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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 21st Mar 2019 at 6:31 AM

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 2, University, Nightlife, Open for Business, Pets, Seasons, Bon Voyage, Free Time, Apartment Life
Default Help with an old game save please?
After not playing seriously since 2008--my last game save according to the files--I decided to install Sims 2 Ultimate Collection from Origin. The game is good, got the 4GB patch working, played in Strangetown for over an hour, then I dug out my old save files. I don't remember what my last expansion was, Seasons for sure, but I'm not sure about FreeTime, definitely did not have AL. I have the entire Sims 2 folder saved, both a backup copy and also a SimPE save of neighborhood N002, my favorite. I know I can't copy it over into Ultimate since the old game was full of mods and cc, but I'd be happy with just getting some Lots and families I played with the most. I was able to ID one Lot I would love to have back--is there a way to extract that and get it into the new game? SimPE can read the old files, but it hasn't been able to create a Sims2Pack for the Lot. If that's not possible, are the Wiki reinstall instructions my best bet for getting this save back? Thank you for any help, and I'm thrilled the MTS site and community is still here!
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Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#2 Old 21st Mar 2019 at 7:08 AM
Sure you can copy it over, the neighbourhood that is. Open up your Sims 2 folder on Documents and delete the N002 currently in there. Then paste your saved N002 in. Then under the Neighbourhoods delete the Neighbourhood manager file. Load your game and it should update to all the new packs. You will lose the cc but a lot of the cc made back then looks pretty crap on the new graphic cards out now anyway. There is far better made cc out now. The only things to cause an issue would be genetic CC, if the sims had cc eyes and skin. If they did grab those and place them in your download folder before loading the hood or be ready to fix each and every sim in simpe.

"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
#3 Old 21st Mar 2019 at 8:42 AM
Or NPC CC. If the neighbourhood had any of that then you'd have to find and replace it or it would become corrupted,
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#4 Old 21st Mar 2019 at 7:53 PM
Quote: Originally posted by joandsarah77
Sure you can copy it over, the neighbourhood that is. Open up your Sims 2 folder on Documents and delete the N002 currently in there. Then paste your saved N002 in. Then under the Neighbourhoods delete the Neighbourhood manager file. Load your game and it should update to all the new packs. You will lose the cc but a lot of the cc made back then looks pretty crap on the new graphic cards out now anyway. There is far better made cc out now. The only things to cause an issue would be genetic CC, if the sims had cc eyes and skin. If they did grab those and place them in your download folder before loading the hood or be ready to fix each and every sim in simpe.



Thank you! Several of the neighborhood Sims did have genetic CC, but I'm not sure what all I used. Would it be ok to move my Downloads folder in also, minus any hacks?
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#5 Old 21st Mar 2019 at 7:55 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Charity
Or NPC CC. If the neighbourhood had any of that then you'd have to find and replace it or it would become corrupted,



Thank you! It's been so long, I don't remember if I had anything like that. I guess I'll start combing through my Downloads folder now.
Mad Poster
#6 Old 21st Mar 2019 at 8:25 PM Last edited by gazania : 22nd Mar 2019 at 5:12 AM.
I am following this with great interest as well. There are some old lots in my last pre-2013 backup (before I got any SPs or any EPs past Seasons) that I would like to take a look at again and possibly do a make-over. Problem is .... there were many VBTs I didn't know about, and while a lot made in 2012 SHOULD be OK (I did most of my VBTs before 2010), partially due to my proclivity at finding new VBTs and having to nuke hoods as a result (so no hoods made pre-2010), who knows what dastardly things slipped under the radar? This IS me we're talking about!

Strangely, Hug-Bugging was not an issue back then. But thanks to Chris Hatch, we can get rid of that now, even if it was. (This would be only for my use, anyway. I make all lots for uploads in a fresh game.) Oh, and I should add that I would have to extract the lot from the bin. Stupidly, I did not package any lots I made in old games, with one or two exceptions.

So how safe would it be to resurrect an old unoocupied lot? Links on how to do this safely for newbies or nervous Simmers appreciated, thanks!

I think I asked this before. Sorry if I did!

EDIT ... Now that I'm off my tablet and on my PC (!@#$ing sausage fingers!), I'm thinking, using more-recent tips, that I or others could do the following:

1. Find the lot and copy it. Put the copy on your desktop. Re-number the copy some high number for now, since you don't want to have two lots with the same number. (EDIT ... maybe clean files manually at this point first?)
2. Start a fresh game. Not hood. Game. Rename your current game folder, and let 'er generate. Go into the game, allow CC, and put in your essential mods folder. (I have one. It has stuff like No Sim Loaded.)
3. Plop the lot in a new hood in your fresh game (oops ... sorry!). Look for missing wallpapers, floors, etc. Fix those. You can put CC stuff, but since I use many of my lots as templates, I often don't. Maxis will do for now. Save.
4. Go back into the game. Clean the crap out of the lot. I would use the Orb first (to remove any trace of hug-bugging .... just to make sure.) If you had the Orb physically on the lot, get rid of it! Go back into the lot, save again. (You need to save twice if you use the Orb.)
5. Then go into your lot file and clean references (again using the Chris hatch mod for that.) I use Chris' mod, then re-check manually.
6. Load the hood, but do NOT go into it. Package the lot, just in case. Now re-enter the lot and make sure nothing went "boom". This happened on a lot where I removed the wallpaper, for some strange reason. I saw this happen only once, but it was really annoying. I removed a wallpaper, and no matter what I did, the lot kept crashing every time I entered it.
7. If you don't need to repackage for any reason, you're done! If not, you'll have to do Steps 5-6 again. It's not that bad.
8. Have fun playing house-flipper in your good game ... I hope?

Did I miss anything? And even if the hoods where these lots once were happened to be corrupted, the steps above should be OK, right?

You might be able to clean references manually using Sim PE while the lot file was still on your desktop. That would probably be even better.

Thanks to ALL free-site creators, admins and mods.

RIP Sunni ... truly a ray of light.
Test Subject
#7 Old 21st Mar 2019 at 8:32 PM
I have a similiar situation with a twist. I was playing and into 2nd generation when I corrupted my game by trying to add back the shopping expansion after deleting it. I ended up with two sets of the same townies. When I tried to send the property owner in my main town to one he owned in the shopping center it did not recognize him as the owner. I am in the process of moving all of my builds into a new game. My question is, if I try to use my custom sims from the first game, will they come in clean or corrupted?
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#8 Old 21st Mar 2019 at 10:40 PM
Quote:
1. Find the lot and copy it. Put the copy on your desktop. Re-number the copy some high number for now, since you don't want to have two lots with the same number. (EDIT ... maybe clean files manually at this point first?)
2. Start a fresh game. Not hood. Game. Rename your current game folder, and let 'er generate. Go into the game, allow CC, and put in your essential mods folder. (I have one. It has stuff like No Sim Loaded.)
3. Plop the lot in the fresh hood. Look for missing wallpapers, floors, etc. Fix those. You can put CC stuff, but since I use many of my lots as templates, I often don't. Maxis will do for now. Save.
4. Go back into the game. Clean the crap out of the lot. I would use the Orb first (to remove any trace of hug-bugging .... just to make sure.) If you had the Orb physically on the lot, get rid of it! Go back into the lot, save again. (You need to save twice if you use the Orb.)
5. Then go into your lot file and clean references (again using the Chris hatch mod for that.) I use Chris' mod, then re-check manually.

You might be able to clean references manually using Sim PE while the lot file was still on your desktop. That would probably be even better.


Thank you for this! Please tell me more about the Orb and Chris hatch mod? I'm not at all familiar with any of the newer mods after Ultimate was released (or since 2008 really), or how to clean the files. Other than seeing that SimPE can show me what's in a lot or character file, I really don't remember anything else about it. Also, do you use a 'clean' Strangetown template that attempts to fix all the buggy incompleteness? I've seen a couple of those around, and read through a discussion here about all the crappy things the devs left hanging loose that can potentially corrupt this neighborhood. Just wondering if I should be using one of those instead before I start trying to re-add anything.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#9 Old 23rd Mar 2019 at 3:54 AM
Here is my tutorial and link to the add on. http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=609188

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#10 Old 23rd Mar 2019 at 3:56 AM
Quote: Originally posted by joandsarah77
Here is my tutorial and link to the add on. http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=609188



Thank you so much! I have SimPE but don't remember anything about how to use it.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#11 Old 23rd Mar 2019 at 4:33 AM
Quote: Originally posted by joandsarah77
Here is my tutorial and link to the add on. http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=609188


I understand about how to package the Lot, but is it ok to take the Lot from my old save file to begin with and load it in my new neighborhood? I used a lot of CC and mods back then. I don't care much about the mods right now but my hope was to save the Lot with CC. Don't I need to also move my downloads folder back (minus hacks) too? And might that blow up my neighborhood? Or will it be ok as long as I don't enter the lot?
Alchemist
#12 Old 23rd Mar 2019 at 4:50 AM
Quote: Originally posted by rich1lenore
I understand about how to package the Lot, but is it ok to take the Lot from my old save file to begin with and load it in my new neighborhood? I used a lot of CC and mods back then. I don't care much about the mods right now but my hope was to save the Lot with CC. Don't I need to also move my downloads folder back (minus hacks) too? And might that blow up my neighborhood? Or will it be ok as long as I don't enter the lot?



Can you just try it in a test hood? At the worst, you just delete that hood.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#13 Old 23rd Mar 2019 at 5:10 AM
So make yourself a new sims 2 folder. Simply rename the current one and the game will make you a second.
In that folder cut out the hoods the game makes and paste yours in and your download folder minus the old outdated hacks. Also delete manager file as i said above.
Clean any of the lots you want if you only want the lots.
package them and install in your other sims 2 folder or simply play that hood+sims+lots in the second sims 2 folder.

"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
#14 Old 8th Apr 2019 at 12:17 AM Last edited by gazania : 9th Apr 2019 at 1:34 AM.
This is inspiring me. I have a whole bunch of old lots that for some reason, I never packaged for my game when I reinstalled it in 2013. Some of these lots look so bizarre in Sim PE that it might be fun to see them again. There is one I really do want to bring back, and have no idea WHY I didn't package it. I'm thinking it might be because I made it so long ago that I was afraid I did something to it. But there are definitely no tombstones on it, so I'm not sure WHY I was that wary. I think it was made around 2010-2011, when people found more ways of corrupting the game that they didn't know previously. I might have been a part of finding some of those ways!

I still am reluctant to fire up the game from the backup. Who the ________ knows what I did back then? I remember so many bad things I did just a couple of years before 2010-2011. Also, different expansions. I was up only to Seasons then. I'm not interested in running Any Game Starter at this time. I just want to peek at the lots and maybe do a makeover on any that are worth saving.

Some are nostalgic. I remember I was definitely in an octagonal period for a while. I still have an octagonal house in my current game. I might just put one or two old buildings back to see why I was so fascinated with octagons! With the building I've done since then, sometimes, I forget about the times I would just simply build a house for the heck of it, ignoring aesthetics. These places would NEVER be approved for upload here, but they are fun to play, anyway. I have a couple of lots like those in my game now as well. Sometimes, it's fun to be free to lay out a lot however you darn well want!

Actually, I initially was trying to look for a hairdressing salon I made some time back, hoping to use it for the business theme, but I can't locate it. It might have been in some intermediate game that I played right before reinstallation, but did not back up. At any rate, RIP. I wouldn't even be able to find the real-life house that inspired it. We're talking six years ago!

I thought, though, that I did indeed read somewhere that we really should renumber the lots when we start the test game to a considerably higher number if I do what I'm planning to do (scouring the crap out of the lots), just to avoid having the same number for a lot. Or am I imagining this? It's quite possible!

This might be an interesting challenge ... show the lots you built way back then. The clunkier/weirder, the better! Extra points if you make the lot over to something less clunky, though keeping it weird might not be a bad thing!

Thanks to ALL free-site creators, admins and mods.

RIP Sunni ... truly a ray of light.
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