Preparing for post-NL expansion packs

[Yimmit]

Did you say reinstall before? (I guess I shut that out). I'll try.

Mum has a very shiny iMac G5 that I bought her for Xmas a coupla years ago.  Charter cable is the reason I can't internet from her machine (AOL sucks bigtime, but I at least used to be able to hook up my machine to internet on her account). And I have a MacBook Pro, fully capable of handling all versions of the sims up to and including seasons. [Oh now that I read more carefully, you are assuming a laptop would keep mom in bed...., um, no, a crossword puzzle book, maybe, but a laptop, no...she doesn't quite understand the power of the internet. I forgive her because she's over 70. It's amazing she's figured out e-mail. Dad's worse at 93. Mom prints out all the e-mails and web pages she wants dad to read!]

If lowbart's on mac and pets bypasses any of these problems, I'd love to know. I didn't want to go to pets, but if I have to....

[ZephyrZodiac]

You don't need to uninstall/reinstall everything, just OFB.  Take everything you want to keep out of the game folders - downloads, neighbourhoods etc., as the uninstall will delete everything in MyDocuments/EAGames (or whatever the equivalent location is on a Mac), uninstall OFB, then defragment and generally clean up your hard drive and then reinstall OFB.  After that, you can delete the game folders you don't want and copy back your saves stuff, then load your game and see what happens.

I'll bet there are crossword puzzles out there on the net somewhere.....

[Yimmit]

Tried the reinstall (everything was already out of the main folder for this process, I was waiting for one week of bug-free play before restoring my old hoods.) No luck. It is that end of sophomore/beginning of junior year dialog that is crashing my game to desktop. All I have in my downloads folder are the aforementioned hacks. Even without those it crashed to desktop. That doesn't let you make error logs, right?

Plus, I know I'm frustrated, but I do want to say a big thank you ZZ.

[ZephyrZodiac]

You could use Two Jeffs College Adjuster and just move them up into Junior Year and see if that solves the crash problem.  And let Aspyria know so if they bring out a patch, there's a chance they'll address the issue as you may well not be alone in having this problem.

[Yimmit]

And let Aspyria know so if they bring out a patch, there's a chance they'll address the issue as you may well not be alone in having this problem.

Well, since they have released Pets and Seasons and now all these stuff packs, I seriously doubt they would be sympathetic to my OFB problem.  I contacted them about an old base game issue. At the time I wasn't reading any fora such as this lovely place. They were insisting it was MY problem. From perusing lovely forums such as this one, I deduced that my problem was not mine, but the games'. But I guess I will let them know, for the sake of posterity. I figured I'd have more luck going into my local Apple store and shoving the box back in their face

(and I'll try the college adjuster if my patience lasts that long. So far I have seen no reason to keep OFB at ALL. Better to go back to NL. And, lookie there, I just found my NL cd. I don't even have to wait until I get home!)

[ZephyrZodiac]

It may well be that the problem is fixed with Pets, of course.  But try the College Adjuster and see if moving your sims up to Junior and bypassing that exam solves the problem.

[Yimmit]

Maybe that's my big problem. I keep expecting the game to work as shipped. I keep expecting these hack-type-things to be improvements, not substitutions. If I have to run ever f-ing sim through the college adjuster (I send every f-ing sim to college)!!!!!! GRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!

I'm still thinking going backwards is the way to go forwards.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Well, the adjuster only takes a moment or to to use, and you only need do it as the sims on the lot are about to go for their exam, so you don't actually feel like you're cheating.  You know they've filled the bar (or haven't) so you just move them up to what they would be if they had taken the exam.  Of course, if they have the want to complete that year, they won't fill it, but if they have the want to make the dean's list, you can lock that until the next exam.  And, as I said, installing Pets may solve the problem.

[Yimmit]

Yeah, I've used the adjuster in the past, but I just have to wait until I stop taking care of my real-life elders and go home to install anything else on the computer. As of this moment, all I have is the OFB directors cut (that I believe is all P2--I still have these OFB p-1, p2 problems, but I really haven't played much of the businesses at this stage) and most of CB and 2J's stuff (except the College adjuster because it conflicts with Pescados clock). "Cheating" is not the issue, if this is the way it works from now on, then so it goes, but...

I know you have already addressed this, ZZ, but dagnabbit, these things should work in a vanilla game. Stupid aspyr. And there are no patches for this thing! Fie! I say Fie on you!

[ZephyrZodiac]

I totally agree with you - a vanilla install should work!  Sims1 had very few problems in comparison, and those they had were minor, most problems then were caused by custom content, not by the game itself!

I think the problems started because when EA took over, they were more interested in profit now than the reputation of the product!  So the staff at Maxis were under constant pressure to hurry up and get the next EP out, when most of us would have preferred a few weeks delay and a thoroughly tested product!

I dread to think how many problems there will be with Sims3!

I have both the college adjuster and the college clock in my game - the HCDU shows no conflicts, and since they are both lot specific objects, you just pick one of them for your lot.

[Yimmit]

I have both the college adjuster and the college clock in my game - the HCDU shows no conflicts, and since they are both lot specific objects, you just pick one of them for your lot.

Well that's good to know if I don't decide to go backwards. I feel like the installation of this EP has frakked up my game and was a mistake (as you have surely already guessed and I believe I have already said so). I see other people reading this topic, does no one have anything to add?

[ZephyrZodiac]

I think they have a Mac section at TSR's forum, so it might be worth nipping over and having a look to see if there's been any discussion about the problem there.

[Yimmit]

No discussion of the problem there. Various other problems. Tried all the solutions I could.

1) made games folder on hard drive to hold the sims2

2) repaired all disc permissions using utility program (none of the problem files involved the Sims anyway)

3) deleted all preference files relating to the sims (oh! the painful things that did to my graphics! it burns!)

4) deleted groups.cache (something I do periodically anyway)

I am truly an island. No one has ever had the problems I have been having. I guess I'll try Aspyr. From what I've experienced and from what I've read at TSR, they will not be helpful. At least this time I have a computer that can more than handle the game.

But I'm pretty convinced un-installing and demanding my money back is the best solution.

[ZephyrZodiac]

It would seem so, although it seems a pity, there are some good things come with OFB, but if you can't play your game the way you want, then I guess there's no alternative. 

Just one thought, have you tried playing it in an ordinary neighbourhood.  If the problem is just Uni, then I think there is a way you could run a Uni/NL installation and an NL/OFB installation on the same computer and I've a feeling there's a tutorial on how to do it over at MTS2.

[Yimmit]

Well the whole story is that I was happily zooming along with just NL, when I downloaded something that completely borked my game and I, in a fit of frustration, deleted my entire main neighborhood and everything I couldn't identify in my downloads folder. I couldn't figure out what the problem file was, because I was on a downloading rampage that day and we on mac don't have simPE (I resolve not to do that again, but NL on mac doesn't allow subfolders in the dl folder). So I tried starting from scratch. This lead to a problem Pescado was able to fix with one suggestion (sshack). But then Mom called and asked if I'd be able to come over and stay while she was recovering from surgery and it turned out I could.

So, I decided, maybe now is the time to upgrade to OFB, seeing as I'll have a couple of days off to fool around with things. I downloaded the OFB Directors cut and made sure I had the most up-to-date (OFB-wise) versions of Crammyboy and 2J's hacks as well as Ste's Risky Woohoo from MS2 before I left my house. Stopped by the Apple store on my way there and picked up OFB. I haven't played the new neighborhood long enough to be TOO attached. I feel like I've been testing the last couple of days. And it obviously hasn't gone well. Well, it was going just fine (with the exception of the phone hack) until I hit the soph/jun year threshold for the pioneers founding my new neighborhood. I didn't put in the whole DC, just the ones I had been using before.

But, as I said, I took everything out and tested vanilla and the game crashed. Stupid game.

[ETA: And I did register and start a new thread over at TSR to see if other people have had this. I'll update if there's any word]

[ZephyrZodiac]

Good for you - I can't see if it's a problem with OFB itself that you'll be the only one with the problem.  According to JM, it's possible to "persuade" SimPE to work on a Mac, so maybe someone soon will be releasing a Mac version, provided of course that Quaxi and his team are in agreement.  Next time you install a new EP , move your game folders out and let the game generate a new set, then play vanilla in the new set until your happy with how the game plays for you, then you can copy back your original game.  If you want to keep the new version too, and it's another version of PV or something like that, then there are programs around which will rename all your neighbourhood files for you, then you can keep them both.

[Yimmit]

Turns out one of my students was bugged. I kept testing her on other lots, but never went back to the original dorm. They had no trouble coming back from their final. I got her through to junior year with the lot debugger, but had my suspicions. I graduated her with the semester tester and she crashed to desktop when I tried to move her back to the main 'hood. I forsee an unfortunate demise for Ms. Alison. Tragic, really. David will be so devastated.

Now if I can only decide which kind of misfortune will befall her!

Oh, and I did let the game generate a new set of files when I installed OFB. I'm so sick of the premade neighborhoods, I went ahead and made a clean new neighborhood to do my testing in. I wonder how Alison ended up so corrupted?

[ZephyrZodiac]

I would say she has a host of invisible tokens that need to be got rid of.  The latest version of the debugger has a "Clear Trash" option, which will get rid of a lot of these, but in your version you should have, I think, the "nuke attraction markers" option plus the option to clean up the memories.  I think it quite possible that, since you can't use SimPE to check your sims memories, that she is going to be the first of many.  Now, once you have Seasons, you should be able to clean up all these tokens with the debugger, so why not just hold off playing this particular hood until then, and play the new hood until then.  You could also use the teleporterplus from Simlogical to move her to a populated lot, use the move in option on the shrub so she becomes selectable, and use the debugger to clean up her memories.  You can then either leave her where she is or move her out into her own lot.  (This way, the family you move her in with temporarily will not gain financially from her temporary residence.)

[Yimmit]

This IS the new hood. I'll try clearing all that junk before I kill her and just wait and see if the rest of them get corrupted too. Yeah, I have clear trash, clear gossip and nuke attraction markers. If she's going to be a huge problem, I'd rather just eliminate her.

Maybe I'll test the old hood. I think I had a sim who was just about to go to college and one who was graduating soon.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Didn't realise the clear trash option had been added to earlier versions of the debugger - useful to know.  But you could still wait until her friend graduates, move him into the neighbourhood, then move her in with the teleporter plus - you never know, she may be fine then.

I remember having similar problems with a long ago Beau Broke, when he came back from Uni I had awful problems getting him back to the bin in PV.  When I checked him in SimPE, he had memories of having met himself, he had in fact become best friends with himself, and his file was double the size it should have been.  Once I was able to clean up the memories etc., he was playable again, though his file never got any smaller....so I'm pretty sure he was in it twice!

[Lorelei]

Turns out one of my students was bugged.

 I graduated her with the semester tester and she crashed to desktop when I tried to move her back to the main 'hood. I forsee an unfortunate demise for Ms. Alison. Tragic, really. David will be so devastated.

Now if I can only decide which kind of misfortune will befall her!

Make a poll! 

Don't forget the Smite option. 

[Yimmit]

Make a poll! 

Don't forget the Smite option. 

Unfortunately the poor dear has already died due to a mysterious disease. Then Grimmy went straight for the potty, reminding me to add antipeeobsession to the hacks folder.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Maybe you could try resurrecting her and see if she's still fubared - you can always exit without saving if she is.

[Yimmit]

I considered that. I've only ever resurrected one sim, Dina Goth. She married Angela and Dustin's son and I wanted to remarry him, he was still quite young when she died. After he inherited, I moved him to a bigger house and somehow Dina's grave moved with him. He couldn't get engaged to his new intended, so I resurrected Dina and immediately sent her to the cowplant and then he had no trouble marrying Sally Huffington.

If I resurrect her, do I have to do it while they are still at college? If David resurrects her as an adult in the main hood, will she become an adult? She already graduated, she just had her last hurrah days left (does anyone actually use those things?)

[ZephyrZodiac]

I don't know whether you can do it in OFB, you may have to wait until you install Pets - I know I could never resurrect any of the Pleasantview sims when OFB came out, I believe there was a problem with the resurrect-o-mitron or something, but as soon as I installed Pets my sims stopped getting the phone slammed down by Grimmie with the dire warnings.

I think if you resurrect her in the neighbourhood, she'll resurrect as an adult, but I'm not sure, however, if you did in fact try to send her back to the hood, she may have aged up already.  You can but try!

I remember when the youngest Broke (Keanu) was a romance sim in my game, (I always make him romance if he's born a nasty Leo) I kept him at college for the maximum time so he could add a few notches to his non-existent ykw.