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Mad Poster
#26 Old 16th Sep 2017 at 2:51 AM
Oh..I see. Thank you. If you need a hand, i could try and identify some for you. Send a bunch to @maxon a bunch to me...a bunch to...

Je mange des girafes et je parle aussi français !...surtout :0)

Find all my old MTS Uploads, on my SFS, And all new uploads Here . :)
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The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#27 Old 16th Sep 2017 at 11:06 AM
Quote: Originally posted by joandsarah77
Even Clean Installer will change some file names like walls and floors so be careful.

Really? I've never ever seen that. The whole point of CI is to install with the original filename AFAIAA.

Swillfly - I'll come by later and post instructions.

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.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
Instructor
#28 Old 16th Sep 2017 at 6:14 PM
@Swillfly - what kind of problem are you having with SimPe? I have used it extensively to identify old content and found it very simple. Here's what I do: Open SimPe, go to File menu. Select Open. Browse to the folder holding the old content. Click on first package file and open it. You will see the various parts of the package. Depending on what it is it may have a text file listed which will tell you any identifying tag that the object has. Most packages have texture files that will give you a good idea of what it is: hair, clothing, object. No texture files for hair meshes though. Objects may have several text files plus a catalog description that will definitely give you the name of the object. Hair and clothing packages have a Property Set file that will tell you what the item is cloned from and give you info about age and gender.

I would be happy to give you any help I can with this, including identifying a bunch of it for you. If you have any questions about how I do it just holler.
Mad Poster
#29 Old 16th Sep 2017 at 8:12 PM
See? so send a bunch to hedgekat too!
We are so helpful.

Je mange des girafes et je parle aussi français !...surtout :0)

Find all my old MTS Uploads, on my SFS, And all new uploads Here . :)
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#30 Old 16th Sep 2017 at 9:52 PM Last edited by maxon : 16th Sep 2017 at 11:48 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by maxon
Swillfly - I'll come by later and post instructions.

OK deleting in game - a mini tutorial:

Well, I say a tutorial but it's more a procedure you can follow to delete cleanly. I've written it before on here but can't find it. So here goes again.

There are three main things you can delete in-game: floors, walls and terrain paints; objects; skins. They all need slightly different approaches.

There are many things you can't delete in-game - mainly mods and hacks and watch out because there are some mods need special uninstallation and any object mod which uses an invisible NPC (usually a moving object) needs to be handled differently. Watch out also if you have catalogue mods which make EAxis stuff gain the CC star (usually done by putting said mods into Downloads instead of the game files). If you attempt to delete an EAxis object/skin/whatever you'll bork your game. This can be prevented by making the objects.package read only - something you should probably do anyway. Other things like changes to game settings by fiddling with files can't usually be uninstalled in game either ... anyway:

1. Walls/Floors/Terrain Paints
Delete these at will - there's only one file involved and it can be deleted without problem.

Provisos - you can't delete any of them if they're in use on the lot (true for objects too). So use an empty lot. Generally, deleting this type of file is no problem but .... if you delete a wall, floor, terrain paint and it's been used elsewhere in your neighbourhoods, when you go back to the lot in question, there will be a gap - missing floors or walls - not usually a problem but can be irksome if you didn't remember. Terrain paints can occasionally be a PITA with this - sometimes they disappear, sometimes they flash blue (a sign the game can't find the texture - you deleted it so no surprise there). This can usually be remedied by using the terrain paint tool to delete. Just a warning though.

2. Objects
Objects often come in two or more files. There will be the mesh file with the base colour and one or more recolour files. Deleting the mesh file - the one you see in the catalogue - without deleting the recolours first will orphan those recolour files. In other words, they will lie around clogging up your Downloads folder doing nothing and you won't be able to see they are there. So you delete the recolours first before you delete the main mesh file. You do this by using the swatch tool. Place the object on lot, use the swatch tool on it which brings up the recolours to choose from. Delete the recolours - the swatch tool will have a little dustbin/trash icon you can press. Delete all the recolours before you then come out of that menu, remove the object from the lot and then delete the object including its base colour from the catalogue. Incidentally, recolours to EAxis objects can be deleted with the swatch tool without problem.

Provisos - if you're deleting recolours from objects with multiple channels, bear in mind that one channel recolour maybe connected to a colour in the other channel. This happens when people recolour both parts of the object at the same time. You will know if that's the case if you then see a white texture with writing on it if you select it. This is usually not a problem if you're deleting everything but if you're only deleting selected recolours because you want to keep some of them (and the base object), then you can sometimes end up deleting something you wanted to keep. Anyway, the white colour with writing means the texture is no longer there.

Watch out for slaved sets - in this regard, slaved sets are a PITA and is one reason I generally dislike them. The recolours for a slaved set are linked to one master object only in the set (or sometimes to EAxis recolours - don't try and delete those). You can delete recolours for slaved sets just like you can regular recolours but bear in mind that deleting a recolour for one member of the set, means all the members of the set lose the recolour - because they all use only the one, the one for the master object. When you delete a recolour for any member of the slaved set, you delete that one recolour. You can also delete the main files of slave-master sets from the catalogue but if you delete the master but retain some of the slaves, they will no longer work. You have to have the master whether you like it or not if you want to use any member of the set. I'd generally advise deleting slave sets by hand.

3. Skins
Skins also generally come in two files - a mesh and recolour. There are lots of different skin files, of course, but the main distinction for deleting purposes is whether they are part of the genetics system or not.

Genetic skin files include eyes, skintones and hairs. If you delete them (from CAS say or Bodyshop) and you have a sim using them, you can cause problems for that sim. Fixable problems, as it happens, but problems nonetheless. It will bork their genetics. You can correct this with SimPE but I'd avoid it generally - at least for skintones and eyes. Hairs can be fixed by changing their hairstyle at a mirror. The other thing you might want to delete are defaults. You can't delete these in game - because you can't isolate the file - and they have to be deleted manually.

You can delete stuff like makeup and facepaints without a problem (though any sims using them might end up looking peculiar). Unfortunately, if you have the full game, you can no longer delete make up in game though you can in Bodyshop.

With skins with meshes you can only delete the recolours in game. There's no way to delete the mesh and that has to be done by hand (which also means being able to identify the mesh file). Deleting all recolours for a mesh makes it invisible in game.

All skins actually have meshes it's just that some of them are EAxis meshes and come with the game. If you have recolours of EAxis clothes or things like make up, you can delete them without problems (only bearing in mind that they will be missing - usually replaced with something hideous - from any sim using them).

Skins with custom meshes, e.g. an outfit with a new shape, new shaped glasses etc, can be deleted in game but, as I said above, you can't delete the mesh in game (and can't see it if you delete all the recolours). So you need to know what the mesh file is called and delete manually.

Provisos - watch out for slaved sets, especially those which share recolours across ages. I really dislike those - they're a complete and utter PITA to delete in game.

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.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#31 Old 16th Sep 2017 at 11:11 PM
This is Awesome! Very helpful!! Thank-you much!! So if I dress up a bunch of test dummy sims in old CC just to upload/save them to desktop then trying to remove those sims later (as they're only clothing/hair/body/makeup mannequins) is still a bad idea, right?

Kidney stones are never round pebbles... they are more like jagged stalactites.
Mad Poster
#32 Old 16th Sep 2017 at 11:54 PM
Quote: Originally posted by swillfly
This is Awesome! Very helpful!! Thank-you much!! So if I dress up a bunch of test dummy sims in old CC just to upload/save them to desktop then trying to remove those sims later (as they're only clothing/hair/body/makeup mannequins) is still a bad idea, right?

I don't think it is a bad idea, and I do this myself when I need to know what hair mesh i used on a model when I upload new clothing. I just create a sim in Bodyshop using that hair. I package that sim using Bodyshop option, to my desktop. It creates a package file of that sim that contains all the info I need. (using sims2pack clean installer)
Once i am done, i simply delete that dummy sim from my SavedSims folder. It will be the last created .package in the folder, if you sort by date.

@maxon
That is very helpful..might want to add it to mini tutorial thread started by charity!

Je mange des girafes et je parle aussi français !...surtout :0)

Find all my old MTS Uploads, on my SFS, And all new uploads Here . :)
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#33 Old 17th Sep 2017 at 12:09 AM
Quote: Originally posted by maxon
Really? I've never ever seen that. The whole point of CI is to install with the original filename AFAIAA.


I don't know if there is a special way of installing walls and floors that does not change the name but when I download a wall set in a rar and find a sim2pack inside and inside that all the wall files I groan since I know I will have to do them one at a time changing the name it generates. Or have I been missing something very obvious all these years?

Also handy little tutorial. I have deleted the wrong thing in game myself, most times forgetting that I need a certain piece for the rest of the set. <_<

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#34 Old 17th Sep 2017 at 1:10 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Rosebine
That is very helpful..might want to add it to mini tutorial thread started by charity!

Knock yourself out. It's a nice idea for a thread that - there must be hundreds of pages knocking about on here where someone from time to time has written some instructions for others.

Do you have a link to an example Jo?

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.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
Mad Poster
#35 Old 17th Sep 2017 at 4:54 AM
Quote: Originally posted by swillfly
Thx joandsarah77! I saw those over at MATY.

What about these:
BV Anti-Redundancy
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/s...hp?topic=9607.0
Lot Debugger
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/s...topic,72.0.html
OFB & Pets
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/s...pic,5957.0.html
**Beyond those I wonder if there are any really serious fixes I should use/possibly addressed by others not Pescado/FFS/MATY?


Sorry I'm late replying and I hope I'm not repeating something someone else already posted. If you have the Ultimate Collection, the mods you linked to are the wrong versions for your game and may not work properly. To get the latest (Apartment Life) versions of those mods, go here instead:

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/f...x.php?dir=al%2F

Most of what you want will be in the "Hacks" folder. Most of the .zip files in there will include readme files, but Pescado has an odd sense of humor so they're not always helpful. If you don't understand what something does, ask in this forum. MATY is not really very user-friendly.

The big .zip file at the bottom of the page is the "Director's Cut". There is no readme included, but there are some hacks in there that are not in the "Hacks" folder and vice versa. Again, feel free to ask here at MTS if you have questions about what something does. Several of us use at least a few of Pescado's mods.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#36 Old 17th Sep 2017 at 5:31 AM
Yes, you don't want BV mods, the UC is all EP's including M&G. There are some good mods in the Directors Cut but don't simply toss it all in, half or more you may not want. It's good to download and keep somewhere.

Quote: Originally posted by maxon
Do you have a link to an example Jo?
hmm, well any house that comes with cc walls does it. This one I know has walls. http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=504186

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#37 Old 17th Sep 2017 at 1:12 PM
Quote: Originally posted by joandsarah77
hmm, well any house that comes with cc walls does it. This one I know has walls. http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=504186

Well, here's that house in Clean Installer and with the files in Downloads - the filenames are exactly the same. There are four with long gobbledegook names but they have those names in Clean Installer which means they had those names in the builder's game (which means they originally got them by installing with the in-game installer).
Screenshots

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.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
Instructor
#38 Old 19th Sep 2017 at 12:34 AM
The happy thing is that CI tells you the real name of the item. If it has one. I too like the file name to be descriptive of the item. With those walls I would just keep CI open to show me both real and file names while I change the file names. It's when there is nothing descriptive in the name column that it gets hairy. Then I have to look at thumbnails or textures to decide what to call it.
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#39 Old 19th Sep 2017 at 1:14 AM
Quote: Originally posted by hedgekat
The happy thing is that CI tells you the real name of the item. If it has one. I too like the file name to be descriptive of the item. With those walls I would just keep CI open to show me both real and file names while I change the file names. It's when there is nothing descriptive in the name column that it gets hairy. Then I have to look at thumbnails or textures to decide what to call it.

It's actually easier to right-click on the item in Clean Installer itself and choose Rename.

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.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#40 Old 19th Sep 2017 at 2:06 AM
Quote: Originally posted by RoxEllen1965
Sorry I'm late replying and I hope I'm not repeating something someone else already posted. If you have the Ultimate Collection, the mods you linked to are the wrong versions for your game and may not work properly. To get the latest (Apartment Life) versions of those mods, go here instead:

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/f...x.php?dir=al%2F

Most of what you want will be in the "Hacks" folder. Most of the .zip files in there will include readme files, but Pescado has an odd sense of humor so they're not always helpful. If you don't understand what something does, ask in this forum. MATY is not really very user-friendly.

The big .zip file at the bottom of the page is the "Director's Cut". There is no readme included, but there are some hacks in there that are not in the "Hacks" folder and vice versa. Again, feel free to ask here at MTS if you have questions about what something does. Several of us use at least a few of Pescado's mods.


I probably have those earlier incarnations instead of those in the directory you listed. So... I think I need to delete those prior versions I already have and download the ones at the dir you provided. It seems like years since any activity over at MATY and many of the fixer-uppers' websites. I could imagine Pescado reasoning that he already went to the trouble of posting the initial fix so why should he re-animate long-dead threads (even if they are very helpful/essential) when it is much easier to just toss the updated versions in directories on his servers and let ppl search. Pescado liked yelling at "12's" - lol Honestly, I don't know why EAxis didn't reach out to him years ago and pay or at least thank him for fixing their code... it seemed like he was always a step ahead of their EPs/SPs.

Back on thread track - Thanks for the updated hacks link RoxEllen1965! I'll get this UC running with my old CC eventually.

Kidney stones are never round pebbles... they are more like jagged stalactites.
Instructor
#41 Old 19th Sep 2017 at 5:28 AM
Quote: Originally posted by maxon
It's actually easier to right-click on the item in Clean Installer itself and choose Rename.

@maxon Oh, Wow, I didn't know that! Something else to write down in my note book.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#42 Old 19th Sep 2017 at 5:51 AM Last edited by swillfly : 19th Sep 2017 at 7:15 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by maxon
It's actually easier to right-click on the item in Clean Installer itself and choose Rename.


Erm, Right-clicking on any sims2pack file does nothing for me. I have .NET Framework versions 2.0.50727 3.0 3.5 4 4.0 I have version 1.6.22 which I guess will be the last version ever. The Manual sez:

Browsing Folders and Removing Unwanted Package Files S2PCI allows you to review the contents of your Sims 2 Downloads folder, or other directories where Sims2 package files are stored. By doing this you can identify hacks, duplicate files, and empty packages, and then enable, disable, or remove them. (If you are not sure about removing them entirely, you can disable them first, or you can move suspect files to separate directory.) These actions are available using a shortcut menu that appears when you click the right mouse button.

...But Right-clicking on individual items within an opened sims2pack file in Clean Installer does nothing. Un-install and Re-install Clean Installer? I think I saw something somewhere about removing registry keys for Clean Installer too. I just downloaded .NET 4.5 to see if it makes any difference.... and Microsoft now sez: Same or higher version of .NET Framework 4.5 has already been installed on this computer. Huh?!? I just looked in the Registry and unless it's called sumthin else (4 or 4.0) then I don't have 4.5 Shouldn't matter if Clean Installer is using resources from a much earlier .NET though.

Edit: Fudge.. I used the manual install option for Clean Installer.. mebbe that's the problem.. Nope. I found a thread: http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=495969
I tried using the direct executable out of C:\Program Files (x86)\Sims2Pack Clean Installer ..Yup -Right-clicking worked when I ran it from there. SO... If I ever want to use Clean Installer then I have to go to the executable. And the browse option doesn't find sims2package files on my desktop... my desktop is a bit cluttered now so I'm going to clean up, reboot (which should refresh the .ini) and see if CI browse function works. It's a shame no shortcut use for CI. That will dissuade me from using it. ....(cleaned up desktop until it was totally empty, rebooted, And Clean Installer is fubar'd. I tried opening Clean Installer directly from the ProgFiles .exe. And I got 2 different errors when I tried browsing for a known test sims2pack file. However, sims2pack files are still associated with Clean Installer so I can double-click them and it half works (still no right click). Yeah.... mebbe it's just not meant to be. No worries. This should be a stickie: http://modthesims.info/t/438882

Kidney stones are never round pebbles... they are more like jagged stalactites.
Mad Poster
#43 Old 19th Sep 2017 at 11:39 PM
Quote: Originally posted by swillfly
...But Right-clicking on individual items within an opened sims2pack file in Clean Installer does nothing.

Same here. I do not have a rename option. I already mentioned this in another thread and got bombarded with *That can't be* type of comments. But i thought you'd want to know, you are not alone.
PS if ever you find a way to get this option, I'm interested.

Je mange des girafes et je parle aussi français !...surtout :0)

Find all my old MTS Uploads, on my SFS, And all new uploads Here . :)
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#44 Old 20th Sep 2017 at 12:14 AM
I actually did find a way to get this. Right-clicking only works from the direct executable which (by default) is located in ...Program Files (x86)\Sims2Pack Clean Installer on Windows 7. Path is slightly different for other OS's. Shortcuts in the Start Menu, in My Documents, and on the Desktop right-clicking does not work.

I believe after looking at the errors I previously got that it has to do with which 3rd party application was installed first (i.e. SimPE/Clean Installer/etc) as well as the installed location and the version of Clean Installer (which the last version ever is v.1.6.22 back in 2014). Most modern Windows likely have .NET Framework included (Win7 includes 2.0, 3.0, 3.5) which *should* be backward compatible with whatever flavor (I believe the last .NET used was 2.0) in Clean Installer. I'm guessing but it seems that when another tool is installed/executable then Clean Installer shortcuts right-clicking doesn't work and the direct .exe yields errors. I saved the errors if anyone feels like troubleshooting it.

As user unfriendly as the DBPF naming scheme is, I'll just stick with the default EAxis built-in sims2pack installer and try to do each one piecemeal and use SimPE to decipher which .package files are what, subfolder Downloads, and organize the gobbledigook. If anyone needs help cleaning up failed/multiple Clean Installer installs and re-associating Windoze with the built-in sims2pack installer, lemme know. It's pretty easy to do.

Kidney stones are never round pebbles... they are more like jagged stalactites.
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#45 Old 20th Sep 2017 at 1:41 AM
You seem to be attempting to rename files in a Sims2Pack file - that won't work. Hedgekat was talking about renaming files in the Downloads folder.

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.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#46 Old 20th Sep 2017 at 3:21 AM
Quote: Originally posted by maxon
You seem to be attempting to rename files in a Sims2Pack file - that won't work. Hedgekat was talking about renaming files in the Downloads folder.


It would have been nice to rename files inside Clean Installer (wasn't that one of the right-clicking options?).. or get it to work consistently but these errors kinda dissuaded me to *fix* Clean Installer's presence on my HDD... and either vBulletin or Mozilla 55.0.3 or restrictions limited my ability to post jpg's...sigh.

At this point it's sorta moot/diminishing returns. Clean Installer v.1.6.22 is kinda dicey. If it works, great; if not, that's ok too. No worries. I'm edu-ma-cating myself more with SimPE... it's quite powerful (and has it's fair share of quibbles too).

Kidney stones are never round pebbles... they are more like jagged stalactites.
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