Know What Is Inside Your Game: The Sims 3

amjoie wrote:

Given the new information, I would suggest three things:

1. Put gems/metals in the Supernatural gem cabinet. Put collectible insects in the Supernatural insect cabinet. Put nanites in their own nanite cages, stacked in the basement, by type, and grab what you need as you need them to build trait chips. Use the WA chests only for food harvests, herb harvests, supernatural harvests, and trait chips.

3. Hang photos, art, etc in a gallery designed to hold them all. You can grab them and put them back in your family inventory, if you move the family. (If you want the pictures for remembrance/ambiance, but don't care about having them individually displayed on an end table, etc, then it might be best to turn them into wallpaper. ZooProfessor has a tutorial on it, which might be a real solution for you. You can always save the real photos/art along with a copy of the family, exported to a Sims3Pack, so that you can get the real thing back if you ever need them for some reason. But, in the meantime, they could be displayed as wallpaper in your home, without the extra "baggage."

2. Take your family ghosts to a family ghost area of the graveyard, and keep them inside a building, so they stay urns. If you need to move the family, you can always grab them before you go. But this will get them off your primary lot.

I wish you the best of luck with your legacy family. I know you want to keep them for as long as possible. But may I suggest you save each family member to CAS, as a template? Then, if the worse comes to worse, you can at least remake a new CAS family that looks identical to yours, and continue the legacy from there.

I realize this isn't a perfect solution, because you would have to pretend a family history for them. But, other than skills, you can make them relate to each other in the same way as before. And if the ghosts are put in a graveyard of a brand new world, they can still be "family ghosts." The art and photos, saved as wallpaper, can still follow along with the new "old" family. And if you give them a house that has been saved with all the WA chests and supernatural cabinets, they will have all the same goodies.

The only thing missing is the extended family tree. BUT, then, it just might be the extended family tree that is glitching in the game, and causing the corruption that keeps popping up.

At least be prepared for the eventual demise of this played family, by keeping CAS templates. Your family definitely qualifies as "long in the tooth." And the day will come, at some point, that you will need to recreate the family in CAS, if you wish to continue the "legacy."

We have to remember that TS3 was designed to be played for three to six months, and then dropped to play the next new world for three to six months, and so forth. At the end of the game's run, you were meant to drop it, in preference for the next new shiny.

EA never intended for you to keep one legacy family for the entire life of the game. TS3 was never optimized for that kind of play. So, the very fact anyone is able to have legacies for any length of time is somewhat miraculous. You have done well, keeping them this long, when playing in a fully populated world with story progression and aging on. I don't think anyone could have done better. (hugs)

Thank you for your advice!

I tried to be more methodical about figuring out which items were causing the issue. Turns out it was 2 Genie lamps in one of the chests. Makes sense as I had not had then in a chest before I moved them.

I am going to keep items separated more though from now on as you suggest. At the very least it will make it easier to trouble-shoot any future issues! Over the years I have had issues with items bought from the consignment shop, the Imaginary Dolls (as dolls), and a number of other items. It is too bad the game is not programmed better.

I have a question about part of #1. Wouldn't taking out all the nanite cages contribute to more lag in the game because it is more the game has to process and render? I thought the more stuff/clutter you have around your lot, the more it contributes to lag? Do they count for the same amount of processing whether in a chest or all out and sitting under a roof?

2. I generally keep the ghosts on the lot in a basement Ancestor room I build for them. I like the continuity they provide and to have each generation's children get to know their ancestors. But sometimes if the generation is particularly bust or intensive to play, I buy a second lot and relocate the ghosts and the horse(s) there. As long as ghosts have rocking chairs, they are happy. :D

3. Thank your for this information, I will have to look it up and figure out how to turn some of the photos into wallpaper! It would solve the issue of the digital frames always being blamk every time load up the save. I do keep a family member saved with photos and urns and irreplaceable items now. I've had to retcon into old saves to retrieve items and a couple ghosts in the past.

Thanks for the luck! I feel with this family I need every bit I can get. I do save heirs and mates as both .sims3packs and .sims to prevent losing the family line. Thankfully, MC lets me re-connect family ties if I need to (even with ghosts!), which is a nice safety net to have. Without mods, I could not have gotten past the second generation! I am on generation 9 or a 20 generation legacy challenge so I am almost half-way there and do not want to give up, though it may take me a couple more years to complete it!

You are right that the game was not designed to be played this way. I sometimes wonder how anyone ever completes a legacy! It is a lot of work to keep it going and developing while trying to avoid corruption the saves. Thanks for all the advice you have given me over the years! My game has only been improved by it! (hugs)

(Hopefully this isn't too long of a quote)