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Mad Poster
Original Poster
#1 Old 29th Jan 2014 at 1:25 PM Last edited by AndrewGloria : 29th Jan 2014 at 1:44 PM.

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 2, University, Nightlife, Open for Business
Default Sims losing wants and fears (probably CC related)
I think the consensus in the Sims 2 Discussion - Stupid / Random Questions forum is that it's time to bring my problem here! I have been posting about it on and of since the end of November.

Back at the end of November, I noticed that some of my Sims in Veronaville were losing some of their wants and fears. It was a Maxis 'hood, so I knew it was corrupted from the word go, and in addition to that I had managed to delete 2 Sims. (I deleted them immediately after creating them in CAS, so they were never actually in the game, but of course the short "stub" character files were left. I never saw any gossip about them in HoodChecker.) With advice from MTS members, I tried various ways to get the wants rolling again, and also going back to backed up versions, but I found missing wants and fears even in backups, and they seemed to be spreading from Sim to Sim. In the end, although HoodChecker never saw much wrong with it, it seemed too badly corrupted to continue and I started to extract Sims' appearances and data with a view to building a new Veronaville. I downloaded Tarlia's base game and Downtown 'hoods, and to give myself some entertainment during the rebuild, I started to play (Tarlia's) Pleasantview. (I'd never played Pleasantview before.) But, before I had completed my first day's play in my first pre-made pre-made family, Lilith and Angela Pleasant had started losing wants and fears. So I knew it must be more than corruption in Veronaville.

There has already been a great deal about this in the Sims 2 Discussion - Stupid / Random Questions thread (pages 574 and 575) to the extent that I was in danger of taking over the thread. To save me typing everything again, may I quote what I said there in Post #14360?

"The problem with trying to find the problem by playing without all my CC, and then slowly restoring it till I find the culprit, is that the fault is so intermittent in nature. While disappearing SWAFs have been wreaking havoc in Maxis Veronaville, and affected Tarlia's Pleasantview almost as soon as I started to play it, I have been successfully playing two custom 'hoods with no problems at all. One of them is my test 'hood, in which I use a subset of my CC, which may explain things, but the other is my island 'hood which I created for light relief while I rebuild Veronaville, and it uses all my normal CC. The three households in it have all reached Wednesday without any lost SWAFs, and there have been a few long community lot visits too. So I ask myself, do the Sims losing wants and fears have anything in common. They do:
1) They are all teens. This is probably just coincidence, as I play teens a lot.
2) They are all Maxis-made Sims. It seems unlikely that this is significant either, but it's true. They are a mixture of pre-made playables, townies, ex-townies and ex-Downtownies, the last two having been moved in with the teleporter. There are no Maxis Sims in my custom 'hoods. (In one the townies were generated with the mailbox; in the other they were all made in CAS and then turned into townies with the teleporter.
3) Not all of them, but I think most of them lost their SWAFs while I was playing a date. This might just be because the frequent rerolls of wants and fears during a date. There have been no dates in my custom 'hoods."

That is more or less where I am now. I have now removed the piece of CC that I suspect most (a hacked rug from MTS's sister site that I installed shortly before the problems started). (This rug seemed glitched in the game - the Sims used it for hours at a time, and one froze after using it. It's the only object that has made me use "Force Error" since I started to play.) Since then I have tried a date in my island 'hood between CAS teens, and they had a dream date with no problems. I have restarted Pleasantview, recreated the CAS family that I had there before, and am just about to run additional tests (with adults and pre-mades) there.

I've been asked fort a list of all my hacks. I'm a bit embarrassed about that, because I have a few things from our sister site. So here is the list with the embarrassing items missed out. (In missing them out, I'm well aware that they may actually be the cause of my problems.)


The items in the vending machines and to test sub-folders were added after the problem first appeared, so cannot have caused it in the first place. The cards sub-folder contains MogHughson's greetings card system and the cards that go with it. I've had it for quite a while working properly, so I think it's unlikely to be at fault too.

I apologise for coming here without having done a full 50/50 test. But, because the fault is intermittent, I know I've still got the fault if I start losing SWAFs, but If I don't lose them, I only know the fault hasn't shown up yet. And, as I suspect that losing them corrupts the 'hood, I have to keep on providing clean 'hoods to test on. I think I'm on the right track now, but the process is painfully slow. I hope the hack that is currently in my sights is indeed the culprit!

Any other suggestions would be very welcome, so I can finish this before the Grim Reaper comes for me!

[EDIT] HCDU finds no conflicts at all.
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Mad Poster
#2 Old 29th Jan 2014 at 4:25 PM
No conflicts? Lucky you :P
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#3 Old 29th Jan 2014 at 4:34 PM Last edited by AndrewGloria : 30th Jan 2014 at 12:15 AM. Reason: Minor typos
Quote: Originally posted by gummilutt
No conflicts? Lucky you :P
Well, none that HCDU could find!

My Romance Mod affects jealousy, so does my EasyBed (though only while the Sims are using the bed). The Sim Manipulator allows you to turn jealousy off for individual Sims (though I've never dared to try). I would have thought there would be a BHAV conflict in that lot, but HCDU doesn't see one.
Mad Poster
#4 Old 29th Jan 2014 at 6:20 PM
I remember reading this a long time ago and you may find it helpful http://thesims2.livejournal.com/4739504.html#comments

You also have some mods in that I remember reading about not having conflicts in the HCDU but they do have conflicts. Like the Vistor Controller and some phone hacks but I don't remember where I read about them at.

All my Beginning Hoods here at MTS. http://www.modthesims.info/member.php?u=7749491
All my Beginning Hoods as Shopping Districts plus Old Town. http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=523417
MooVille, a tribute to Mootilda and her fabulous lots http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=534158
Mad Poster
#5 Old 29th Jan 2014 at 6:44 PM
Oh, don't be embarrassed about your adult mods. Lots of us have various adult mods, and we won't judge you (well, much. That Andrew, who knew he was such a character, we should have him over for dinner!).

Some of us have had problems with Mog Hughson's Greeting Cards, namely me and Gummilutt--we thought it was inteen at first (see, adult mod), as that was the most recent hack we installed before the problem started, however our problem was nothing whatsoever like yours. We got absolutely ridiculous bills on some residential lots.

Not sure it has anything to do with it, but you have two packages that say visitor controller. I have only one. Now I think I have more EPs than you (I have 'em all), so you may need two, but it might be worth double checking.

Anything you haven't listed that might fulfill wants (like if you have some woohoo table or counter or something) would be my first suspects to check. Do sims roll wants to buy things from vending machines other than the cell phone? I've never seen one but there are lots of wants I never see (buy magazine, for one!) because of how I play, so that might be a suspect, too. If I understand how wants and fears work, there's a tree: so your sim flirts, and that makes them want to give a backrub and/or hug, and fulfilling one of those makes your sim roll a slow dance, flirt, kiss, and makeout, etc. Maybe something is causing the tree to break at some point so that it doesn't proceed to the next set of wants, which might be something that fulfills a want but then doesn't connect up properly to the next one? I don't know anything about modding, so this may be completely mistaken, but that's where I'd personally start hunting: anything that fulfills a want (or fear).

Pics from my game: Sunbee's Simblr Sunbee's Livejournal
"English is a marvelous edged weapon if you know how to wield it." C.J. Cherryh
Mad Poster
#6 Old 29th Jan 2014 at 7:37 PM
I see you have some "LizzLoves" and other mod makers that have both adult and none adult mods and with out know which adult mods you have there is no way to tell.

Can you list the makers of your adult mods instead of the mod them self like "Hunter240x" has a shower that may conflict with your "para-nmn_PrivateShower.package" and so on.

Have you thought about maybe going and getting newer mods that take care of some of your older mods.
You have a lot of mods that Cyjon mods could take the place of. http://drupal.cyjon.net/node/42
TJ mods also can take the place of some of your olders mods. http://www.simbology.com/smf/index.php?board=7.0
Both of these 2 have (to me) better mods for the Sims 2.

All my Beginning Hoods here at MTS. http://www.modthesims.info/member.php?u=7749491
All my Beginning Hoods as Shopping Districts plus Old Town. http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=523417
MooVille, a tribute to Mootilda and her fabulous lots http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=534158
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#7 Old 29th Jan 2014 at 9:51 PM
I've never had any issues with Mog Hughson's greeting cards but I do have all EP's and SP's. It could be something to do with EP level and one of your mods. Although you would expect that to show up across all hoods.

I can't use the desk-locator as that caused a terrible visual glitch as soon as I loaded a lot after trying it a few years back. It's a good mod, but it was clashing with something else I had. At least you can run the HCDU, I can never get it to work, it always goes 'not responding' so I got sick of trying.

I should think, unless it is clashing, that anything by Christianlov, Cyjon, Pescado, Phaenoh, Mog, simbiology and Simlogical would be fine. I would suspect mods by anyone else first.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#8 Old 30th Jan 2014 at 11:18 AM
Thanks everyone!

It took me a while to understand what that link was about in marka93's first post. I don't think I've got the SuperDebugHug, but I could try removing Dolphin's Control This Sim mod to make sure. (I'm pretty sure I've got the newest version of that old mod.) I think you usually get the "hug" by downloading residential lots, and I'm so paranoid about that, that the only lots I download are (a) community lots, (b) CC-free and (c) by Mootilda!

It says in the readme for the Visitor Controller that it clashes with Pescado's Phone Hack because both extend the time that a visiting child can stay. I like the Visitor Controller so I forego the Phone Hack. (Why include children's visiting times in a phone hack anyway?) The version of the Visitor Controller I use is an older one but it is correct for my game, since Nightlife is my newest (only!) EP. It has a separate file for community lots and uses paintings to control who can visit and what they wear. Only having Nightlife is one reason why I often use older hacks: the newer ones often expect newer EPs. Nonetheless I'll take a look at the sites you recommend marka93.

Yes, most of the adult mods I've missed out are by Hunter240x, and yes they include the shower. (para-nmn_PrivateShower.package is actually an adult mod too, albeit a fairly innocuous one.) It probably fulfils woohoo wants, and it will be the next item on my target list if the one I've already removed doesn't fix things. That was a hacked rug by Hunter240x: it gave woohoo memories, so it probably fulfils woohoo wants too, and it seemed to be glitched when my Sims used it. (Nobody could possibly keep it up for hours the way that they did, and then thy would just stand immobile for ages afterwards. I had to use "Force Errors" on the batbox to free one, and it's the only time I've ever used "Force Error".) That Gender Preference Kite by LizzLoves is the only thing I have by her.

Jo, could I add Squinge to that list of safe reliable modders? It's a bit of a generalisation, but I tend to think that while Cyjon writes mods to kill Sims, Squinge writes mods to keep them safe. As I love to see my Sims alive and happy, it's obvious which one I prefer! I don't think I could play now without Squinge's No more fires mod.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#9 Old 30th Jan 2014 at 12:27 PM
Squinge is a good modder, although Boiling oil and Cyjon do have some mods that will do the same things and they are around to support them. BO gives very good support, ask him a question and you will normally get a reply the next day.

Pescado is certainly a great modder, but he has a habit of adding things in which are not always documented in the read me. This can make it hard to realize you are already modding something, sometimes things that you don't want modded at all. So anything of his that isn't an essential fix is worth pulling in case it's altering something that you have another mod altering. I'd assume that would show up in the hack conflict detector, but you never know.

Mootilda has a very long thread on the debug hug after I told her about my troubles with it. Pulling a badly made social hack was how I first got it. BO's No sim loaded (a hack I would always have) Dolphins control this sim, and deadly neck bite all stop it from showing, but they can't remove it as it's a Maxis made thing.It's in the game files for modders to make new social hacks from but you should never see it active when you are playing. Lots can give it to you only if you do not have one of those hacks in place which is why I listed No sim loaded in my list of must have mods. It prevents the SDHug and cleans the lot of tokens on loading. CC free lots can contain the super as much as any lot can as it comes in the lot file as an invisible passanger. All my lots, cc free or not were infected until we cleaned them. Mootilda is hoping to make something for those of us who upload lots to check and remove it, so I am glad now I brought this pesky thing to her attention as if anyone can do that she can. I now only upload lots made from my AGS as my main game will forever be infected even though I don't see the SDhug due to those fixes.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Inventor
#10 Old 30th Jan 2014 at 2:52 PM
Mostly just seconding some stuff Jo said. I love Squinge's mods because they are very specific in what they do , or don't do. He also , while he was active , was very good about stating which of his mods were/weren't inteen compatible. Pescado is obviously a great modder , but it's his mods for his game , oftentimes with extra unmentioned add on's.Therefore , as I want to play my game my way, I avoid every non essential mod of his like the plague.

I've been using Hunter's shower along with the other shower you mentioned ( which is from Numenor by the way) forever without any conflicts at all. I've also used all of Hunter's other items without ever noticing any problems related to them. I also use everything you mentioned from Christianlov and Lizzlove ( as well as many other items from both that you don't mention) without ever noticing any problems. I don't use the romance mod you mention and am unsure of it's creator/purpose , I use this http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=185019 without any trouble.

Unfortunately , as you stated , it's a pain replicating the problem you're having. I started out playing Deluxe ( base and nightlife) but it's been so long since I was using that format I can't think of anything else that worked or didn't work with that set up. Sorry I can't be of any help. Good luck!

Shotgunning bland cucumbers since 1974
Mad Poster
#11 Old 30th Jan 2014 at 10:01 PM
I have to wonder if you are actually using the correct version of the mods you use. Double Deluxe also has Celebration Stuff which is later than Nightlife, so you may need to use Open for Business versions of your mods (see here: http://www.simbology.com/smf/index.php?topic=1228.0) On the other hand Double Deluxe runs on an modified version of the Apartment Life game engine so you may need to use Apartment Life versions of the mods. I have the Apartment Life EP, so I used the Apartment Life version of mods when I used Double Deluxe. I recently got the stand alone version of the Base Game, Nightlife and Celebration Stuff. I never used it without any other EPs so that is why I'm not sure which one you should use.
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#12 Old 30th Jan 2014 at 11:31 PM Last edited by AndrewGloria : 31st Jan 2014 at 1:27 AM.
Thanks Jo and Mookie.

The Romance mod is by Pescado, so I suppose it might be the problem. But it's one of those mods that's hard to live without once you've used it. Basically it makes Sims a lot more reasonable in their romantic relations. This is the readme:

... So nice outgoing playful Romance Sims can have a totally "open" marriage, while other Sims get jealous at the "love" stage. I have a couple of gay Romance Sims like that. they're going steady, live together, and share all their boyfriends with each other! "That shows how much we love each other!" It's good to know that the two showers work together, but if Hunter's shower is clashing with the Romance mod, I think it's likely to ne the shower that goes! A lot of people use the Romance mod and it's recommended by the ACR people.

I'll go on testing.

[EDIT]
Quote: Originally posted by Orilon
I have to wonder if you are actually using the correct version of the mods you use. Double Deluxe also has Celebration Stuff which is later than Nightlife, so you may need to use Open for Business versions of your mods (see here: http://www.simbology.com/smf/index.php?topic=1228.0)

I had actually written my reply to Jo and Mookie, but only saw your post after I posted it. Actually I have been wondering about that, and yes, according to that simbology article, I am using the wrong version for my mods. For a while I haven't been quite sure whether I should go by the highest EP or by the game engine version. Well I actually have the OFB game engine. I understand that in North America, Double Deluxe was supplied with the Store Edition (FreeTime) engine and this was often updated online to various things including Apartment Life. However in a discussion on another thread with mootilda, she diagnosed from the version number that I actually have the OFB game engine, very similar to what I would have got if I'd bought the 3 parts (base game, Nightlife and Celebration Stuff separately. (We think the Store Edition was probably only supplied in North America as I understand the Store was only available to North American simmers.)

Indeed I had to take out the Pescado-like Nightlife Anti-crash hack that Mog supplied with the greeting card mod for people with Nightlife only; my game crashed on loading until I removed it. Later I removed Pescado's nl-anticrash.package itself as I reckoned it was very similar. So now it looks like I'll have to go back to the original locations to get the OFB versions of my mods. I suppose that, if a lot of my mods have been the wrong version, my game has actually played remarkably well! I had better not start my game again until I've sorted these mods out.

Thanks Orilon!
Mad Poster
#13 Old 31st Jan 2014 at 12:32 AM
Squinge can back to Insim about a year ago and is still there so if you need any help with his mods just ask.

I never had any luck using the Romance mod for my Sims fell in love any way.

All my Beginning Hoods here at MTS. http://www.modthesims.info/member.php?u=7749491
All my Beginning Hoods as Shopping Districts plus Old Town. http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=523417
MooVille, a tribute to Mootilda and her fabulous lots http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=534158
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#14 Old 31st Jan 2014 at 10:27 AM
Quote: Originally posted by marka93
Squinge can back to Insim about a year ago and is still there so if you need any help with his mods just ask.

I never had any luck using the Romance mod for my Sims fell in love any way.

Yes, I thought Squinge was still active. He must have come back around the same time I started playing, so I didn't know that he'd been away.

I didn't quite follow what you meant about the Romance mod, but I guess you must mean that they're still not very good at staying faithful. I wouldn't know about that, but if it stops a happily married Sim, just coming up to golden wedding anniversary, from responding to an autonomous flirt from a passing townie, that will suit me. The features of not hitting another Sim just because you have a crush on them, and allowing open relationships between appropriate Sims do work, at least in my game.

I have begun the process of going through my mods to see which ones need to be changed to OFB versions. This could be a long process, as I'm not quite sure where some of them came from. (To begin with I kept notes on mods installed, but I'm afraid I haven't kept that up. I'll post (or edit) again when I've done that. I suppose I'll have to be careful that I don't put in something that requires OFB functionality.
Mad Poster
#15 Old 1st Feb 2014 at 1:29 AM
Each EP has it's own want tree (you learn this at the point you want to put in a mod to it) so having mods that called the wrong want tree . . . sounds reasonable. Good luck finding and fixing all your mods. I see simbology mods in that list, MATY (of course), stuff from MTS, Cyjon has his own website, BoilingOil's on leefish, and is that SimWardrobe? I don't recognize the others.

Pics from my game: Sunbee's Simblr Sunbee's Livejournal
"English is a marvelous edged weapon if you know how to wield it." C.J. Cherryh
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#16 Old 1st Feb 2014 at 1:32 PM Last edited by AndrewGloria : 9th Feb 2014 at 4:14 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by Sunbee
Each EP has it's own want tree (you learn this at the point you want to put in a mod to it) so having mods that called the wrong want tree . . . sounds reasonable. Good luck finding and fixing all your mods. I see simbology mods in that list, MATY (of course), stuff from MTS, Cyjon has his own website, BoilingOil's on leefish, and is that SimWardrobe? I don't recognize the others.
I think my other mods are Squinge's from Insimenator.org, Inge's from Simlogical, and of course the things from our sister site (a couple of which I failed to censor from my list!). While I sort that lot out, it'll probably be a week or more till I can play again. My main worry now is that I might upgrade to an OFB version of something that actually tries to use OFB functionality, as I don't really have OFB -- just the OFB game engine.

I must say it was pretty inevitable that as a newbie I would look my Double Deluxe configuration, work out that Nightlife was my highest EP, and download the Nightlife version of everything. How would I ever have thought of OFB? It was only with Mootilda's help, looking at the version number with boolprop TestingCheatsEnabled true, that I found out I had the OFB game engine. Until then I thought I had the FreeTime (Store Edition) one (as I understood that's what Double Deluxe shipped with).

Thanks.

[EDIT] Progress Report 1 (Morning 2 February 2014)
I have checked my hacks rather faster than I thought I would, and have found seven of them for which there are OFB versions which are different from the Nightlife versions: dontwalkawaywhilecooking (Squinge), ElderSleepNight (Inge - Simlogical), moveinnomemorylossEP2 (Squinge), MTS_NDR_variableMeal_NL_SmokeDetV2.3 (MTS - Neder), romancemod (Pescado), Visitor Controller (TwoJeffs) and CommunityLotSkilling (Squinge). I'll replace them one or two at a time, while testing that the game still starts. Then, when they're all replaced, very gingerly I'll start to play again with very frequent backups. It feels funny putting in OFB versions when I don't actually have OFB, but, if it goes by the game engine, that seems to be right!

Progress Report 2 (Morning 3 February 2014)
I have replaced the 7 hacks listed above by their OFB equivalents, and played my island 'hood a bit. Everything seems to be working ok. Upgrading the Visitor Controller resets all the Sims, so I did that last, and before doing it, I visited the families in the 'hoods that are currently active, and where necessary moved things on to a point where the reset would cause little disruption. Next I'll try playing the Pleasants in Pleasantview, and see if I can send Lilith and Dirk on a date without her losing her wants.

Progress Report 3 (5 February 2014) - Back to Square One?
First I played my island 'hood, including a dream date (Between CAS Sims) and everything worked fine. Then I replayed the start of Pleasantview, moved my family in and sent them on a community lot visit, still with no problems. Then I tried to play the first day with the Pleasants, playing it much as before. When they came home from school, I got Lilith to ask Dirk round, and then saved and backed up just before she asked him on a date. Again she had a dream date, visiting the park and a little restaurant I had added. And then, when she ended the date, she lost a want and two fears. It's very frustrating. I still think it's something in my CC, and if (as it seems) Lilith ending her date with Dirk triggers the loss of wants, I can keep playing that date until I identify what's causing the loss of SWAFs. I just feel it could take me weeks!
[EDIT 6:35PM] I think I can be a little more precise about when the trouble usually starts. Both times playing the Pleasants, Lilith lost wants and fears not during the date, but when her wants rerolled when she ended it. When I think about it, that's when Keith Cormier lost his in Veronaville, just after his date with Mallory Mace. I can't really see the significance of that, but if anyone else can, I'd like to know. Anyway, if there is a pattern to it, I can maybe use this date as a test, and keep on playing it with different CC till (hopefully) I find the culprit(s). I'm starting off by playing it with almost all my hacks and buyable CC removed, except for my clothes, hairs, and skintones. I am (initially) leaving in place a number of "essential" mods from Pescado (antiredundancy, creaturefixes, ffsdebugger, nocorruptdeath, notownieregen and nounlinkondelete) plus Squinge's nomorefires (for my sanity!) and a handful of others (the Sim Manipulator and the vending machines, because I have them placed on the community lots, and the Visitor Controller, because adding or removing it causes a reset). If I still get the lost SWAFs with that, obviously I'll have to start taking them out too, otherwise I'll start putting things back, but I'll keep testing. In any case I'll keep posting/editing here.
[EDIT 9:55PM] I've now played it with the above CC (Body Shop stuff and a few essentials) and it worked. So hopefully that means that the problem was among the stuff I took out. So now I'll start putting it back, starting with the things I think are least likely to cause problems (like one-tile desks and dressers) and hopefully I'll eventually find out what's at fault!

Progress Report 4 (8 February 2014)
I have repeatedly played through that afternoon date between Lilith and Dirk with more and more of my CC put back, till I'm now down to 22 suspect files. But, due to recolours and some custom memories, these 22 represent only 9 hacks, and hopefully a bit more testing will identify one of them as the culprit. I hope I don't have to remove the custom memories, as I'm sure that would cause problems in my island 'hood where some Sims have those memories. (Some in my old Veronaville have them as well, but I'm afraid that 'hood is now a lost cause, and I'm building it's replacement.) I presume removing the custom wants files would cause corruption, as the Sims' own memories would contain references to these files? In general I'm getting a trifle bored playing the same date over and over again, so I hope it does lead me to the culprit. I've always got it to a dream date, sometimes played out entirely on the pavement / sidewalk, but sometimes they had to visit community lots to finish the date. As the two times I lost SWAFs were after dream dates, I try to get them to that stage every time. There is a funny side to it, as Lilith usually rolls far more wants for Dirk than he does for her. So he tends to look bemused as she gooses him, squeezes him, smooches and makes out with him over and over again. But at the end of it he always says what a wonderful date it was! I suppose most teenage boys would like that sort of thing! Anyway I'll keep going and see if I can find out what has been causing my lost SWAFs. I really would like to get back to playing normally!

Progress Report 5 (9 February 2014) - Possibly Solved?
I may have found the cause of my missing SWAFs. I played the afternoon date between Lilith and Dirk twice more, each time putting back two more of my hacks. The first time they had a dream date with no problems; the second time they still had a dream date, but when it ended, Lilith lost a fear and a want. The two hacks that had just been restored were the Adults Go Steady hack from MTS, and a hacked Private Dancer chair by Hunter from our sister site. Adults Go Steady cannot be the cause of the original problem as it wasn't installed until after the problem had started, so suspicion falls on Hunter's chair. And, when I check the website for it, I remember that there is actually an OFB version available. Of course I don't have the OFB functionality, but I do have the OFB game engine. So I'll try installing the OFB version in place of the standard one, and, if that doesn't work, take it out altogether, at least until I actually get OFB. I'll also leave out a couple of hacks which I never actually use. And then, hopefully, I might be able to get back to playing The Sims 2 normally!
Mad Poster
#17 Old 10th Feb 2014 at 3:15 AM Last edited by marka93 : 10th Feb 2014 at 3:27 AM.
Most of the stuff for the OFB one has to do with running a business not just the game engine.

A lot of Hunters stuff came out early in the Sims 2 time frame and may not work well with newer mods.

If you only have the DD then it may run on the NL game engine, for me I got mine in a pre-release order and it runs on the NL game engine.

DD plays funny with mods for some players can use AL Inteen but for me I had to use NL Inteen.

You may want to drop all your Hunter mods and switch over to Chris Hatch mods.

To have the most use out of Sims 2 mods if I was you is to buy AL and M&G or the Tri pack Fun With Pets and AL this way you will have most mods available with fewer conflicts.

All my Beginning Hoods here at MTS. http://www.modthesims.info/member.php?u=7749491
All my Beginning Hoods as Shopping Districts plus Old Town. http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=523417
MooVille, a tribute to Mootilda and her fabulous lots http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=534158
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#18 Old 10th Feb 2014 at 4:35 PM Last edited by AndrewGloria : 10th Feb 2014 at 5:32 PM.
Maddeningly I've still got the problem - even without Hunter's mods. I put the OFB version of Hunter's chair in place of the standard version and tried again. Thinking (not for the first time) that I might have it fixed, I started yet again to play that afternoon at the Pleasants. Hoping that it might be for real rather than just a test, I paid a bit more attention to the other Sims on the lot. Angela had a want to meet someone new, so when, in the middle of Lilith and Dirk's date, townie Brandon Lillard appeared in his kilt as a walk-by, I sent Angela to greet him. As soon as her want was fulfilled, she lost two fears. The date was going fine, but there was no point in continuing it. By pure chance I had saved just before that. I quit without saving, removed the 2 mods by Hunter that I still had, and tried again. By good fortune I must have saved just as Brandon arrived on the lot, so I was able to send Angela to greet him again -- and she still lost the two fears! I say "by good fortune" because it seems to have given me a better test than I had before. Instead of sending Lilith and Dirk on a date, which goes differently every time I play it, I just have to get Angela to greet Brandon and see what happens to her fears. I've now backed up Pleasantview at that point, so I can keep on testing it with different combinations of CC. And since it's the first day in a pre-made lot, I can easily play it almost CC-free. (I've placed the Variable Meal Serving controller on the lot, and possibly a batbox, but that's all. And the Sims on the lot (including the walk-by) are all pure Maxis, so there's no custom hair or clothing to worry about.

With Mootilda's help, I established from the version number that I do have the OFB game engine. (My version number is for the Celebration stuff pack, and that uses the OFB game engine. (I think you posted on the thread when I learned that, Mark.) Moreover I have the (greyed out) option to add a shopping area, but no trace of anything beyond OFB. I think too that OFB is as high as I dare go on my little netbook with its integrated Intel graphics chip. I'm lucky that I got a version of the game that plays as well as it does on this computer (or at least it played well until I got this problem!). Whatever's wrong, it's not a graphics issue: the wants and fears are really missing -- it's not just a failure to redraw them on the screen.

Anyway, I'll post again, or edit this post, to keep you all informed. Please keep checking this thread.

[EDIT 5:30 p.m. GMT] I've just tried it again with almost all my CC removed, and Angela didn't lose any fears, so perhaps that proves that it is a CC problem!
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#19 Old 10th Feb 2014 at 9:24 PM
In that case you need to do a 50/50 AndrewGloria. It could be from a modded object not an actual mod or even just a random item.
Make sure the fixes are in and split the remainder of your downloads into 2. Try with each half. Hopefully one half will play fine and the other will be the trouble maker. Then you take the bad half and keep splitting it in half, isolating the troubled side until you find the culprit.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#20 Old 11th Feb 2014 at 1:59 AM
Like I said earlier that a lot of older mods don't play nice with newer mods and I think this will be your problem.
It could be a load order problem to.

If you don't want to talk about adult mods you have in you can PM me and we can see if there is a better set of mods for you to try out.

All my Beginning Hoods here at MTS. http://www.modthesims.info/member.php?u=7749491
All my Beginning Hoods as Shopping Districts plus Old Town. http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=523417
MooVille, a tribute to Mootilda and her fabulous lots http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=534158
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#21 Old 11th Feb 2014 at 10:40 PM
Some fairly good news I think. I put back all my other CC: clothing, hair, furniture, bicycles, etc., but left (most of) my hacks out. Angela greeted Brandon Lillard without losing any fears. Then I put all my hacks back, and took all the other CC away again. Angela lost her two fears. I guess that is pretty conclusive evidence that the problem is somewhere in my hacks. So I only have to do a 50/50 on the 90 odd files in my Hacks folder, rather than on all of my 1,400 odd items of CC! This test of Angela greeting Brandon seems to be a much more reliable test than the date between Lilith and Dirk, and it has the great advantage of only taking about 30 Sim minutes, which, as I'm sure you all know, is only about one of our own minutes. Of course I have to load the game every time, but with only one EP, my game loads a lot faster than many people's. I reckon each time I run the test, it takes 8-10 minutes, so hopefully it won't be too long till I'm able to play again.

I do hope, when I finally identify which hack is causing the problem, that it's one that I can live without!
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#22 Old 13th Feb 2014 at 1:00 AM
Please excuse the double post, but I'm a very happy bunny tonight! I've found the cause of my troubles that have stopped me playing The Sims for the last 11 weeks! Once I had a workable and repeatable test (Angela greeting Brandon Lillard) it didn't take long to do a 50/50 on my hacks and find the culprit. And it was... Syberspunk's Adults go Steady! There's probably nothing wrong with this mod in itself, but it sure doesn't like something in my game! And I think that something might be Pescado's Romance mod. I really like the Romance mod, so, if I can only have one of these two hacks, there's no contest! Anyway, with Adults go Steady removed, Angela greeted Brandon no problem. I put everything else back, including the standard (non-OFB) version of Hunter's chair, and played it again. When Angela greeted Brandon with no loss of Wants or fears, I went on playing. Lilith had a wonderful dream date with Dirk, and Daniel had woohoo (his second that day) with Mary Sue. I saved and quit about 9 p.m. with Lilith about to make dinner for everyone.

Then I went and opened up my Old Veronaville, the one I was intending to use only as a source of information for a rebuilt Veronaville. I visited every lot where I knew there was a Sim with missing SWAF's, and every single one of them had all his/her Wants and Fears back!!! That's right: I thought Veronaville was hopelessly and terminally corrupted, and removing this one small hack brought every missing SWAF back! I don't think I need to rebuild it after all! Andrew and Julian may even manage a Valentine's Day date!

With hindsight it seems obvious. I put the Adults go Steady hack in the Downloads\Hacks folder on 27th November and posted here about my missing SWAFs for the first time on 30th November. I think I'll be more careful and observant when installing new hacks in future!

Many many thanks to everyone who's helped me, and health and happiness to all Sims and Simmers everywhere!

Inventor
#23 Old 13th Feb 2014 at 6:15 AM
Awesome! Glad to hear that you got it figured out. I've had to do the 50/50 with 18-20 gigs of cc and about 50,000 package files and that ( almost , but not really ) makes me wish I wasn't such a cc addict. One thing you might want to consider doing is creating ( I think you can with your EP combo?) a folder called new stuff/testing/quarantine , something like that. I have 3-4 folders like that for each hood and slowly move newer cc towards the older cc as time passes with no problems. Sometimes it can take quite awhile for a glitch to show up ( or be difficult to replicate , as your case was).

I saw your next to last post last evening and I was actually wondering if you might have had Syberspunks teen wants installed , as that changes the want/fear trees. That gets installed in program files , not downloads and could be easy to overlook when troubleshooting. I've never had any problems with that,mod , teen wants , ( I personally love it) but with your EP config , I thought it might be a likely culprit if you used it. Anyway , glad you got it figured out and can go back to gaming and quit testing.

P.S. I knew Hunter240xwas gonna get acquitted

Shotgunning bland cucumbers since 1974
Mad Poster
#24 Old 13th Feb 2014 at 2:19 PM
Great now that you got it fixed play with your hoods for a while and then make back-ups of them just in case something like this happens again.

All my Beginning Hoods here at MTS. http://www.modthesims.info/member.php?u=7749491
All my Beginning Hoods as Shopping Districts plus Old Town. http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=523417
MooVille, a tribute to Mootilda and her fabulous lots http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=534158
Mad Poster
#25 Old 13th Feb 2014 at 10:25 PM
That's great! Glad you figured it out before you rebuilt everything
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