Solved: Blinking blue custom content in downloaded houses under BV or FT

Miros1 · 05-27-2008, 05:42 AM

After three days of finagling and Odessa pulling her hair out, she and I figured out why some objects blink blue in premade houses.

It's because you can only have subfolders of the Downloads directory now, not subfolders of subfolders of the Downloads directory. Stupid but true.

Make sure you don't have any folders inside the folders inside your Downloads directory and all will be well.

Greg · 05-27-2008, 12:05 PM

Did that start with some expansion pack that I don't have installed?

Miros1 · 05-27-2008, 12:15 PM

Yeah, it's either BV or FT. She installed both at about the same time, so we're not too sure which. I don't have either one, so I can't tell.

About drove us both nuts -- I made lots with one CC item with Seasons and sent them to her, and they worked fine with the CC moved into a subfolder named "More." A house she loved absolutely would not show the CC -- but she was moving the CC into a folder named "Lots/Name of House." After 3 days, we finally started tinkering with the folder names (one word, starts with a capital letter, etc.). Finally, I ran off to play Puzzle Pirates and she sent me an IM -- "I'm moving the folder up one level." It worked!

Greg · 05-27-2008, 11:23 PM

Rats. I was seriously considering installing Bon Voyage. I s'pose reorganizing my Downloads folders wouldn't be a big deal, though.

Hokieman · 05-27-2008, 11:59 PM

It must be Free Time then. I've been running BV for months without that happening and I have subfolders 3 and 4 deep. But why would that affect the premade houses? I'm assuming that we're talking about Maxis houses that came with the game - or are we??

Does this just affect objects only or does it affect bodyshop packages too?

I'll find out soon anyway as I will be loading FT as soon as I've got the new version of Insim which was supposed to be posted yesterday. Haven't been there yet to see if it was or not.

Greg · 05-28-2008, 12:15 AM

Hooray!

I don't yet know whether I'm tempted to install Free Time, but Bon Voyage is very appealing.

It says here: "Update: InSIMenator (UV) v2.8 Editions. May 26, 2008." That's a clue!

Hokieman · 05-28-2008, 12:30 AM

Yep, Eric did get Insim up for download. Just got it so now I'll be loading Teen, FT and Kitchen & Bath. Probably wait til the weekend though.

Also, I did have a lot of blinking stuff in neighborhood view, and a few objects, mostly trees in game mode, on some of my lots when I loaded Seasons. I believe I remember that EA/Maxis also had to fix the folder thing in one of the patches, either Seasons, BV or FT. Don't remember which. I'll have to hit the EA site to check which one.

Greg · 05-28-2008, 01:42 AM

So far, the only blinking blues I've run into are earrings that some sims are already wearing. I'm procrastinating on trying to hunt down the recalcitrant files so that I can fix it.

Miros1 · 05-28-2008, 05:50 AM

The reason we found the problem with premade houses was because Odessa was tidily filing the objects that came with the houses under "Downloads/Lots/NameOfLot," which was enough levels down for BV or FT to miss it. It might be just build mode objects (we're still fiddling), but it definately affects windows and trees. no, we don't know which one caused the problem; Odessa is too frustrated to uninstall and I'm not about to install UnSecuROM. UncleSparky claims TigressKitten had/has the same problem with just BV.

Basically, if some objects seem to be missing (either from existing houses or downloaded lots or you remember having downloads that don't show up in the catalog), try moving the affected files "up" in your folder hierarchy. You can even try this with the game running -- if the game is reading them, you'll get an error about files in use. If the game is not reading them, they'll just hop to their new position without complaint. Yes, that was part of the testing process -- Odessa dragged a folder and said "oh no the game is running," immediately followed by "it moved, the damn game never read them!"

Hokieman, Seasons did badly break existing custom trees. Suddenly, all these trees needed to shed their leaves with no mesh or texture to do so.... Don't remember them blinking blue tho!

Greg, your blinking earrings are some weird combination of graphic card, driver, and Dr. Pixel's very popular Alpha Earring mesh (and a few other accessory meshes). That form of blue blinking started with NL, I think, and even affects the Maxis vampire teeth from time to time! I send Daisy Green-whatever to the mirror to take off her blinking sunglasses, and they promptly stop blinking and are so darn cute I let her keep them every time.

You don't want BV. You want Seasons and Pets, so the toddlers can eat snow and maul, err, cuddle their dogs. After all the toddlers have eaten snow during a freak snowstorm in Texas, you can reset the hood to perpetual summer if you like.

Greg · 05-28-2008, 10:12 AM

If you put everything that comes with a house in a separate folder, wouldn't you be likely to have lots and lots of duplicate objects?

Miros1 · 05-28-2008, 11:21 AM

I assume she eventually sorts them out and puts them away in her normal filing system, but she likes to test the houses before she does all that.

Hokieman · 05-28-2008, 11:45 PM

Greg, yep, if you segregate them that way, you are bound to get lots of dups.

On the blinking earrings, I get a lot of that and not just with the mesh Rose mentions, plus I get a blue mesh shape above the head of a sitting sim, although when the sim stands up, everything looks ok. The second condition happens a lot with teens and YAs.

Greg · 05-29-2008, 02:19 AM

Yeah! I saw that just yesterday, when the blue earrings were blinking above the heads of sitting sims. I was wondering what the heck was going on. Now I'm trying tko remember what household I was visiting; it might have been on a campus. Hence, young adults.

Zirconia Wolf · 05-30-2008, 12:46 PM

Oh fiddle sticks.

You mean should I ever get up to installing BV/FT, I'm gonna have to reorganize my finally perfectly organized Downloads folder?!

*sigh*

Maxis, sometimes I get tired of trying to defend you...

-ZW

Miros1 · 05-30-2008, 01:12 PM

I figure it's yet another reason not to buy or install BV/FT.

rdanner3 · 05-31-2008, 02:24 AM

I'm not sure why I'd want everyone kung-fu fightin' and whatnot anyway, so Free Time is of little interest to me (or are those part of Bon Voyage? Anyway...) and Bigfoot? Sad to say, I don't need Sasquach either. Now if Maxis had done an ape? Maybe. LOL

Gonna be hard enough to get some of my chars done with the game as 'tis. (two chars I know can't be done, another four are iffy because they're felinoids (humanoid variants of cats) and another had been done (and looked really cool), but was lost when the creator's mom reformatted his computer after his death . . .)

Zirconia Wolf · 05-31-2008, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Miros1

I figure it's yet another reason not to buy or install BV/FT.

Yes...but for me, the "pros" still manage to out weigh the "cons", so I am still working toward that goal. It doesn't help that several new mods are out that do thing I like, yet require BV, FT or even both to work.

Although, at the rate I am going (which is now being slowed way down by my RL "job") I am seriously debating just waiting until after Apartment Life & Ikea are released. That way I could find out if I want them & wait until the modders test/fix them & never have to worry about updating my mods again! That may actually be the coolest thing that happens when Sims 3 is finally released; I will know for certain that Sims 2 mods will no longer be rendered useless by EPs or SPs!

*sigh*

So I guess I better get back into my "FT Approved" Downloads folder & start reorganizing!

-ZW

Miros1 · 05-31-2008, 04:06 PM

Hubby's probably going to insist on contaminating my poor 'puter with SecuROM, so I might break down and get the EPs, if jFade gets a "tinker enabler program" done for custom content.

Zirconia Wolf · 06-03-2008, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Miros1

Hubby's probably going to insist on contaminating my poor 'puter with SecuROM, so I might break down and get the EPs, if jFade gets a "tinker enabler program" done for custom content.

Ack!

You can't convince him to go the SecuROM Free route??? I am trying to imagine a circumstance where anyone would need SecuROM on their PC & I am failing miserably...

-ZW

rdanner3 · 06-03-2008, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zirconia Wolf

I am trying to imagine a circumstance where anyone would need SecuROM on their PC & I am failing miserably...

Much less SecuROM + StarForce + StarGuard + who knows what else. I've said it before and I'll probably keep repeating it until the gaming companies (and Video Professor!) wake up and listen: Copy protection is evil, and does very little (if anything) to deter thieves, while also ticking off the paying customers when their apps don't work and they have to deal with the consequences of copy-protection systems run amok. (I have had a copy protection system ruin a 5-drive CD/DVD duplication tower. Extreme, perhaps, but it did cost me over $1500 (and counting), since the tower has not been capable of being used since, and the repair techs told me the burners were damaged at the EPROM level, thus would have to be replaced.) I am not certain how much revenue I've lost because of the damage, actually.

(While StarGuard isn't precisely a copy-protection, it is a tool designed to defend against hacking, so it can cause massive problems. Such as damaging Vista's ability to read its licensing information. Hence my including it in the list of villainous programs.)

05-27-2008, 05:42 AM	#1
Miros1 Goddess for Life Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: NY State Posts: 3,303	Solved: Blinking blue custom content in downloaded houses under BV or FT After three days of finagling and Odessa pulling her hair out, she and I figured out why some objects blink blue in premade houses. It's because you can only have subfolders of the Downloads directory now, not subfolders of subfolders of the Downloads directory. Stupid but true. Make sure you don't have any folders inside the folders inside your Downloads directory and all will be well. __________________ A game that horrible Odessa-person introduced me to: http://www.puzzlepirates.com/?affili...163251&lang=en I'm spreading the addiction by corrupting all my friends (and attempting to make in-game money when they try the game). Last edited by Miros1 : 05-27-2008 at 12:15 PM. Reason: fixed title

05-27-2008, 12:05 PM	#2
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	Did that start with some expansion pack that I don't have installed? __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

05-27-2008, 12:15 PM	#3
Miros1 Goddess for Life Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: NY State Posts: 3,303	Yeah, it's either BV or FT. She installed both at about the same time, so we're not too sure which. I don't have either one, so I can't tell. About drove us both nuts -- I made lots with one CC item with Seasons and sent them to her, and they worked fine with the CC moved into a subfolder named "More." A house she loved absolutely would not show the CC -- but she was moving the CC into a folder named "Lots/Name of House." After 3 days, we finally started tinkering with the folder names (one word, starts with a capital letter, etc.). Finally, I ran off to play Puzzle Pirates and she sent me an IM -- "I'm moving the folder up one level." It worked! __________________ A game that horrible Odessa-person introduced me to: http://www.puzzlepirates.com/?affili...163251&lang=en I'm spreading the addiction by corrupting all my friends (and attempting to make in-game money when they try the game).

05-27-2008, 11:23 PM	#4
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	Rats. I was seriously considering installing Bon Voyage. I s'pose reorganizing my Downloads folders wouldn't be a big deal, though. __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

05-28-2008, 12:15 AM	#6
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	Hooray! I don't yet know whether I'm tempted to install Free Time, but Bon Voyage is very appealing. It says here: "Update: InSIMenator (UV) v2.8 Editions. May 26, 2008." That's a clue! __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

05-27-2008, 11:59 PM	#5
Hokieman Solar Max Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 520	It must be Free Time then. I've been running BV for months without that happening and I have subfolders 3 and 4 deep. But why would that affect the premade houses? I'm assuming that we're talking about Maxis houses that came with the game - or are we?? Does this just affect objects only or does it affect bodyshop packages too? I'll find out soon anyway as I will be loading FT as soon as I've got the new version of Insim which was supposed to be posted yesterday. Haven't been there yet to see if it was or not.

05-28-2008, 12:30 AM	#7
Hokieman Solar Max Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 520	Yep, Eric did get Insim up for download. Just got it so now I'll be loading Teen, FT and Kitchen & Bath. Probably wait til the weekend though. Also, I did have a lot of blinking stuff in neighborhood view, and a few objects, mostly trees in game mode, on some of my lots when I loaded Seasons. I believe I remember that EA/Maxis also had to fix the folder thing in one of the patches, either Seasons, BV or FT. Don't remember which. I'll have to hit the EA site to check which one.

05-28-2008, 01:42 AM	#8
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	So far, the only blinking blues I've run into are earrings that some sims are already wearing. I'm procrastinating on trying to hunt down the recalcitrant files so that I can fix it. __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

05-28-2008, 05:50 AM	#9
Miros1 Goddess for Life Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: NY State Posts: 3,303	The reason we found the problem with premade houses was because Odessa was tidily filing the objects that came with the houses under "Downloads/Lots/NameOfLot," which was enough levels down for BV or FT to miss it. It might be just build mode objects (we're still fiddling), but it definately affects windows and trees. no, we don't know which one caused the problem; Odessa is too frustrated to uninstall and I'm not about to install UnSecuROM. UncleSparky claims TigressKitten had/has the same problem with just BV. Basically, if some objects seem to be missing (either from existing houses or downloaded lots or you remember having downloads that don't show up in the catalog), try moving the affected files "up" in your folder hierarchy. You can even try this with the game running -- if the game is reading them, you'll get an error about files in use. If the game is not reading them, they'll just hop to their new position without complaint. Yes, that was part of the testing process -- Odessa dragged a folder and said "oh no the game is running," immediately followed by "it moved, the damn game never read them!" Hokieman, Seasons did badly break existing custom trees. Suddenly, all these trees needed to shed their leaves with no mesh or texture to do so.... Don't remember them blinking blue tho! Greg, your blinking earrings are some weird combination of graphic card, driver, and Dr. Pixel's very popular Alpha Earring mesh (and a few other accessory meshes). That form of blue blinking started with NL, I think, and even affects the Maxis vampire teeth from time to time! I send Daisy Green-whatever to the mirror to take off her blinking sunglasses, and they promptly stop blinking and are so darn cute I let her keep them every time. You don't want BV. You want Seasons and Pets, so the toddlers can eat snow and maul, err, cuddle their dogs. After all the toddlers have eaten snow during a freak snowstorm in Texas, you can reset the hood to perpetual summer if you like. __________________ A game that horrible Odessa-person introduced me to: http://www.puzzlepirates.com/?affili...163251&lang=en I'm spreading the addiction by corrupting all my friends (and attempting to make in-game money when they try the game).

05-28-2008, 10:12 AM	#10
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	If you put everything that comes with a house in a separate folder, wouldn't you be likely to have lots and lots of duplicate objects? __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

05-28-2008, 11:21 AM	#11
Miros1 Goddess for Life Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: NY State Posts: 3,303	I assume she eventually sorts them out and puts them away in her normal filing system, but she likes to test the houses before she does all that. __________________ A game that horrible Odessa-person introduced me to: http://www.puzzlepirates.com/?affili...163251&lang=en I'm spreading the addiction by corrupting all my friends (and attempting to make in-game money when they try the game).

05-28-2008, 11:45 PM	#12
Hokieman Solar Max Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 520	Greg, yep, if you segregate them that way, you are bound to get lots of dups. On the blinking earrings, I get a lot of that and not just with the mesh Rose mentions, plus I get a blue mesh shape above the head of a sitting sim, although when the sim stands up, everything looks ok. The second condition happens a lot with teens and YAs.

05-29-2008, 02:19 AM	#13
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	Yeah! I saw that just yesterday, when the blue earrings were blinking above the heads of sitting sims. I was wondering what the heck was going on. Now I'm trying tko remember what household I was visiting; it might have been on a campus. Hence, young adults. __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

05-30-2008, 12:46 PM	#14
Zirconia Wolf Reticulated MoonBat Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: My trusty computer in Issaquah WA, USA. Posts: 848	Oh fiddle sticks. You mean should I ever get up to installing BV/FT, I'm gonna have to reorganize my finally perfectly organized Downloads folder?! sigh Maxis, sometimes I get tired of trying to defend you... -ZW __________________ Long Live All Wild Canines! Leader Of The Moon-Bat Revolution!

05-30-2008, 01:12 PM	#15
Miros1 Goddess for Life Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: NY State Posts: 3,303	I figure it's yet another reason not to buy or install BV/FT. __________________ A game that horrible Odessa-person introduced me to: http://www.puzzlepirates.com/?affili...163251&lang=en I'm spreading the addiction by corrupting all my friends (and attempting to make in-game money when they try the game).

05-31-2008, 02:24 AM	#16
rdanner3 Herald of the Dawn Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Central Alabama, US Posts: 53	I'm not sure why I'd want everyone kung-fu fightin' and whatnot anyway, so Free Time is of little interest to me (or are those part of Bon Voyage? Anyway...) and Bigfoot? Sad to say, I don't need Sasquach either. Now if Maxis had done an ape? Maybe. LOL Gonna be hard enough to get some of my chars done with the game as 'tis. (two chars I know can't be done, another four are iffy because they're felinoids (humanoid variants of cats) and another had been done (and looked really cool), but was lost when the creator's mom reformatted his computer after his death . . .)

05-31-2008, 04:06 PM	#18
Miros1 Goddess for Life Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: NY State Posts: 3,303	Hubby's probably going to insist on contaminating my poor 'puter with SecuROM, so I might break down and get the EPs, if jFade gets a "tinker enabler program" done for custom content. __________________ A game that horrible Odessa-person introduced me to: http://www.puzzlepirates.com/?affili...163251&lang=en I'm spreading the addiction by corrupting all my friends (and attempting to make in-game money when they try the game).