While making up a mental list of what I want to save and what I don't want to/should not when I finally do my resintall later this year, the topic of my beloved friend, the Super Duper Hug Bug, came back to mind.

I do not plan to save my hoods afterward. Even under ideal circumstances, I've been reading that occasionally, people can experience problems. Bah. It's certainly not the first time I've done resets (I lost count, actually), and it won't be the last. Fresh hoods work best for me. I'm going to be really nervous enough reinstalling (it's my first time not doing it on a new OS ... please be gentle) without worrying about that.

Anyway, back to my lots. I read that if you simply resintall them, even if you take out the offending lot (which I intend to ... it apparently might have NPC data on it as well), your lots are still contaminated:

http://joandsarah.livejournal.com/85783.html

However, I do plan to put the BO fix in there right away, before I even start the game. It's in my "essential mods" folder, which always goes in before the other Downloads, when I set up my testing hood to make sure everything appears to be OK.

Can I save the other lots? I did work hard on a couple of them, and would hate to ditch them.

I'm not without resources, fortunately, I saved a copy of the game before I downloaded the infected house, and about 75% of my lots (or at least the prototypes) are in that file. So all would not be lost. But if I can have 100% clean lots ... why not? If not, now is the time to take several thorough pictures of the lots I want that I will have to ditch, so I can try to recreate them, and put them in a folder away from the game. Doing this right before stressing out would probably not be a good idea!

I think the BO Super Duper Hug fix will make sure that the bug doesn't rear its ugly head after the reinstall.

What about a new Windows user. Then you will have a new EA games folder and new lot folder, so you can build lots for upload. Then you don't need to delete the old neighborhood because it will be isolated.

Unfortunately, there's the Happy Holidays fiasco I need to deal with. The problem is not in My Documents, but in My Computer. So I will have to reinstall to get the missing stuff, anyway.

Honestly ... whoever thought that intertwining the Happy Holidays SP with the base game files should have been smacked repeatedly by Mrs. C. And yes ... with maxon and joandsarah's help, I tried just about every safe measure existing to fix this. No dice.

If you have a new shiny install, place BO's No Sim Loaded into your mod folder and then place your lots and you are good to go. His mod prevents the game bringing this code up to the surface. In a game where the Super is already active his mod simply hides it. So there is a big difference.

Well, that would be great! I would probably still delete the offender because of the possible NPC issue ... a pity, since this house was attractive and extremely well laid-out. I'll take pics of that now, while I'm still in a calmer state, from all angles and levels and try to recreate that now, while I have time. (Sorry, creator, though I will not share it.) I don't want to start a reinstall until after the holidays, when I'm indoors more often and not dealing with the usual holiday chaos. Part of the fun of being the chief cook and bottle-washer during the Thanksgiving (US) and Christmas season. And I won't have to be driving around frantically, like I am now.

But to keep all the houses I've worked on ... fantastic! One less thing to worry about!

I have already warned the family that until that familiar screen finally starts up again after reinstalling, I have all my holidays stuff back, and my test hood is buzzing along fine, I will be in a wretched mood. Trying to interact with me will be at their risk.