Yellow patches when adding terrain paints

[burningglare]

When I paint my terrain and then add meta-data objects (ie: lighthouse, etc) I get big yellow patches that also show up in EIG mode.
When I deleted the objects the yellow patches remained.
When I delete my terrain paints it goes away. I have tried this with EA terrain and custom terrain. It has happened in more than one world.

After deleting the terrain paints (all except the base grass the world starts with) I went into s3pe and deleted the _KEY and deleted my caches in CAW but still get the problem when I try to use the terrain paints again.

NOTE: this is NOT camera routing paint as it happened in one new world where I had not even used that yet.

Please help--I have looked everywhere and I cannot find this problem listed anywhere!
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/2/7/3/1/9/8/MTS_burningglare-1304649-CAW1-A.png

[auntielynds]

The only thing I can think of is low memory when painting. Sometimes, If I spray the terrain paint too long without letting up on the button, the screen will flash once, and I get one of the terrain paints, oftentimes the yellow non_routing, covering several chunk boundaries. At that point I say a few expletives, and close the world without saving, and reopen. Here's a few things to try to avoid this issue:

Make sure you're using LAA, and have it connected properly.
Save often while painting. You get a feel for your own computer, but I save every several minutes while terrain painting.
Also check and see how much data you have in your documents folder, and desktop. I was crashing as soon as I started painting at one point, checked my documents, and found I'd collected 86GB's of data. I deleted, and moved most to an external hard drive, and Wa-La! I could paint again.

I hope this is the issue. I don't have a clue what else it could be. Let us know if this helps at all, maybe someone else has some ideas.

[burningglare]

Thank you for your response auntielynds. I will try LAA and see if that makes any difference. I hadn't because the program was running well (no crashing/freezing, etc.). I will check my folders as well.

[simsample]

I think I'd agree with auntielynds, looks like some corruption caused by low memory. I've seen this before in worlds made by players with low-spec machines. What are the specs of your computer? Try running CAW with your game CC removed.

[burningglare]

I removed my mods folder from my game and deleted my DCBackup before I began creating in CAW.
When painting in CAW my CPU Usage goes up to 29%
System Info:
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.111025-1629)
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz (4 CPUs)
used space: 79.3 GB
free space: 215 GB
Memory: 2046MB RAM
Page File: 1087MB used, 8304MB available

Card name: ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series
Chip type: AMD Radeon Graphics Processor (0x9505)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Display Memory: 512.0 MB
Current Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)


I haven't had a chance to try auntielynds' advice yet--I am wondering if my worlds are corrupt due to low memory if I need to scrap them and start yet again. I tried deleting the Images in s3pe that were all yellow (from a copy of one world) and the _KEY but then I could not open it. I do not really know what I am doing when working inside these files.

[simsample]

2GB RAM is probably not enough for CAW any more, which may be why you're having issues. If you replace the terrain paints you are using with different ones, does it help at all?

[burningglare]

No, simsample, when I delete the terrain paint the yellow disappears, but when I try a new paint it reappears.
Since I only have 2GB does that mean it will not do me any good to force LAA?
Do you think adding RAM will help me? I was going to do that at one point but I had someone tell me that upping my RAM would not make that much difference, that I needed to up the memory on my graphics card (which is more costly) or get a 64 bit system.
Thanks so much!

[Night Racer]

If you're using a 32bit system, I don't think you can upgrade to 4 gig anyway. 32bit system can only handle/comprehend 2gigs I think right? So you might have to do both; if not all 3 if your graphics card is aging also? :I

[simsample]

Since I only have 2GB does that mean it will not do me any good to force LAA?
That's correct; it won't help here!

Do you think adding RAM will help me? I was going to do that at one point but I had someone tell me that upping my RAM would not make that much difference, that I needed to up the memory on my graphics card (which is more costly) or get a 64 bit system.
That depends upon how much RAM your mainboard can handle and how much it will cost. It may help to have more RAM, but I can't say for sure whether it will fix your problem or whether it will be cost effective.

32bit systems can use up to around 4GB RAM, but your best bet is to look in the Computer hardware forum and post a question there if you are thinking of spending any money:
http://modthesims.info/fd.php?f=563