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Inventor
Original Poster
#1 Old 7th Mar 2018 at 3:04 AM

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 3, World Adventures, Generations, Pets, Showtime, Seasons, University Life, Island Paradise, Into the Future
Default Foreign Bookstores Don't Sell Foreign Books
My sims are still in France and the bookstore isn't selling any of the native books. How the heck did THIS happen and how can I find them? They sell all the base books.
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Inventor
Original Poster
#2 Old 14th Mar 2018 at 12:37 AM
Guys, I need to find out why this is. Can somebody please help me?
Site Helper
#3 Old 14th Mar 2018 at 3:10 PM
I'm assuming you went through the Game Problem FAQ? http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php..._3_Game_Problem

Where, if anywhere in those steps, did the problem stop? That would be the area to look in order to try tracking down the source of the problem. It could be CC, it could be something in the cache, it could be a corrupted file, or it could just be that something didn't load properly. We don't have enough data right now. Remember, this is the game where people have had problems fishing or using the fridge if someone has the wrong seed in their pocket.

I am Ghost. My husband is sidneydoj. I post, he downloads, and I wanted to keep my post count.
Group for Avatar Makers* Funny Stories *2017 Yearbook
Inventor
Original Poster
#4 Old 18th Mar 2018 at 6:50 AM
...ok I did that and it made things worse. All my lessons and settings were reset, my dimensions are tiny, one of my sims didn't show up on the intro screen (thankfully he was in the save), it says it doesn't recognize my video card, and the bookstore ISN'T OPEN. The French books are on the shelves though, but there's no way for me to purchase them.

And that's just from getting rid of the cache files!

So I honestly don't know what in the world is going on here. I'm going to x out of that save for now.

What do you need to know?
Inventor
Original Poster
#5 Old 19th Mar 2018 at 12:57 AM
Bookstore still wasn't open all hours when I tried again, but I was eventually able to assign a new employee.

And when it finally opened, which took forever, there STILL aren't any French books!
Site Helper
#6 Old 19th Mar 2018 at 3:22 PM
I'm not sure why clearing the caches would affect your options. This is starting to sound like something even weirder than some missing books. Hopefully it's bad CC...

I am Ghost. My husband is sidneydoj. I post, he downloads, and I wanted to keep my post count.
Group for Avatar Makers* Funny Stories *2017 Yearbook
Inventor
Original Poster
#7 Old 21st Mar 2018 at 10:11 PM
Ah the problem with testing it is that it takes a good half hour to an hour to get the bookstore OPEN because it won't frickin open for hours of ingame time.
Site Helper
#8 Old 22nd Mar 2018 at 2:55 AM
OK...
Temporarily rename your User Files. The game will generate a new set. Adjust options back to the way you want them, because everything will once again be the way it is the very first time you start a game. Don't create a new family, just pick one from one of the EA towns. (Preferably a rich one) Then send someone to France. Wait for the bookstore to open, then check on the books. If the books are there, save this game and use it for testing. If the books are not there, even in the vanilla game you are testing in, the problem is in the actual game files.

(I use the Dashboard http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=387006 to clear caches. It helps make sure that the wrong things don't get deleted.)

If the books are there, don't worry about Sims3packs yet. They are harder to wade through to test. Make a new Framework (or download it). Then copy your Least Likely Suspects (hair, clothing, skin, anything that you are certain you had in the game the last time the French bookstore worked as normal, etc.) from your old folder to the new one. Make sure that anything that has a dependency on another mod is never separated from the mod(s) it needs.Then add Error Trap and Overwatch.
Clear caches.
Load the game you just saved. Since the store was open when you saved it, it should be open when you reload it. (If not, you've got more than one problem you're tracking down.)
Now clear caches and test any other "must have" items you have. (But no more than half of your total Mods folder.) Keep using your new game for testing, and keep clearing the caches when you add or remove things from the game.
(http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title..._Custom_Content is helpful for this. Although you don't need to worry about keeping a backup of your test game, unless you suddenly decide you really like them and want to keep playing it. And you've already gotten as far as removing everything and just testing the least likely suspects. )
If you get all your package files back in, and it's still working properly, it's probably either the Sims3packs or your save. Or the game was being silly.

Copy the first dbc file from the DCCache in your old User Files to the new one. If it's not a problem, do another one, in numerical order. (Remember to keep clearing caches...)
When you find one that causes the problem, move the others to the desktop, rename the current one to have a 0 at the end, and pull up the launcher so you know what is in this one. Find those Sims3packs. (Or decide that you can live without all of these...) Now take that dbc file out of the DCCache and reinstall a few of the sims3packs that were in it. Test. If it's good, install a few more. If not, the ones you just installed had a problem file (or more than one) in them. Remove them and do a binary search through the current set to see which one was the problem. (Or live without that whole group...) (I save a copy of the current dccache if it was good. Then if it wasn't, I can delete the bad one, replace it with the good one, and not have to waste time uninstalling files from it. It's bad enough that I have to wait 2 minutes each to install things without also having to wait 2 minutes to take them back out. )

Remember to give your dbc file its old name back when you've finished, so you don't end up with your file being overwritten when you put the rest back in. (And this is another good reason to be working with COPIES of the user files...If worst comes to worst you know which CC needs to be uninstalled after you replace the dccache you just messed up with the one that has a bad file in it. )

Now move a copy of your saved game back in. After you've tested, you can move copies of the rest of the user files, one folder at a time, into the new folder and then checking to be sure it still works. If the problem comes back when you add a new folder, you can do a binary search through that folder to see where the problem came from.

And I don't know how helpful this is going to be, because we're still not addressing the issue of why clearing your caches affected your preferences. It shouldn't, unless somehow your options got deleted along with the deletable caches.

I am Ghost. My husband is sidneydoj. I post, he downloads, and I wanted to keep my post count.
Group for Avatar Makers* Funny Stories *2017 Yearbook
Inventor
Original Poster
#9 Old 22nd Mar 2018 at 4:10 AM
No, I only deleted things that had "cache" in them, and I moved them all back anyway after that happened.

I didn't change anything as far as CC since the last time they worked, at least I don't think so. My sims have been in France for a while and everything worked fine I THINK, and I swear I sent them to the bookstore before and got a fishing book. But if that's true than it's gone from their inventory.

Man. This is gonna take forever. I'm already weeks late on an episode of my Let's Play of this file.

Ah well, I'll have to try.

Oh, but Dashboard doesn't work for me. Like, it'll work ONCE and never work again. I have to reload it every time I want to use it. It's so weird and it's always been like that even on different computers with different CC.
Mad Poster
#10 Old 22nd Mar 2018 at 8:23 AM Last edited by igazor : 22nd Mar 2018 at 8:55 AM.
Quote: Originally posted by BlackjackGabbiani
No, I only deleted things that had "cache" in them, and I moved them all back anyway after that happened.

I didn't change anything as far as CC since the last time they worked, at least I don't think so. My sims have been in France for a while and everything worked fine I THINK, and I swear I sent them to the bookstore before and got a fishing book. But if that's true than it's gone from their inventory.

Man. This is gonna take forever. I'm already weeks late on an episode of my Let's Play of this file.

Ah well, I'll have to try.

Oh, but Dashboard doesn't work for me. Like, it'll work ONCE and never work again. I have to reload it every time I want to use it. It's so weird and it's always been like that even on different computers with different CC.

Moved them all back? Putting prior cache files back into a game folder after the game has been launched and played without them even if no saves took place, if this is what was meant, is an almost certain way to corrupt an ongoing game and possibly its game folder beyond the point of recovery. You can't "unplay" that which has already happened in this context unless you replace the entire user game folder with a previously made copy of it, which is why the cache files are supposed to be totally expendable much like a web browser's caches would be. Are these the exact files or any others?

CasPartCache.package
compositorCache.package
scriptCache.package
simCompositorCache.package
socialCache.package
Inventor
Original Poster
#11 Old 27th Mar 2018 at 10:03 PM
Yeah, those ones. But I haven't seen any errors that didn't also happen before or without them.

I have some weird files show up (again even before moving the cache files around) and I erased some of them but they're still popping up every time I play. Here's a picture of them. Are they related to the in-game error?
Screenshots
Inventor
Original Poster
#12 Old 27th Mar 2018 at 10:45 PM
All right, I did a test game with the same expansions and CC and the books ARE there. What now?
Mad Poster
#13 Old 28th Mar 2018 at 1:00 AM
Quote: Originally posted by BlackjackGabbiani
Yeah, those ones. But I haven't seen any errors that didn't also happen before or without them.

I have some weird files show up (again even before moving the cache files around) and I erased some of them but they're still popping up every time I play. Here's a picture of them. Are they related to the in-game error?

Those are script logs. Sometimes they will be indications that the NRaas mods are working as they should (ErrorTrap tends to be very chatty), sometimes they will reveal errors. If you need help in understanding what they are saying, you would have to zip them together, upload them to us at NRaas, and open a new support thread. It's not typical to get four of them produced as close together as those are unless some of them actually are errors. We can't tell what they are saying inside just by looking at the file names.

It's okay for them to be there, though. They will accumulate until there's around 11-12 of them and then start overwriting themselves with the oldest ones going out first.
Inventor
Original Poster
#14 Old 28th Mar 2018 at 2:00 AM
They never accumulated before a week or so ago. Around the time I opened this thread. Prior to that, even when I was getting hundreds of error messages at a time, it didn't show up in the Sims 3 folder like these do.

So, what can I do about the books being there in a test save with the same CC and expansions but not in my regular save? And for that matter why does the book store suddenly have hours? I don't remember any of the foreign stores having hours beforehand, in any world.
Mad Poster
#15 Old 28th Mar 2018 at 2:50 AM Last edited by igazor : 28th Mar 2018 at 4:45 AM.
You have, in the very recent past and then again some months prior, uploaded script logs from the mods for us to interpret at NRaas. That is where you would have gotten the logs you uploaded to us, they do not show up anyplace else.

I'm very sorry, I don't know if we ever really helped you sort out the issues (mod conflicts, plus a few other things) you had in the past as the threads on NRaas just sort of stopped, nor do I know else to be of assistance here. I've never heard of a legitimate TS3 install that didn't have "helper" hacks (not mods) from sketchy websites behave as strangely as yours has nor as violently to something as typically harmless as cache file removal.

If you want to bring the script logs or any future ones to us at NRaas for interpretation, you could still do so.
Site Helper
#16 Old 28th Mar 2018 at 4:38 AM
If you started getting the reports about the time you started this thread, and you started this thread about the time the problem started, it's possible that the reports might give an indication of what's going on. (Or they could still be completely unrelated.)

I suppose that you could try putting a copy of your saved game back in, then seeing if a different family in that save can buy French books. That would tell you whether it's a problem with the whole neighborhood or just your family.

If it's the whole neighborhood, it might be time for Master Controller Reset Everything.
If it's just the family, you could try evicting them, putting a copy of their lot into the bin, bulldozing the lot and replacing it with the copy, then moving them back into the newly replaced lot. (And keep a backup of the saved game from just before you did this.)

(Or you can send someone else from a different family to France, buy several copies of the French books, and have that person become a French Book smuggler. "Why, yes, you may have the Nectar-Making skill books... Just let me live with you for a few days, and then I will take a large portion of your family's wealth with me when I leave!" )

I am Ghost. My husband is sidneydoj. I post, he downloads, and I wanted to keep my post count.
Group for Avatar Makers* Funny Stories *2017 Yearbook
Inventor
Original Poster
#17 Old 28th Mar 2018 at 5:13 AM
As violently? It didn't change much at all save for the family image leaving a character out but he's there in the save. And yeah I posted script errors for you guys but I don't think they were ever in the same place as this, or at least there weren't anything between then and now. Ah it was a while ago. And I never did figure out why the dream bed isn't working, even with going through all my mods.

Well, I didn't get the reports until AFTER the problem already started. And if it IS the family then how do I do that while they're overseas? What would their lot have to do with anything when it isn't even in the country with them? And they have a cat too.

Look, I know I come across as being especially thick or whatever but I genuinely don't understand. I wish I had someone to go over this in real time step by step with me. That's how I learn best, for someone to show me in person.
Site Helper
#18 Old 28th Mar 2018 at 9:53 PM
That's right- They are still in France. OOPS. Have you tried sending them home and then sending one person back to France to try buying books? (Preferably with an empty inventory... sometimes an inventory item can have weird effects on what a sim can and cannot do.) And now might be a good time to install Traveler if you don't already have it.

Deleting cache files should not reset your preferences, reset your lessons, or any of the other things you listed in post # 4. That can, however, happen if you accidentally catch the Options file while you are deleting cache files. It isn't terribly hard to do that, and it would explain the bad reaction to clearing your caches.

If the script errors started up after the problem started, they do sound worth reading...

I am Ghost. My husband is sidneydoj. I post, he downloads, and I wanted to keep my post count.
Group for Avatar Makers* Funny Stories *2017 Yearbook
Inventor
Original Poster
#19 Old 29th Mar 2018 at 5:04 AM
Well, unlike the errors that happened before, these don't have error messages showing up in the game. That's why I didn't think of them as being the same thing. Before, I was getting hundreds of error messages IN the game, and now they're just showing up in the folder and I'm not getting notices for them within the game, and there's only a few of them.

So I need to go back to the base town (ending the vacation early) and then go back just to check the stores? Ok then how do I end the vacation early? I'm pretty sure I have Traveler so do I use that? And how do I start the vacation from where I left off then?
Site Helper
#20 Old 29th Mar 2018 at 4:37 PM
To end the vacation early, have a sim use their phone. There is an option to go home. The sim can either go home alone or with the rest of the family. Just having Traveler in the game is probably all you need. Traveler assists with the transition, which might be needed since you are having errors in the vacation world. At this point I wouldn't trust the game to get your family back home without a little extra help. (I'm not sure I would trust it even when everything is acting normal... I've had to revert to the save I made before vacations too many times. )

You don't start the vacation from where you left off, although you could send them on another vacation with a duration of however many days they had left in this one if you wanted to. Or just send them on a new full-duration vacation. If you accomplish everything other than the book-buying before you go home, that will be the best you can do. Ideally, sending the sims home then sending one sim back to buy the books will reset enough things for the glitch with the bookstore to clear itself up. Then you can pretend that the one who went back for the books just missed their flight or got bumped due to overbooking. Or the customs officials decided they had to read all the books he was carrying before clearing him to enter/leave the country.

Of course, things are seldom ideal, but it's worth a try.

(Keep a backup of your current saved game. Just in case things get worse.)

(And I still think that if you have script errors that started happening while you were having a game problem, they are worth reading. They could have a useful clue.)

I am Ghost. My husband is sidneydoj. I post, he downloads, and I wanted to keep my post count.
Group for Avatar Makers* Funny Stories *2017 Yearbook
Inventor
Original Poster
#21 Old 1st Apr 2018 at 10:30 PM
Crud. One is in the middle of a quest, but it's the hidden garden one so she can do that pretty quickly. I sure hope this works...
Inventor
Original Poster
#22 Old 2nd May 2018 at 5:32 AM
Ok I'm trying to do this but there's no option to send everyone home. Just the option to call people back to the home base.

YES it took me this long to get around to testing it I've been busy.
https://youtu.be/hOQUyDV4iZw for a video of the events. The confusion starts at about 22 minutes in as I fumble through multiple menus for it.
Mad Poster
#23 Old 2nd May 2018 at 1:44 PM
There being no Return Home (or Return Home Early/End Vacation Early) choices on the Travel and R/E menu says that your sims are not in a vacation scenario from which they can return home. The other symptom that can be easily seen is to check your active sims' info tabs where at home their age bars would show up. You should instead see something like X of Y days remaining of the trip. If you see age data (or "Not Aging"), then your sims are again not in a vacation scenario.

On the map tag of Base Camp (standing in for City Hall in WA worlds) or an in-game computer, check NRaas > Traveler > Treat as Vacation. If this is set to False, that would explain the above. It needs to be True in order for the X of Y days remaining and the Return Home options to show. If it's showing as True already, try toggling it to False and then True again to see if that kicks something loose.

If there is no Treat as Vacation option on the NRaas Traveler menu, then something else has gone wrong and I'm afraid your sims are probably stranded there. If you attempt to Travel them home, I would expect a new instance of your homeworld to spawn as if they were vacationing the other way around or at the very least they won't be residents of that world anymore. Your choices to continuing play would then be limited to retreating to a prior save, either in the WA world where returning home would still be an option or back before they ever left home and declare the entire trip a loss.
Inventor
Original Poster
#24 Old 8th May 2018 at 4:46 AM Last edited by BlackjackGabbiani : 8th May 2018 at 5:23 AM.
Well crap. There's no "Treat as Vacation" option, no list of vacation days...so they're stuck there? It didn't show foreign books because it registered them as being in their home world, is that it?

What would have caused this? And why did it happen suddenly? How do I make sure it doesn't happen again?

Crap, I'm gonna have to start the entire game all over again...

https://youtu.be/l04tKenW9WU I filmed my attempt as well, and here you can see a bunch of the subsequent reactions and options. I managed to get the "go home" function to show up, even if it wasn't selectable, so there must be SOMETHING that got turned off and on there...
Instructor
#25 Old 8th May 2018 at 6:05 AM
Sometimes if you hover over options that aren't selectable a tooltip will appear and give an explanation as to why. Not sure it would help in this situation but maybe worth a shot?
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