#ts2 problems

[episims]

Split Character Files

I was let known that my personality-based witch idles mod causes new sims to have split character files.

It made me look into the issue. Since the information about it is spread across various forum threads and lacked some details too, I decided to gather what I've found in this post.

What does a 'split character file' mean?

Each sim has its own character file in Documents directory. For example, Neighborhoods \ E001 \ Characters \ E001_User00024.package is Samantha Cordial.

When a character file is split, in addition to the usual E001_User00024.package there's also a file named E001_User00024.1.package. It would still be Samantha Cordial, but her data would be stored in two files instead of just one.

What kind of mods cause it?

Mods that edit character templates. That means: TemplatePerson (group 0x7FEDFE16), TemplateCat (0x7F99E646), TemplateDog (0x7F3C1917), and TemplateSmallDog (0x7F593B25). In addition, NPCs have their own character templates too.

These templates seem to get copied whenever a new sim or a pet is created. If you have a mod that includes a part of them, it appears the game creates a second character file and then copies any related BHAVs from the mod into it.

Do split character files cause problems?

In SimPe's neighborhood browser, a split character file might not be displayed properly and it's possible that you won't be able to edit the sim's stats with SimPe if that happens.

The game itself seems to be able to parse the sim together from two character files in most cases. However, it's plausible that it causes the empty/wiped face glitch to appear. As I tested the issue, I was able to replicate this myself multiple times with split character files and others have seen this happening in their games, too.

There are also people in related threads who say they have split character files and haven't noticed it causing problems.

Why do mods edit these templates, then?

I don't think it's been common knowledge what exactly causes the issue. And to be fair, creating new sims and then inspecting their character files isn't probably a part of many modder's testing routines. It sure hasn't been a part of mine.

The unpleasant fact is that if we want to make some things happen through mods, editing the code related to templates might be necessary. Ideally, Maxis would've only used them to create new sims and pets, but that's not the case. Their code gets called in various other situations – when witches idle, for example.

Now that we know which groups are involved, I hope modders can at least alert players when we share mods that cause this issue.

How can I know if the mods I use cause split character files?

It's not that common for mods to edit the templates, so suspecting all mods isn't necessary. Here are some mods that do edit them:

My Personality-based Witch Idles (includes code from TemplatePerson, the NPC witch template, and the NPC servo template) the latest mod update doesn't cause split character files anymore

Object Freedom 1.02 by @fwaysims (TemplateCat, TemplateDog, TemplateSmallDog)

lobonanny by Pescado (the nanny NPC template)

Spectral Cat Variety by @hexagonal-bipyramid (the spectral cat NPC template)

AntiGoodWitchIdleAnims by @paradoxcase (the link is broken and kestrellyn hasn't reuploaded this one to MTS, but assumingly involves the same templates as my witch idle mod)

Landlord Gardens Only Communal Areas by simler90 (the landlord NPC template)

Business Mod by simler90 (the chef NPC template, the reporter NPC template)

Gypsy Matchmaker Fix by simler90 (the matchmaker NPC template)

Buy Build Enabler for BV by cathair2005 (the social worker NPC template)

More points for woohoo with professors by Marhis (the professor NPC template)

No Relationship with Servers by Neder (the server NPC template)

Baby Toddler Mod by simler90 (the nanny NPC template)

There are probably more but in most cases, only specific NPCs are affected. Quite many people have reported having split NPCs in their games without noticing any issues with them.

Using these mods doesn't affect existing character files, but it will affect any new ones. You can prevent the split from happening by temporarily removing these mods from your game before creating new sims or pets, but you should keep in mind that this also includes spawning townies and NPCs (when their template is involved, that is) as well as born-in-game babies.

Can we stop the character files from splitting altogether?

If we can, it's sadly beyond my skillset as it appears to be hard-coded. I'm interested in testing if split character files can be safely merged back into one but I don't know about that either, yet.

I hope this clarifies the issue for someone! If I missed some crucial info, please comment.

[anachronisims]

just sims things part 1029031: when you are trying to figure out which clothes in your cas folder are responsible for crashing live mode lot loads/bodyshop

[sufficeittosim]

what do you mean i'm asking too much of the game

[spawnshop]

Part 2 of the flapper bodyshape project! Includes Sentate's Stringy Vest, Trapping's crop top with DeeDee's textures and Pixelunivairse’s Penny Vest converted for TS2 by Janika.

Links under the cut! ✨

Trapping’s Tanktop Cropped for AF by @deedee-sims 5 colors Everyday / Gym [ Download - textures repo'd to the original af version ]

[ Download - standalone ]

Sentate's Stringy Vest pregmorph added by DeeDee 4 colors = 1 @sentate's og texture + 3 texture edits by me Everyday / Athletic / Underwear / PJs

[ Download ]

4t2 Pixelunivairse’s Penny Vest converted by @janika31 8 colors Everyday / Outwear

[ Download ]

-

[ DOWNLOAD ALL ]

[sysig]

Sims 2 has played Clinical Trial, it all went by the exact same beats

[just-ornstein]

WHAT THE FUCK IS THE BEAKER CASTLE EVEN - A SimPE Deep Dive

Alright, so after stumbling upon some of the Beta pics on the Russian TheSims.cc site and this analysis post about the Beaker mansion, I became deeply curious if some of this would be reflected in the lot relationships. After all, some characters like Viola, Kelly, on top of several others could be found when digging through the raw and somewhat encrypted code of lots.

By now it's pretty clear that the Beaker home once belonged to this dude and his army of girlfriends (definitely check out the post I mentioned earlier). On top of that Loki (and possibly Circe) seems to have gone through at least two iterations before eventually settling on their final forms.

And on top of that whenever you scan the mansion in a completely new game, you will find fingerprints of primarily deceased Sims everywhere!

Now to get to the Sim relationships on the lot...

712 freaking Sim Relationships, all of which are unknown. Some of which still have stats set such as married, friends, relationship scores, etc. I tried comparing this to other lots in their neighborhood and NONE even come close. Both Olive and the Smiths have around 400. The other lots have below. And the only lots that are even a tad higher in this number are the Capps and the Summerdreams which makes sense when you realise that hood went through at least one other iteration before turning into Veronaville.

Now I wondered if the encrypted code (despite being very hard to read due to being partially encrypted) had any old Sim remnants left in there. And yep, several even. Many of which even have information such as their gender, hair, clothes and age in there. So lemme go over some of them:

1. First one, a guy who's name is partially encrypted so it will never fully be visible. It's not Johnny cause Johnny also has his character file on this lot.

A male teen with brown hair who used to wear the "tmbodyhoodedsweatshirtboardshorts" + the "tmhairhatcap" hairstyle.

2. Second is another teen, this time by the name of Zeeshan. He had black hair, the bucket hat hairstyle and wore the hooded sweatshirt, except with pants this time around (and grey apparently?).

3. The third was an adult male Sim by the name of Kenneth with black hair. Based on his info he was likely meant to be a Gardener Sim.

4. The fourth was one named Kana... Possibly a longer name cause once again the code becomes a bit shambled here. She too was meant to be a Gardener as seen by her outfit and hair data. Her hair would have been brown.

5. Elle, another female Gardener Sim, this one having red hair.

6. Vasyl, an adult male Sim who wore the busdriver outfit. Sadly his hair data seems to be blocked behind the code. For funsies I like to give the name to Bald Beta Loki, since he gives off that vibe. BUT, I think this was an NPC busdriver due to the outfit.

7. Joanne, an adult female Sim with an unknown hair colour in corn rows style and the classy afbodyjacketturtlesweaterdressboots. Sadly her ID is hidden behind the encrypted code, so it's hard to fully make out.

All of these Sims appear to be NPC/Townie Sims. None of them match ANYONE in the Beta pictures. And the current Townies/NPCs seem to have replaced them. Interestingly enough, those that were NPCs are still NPCs and those that were Townies are still Townies. Making me wonder if this is a thing that translates to other Sim IDs too. That Sims that were Townies in earlier iterations are still Townies in their new form. Same for NPCs and yep, Playables. This is merely an assumption I'm making on what I'm finding here, but if anyone can help research this further, that would be greatly appreciated, especially as this could mean the Viola ID may not belong to Viola Monty.

Viola is an odd case cause no outfit, hair or other data can be found in the lot file and she's only ever mentioned once in the context of lines filled with "sleep in pyjamas". But for now I cannot say anything with certainty unless more remnants of these old Sims could be found somewhere. OR, if these files could be read in its entirety which is quite difficult.

It's very hard to get a Sim ID attached to a lot (believe me I tried) and often times seems to rather happen accidentally than intentionally. Moving a Sim out or having a Sim die usually removes the data they once held to that lot. Good example is Loki in my current Strangetown who lived on this lot all of his life and when he died he had no remnants left on this lot.

REGARDLESS! The Beaker lot is ancient and seems to have been ground for a ton of testing, Sims and many more things. No wonder the Beakers got this home with its incredibly shady history. Half of the beta town was partying here!

[bunsim]

if u still have ur old sims could u plz upload lilla? i luv pastel sims lol

if not dw!! thx (:

Download Lilla

so funny you say that because to me she seems very gray! anyway, here's a lazy upload of her. the dress is not included because it's a default found [HERE] and you can get the custom [HERE]. her jewelry is bon voyage, if i recall correctly.

[hellodahliah]

starcrossed

act i

prev / beginning / next

mercutio: they could be friends too?

romeo: no it was giving date... as in romantic. i am 100 percent sure of that.

mercutio: okay, if the romance guru says so.

romeo: i'm manifesting love and positivity for us all.

mercutio: we could really need some positivity after everything that has happened.

[simmingwormly]

Worm Greetings!

Wormville is my dubious custom TS2 neighborhood full of eccentric Sims, drama and strange lore combining the official setting of the series with my own ideas. It's not for download, but I invite you to experience it with me as I document it here on this simbrl!

Tour the settlement

Gameplay Rules | Notable Places | Building Updates | Clans | Old Intro Post

Meet the characters

Generation 0 (founders) pt 1, pt 2 | Generation 1 | MIRP

Reading the background articles isn't a prerequisite for enjoying the gameplay updates. You can always look something up selectively if you're curious, there will be links.

Tags:

#wormgameplay - gameplay updates (the main thing)

#wormwritings - story bits in form of fics or ficlets, extremely dialogue-heavy, colorcoded for additional reading accessibility

#wormbuildings - builds

Getting lost? Read chronologically with this link tree!

[episims]

Friendly reminder for TS2 players: take backups!

I wasn't sure if I should post about this since during my 20 years of playing this game, it has now happened exactly once. But on the other hand, I know how frustrating it is to encounter a problem and find zero info about it online.

When I was setting up my neighborhood for the next round, among many others I downloaded this lot:

I dressed up the sims living there appropriately for the season and then attempted to save the game. The game crashed during saving.

That happens. I launched the game again to re-do the changes, but as I opened the neighborhood I faced this:

The lot had disappeared, along with the sims living on it 🙃

The responsible thing to do would've been to investigate if the lot and the sims had gone missing from the folders too but frankly, I freaked out and recovered my previous backup at that instant.

So, just a heads up that even if it seems to be extremely rare, something like this can happen.

I've never been more grateful that I always take a backup of the neighborhood folder before I open the game. It's a habit I recommend to everyone.

[anachronisims]

me: meticulously categorizes and sort indexes roughly 200 hair meshes

also me: has at least 2gb of miscellaneous build/buy mode cc i probably downloaded 2006-2010 i just can never seem to get through purging; also don’t know whether it’s currently used in my hood or not

[cora626]

I need to stop this!!

Is it just me? Am I the only person who ends up in this downloads binge and purge loop where I am trying to create the best downloads folder ever with the best content and then I continuously scrap it and start over? Ugh! This always keeps me from playing the game. I wish I can just do CC free but there are so many awesome things out there and they all look so good but it's impossible to have a well running game with a huge DL folder. Why can't I have my cake and eat it too?

[pikselis]

whyyyy sims 2, why can't you love me the way i love you😭

it's still cute... but i hate that the other side is like that and it bother's me so mutch. ;__;

[saturngalore]

played ts2 for the first time ever yesterday with kimani aka kimmi (and her cat luna) <3

[vroobi]

Today my game crashed around 20 times in 3 hours and I saw pink flashing 5 times.

I can't f#cking play it so I can't post anything.

[syninplays]

Live reaction of me downloading ts2 rn: