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Original Poster
#1 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 9:32 AM Last edited by lefterisxo : 26th Dec 2019 at 4:08 PM.

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 2, University, Nightlife, Open for Business, Pets, Seasons, Bon Voyage, Free Time, Apartment Life
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retired moderator
#2 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 9:42 AM
Hi @lefterisk001

What operating system do you have?

For the problem CC, try the methods here:
Game Help:Finding Problem Custom Contentwiki
The 50% method will help if you can't find it by date.
e3 d3 Ne2 Nd2 Nb3 Ng3
retired moderator
#3 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 12:10 PM
Quote: Originally posted by lefterisk001
Nothing is working, I've tried batches and nothing is working. The only thing that is working is to remove the entire CC folder...

Removing stuff in batches is not going to work- if you take another look at the 50% method you'll see that it is a process of elimination, so you have to do it logically.

Is your version of Win 10 32 or 64 bit?
Mad Poster
#4 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 1:14 PM Last edited by simmer22 : 22nd Jul 2018 at 1:30 PM.
You may have to delete the cache files between each time you start your game when doing the 50/50 method.

If your game still won't start up and/or crashes, there could be issues with both halves of the downloads. Part them up 50/50 some other way, and try again.

An alternative to the startoff with the 50/50 method is to first put in things you don't suspect to be a problem, test that, and if they work, continue with the 50/50 method. Just remember that this "safe" bunch of CC could still have bad files in them that's reacting to the other half, so you'll want to retest it with the next "safe" bunch of CC.

There isn't a lot of CC that causes the game to not run or to crash at startup, but it happens. Hacks and furniture can sometimes cause issues around startup (but more likely when visiting a lot, browsing catalogs, etc.), while clothes and other CAS items (unless very modified) are more likely to cause crashes while in CAS/Bodyshop/change appearance, plus while playing or loading a house.

If you've modified any of the install files (exe, graphic rules, etc.) or put any CC in there, this is far more likely to be a problem with startup than CC. The smartest thing you do is to get the game to work with these fixes before you try with CC, because then you can be reasonably sure if it's a CC problem or not. Have you tested your game without CC and deleted the cache files after doing the 4GB patch and/or other edits to the install files?

Another thing that may eventually cause the game not to run properly is neighborhood corruption (could cause 'hoods not to work) or corruption to the install files. If any of the "object.package" files in the install files have been modified more recently than 2010, this may be an issue. Deleted/modified versions of other install files can also cause the game not to work properly. If the game runs fine without CC, this is less likely to be your problem, though.

Either way, it's a good idea to keep your CC organized. If you keep items in separate folders, for instance having main folders for clothes, hacks, furniture, neighborhood items, etc. it's a lot easier to find problem content since you can pinpoint problems to one of the folders much faster. Clothes are not very likely to cause issues with furniture, but hacks are likely to cause issues with any of the folders. It's much easier to test furniture+hacks, or clothes+hacks, than a 50/50 mix of everything you've got.
Mad Poster
#5 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 3:16 PM Last edited by simmer22 : 22nd Jul 2018 at 7:27 PM.
CC glowing blue usually means they're repositoried and lacking the master mesh.

If the 50/50 method doesn't get you any closer (you probably have several items causing problems, by the sound of it), try it the opposite way. Take out everything, then put back a small amount of things you know you really want to keep, test the game, if everything is fine you can put back some more (put it in a "recently added" folder, and on the next round you put the items where they belong, and put the new pile of items in this folder), and continue. Whenever you hit a problem, take out the items you last added, and put in someting new. When you're done to the point that everything you still have is working, you can test the rest of the items on their own, and see if there's some more you can keep. You'll have to do a final test with everything in the "keep" pile at the end. This way you get to keep as much as possible, and everything you have is most likely compatible.

You may have a combination of outdated items, GUID conflicts, improperly repositoried/slaved objects (those often cause crashes) and other issues. It's relatively easy to find one item, but very hard to find multiple items.
Mad Poster
#6 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 7:12 PM
The problem with objects on lots where the master is not present is something that happens quite a lot in my experience - over time I have learned that some things may need a master (BuggyBooz stuff comes to mind ) - so one has to decide between finding the master or doing without the object.

I think builders may well forget that some objects are slaved - if an object flashes blue, I would suggest ask the creator if you need a master mesh, because it should be added to the download anyway if one is needed.
Mad Poster
#7 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 7:33 PM
If you've downloaded and installed lots that contained CC, it's a good idea to keep this CC in a separate folder - at least until the lot and CC has been properly tested. This makes it easier to weed out any CC-related problems before they cause problems elsewhere in your game. Personally, I tend to test lots in a nearly CC-free game (keeping in only essential mods and some default replacements) so I know if they miss any CC. I've previously installed lots that crashed my game (mostly due to bad CC and a very annoying file that caused me a lot of headache at a point), so that's why I'm extra careful.
Instructor
#8 Old 31st Aug 2018 at 1:46 PM
Delete you Accessory.cache file too and not the Thumbnails folder itself, but the cache files in it. I delete the Accessory.cache file and Groups.cache folder each time I start. Then I start my game from Drive 'C' , right click on the Sims.exe file and run it as Administrator.

For you it would be
C:\Program Files (x86)\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Apartment Life\TSBin\Sims2EP8.exe

Not sure if it will work for you, but it's worth a try. My game starts up every time doing this.
Mad Poster
#9 Old 31st Aug 2018 at 3:16 PM
The files in the Thumbnail folder are perfectly safe to delete (and sometimes they even cause issues and should be deleted), but you don't need to delete them every time you play. They're meant to make loading faster. The files collect a lot of junk, but don't generally cause too many issues. Sometimes the wrong thumbs will show, usually when adding or removing default replacements, or anything else that frequently changes the thumbnails. Adding and removing CC will also make the Thumbnail files grow. A good rule of thumb is that if any of the ones in the Thumbnail folder gets close to or goes over 50k, you probably should delete that file. Too large files can be an issue if you have the pink-flashing problem. After deleting them you will experience a little bit of lag here and there as the game needs to regenerate thumbnails, but the next time you go through the same catalog it loads faster.

The 2-4 cache files that appear in the "The Sims 2" folder after opening either the game, Bodyshop or Homecrafter are perfectly safe to delete, and some people have to delete them almost every time to make the programs run. These cause more issues than the files in the Thumbnail folders. Loading (game/BS/HC and some CAS-related menus) will be slower after deleting them.
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retired moderator
#10 Old 31st Aug 2018 at 4:11 PM
If you delete the entire thumbnails folder then the game will copy over a fresh set from [install location]\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 [latest EP/SP]\TSData\Res\UserData\Thumbnails. That way, the thumbnails for the in-game content will already be built, and the thumbs will only have to rebuild thumbs for the custom items you have. If you delete the individual thumbnail package files the the entire thumbnail will have to be rebuilt, including the EA content.


ETA: @lefterisk001 What exactly is the problem you are having with your content? Is it not showing up at all, or not working as it should, or something else? Your one drive link requires a login so I can't download that, and I'm not sure it will help anyway as I'm not clear on what your issue is.
Instructor
#11 Old 31st Aug 2018 at 5:15 PM
I did not see (if you do I missed it) that you have CEP or Scriptorium installed. Do you?

Also, I have had problems with conversion objects. Such as Sims3 to Sims2 objects or Sims4 to Sims2 objects. I think it might have something to do with what item the object is cloned from and if it is in my game in order to get the conversion object. Every time I try to load an object like that it makes my game crash. If you have these items try to remove them and see if it works. Once again it's worth a try.
Instructor
#12 Old 31st Aug 2018 at 5:55 PM
Oh heck yea. You need CEP in order to have recolors of objects in the game. Scriptorium is for custom fireplaces and custom expandable stairs to work. You will need to install scripts for stairs and fireplaces into Scriptorium. CEP http://www.modthesims.info/d/92541

Scriptorium
http://modthesims.info/d/192613

I wrote a quick tutorial on how to use Scriptorium here
http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=571633
e3 d3 Ne2 Nd2 Nb3 Ng3
retired moderator
#13 Old 31st Aug 2018 at 6:51 PM
Sorry but the link still requires a log in.

You need to follow the game problem guide- we cannot do this for you, but you need to make sure you do this systematically, and not deviate from the instructions. It's a logical process of elimination:
Game Help:Game Problemwiki
The first question to answer is, does the game work with a fresh set of userdata? The next is, does the game work with just the Downloads folder removed? And so on.
Mad Poster
#14 Old 31st Aug 2018 at 7:01 PM Last edited by simmer22 : 31st Aug 2018 at 7:14 PM.
You don't need the Scriptorium if you're not downloading custom stairs, or anything else that requires scripts.

You do however need the CEP if you want more items to be recolorable ingame, and have downloaded recolors for ingame items that need the CEP to work.

I can see the onedrive folder. I'll have a look later to see if I can spot something bad. I do advice you to organize your downloads into folders, though. It's a lot of files to look through, and it's very difficult to find problem content if you have to scroll through several thousand files.
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#15 Old 31st Aug 2018 at 7:15 PM
Can I just mention that you do not, in the strictest sense, need the CEP - it only adds recolour options to objects that didn't have them in the first place and also adds some fixes to objects. But that's all it does. I didn't have the CEP for years (Numenor thought I was weird) and the game runs just fine without it.

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
#16 Old 31st Aug 2018 at 7:58 PM Last edited by simmer22 : 31st Aug 2018 at 10:47 PM.
After a quick scroll-through, I found some potential problems (all aren't crash-inducing). Keep in mind that I haven't tested any of it, and there may be other issues I can't spot, so these are just suggestions for what you may want to look closer at:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First of all, you'll want to get your downloads organized into folders. Seriously. Makes finding problem content easier and less frustrating. Keep mods in a separate folder, keep meshes together with recolors, defaults in a separate folder, etc. Basically you should know what you have and where to find it. Keep to a max of 3 folders deep, avoid special characters in file- and folder names, and avoid very long filenames (rename if they don't show up properly ingame).

You may want to remove or rename the [tifa] file. It's got a bunch of characters the game might react bad to. The last two files in some Asian language as well.

I think one of Veranka's files from the gym locker room set can cause issues, possibly due to a GUID problem (not sure which object it was, though) - but I can't remember if she fixed that, and I didn't look specifically for it in the folder.

Remove the "enablecoloroptions.package.package.package.etc." file, keep the one with only one ".package" (this is a file that comes with the CEP)

If you find anything wiht extra "." outside of the single one in ".package" you should remove that from the filename. Just saying, because I've not looked in detail on all the files.

All the files with long, random numbers and letters should be moved out or tested separately. These are often mailbox/trashcans recolors, walls, floors, or mods renamed by the game. These tend to come from installed houses, and if you don't know what they are or what they do it's likely they can be the source of your problems. Any other files with non-descriptive names, too. You have a LOT of those. Personally, I always put the files from each house I install in a separate folder, so the CC is easy to remove or look through without being afraid of removing anything that belongs to another house. You may want to remove other mailbox/trashcan recolors, too. (do a search for "mail" and "trash" in your folder - there's a lot of them). The files 8x8 digit numbers/letters (something like "807be521_12345678.package" tend to be sims.

Anything with multiple ".package.package" extensions should be renamed to have only one ".package" extension.

When you've tested each batch of files, it's possible you've separated items from their meshes, and sometimes this can also cause issues. That's why it's important with a well organized Downloads folder.

The firealarm by LivingDeadGirl at TSR caused me a lot of crashing. If you've downloaded that set or any schools or official buildings that may have contained it (the file may have been renamed into a random string, though it usually doesn't happen), you may want to get rid of that particular file. I haven't seen it yet in your files, but mentioning it just in case.

ACR can clash with some other mods, and you may want to check the description to see if you have any of the ones mentioned to be a problem.

Are the "afbody..." and "afhair..." files default replacements? If they are, make sure you only have one replacement for each recolor/outfit/hair. There's a bunch of other default replacements scattered around the folder.

You have multiple buyable mailbox and trashcan files (most have the multiple Package extensions, so probably from a house you downloaded). Make sure you have the proper versions for your game. There are several different versions, and some older ones may not be compatible with the UC. As said above, you have a TON of recolors. These spread like wildfire if you just have them in your game when you pacakge and upload houses.

You have the "numenor deck stairs" (probably from a house) but if you don't have the scriptorium files these may not work properly or can potentially cause issues. Same with the "SpaikModularCountryStairs..." files, I think.

The "B.WBa.FBody..." file should be renamed to not have more than the . in ".package"
Same with the "Cazia.hair..." + "Numenor_Bells.and.Mort..." + "polaroid-no.1.package" + "Poppet-AmaryllSuspendedMatress_01.Black.package" + "Wall_reflects..."+ "www.coolsims..." (possibly various other files as well).

I see you have a bunch of baby outfits. Make sure you only have non-defaults, because multiple default replacements can cause issues.

The "BuyMaternityClothes" mod is from 2007, so you may want to check if this is the correct one (needs to be compatible with AL/M&G if you have the UC - that goes for other mods too)

The "CAS!.package" looks a bit suspect (and the "!" should probably be removed from the filename)

The "collection of wallpapers" files have a weird character in the "no10" part of the name.

The game isn't too fond of other characters than a-z, 0-9, - and _
But @ [ ] ( ) and some others don't seem to cause any bugs that I've seen (other than potential extra lag). If you find other characters than that, you may want to remove those from the filenames. Removing special characters including spaces can potentially make the game lag less. Extra punctuation marks can make files not show up.

The "sdssss.package" looks weird.

In addition, you have a lot of uncompressed recolors. Not a problem in itself, but worth knowing about if you start running out of space. Compressing them may also help loading the game faster (but that's no guarantee). Uncompressed files from the same set tend to have the exact same file size (you have a bunch of 344kb files, and I'm sure some of the files over 1 MB are also uncompressed)

---------

Just so you know, this didn't take me very long to scroll through. If I'd had the actual folder, then maybe a couple or so hours (My PC is a little slow atm because my full antivirus scan slows down the system, and I don't have enough space to download the folder, so it took me longer to go through the OneDrive folder). The whole "OMGsomanyfilesIhave" thing people often complain about when faced with a 50/50 search tend to be a little exaggerated. I've done a (modified version of) 50/50 in a somewhat messy 35 GB folder (currently in the process of a much needed full reorganizing), and it took me a few hours an evening, including ingame testing. It's really not too difficult if your downloads are somewhat organized, and as long as you don't chuck just about anything in there (particularly when installing houses - I always look through the CC, and check the files I'm unsure of, and always filter out the mail/trash recolors because those are the most annoying files found in a house upload).

Having a sense of what you're looking for is the key. If the game crashes at a particular point every time, you're probably looking for an item that the game had to load at the point of the crash, so you may not need to test everything else. If the game always crashes in a particular catalog, look for items related to that. If crashing occurs while sims are doing something spesific like eating, using an item, etc. look for items related to that. If the game suddenly starts crashing at startup, look for the item among your latest added items. It's not always so straight-forward to find something, but start looking for the horses (most likely items), then the zebras (less likely items), and finally the unicorns (when you're out of ideas, usually by 50/50).

Put new items in a separate folder, test them, then put them in the proper folder. Also make a folder system you're comfortable with, and don't use too deep subfoldering (3 deep is more than enough), because the less clicking you need to do the less frustrated you'll be when looking around. This way you keep your game much cleaner and easier to troubleshoot.
Mad Poster
#17 Old 8th Sep 2018 at 2:33 PM
I think the "enablecoloroptions.package" file needs to be directly in the Downloads folder, and this is true for a few other mods as well. If they have a Z in them, it's safer to place them directly in the Downloads folder, because then you're guaranteed that they load last (they often need to load last to not interfere with other mods).

You have a lot of baby clothes (not sure if those are replacements or custom), but if they are custom, you don't seem to have the "CJH_BuyBabyOutfitTeddy" mod. You don't absolutely need it if the infant clothes are towniefied, but you won't be able to change the clothes without it. The clothing recolors with "BU" in them are baby clothes, possibly a few others.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#18 Old 8th Sep 2018 at 11:11 PM
@lefterisk001 it's also against site rules to double and especially to triple post. Occasionally a double post is needed to bump, but this didn't need a bump. So it's good you deleted all of those. If you want to add or change your post, please use the edit button.

You compress files with the Compresorizer. http://sims.jfade.com/index.php?category=1&subcat=5

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Test Subject
#19 Old 11th Sep 2018 at 12:02 AM
Geia sou re patrioti!! den kserw pos na se boi9isw me to 9ema soy alla perasa na se xeretisw! kali sinexia kai kali tixi!
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