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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 17th Sep 2017 at 9:38 PM

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 2, University, Nightlife, Open for Business, Pets, Seasons, Bon Voyage, Free Time, Apartment Life
Default Crash when opening doors/windows tab
Okay. Somehow, I broke my game again. At first, it was anytime I loaded a category of Buy or Build mode catalogs, but now I seem to have it restricted to just Build Mode.
How did this happen, you ask? Well, that's where I got confused. I figured maybe it was some CC I had downloaded, but nothing seems to be setting it right.
Here's what I've done thus far.

~Deleted thumbnails and the cache files that like to crash games sometimes. No effect.
~Tried the 50/50 method. Both halves caused no issues separately, but do so together, leading me to believe it to be a possible GUID issue.
~GUID testing revealed several dupes, which were summarily removed. I can open Buy catalogs now, but opening Build catalogs--most often windows and doors--will prompt an immediate crash.
~I even gave Sims 2 the ability to draw more than the allocated RAM using CFF explorer, and disabled data execution prevention, also to no effect.

So, this problem has just gotten more and more frustrating as things have gone on. Every fix seems to help a little, but does not really do anything in the long run. Anyone got any ideas?
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The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#2 Old 17th Sep 2017 at 9:48 PM
Crashing when you open a catalogue is usually bad CC rather than a game-wide issue. It does seem likely to be two files causing issues when loaded together. PITA to locate. You could do the double-50-50 method. tbh, that's probably the only way you'll pin it down.

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#3 Old 17th Sep 2017 at 10:23 PM Last edited by D3L3T3D : 17th Sep 2017 at 10:36 PM.
Correction. Now catalogs loading seems to be random, and crashes are more reliably frequent. So back to square effin' one for me.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#4 Old 17th Sep 2017 at 10:27 PM
Are you on disks or the UC? If on the UC make a backup, try going into Origin, right click the game and repair.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#5 Old 17th Sep 2017 at 10:36 PM
Quote: Originally posted by joandsarah77
Are you on disks or the UC? If on the UC make a backup, try going into Origin, right click the game and repair.


Discs unfortunately.

One thing I'm noticing is a number of files with random letters and numbers that are dated as modified the day I made an attempt to fix things.
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#6 Old 17th Sep 2017 at 10:39 PM
Where are you seeing those files?

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#7 Old 17th Sep 2017 at 10:46 PM Last edited by D3L3T3D : 18th Sep 2017 at 12:37 AM.
Quote: Originally posted by maxon
Where are you seeing those files?


In the Downloads folder. Sorry, I should have specified. Pulling them up in SimPE turns out fine. They appear to be files like any other--textures, descriptions, etc.

Here's what the filenames look like.
Top Secret Researcher
#8 Old 18th Sep 2017 at 2:41 AM
Sounds like Bad CC in the stuff that goes into the Build Catalog. I don't know if you have you have your CC sorted so that you have your Build itmes in a folder, but if you do test with just those items.

I have my CC sorted this way myself.

Anyway that is what I would do, I would test just the Build stuff and see if the problem happens and then work on trying to narrow it down. Double 50/50 I guess it is called.

Um Test on a Test 'Hood that you can toss out later.

for info on changing the Mac Open File Limit check out my post here http://www.insimenator.org/index.ph...html#msg1628939
Curiosity killed the cat,
but satisfaction brought it back.
Mad Poster
#9 Old 18th Sep 2017 at 2:44 AM
If it crashes when you load the door & windows tab...chances are, it is either a cc door, a cc arch or a cc window.

Je mange des girafes et je parle aussi français !...surtout :0)

Find all my old MTS Uploads, on my SFS, And all new uploads Here . :)
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#10 Old 18th Sep 2017 at 3:04 AM
See, that's what I thought when it stopped crashing in Buy, but then Buy fizzled again. This all started after I went on a download spree on TSR, which reminded me why we don't go to TSR.

I'll go try the Download Organizer, maybe get stuff into separate folders and try that way. I always thought that having folders convoluted loading CC on startup, but maybe not having everything thrown into Downloads will make mitigation of this crap easier in the future. XD

Still can't explain the handful of CC that was "created" last night, though I downloaded nothing then.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#11 Old 18th Sep 2017 at 3:17 AM
You have all gobdegook files rather than named cc files. So I am guessing it's a very old download folder that was not installed by unzipping recent Rars since most people name their files neatly these days. It helps a lot to keep things sorted with proper names on files. How are you installing your CC? It's a lot harder to find bad cc with files named like that.

With load time you don't want special character names in your files nor sub folder too deeply, no more then 3 sub folder levels, rather spread it out more.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#12 Old 18th Sep 2017 at 3:19 AM
You said you opend those new created files in SimPE and that they all looked fine, but could you identify what they were?

Je mange des girafes et je parle aussi français !...surtout :0)

Find all my old MTS Uploads, on my SFS, And all new uploads Here . :)
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#13 Old 18th Sep 2017 at 3:28 AM
Quote: Originally posted by joandsarah77
You have all gobdegook files rather than named cc files. So I am guessing it's a very old download folder that was not installed by unzipping recent Rars since most people name their files neatly these days. It helps a lot to keep things sorted with proper names on files. How are you installing your CC? It's a lot harder to find bad cc with files named like that.

With load time you don't want special character names in your files nor sub folder too deeply, no more then 3 sub folder levels, rather spread it out more.


Yeah, I did the special characters thing for load time reduction. Very nicely handled, I might add.

I've had the game since 2004, and I'm fairly certain some of the downloads are carted over form my old PC from way back when--probably why some of the files are crappily named. Still, confused as to why that set was created yesterday. They look like walls and floors. :/
Mad Poster
#14 Old 18th Sep 2017 at 3:44 AM
Walls and floor aren't name like this. Walls have wall_ in front of their name, while floors have floor_ in front of theirs.
I tested it just to be sure, and created a dummy wall.
wall_a6cb2153.package is the name I got.
Your files don't have wall_ or floor_ in their name.
I mean, someone could have rename their walls & floors file name, but..if they did, they would have removed the wall or the floor name, and replace with gibberish?..who does that.

Je mange des girafes et je parle aussi français !...surtout :0)

Find all my old MTS Uploads, on my SFS, And all new uploads Here . :)
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#15 Old 18th Sep 2017 at 4:00 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Rosebine
Walls and floor aren't name like this. Walls have wall_ in front of their name, while floors have floor_ in front of theirs.
I tested it just to be sure, and created a dummy wall.
wall_a6cb2153.package is the name I got.
Your files don't have wall_ or floor_ in their name.
I mean, someone could have rename their walls & floors file name, but..if they did, they would have removed the wall or the floor name, and replace with gibberish?..who does that.


With you 900%. I'm gonna quarantine those files and see what breaks or goes missing, if anything.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#16 Old 18th Sep 2017 at 4:35 AM
Ah crap, I just deleted a whole bunch of files labeled "Collection." I hope those were just collection organizer files as I assumed and not objects.
Mad Poster
#17 Old 18th Sep 2017 at 5:47 AM
Yes, they probably are collection organizer. They might even still sits in your recycle bin and ready to be restored. Unless you're quick on the empty-ing of it..

Je mange des girafes et je parle aussi français !...surtout :0)

Find all my old MTS Uploads, on my SFS, And all new uploads Here . :)
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#18 Old 18th Sep 2017 at 5:43 PM
Those long gobbledegook names are from CC installed via the in-game installer.

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
Mad Poster
#19 Old 18th Sep 2017 at 7:36 PM
You can scan your Downloads folder with the Clean Installer and it will show you what those items are so you can rename them properly.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#20 Old 24th Sep 2017 at 3:03 AM
Ugh. I've sorted. I've quarantined recent files. I've split those folder splits down. I've used every utility available and nothing is coming up as the issue--and the problems still happen. I even started a new neighborhood and tried that. Nothing, nothing, nothing.

URGh. I want to bash my head into a wall.
Mad Poster
#21 Old 24th Sep 2017 at 1:39 PM Last edited by simmer22 : 24th Sep 2017 at 2:10 PM.
Gobledegook files often happens when you install houses with the default installer. It can also happen if the person who made a house you installed have used the default installer at some point, or had files in their game from other such houses. These files are very often mailbox/trashcan recolor files (these files will always hitch a ride if you have any in, particularly if you've got the buyable mailbox and trash can), but can also be other types of files the default installer doesn't manage to name properly.

Have you done a proper 50/50 search? It's not enough to split in half and check the halves. If the problem goes away when testing the halves, you may have files in each half that interfere with each other. The problem can be a mod, a GUID conflict, a borked item, an item not compatible with your EP setup, or even too much CC. If the crashes are more random, it can also be a borked house, a borked neighborhood, cache or thumbnail files not playing nicely, running out of RAM (without a fix, the game can't utilize more than 2 GB even if you have 16+), and any number of other problems. It can occasionally also be a combo of several of the above.

If nothing does the trick, the obvious question would be if the problems still happen if you take out all your CC and try to run a new neighborhood (take a backup first, in case you have mods that can cause issues if removed). If the problem goes away, it's most likely a CC issue. If the problem doesn't go away, you may have some other issue.

Also remember that some files can hide in several places at once. If a window is the problem, and you've downloaded a house that includes this window, but you also downloaded the window separately, the 50/50 search may not help if you don't double-check. If an object has been updated, but you also have an old version of it in your game, they can potentially interfere with each other.

I've had a similar problem. A while ago I grew tired of my game randomly crashing while accessing certain lots and in a particular place in the buy menu. Eventually I did that dreaded 50/50 search, and I was literally down to the last folder before I could be certain which file it was. Turned out I had 3-4 copies of the file, one downloaded separately and the rest following lots, so it's no wonder I struggled finding the culprit. This summer I sorted my downloads into proper categories (hair/clothes/buy/build/etc.), so it's easier to find bad CC. If the culprit is most likely a buy item, I can test just the buy folder instead of clothes/hairs and other working files.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#22 Old 15th Oct 2017 at 7:18 AM
Okay. I've narrowed it down to a selection of miscellaneous Build files. Unfortunately, when I split the remainder in half, they test fine individually with no incidents and predictably, crash when accessing the Build menu when completely put together. This happens, no matter how I pare it down.

Interestingly enough, though, the game has begun to generate the crash dialogue when I leave the game when the files are paired off.
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