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Cinebar's avatar
Cinebar
6 years ago

Rotational Play, Mods Questions, etc.

Been awhile (3) years since I loaded TS3. I was playing about four EPs about three years ago and didn't get around to reinstalling Seasons, LN, and University but was playing one household with not all EPs installed etc.

1. How do I turn Story Progression completely off? Any mod other than the big one to do that? It's not really off. I decided to create new game and new families. SP is set to off but it still put my Sims in jobs I didn't want them to have when I rotated between two households. It still gave them cars I didn't want them to have in inventory, and other things like that. (aging off, for this play session).

2. One of the Sims in the other household is fiance to one of the main Sims in the 2nd household, will the game move him out if I don't switch to him more often? Anyway to stop that from happening? I can't remember, but seem to remember the game moving Sims out if they weren't the active household at the time. His picture is now a white box, no picture. Keep calling him to make sure he still in world.

3. I still have my mod folder on desktop, can I put that back in without having to redo the Framework for mods since I went ahead and reinstalled Seasons and going to reinstall LN etc.? Or need to redo all that?

4. Why is an ad in my game that says buy TS4 when game starts up? This game is not tied to Origin, never installed last patch, all on discs from back when they were released. (Didn't buy last EPs such as IP, or ITF etc.) Weird to see that since I didn't install anything at the time TS4 was being advertised.

5. Hidden Springs shows installed in my store downloads, but not in list of worlds installed nor showing up in worlds to pick.

6. Looked in mod folder, I don't think I have that mod Error Trap? or that other one, Overwatch? Do I need to find those and reinstall them?

7. I put a few things in festival lots, anyway to get those to stay on the lot each time there is a different festival?

Biggest concern is SP not really being off and putting my Sims in jobs or relationships etc. I don't want them to have while I play another household. Or moving out my other Sims if I rotate away from them.

Runs great! Always did. Any help with what files need to be deleted to keep it that way? Sorry, I will search for some answers here, but we all know how the search engine here isn't the best to find the right answers. Already have fun again, laughing at my Sims fires, drama, and man I have I missed traits that work! TS2 still favorite, but still love follwoing my Sim kids on their bikes through the world, and still love the openess and just clicking on one checking on them, then going back to the Sims at home with click of button. That I always enjoyed.

Thank you!

ETA: If I make the unemployed Sims (I don't want them to get jobs for some of them) as self employed, will that keep the game from putting them in careers when I rotate away from them? Anything to help stop it.


7 Replies

  • MissyHissy's avatar
    MissyHissy
    6 years ago
    1. For the jobs, if they're already in a career, it should leave them there. So by putting Sims into careers, they should stay (you may want to use Master Controller to keep them at that level; the game has a knack of promoting a sim to level 5 to become a boss).
    2. I think it's only EA's SP that will move a sim out of town, so you should be okay.
    3. I don't think you should have to change anything. Keep a backup of any saves you got just in case.
    4. You've got me there, I've no idea :D
    5. Try uninstalling then reinstalling again? Sounds like it might not have installed properly?
    6. Yes and yes. The Nraas mods are over here. Overwatch will clear out the duplicate cars the game is giving your sims and Errortrap will catch any errors the game might throw up.
    7. Adding the objects into the "Build" mode of the festival lot will keep them there all year round. To do that, enable buydebug and enter the lot in build/buy, then shift click on the silver festival lot marker (probably near the edge of the lot) and you should be able to change it to build mode.

    Mostly the cache files to help keep the save games running. These are: CASPartCache, compositorCache, scriptCache and simCompositorCache. Those, plus Overwatch and Errortrap should help keep things running smoothly.

    Finally, putting sims in the self-employed careers will stop them being put into other careers. Relationships shouldn't start up in the inactive households, so you should be safe enough there :)

    Hope that helps :)
  • SimplyJen's avatar
    SimplyJen
    Seasoned Ace
    6 years ago
    I'll answer a few questions.

    3. If that mods folder still has the Packages folder + Resource file inside, you're good.

    4. Do you mean the launcher or the save menu? I'm on patch 1.67 logged out and I see both. The launcher will display ads if you have any kind of internet connection. (It uses Internet Explorer I believe.) Otherwise it's just a general Sims 3 image stating 'You Are Offline' in all caps. Since I'm not tied to Origin either, I bypass the launcher 99% of the time because I only ever use it to install store stuff. The small Sims 4 ad in the save menu above 'Log In' is so small I personally don't pay any attention to it.

    6. There's no requirement for those mods. Do you want Error Trap & Overwatch? The NRaas site list information for each mod on the download page. If they are not in the Mods folder but you do want them, download then plop them into the packages folder again. NRaas has since moved websites... You can find all NRaas mods here: https://www.nraas.net/

    7. Festival lots use what's called a 'Seasonal Lot Marker'. You set which objects appear on the lot per season with it. This guide should help: https://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=13093.0

    This page has a lot of good info: TIPS FOR BETTER GAME PERFORMANCE

    Off the top of my head, these are the things I do. Some of it is mentioned in that link right above this in bold. ^

    • Have some form of vertical sync in place to limit framerate for a dedicated video card. This game does not benefit from any extra framerate a modern video card will spit out. It should be limited to your monitors refresh rate... *Happy to help if this is the first time you're hearing about this.
    • Clear cache: CasPartCache.package, compositorCache.package, scriptCache.package, simCompositorCache.package, socialCache.package.package
    • Inside the DCBackup; clear everything EXCEPT FOR 'ccmerged' (you need it for premium store content to function properly) :warning: If you regularly upload to the exchange... You may not want to touch anything in this folder. I've been told it affects how store content appears for others who download the lot or sim.
    • 'Reset Everything' with NRaas: Master Controller. I do this every few weeks or sooner if I have to. Objects in the world will glitch eventually and need to be reset.
    • Replace EA worlds with a fixed version for better routing= less stuck sims: ellacharmed
    • I'm on patch 1.67 so I use Save Cleaner V2.2 occasionally. This will clear clogged SNAP and TRAVEL images reducing the save file size in return. If you're on patch 1.69 then only Save Cleaner V1.1 will work. You can clean your save files manually. S3PE is needed and here is the guide: How to use S3PE to clean up your save-game
    • "Save as" instead of "Save" or "Save and Quit". Add a letter or number onto the save name each time you save. Keep a hand full of backups to fall back onto if you ever run into corruption. I only keep 3-4 backup saves at a time but it's up to you.
    • In the in-game graphics settings, I recommend keeping 'Detailed Lots' at a low setting. The game doesn't like having to render all nearby lots if it doesn't have to. Mine is set to 1 but sometimes I jack it up to 2 or 3 if I really want to see that lot across the street from my sims house for screenshots or whatever.
    • I use a few NRaas mods w/ altered settings to help with performance. Most of them are mentioned on that performance tips page.

  • simmerLella's avatar
    simmerLella
    Seasoned Ace
    6 years ago
    #5 After a world is in store downloads, you'll probably need to tick the check box and then click install.
  • igazor's avatar
    igazor
    6 years ago
    Some really good answers thus far. I have a couple of things to add (shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone here...) ;)

    1 & 2: There is no way to control what the game will do with sims and households if they are inactive residents, with or without story progression running, unless there are mods in play to protect them. TS3 is not designed to be played rotationally. Under EA standard, the inactive residents around the ones we are actively playing are meant to exist for the amusement and convenience of our one active household, we aren't supposed to care about what happens to them. The only way to carefully control what can happen to inactives if we choose to play rotationally is to embrace one of the two "big" story progression mods and leverage its settings to block various forms of progression from happening on the town, subsets of it (castes), households, and individual sims.

    Here is the NRaas way of doing that, subject to all kinds of variation as the player decides which aspects of progression to nail down and for how many sims. This method can be as simple or as intricate as the player desires: https://www.nraas.net/community/Story-Progression-Rotational-Caste-Settings

    AwesomeMod also offers ways to do this, although its form of progression called Story Mode is more heavy-handed than NRaas SP, is not modular (meaning you get all of it or nothing), and has far fewer options for the player to select if they don't want them all.


    6: I can't imagine playing what is intended to be a long-running ongoing game without ErrorTrap and Overwatch present. Would also add to that the other NRaas mods designed specifically to enhance and protect game performance: Traffic, Register, to an extent GoHere, MasterController for its Reset Everything function as already mentioned, and Traveler if any form of world travel is to be used.
  • mw1525's avatar
    mw1525
    Seasoned Ace
    6 years ago
    Late to the party as usual :(! Everyone has already given such great advice but at least I can toss my two cents worth of info in :).

    1- If SP is your main concern NRaas' SP is the way to go. If left to EA's SP many undesired things may happen (personal experience with that one). Under EA's rule, no Sim which has been actively played by you can get purged from the world (that feature was patched in a long time ago). That doesn't stop EA's (evil) SP from creating life ruining moments/situations for your inactively played Sims. Also, EA's SP on/off switch is purely decorative (IMO) as it does not work as it should.

    5- Sounds like HS wasn't installed. If I understand correctly, you have the world (simpack) in your downloads folder but no file in your 'InstalledWorlds' folder. Reinstalling it will take care of that.

    *After making all of your changes, be certain to delete the 'cache' files before you start the game (CASPartCache, CompositorCache, SimCompositorCache & ScriptCache) + I also toss the Sims3Logs file as well. No worries, all of these will generate fresh files once you start the game.

    **Once you have everything just as you want it, back-up the entire Sims3 folder and store it on a separate drive. If your game should ever go truly wonky on you, you'll be glad you did ;).
  • suzses's avatar
    suzses
    Seasoned Ace
    6 years ago
    @Cinebar Just to present another side, I play without story progression - either EA's or another - and I don't have any problems. Yes, the game will put unemployed sims in a job when they're not in the active household, but your idea of giving them a self-employed career does work and is what I always do. They could develop some skills (usually athletic and musical instruments, charisma if they already have at least a point) when you're not looking or gain some new friends - or maybe lose one - but not much else ever happens. They won't move houses, leave town, have kids, get divorced, change jobs, etc., etc. I also turn off aging most of the time and age up with birthday cakes. If it gets to be too many households to handle that way, I turn it on selectively for a few days. I do think that would be easier to handle with NRaas SP.

    As to why I've done it this way, when I decided to play with SP off, EA's SP was still moving people out of town right and left, and I didn't think my then computer would handle NRaas SP (it would now, but I'm too lazy to change how I play).

  • Cinebar's avatar
    Cinebar
    6 years ago
    Thank you every one for all these answers. I didn't get any notifications anyone had answered, so I'm late to say thank you. I really, really appreciate all these links and answers! Thank you!

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