I just wanted to tell you that it does not work for me. Any time i got to save changes, it says some weird error message and does nothing. smething about error in length So I do not use it!

ooh and also, i would edit the icons so when you scroll over them they tell you waht they do. Because once you open a story to edit, you can only guess which button is which by the icons and some of them are really small and almost the same color as the background!

But it is a great idea!

I appreciate everyone that is testing the program out. I look for detailed feedback on issues so that I can resolve them for each submitted defect.



Here is an example where specifics would be more helpful to me. If you can provide the exact error message I will appreciate it. Also, if you are willing to email me your storybook XML file I can use it to reproduce the problem on my system and therefore address and fix it directly.




Simply “Right-Click” and you get a shell menu with all of the same options in plain descriptive text. This tip is from the s2album help file. Please let me know if you are unable to access the help file from the s2album and I will address the issue.

Finally, anyone submitting feedback if you could kindly please check the help file and see if the feature or change you are requesting doesn’t already exist. There is much that is documented in the help file.

Thank you.

roachandlazygirl, help me out

I got it, but is not actually working. I mean, it is, but when I open those .xml files from the storytelling folder, I don't see my families! I only see some of Cassandra Goth's pictures and that's it. My families are not showing up, and I tried to find them in every single .xml file. What's going on? My families don't have a story book? Why? Please, help ;_;

Yes, this would be very nice!

oh, and my IP is 71.103

This is cooooooooooooooooooool!!!

roachandlazygirl, where are you?

Help, please :/

I will help any way I can but one caveat to the program is that you have to be able to “find” your storybook to open it. All storybook files created by Sims2 are xml files. The game comes with a few family storybooks by default, such as the Goth family. Each neighborhood also has an album, which may contain snapshots from any family in the neighborhood. My help file with s2album explains this better.

You can use the Windows “Search for Files/Folders” feature to help you locate the correct xml file. I know the filenames are kind of crazy, but those are the names the game uses for them. Where the Windows Search asks for “word or phrase” you can enter the family name and then click the search button. If the album is available in the game, then it is on the hard drive somewhere.

Thanks!

Ok. First, thanks for the reply and sorry if I was a bit... annoying. Anyway, I just found out that my families are there. The thing is, the pictures don't show up. It says: "error: missing image file" and that's it. What do I do?

tatiana20, roachandlazygirl,
I think I may be able to shed some light on the problem.

University did some very strange things to the file folders.
A lot of photos and xml files are in:
My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Storytelling

However, the ones you should be using are from:
My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Neighborhoods\N004\Storytelling
(where "N004" is the number of your neighborhood).

tatiana20, you may want to try navigating (within the storybook viewer) to the appropriate neighborhood. I believe Pleasantview is N001, Strangetown N002, etc. (going in order as they are listed when you enter the game).

Roachandlazygirl, it may be worth mentioning that I have had considerable trouble within the game trying to access photos. For example, I had one Uni student go to the store, buy clothes, etc, taking photos of her. However, when I tried to access the photos with the in-game album, they did not appear... not in her own photos, nor the community ones.

They seem to be stored in two separate folders, which I have listed above. It may be worth investigating whether you could have the Storybook Viewer search both directories for pics... or at least those relating to specific family "codes" that are within each neighborhood.

Example:
If I am doing stories on N004, I can manually point Storybook Viewer to the right directory. However, Storybook viewer will automatically scan the main The Sims 2\Storytelling directory for the family codes that live in N004, and display the photos along with the rest.

Don't ya love it when people change the codes on you? :bump:

I was using the Storybook Viewer again to write the saga of one of my University students, when I observed some items that I think I think may have simple solutions (though I can't speak as to the coding involved).

What I was trying to do is this: My sim in Uni has photos from her dorm, the community lots, and her home household that I want to put into an album.

1. Somehow Storybook Viewer doesn't see *any* of my Community lot photos -- I looked through every family code, but they weren't there. Also, I could not find a way to change the photo directory. (I have suspicions that this may be related to the directory problem listed in my above post, as (I just looked), and community photos are stored in My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Storytelling)

2. Also, the photos are NOT in chronological order (in the Snapshot Browser). Lately I've been taking snapshots sparingly, and in order, in hopes I might add 20-30 to a story at a time quickly and easily. When I look at the Snapshot Browser, they are in seemingly random order, and it's difficult to put them back together.

3. Idea for adding snapshots: Could the Snapshot Browser "float" above the storybook? My idea is to have it come up (as it does), and stay activated for as long as you want to keep adding photos.

Example: Click the Snapshot Browser (SB), the window comes up. I casually move the window a little to the side to see what photo is displayed in the Page Browser (PB). Then, I flip to the proper page in the PB, and select a photo from the SB, and Insert Here. (Without the SB closing), I select another photo, flip pages in the PB, and Insert another one...

The Snapshot Browser wouldn't close until I tell it to, providing easy access to all the photos of the families, and allowing quick insertions without massive amounts of clicking. It would also allow for page turning in the album without having to exit, find a page, and restart the SB.

4. Also, for some reason, on the SB, the buttons "Insert Beginning" and "Insert at the End" are grayed out. The only one that works is "Insert Here".


I am using Storybook Viewer ver. 0.7.6, and TS2 with University.

Was trying to add a few more photos to the album, and stumbled into a problem. Because photos aren't in order, and my third generation family has literally HUNDREDS of (unused) photos, each new "current" photo is now taking me upwards of 300 clicks to reach.

I would suggest that if you are unable to fix the order/date problem, and won't implement item #3 above, that perhaps the user could go to the Snapshot Browser and type the number of the photo in the box. E.g. The last photo is #2134, and I want to jump to #1900 (within the same family) -- I just click in the number box ("2134 of 4318"), the number "2134" disappears, a cursor takes its place, and I am able to type "1900", hit Enter, and it'll jump to the relevant photos.

Addressing each recent post topic/issue:

1. error missing image file and University did some very strange things to the file folders

Thank you for the insight hrhqoroses, it is greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, I do not have the University Expansion Pack. I couldn’t see the value in it and won’t spend the money. Now I wish I did have it just so I could see first-hand this new directory snapshot schema that Maxis has plagued us with. I can work to make s2album “University Aware” but it is going to be very difficult without the structure on my hard drive.

If I could get a pkzip file with the entire EA Games\The Sims 2 directory tree – yet with only the pertinent files. In other words, the contents of all directories deleted that are not xml or snapshot files, yet the directory structure still intact, prior to creating the zip file as to control the file size; I could then recreate the structure on my system and use it to develop s2album to be University Aware.

2. the photos are NOT in chronological order

This actually comes as a surprise to me for two reasons, there _is_ a sort function that orders the snapshots by date, and they do appear sorted by date when I use it. The reason for the delay when you open the snapshot browser, the caching process, is because a sort is being performed on all the snapshots to place then in order by date. The option may be toggled on and off in the settings dialog. Please check to ensure you have not inadvertently disabled the sort.

3. Modal/Modeless Dialog for snapshot browser

I think this is a great idea, and please understand my willingness to implement it along with other suggestions is not based on my agreement with them, but rather time restrictions and work involved. I’m pretty much open to suggestions and willing to do what I can. There is an example of the type of dialog you desire in the program, viewable by pressing CNTL-F1 only when a storybook is loaded. That window floats as you desire. It is possible to make the snapshot browser like this too and I will do so if time permits. Lately I have been busy on for-profit projects and time has been a commodity.

4. buttons "Insert Beginning" and "Insert at the End" are grayed out

I apologize for this, the code is not written for those two options and I keep putting it off. All of the functions will be completed prior to the first full beta release of s2album. Today (Friday, June 17) I plan to release a new alpha version with bug fixes and new features. I will try to work those buttons in also.

In regards to the snapshot browser, I am not entirely satisfied with it. It is better than the first snapshot browser the application had. I find it doesn’t accommodate dealing with many hundreds of snapshots well. I break my storybooks up into chapters and export them when they reach about 300 pages.

Great detailed feedback and suggestions! I really do appreciate it and thank everyone involved with the testing.

hrhqoroses, thanks for trying to help me out, but that's not what's going on. I don't have the university expansion pack. Like I said, they're there, but the pictures are not showing up.

roachandlazygirl, any idea of wha'ts going on?

Thank you, guys, for trying to help me out

I just loaded the snapshot browser, and checked to make sure the sort was on -- and I did get the warning, and I did need to wait for the pics to be cached. When I looked at an individual family, I observed the filenames -- they are in alphabetical order... however, it seems they aren't in chronological order.

There seem to be "pockets" of time, for example (going backwards from the last shot) -- 5 pics of June getting married, 1 pic of June as a child, 4 pics of June as a teen, 2 pics of June's parents getting married, 1 pic of June growing to adult, 5 pics of June as a baby.

(To be clear, we have, in reverse chron. order, photos of the same sim: adult, child, teen, (un-born), adult, baby.)

Maybe Maxis' naming scheme is in code?


As far as a vast quantity of snapshots go... Most of them are the tons I've taken when I first got the game -- like 20-30 shots of a wedding. (Now I take just one or two). Obviously I don't use them all in my stories, and many are left "unused" in the snapshot browser. (In game, I am unable to delete past the first page of photos because of a glitch in TS2. And usually the first page is photos I want to keep, but not add to the story, for various reasons).

This is the reason for the change request. (Ex: One of my families has photos in the Snapshot Browser numbered from 1700-2400, and the program starts, by default, at 2400. It takes a lot of clicks to get to #1801 -- where some of my most-recent "pockets of time" are buried). Of course, this is with "Show Only Unused Snapshots" turned ON.



I think it's wonderful that you take suggestions from users in order to make the program better -- and it's very generous of you to spend your time on something that will garner very little financial reward, yet brings pleasure to so many simmers out here. Thank you!!!
:yippee: :blow:

Update: Friday, June 17, 2005 - 0.7.9 Alpha Release 5
Story text scrollable via arrow keys, increased text buffer, critical bug fix
for multiple KeywordList in XML, control focus, button balloon tips, and
further development.

So... Yeah, still not working. I guess it wasn't meant to be So, I give up. Thanks, anyway. I bet everybody else will enjoy it.

Erm, so... Yeah *cries*

I hope I'm not repeating anyone but I'm feeling a lil lazy and I don't wanna read everything.

My problems the html files the story will show up but the pictures won't.

My suggestion is there anyway possible that you can make where u can upload ur story on sims with this program.

Praise... sorry this came last... but I really loved it regardless of my problem even without my suggestion. This makes it so much easier to manage and change. I haven't had any problems out of it. Works like a breeze
much much much thanks

Hi roachandlazygirl, I play with a no-english version of The Sims 2 and I've a problem: the game cannot read storybooks modified by your Viewer. I've replaced some snapshots of a storybook with others from another storybook, but the new snapshots are not visible in the game. Another modified storybook cannot be opened by the game. Can you help me?
I apologies for my poor english.

Apparently, the program does not support yet the accents and other special characters. I have the French version of the sims 2, so I can't use that program!! I hope roachandlazygirl will fix that :Pimp:

Update: Friday, July 1, 2005 - 0.8.0 Alpha Release 6
Comes with a more diverse range of web page export options. You
can now export your storybook to a BLOG with JavaScript and CSS integration.
User suggestions implemented and bug fixes included.

does the updated version automatically override the orginal or must u delete the orginal first.

automatic

just install it right over the top

I have been waiting for this since Sims2 came out. Thanks so much!

I ran into a small problem earlier while I was editing an album. I added captions to a number of snapshots from an album that can't be accessed in game anymore, to preserve the storyline, but when I loaded up, what I saw was 'Enter a caption here'. I had a look and it seems that the new additions to the album are being saved but with a TextResourceId set to 1. What this does in the XML is say 'this picture needs a caption' so TS2 blanks what is already there.

I got around this problem by editing the XML by hand so that the value was 0 instead.

Great this is awesome and keep up the good work.