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Shimrod101
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#1 Old 14th Sep 2014 at 10:45 PM Last edited by plasticbox : 15th Sep 2014 at 9:15 PM. Reason: Edited thread title
Default Solution found (for now): XML tuning in .packages
Should an XML tuning in the unpackedmod folder be showing in the list of mods when the game starts? I ask because I don't see anything and don't know if it's working or not. Also, the unpackedmod folder is a subfolder under Mods or a folder under The Sims 4? And about the naming of files; are they supposed to be .xml files, or is the Type number the file ending?
MedievalMods and Sims3mods: Dive Cave Reset Fix, Resort Revamp, Industrial Oven Revamp, Will O' Wisp fix, UI Sounds Disabled, No Cars, Gnome Family Planner, Townies Out on the Town, No Martial Arts Clothes, Fast Skilling, etc. http://simsasylum.com/tfm/
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plasticbox
Pettifogging Legalist!
retired moderator
#2 Old 14th Sep 2014 at 10:52 PM
- For me the tuning files do not show in the "mods dialog" list, and they're working fine.
- I have unpackedmod in Mods, and the appropriate entry in resouce.cfg ("DirectoryFiles unpackedmod autoupdate") -- haven't tried to put it elsewhere, I guess that would work too as long as you point the cfg to the right place.
- The naming must? should? may? be the type-as-file-ending way. "0x00000000!0x0000000000008995.0x73996beb" for instance (Note that this is an override) -- I haven't actually tried anything else, but this works for me.
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Shimrod101
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#3 Old 14th Sep 2014 at 11:39 PM
Okay, thanks. This is how I was doing it, but now I've made something simple which I should be able to see quickly whether it's working or not.
MedievalMods and Sims3mods: Dive Cave Reset Fix, Resort Revamp, Industrial Oven Revamp, Will O' Wisp fix, UI Sounds Disabled, No Cars, Gnome Family Planner, Townies Out on the Town, No Martial Arts Clothes, Fast Skilling, etc. http://simsasylum.com/tfm/
plasticbox
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retired moderator
#4 Old 15th Sep 2014 at 12:10 AM
If it helps, I can give you my overrides too (teen careers for everyone -- should also be easy to see in game, they show up when you "Find job" on any sim)
Stuff for TS2 · TS3 · TS4 | Please do not PM me with technical questions – we have Create forums for that.

In the kingdom of the blind, do as the Romans do.
Shimrod101
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#5 Old 15th Sep 2014 at 2:17 AM
No need, I've gotten something simple tested and working. I'll make my attempt at getting them into a .package file tomorrow.
MedievalMods and Sims3mods: Dive Cave Reset Fix, Resort Revamp, Industrial Oven Revamp, Will O' Wisp fix, UI Sounds Disabled, No Cars, Gnome Family Planner, Townies Out on the Town, No Martial Arts Clothes, Fast Skilling, etc. http://simsasylum.com/tfm/
velocitygrass
Inventor
#6 Old 15th Sep 2014 at 9:59 AM
For package of tunings, please note that with the 9/9/2014 patch, the game will still NOT recognize xml tuning files in packages. This remains an open issue as far as I know.
Simser der Deutschen
Test Subject
#7 Old 15th Sep 2014 at 12:01 PM
Quote: Originally posted by velocitygrass
For package of tunings, please note that with the 9/9/2014 patch, the game will still NOT recognize xml tuning files in packages. This remains an open issue as far as I know.

Oh noo... I've worked so long to get custom tv channels with your hint of the xml tuning files. But nothing works. I thought I do some mistakes, but your info now let me know, it's because the update.

Do you know, whether tuning files will be recognized by the game later on? Or is it disabled for lifetime?
velocitygrass
Inventor
#8 Old 15th Sep 2014 at 12:22 PM
They work, but you have to place them in the unpackedmod folder with a special name format and change your resource.cfg file. Read SimGuruModSquad's post about issues in the "Maxis Documenation" sticky on the official forums where they explain it.
Simser der Deutschen
Test Subject
#9 Old 15th Sep 2014 at 12:46 PM
Quote: Originally posted by velocitygrass
They work, but you have to place them in the unpackedmod folder with a special name format and change your resource.cfg file. Read SimGuruModSquad's post about issues in the "Maxis Documenation" sticky on the official forums where they explain it.


Oh velocitygrass, now I also understand, why I can export the tuning files with your tool with the ea syntax.
Without you, nothing would work for me. Very very thanks
Shimrod101
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#10 Old 15th Sep 2014 at 2:02 PM Last edited by Shimrod101 : 15th Sep 2014 at 3:07 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by velocitygrass
For package of tunings, please note that with the 9/9/2014 patch, the game will still NOT recognize xml tuning files in packages. This remains an open issue as far as I know.


The "XML tuning" files from the combined file definitely work in .package as default replacement, I've tested this completely. The way I did this was by using the files from the EA naming export which your tool gives. These files are not recognized by Windows as XML, but as for example an 0x5b02819e file type. When exporting such a file back out of s4pe it is called a .bnry file instead of .xml.

When importing these files into my .package I wrote in the Type number 0x5b02819e (for example) instead of using the drop-down arrow to choose _XMLblahblah. Then wrote in the Instance number from the EA file. When this is saved it shows as a UNKN file.

This is certainly the way Zerbu did his recent buffs mod which was uploaded yesterday. As far as I can tell, this procedure with using the unpackedmod folder can be scrapped.
MedievalMods and Sims3mods: Dive Cave Reset Fix, Resort Revamp, Industrial Oven Revamp, Will O' Wisp fix, UI Sounds Disabled, No Cars, Gnome Family Planner, Townies Out on the Town, No Martial Arts Clothes, Fast Skilling, etc. http://simsasylum.com/tfm/
plasticbox
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retired moderator
#11 Old 15th Sep 2014 at 2:21 PM Last edited by plasticbox : 15th Sep 2014 at 3:06 PM.
Oddly, I've tried to do the same thing and it did *not* work for me. But what I did was create a new empty resource first, then rename it manually (not with the dropdown), then C+P the actual content of the XML in .. would that make a difference? You must have done *something* different in the end, I can't tell what, because I did not end up with an "UNKN", it was still XML of some sort for me.

There were no S4PE updates recently, or did I miss something here?

Anyhow, if you got it to work I'll try again following your description -- maybe I can figure out what I missed. Perhaps it's simply the type -- yours is a different one to begin with.


Edit: I've also split the last bunch of posts off into a new thread, since they are about the format and not about the tool they are made with.
Stuff for TS2 · TS3 · TS4 | Please do not PM me with technical questions – we have Create forums for that.

In the kingdom of the blind, do as the Romans do.
Shimrod101
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#12 Old 15th Sep 2014 at 3:24 PM
@plasticbox
Yes it makes a difference, the way you have done it is simply WRONGEDY WRONG! Lol! I started with a new package in s4pe which is empty, and Import the files from up on the top menu. This is different than copying and pasting XML text into a placeholder resource, because s4pe has identified your file as XML, which the game apparently does not want to read from a .package. Even though my test mod is written in XML, yes, s4pe recognizes it as Unknown, not as an _XML resource. So right now I think this "bug" which SG ModSquad explained is about the game not recognizing the _XML resource Type as a valid type, or some problem here because they have used a gaxillion different Type numbers instead of only a few _XML types.
MedievalMods and Sims3mods: Dive Cave Reset Fix, Resort Revamp, Industrial Oven Revamp, Will O' Wisp fix, UI Sounds Disabled, No Cars, Gnome Family Planner, Townies Out on the Town, No Martial Arts Clothes, Fast Skilling, etc. http://simsasylum.com/tfm/
plasticbox
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retired moderator
#13 Old 15th Sep 2014 at 3:45 PM Last edited by plasticbox : 15th Sep 2014 at 10:49 PM.
So the XML being disguised as UNKN is how it SHOULD be, you say? Same strategy as when feeding medicine to a cat? XD

Thanks for the explanation. (I did the C+Ping because s4PE refused to save my files at some point and threw unhandled exceptions and so on -- but yeah, it's still doing the latter but seems like one can just ignore that )



E: Still does not work for me. I imported the files directly from /unpackedmod (so they must be identical), removed that folder afterwards of course, package is recognised by the game, but the sims cannot choose the careers =/ . The naked files were working fine.

I looked at your WeirderWalkstylesDisabled and the Camera thing for comparison; mine have different types than those (0xE882D22F and 0x73996BEB) -- I dunno, maybe the game can deal with one but not the other?

Attaching the .package for reference. -- Edit: I uploaded this (as a real upload) now, it's the exact same .package. See here.
Stuff for TS2 · TS3 · TS4 | Please do not PM me with technical questions – we have Create forums for that.

In the kingdom of the blind, do as the Romans do.
Shimrod101
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#14 Old 15th Sep 2014 at 5:51 PM
I installed your file as a mod in the Mods folder and it works fine for me, my YA sim can choose the teen careers. I didn't actually choose one of them but they all show together with the standard career choices. You have the file in the Mods folder and not a subfolder in Mods? This is the only thing I can think of right now, I have everything directly in Mods except some eye recolors.

I looked at one or two of your UNKN with the Hex view and they show the same as one of my testing files, the Header info is the same and the last few bytes are the same, so I say they are fine. Your mod works for me anyway.
MedievalMods and Sims3mods: Dive Cave Reset Fix, Resort Revamp, Industrial Oven Revamp, Will O' Wisp fix, UI Sounds Disabled, No Cars, Gnome Family Planner, Townies Out on the Town, No Martial Arts Clothes, Fast Skilling, etc. http://simsasylum.com/tfm/
plasticbox
Pettifogging Legalist!
retired moderator
#15 Old 15th Sep 2014 at 6:16 PM Last edited by plasticbox : 15th Sep 2014 at 7:01 PM.
That is odd. Thanks for testing!

I'll test again then. Yeah I'm sure I had it in the right place, in Mods where all my other packages are (they all work fine -- default replacements and such). I could even subfolder if I wanted to (have edited the cfg, I just lack the Neatness trait =P). So that can't be the issue. Also, the game did recognise the package -- I looked at the EAxian "Mods" list to make sure.

I'm beginning to suspect that the game has some sort of cache maybe .. ? I know I have been confused before when I tried different versions of the same thing and it seemed to "suddenly" work upon the 2nd or 3rd restart .. that was always rather late at night though, so I attributed it to me not paying attention.

I'm going to try it a couple of times now, also with new games, maybe that makes a difference. Thanks for getting back!

Nope, no worky. Tried it four times now, with different sims and neighbourhoods .. there must be something about our setup that is different. Probably this is why EA haven't gotten this to work either.
Stuff for TS2 · TS3 · TS4 | Please do not PM me with technical questions – we have Create forums for that.

In the kingdom of the blind, do as the Romans do.
velocitygrass
Inventor
#16 Old 15th Sep 2014 at 7:32 PM
I may have found something: I verified that my no friends requirement mod for the Secret Agent worked as package and then tested yours, pbox. It did indeed work. But then I removed the unpackedmod folder and the line about it from the Resource.cfg and it stopped working!

Could this be the reason? Does it work when you add a unpackedmod folder and the line in the Resource.cfg even if you don't use it for the mod?
plasticbox
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#17 Old 15th Sep 2014 at 7:43 PM
Wow. I will try that. I didn't touch resource.cfg, but right now (I closed the game after my last post) the entire unpackedmod folder is indeed on the desktop -- I moved the whole thing, not the individual packages.

Will get back! Thanks!

Edit: @velocitygrass @Shimrod101 @Zerbu -- Yes! That solves it. I have a completely empty unpackedmod folder and the package is working now. Zerbu, you might want to try this for your users as well? For the buff thing?

Shimrod, is this consistent with your setup? Can you make my/your mods stop working by removing that folder in case you have one?


* clicks the "super extremely uber helpful" button a few times *
Stuff for TS2 · TS3 · TS4 | Please do not PM me with technical questions – we have Create forums for that.

In the kingdom of the blind, do as the Romans do.
velocitygrass
Inventor
#18 Old 15th Sep 2014 at 7:58 PM
So hopefully that mystery is solved. This might also explain why SimGuruModSquad didn't mark it as fixed in the last patch. It means distribution as package is possible with the caveat that for now users need to have that empty folder (and the Resource.cfg change?). It's still more convenient than loose files and shows up nicely in the mod popup as package.
plasticbox
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#19 Old 15th Sep 2014 at 8:00 PM
Yeah, is lots more convenient .. particularly since we can see what is what without having to open each file =)


E: Also, I need both the empty folder and the "DirectoryFiles unpackedmod autoupdate" line in the .cfg -- the folder alone won't cut it.
Stuff for TS2 · TS3 · TS4 | Please do not PM me with technical questions – we have Create forums for that.

In the kingdom of the blind, do as the Romans do.
velocitygrass
Inventor
#20 Old 15th Sep 2014 at 8:45 PM
They must have somehow tied the code to reading the tunings to the autoupdate. Btw I saw you posted in the thread for Zerbu's mod and a partially working mod can happen if you have a mix of data and xml resources. E.g. when I first removed the friends requirement for my sim's career it disappeared in the UI and all seemed well, but he was never promoted even though his other requirements were fulfilled. Only after adding the xml part did he get his promotion despite not having the friends.
plasticbox
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#21 Old 15th Sep 2014 at 9:03 PM
Yeah that's why I was thinking it might be the same for him - I don't know the structure of his mod exactly, but what if for the users it affects, the data part works (i.e. the buff shows up in the UI) but not the XML part (the calculation of all buffs added together)? Maybe he also has this folder but the users do not.

(This is a general rule, yes? That the "data part" is the UI stuff and the "XML part" the things that actually happen?)
Stuff for TS2 · TS3 · TS4 | Please do not PM me with technical questions – we have Create forums for that.

In the kingdom of the blind, do as the Romans do.
velocitygrass
Inventor
#22 Old 15th Sep 2014 at 9:53 PM
According to the docs the data stuff is used both for rendering and simulation. This is marked with the export modes in the tdesc files. They can be server_xml for the simulation xml tuning, server_binary for data loaded by the simulation, and client_binary for data loaded by the renderer. Most of the time a data file will be used for both rendering and simulation, but e.g. much of the Mood definition is only used in the renderer, so in that case it would really fit that the UI works fine, but the rest not.

So, I think one could say UI comes from data and simulation comes from either only xml or an xml/data combo (I haven't seen a case where server_binary was set without server_xml or client_binary). So an incorrect xml will screw with things happening while an incorrect data will screw with either UI or both UI/simulation.
Shimrod101
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#23 Old 15th Sep 2014 at 10:37 PM
I have always had the unpackedmod folder in place, and the autoupdate line added to the resource.cfg file.

I've been working on the 3 mods I have already released which use Data resources, all 3 of these have a complementary XML tuning. When I add in the XML to the .package (which has the exact same values to change as the DATA file) and install this, the game is immediately whacked out. What I'm wondering is if when I am changing the exact same value in both of these files, this is like modding the same thing twice, I should alter the value in one place but not the other.

This is simply a question, and it doesn't jive particularly well with SGModSquad's description of the tuning getting out of sync if the DATA tuning doesn't match the XML tuning. But I'm getting stuck now and don't find other ways to try doing things as far as these mods of mine which are already available. I might also mention that the No Censor Mosaic mod also has a complementary XML file which is not incuded in that mod.
MedievalMods and Sims3mods: Dive Cave Reset Fix, Resort Revamp, Industrial Oven Revamp, Will O' Wisp fix, UI Sounds Disabled, No Cars, Gnome Family Planner, Townies Out on the Town, No Martial Arts Clothes, Fast Skilling, etc. http://simsasylum.com/tfm/
plasticbox
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#24 Old 15th Sep 2014 at 10:53 PM Last edited by plasticbox : 15th Sep 2014 at 11:14 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by Shimrod101
I have always had the unpackedmod folder in place, and the autoupdate line added to the resource.cfg file.


Yeah I guess that explains why it was all working for you =)


Quote: Originally posted by Shimrod101
When I add in the XML to the .package (which has the exact same values to change as the DATA file) and install this, the game is immediately whacked out.


I don't understand that sentence -- what "this" do you install? Can you clarify?


Edit: I also released my career thing into the wild now .. I guess that'll be a stress test whether it really, really works this way.
Stuff for TS2 · TS3 · TS4 | Please do not PM me with technical questions – we have Create forums for that.

In the kingdom of the blind, do as the Romans do.
velocitygrass
Inventor
#25 Old 15th Sep 2014 at 11:18 PM
There is no tdesc file for the censor tuning, but I randomly checked Mood tunings, which have a lot of client_binary only settings and these are still in the extracted xml tuning, even though they're presumably not needed/used.

I wonder if the client_binary only settings need to be removed in tuning overrides and are only okay in the combined tuning to act as some kind of fallback or because the combined tuning is the source of both the data and xml tuning, but as soon as you have real separate tuning xml files that includes client_binary only settings, the game will complain.
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