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Top Secret Researcher
Original Poster
#1 Old 5th Jan 2011 at 3:08 PM
Default Simpe Site Down
I know this isn't an MTS problem, but it is a creation problem.

Does anyone know the status of http://sims.ambertation.de/en// ?

I have not been able to register new GUID's for the last 2 days. Is it coming back?

If all the news is bad, or *shrug* who knows, then could someone direct me to info on generating random GUID's. I remember reading about it, but haven't been able to find it again. I guess google is not my friend anymore.

Retired from the Sims world. Please continue to enjoy my creations. Thank you to everyone who helped -- by either giving me the tools and knowledge to create or by encouraging me & downloading my creations. The Sims community is the BEST!
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Site Helper
#2 Old 5th Jan 2011 at 5:10 PM
Google may be your friend. It can send you to the "Way Back Machine", which is a site which archives old web pages. It can also help you find discussions about 'sims 2 "guid"', such as this one: http://www.modthesims.info/showthre...833#post3403833, or help you find web sites which will "generate guid", such as this one: http://createguid.com/.

If the guid being generated is the wrong size, just use the first X characters. When you upload, be sure to document how you got your GUID and what it is, just in case it conflicts with an existing upload.
Me? Sarcastic? Never.
staff: administrator
#3 Old 5th Jan 2011 at 8:11 PM
Wouldn't the hash generator in SimPE also work? The crc32 and crc24 both create an 8 digit hash value of the string. If you use the cres name generated when cloning wouldn't that pretty much always be unique?
Site Helper
#4 Old 5th Jan 2011 at 9:22 PM
Yes, that should also be fine. Anything which generates a random GUID.
Retired Duck
retired moderator
#5 Old 5th Jan 2011 at 10:44 PM
I believe the GUID database has been offline for quite a while now. I think the theory is that, if you already have a range registered to you then you can continue to use numbers in that range. Unfortunately, if you've run out, then you will need to generate a random number and use that. It should be okay, given the reduction in the number of new creation registrations and the fact that there won't be any new EPs coming out to conflict with your random numbers.
Top Secret Researcher
Original Poster
#6 Old 6th Jan 2011 at 12:42 PM
Thank you everyone for your help. The GUID database at least was working as recently as Jan. 1, 2011 for me.

Is there a site that is hosting the SimPE download? Heaven forbid I should lose it.

Retired from the Sims world. Please continue to enjoy my creations. Thank you to everyone who helped -- by either giving me the tools and knowledge to create or by encouraging me & downloading my creations. The Sims community is the BEST!
Site Helper
#7 Old 6th Jan 2011 at 4:12 PM
It should still be available at SourceForge:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/simpe/

SourceForge isn't going away anytime soon.
Lab Assistant
#8 Old 6th Jan 2011 at 6:08 PM
I know Quaxi is the owner of the site and hasn't been around for a long time, but do you know if there is still someone else around who could possibly bring the site back?
Site Helper
#9 Old 6th Jan 2011 at 6:48 PM
As far as I know, there is no one who actually has access to the site. Inge and Peter Jones took over development after Quaxi left, but they never had full access to the site.
Lab Assistant
#10 Old 6th Jan 2011 at 6:58 PM
Well, that sucks. I guess the chances of the site coming back online are pretty close to zero then.
Site Helper
#11 Old 6th Jan 2011 at 7:00 PM
It's not clear what's happened to the site yet. At this point, all that we know is that it's been down for a couple of days. Wait until we see the site name up for sale...

In the interim, people can use the Way Back Machine to find old tutorials and SourceForge for downloads.
Lab Assistant
#12 Old 6th Jan 2011 at 7:10 PM
Ok. Thanks, Mootilda. I have to admit it's defnitely the GUID database I'd miss the most. It does feel a lot safer to use registered GUIDs.
Site Helper
#13 Old 6th Jan 2011 at 7:13 PM
I suppose that we might be able to set up a new GUID registry in the community. I'm not very familiar with running websites, but Delphy or Pescado might have some ideas. Of course, some people consider TS2 to be dead...

It might also be helpful to snare the tutorials from the way back machine and move them somewhere more reliable...
Lab Assistant
#14 Old 6th Jan 2011 at 7:41 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Mootilda
Of course, some people consider TS2 to be dead...

And I don't understand why. There are so many people who are still creating, and who have started creating for TS2 after TS3 came out, even meshing, myself included.

It would be a great idea to set up a new database if the SimPE site doesn't come back.
Field Researcher
#15 Old 6th Jan 2011 at 8:26 PM
sims.ambertation.de has expired and is no longer valid according to this site:
http://www.checkingstats.com/whois/sims.ambertation.de

A new database is very much needed!
I really hope we can find anyone for that job.
Top Secret Researcher
Original Poster
#16 Old 6th Jan 2011 at 8:42 PM
In case a new database from scratch becomes the answer ...

I added a block at Christmas, so there probably aren't many more blocks assigned after my last. Here is a very recently assigned GUID from that block: 0x00703011

Perhaps that will help in figuring out where to start over at. (And if I don't post this now, I won't remember in a week or so, what I was working on when.)

Retired from the Sims world. Please continue to enjoy my creations. Thank you to everyone who helped -- by either giving me the tools and knowledge to create or by encouraging me & downloading my creations. The Sims community is the BEST!
Test Subject
#17 Old 7th Jan 2011 at 5:10 AM
I don't remember when I last added a block, a month or more ago I think. I was able to assign 4 GUIDs earlier this week, the day before the site went down. The GUIDs that came up for those last 4 objects were:

0x00705523
0x00705524
0x00705528
0x0070552D
Warrior Gryphon
site owner
#18 Old 7th Jan 2011 at 8:35 AM
According to another DNS check, the domain itself still exists:

http://www.intodns.com/ambertation.de

However, the ns.ambertation.de subdomain doesn't work, and since this is what hosts the master DNS, this would cause all requests to fail. In fact, pinging the box gives a strange error (TTL exceeded).

So, basically the domain *hasn't* expired at all (the last serial number change was Dec 9th 2010), just the VPS itself seems to be dead. I suspect that it's more a case of non-payment of the VPS, or something else like that rather than a Domain issue.

With regards to the actual GUID database - that'd be (fairly) easy to setup and replicate but obviously without the original database everybody would have to register a new account, get a new block, etc etc. Which is a pain in the ass.

Story books are full of fairy tales, of Kings and Queens, and the bluest skies.
Field Researcher
#19 Old 7th Jan 2011 at 8:56 AM
Pain in the ass? We wouldn't want that though...

In the meantime can we use this page to create new GUIDs: http://createguid.com/

I got this numbers when I clicked the link:
EC181726-12D7-4D99-A8F5-126468843959

And the essential question is how to use these numbers?
According to Mootilda in post # 2 we should use the first X characters.
Like this: 0xEC181726 or ???
One horse disagreer of the Apocalypse
#20 Old 7th Jan 2011 at 9:53 AM
Bear in mind when deciding who is gonna host SimPE support, that Peter does or had been checking out the ambertation site for in case there was anything technical needed addressing. If support gets moved to some cliquey attitudey site, he won't bother. Posting this comment here as I have noticed a spate of people offering to host it, including some places I have already stopped visiting myself.

Seems to me that for most creation-related queries, the sims2 forums on MTS are the most appropriate place to ask. For actual technical problems with the program itself, if there should be any other than wishlist stuff (which is unlikely to arouse the interest of coders) then I can start a forum on my own site, along with the S3PE support, which Peter does of course read.

However first I will see if I still have Quaxi's email address in c ase he didn't know it was down

"You can do refraction by raymarching through the depth buffer" (c. Reddeyfish 2017)
Lab Assistant
#21 Old 7th Jan 2011 at 10:26 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Delphy
With regards to the actual GUID database - that'd be (fairly) easy to setup and replicate but obviously without the original database everybody would have to register a new account, get a new block, etc etc. Which is a pain in the ass.


I'd choose reregistering over no GUID database any day.
Test Subject
#22 Old 7th Jan 2011 at 3:52 PM
I do surely hope that this great site will not consider it too much of a pain to host the GUID database for us.
I have been practising meshing for a while now, and now comes this heartbreaking dissapointment that I can not register a GUID
for my new meshes.
So please, pretty please!!!
Top Secret Researcher
#23 Old 7th Jan 2011 at 4:12 PM
I made some new books on Jan 2. But I haven't needed it again until now (made recolors in the meantime).

Can someone tell me how I have to use that hash generator exactly? What does the cres filename look like? And would it be a replacement of the database to help me out untill the site is back on?

Where did your MTS uploads go? https://s2idownloads.blogspot.com/2...content-no.html
Contact me here: www.facebook.com/sims2idea
Overview all my creations: Download at once (SimFileShare)
One horse disagreer of the Apocalypse
#24 Old 7th Jan 2011 at 4:23 PM
You only have to generate GUIDs for the OBJDs. Everything else should work exactly the same.

"You can do refraction by raymarching through the depth buffer" (c. Reddeyfish 2017)
Top Secret Researcher
#25 Old 7th Jan 2011 at 4:23 PM
And how do you that then when the site's down?

Where did your MTS uploads go? https://s2idownloads.blogspot.com/2...content-no.html
Contact me here: www.facebook.com/sims2idea
Overview all my creations: Download at once (SimFileShare)
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