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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 3rd Jul 2012 at 7:53 PM Last edited by adentonclark : 3rd Jul 2012 at 8:00 PM. Reason: typos & clarification
"Rolling Fog" - nothing seems to fix...
Ok - last week, everything was fine. I was working on my map - everything worked beautifully. I was in and out of EIG all morning. Then I had lunch. I didn't even close anything. When I came back I discovered this "rolling fog" (for lack of a better term) that blanked out my map completely when pulled out (except for location symbols) whenever I was in EIG. Additionally, even though I could see when I scrolled really far in on the map, looking around me I could no longer see the horizon, only a "rolling white/blue fog" that blocked anything more than say... 3 lots away.

Now - I'm not posting having not looked into this first. There is one piece of good news - luckily, if I export and install the world, the fog IS NOT there - which means this is really only a CAW PIA, but wow what a pain it is...

So - Based on what I read under common issues, I've saved in every imaginable way. Based on other threads I removed all custom terrain files... I downloaded S3PE and looked for every instance and .dds file listed in the various posts (I never found any at all). I also looked for missing .ini files in the directory structure.

Eventually, convinced I must have fubared it personally, I completely uninstalled CAW using perfect uninstaller (so the registry was cleaned out too). I deleted the left over folders under User>Docs.>EA>CAW (yes, I'm just using the acronyms). Program Files>EA was clean - the CAW folder was gone.

I then rebooted, which I know to be the first rule of tech support (which I WAS IN FOR 7 YEARS...and not a long, long time ago either - I just quit last year), and then I reinstalled CAW from scratch. There were no back-ups or previous worlds. I didn't want any, as they might "contain" whatever caused the issue.

After reinstalling, I rebooted again, and then started a brand spanking new map in a brand new install, with absolutely NO CC or custom CAW files (like the terrain texture mega-pack - which has never given me issues).

I still have the same problem. Like I said - I've tried saving every way possible - I put down a tree, went to EIG, went to Edit Town, and saved while looking up close at my tree. Then I exited and saved again in CAW - no luck. Did the entire process again, this time saving without going to Edit Town first (so I was in "Sim Perspective"), followed all the additional steps and had no luck there.

I looked on these boards for every problem possibly related to "fog" (to be clear - I'm aware of the "Fog" setting - I turn that off every time, and the LOD Transition Distance seems to only effect how far I can see the grid when actually in CAW - I always max it). Based on everything I could find here online, it looked like maybe a terrian/bad instance/bad .dds file referenced in the .world file. So, I downloaded S3PE and, as I said before, I tried looking at/fixing everything I could find - which wasn't much (though I want to say thank you to SimSample - it's clear you make a lot of effort to resolve other people's problems - and that you do it willingly - I think you may be my new hero).

So...here we are a week later, and nothing has worked, my entire original project was scrapped and I still have this problem. I have tried multiple new maps, of every size and height - nothing changes. Does anyone know anything else about this - or why it would just suddenly occur out of nowhere? I admit that I am not S3PE savvy, but I'm also not computer illiterate.

I'm sorry for asking about an issue others have tried to address before - but none of those answers worked for me.

Also - thank you for your patience with my first newbie CAW question (pls remember it's my first, in case I'm just being stupid). I'm generally just a lurker - every time I've had an issue before, you guys have always seemed to have the answer...and clear instructions too (which anyone whose ever worked tech has to respect).

Again, thanks for any help and l hope I'm not being stupid and wasting anyone's time.

Sincerely,
-ADC
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retired moderator
#2 Old 5th Jul 2012 at 9:20 PM
This is a tough one! It sounds like you've already thought of everything I would have suggested. Could you post a picture of this fog? It may give us some clues. Another good test would be if you could upload a world in which this occurs so that I could test it in my CAW. That would at least tell us if it's something wrong with the worlds, or something graphical.


Quote: Originally posted by adentonclark
(though I want to say thank you to SimSample - it's clear you make a lot of effort to resolve other people's problems - and that you do it willingly - I think you may be my new hero).

Aww, thank you! I sometimes don't get on here every day, but I like to help when I can as it means I get to learn, too. So I'm not totally altruistic!
Test Subject
Original Poster
#3 Old 5th Jul 2012 at 10:37 PM
Ok...lol...since noone had responded I said 'f... it' and went and put all my textures and CC back in. I figured if I had to just deal with the issue, then I wanted my custom roads damn it.

Ok - I'm going to backup my current world, in which this problem continues and I take the occasional Xanax to cope with the annoyance factor. Then I'm gonna uninstall and do all that stuff I did before. Then, hopefully tomorrow, I will be able to upload the pictures and a world for you (my kid has a recital though so it might be a couple of days). However, I think it would be best to send you the actual .world, settings and folder than an actual Sim3Pack. Like I said, the one lucky thing is that, once installed, the world plays fine and everything is visible. It seems to be an EIG problem.
Either that or going through all those steps again will fix the issue, which would make me perfectly happy and save you valuable time...not every mystery must be solved.

Thank you for responding an offering to help. If you decide you want a Sim3Pack, let me know.
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retired moderator
#4 Old 5th Jul 2012 at 11:06 PM
I meant the CAW files, actually.

Good luck for the kid's recital!
Test Subject
Original Poster
#5 Old 7th Jul 2012 at 3:22 PM Last edited by adentonclark : 7th Jul 2012 at 3:36 PM. Reason: Typos due to lack of coffee...
Thanks! It went awesome! Well the first one did, there is another today and another tomorrow...

Ok -so I'm not 100% certain (I need to do some double-checking today) but I think I might have figured this out, or at least developed a clue or two. If I am right, then I am also dumb, so I'm not sure which I am wishing for here...

See I keep two different Sim3 (not create-a-world) directory structures for when I'm using CAW vs. playing. One has custom content and the other is completely clean - not even any store content. The clean one was the one I was using and, like I said, I'd taken out all special CAW textures, etc... So there I was thinking I had a completely clean install and EIG had just lost it's mind.

I forgot something though. Even in my "clean" directory structure I have a couple of mods that are there mainly to help me when using EIG. Nothing huge, some of the Bluefunk items, nointro, small things generally. However, I also have two dynamic lighting tweak mods that effect maps without special sea/light/sky parameters and make prettier sunsets, etc... It works when you are playing the game, but wasn't designed for EIG necessarily.

Also, yesterday while just playing (with custom content admittedly), I started having some graphic issues in Starlight Shores I've never experienced before - i.e. when I loaded houses with mirror floors the game started crashing. Double-checking my logs, it looks like my video card had a software update last week...I'm starting to think this is an ID10T error.

I'm going to do some testing, taking those mods out both in a live game, and then when using CAW. If I confirm that's the issue I'll post it here, just in case anyone else runs into the same problem, but I don't want to go blaming someone's mods if the issue is really my graphics card (btw - if anyone else uses an NVidia GeForce 9600 GT and has started having graphic issues in the last week or so - that would be really helpful to know). If it seems to be neither, I'll come back with those files for you.

I do suspect the mods, but only because I built my machine, I'm vain, and it's pretty generally a monster that can handle anything I throw at it. Basically it's a server disguised as a computer (2 quad cores = 8 processors at 2.5GHz each, 16 GB RAM, decent video card with it's own memory, it actually has got a server motherboard - had to go buy a sound card for it - lol) still, it's gets twitchy from time to time, since hardware is not my specialty - software is more my thing.

So let me QA this. I'm sorry if it turns out that I was just too dumb to remember those mods were in there. It may also have something to do with my video card, so if the mods aren't the issue I need to roll back the drivers and test that. Give me a day or so, and I will let you know what I find.

Thanks again for all your help - ADC
Test Subject
Original Poster
#6 Old 7th Jul 2012 at 3:31 PM Last edited by adentonclark : 7th Jul 2012 at 3:42 PM.
FYI - I have two systems, both running the game - one for me, and one for my husband, who I found out last night has been posting here on the boards as me....lol.

He's the one who is asking about the super slow-mo mod on the other thread. Just clarifying because that's a different box and this one isn't running any "untested" new mods.

-a
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retired moderator
#7 Old 7th Jul 2012 at 5:09 PM
Quote: Originally posted by adentonclark
However, I also have two dynamic lighting tweak mods that effect maps without special sea/light/sky parameters and make prettier sunsets, etc... It works when you are playing the game, but wasn't designed for EIG necessarily.


Those could do it- CAW will read the game Mods folder, so those mods could cause this issue.

Quote: Originally posted by adentonclark
He's the one who is asking about the super slow-mo mod on the other thread.

Not sure which thread you're referring to there, sorry!
Test Subject
Original Poster
#8 Old 17th Jul 2012 at 11:43 PM
Well - I'm not sure what to tell you. The fog is gone. The only thing that has happened (because I've been really busy) was that I patched Sims and I went and manually applied a driver update to my video card, which had apparently tried to update on it's own and failed (which might explain why it occurred with no warning). It weird if it's the video card, because I had NO issues with any other program, in fact - except for CAW - I had no display issues at all. If it happens again and my video card seems ok, I will re-test everything.

Thanks - sorry I made you read the novel I wrote above. Thanks again for your help.

adc
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retired moderator
#9 Old 18th Jul 2012 at 12:37 AM
I'm glad you managed to fix it, that was an odd one!
Test Subject
Original Poster
#10 Old 18th Jul 2012 at 1:11 AM
It was driving me crazier than I already am (not good) - so I'm just glad it magically fixed itself.
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