Package Version Question

Anyway creators are well used to having to update work to allow for patches etc, it won't be a huge shock, compared to the hours that must be spent by EA helpdesk on players wondering why their game won't run.

I agree with _A_ and IngeJones. The handful of creators who will need to update their CC are creators who were using an alpha tool and they're aware that the use of an alpha tool will often result in the need to update the content made with it so it is compatible with a patch. The small number of creators negatively affected by the suggested change is far outweighed by the much larger group of players and EA help desk employees who would benefit from it.

Ok great, thanks for the feedback. I will let you all know if we make any changes here.

Changing that error message for TS2 packages would be a very helpful move. While you're at it, would it be possible to also get an error message that tells the user when one of the game packages is still open (in some CC creation tool)? I also get that "game data missing" notification when that happens (which will be very confusing in case any of the game data ever actually goes missing).

Also, how about your "simsmodsquad-novelist" example package that's been distributed with the CC guide -- is that perhaps an old version or something? Asking because I've tried to edit that at some point (a long time ago), and unlike all other packages I've ever seen it didn't work when I just saved and closed it -- copying over the contents into a new package did work though. So that one seems to be different from other packages in some way.

If you like working on .packages directly from the Sims 4/Mods folder and starting the game with the .package still open in your creation tool you could use Studio...it does not grab hold of the .package so it's possible to do this. If you prefer some other tool perhaps you could contact the developer of that tool and request that this feature be added to that tool also. Alternatively, you could adapt your workflow to fit the way that tool works. The easiest way to go about that would be to simply create a project folder outside the Sims 4/Mods folder and work on the .package from the project folder. Then, when you're all set to test your .package, you can copy and paste that right into the Sims 4/Mods folder. It's an extra copy/paste step, yes, but it will allow you to avoid the disconcerting "game data missing" notification in the cases where you forget to close your project.package prior to starting the game.

In the case that game data goes missing one easy way to make sure it isn't because you have a .package open in a custom content tool unable to allow the game to start if something in the Mods folder is open in it would be to hit the Ctrl key, the Alt key, and the Delete key on your keyboard all at the same time to bring up your Task Manager. This allows you to view a list of all the applications that are running. If your CC tool is running you can close it and then restart the game. If the game still returned a "game data missing" notification then you would know it wasn't the fault of your custom content tool's grabbing something in the Mods folder and was actually due to missing game data.

The problem s4pe has saving the Maslow example .package is a known issue that was reported long ago and has, apparently, not been addressed. The problem was first reported by players who were ending up with corrupt .packages when using s4pe to merge multiple .packages into one. If, for some reason, you need to save the Maslow example.package directly rather than creating a new shell.package for the resources first, Studio is able to do that with no difficulty :)

I asked about changing the error message to make it more specific, not about "Halp plz this thead is not complete without another S4S promo wall of text".

About the novelist.package issue, do you have a link to the bug report thread?

It seemed you had confusion about how to sort out user errors related to forgetting you had a .package open in your CC creation tool from actual game errors related to missing content. But, as I said, this is very easy to figure out by using the Task Manager :) Problems related to that kind of work flow could be solved if the developer of the tool you like just adapted their tool to your workflow. I guess the alternative is adapting your work flow to the tool you're using. Otherwise your post sounds like you're asking EA to run a check every time the game is launched to see if s4pe has grabbed a .package in your Mods folder and then pop up a special message that says something along the line of "we're sorry the game won't launch but you have a .package open in s4pe" if you forgot to close the .package you were working on.

S4pe's maslow.package issue was brought to light in the Sims 4 Studio forums in our Creator Help section in a post reporting s4pe's corruption of some .packages when merging them. I moved the discussion to our Feature Request section because it wasn't a problem with Studio as much as the identification of a feature (.package merging) it would be handy for Studio to add (and we did add it).

The same person also reported the problem at MTS forums where s4pe's inability to manage the maslow.package correctly was verified and explicitly linked (albeit without futher exploration of the issue) to s4pe's merge failures last year.

Oh, so the example package thing was never actually reported (in the sense of: brought to the attention of EA/Maxis)? Well no surprise they didn't address it, then. Maybe they will now.

Regarding the error message, for the umpteenth time: what I'm asking about is to differentiate, in the prompt that the user is being shown, between "file cannot be accessed (because it's already open)" and "file is missing/damaged". A lot of other Windows software does that (Paint.net for example even tells me which file it's talking about - "Cannot access the file 'C:\yaddayaddayadda\00b2d882_00000000_c60bd8bb850c48d5.dds' because it is being used by another process") , so why not TS4 as well?

To what extent is it a priority though? I think modders and creators quickly learn what is likely to be causing the error, without the game having to tell them. I'd prefer the time to be spent on creating toddlers or something.

It's a nice "finishing touch" type of detail - I'm all for specific error messages that actually tell you what the error is. However, like Inge, I wouldn't want that to be implemented if it would interrupt the development of an actual game update. This isn't a problem that is affecting the playing population at large. The Sims community has been smart enough to reverse and re-engineer the Sims games for 15 years, I would hope by now that we could handle closing files before trying to load them into the game.