Just some CC questions from a CC newbie

[Emily926]

So, um hello. This is my first post. Yay :3

Anyway, I have been wanting to give CC a shot for a while, and I've read all the guides. I still have a few questions though. (NOTE: I have not starting using CC yet!)

1. Can using CC slow down my computer?

2. Can using a file extracter slow down my computer?

3. My computer has 2.7gb of RAM. Will using CC make my game so laggy it's unplayable?

4. What is your reccomended file extracter and how do I intsall it?

5. Who is your recccomended CC creator?

Sorry for all the questions. Tech stuff confuses me, lol. :blink:

[whiterider]

1. Not unless you have almost no hard drive space free, in which case filling up the rest will eventually slow down your computer.

2. No.

3. Well, you don't have enough RAM to play TS3 smoothly in any case - so you're probably used to some lag already. If you have loads of CC, then loading all the thumbnails in CAS, Create-A-Style and the buy/build catalogues will slow down. If you download broken or corrupted CC, that can slow down loading the game. If you download CC with very very high poly counts - CC hairs are usually the culprit here, anything over 10000 polys is wasteful and I wouldn't download it - and use it a lot, that can slow down Live mode a bit. But if you stick to a moderate amount of well-made CC, no, it won't make your game lag. You should also download some NRaas mods (nraas.wikispaces.com), such as Overwatch, to reduce lag.

4. We have a recommended extractor in the Installing CC instructions. Most people use WinRAR, which is free in practise, although it nags you to pay for it after a while; or 7-zip, which is totally free, and can handle every archive type you'll ever come across.

5. Oh, there are so many. :) It depends what kind of CC you want (hairs? objects? hacks?), and what style you like (Maxis-match? Photoskinned? Historical? Magic?). You can have a look in the Free Content Update forum, and the Sims 3 Discussion forum, both found under the Community menu here, for all sorts of recommendations.

[Emily926]

1. Not unless you have almost no hard drive space free, in which case filling up the rest will eventually slow down your computer.

2. No.

3. Well, you don't have enough RAM to play TS3 smoothly in any case - so you're probably used to some lag already. If you have loads of CC, then loading all the thumbnails in CAS, Create-A-Style and the buy/build catalogues will slow down. If you download broken or corrupted CC, that can slow down loading the game. If you download CC with very very high poly counts - CC hairs are usually the culprit here, anything over 10000 polys is wasteful and I wouldn't download it - and use it a lot, that can slow down Live mode a bit. But if you stick to a moderate amount of well-made CC, no, it won't make your game lag. You should also download some NRaas mods (nraas.wikispaces.com), such as Overwatch, to reduce lag.

4. We have a recommended extractor in the Installing CC instructions. Most people use WinRAR, which is free in practise, although it nags you to pay for it after a while; or 7-zip, which is totally free, and can handle every archive type you'll ever come across.

5. Oh, there are so many. :) It depends what kind of CC you want (hairs? objects? hacks?), and what style you like (Maxis-match? Photoskinned? Historical? Magic?). You can have a look in the Free Content Update forum, and the Sims 3 Discussion forum, both found under the Community menu here, for all sorts of recommendations.

Thanks for all the help! Yes, I'm used to some lag, but I think my game lags way less then it should, lol. I have all the EPs, and a few SPs, and very little lag. I'm not really worried about CAS lag anyways, just Live. I probably won't be downloading any furniture, as I'm fine with Maxis furniture, just CAS. I find the Maxis hair, makeup, skin, and eyes to be extremely ugly :lol:

What's photoskinned mean? :help:

[whiterider]

Coming from a totally unbiased (ahem) perspective... photoskinning is making textures from photographs of, say, a real dress, instead of drawing the textures by hand in a graphics program. It usually, though not always, results in over-contrasted, shiny textures, with totally illogical lighting, and massive seams down the sides. Some people like it, apparently. ;)

[Emily926]

Coming from a totally unbiased (ahem) perspective... photoskinning is making textures from photographs of, say, a real dress, instead of drawing the textures by hand in a graphics program. It usually, though not always, results in over-contrasted, shiny textures, with totally illogical lighting, and massive seams down the sides. Some people like it, apparently. ;)



Ohhhh. That sounds..... strange.

And here are some examples of the things I like. Do you know of any creators that make things in this style? Here they are:

http://www.lorandiasims3.com/moreviews.php?cat=clothing&id=307

http://lianasims3.net/fashionp.php?id=31

http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=435145

http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=468083




And I still haven't downloaded any CC yet because I can't figure out how to download the extracter:help:

[Ghost sdoj]

For questions about where to find content, you should post in WCIF. A lot of people hang out in there who love downloading stuff and actually remember where they got most of it, so you are more likely to find someone who knows where to find what you want. And you can browse the threads to see if there is something you are interested in that has already been found.

To download 7-zip, you do need to know if you have a 32 or 64 bit computer. You can find that relatively easily by going into the Device Manager and clicking the + to expand the entry under "Computer"

Now go to 7-zip.org. At the top of the page is a box with two download links. One is for 32 bit, and one is for 64 bit. Click the link that matches your computer. It may offer you a bonus offer from Symantec or something; you can ignore that and just keep waiting. Or you can use the Direct link or one of the alternate mirrors listed at the top of the download page if you feel you have waited too long for it. Once it's there, you just open the file that arrives and follow the easy prompts to get it set up.

Edit: if you have some things you like, you can always check the profiles of the creators to see if they have made anything else. A lot of times they are making things that they like, and they will have more in that style because they wanted them too.

[Emily926]

For questions about where to find content, you should post in WCIF. A lot of people hang out in there who love downloading stuff and actually remember where they got most of it, so you are more likely to find someone who knows where to find what you want. And you can browse the threads to see if there is something you are interested in that has already been found.

To download 7-zip, you do need to know if you have a 32 or 64 bit computer. You can find that relatively easily by going into the Device Manager and clicking the + to expand the entry under "Computer"

Now go to 7-zip.org. At the top of the page is a box with two download links. One is for 32 bit, and one is for 64 bit. Click the link that matches your computer. It may offer you a bonus offer from Symantec or something; you can ignore that and just keep waiting. Or you can use the Direct link or one of the alternate mirrors listed at the top of the download page if you feel you have waited too long for it. Once it's there, you just open the file that arrives and follow the easy prompts to get it set up.

Edit: if you have some things you like, you can always check the profiles of the creators to see if they have made anything else. A lot of times they are making things that they like, and they will have more in that style because they wanted them too.

Thanks so much! I have a 64-bit computer.

I am still confused by 7-zip! Me does not understand it. I might go with WinZip, it looks simpler....

Just to let you know, I am terrible with tech stuff. When I first read the CC tutorial, I was like :blink:

[whiterider]

WinZip is simpler, but it also can't open the majority of sims CC files, since it only handles .zip files and most creators use .rar files. :)

WinRAR and 7-zip really are very simple - you just install them, download some CC and, if the CC is in a .zip or .rar file, right click it and go either WinRAR -> Extract Here or 7-zip -> Extract here. It's all in the instructions, with pictures, too. :)

[Emily926]

WinZip is simpler, but it also can't open the majority of sims CC files, since it only handles .zip files and most creators use .rar files. :)

WinRAR and 7-zip really are very simple - you just install them, download some CC and, if the CC is in a .zip or .rar file, right click it and go either WinRAR -> Extract Here or 7-zip -> Extract here. It's all in the instructions, with pictures, too. :)

Okay, I'll use WinRAR then. But I googled it, and there is a few different websites (rarlabs.com, winzip.com, etc). Do you think you could give me a link to the download page?

[Belzader]

It's rarlabs.com but make sure you get the right version 32bit for windows 32bit and 64bit for 64bit windows.
http://www.rarlabs.com/download.htm
If you do not know which version of windows just get the 32bit as that will work on 64bit also, it won't work the other way though

[Emily926]

It's rarlabs.com but make sure you get the right version 32bit for windows 32bit and 64bit for 64bit windows.
http://www.rarlabs.com/download.htm
If you do not know which version of windows just get the 32bit as that will work on 64bit also, it won't work the other way though

Okay, thanks. Just two more questions before I install:

1. Stupid question, but it can't harm my computer can it? I'm super wary when I install things.

2. Is it easy/possible to uninstall?


Thanks for all the help! :)

[Emily926]

Oh, and I have one more question. I have both Sims 2 and 3, so I plan to download CC for both. I find the Sims 3 CC to be straight forward, but on some of the Sims 2 CC that I see it says "Mesh: No". What does this mean? Does it mean a mesh isn't required or it dosen't come with the mesh or what? Me is confused :help:

[whiterider]

It could mean either, that depends on the context. The best thing is to look at the creator's other downloads - if some of them say "Mesh: Included" or "Mesh: Required (link)", then "Mesh: No" probably means it's a Maxis mesh. If it's just "Mesh: Yes" or "Mesh: No", that's more likely to mean that the mesh is or isn't included.
At the end of the day, if you're not sure, ask the creator. :)

[Emily926]

It could mean either, that depends on the context. The best thing is to look at the creator's other downloads - if some of them say "Mesh: Included" or "Mesh: Required (link)", then "Mesh: No" probably means it's a Maxis mesh. If it's just "Mesh: Yes" or "Mesh: No", that's more likely to mean that the mesh is or isn't included.
At the end of the day, if you're not sure, ask the creator. :)

Thanks! What would happen if I made a mistake and downloaded the recolour without the mesh?



And did you see my above question regarding WinRAR?

[whiterider]

You would end up with a duplicate of a Maxis object or outfit in the catalogue - nothing damaging, just a bit untidy.

Being reputable software, neither WinRAR nor 7-zip can harm your computer, and both can be fully uninstalled very easily. :)

[Belzader]

Okay, thanks. Just two more questions before I install:

1. Stupid question, but it can't harm my computer can it? I'm super wary when I install things.

2. Is it easy/possible to uninstall?

Thanks for all the help! :)
1: No it can't, it's just a pack tool.
2: Yes, it can be uninstalled, you do it like with most programs, from programs & features, if you use Vista or later.

[Emily926]

Thank you so very much to you both! I'm super busy today, but I'm going to do all my installing and stuff tomorrw. Expect to get a lot of questions from me then, lol.





Oh, and any reccomended CC to start with? Just to, like, make sure it worked. Like completely reputable ones that could never ever cause a problem. I have all EPs (+ MS and Highend Loft) if that matters.

[Belzader]

A must have (well for me) is ErrorTrap from Nraas (http://nraas.wikispaces.com/) as it will catch many errors that can make game freeze or crash due to script error and such.

[whiterider]

Agreed, plus twallan's Overwatch on the same site, which will reduce lag. I also love -Shady-'s default replacement eyes, to get rid of that stoned-and/or-dead look sims have by default.