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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 13th Aug 2017 at 12:28 AM

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 2, University, Nightlife, Open for Business, Pets, Seasons, Free Time, Apartment Life
Default Random apartment life features & groups.cache concerns
So: very, very recently, I've started having some strange new features appear in my game. I've recently installed M&G Stuff, however I uninstalled Apartment Life quite a while ago.
Despite this, I've recently been seeing a lot of things which I know come from Apartment Life appear in my game; these include being able to silence phones, toggling ceilings, and learning skills such as Couple's Counseling and Anger Management. Out of fear, I've not selected any of these features apart from ceilings, which I assumed came with M&G. The ceilings work perfectly fine, no problems there. Funnily enough, this stuff did happen after I downloaded certain mods, but I've since deleted those mods and it all still appears.

My very first thought was "corruption", but since M&G stuff was- if I remember correctly -the final add-on to TS2, I figured it may have just taken some things from AL as I believe those two work a little differently compared to the other EPs and SPs. (correct me if I'm wrong there, I remember being notified that installing M&G meant new saves would be created.)

Seeing as I'm naturally a nervous wreck, I started scouring through a ton of 'signs of corrupted hoods/games' threads. I've done absolutely nothing that the wiki states to normally cause corruption, which makes things somehow more scary. I remember vaguely in one of the threads it was mentioned that if program files are corrupted, a sign of that is that the date is recent. Recently I was clearing out my cache files and I noticed: while the Accessory.cache claims to be modified sometime in 2006, the Groups.cache appears to have been modified very recently. Maybe this has something to do with why AL things are appearing in my game? I know they're temporary files and I could be looking too far into things, but honestly, I'm a bit terrified anyway.

I only really care about three sims in the game, who are all in the one neighbourhood and I can probably figure out how to retrieve/clone. But regardless, I want to be prepared for any impending doom that might come my way so I can learn my lesson. Help would really be appreciated, thanks.

EDIT: I was just made aware that it says above that I have Apartment Life installed. Please ignore that, that's just because I stupidly forgot to change it.

the token lesbian
(currently wishing it was 2011 again)
please ignore my cringy username. just call me jorgel.
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Instructor
#2 Old 13th Aug 2017 at 12:44 AM
Being able to learn couples counselling etc came with freetime not al and i believe all the other stuff is probably to do with M&G
Mad Poster
#3 Old 13th Aug 2017 at 1:13 AM
Apartment Life and M&G are extension of each other and should be used together, you will lock up on some options when M&G is installed and not Apartment Life.
AL can be used without M&G but M&G should not be used without AL.

You can use M&G without AL but you will have to learn not to do somethings that is listed or you can lock up or get the jump bug in your game.

All my Beginning Hoods here at MTS. http://www.modthesims.info/member.php?u=7749491
All my Beginning Hoods as Shopping Districts plus Old Town. http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=523417
MooVille, a tribute to Mootilda and her fabulous lots http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=534158
Mad Poster
#4 Old 13th Aug 2017 at 2:43 AM
Also, when you have a later EP (and M&G is an EP that calls itself an SP) without an earlier one, some of the functions of the earlier one will be available in a limited way. My initial game installation was Deluxe, University, Pets, Seasons, and Apartment Life, but I had buyable jury (which bugged up sometimes - I had Ernest Munny buy some jewelry for his girlfriend, and he would periodically and randomly get a silver stud stuck in one ear that I couldn't remove), could learn the bookcase life skills but not avail myself of all of them (I got the Physiology glitch, though!), and possibly a few other things I'm blanking on. Eventually I got the other EPs and the partial features I had available were completed and became full features.

Presumably this happens because the code of the later EP refers to features in the earlier one, in the expectation that all prior EPs will be installed. I've heard that the Physiology glitch was fixed with a patch and later was rebroken, which I presume is why Physiology worked all-too-well and Parenting did nothing but fill the want to learn about it.

Ugly is in the heart of the beholder.
(My simblr isSim Media Res . Widespot,Widespot RFD: The Subhood, and Land Grant University are all available here. In case you care.)
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#5 Old 13th Aug 2017 at 2:46 AM
You should install AL if you are going to use M&G. Like was said above they are a pair and using M&G without AL is probably causing you issues.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Instructor
#6 Old 13th Aug 2017 at 3:02 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Fearless Butterfly
Being able to learn couples counselling etc came with freetime not al and i believe all the other stuff is probably to do with M&G
Lifetime skills came with AL, only parenting came earlier, with FT.
The espresso bar also dissapears if you have M&G but not AL installed. Why did you remove it anyway? As some before me have replied, not having them installed together causes a lot of issues in the game.
Instructor
#7 Old 13th Aug 2017 at 3:13 AM
Quote: Originally posted by velvetina
Lifetime skills came with AL, only parenting came earlier, with FT.
The espresso bar also dissapears if you have M&G but not AL installed. Why did you remove it anyway? As some before me have replied, not having them installed together causes a lot of issues in the game.


How can parenting come later with Freetime when it was made before AL?
Instructor
#8 Old 13th Aug 2017 at 3:39 AM
...what? I said parenting came earlier with FT, not later.
Mad Poster
#9 Old 13th Aug 2017 at 6:03 AM
If deleted, the Groups.cache and the rest of the cache files will reappear by doing various things in Bodyshop (going into "create a sim" makes the Cigen and Groups files appear, while making stuff will make the Accessory and sometimes the ContentRegistry file, and various other combinations) and the game (usually Groups and Accessory). If you're worried they're causing trouble, deleting them is perfectly safe. Can't remember which date stamp the Accessory file has, but the others will get the date stamp for last changed (usually when the game or Bodyshop is quitted).

I second the "get AL". M&G runs on the AL game engine, so without it, I'm not surprised that some things aren't working properly.
Field Researcher
#10 Old 13th Aug 2017 at 6:42 AM
Groups.cache changes all the time. One of the ways people try to fix a small bug or glitch is to delete groups.cache, because it can get a little glitchy. It gets regenerated the next time the game is started and all is well. There are several other files in Docs\EA Games\ that change regularly and that's not a problem.

The files that should never be changed are the ones in Program Files x86\EA GAmes\. Those are called "installation files", or your "game installation". If any of those has a date later than the date it was installed, you may have game corruption, especially if any objects.package file in any EP or SP has a changed date.

Addtional: Some features of EPs got 'carried over', that is added to, later EPs; and since M&G is an EP pretending to be a SP, some AL features may have been carried over by EA Games, meaning you can have those features without having the EP they first came with. You really need to look around for some info on AL features that were also included with M&G before concluded you have corruption.

For instance, I know that buyable jewelry first came with Bon Voyage. I've never owned BV, but EA also added buyable jewelry in AL, so I've got the jewelry selling stand in my game. Customizable novels came with FT, iirc, but I've got them through AL without having FT.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#11 Old 13th Aug 2017 at 9:26 PM
Yeah, in hindsight it wasn't the best move for me to install M&G without AL, I have to admit. But hey, I've made plenty a stupid mistake with this game. Huge thanks.

the token lesbian
(currently wishing it was 2011 again)
please ignore my cringy username. just call me jorgel.
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