Clean Re-Install...Whether I Like it or Not....

Grrrrr..... Well...the game was running relatively fine for me lately, and I have been eagerly awaiting Ambitions. I decided to do some maintanence on my computer - to get everything ready. I did a Registry cleaning - but verified that the game and my other applications seemed to be working fine afterwards (the Registry cleaner has some safeguards for that - creates a SafePoint, and saves the old Registry until you tell it that the new one is working right). Then, I defragged my Hard Drive. Finally, I noticed that my Video Card had some new Drivers - so I downloaded them and attepted to install them. I had a #$@!!! of a time getting my Anti-Virus software to shut down completely and not interfere with the installation process! But, finally, after uninstalling and later re-installing my anti-virus software, I had my Video Drivers updated.

Well, I *think* it was due to the problem with the anti-virus software initially screwing up my video driver install, but The Sims 3 stopped working! It said that there was a missing componant or something wasn't being recognized and that I needed to re-install! Now, I was NOT planning to do a clean re-install of the game just for Ambitions...but I guess I sort of have to now. Oh well. I guess it will be good to have a fresh, pristine game to play in. Of course, adding in all the content that I want will be a pain...but then again, I can edit out stuff that I don't really need too. And maybe the tiny glitches I *have* noticed due to bad CC won't be there anymore.

Well, this *should* keep me occupied until Ambitions arrives....

Romance Bedroom & Pictures Uploaded of New Bheliom Family

Yay! I was able to purchase the Kudos Romance Bedroom today! I'll be able to try it out tonight, which should be nice. According to the reviews, it should be well worth the 5,000 Kudos points I spent.

I also uploaded a couple pictures of my newly re-created Bheliom family. I put them in a new Neighborhood (MUCH larger), re-created the Sims and added one more adult, so that I can try out another career (as well as making the game a tad more difficult). Plus, with Ambitions coming out...I may want to try out some of those new careers. I am already planning on having the two teens, Alean and Lyla taking on the Inventor and Ghost-Hunting Careers, respectively. We shall see. Only two more weeks until release! (and my birthday is Saturday! - not that I expect anything - no $$$ for the past few years, and that hasn't changed this year, but that's ok. I will be getting Ambitions when it comes out. Sucks that my wife's b-day is the 26th and I have no $$ to get her anything...and the 30th or 31st - I forget - is our Anniversarry... - oh well. Life goes on. At least we are together and surviving).

Grrr....Game Crashes

I seem to be having some problems with game crashes lately. It seems to only happen in the Create-A-Sim Screen - and only when I go into the hair portion. I have removed a few items of makeup and some of the larger poly hairs, as well as increasing the virtual memory allocation size on my computer - so we will see if that fixes it. Of course, it could be a mod, such as the facial sliders or something. I will be testing that soon. Taking this methodically. It doesn't seem to effect gameplay at all, so far as I have seen. Of course, I haven't played a lot in my new neighborhood to give that as full of a test as I need to. I did also turn down some of my graphics options previously, so as not to put as much of a load on my computer. We will see.

Downloading Content Addiction?

Does anyone else spend more time downloading content and adding it to the game than they do actually PLAYING the game? I keep seeing *really cool* stuff that I want to add to the game...and end up spending all day downloading and installing stuff. Especially when I find new Sims 3 sites with cool stuff on them. I found this one site that had a "Secret Experimental Base" to download, which looked amazing! The thing is, it required some content from about 10 other sites - now this was specific content, so it wasn't a LOT of content...but those sites had some COOL stuff there too!

AAAAAAAH! It's enough to drive this OCD content-hungry Simmer crazy! lol! But it's a fun kind of crazy I guess. Hopefully I'll be ready to play again by tomorrow...lol!

Ambitions System Requirements

It looks like the same system requirements as World Adventures. I wonder if they will put in some patch to allow the game to actually recognize and use more than 2GB of RAM? I hate that I have to use CFF Explorer to go in and change that manually. I know it is easy for me to do, so how hard can it be for THEM to do? And with all of the expansions they keep adding - and the downloads they keep encouraging - and the downloads they *know* that we will be doing ourselves from fan sites like TSR, you would think that they would see the necessity of it.

Well, I can hope at least, right?

s3pe

I'm still learning to use the s3pe to merge .package mods - or at least, remembering how to do that. It is surprisingly easy (other than looking for the dang 00000000000 files to delete - once you have a lot of merged files). And then it's just a matter of running Sims3 Dashboard to make sure there are no broken/conflicting mods and all is good. It REALLY speeds up the game (es[ecially load time) and helps with the game's memory usage.

Twizzy & Prius Eco-Packs

It looks like the US gets the Prius with the Eco-Pack and Europe gets the Twizzy with the Eco-Pack. You can get the Prius & Eco-Pack from http://store.thesims3.com/prius.html?intcmp=eaint107 - you can get the Twizzy & Eco-Pack from http://gb.store.thesims3.com/renault.html (Thanks FreyanSam for that link). I have both in my Purchase History now. I downloaded the Twizzy one - but the Prius one isn't seeming to want to download for me. Not a biggy, as I already had the Prius previously and with the Twizzy, I should have that car and the Eco-Pack as well. I'll launch the game in a moment and see if it is all there. (I hope, I hope, I hope....)

Dr. Pepper Downloads Done!!

Unless they add more in, I now have them all! *smiles*

Downloads

I guess the only real limit to the downoads is what your computer can handle for the most part. In reading about using the S3PE program to combine .package files together, I read about some people with over 10GB of sims3pack & .package files! I have a total of 4.6GB at this point, so I could double the amount of stuff I have already downloaded and STILL have less than they do.

Oh, using s3pe to combine my .package files worked *wonderfully*! I went from about 400 .package files to under 40 of them and my game is running much smoother now. I do use Sims 3 Dashboard to check for problems - and I try to use Sims3Pack files instead of .package files whenever I can, but sometimes that's the only way some content comes.

I *know* I am a mod/add-on/download-O-Holic. When I was playing WoW, I had over 150 mods running at once. In MMOs I play once character of each class, of each race if I can, and of each profession if I can. A bit OCD, if you couldn't tell.

My Profile Page

Well, I figured out how to update my Profile Page here on TSR - and add in a Latest Screenshots section - oh, and publish my Blog posts! But, not before spending 2,500 Kudos points on a Gallery that I didn't need yet I guess (oops). Oh well. I'm still working towards that 5,000 Kudos so I can download that Sims 3 "Angela's Romantic Bedroom". I just have a lot further to go now. Meh - no biggie. At least people can see my Screenshots now - and read my Blog. Not that I say a whole lot of important stuff, but what-the-hey.