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

[laeshanin]

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

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

Ooooh... me too, except mine is the "WTF random numbers crap?' folder.

[Sandilou]

I took the advise of the Wise One here and deleted everything without a name to start with.   Then I got truly organised and put all items in their creator's folders except the big global ones like ACR, Insim and InTeen. 

I download  on these principles:

1. Non-global hacks that add to gameplay.
2. Modded objects that DO something and can be sold as part of a business (OFB)
3. Beautiful hair - Because.
4. Themed clothing - I play historical lots.  But even there I had so much I took out the folders and stored them in a separate harddrive with the view that if I really needed them I'd go back and choose just enough to play with.  JM rightly pointed out that you only really need enough clothes for your sims to wear - if they're not wearing them why clog up your game?

My last big cull which was done around OFB was when I decided if an object didn't add to the game play then I shouldn't have it.  I also decided that furniture recolours just took up space and if I really, really had to have them then I would have to go back to the source to download it.  Needless to say, I don't have many recolours.  Naturally, if you are a keen builder that would not apply to you in the same way.

Now that I am sorted and organised my downloads folder is a slim 2.10GB and my game loads quickly.  An afternoon (or two days) spent sorting pays dividends.

Personally, I think it's much easier to start with an empty Downloads folder and put in new labelled folders the stuff you want to keep, than it is to start deleting stuff in Bodyshop or CAS - its too time consuming (and its bloody boring).  Plus rebuilding your Downloads folder is like going shopping - it's fun!

I just did a mini-cull with Seasons, because I had to remove hacks anyway and I put the extracted stuff (mainly historical downloads) I will need to use later in folders on a separate hard drive. I also deleted all the downloaded files that I'd already extracted stuff from - they were just taking up space and I don't know why I was hoarding anyway.

My final recommendation: go for a  brand new slimline Downloads folder - don't waste your time deleting.

[Batelle]

I had my download folder at under 1 GB and was so proud of myself.  For objects, I did some investagatory work and figured out what creators had the best quality to file size ratio and booted out the rest.  Hair and clothes I waded through in CAS.

A week or two ago I got a bug and decided I had to have a new neighbourhood for a story that spans centuries and continents.  I think I just wanted to go on a download spree, and that gave me an excuse  My folder is now up to 2.5 GB and I'm already sick of loading times.  I think I'm going to have to go back to my basics because even with a metric assload of options, 99% of my houses are built and decorated using only objects from Holy Simoly and by Cyclonesue and Windkeeper and I never use any of Peggy's hair. I really need to come to terms with this. Is there a support group?

[Sandilou]

ha ha! 

One good thing about Seasons is that toddlers are finally aging with randomised lotbinned hair.  Hooray!  Hence my *hidden number of gigs* of hairstyles.  Not to mention the fact that hair can finally be matched to outfits.  Barbie doll anyone? 

I would love to get down to 1 GB but even I accept that that isn't going to happen: downloading is now part of my DNA.

[Gwill]

My hair folder alone is one gig.  And that's after I pruned away all the bad pay hairs, bulletproof hairspray meshes and all the stuff I'd just never use.  All binned, with shared grey colour, and unused textures deleted.
But I have reduced my downloads folder from 4GB to 2.3GB, and that's quite an achievement; expecially since I didn't lose anything I'd actually miss.

[Diala]

My downloads folder is less than one gig, and even then, I kind of need to go back and start trimming stuff. I downloaded a lot of decoration objects when I was first starting out, and now those items seem worthless. (How many bathroom clutters do I need? :P)

Perhaps I am a picky person, and also the kind that doesn't really like navigating sites unless I am looking for something specific. Right now, I am searching for decent clothes. Now THAT I actually use.

[Leticron]

I tried Delphie's Organiser....but somehow it didn't "totally convice" me, even tho the Orphans-Option is quite nice!
I always usedSims2Clean-Installer which takes care of doubles and lets me move stuff into subfolders which are created as needed.

-le

[Ambular]

I'm finding Delphy's new organizer somewhat helpful for weeding out orphans (it still returns a lot of false positives, but it whittles the list down far enough that I can pick the actual orphans out manually.)  I'm liking its search function, too.  Between that, Clean Installer, SimPE and Categorizer, it seems I've now got most of the important download-organizing bases covered, if imperfectly.

[Li'l Brudder]

...I saw somebody said it was deleting the file one away from the one chosen, so that could muck things up...

'Twas me!  I go by many names!  Clarence may or may not be one of them.

Oh, and jfade>Delphy.

[nataku]

I find HomeCrafter Plus to be useful in viewing and deleting custome floors, walls and ground textures as I can go through them all, see what they look like and who made them/where they came from and then decide which ones I wont use and delete them.

[wetninja]

I used the Delphys program in conjunction with the sims clean installer.  I used it for the orphaned files only when it listed them I went through the clean in staller.  I to found that a large number of my recolor cloths were coming out as orphans.  But there was a large number of other files that I knew were actually orphaned and disabled or removed them through the clean installer.

I have not started up my game today since I finished this two day project.  I am all for a program that is much more accurate if it is out there or is in the process of being available.

[J. M. Pescado]

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

del *.*
unzip moreawesomethanyou.zip

[Zazazu]

My downloads folder is less than one gig, and even then, I kind of need to go back and start trimming stuff. I downloaded a lot of decoration objects when I was first starting out, and now those items seem worthless. (How many bathroom clutters do I need? )

Perhaps I am a picky person, and also the kind that doesn't really like navigating sites unless I am looking for something specific. Right now, I am searching for decent clothes. Now THAT I actually use.

Mangosims2 (http://mangosims2.free.fr/) is truly evil in that regard. Every set is chock full of decorative objects, and it can be next to impossible to know which are which until you find some random object six months ago (even if you do know a fair bit of French). How many empty vases do I need? Do I trully need a whole bunch of different sized sticks?

[Lorelei]

Use simcat, Zazazu. You can zorch useless decor in there just fine...

...and, with babelfish, rewrite frenchy comments, too.

[Zazazu]

You mean this? http://www.simcat.ca ? I hardly see how some governmental renovation project in Montreal will help me.






Oh wait...this http://148.122.173.174/pplace/Sims2cat_Main.htm Actually, that's just what I was looking for, thanks. Nothing else gives me pictures that look like much of anything.