Installed lots don't show up in Sims2Pack Clean Installer?

[fizzabull]

Hello,

I've got a slightly odd problem with the Sims2Pack Clean Installer and some lots I'm installing, which I've downloaded from ModTheSims2. I haven't tried installing anything except some lots yet.

I'm running Sims2Pack Clean Installer v1.5.1.4 and The Sims 2 without any expansions.

When I double click the sims2pack files for the lots I have downloaded the Clean Installer starts up. For most of the lots it just has a single entry: "lotSegmentForUpload". Some, e.g. the Ditmas playground, have a few other boxes as well.

If I click "Install" an "Installing Packages" dialog pops up. I leave the "default installation" checkbox ticked, and that seems to want to put it into the Teleport directory. If I click the "Install" button on the "Installing Packages" dialog I get a popup saying "Files successfully installed".

Now if I run the sims the lots will be there and I can put them into my neighbourhoods and use them. So far so good.

However, when I rerun the Clean Installer, I won't see the installed lots in it. When I use the "choose directory" drop down to select a directory it doesn't matter which directory I choose: It always says "Number of packages: 0". Browsing to any directories doesn't seem to help either.

This means that I can't uninstall any of the lots, which is a problem because it seems that some of the lots on modthesims2 describe themselves as not needing any expansions, but actually do. Then it's impossible to uninstall the lot and it seems to make the sims lock up sporadically when playing it. All told quite annoying...!

Any suggestions or help on using the Clean Installer would be very much appreciated!!

Thanks,
FB

[fizzabull]

Relatedly, it seems I can only use each building once - once I place it then I can't place it again, even in a different neighbourhood. Is there any easy way to reuse a building multiple times? What if I want to create a street of identical slum tenements? :P Installing the same lot multiple times just seems ugly and hacky but maybe it's necessary due to the way the underlying implementation of the Sims 2 works?

Thanks in advance for all your help!!
Christo

[HystericalParoxysm]

Once installed, lots go into the Teleport folder to await true installation. When the game runs, they get their file type changed from .sims2tmp to .package, get renamed sequentially, and get plopped into the LotCatalog folder. If you browse that folder with Clean Installer you'll see a list of the lots in there and can delete problem ones.

If a lot requires EPs you don't have, it'll crash the game when you click on it in the lot bin. If it locks up when playing it's something else.

To install lots multiple times I believe you can set items in the LotCatalog folder to read only in Windows. Just select all, right-click, and tick Read Only. Later EPs don't have this issue - lots stay in the lot bin once installed.

[fizzabull]

Awesome, thanks HP - I haven't tried the read only thing yet but can see all of the lots in the LotCatalog folder, so problems sorted :) :) FB