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Scholar
Original Poster
#1 Old 13th Apr 2018 at 9:35 PM
Default How often do you clean the caches and purpose do they serve?
Usually I just leave them alone unless there are problems such as the game crashing. I don't really know what purpose they serve in the game other than that they help make the outfits and hair load much quicker.
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Mad Poster
#2 Old 13th Apr 2018 at 9:57 PM Last edited by Peni Griffin : 13th Apr 2018 at 10:09 PM.
Making things run quicker is all they're for. No need to clean them out until you have reason to expect them to be messed up.

Think of a cache file as a sticky note. Odds are good that you have a sticky note stuck up somewhere around your computer with some information you know you'll need to refer to frequently or at a moment's notice - the phone number of that guy you're playing telephone tag with, the spelling of that word you always get wrong, the number of square feet in an acre or some metric conversions, whatever. That's what the cache files do - they're a quick reference for a bunch of miscellaneous stuff that the computer would otherwise have to run off to a distant file to reference. How much they speed up your game depends on circumstances; and how often you need to clear them does, too.

Because, just like the sticky note on your computer, it gets messed up. The phone number changes with every game of telephone tag. You finally master one word and discover another you consistently get wrong. New procedures require you to write reminders to yourself so habit doesn't assert itself. Sooner or later the sticky wears off, the phone number spot has been erased and written over so much you can't read it, it fell on the floor and someone stepped on it. So you start a new clean sticky note. In the game, you add a mod that makes some information in the cache file obsolete, or the information degrades and confuses the program so it can't start at all. So, you clear the caches, and it starts a new one.

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.)
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retired moderator
#3 Old 13th Apr 2018 at 9:57 PM
These links may help:
https://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=67356
(Maxoid Tom was a Maxis employee involved with developing the game)
https://www.modthesims.info/showpos...postcount=23520

Cigen and Content Registry are Bodyshop caches.
Mad Poster
#4 Old 13th Apr 2018 at 10:26 PM
After each play session, I delete them all.
I don't have that many CC to be bothered by loading time. It takes a few second. So I do not keep them in.

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Mad Poster
#5 Old 13th Apr 2018 at 10:50 PM
From time to time I'll delete the accessories.cache. It does tend to get 'sticky' after a while.
The groups.cache is set to zero and never grows. I have a setting on it that does that. Well worth the time to find.

I found the place where I got it from: http://sugahsplace.forumotion.net/t...oups-cache-file
and the file itself:http://www.mediafire.com/file/admhh81bsyyhda4/Groups.7z

In addition, every play session I compressorize the thumbnails in the game.They grow to huge amounts after a while. In the case of the object thumbnails, that file alone can grow exponentially every time you use the catalog. After a while I just delete the whole lot of them. They'll regrow.

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Mad Poster
#6 Old 13th Apr 2018 at 11:50 PM
The thumbnail sizes are particularly significant. In find that if my file size exceeds a certain amount, I'll get pink flashing. I delete the files once they reach a certain size.

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Instructor
#7 Old 14th Apr 2018 at 12:19 AM
Quote: Originally posted by gazania
The thumbnail sizes are particularly significant. In find that if my file size exceeds a certain amount, I'll get pink flashing. I delete the files once they reach a certain size.

http://www.leefish.nl/mybb/showthread.php?tid=7705


Way back in November, I started having this strange issue - I could not play my game because of a weird problem - without warning, and over and over again, the camera would suddenly zoom out and sometimes spins 90 degrees as well, both in the neighbourhood view and in lots. It was driving me mad, and I tried EVERYTHING to fix it over the course of several months, and I do mean everything. Pushed Google to its limits and beyond trying to find anything that would help, but without any success.

Then, I found this obscure mention somewhere on the ether that mentioned camera problems occurring from corrupted thumbnails - I tried deleting all the thumbnails and that immediately fixed it - camera running fine again and has continued to do so to date (April 2018). So I am leery of those dratted thumbnails, as well as the caches because they will stop my game from launching - I delete the caches every 1-2 times I play now.

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Mad Poster
#8 Old 14th Apr 2018 at 12:54 AM Last edited by simmer22 : 14th Apr 2018 at 1:26 AM.
I've had a similar camera issue, but on my other computer back when I had Norton. Almost every time it started an automated virus scan in the background, the camera would go ballistic and turn to the sky and spin in circles if I went into TAB mode. I don't think I've seen the problem since, though.

I usually delete the cache files every time I play on my laptop, because most of the time if I don't, the game refuses to run, Bodyshop refuses to run, or fixed CAS items show up wrong (or worst case, exploded, even if they really are fine). I don't delete the Thumbnail files as often, but I did back when one of them reached at least 50.000 kb. I try to avoid deleting caches on my other computer, because I've sometimes gotten bluescreens/restarts if deleting them (it's most likely an issue with the computer, it's been acting rather weird the past few years, particularly this year). Haven't tried deleting the Thumbnail files, but I probably should since that's where I get pink-flashing. My laptop has until now been pink free, but I've had other issues with it.
Scholar
Original Poster
#9 Old 14th Apr 2018 at 1:13 AM
The thumbnails of the defaulted Maxis clothes and hair aren't showing up,it uses the Maxis created ones instead.
Mad Poster
#10 Old 14th Apr 2018 at 2:28 AM
Delete the thumbnails and it'll make new, correct ones.

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.)
Field Researcher
#11 Old 14th Apr 2018 at 4:13 AM
My game will refuse to run unless I delete the accessory.cache and groups.cache from time to time. Other than that, I only delete the thumbnails if, say, I go on a defaulting binge like I just did and I want the thumbnails updated.
Mad Poster
#12 Old 14th Apr 2018 at 10:40 AM
The only .cache file I have is groups.cache, and I delete it about once a year or less. I think the need to delete cache files gets more with the newer EPs, and my highest EP is Open for Business (EP3).

On the related subject of deleting files and letting them regenerate, I think I have deleted some of the .package files in the Thumbnails sub-folder to get thumbnails to regenerate. I also think (but I may be misremembering, so don't try this at home!) that I once deleted NeighborhoodManager.package and I think it regenerated ok. Maybe someone with more experience/knowledge can conform whether these are really safe to delete.

[EDIT] I see Peni has already confirmed that it's safe to delete the thumbnail files. It sometimes helps if I read all the posts in a thread before I post myself! Maybe someone can say if I'm right about NeighborhoodManager.package.

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Field Researcher
#13 Old 14th Apr 2018 at 11:51 AM
Yes, the NeighborhoodManager.package file will regenerate. I delete it every so often.
Mad Poster
#14 Old 15th Apr 2018 at 10:07 AM
I have a batch file to delete the cache files every time I run the game. It makes the game take longer to load, but since I'm constantly swapping CC in and out I tend to run into odd issues if I don't do it every time.

On the subject of caches, if you find a webpage is displaying funny, try using Ctrl+F5 to do a hard refresh. This'll clear the cache for that specific page and might help.

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The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#15 Old 15th Apr 2018 at 12:27 PM
I was about to post something similar Ihate - if you are constantly changing things around in your Downloads folder, as I do as I'm making and testing stuff, you will need to delete the cache files more often. The more 'stable' your game is in this regard, the less you have to do it. My game refuses to run (if I forget to delete the files) about once a week.

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
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Mad Poster
#16 Old 15th Apr 2018 at 2:28 PM
i've noticed that, too. On my stationary I hardly ever move around files, and I can keep the caches for a while longer. On my laptop the game and Bodyshop refuse to run on the 2nd or 3rd try if I don't delete caches.
just a girl
#17 Old 15th Apr 2018 at 2:50 PM
I made groups and accessories cache files empty and read only because I was tired of deleting them every time.
Alchemist
#18 Old 15th Apr 2018 at 2:59 PM
How significant is the decrease in loading time if you don't delete the cache? Has anyone experimented? I've gotten into the habit of deleting every time, because there have been many occasions when I've sat there waiting for the game to load only to realize it wasn't, because of the cache files.
Mad Poster
#19 Old 15th Apr 2018 at 3:06 PM
That's going to vary so much from one machine, person, and game to another that one person's test won't mean much to anybody else. It's not just loading to begin with; it makes the game run a little faster generally. Until it doesn't.

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.)
Alchemist
#20 Old 15th Apr 2018 at 3:13 PM
I'm not expecting to get the same results that others report, for those very reasons. Nevertheless, I'm still interested in hearing from people who have tested this.
Scholar
Original Poster
#21 Old 15th Apr 2018 at 4:14 PM
Whenever I add or remove CC or mods are I supposed to delete the caches every time before I run the game? The no autonomous smustle dance mod didn't work and the sims still do that silly smustle dance and I didn't delete my caches before running it.
Mad Poster
#22 Old 15th Apr 2018 at 4:24 PM
Not every time - though really big mods will probably require it. Clearing caches is always the first thing I do when troubleshooting, though, and it doesn't hurt.

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.)
Scholar
#23 Old 15th Apr 2018 at 5:04 PM
I delete the caches every time I go into my folder anyway, out of habit.

Very rarely I delete the thumbnails because I hate waiting for them all to load again, although I do like ctrl+clicking the awful, dark Maxis ones in CAS.

The drop off has been made. You've been warned.
Mad Poster
#24 Old 15th Apr 2018 at 6:52 PM
I once tested loading the game without my cache-clearing batch file. I got an empty error box. I didn't test it again.

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Looking for SimWardrobe's mods? | Or Dizzy's? | Faiuwle/rufio's too! | smorbie1's Chris Hatch archives
Theorist
#25 Old 15th Apr 2018 at 11:50 PM
Groups cache, as well as the ones generated when using Bodyshop and Homecrafter get deleted before each launch of the game. The Accessory cache is the only one that does not get deleted on a regular basis. All thumbnails get deleted every few months or so (if I've actually been playing the game and not just creating or tinkering about).


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