish but I didn't see this topic anywhere. Loading times of my game is getting pretty long and I have a lot of ugly shit I need to be rid of.

The Sims 2 and bodyshop interfaces go back to the beginning of the list every time something is deleted, it's not very efficient to have to scroll back into the middle of the custom content you are culling when you have a shitload of it and it takes forever to load. Sims2Pack seems to be the best option so far, although just seeing the image of the texture is inadequate I don't feel like Sims2Pack gives me a good idea of what an item looks like in game.

So if anyone is utilizing a better method I'd love to hear about it.

[sara_dippity]

Nip over clutteration at the source. Use subfolders, cull undesirables after first installing them. I remove my downloads then cull the new ones, then add the new ones to the old ones before playing a house.

[Mens Mortuus]

Take pictures of everything and include the names of the meshes in the pictures. Sounds anal, but useful with clothes/accessories/objects. Later when you go on a culling spree you'll find it a lot easier, and the initial organizing might put you off from getting too much junk (it did for me).
It would be helpful to have a separate Sims 2 set just to view new downloads. Less loading time and instant identification of the packages.

[Weaver]

Coincidentally, Delphy released an organiser tool - http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=227925

[halfeatencorpse]

Coincidentally, Delphy released an organiser tool - http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=227925

Thanks for the info & link.  I've been having much the same problem lately, though the main source of my frustration has to do with orphaned textures and meshes, due in part to my Sims Connection subscription incident (oh, the horror!), so I'll give it a go. 

[starrling]

Well, frankly, I refuse to download it until he offers lunch and the Ion Cannon for download as well:

Delphy quote:
* Disclaimer: Does not make lunch.
** Ion Cannon sold seperately.

[jsalemi]

I was going to suggest Paladin's Categorizer over on sim wardrobe, but Delphy's looks like it's even better.  Off to download it...

[witch]

Isn't jfade working on one too? I have an idea we're waiting - we've even named it. 

I'll give Delphy's a go too, I so wish there was an easier way to manage everything.

[eevilcat]

I've just gone through the long and painful process of sorting out all my downloads and it's taken about 3 weeks of upto several hours a day to finally figure out what everything is. I do quite a bit of lot-building as well as playing so I have a lot of content. I wanted to know what it was I was culling before it got the chop. The upshot is that I now have my in-game downloads folder organised into sub-folders that match the categories in build/buy/clothing in the game. Content is further organised in each category by a sub-folder for each custom mesh and its associated recolours. The in-game folders contains only package files. For buy mode I have both 'By Function' folders for individual items and 'By Room' folders for sets that encompass several of the by function sub-folders. In addition there is a hacks sub-folder that gathers together all the goodies that make the game work/fun. My downloads folder is currently about 1.9Gb, 9,000 files.

Separate to this I have a mirrored set of 'source' folders/sub-folders with all the original zips/rars and a picture of what the item is. It was actually tracking down the pictures that was the hardest part as a lot of the package/zip files didn't have sensible names. You really need the pictures as otherwise you don't have a hope in hell of trying to remember what something is 6 months down the line. I also include the name of the source website in the sub-folder name for the same reason. The organisation looks like this:
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j136/spacedcat/downloads.jpg

As you can see I further organise the source (and in-game) folders by mesh/mesh sets that they use. This is especially important for clothing where you are more likely to get recolours. I have lots of these!
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j136/spacedcat/downloads2.jpg

I have a lot more downloads in the source folders and view the in-game downloads folder as a subset that suits the particular style/setting of game I'm playing at the moment. In fact the recent posts about cyberpunk/steampunk have set me thinking about doing something futuristic/industrial so I have now started stockpiling suitable custom content for a future neighbourhood. Now that I have the folders properly organised it's easy to store new custom content in the correct place for future use. I just wish I'd been uber-organised from the outset.

[witch]

How do you manage when you get recolours from another site, for a mesh that's included with the first site's recolours? I ended up putting the meshes in the root folder and recolours according to the artists, otherwise if I tried to keep things clustered by site, I ended up with a zillion of the same mesh.

[eevilcat]

In my source folder I keep the recolours with their associated mesh in a named sub-folder as you need the mesh for the recolour to work in game. You can see this in the second picture link I posted. The mesh is ChrikoLaceSeamHeels (MESH_chriko_LaceSeamHeels.zip) from 2-for-U and in there is the original recolour (chriko_burgundy.zip) plus another recolour from Sims2Cri (sims2cri_fae_rossoconstrass.rar). I have exactly the same sub-folder under downloads with the unzipped mesh package file and the two associated recolour package files. It doesn't matter if both recolours zips/rars contain the mesh file as there will only be one in the downloads folder. If I delete that sub-folder then I delete ALL the recolours associated with that particular mesh at the same time.

I used to organise sub-folders by artist/source website but found this really doesn't work due to all the duplicate or missing meshes. Fortunately I've been organising clothes be mesh for the last 6 months or so and as it worked best I've used it for all the other downloads. I just wish I'd saved images from the start.

[Lorelei]

Isn't jfade working on one too? I have an idea we're waiting - we've even named it. 

Just for clothing, yes?

[witch]

I believe so - but it will have PICTURES. 

[Annette]

I do wish I had pictures. It seems so obvious now you mention it  From now on I will try to remember to download them, particularly for clothes.
I have been organising by site, but that has proved not the best way to go. So I have an 'essentials' folder with things like the censor blur remover, Inge's no empty potty and Dr Pixels custom fire alarms....items that I really need even in a no cc game.

I do wish I had been organised from the start......maybe with Sims3 

[Zazazu]

The organisation looks like this:
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j136/spacedcat/downloads.jpg

You only have that many custom plants? Noob*

*in case tone wasn't amply implied, I tease. I have, perhaps, 40 or so custom decorative plants, and more in build mode. I also have a heck of a time locating specific ones when making new homes, so eh.

[rohina]

Heh. My plants folder is totally the biggest in my downloads.

Well, except for that scary folder called "Hairs, need sorting."

[eevilcat]

You only have that many custom plants? Noob*

*in case tone wasn't amply implied, I tease. I have, perhaps, 40 or so custom decorative plants, and more in build mode. I also have a heck of a time locating specific ones when making new homes, so eh.

Only that many so far.  I used the custom plants folder as it had the fewest sub-folders so it all fitted on the screen. I've got 25+ sets of custom curtain meshes and almost equally large amounts of rugs, wall hangings etc. I'm paying more attention to outside decor in my lots now so the custom plant deluge has started. I always check poly counts on the plants as some of them can be excessive given the number you're likely to place on a lot (especially if they're for outside use).

One thing I forgot to mention is that I've started using the collection creator tool from http://www.djssims.com - with all my downloads organised by sub-folder it's really easy to make a collection file using the add batch files by directory option. The slowest bit is creating sensible icons so that you can quickly recognise collections.

I have a vast number of custom windows/doors sets so with those I overlay the set name over a window/door image then scale it down to 32x32 pixels to make the collection icon. I've only done collection files for some of my windows and doors sets so far but it's made build mode far less painfull.

[Emma]

New pooter is coming soon (*cries* it has Vista, and I am very scared!) and I am seriously tempted to throw everything away and start again. Especially with hair. My hair folder is megafuckinghuge. I am going to be very strict on hair I download, only really awesome hair will make it. And none of Peggys
I don't have many custom objects in game, just ones that add to the maxis stuff, but for some reason I have hundreds of paintings and plant recolours! Oh and far too many rugs. Thanks for the link to the Delphy thing, I will try it to tidy up my object folder before transferring it over.

[witch]

Be careful with the Delphy programme Emma. I've had variable results and I've been playing with it all afternoon. I kept doing a rescan, each time it came up with new orphaned meshes or recolours. I saw somebody said it was deleting the file one away from the one chosen, so that could muck things up. Plus I've had plenty of errors - it can't delete properly. Then when I rescan, it finds new empty packages since my last orphan delete. Then it finds NEW orphan meshes it didn't find before.

I've restored my downloads and I'll wait a week or two for some of the bugs to be worked out.

PS YAY for the new puter Emma!!

[Emma]

Thanks witch

[jfade]

Isn't jfade working on one too? I have an idea we're waiting - we've even named it. 

Yup... soon... soon...

I believe so - but it will have PICTURES.

I hope... I hope...

So far, no email back from Maxis, and all attempts to figure out the info myself is going slower than ... something that goes slow. No luck here. Should anyone have lots of time and want to start hashing stuff to try and get a matching thing, that would be great! At the very least though it'll have the flat pictures.

[witch]

I truly appreciate the fact that you're even attempting this! Along with many others no doubt. After a day wrestling with Delphy's programme, I'm even keener. 

[floopyboo]

I just go through with notepad open & write down the product descriptions given in game (if you hover your mouse over they usually give you a name) and if the maker wasn't an arsemonkey, the file should be the same or at least similar. Then I go in & delete those.

After that, there's a couple of residual bits of evil so I delete them in-game & go looking for any empty folders after & delete those. Takes me a day or two, which is why I put it off until I load a new expansion pack.

[Inge]

I'd always use one of jfade's programs over delphy's cos you can talk to jfade about his work sensibly if you need to.  Also he's one of us.

[nekonoai]

I agree with Inge. I was trying Delphy's for the orphan scanner, praying it would load faster than the simpe one, and it does, but it listed files that I knew for a FACT that they weren't orphan recolors. So I don't really trust it much yet.

I use the sim wardrobe object thingie... what's it called. LOL To organize my objects. Well, more precisely, to view/delete [using delete special] objects, and then I use simpe to find orphaned recolors [because it f'n WORKS properly].  I also use the full delete/move to move objects and their recolors that I want to keep to a 'keep' folder located somewhere else. Thing about that program, if you notice purple question marks, it just means that the item hasn't been loaded in the game yet. You hafta load em into game and then go through the entire object catalog for everything to show up. A bit time consuming, and you might thing it would be just as fast to delete within game, but... There you go.

I've got WAY too many objects. I've managed to clean up clothes, and hair is almost manageable, but the objects is off the hook. I blame [my addiction to] PMBD