Problem solved: Clean Installer error message solved but still get empty files

[Rogue777]

Tina, have you tried not typing the .sims2pack and just let it add that on its own? I don't recall ever typing the extension when I've packaged lots or Sims.

[trl]

*waves at Rogue*  I will try that today. Aliwags tutorial said to do that. i am hoping it will work this time. Thanks Rogue. *hugs*

[lewisb40]

trl, that is what I meant, I don't add nothing on the end of the filename other than just a number or letter. No sims2pack, let the S2PCI add that on it's own.

[BeosBoxBoy]

Sims2Pack Clean Installer seems to have issues with names that include non-ASCII characters, in particular far-east Asian characters (e.g., Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, et alia) and characters that fall outside the ISO-8859-1 character set (e.g. Polish /Ł/, Turkish /Ğ/, etc).  In short, although Windows XP is a largely a Unicode platform, many of the utilities for it are not.

There was also a catastrophic bug in Pets EP and to a limited degree a related bug in Season EP in the creation of Sims2Packs format files, this bug relates to an "out of data" or "beyond end of table" error in the creation of the table of contents of the Sims2Pack file.  Trying to re-pack files with a large number of recolours or custom content objects will result in this error and when trying to re-package the file without these items, an "Empty Package" is the usual expression of the failed re-packaging process.

These two flaws combined have seriously reduced the ability of Sims2Pack Clean Installer to be of reliable use to the Sims community.

There are other defects to the software, not the least of which is the nasty bug that adds a redundant .package to the package files exported by the software, so it is increasingly common to see files with as many as seven stacked .package file extensions contained in Sims2Packs. What role this plays in terms of increased risk for "Empty Package" errors, I cannot say.  This error often goes undetected by end-users since, by default, Windows hides the file extensions of known file-types.

In the final analysis, S2PCI continues to be used only because there is no serious alternative to it.

[trl]

lewisb4o- I understood what you meant but I didn't want to mess with it that night. LOL it was time to step away for a day. *wink* You were a big help even if it didn't solve my problem and I so appreciate it. What is odd is that this is happening for several of my friends this week, which seems strange.

Beosboxboy - I was so surprized with how many .package.package files were present. Most of the items with those files seemed to be recolor type items as well as terrain. I am guessing that those are created when for example person A includes it in the lot file - person B downloads the lot then packages it in his/her lot - Person C downloads said lot and includes it in a lot ETC. Is that a possibility?

The lot is fully furnished with free share items so it is a pretty hefty file. Many of my freinds say they don't care if the file is big as they like them fully furnished. For the others who may download this, I feel a bit of responsibiliy to not make their already stuffed D/L folder explode, lol. I just want a neat file in an upload and to share a house not my Downloads folder. Who on earth needs 25 more recolors of Numenor's stairs (as great as they are)!

Also there are two items that I initially had placed on the lot and removed them, then repackaged the lot and they are still showing up. I am going to get rid of some more items that have an extra .package at the end of their files. Thanks for the info and taking the time to help. I am new at uploading lots and I like to learn all I can.

Me thinks it may be time to just rebuild it and be more selective with it's contents.

[BeosBoxBoy]

To correct and remove the redundant .package file extensions, I use a batch re-naming programme 1-4a Rename http://www.1-4a.com/rename/ - the site is sometimes offline, but well worth trying several times to get the utility

an alternate link is here: http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,23765-order,1-page,1-c,alldownloads/description.html

You simply change the parameter to Whole Name and replace .package.package with .package - it may balk if you have multiple files with the same name that have redundant .package file extensions.

Another option is to create a new user account for Windows XP through the control panel and add a very limited selection of items and recolours into the Downloads folder.  I have such an arrangement for testing meshes and building lots I want to share.

[trl]

Thanks for the linkage.
That is such a good idea to create a new user account strictly for building lots I would like to share. I just mentioned doing that earlier today over at Deanna's site. It would be perfect and would only include free share stuff so uploading would be a no brainer plus the quick load time would be so refreshing. Thanks, yet again, for coming to my rescue. **passes BBB a plate of yummy homemade chocolate chip cookies*

Update: Success!! I have finally managed to only include items I have CHOSEN to include in this lot. I went into the lot and got rid of everything and added things back a little at a time, avoiding the items with files similar to those you described, BBB. I found the culprit and all is well. Many thanks to all who have offered help and a big *Smoochies* for you, Yakov, for your help. I really do listen to your advise. Thank you!  Thread can be closed.