No (or fewer) automatic memories (with custom tool to make your own mod) Updated 02/20/2013
 

Update 02/20/2013: Updated tool to version 1.0.6 for patch 1.50 (the old version crashed on saving the file). Also updated pre-made packages for patch 1.50. As always with a patch that changes the resource, remember to update the custom package you've created to fit with the new patch version 1.50.
Update 01/22/2013: Patch 1.48 does not modify the resource in question, so the 1.42 packages fit with the patch as well.
Update 01/09/2013: Patch 1.47 does not modify the resource in question, so the 1.42 packages fit with the patch as well.



A wedding is a pretty memorable thing. So is having a baby. But catching a great fish? Going shopping? Visiting the park - again?!

This mod stops the memory scrapbook from filling up with useless memories that then have to be manually deleted to make place for custom memories or to keep savefiles small. It can also be useful to prevent the memory popup from ruining screenshots of the important moments in your sim's life.

Usage: Copy the package (downloaded or self-created with the tool) into your mod folder. Only use one package at a time!

Make sure the version of the mod fits the patch level. Running The Sims 3 with an outdated version of this mod can cause errors with wishes (lifetime and normal) and GUI issues with the main tabs.

Note: This mod modifies DreamsAndPromisesNodes (TGI: 0x0333406C-0x00000000-0x9A976C90ECC75C81) and will conflict with all other mods that do so. This mods sets the IsLifeEvent tags of individual dream nodes to nothing, so that the game doesn't consider them memories any more.



Obviously, what is worth remembering is a highly subjective thing. Some people might want all social related memories, but none for the skills, others might want it the other way round. In order to accommodate this need, I created a little tool that allows you to uncheck the memories you don't want to be created automatically and save your own custom made memory mod package from the selection you made in the tool.

Here's a screenshot of the tool:



Requirements: The tool requires .NET Framework 3.5 to run (the latest should work as well). It works for Windows and might work on other platforms with Mono, however I can't provide assistance for that.

Instructions:
a) Unzip the tool
b) Start TS3_Memory_Modder.exe: The application it will attempt to read the Sims 3 installation directory from the registry and if it doesn't find it, it will prompt you for it.
c) Uncheck the memories you don't want (if you only want few memories, it will be helpful to first uncheck all and then check the ones you want). Don't worry about the checkboxes for the header items; they are ignored.
d) Click save and enter the path where you want to save your mod package (e.g. in your mod folder)
e) Wait for a message to pop up that confirms your file was saved (this should only take a few seconds)
f) Close the tool and test the package in game

Additional option: You can load an existing package file that will restore which memories were checked and unchecked from the package.
Note for xml modders: Please be aware that this will only be read to uncheck memories. I.e. if you made other changes in the package (like changing memory icons or whether a memory is neutral or happy or bad) they will not be in the newly saved package! (If you only created memory mod packages with this tool and didn't modify them, this is not a concern for you and you can safely load a package, make changes, and save it again.)

For your information: If you'd like to provide different ready-made flavors of memory mods made with this tool, please do so. It was the reason for making it.

I've also attached two ready-made flavors:

1) No automatic memories. As the name suggests, no memories will be created automatically. If you want memories, you have to (and still can) create them manually.

2) Only important automatic memories. This package will allow automatic creation of a few selected important or memorable (and specifically rare) life events.



I do not plan on providing additional flavors myself. Please create them with the tool.


General note: Just because an event is set to allow triggering of a memory doesn't necessarily always do so. The specific dream node needs to be active in the game as well for the sim. E.g. "Sibling is born" did not cause a memory in my tests, even though it was activated. Some memories also have a tuning that makes them appear only once every few days. If you want to go into more detail with modding this, you'll need to manually edit the .xml file as with any other tuning mod.

Localized version:

The new version uses in-game strings for the memories and allows you to select from a list of game-supported languages.

The tool GUI itself and the categories are not automatically translated, but can be. In the package you'll find an unfinished example for a German translation file.



Usage:
To switch to a different language simply select it in the drop-down box at the top and wait for the GUI to rebuild.

Note: Untranslated values are displayed in English. This goes for the GUI as well as missing translations (e.g. the Mexican Spanish translations don't seem to exist for the memories).

For Translators: Copy the file Strings_ENG_US_0x000f16b00ba8342f.txt into the same folder and name the copy the same as the string in the drop-down for your language. Change the string after the equal symbol to your translated string. (As an example see the first few strings in the German localization file.) You can test your translation immediately by restarting the tool (or simply switching to another language and back to yours). If you attach your translation in a comment, I can add it to the tool.

Additional Credits:
Many thanks to Peter Jones for the S3PI library, parts of which are included in the tool. (As per the S3PI license, this tool is also GPL 3.0 and the source code is attached.)
Localization of GUI and categories:
Thanks to Sims MX for the Spanish (ES and MX) and French localization.
Thanks to Crinrict for the German localization.
Thanks to hotroxy777 and Wojtek for the Polish localization.

great mod and tool! my sim's scrapbook was already filled with around 20 useless memories after playing just for an hour. so i thought that the limit of 300 is going to be reached very quickly and manually deleting them seems like a pain in the butt...
a huge thank you!!!

Thanks so much! I really hated the automatic memories and just wanted to have custom memories. So, yay! You created my favorite flavor!
It's really awesome of you to also provide the tool.

This is amazing. Thank you times a billion. :')

Does this mod prevent all the other inactive sims in the hood from receiving the placeholder memories (as I will call them) in their scrapbooks? Or is it my active sims only?

I didn't keep up with manually deleting them, as I have twenty-ish "small parks" that are Subway Stations around my world and the scrapbook filled up within a couple of hours of playing. That kind or ruined my creative plans of using the scrapbook as a, well, scrapbook.

This will help me loads! Thank you!

thankyou so so much! it was going to fry everyones computers, your a life saver!(':

Fantastic! Excellent! Marvelous! Stupendous! Phenomenal!

Many thanks...

Thank you you saved our computer ram and made the game less laggy!!!!

I absolutely love you.. and this mod

I love you!
Thanks so much~!

Thank you for this, just one small thing you may like to add.

When using this tool, it complained about the path. I'm guessing you forgot to change it, but it will only create the package if the files for this tool are at C:\The Sims 3\gabi\1wip\only_important_memories

This tool is amazing, however I am unable to save my own package due to an error:

"System.IO.DirectoryNotFoundException: Could not find a part of the path 'C:\The Sims 3\gabi\1wip\only_important_memories\S3_0333406C_00000000_9A976C90ECC75C81_DreamsAndPromisesNodes%%+_XML.1_22.xml"

@Shimrod101: The mod sets the IsLifeEvent tag of the dream nodes to nothing, so the game doesn't think they're memories. This should be the case for all sims, however I haven't tested this on non-active sims. (I wasn't even aware that they also accumulate memories. That might explain the size of my savefiles.)

@severedsolo: Thanks so much for pointing this out! It's fixed now

@Jonni: Please download again. It's fixed now. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I'm having the same problem, Jonni, which sucks, because I REALLY love all the options this tool gives people!

Please download again. It should be fixed now. I'm very sorry this error slipped in.

It works! Thank you so much. :D

Thank you so much. This had aggravated me so much I had turned the memories completely off in the game.

Thank-you!

What a stupid feature. Really, remembering throwing up or being late to work? Dumbest thing ever, EA.

Thanks for fixing it! You've gone above and beyond giving the community such customization for those dreaded spamories!

Deserves to be featured.

Thanks so so so so so so so so much! :D

Thank you so much for this it was really needed, I don't like memories at all especially since they bloat up save file sizes anyway thanks again :-).

Thank you.

Any chance that the strings can be made translatable into other languages ?

I've got a question... I'm wondering if there is a way to make memories only happen once? I don't mind if a small memory pops up, but it's annoying when it keeps happening.

I'm just curious if this is possible or if you can only have all repetitive memories or have none of them.

Thank you so much! Between this and severedsolo's mod on Romantic Reputation, my game has gotten so much better.

You are wonderful! I've been waiting for a mod like this since I patched my game four days ago, discovered these dreadful memories, and filled a few scrapbooks. Seriously, they're so pointless. I love that you made a tool so we could customize them ourselves.

This should be featured!

I love you, this is so so much appreciated. It was getting so bad to the point of where my neighborhood would have serious lag because of the NPC-accumulated memories. Hopefully this fixes it.
THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU.

Oh my God! This was a much needed mod/program! Thanks!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, and have I said Thank You? This is by far one of the most needed mods I can think of and you are an angel for making it....

Thank you very much, however I can't get the .exe to start up, If fact I think it is crashing on startup. I am running Win7 64 bit with the latest .NET.

And mods like these are what I was waiting for before installing generations :D

Have you tried running as Administrator? I am also on Win7 X64 and had no problems. I set it to run as Admin straight away though, as I wasn't sure if it would need my C drive.

Thank you, this was much needed! Deleting all those useless memories was driving me crazy.

@Missa: There are several "tunings" for how the memory is applied. You can set the icon, if it's positive or negative and also one called "LifeEventTimeOut", which measures the days that must have passed for the memory to be triggered again. The default is -1, so you can trigger it even on the same day. For visited a park it's 5. I haven't tested this, but theoretically it should be possible to set individual timeouts to a very large value, so that practically it will only occur once in a sim life.

@Blacksmith2: Hmm, I'm also running on Win7 64bit, so the platform shouldn't be the problem. Do you get any error message at all or does simply nothing happen? You could try severedsolo's tip, though I don't know why it should be necessary to run as Administrator. I only write and delete a temporary file which should be done in the temp folder (and of course whatever you designate as save as target when you click save). It might still be worth a shot though to try as Administrator.

@severedsolo: Thanks for the tip. Maybe it helps

@crinrict: It's certainly possible to make it translatable, though I'll have to think about the easiest way. I basically only need a file that I can read in as a map. Let me get back to you on that. I'll check out what Buzzler and/or Twallan have written on/do about this, so that I can maybe use the same format, even if it won't end up as a STBL.

Thank you so much! i was so glad they brought the memories back, but i found myself opening the bio thing and deleting them so often. this is awesome

@crinrict: Actually, the translations are of course all there in the STBL and I can find them manually, so a program should be able to do it too. I'll see if I can release a localized version tomorrow (I have to figure out how to do what I need with S3PI).

Yep, maybe I will not have a 700 MB of cache and a save of less than 125 MB. I wish EA didn't make the townies have memories, just the active households. Then again that will make switching lots difficult too. Anywho, this mod balance things out. Thanks so much for creating and making it available.

Will this conflict with Twallan's Dreamer mod? I like being able to get wishes that I don't save fulfilled.

Wow! This is the mod that I am sure everybody wished for within five minutes of installing Generations And to release a tuning tool with it is so thoughtful.

This is great! Thank you so much!

@lewisb40: I also use Twallan's Dreamer mod, though I've taken it out for my secondary testing. I just checked and it doesn't override the xml file. And when I first did my own memory mod with Twallan's mod still in, it seemed to work as expected. So I'd say it doesn't conflict.

@Srikandi: I had such a hard time deciding what the "important" memories are, that I figured it was very likely people would ask for variations. So in pure self-defense I looked into making a tool and in the end it wasn't so difficult (plus I learned a few things that might be helpful for future tools).

omg i have been waiting for this since the patch was released. im sick of having to delete memories of "changed clothes" or "visited park"
thank you so much!!!!

Great programme! Very smart to post this instead of just some variations, now everyone can make the mod exactly like they want. I can't wait to try it out, have been playing Generations for only a few days and already those memory pop-ups were driving me crazy! Thanks!!

This is great! Now I don't have to hear it every single time my sims wander in the vicinity of the public pool, that they visited it when they clearly did not. Many thanks!!

Oh man, thank you so much. This was driving me crazy!

this is a cool mod. and the tool makes it so much better.
there are plenty of mods i wish came with tools like this.

Thank you so much! I wasn't having problems with it slowing down my game YET but it was getting rather annoying having the pop ups almost every time my sim did something. Thank you again!

Thank you so much!! I will have to look into this and tune it as such, as I assume that it's in your config file or whatever it is. (I haven't downloaded it yet, but I'm a nerd so I'll figure it out

And smart!! I mean making your own tuning tool so you don't have to try and make 500 different versions for people that think a certain memory is important that the other 499 don't.

I redownloaded, but I still get the error. It only works if the files are in My Documents. I don't get it.

Thank you so much. I stopped playing the Sims 3 after about ten minutes with those memories b/c they are just so annoying! I haven't played again since the update. *downloads*

Thanks for your answer. Definitely will be trying this out. Love the configuration tool.

Thank you so much! I was tired of my Sims having memories of "throwing up", "going to the bookstore", and "buying groceries", etc. Very helpful!

Love you. That is all.

Been waiting for this fewer memories mod. Thank you very much.

Thank you so much for making my game playable once again!

By the way, and being a little off-topic, could you tell me where you got that blue/pink shirt your sim is wearing?

This is exactly what I've been waiting for since Generations came out. Thank you so much!

This is amazing and I love you. But you might want to put the fact you included a tool to make custom mods in the title. I almost skipped over it because I don't usually read descriptions. Anyway, AMAZING job.

The tool wanted me to put the XML (S3_0333406C_00000000_9A976C90ECC75C81_DreamsAndPromisesNodes%%+_XML.1_22)in my packages folder before it would allow me to save. After that it saved fine. Now I get to test it and see. I only wanted Births/Deaths/Marriages. Boring stuff like that. lol

been waiting for this.Thanks bunches

AW!!! I doesn't work for mac. Could you by any chance make a mac version?

@velocitygrass
Working now. Looks like it was due to how the items are viewed in the folder. Don't know why just is.

Is there a way you can replace the little yellow-photoguy thing with an invisible texture so that we don't have to deal with those, ever?

iv been needing this cause memorys are annoying when they flood my game cause its so slow Thankyou

sorry for asking such a noob question, but i just want to be completely sure that this mod is a xml tuning mod, not a core one, right

Thank you SO much for this. I was getting sick and tired of deleting crappy memories.

@velocitygrass: Thanks for looking into it. I have to say though that while my windows version is German, I have the game itself installed in english, so I'm wondering if it may already show up in German for other users that actually have the game installed in German.

It doesn't allow me to save saying "The type initializer for 's3pi.Package.Package' threw an exception." and I really really want to use it because memories of vomiting are annoying at the least...

I'm no genius in the field, so just a wild guess - could this be because I only have the base game and didn't touch the EP memories at all? (left them checked as they were)

@~MadameButterfly~ and @_Aya_ and anyone else who gets messages that the S3_0333406C_00000000_9A976C90ECC75C81_DreamsAndPromisesNodes%%+_XML.1_22 needs to be in a different folder:
Do you start the tool directly from the explorer by double-clicking or do you open it from commandline from a different working directory? The tool expects the above file to be in the directory it was started from. Maybe this could explain the error?

@Missa: The resource instance and name of the file to tune is given in the overview at the top. And yes, I made this tool mainly to avoid requests

@lipe2k: The shirt is one of the Generations registration rewards.

@van Dorn: I've edited the title. Thanks for the hint. I wasn't really sure how the ratio would be between people who take the pre-made package and those who are willing to download a tool for it, but it seems at least in this case, the demand for customization is definitely there.

@ninoo and @Nygmanix: It should be simple to do this by modifying the effects file (like the No Mosaic mod does). I will look into creating a tool like this one for the effects file, so that anyone can create their own effects file mod.

@Qoy555: I don't know anything about developing for the Mac, so I can't. Maybe you could ask someone to provide a custom package for you or you could see if there's a way to run .NET programs on a Mac (in a VM or so). Sorry

@Blacksmith2: I'm glad it's working now. Thanks for letting me know.

@fio83ms: Yes, the ready-made flavors and the packages that the tool creates are simple tuning mods that modify the resource given in the overview.

@crinrict: No, the non-localized version takes the strings straight from the "Name" tag in the xml, so it wouldn't make a difference. The new tool that displays game strings instead of the above tag string is up for testing. I've also added a German localization file with at least the GUI elements translated. The only thing left for German localization is the 80 categories

@Fikcija: Hmm. Could it be that you have another versions of the s3pi files in the path? Could maybe post a more complete error message. Which version did you use? The new one with game strings or the old one? Maybe you could check the other one and see if that makes a difference.

I've not actually 'played' the game since I updated to Generations as I have been busy building a new town. The one time I did send a Sim out they immediately gained a memory for visiting the bookstore, then the grocery store followed by remembering they took a nap on a community lot!
I wasn't expecting the memories to be for such ordinary daily things so this tool will be a must have.
I noticed in your screenshot that playable mummies gain a memeory when they eat a mummy snack? WHY?! That's like me remembering I ate a sandwich. /rant

I don't even know what s3pi files are... Which version of what? Sorry, I didn't really understand the question...

Here's the full error:

This mod ist so useful! Deleting senseless memories was annoying and I realized just now that save files get big due to the memories (by reading the comments). So this is even more useful! Thank you!

@Fikcija: It seems that for some reason the s3pi.Settings.dll is missing. Can you verify that it is in the folder where you unzipped the tool?

Thank you so much. This may be the problem with my game recently.

I was waiting for someone to make this. Thank you! I love memories, but too many? No way!

Yes, it's there. And TS3_Memory_Modder.exe is in the very same folder, if that matters.

I was just waiting for it !
Thanks you ! :D

Wow, thanks. That was fast.

I'll update my German Blog entry

EDIT:

What do you mean by Socials - Hand entered ?

@Fikcija: I'm afraid, I don't know what to tell you. The error message said it cannot find this file. If it's exactly next to the .exe, I don't see how it couldn't find it. There are two versions of the tool up now, the original one and one with Game Strings. Maybe you could download the new one with Game Strings and try if that one works for you.

@crinrict: I'm on vacation at the moment Did you actually test if it works? The category names are taken straight from the .xml file and are internal, so it could be just some developer thing. Your guess it as good as mine.

I would like thank you especially for the source code that you provide to the public.

Yeah, I tried. Looks good. I'll be uploading the German translations for the categories after dinner.

EDIT: I did not try ingame though

EDIT EDIT: Upload German category translation. I'm no that familiar with the common game translation so there might be some translated differently then it is with the game. If anyone wants to change my strings and re-upload, they are welcome too.

I just put the whole entire folder and contents on my desktop, opened up the actual program from there, picked my memories, and then hit save. Error. (Then I saw where it wanted that XML, so I just made a copy of it and put it there for temporary use.) Hit save again, it was ok. I removed the copied XML file from my packages, and left my new memory mod in place. Everything works great in game. It is exactly how I wanted it despite the small snag.

Thanks SO much! My save file inlarged 30+ MB's in a few sim days, cause my 60 sims each got around 20-50 memories, even when they cleaned the toilet. I had to go around and delete all the memories for all of the sims. Thanks again! :D

Thanks

Just a thought I've had. If and when this needs an update, could those of us who know how to extract an XML from the GameplayData package just get on with it without waiting for an update, by exporting the new XML?

I guess what I'm asking is, does the tool pull the strings from the XML, or are they hard coded into the tool?

I deleted it all then just unzipped anew and for some weird reason it works now perfectly. Thank you very much for this mod, it's something I really wanted since the latest patch came out!!

Thank you so much. I played a new game last night with the mod installed and it worked beautifully. There was no lag due to constant stupid memories. And their scrapbooks remain blissfully empty. Thank you so much!

This is really amazing. Thank you so much for the mod and tool. It works great.

dont know if this has been asked but wondering if this mod is compatible w/ the latest version of Twallens Overwatch Mod. thanx anyone for answering~

Thanks for this !

I have translated the strings to Spanish, Mexican Spanish, and French.

Note: I'm not a native French speaker, so if you feel that something needs to be changed, do so.

I LOVE THIS MOD! Thank you!

I never knew my sim could get mauled by a bear...weird.

@1234567890mm: since I use s3pi, I'd have to anyway, but in any case I think sharing code might help others figure out how to do something and will just benefit the community as a whole. Though it's a bit embarrassing because I'm not very familiar with C#, so even if the code works, it's probably not the best way to do it

@crinrict: Thank you! I will add the file tomorrow

@~MadameButterfly~: I'm quite puzzled why it won't look for the .xml file in the folder where you started the .exe from. Hmm. At least it works and I believe you probably won't use the tool very often, so I hope it wasn't too much of an inconvenience.

@ninoo: It's finished actually, and I'm quite proud of the GUI. It even has a filter. I will upload it tomorrow.

@severedsolo: Yes, it reads from the .xml in the folder, so you could simply replace that with the new one and it should work (unless, of course, they made major changes in the file format). Maybe for the next patch I'll make it so that it reads the data directly from the game file, so that you don't even have to extract the file.

@Fikcija: I'm glad that it works now Maybe the .dll was somehow corrupted during extraction. Thanks for letting me know.

@kneal: Since Twallan's mods are script mods, I don't see why they should conflict. I also use Overwatch and was aware of no problems when I played.

@Sims MX: Thank you! I will add the file tomorrow I can only speak a little French, so I doubt I'd have corrections to make.

@lilfixit: They can when they take the subway

You are a hero. <3

I get an Unhandled Exception whenever I try to save my edited package on the Memory Modder... I'm not sure if it has to do with the fact that I don't have all of the EPs that contain some of the memories listed there? Ah well, I'm still thrilled just to have the only important memories mod! Thanks so extremely much for this! <3

OH MY goodness thank you SOOOOO much x.x i was getting so rediculously tired of "YOUR SIM HAS ONE LOGIC POINT! SHE FEELS WONDERFUL NOW!!!"

great! downloading now and thanks for it. those memories are terribly pesky

Greatest! Thank you so much! My memory under my control now! :-)

WOOT!! I'm waiting for it

THANK YOU!!! This mod is awesome in the fact that its super easy for someone like me to customize it :3

That would be freaking awesome.... Scratch that, it's pretty freaking awesome as it is Thanks for the reply.

Thank you a zillion times!

@Starfish of Terror: Without seeing the exact message, I can't know for sure, but some users had errors related to the .xml file in the tool folder. With the latest version of TS3_Memory_Modder_Game_Strings.zip, I have removed the necessity for that file, so maybe you could download that and try again.

@ninoo: The effects modder is up now

@rodier1128: It was created for exactly that reason, though I wasn't sure how many people would be willing to download a tool just to create a mod. But it seems there are quite a few

@severedsolo: It's implemented now. It's actually pretty easy to do codewise. s3pi is just amazing :D