No floors, no walls, flashing terrain - fix?

[Jemcrystal]

Almost every time I download a lot I get sections of missing walls and floors.  Sometimes flashing terrain.  Everything downloads correctly.  All appears to be there perfect.  Clean installer used.  CEP in.  So what gives?  Why does this happen so often and is there a fix?

[Jemcrystal]

*cricket* *cricket* *cricket*

[caffeinated.joy]

What colour is the flashing? If it's blue, it's a mesh issue. If it's red, then it's an issue with your graphics - probably out dated drivers.

Also, please try to not bump your posts. I know it's been a few days since you posted your issue, but patience is a virtue, especially considering the time of year you were posting. Most people are just getting back into the swing of things. I know I haven't been online much myself over the last week.

[Theraven]

Depends on where you downloaded it, too. Some creators are much more considerate of downloaders than others, and make sure the house they upload is clean and have all neccessary downloads. Others... not so much.

Modthesims is one of the few place I feel it's safe to download houses, as they list up CC and have some amount of quality control.
At places like all4sims I've ended up with houses that crash or have been played in before they were packed (stray newspapers and such). They're usually brimfull of stray mailbox/trashcan files, and there's usually no end to the CC used.

I suspect the terrain or the walls (maybe there are custom wall segments?) or wallpaper and floors somehow didn't follow the house, or weren't installed properly. 

[Jemcrystal]

There was nothing wrong with the houses I downloaded and the creators included everything that I would need.  After two weeks of experiments I finally came up with something that works.  My cousin and I have a theory that the build loading screen is on a timer.  Those of us that have huge amounts of CC get timed out before all the walls and floors are placed.  Sometimes even before statues and terrain, tho less likely.

Solution:

1) Pull all CC from Downloads and set it aside in a folder on Desktop.
2) Clear all cache - Documents > EA Games > The Sims 2
          erase Accessory.cache
          erase Groups.cache
    > Thumbnails
          erase BuildMode Thumbnails.package
          erase CANHObjectsThumbnails.package
          erase CASThumbnails.package
          erase DesignModeThumbnails.package
          erase ObjectThumbnails.package
3) Using Clean Installer place only the lot you want in Downloads (if it did not download right the 1st time you have to delete it from within the game and from without, making sure your teleport is clear for another take off).*
4) Load game and place house which will now have all walls, floors, terrain, statues and everything it should have if the creator uploaded it correctly and you have all the required EP's. 
5) Save lot and exit.
6) Clear cache again and place all CC back in your Downloads folder where you want it.  At this point you can rearrange cc files and folders without messing the house up.  I'm fairly sure you can even delete any copy cat cc but I have yet to completely experiment with this.


*Teleport is a file found under  Documents > EA Games > The Sims 2 > Teleport when you use Clean Installer.  It's Clean Installer's way of placing a lot in game.  If there is something in Teleport it means a lot is getting ready to be placed in game for the 1st time.

[Theraven]

I do a much simpler version.

I usually clear the cache files before I play anyway, so that's no problem (not thumbnails - my game easily crashes if I delete them, because it then has to reload pictures for 30+ GB).
First I make sure that things are included (as in whether or not to download meshes).
Then I move out the loose files in my Downloads folder to make sure they don't mix in with the ones from the package files that will be installed.
Then I install the lot, so that the package files ends up in downloads, and move those to a separate sub-folder where anything that belongs to that house ends up.
I look through the files either in CI or in Simpe, to make sure I don't get a bunch of stray mailbox/trashcan files or hacks/mods, or files named "something.package.package.package.package.package".
Then I move back the files I moved out.
After that the lot is usually ready to place when I go ingame. If not, I install the lot file itself once more, or restart the game. Usually it just hangs back in the teleport folder.

[Jemcrystal]

Update:

BuildMode items (walls floors terrain outdoorplants) do not like subfolders.  Place them as close to the surface of your Downloads folder as possible.  They will allow for one subfolder only.

If you folder your lots (like me as I'm a filing categorizing freak) keep them close to the surface too because they will hold buildmode items.

[Theraven]

I can put anything I want in subfolders (I think the deepest I've got is 4-5 deep), except for certain hacks, and as long as the file path isn't too long.

Which EPs and SPs do you have?
It could be that the missing items requires EPs or SPs you don't have.
Or it could be that you don't have the EPs that lets you use deep subfoldering (might be Nightlife that allowed deep subfoldering, but I'm not sure).

[caffeinated.joy]

Please answer my question, as this will help with the fix. What colour is the flashing?

[Jemcrystal]

Sorry, was at work.

The only EP's I do not have are Glamour and Kitchen.  I don't have anything Holiday either.  All else is installed with patches.

64bit duel core Windows Vista rating 3.5 graphic card update.

[caffeinated.joy]

Please answer my question, as this will help with the fix. What colour is the flashing?

Maybe asking a third time will work??

And while we're at it, what are the rest of the computer specs. We know you are running on a 64 bit, dual-core system with Vista, but can you please tell us how much RAM you have, what graphics you've got and what your processor speed is?

[Jemcrystal]

I'm not flashing terrain anymore.  I'm not having any problems since I moved all my custom content to a one-folder position in Downloads.  I think I ran into trouble because I have so much CC.  More than most folks.  I mentioned my PC stats because Sims 2 is not suppose to be for duel core so it's amazing it works at all. 

Thanks for the help but I got a job irl and I can't hit the forums anymore, work is picking up.  I really do appreciate all the input tho. 

I'm going to consider this problem resolved.  You all have a good day.

 

[Theraven]

Well, I've got quad core, and my game runs... Maybe not without troubles in the start (memory and/or problems with the quad core), but now it runs more or less smoothly, even with 30 GB of custom content. Anyways, multi-core processors can cause troubles, as sims can only run on one CPU unit at a time. But I wouldn't say it's amazing your game runs at all. Besides, I'm pretty sure your problem does not have anything to do with dual core.  

It's good you found a solution, but if you do have the required EPs you should be able to have downloads in deeper levels than one folder (as long as the placement is in the default position at C://, anyways).  

Expansion packs (EPs) are University, Nightlife, Open for Business, Pets, Seasons, Bon Voyage, FreeTime, Apartment Life and Mansion & Garden Stuff (collection packs could cover some of these)
All others are Stuff Packs (SP) and won't have a significant influence on game functions.

For future reference, in the help topics it is a good idea to state your computer specs and all other things helpers might need to know (which EPs or SPs you have, color of flashing items, whether or not you usually run tons of programmes besides Sims, whether you have CC or not, and roughly how much CC you have, etc.) in the first post, especially if it might be of significance. Saves us from nagging...