Assorted Sims Trouble: Inconsistent, slow to start and running shoddy. Also broken G4TW pages.

The_Funktasm wrote:So I've been fighting with the Sims for days now. First with a crappy russian "all in one" installation, and then with getting my new, stable G4TW installation up to standard. So after I install the store content at FreeSims3 tumblr (yeah, what I can find. just about all of it.) I notice a different problem. The game takes forever to load. I can understand that from all the packages. But people that had perfectly functional clothes in my old save are using placeholders and have nothing but normal-mapped grey below their head. Their head is mostly normal, but the clothes, skin, etc are grey.

So to ask a few questions, one: does anyone know where to find a better range of the store stuff that is neither the pirate bay torrent or the G4TW set? The G4TW set is messed up and I can't download the earliest parts of it. No DL links on the page. 2010 is also rather messed up. One of the pieces I'm after is the short sleeve shirt messily layered over a long sleeve shirt.
two: does anyone know how to fix the grey skin, assuming it's not just a case of the game freaking out over not only a missing mesh but pattern or something?
and three: is it normal for a fully loaded sims 3 installation with a lot of custom content and the store overrides to take more than ten minutes to load? Or do I have a definite problem?

Anyway, I hope some help or info comes along. To help, I already have my old CC from my other installation, minus any outdated script or global mods, and this is a family that was made on a much older installation, installed onto my last one (russian), and then loaded as a save in this one. Just covering any potential "did you try?" ideas that are already covered. I also did a search for just grey skin and it doesn't seem entirely related.

Anyway, thanks. I can assist with pictures if necessary.


Edit: here are more info bits

I use CCMagic, sims3HQ, have updated and installed the game correctly with the latest patch, have used the G4TW crack, use Windows 7, and have done my best to follow all directions given in the installation of the store stuff I have. I will admit that I'm not 100% sure on the store stuff simply due to the lack of information given, though most of it appears to work.

Edit2: I went to try setting up buildings in the meantime, and noticed they have NO FEET. Weird...
Gets fixed when I add shoes. Sorry about that. Feel like an idiot.

Anyway, instead of that grey, more focus on the loading speed I guess. I have ccmagic but it messed up in handling package files and makes patterns show up as duplicates for me.

Edit3: Oddities among oddities... I see the relevant clothes in here. I thought they pretended to be the real items and thus would show up for them in downloaded lots and sims, let alone mine. Just what's up here? Is it having a different override set? It didn't change my older saves this much... Also I never saw pants as a torso item before, where they color the shoes and leave a gap where the upper body should be.

Carlos wrote:

The_Funktasm wrote:words

Hello,


The site you are referring to is indeed still "messed up", but keep in mind the notice at the bottom of the main page:






As you can see from the screenshot, the site is still under construction, and it will take another while to finish it. Beyond that - .sims3pack files are (generally) .sims3pack files, whether you get them from here or elsewhere. Sometimes .sims3packs from other sites need to be "decrapified" (= de-crypted) to get them working, but that shouldn't be a hassle. Again, generally it shouldn't matter too much where you get .sims3packs from.

As for your other issues:
Yes, if you have lots of custom content/sore content installed it can take a while for the game to load. My "The Sims 3" folder (with saves, mods, CC and such) has over 15GB, and loading times are around 8-9 minutes. But I'm fine with it, since everything else works perfectly fine for me.

Regarding the issue with missing feet or otherwise deformed sims/misplaced clothes...this is usually an indicator for what is called "bad CC": something that just doesn't work with your current installation. It may have worked in the past, but that doesn't matter. Games4TheWorld's Sims 3 games are technically the same as the retail disc ones...just with the difference that you can play without a physical disc (thanks to the "Ultimate fix"). At that point, I cannot give you an indication though as to what you need to look for. There are really tons of bad third-party CC out there.

What I can give you along the way is that store items (= items from the official Sims 3/EA page, which you need to pay for normally) are safe to use. So the problem will most likely be with one of your third-party CC items.


Good luck for now !

The_Funktasm wrote:Thank you for the response. I need to clarify a bit though. Part of my issue with the store stuff is that's what was missing. It was somehow missing from sims given it, despite still being in the clothes menus. The shoes I'm sure were CC I removed, but the store stuff is my primary concern, as I was using a lot more of it than I thought.

Aside from that it's not just bad CC. I mentioned CCMagic causing content to load improperly and I meant it. Once I transfer it from where it's been taken and put it back in the traditional mods folder it works fine. The sims3packs are what most of my problems are happening with as they are the only mods CCMagic really handles. So my normal packages are working much as they did last time.

Also I know the site is in progress, I'm just saying that the pages I downloaded the store stuff from the first time I played the game no longer work. They aren't unfinished in this case so much as, er... "de-finished."

For example on one of the grey sims, they have no shoes, and a replaced shirt. The shoes clearly are gone. I don't have that item anymore and I know which it was. However their shirt is replaced as well. A quick search shows the very same store item is in the selection of clothes items. I want to know just what's up here, since I have a lot of custom lots and sims that may end up affected.

Aside from that, any help with CAS and other pattern menus would help. I've tried a few tweaks but they don't work.

And yes...it's possible that pages might "disappear" from the site, but still it doesn't really matter (pragmatically). The site is still in "beta", so please take it as it is.   I could of course now post "outside links" to show alternative sources, but as this is strictly prohibited (on this forum; and in most cases even for me), I will refrain from it. I'm sure though that you'll find them relatively quickly with google.