Decrapifying

by Guest Mon 15 Oct 2012, 07:21

Hi everyone, I'm new here, but I've already read some of the posts about Sims 3 store's worlds since a few days ago. And I'm not a native English speaker so pardon me for any mistakes. I've been trying for a few days to make dowloaded worlds from EA store work correctly in game. I do not prefer using decrapifier because I heard that if it is used then the game saves should be decrapified too, which means quite a ~~hustle~~ hassle for me. So, After unlocking the sims3pack using thesimstg's unlocker, I was able to installed Barnacle Bay and Hidden Springs using the launcher. The only problem is that only Riverview, Lucky Palms, Sunlit Tides, and Lunar Lakes refused to install stating that the game should be updated. I followed the tutorial which said that the .world file (it can be found as the largest size file after the sims3pack is extracted using Delphy multi extractor) can be put in The Sims 3/GameData/Shared/NonPackaged/Worlds. It worked but for some reason the description of lots and the names of the townies didn't look pretty (for example if I hover the cursor over a lot then it showed "World/Venue/Lotnames:xxxxx"). After some trial and error finding which thing exactly that triggers "the-software-need-to-be-updated" error, something suggested me to try experimenting with the sims3pack's file version (first I used the program Sims3Pack Generate Tool and there existed some numbers: archived version, code version, and minReqVer, which suggest that they must be related to the "the-software-need-to-be-updated" error).

I used Sims3Pack Generate Tool to unpack the sims3packs, modify these numbers and repack it, so the resulting sims3packs (I tried with Lucky Palms) was successfully installed in the launcher but the image previews of the component are not showing and if I'm not mistaken the recognized type of all the components and the world itself is object, which is not very soothing for the eyes.

Then I found the program s3su from moreawesomethanyou.com, which is quite similar but more flexible.

So here is my solution for installing unlocked sims3pack worlds that has "the-software-need-to-be-updated" syndrome:

First if you don't have the untouched version of the store's worlds then head here to get the link cannot post link because I'm new but you can google "TS3 Store, DOWNLOADS moreawesomethanyou".
Download unlocker (there are 2 versions, I don't think it matters but I used version 2) from here cannot post link because I'm new but you can google "simstg unlocker".
put all the world's sims3pack in a folder along with the unlocker files and run Unblock.cmd. For me Barnacle Bay and Hidden Springs can be installed instantly after this unlocking and putting them in Sims 3's Downloads folder. Next step onwards is for the one(s) having the syndrome.
Google for s3su program. Install or Extract it (depending on which version you downloaded).
run s3su unpack (I used the installer version so the shortcut is in the start menu). choose sims3pack. Here as an example we choose Lucky Palms. specify output for the extracted packages. click extract.
go to the extracted packages' folder. find an XML file. right click, edit or open with notepad. locate ArchiveVersion and change the value to 1.4 (before I forget the value is suggested by Sims3Pack Generate Tool for base game version 1.26, my patch version. For other base game version according to the program; 1.5 for both game version 1.33 and 1.36, however if your game is patched same as mine or higher, 1.4 should be safe, I don't know maybe)
Next locate CodeVersion and change it to 0.0.0.8 for game version 1.26, 0.0.0.210 for game version 1.33, and 0.0.0.364 for game version 1.36. Again if you set ArchiveVersion the to 1.4, then you should set it to 0.0.0.8.
Next locate MinReqVersion and change it to 1.5.0.009000 for game version 1.26, 1.5.0.015000 for game version 1.33, and 1.5.0.017000 for game version 1.36. Again set it to 1.5.0.009000 if the CodeVersion is set to 0.0.0.8.
Then save the XML file.
run s3su repack. specify the XML file. specify the output for the resulting sims3pack. click repack.
get the resulting sims3pack into Sims 3's Downloads folder. If my solution is feasible regardless of base game's version(s), then you can install the world(s) using the launcher and play it in the game like it should be.
thank you for reading and I welcome any suggestions or anything. I'm going to play now.

Admin edit: Topic split.
- ADMIN

by **t2sink** Mon 15 Oct 2012, 07:37

I'm not sure if there is a need for the saves to be decrapified, since we no one here has had a issue (that I know of) with the .sims3pack's that have been decrapified.

Plus, using the decrapifier on the world saves, would seem like you would have to use it EVERY time you save, which indeed would get annoying, but because they aren't saved into .Sims3pack's, I don't think there is a issue with it.

Any idea where you "heard" it, or have forgotten where. Since it doesn't seem very likely to be true, probably some joke or similar someone said at EA to try to trick people into thinking decraping the .sims3pack's was bad.

by Guest Mon 15 Oct 2012, 08:28

Any idea where you "heard" it, or have forgotten where.

now that you've mentioned it, I google again Pescado's TS3 recompressor and found the post in MATY. I don't know if it is still relevant now that the post's date is more than 2 years ago, but here is the partial quotation info for the tool:

"1. Permanently and irreversibly alters the target package/s3pack. Due to
the type of damage involved, the game will see the decrapified object
as a seperate object from a non-decrapified object. Any saved game that
used these objects or skins will be broken as a result, but...

2. If
you decrapify objects, you must decrapify all of your SAVED GAMES (.nhd
& .packages in your .sims3), PRESETS (userPresets.package), and
LIBRARY.

3. DECRAPIFIED saved or exported items containing CRAPIFIED content will malfunction in a non-decrapified install.

THEREFORE:
Do not share decrapified packages, only share original unmodified packages."

maybe there is no any seen effects on the game like you said or the patches have overcome above issue, anyway it is a personal preference. Plus the unlocker sounds like it only removes the encryption thus I prefer it over decrapifying.

by **t2sink** Mon 15 Oct 2012, 18:06

nomanoma wrote:
maybe there is no any seen effects on the game like you said or the patches have overcome above issue, anyway it is a personal preference. Plus the unlocker sounds like it only removes the encryption thus I prefer it over decrapifying.

I just read the article on MATY - TOOL: TS3 Recompressor, and the decrapify program only really works as a shell for the s3rc, which unlocks the file from the encryption.

With saved games, it does say you should do the process on them, but only have to do it once, and you are set. But with some other post, The TS3 Store: post your questions, updates, and tech help here the post I linked to has this "We don't share decrapified files because IT WILL CRASH ANY GAME ITS PUT INTO that does not have decrapified saves." So either something has been fixed with it, or they don't break you game.

Do what you feel comfortable with, since G4TW isn't the only place that does offer .Sims3pack's, just the ones here are all decrapified/unencrypted.

by **☠ ~ Aɳɳ ~ ☠** Tue 16 Oct 2012, 10:04

nomanoma wrote:

2. If
you decrapify objects, you must decrapify all of your SAVED GAMES (.nhd
& .packages in your .sims3), PRESETS (userPresets.package), and
LIBRARY.

[/color]

maybe there is no any seen effects on the game like you said or the patches have overcome above issue, anyway it is a personal preference. Plus the unlocker sounds like it only removes the encryption thus I prefer it over decrapifying.

Hello,

Actually, no. You only have to decrapify your save games if you have used the encrypted worlds before. So say you have encrypted sims3packs (worlds), and you decide to decrapify (and use) them, you'll have to decrapify your save games as well (once) and only the save games that use these worlds and not necessarily for objects since the game will simply replace the encrypted objects with proxies (= standard cheap base game furniture) which can be sold and replaced with the item you had before.
Besides it would seem like you don't quite understand what decrapifying does. It takes the encryption (= the crap) our of the sims3pack and thus it probably does the exact same thing the unlocker does.

While it is true that MATY recommends not to share decrapified objects, it's not because they can break the game. It's because down the line EA may change something which may mean your decrapified objects no longer work. This has happened before. MATY simply suggests sharing untouched sims3packs and letting people figure them out for themselves. They obviously have the decrapifier (and update it if needed) but anyone familiar with MATY knows that it's inadvisable to ask if you have any problems.

We figure we share the decrapified sims3packs and if they become useless in the future, that is our problem to fix and not something we leave for our users. It's easier for everyone.
If you wanted to do it the MATY way, everyone would have to keep 2 copies of each sims3pack, an untouched one in case you need it down the line, and the decrapified sms3pack since you don't want to decrapify them again them every time they have to be reinstalled for some reason, not to mention the extracted files that are actually installed (in the DCBackup folder). If you have all of the store content, that means keeping an extra (almost) 5 GB of files on your pc "just in case" your existing decrapped sims3packs stop working. It also means familiarizing yourself with the tools to decrapify them yourself. It may not be rocket science but some people find it difficult. It also means giving MAC-users the finger, they can't use the decrapifyer tools on their machines. Or we'd have to make everything available in duplicate, the untouched ones for PC and the decrapyfied ones for MAC.

So I hope you now have a better understanding of why it is safe to use decrapified sims3packs and the reasons why we go against MATY advice on how to use (or not) the decrapifyer. In all honesty, we do a lot of things differently than over at MATY and it has never brought anyone harm Laughing

Don't hesitate to ask if you still have questions after reading my reply.

by Guest Tue 16 Oct 2012, 11:16

So I hope you now have a better understanding of
why it is safe to use decrapified sims3packs and the reasons why we go
against MATY advice on how to use (or not) the decrapifyer. In all
honesty, we do a lot of things differently than over at MATY and it has
never brought anyone harm
Don't hesitate to ask if you still have questions after reading my reply.

Thank you for the explanation. Actually, I've been using decrapified riverview for a long time (I didn't realize it was decrapified and I didn't decrapify my save games). there were some problems before like crashes (most probably because of incompatible mods or memory problem) if my memory serves me right. Now that I've started again playing this game I'd like to minimize the scope of the problem so that if it ever happens again I'll know that it is caused by mods or by some other things that I can't do anything about it. And I don't have anything against sharing decrapified objects, it's just that the heads-up is also in the post so I thought it would be better to include that here.

by **☠ ~ Aɳɳ ~ ☠** Thu 18 Oct 2012, 09:52

Hello,

I don't actually think that decrapifying sims3packs causes game crashes. There's no way to tell because so many things about The Sims 3 causes game crashes Laughing

It may apply to people who have only store bought games though. Don't know about that, since we mostly deal with pirated versions.
Mods can sometimes cause crashes, and some cracks as well, but only if there are compatibility issues either between the mod and the game version (which goes for cracks as well) or between 2 mods.

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