I only began to look at Create a world last week. Using videos on You Tube I made a very small island, practiced putting in roads, stuck in a few trees a few rocks, a couple of lots without anything on them, a pond and then made a bridge over the pond. I raised a mountain background, coloured it with the basic rock texture and then I ran over the mountains with the tool to block sims going up mountains and the tool to stop the camera seeing the back of the world. Just to practice.Then I decided to add a couple of simple waterfalls. But you can't see them working in CAW and have to go to EIG. So I decided to do that since I had no idea if I'd put the waterfalls in properly.This was where it all went wrong. I cannot get my world into EIG. All I get is a blue screen, and the game crashes immediately upon loading the world via the launcher. Considering how little I have done to it I don't see where I might have gone so wrong in one week flat. I see from a forum that you are supposed to use "save as" EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU SAVE, and rename your game to something nothing like the previous one because this sad software cannot tell the difference between files with similar names..... Really??? I didn't realise that CAW was so rickety and so I didn't do that. I take it that is a serious offence.Reading various forums it also seems that this tool really doesn't work unless you are prepared to half dismantle your game and hide all sorts of files before attempting the heinous crime of trying to look at your world just to see a waterfall working. What are the essential steps to take to prevent a total waste of my time with CAW? What makes it go so wrong so quickly? I have to decide if it's worth the grief since I'm not much of a designer and my worlds are likely to be very modest and simple.

EIG is particularly fiddly, but I don't usually do "save as" or take files out, I have a bunch of store content and mods, and I haven't had any trouble using it.A couple of things I know that cause problems with CAW/EIG:1. If you have a "go social" (post 2012) Sims 3 base game - it's not compatible with EIG if I recall correctly.2. If you have patch 1.69 (the latest), there's an updated CAW specifically for that so that EIG will work again (the patch from 1.67 to 1.69 caused EIG to crash in the original CAW).If you have a pre-2012 base game and the CAW that matches your patch level, I'm not sure what could be causing the issue :/And sorry if you knew all of this already, I didn't want to make any assumptions!@Rflong7 can probably help you! (I'm a new member, so not sure if it'll tag her properly).

Bwua ha ha ha. I just read my last post and it had a silly word plum in it. Thinking back I probably wrote su cks. Which is apparently a Very Bad Word in the world of Sims. *grin* I do love to live dangerously. Note to self. No suckage. Meanwhile, we are kinda making progress on my very first world, but as I am not artistic and can't be bothered with recolouring. I guess it will, erm, that thing with the mouth that babies do......

I'd also like to chime in and like Khemkat19 I don't drastically change my file names. As for removing content, I don't tend to remove a whole lot. I have my CC organized into 3 categories of "CAS, Build/buy, & Mods". When I finally get to the EIG part I do remove some of my content, in particular my CAS and non item based mods. This is really just to lessen the burden on CAW.The best tip I think I can give there honestly, is don't build up your lots via EIG. I have more troubles doing it this way, and I lose a lot more work because of how unstable it can be. Export your world, and build up the lots while doing a test play save, and then just plop them down nice and easy once you're ready to wrap up your world. If your world gets too big and you crash while saving try to save more often while placing lots (at the end of my first CAW project I had to save after every 1-2, but it was a very big world). Best of luck!

Hi :)The Waterfalls Should work in CAW. If you don't see them maybe they're not facing the right way? Rotate them. I Never 'Save as' every single time. Only when I have something done to my liking. Examples...WorldA_TerrainWorldA_RoadsWorldA_LotsWorldA_TreesWorldA_ObjectsMoutainView_AThat is my progression- if I'm happy with the first draft of my sculpting- I save it. In case I need to go back to that point.If the roads are all good- then it's time to save an move on.I might have saved 100 times before I move to the next...especially when I get near the end and many working on MoutainView_FinalG :lol:Floating surrounded by whiteness is usually because your CAW view is pulled too far from the world map before going into EIG. That's why restarting CAW and then opening EIG will fix it... the view starts at a good height. There is a ceiling in the world- where all the clouds live, is the way I think of it. :)In your first world there shouldn't be any need to dismantle and redo anything to your game. :)Plus, there's a CAW tutorial and walk through right on the page you downloaded CAW. They don't go past WA information but the basics, right there for ya. :)I love to build in EIG. I don't save often. I save Once-when I'm done, which might be hours of building- like 6 with breaks (mine, not EIG/CAW). I also save my builds in stages. If I get the walls the way I like, I save the build to the library. Once the outside is painted, save to library. Once I get about 10 saves of that lot in my library, I delete the old ones and keep 2. That way I can back up if needed- it's been needed before. :)I do export it after a few lots- about 20- to check on how the lots work. I need to test so I don't have to do them all at once and them have a huge list of little things to fix or replace the lots. Which is one of the Best Reasons to actually build in game. Add those 10 or 20 after you've built and tested them in game. :)

I envy all of you who have apparently found workable solutions and got CAW running fine for you. I have stopped using EIG except to add lots which I have created in Live Mode, having added my basic world to my game. It takes me about an hour to add a lot, because EIG crashes on save at least four times for each lot, and then I have to reboot the notebook because CAW says the game is still running so it can't get back into EIG. Sometimes when EIG crashes the lot is not in CAW when I check, sometimes it is. There is no rhyme or reason to it. The more lots I add to my town the worse the crashing is becoming and I am not even 25% done yet, nor is it over crowded. I am not using any CC, but I have a lot of store content and all the EPs. I don't think CAW can handle it. I am 90% convinced that I will never be able to complete this world, and if I do, I'm 99% convinced it won't upload to the Exchange, because I currently cannot upload anything at all to the Exchange, lots, people, objects -nothing. I suspect it's the small amount of CC I added last year, having given in to temptation. I haven't tested the theory yet by running the game without CC and attempting to upload something, and I didn't knowingly use any CC in my new world. I began working with CAW just to prove I could. It annoyed me that I hadn't a clue how to do it. So I read instructions, watched videos and I have grasped the very basic stuff - adding roads and lots, but don't enjoy it and have no talent for landscaping whatsoever. I think you need an artistic talent as well as a technical skill to build an attractive world. I've had a lot of fun recreating actual buildings from a real English town for my world, but the world itself - no - not fun. Boring, tedious, can't be bothered. And not worth it since it seems doomed to worse and worse crashes with every lot I try to add. There are only so many workarounds I am prepared to try, and I think I just ran out of patience.

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12 Replies

Masspecgirl19
8 years ago
EIG is particularly fiddly, but I don't usually do "save as" or take files out, I have a bunch of store content and mods, and I haven't had any trouble using it.

A couple of things I know that cause problems with CAW/EIG:
1. If you have a "go social" (post 2012) Sims 3 base game - it's not compatible with EIG if I recall correctly.
2. If you have patch 1.69 (the latest), there's an updated CAW specifically for that so that EIG will work again (the patch from 1.67 to 1.69 caused EIG to crash in the original CAW).

If you have a pre-2012 base game and the CAW that matches your patch level, I'm not sure what could be causing the issue :/

And sorry if you knew all of this already, I didn't want to make any assumptions!
@Rflong7 can probably help you! (I'm a new member, so not sure if it'll tag her properly).
Hawkflight1066
8 years ago
My base game is 2009 disk originally, and a lot of stuff pack disks, Origin purchases, and EPs obtained from a cheap game site. but now it's all done through Origin. It's patched to 1.69, and last night I uninstalled CAW and reinstalled, since it had been there probably since late 2015, so I made certain I now have the "latest" version. I made a new world, did some mountains, did the routing for a trial, all around the edge, and managed to get into EIG okay. It looks extremely weird. A floating land surrounded by whiteness. I don't know if that's normal. My world designing sucks, I can say that! Next to add some roads and a bridge or two, then see if EIG still works for me.
Masspecgirl19
8 years ago
Hmm I don't remember the floating land and whiteness, but it's been a while since I've been in EIG. If you have fog turned on (which is default I believe) that might be causing the whiteness! If I zoom out too far sometimes I get that in CAW. But I'm so glad you at least got it to work!
Hawkflight1066
8 years ago
Bwua ha ha ha. I just read my last post and it had a silly word plum in it. Thinking back I probably wrote su cks. Which is apparently a Very Bad Word in the world of Sims. *grin* I do love to live dangerously. Note to self. No suckage. Meanwhile, we are kinda making progress on my very first world, but as I am not artistic and can't be bothered with recolouring. I guess it will, erm, that thing with the mouth that babies do......
Linamints
8 years ago
I'd also like to chime in and like Khemkat19 I don't drastically change my file names. As for removing content, I don't tend to remove a whole lot. I have my CC organized into 3 categories of "CAS, Build/buy, & Mods". When I finally get to the EIG part I do remove some of my content, in particular my CAS and non item based mods. This is really just to lessen the burden on CAW.

The best tip I think I can give there honestly, is don't build up your lots via EIG. I have more troubles doing it this way, and I lose a lot more work because of how unstable it can be. Export your world, and build up the lots while doing a test play save, and then just plop them down nice and easy once you're ready to wrap up your world.
If your world gets too big and you crash while saving try to save more often while placing lots (at the end of my first CAW project I had to save after every 1-2, but it was a very big world). Best of luck!
Hawkflight1066
7 years ago
Thanks Linamints. I really have hit a wall with EIG. Your advice sounds to me like the only way forward. I had no real problems building a church and a festival lot, but now that I started on a seafront mansion - well the more I put in the more frequently it crashes, and I am now able to work for about ten minutes, then I save, and then if I push it I might get another save, but more often than not it crashes, and I have to shut down the whole pc and reboot, just to do another ten minute's work. The problem seems to be the way the game hordes memory. Task Manager is showing some very amazing figures.
I take it if I work "in game" I have to save all the lots I create to my library and then remember where to put them when I go back to CAW? Since my main motivation was to work out how to use CAW, which I have done at a fairly basic level, I'm not sure if I want to commit months to what will be a very amateurish creation. And I'm not certain if my onboard graphics chip will survive. I use a cooling pad, but ordinary laptops were not built for CAW and the cooling systems are roaring while I'm working.

I think I will export the world right now - if I can work out how. It's been at the back of my mind that I might spend up to a year on this world and then find that it won't export. Which would be exceedingly annoying. If it won't export now - well I've lost only a month's work.....
Hawkflight1066
7 years ago
Drat, might have know exporting would also be a pain in the b..... um, derriere. I have a world with no name, no picture, no intention of exporting anywhere. Back to the instructional videos.....
Linamints
7 years ago
I honestly had the same problems with my CAW while building up the lots in my last big world project when I tried to use EIG. I am currently alternating between playing households and slowly building up lots. With each lot I try to add a family so I can get a wider test of possible routing issues (using nraas mods to help).
In my experience, Edit in game via CAW is just a mess. Even in a lower detail world I would be running way higher via EIG than I do just playing the world.
And yes, via task manager I think if it says Sims 3 is around 3.5 gigs you are in the danger zone of crashing. I can't remember if this is the exact number though.

Yes, if you build them up via a save you need to save them to your library to put them in the world.
I make a layout for my lots ahead of time of where I want things to be:
https://puu.sh/ztjmr/c878efb55b.jpg
I then keep a notepad document of what community lot is where with the corresponding numbers. Or if I want a particular family on a lot I'll put the name there.

I can guarantee at the very least, building via the exported world way is much quicker, with far FAR fewer crashes. I've been able to build for hours at a time (depending on how much CASing I do) without crashing. HOWEVER. I also use nraas saver and tend to go back to edit town after every message it gives me to save (or if I have done a lot in a short period of time I'll save too). Since I'm usually building when it pops up I don't tend to accept the save message when it does.

Generally speaking, world's will go faster if you keep it simple. My current project is taking forever, but that's because I've made it much more complicated than it needed to be, while my tiny alien world was done in about 2 weeks.

To Export your world right click on the name.world thing under layers and go to Add/edit description.
https://puu.sh/ztknN/cec7d36266.png

You should get a pop up that looks like this:
https://puu.sh/ztkqO/296c47798e.jpg
Fill in the name and description however you want, to get the image you'll probably get an annoying error about needing a 24 bit png.
For that, follow the instructions in this video and you'll be golden:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_vIewt2W3c
Rflong7
Legend
7 years ago
Hi :)

The Waterfalls Should work in CAW. If you don't see them maybe they're not facing the right way? Rotate them.

I Never 'Save as' every single time. Only when I have something done to my liking. Examples...
WorldA_Terrain
WorldA_Roads
WorldA_Lots
WorldA_Trees
WorldA_Objects
MoutainView_A

That is my progression- if I'm happy with the first draft of my sculpting- I save it. In case I need to go back to that point.
If the roads are all good- then it's time to save an move on.
I might have saved 100 times before I move to the next...especially when I get near the end and many working on MoutainView_FinalG :lol:

Floating surrounded by whiteness is usually because your CAW view is pulled too far from the world map before going into EIG. That's why restarting CAW and then opening EIG will fix it... the view starts at a good height. There is a ceiling in the world- where all the clouds live, is the way I think of it. :)

In your first world there shouldn't be any need to dismantle and redo anything to your game. :)

Plus, there's a CAW tutorial and walk through right on the page you downloaded CAW. They don't go past WA information but the basics, right there for ya. :)

I love to build in EIG. I don't save often. I save Once-when I'm done, which might be hours of building- like 6 with breaks (mine, not EIG/CAW).
I also save my builds in stages. If I get the walls the way I like, I save the build to the library. Once the outside is painted, save to library. Once I get about 10 saves of that lot in my library, I delete the old ones and keep 2. That way I can back up if needed- it's been needed before. :)

I do export it after a few lots- about 20- to check on how the lots work. I need to test so I don't have to do them all at once and them have a huge list of little things to fix or replace the lots. Which is one of the Best Reasons to actually build in game. Add those 10 or 20 after you've built and tested them in game. :)
Hawkflight1066
7 years ago
I envy all of you who have apparently found workable solutions and got CAW running fine for you. I have stopped using EIG except to add lots which I have created in Live Mode, having added my basic world to my game. It takes me about an hour to add a lot, because EIG crashes on save at least four times for each lot, and then I have to reboot the notebook because CAW says the game is still running so it can't get back into EIG. Sometimes when EIG crashes the lot is not in CAW when I check, sometimes it is. There is no rhyme or reason to it.

The more lots I add to my town the worse the crashing is becoming and I am not even 25% done yet, nor is it over crowded. I am not using any CC, but I have a lot of store content and all the EPs. I don't think CAW can handle it. I am 90% convinced that I will never be able to complete this world, and if I do, I'm 99% convinced it won't upload to the Exchange, because I currently cannot upload anything at all to the Exchange, lots, people, objects -nothing. I suspect it's the small amount of CC I added last year, having given in to temptation. I haven't tested the theory yet by running the game without CC and attempting to upload something, and I didn't knowingly use any CC in my new world.

I began working with CAW just to prove I could. It annoyed me that I hadn't a clue how to do it. So I read instructions, watched videos and I have grasped the very basic stuff - adding roads and lots, but don't enjoy it and have no talent for landscaping whatsoever. I think you need an artistic talent as well as a technical skill to build an attractive world. I've had a lot of fun recreating actual buildings from a real English town for my world, but the world itself - no - not fun. Boring, tedious, can't be bothered. And not worth it since it seems doomed to worse and worse crashes with every lot I try to add. There are only so many workarounds I am prepared to try, and I think I just ran out of patience.