Is this even possible? I don't even see the purpose of this folder, and I never use the store function in the game anyway.

"cameonet1950;13069584" wrote:"dreamerz13;13069462" wrote:No, not that I know of. You can remove everything in it though, and then take away permissions so it doesn't generate anything new inside it, closest you can get.WOW! I've never paid any attention to that folder until reading this. Questions: So what happens when you remove the pics in it? They aren't content files...just thumbnail PNG pics. I have 1,209 and many are screenshots of objects I don't even have. Are they slowing down the performance of my game? And how do you "take away permissions so it doesn't generate anything new inside it?"Hope you can get back to me soon. I'll bookmark it. Thanks in advance and thanks @LaBlue0314 for posting your question. (*) Boy! Ya learn something new everyday! B) I found it slowed my game noticeably enough that I wanted to change it, and it sped up once I figured out how to deal with that pesky folder. I don't know how commonly it does that for others, but it made a difference for me.To take away permissions you just have to after you've deleted everything (you might be able to delete everything in it after too, idk. I just deleted it all first) go back out into the main folder and right click on it, find properties and then in properties security, and then from there you can allow or deny a bunch of different permissions, I just denied everything as I didn't know what one(s) I'd need to deny.I still get sometimes the yellow store content boxes in my game, I don't know if I need to disable something in game too it doesn't bug me enough to figure out. It doesn't display anything in the boxes though and seems to run faster when it doesn't need to handle those 1,000+ icons sitting in that folder.

I routinely delete that whole folder when I clean out the cache folders, about every other time I play. (The game doesn't care if you delete it, it generates a new one). When I think about it, I just turn off wireless before starting the game, then it doesn't do anything at all in regards to online features and my game loads and runs faster. It's easy to do since the wireless logo is right at the top right of my screen.

I always delete the content of that folder after playing, together with the caches folders and the content in sigscache, thumbnails and Worldcache. I also delete all .temp files and missing.deps in DCCache, and ofcourse everything except ccmerged in DCBackup. It noticeably makes the game start-up and run smoother. And with Nraas everything is just a piece of cake! :D

Hi @Cameonet1950! There are lots of files you can safely delete: Refresh caches, indices, and thumbnailsThese are temporary files that are saved by the game to make loading certain information faster. If these files have incorrect or corrupted data, it may prevent your game from loading. The game will regenerate fresh copies of these files each time it loads, so deleting them is perfectly safe, and it's normal for them to reappear. Do them in order as follows, one by one and then, test. If that doesn't work, carry on with the second, and then test, and so on. Cache Files: CASPartCache, compositorCache, scriptCache, simCompositorCache, socialCacheTo delete your cache files, navigate to The Sims 3 in DOCUMENTS folder. Inside, will be a number of cache files. Delete any or all of these files you have. They would be re-generated when you next start Launcher or the game.If you have installed or do activities related to: - CAS parts that appear in Create-A-Sim, remove : CasPartCache.package - New objects that would appear in Buy/Build mode remove : compositorCache.package- Mods or Hacks remove : scriptCache.package - New Sims, default skins remove : simCompositorCache.package- Simport-related (maybe?) and other social data, if you use the wall to integrate with your MyPage on thesims3.com site remove : socialCache.packageLauncher filesThese files appear to be some sort of index or cache repository for the Launcher. If it gets corrupted when Launcher or the game crashed, then the next time you try to start Launcher or load the game, they would either stall and never completely loads, or crash again. Filename: missingdeps.idx Location: \Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims\DCCache dcc.ent Location: \Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims\DCCache *.bin Location: \Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims\Downloads and Location: \Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims\SigsCache Downloadedsims.index Location: \Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims\SavedSims *.* Location: \Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims\IGACache Thumbnails• To delete Thumbnails files, navigate to The Sims 3 in DOCUMENTS folder. • If you installed a CAS-part or Buy/Build mode object, or anything that has a thumbnail picture, sometimes it is necessary to force the game to refresh its Thumbnails cache. • One of the patches also introduced In-Game-Advertising to thesims3 Store, and so EA introduces the FeaturedItems folder. • Delete ALL files inside these folders. They are like the caches above, and would be re-generated fresh if they are removed. Filename:*.package Location: \Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims\Thumbnails thumb_*.png Location: \Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims\FeaturedItems WorldCacheOptional, for Windows only - do NOT do this on a Mac. To delete WorldCaches, look inside the WorldCaches folder (if you have one) and delete these files inside that folder. Don't worry if you don't have a WorldCaches folder, or if it's empty - some people have WorldCaches and some don't - it just means that you do not have Riverview, other new worlds, or the Create-a-World tool installed.Good luck! :D

"LaBlue0314;13080522" wrote:Thank you for this list.You're welcome! It has helped me a lot too.

Is there any way I can permanently remove the Featured Items Folder?

23 Replies

jillbg
Not applicable
11 years ago
@cameonet1950:
After deleting what you listed, go ahead and clean out :smile:

1. DCBackup: delete everything - except !!! ccmerged.package (keep it, or your premium content won't work! :\ )
2. DCCache: delete missingdeps.idx and dcc.ent and also every file finishing with .temp
3. Featured items: Everything Inside (.thumb_)
4. SigsCache: delete igs.bin and platform.bin
5. Thumbnails: Delete CASThumbnails.package, DownloadsThumbnails.package and ObjectThumbnails.package
6. WorldCashes:Just clean them out (I'm playing my own world, TwinTowns: Twin Towns_objects.package, Twin Towns_sims.package)

7. Keep your Screenshots and videos in a file you create somewhere else in your Documents, and also don't cluster your downloadsfolder, but keep your downloads somewhere else than in you EA folder.
8. Too much custom music can also lag your game, so pick and choose carefully what you (and your sims) want to listen to!

Happy simming - and cleaning! ;) And Merry Christmas!!! :D
marvros
Not applicable
11 years ago
Bless this post. It was exactly what I was looking for!
LaBlue0314
Seasoned Ace
8 years ago
I was dealing with my Sims 3 folder, and there was something that I decided to clear out. The main one being the feature items folder. I came across my old question from back in 2014 searching through Google, and it pointed me out to this. Normally I won't bring up a post this old because of the rules against Necromancing UNLESS you have something to add to it that would be of help to someone else. Now I have found something else that is helpful to me, and possibly someone else who might be doing a Google search as well.

My issue was dealing with the Featured Items folder, and how it is CONSTANTLY filling up with a huge number of Thumbnails. I came across this article from Cricket's Sims 3 Help Blog. Here is a link to read more about it. https://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2011/12/tutorial-turning-off-ingame-store-and-preventing-loading-of-pictures.html

In the article, they tell you which of the boxes you need to deny to stop the featured items folder from filling up with all those thumbnails.
karritz
Legend
8 years ago
@LaBlue0314 I have deleted that folder altogether and made a txt file named FeaturedItems

Once I made the file it had the name FeaturedItems.txt

I removed the .txt from the end. It isn't a file I will ever want to open - it's just there to provide something with that name in the Sims 3 folder.

Since a folder can't have two things with the same name the game doesn't recreate the FeaturedItems folder and I don't have to worry about it filling up. That's easier than a lot of the other solutions I've come across.
igazor
Not applicable
8 years ago
@Karritz - That is the way we have been advising players to handle it as well. A couple of us took things a step further and stared at Process Monitor, a system tool, while the game starts up (not as much fun as it sounds) to see how it handles the the impossibility of creating a new FeturedItems folder. It does try but gives up relatively quickly with the text file placeholder in the way.
jillbg
Not applicable
8 years ago
@LaBlue0314 Crinrict's way is what I've been using since forever, and it works just perfect for me! :D

@Karritz Thanks for the tip! :D
LaBlue0314
Seasoned Ace
8 years ago
@Karritz Thankyou very much for this tip. I never thought about doing that. :)
DonroaAkashu
Seasoned Ace
8 years ago
@igazor
I also used crinrict's method. Is there something I am missing here, is @Karritz way better, and why?

ETA Well I really should say 'what am I missing', since that would be more to the point...
igazor
Not applicable
8 years ago
"Auroraskies;c-16758871" wrote:
@igazor
I also used crinrict's method. Is there something I am missing here, is @Karritz way better, and why?

ETA Well I really should say 'what am I missing', since that would be more to the point...

If the changed permissions way works for you, then the effect isn't really any different than the text file placeholder method.
DonroaAkashu
Seasoned Ace
8 years ago
@igazor
Thank you :smile:
but I am uncertain as to how to know it works. No featured items are generated in there, so yes, but why two different methods and why do you recommend one here, and if I understand correctly, not the other? I am just very slowly trying to figure out what is wrong with my game (if any), and would be grateful for an explanation.

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Is there any way I can permanently remove the Featured Items Folder?

23 Replies

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