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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 28th Jul 2015 at 10:19 AM Last edited by vattuflickan : 3rd Aug 2015 at 10:59 AM. Reason: update

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 2, Nightlife, Open for Business, Seasons, Free Time, Apartment Life
Default [Solved] Can I salvage Sims from a corrupted neighborhood?
Hi everyone!
I haven't played Sims 2 for several years, but have recently resumed, and it looks like my one and only 'hood is corrupted. So far the only problem I see is that some children already have lifetime wants like "Marrying off 6 children", but I know this can deteriorate quickly, and I would really hate to lose my Sims so soon after being reunited with them. I don't actually remember doing any VTB listed in simwiki, but then perhaps I just don't remember (I could have moved an empty lot that used to be occupied to the bin, for example).
Anyway, I would be really, really happy if someone could tell me if there is a way to copy the Sims I have (looks, genetics, traits) so that I could re-create my neighborhood after reinstalling the game.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

UPD: So I followed about all the advice I was given here, and my Sims seem to be doing quite well in a clean new neighborhood
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Forum Resident
#2 Old 28th Jul 2015 at 10:38 AM
Try running the HoodChecker ( http://modthesims.info/d/456523 ) and see what it finds. The game just produces stuff like invalid relationships by itself all the time, so that could actually fix your neighborhood.

You don't need to reinstall the game in any case, just deleting the neighborhood will be enough.

If you want to recreate the neighborhood, you can extract your sims' appearances with SimPE. That will allow you to create a new neighborhood, create your old sims in CAS and move them in. You can add their old genetics, personality, relationships, skills, memories, etc. with SimPE as well, it's up to you how much work you want to put into it.

Here's a tutorial for extracting your sims: http://modthesims.info/t/94489
Mad Poster
#3 Old 28th Jul 2015 at 2:22 PM
Mootilda made a new program to be able to extract Sims from a corrupt hood called "SimRetriever" http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=503733
This is a last resort players have at extracting Sims from a corrupt hood.

First try SimPE to get them but if SimPE can not open the hood then the "SimRetriever" is your last resort and please read it before you use it.

There is another way but it is so long in the process that it could take weeks to months to find all the Sims players want to extract from a corrupt hood and that is by open each and every file with SimPE in the "Characters" folder of the corrupt hood.

All my Beginning Hoods here at MTS. http://www.modthesims.info/member.php?u=7749491
All my Beginning Hoods as Shopping Districts plus Old Town. http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=523417
MooVille, a tribute to Mootilda and her fabulous lots http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=534158
Mad Poster
#4 Old 28th Jul 2015 at 2:38 PM
And bear in mind that you might, with some care, be able to play this neighborhood a good long time before the corruption becomes bad enough that the neighborhood is unplayable. Relax a bit and keep playing as you study your options. Everyone has an individual tolerance level, and there's no need to abandon your game before that level is reached. Practice good game hygiene and back up frequently, and you can go on for years. (Five and counting, for me!)

Ugly is in the heart of the beholder.
(My simblr isSim Media Res . Widespot,Widespot RFD: The Subhood, and Land Grant University are all available here. In case you care.)
Test Subject
Original Poster
#5 Old 28th Jul 2015 at 3:05 PM
Thank you all very much for the replies! I've already calmed down a bit.

Quote: Originally posted by Peni Griffin
And bear in mind that you might, with some care, be able to play this neighborhood a good long time before the corruption becomes bad enough that the neighborhood is unplayable.


Yes, I think that I'll continue playing now that I know there are options to recreate my Sims if the 'hood explodes. And then I'll just try to recreate them.
But, unfortunately, I've been noticing more weird things and behaviors in the game, so perhaps I'll have to do it sooner than I'd like to.

And while I'm at it, what is considered "too many" Sims in a neighborhood to make it unplayable?
Mad Poster
#6 Old 28th Jul 2015 at 3:14 PM
For you it is 32,000 is the game limit but most of us keeps it down to under 1500.

You would be better off if you extract all the sims you want to save using SimPE before the hood does go BOOM.

All my Beginning Hoods here at MTS. http://www.modthesims.info/member.php?u=7749491
All my Beginning Hoods as Shopping Districts plus Old Town. http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=523417
MooVille, a tribute to Mootilda and her fabulous lots http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=534158
Forum Resident
#7 Old 28th Jul 2015 at 4:23 PM
Did HoodChecker find anything out of the ordinary? Basically, anything that can't be removed?
Test Subject
Original Poster
#8 Old 29th Jul 2015 at 8:14 AM
Thank you everyone for your answers!

Ovenhole, I haven't run it yet, because I have a problem with Internet connection at home right now (I'm writing from work), but I'll do it first thing as soon as I get the Internet working
Test Subject
Original Poster
#9 Old 29th Jul 2015 at 10:09 PM
Hi again!
So I've run the HoodChecker, but unfortunately, I don't know what to do with the results. It gave me a long list of some invalid references, so I chose "remove", but I still get a list of some wrong memories, I suppose. What should I do with it now?
I'm attaching these lists in case someone wants to have a look - Crimsonville.txt is the one I got after running "check", and Crimsonville 5.txt is the one created after several tries of "remove."

Again, any help will be greatly appreciated
Attached files:
File Type: zip  Crimsonville.zip (9.8 KB, 14 downloads) - View custom content
Mad Poster
#10 Old 29th Jul 2015 at 11:12 PM
@vattuflickan That's a lot of hits that I have never seen in my game so it tells me that maybe BO's no trash memory mod may have taken care of them.

Do you have BO's mod "No Trash Memories" and if not I would be getting it.

I would get both of these if you don't have them yet.

Quote:
BO - No Sim Loaded: Remove a lot of junk controllers, tokens, and other broken stuff, without the need for a Batbox
BO - No Trash Memories: PREVENT gossip and silly repetetive memories from being generated

http://www.simbology.com/smf/index.php?topic=7875.0

You may also want to check the "Essential Mods" thread and get the ones you don't have yet. http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=532696

All my Beginning Hoods here at MTS. http://www.modthesims.info/member.php?u=7749491
All my Beginning Hoods as Shopping Districts plus Old Town. http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=523417
MooVille, a tribute to Mootilda and her fabulous lots http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=534158
Test Subject
Original Poster
#11 Old 30th Jul 2015 at 12:03 AM
Quote: Originally posted by marka93
@vattuflickan That's a lot of hits that I have never seen in my game so it tells me that maybe BO's no trash memory mod may have taken care of them.

Do you have BO's mod "No Trash Memories" and if not I would be getting it.

I would get both of these if you don't have them yet.


http://www.simbology.com/smf/index.php?topic=7875.0

You may also want to check the "Essential Mods" thread and get the ones you don't have yet. http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=532696


Thanks, marka, I'll have a look at them. I do have most of Pescado's mods, as far as I remember.

Looks like I've figured out what to do with these missing references - I find them in SimPE and either correct or delete the memory, right? Cannot find one, though.

But what do I do about kids that have adult lifetime wants? there seems to be no option to delete it in SimPe?
Mad Poster
#12 Old 30th Jul 2015 at 12:47 AM
It is now sounding like you have hood corruption because the kids should not have "adult lifetime wants" they should only have grow up want.

I would say again that if you want to extract any Sims from this hood you would be better off to do it now instead of waiting because this hood can blow at any time now.

All my Beginning Hoods here at MTS. http://www.modthesims.info/member.php?u=7749491
All my Beginning Hoods as Shopping Districts plus Old Town. http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=523417
MooVille, a tribute to Mootilda and her fabulous lots http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=534158
Forum Resident
#13 Old 30th Jul 2015 at 7:20 AM
I know those Tricou memories, they showed up in a very new neighborhood for me as well. They disappeared after I loaded both tombstone lots once. Shouldn't cause much trouble in any case.

Had a Great Anniversary as a lifetime want memory is bugged - if you were to check one of your sims, you'd see they seem to have celebrated their anniversary with a chair or something. Cyjon has a mod that I think gets rid of the problem (I installed it after seeing one of those weird memories, but haven't had one since) http://www.cyjon.net/node/395

That won't fix the existing ones, but it will prevent further issues. You should probably install it even if you're planning on getting a new hood.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#14 Old 30th Jul 2015 at 9:04 AM
Quote: Originally posted by marka93
It is now sounding like you have hood corruption


Yes, and that's exactly why I started this threat.

There are a few things that still concern me, though, apart from the need to recreate 90+ sims (I now definitely have some huge plans for the coming weekend )

1. Is it possible to extract houses as unoccupied lots? Is it safe?
2. Is this corruption global or limited to one neighborhood only? I.e., do I need to reinstall the game? (I haven't even entered the other 'hoods since the last reinstall, and haven't copied any previous data, so they are all brand new)
3. There is no way to recreate a servo, is there?
4. Is it safe to recreate some of my dead sims as elders and then have them die of old age in the game, for the sake of recreating the family tree in SimPe?

Ovenhole, thank you for the explanation. I will definitely get all the mods I can for my new 'hood. If I manage to do it, that is
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#15 Old 30th Jul 2015 at 11:44 AM
Quote: Originally posted by vattuflickan
1. Is it possible to extract houses as unoccupied lots? Is it safe?

Yes, I think you do a double-save - extract, clean up file with Clean Installer, resave with Clean Installer. It might be worth checking with SimPE for stray bits of sim data - Jawusa knows more about that.
Quote: Originally posted by vattuflickan
2. Is this corruption global or limited to one neighborhood only? I.e., do I need to reinstall the game? (I haven't even entered the other 'hoods since the last reinstall, and haven't copied any previous data, so they are all brand new)

This will depend on what you did (sorry haven't read whole thread). As long as you didn't do any of the game-corrupting things, corruption will be limited to the neighbourhood. If in doubt, check the objects.package.
Quote: Originally posted by vattuflickan
3. There is no way to recreate a servo, is there?

Not AFAIK but you can spawn one and have it activated by the same person who activated the original.
Quote: Originally posted by vattuflickan
4. Is it safe to recreate some of my dead sims as elders and then have them die of old age in the game, for the sake of recreating the family tree in SimPe?

Yes. If you are going for the SimPE extraction route they will be new sims and new sims are new sims - no baggage.

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
Test Subject
Original Poster
#16 Old 31st Jul 2015 at 9:05 AM
So I've completed extracting my sims, except for a baby. Looks like I'll have to play the household till he becomes a toddler.

I'm still undecided about reinstall. One the one hand, I don't want to have to do all this again, but on the other, I spend half a day last Saturday getting the game to run on Windows 8. Don't want to do that again either(((

Anyway, thank you all very much for your advice. It's really nice to see that there are still people around playing TS2

maxon, I got really intrigued by your neighborhood mystery project. It's a pity I lack several EP to try it.
Forum Resident
#17 Old 31st Jul 2015 at 10:27 AM
Once you have recreated your neighborhood, make a backup. That way, if it does turn out that your game is corrupted (which is very unlikely), you will only need to replay a bit, not recreate the whole neighborhood. Backups are a great idea in general, I make sure to save at least once per cycle and keep the last three backups around.

If you are really worried about game corruption, check the objects.package like maxon said. You'll find it in your installation folder in TSData/Res/Objects. Right-click and select properties. You should see the date when the file was created and the date when it was last changed. If everything is fine, those dates will either be the same or the file will have been changed when you patched your game. You should make the file read-only to be safe.

Anyway, game corruption is really unlikely and would probably have looked way more serious.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#18 Old 31st Jul 2015 at 11:21 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Ovenhole
If you are really worried about game corruption, check the objects.package like maxon said. You'll find it in your installation folder in TSData/Res/Objects. Right-click and select properties. You should see the date when the file was created and the date when it was last changed. If everything is fine, those dates will either be the same or the file will have been changed when you patched your game. You should make the file read-only to be safe.


Thanks for the explanation, Ovenhole. I was afraid to ask maxon what was meant by "checking the objects.package"

I usually do backup my game, but since I don't know when the corruption happened, the backup is no use. But I like your idea of having three, just in case
Test Subject
Original Poster
#19 Old 3rd Aug 2015 at 11:05 AM
So, in case you were wondering, I did it
Spent entire Saturday extracting Sims, setting up a clean neighborhood and editing family ties (the amount of tutorials I had to read!!!) Anyway, the dead are back to the dead, and the living are all properly arranged by households, though I still have to do some editing of relations. I lost a servo and messed up one toddler during extraction, so had to create a new one (hopefully, her mom won't notice the difference LOL). Otherwise, it seems to be working fine. And I sure stuffed the Downloads folder with all the corruption preventing mods I could find
Thank you all for help!
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#20 Old 3rd Aug 2015 at 11:57 AM
Now all you need to do is avoid doing the things that cause corruption and you're all set.

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
#21 Old 3rd Aug 2015 at 2:27 PM
And don't be afraid of maxon. She doesn't bite! And if she did, she couldn't get at you through the internet. If you need to know something, and don't know where to look it up, ask!

Ugly is in the heart of the beholder.
(My simblr isSim Media Res . Widespot,Widespot RFD: The Subhood, and Land Grant University are all available here. In case you care.)
Test Subject
Original Poster
#22 Old 4th Aug 2015 at 9:07 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Peni Griffin
And don't be afraid of maxon. She doesn't bite! And if she did, she couldn't get at you through the internet. If you need to know something, and don't know where to look it up, ask!


Guess I'll take you up on that offer)) Is it safe to move occupied lots around the neighborhood? I know it's a very bad idea to put them in the bin, but if I just want to move a lot to another street or rotate or smth like that? Is it COMPLETELY safe? (I'm being paranoid, I know)
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#23 Old 4th Aug 2015 at 11:30 AM
Yes, that's fine. Just don't do it to a beach lot. Beach lots are buggy and can be prone to crashing if you spin them.

Quote: Originally posted by Peni Griffin
And don't be afraid of maxon. She doesn't bite! And if she did, she couldn't get at you through the internet. If you need to know something, and don't know where to look it up, ask!


Has maxon been scaring the kiddies and puppies with her fangs again? Got to wipe the blood away before smiling.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Test Subject
#24 Old 21st May 2018 at 12:29 AM
Hi! It is so good to see that there are still people playing The Sims 2. I'm having the same issues as you have (I think mine's a little worst since almost all of my families with default sims are crashing and game time don't last for 2 hours unless paused) and I've been searching in the net for ways to fix it. Hopefully this thread can help me to save my game since I've been playing it for like 5 years and I endured lots of saved games corruption resulting to reinstall the whole game (been playing sims 2 since 2004). I'll give an update once I've tried the mods and methods here. Thank you.
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