Starting CAF/CAS without SIMs or Bodyshop

[AndyB]

Hi,

I am cleaning up, so I've emptied the Downloads and am putting them back one by one to see what is what. Trying each dress/shirt/skin takes a lot of time as SIMs takes ~52 secs + Neighboorhood ~18 secs + CAS ~20 secs. a waste of time and tedious. So I'm looking for a way to start the CAS/CAF directly. I have just learned from a different thread here that I have a separate Bodyshop, but this also takes a long time and has a terrible interface.

I've tried searching for a way to start the Create a Family/Create a Sim interface without starting the game itself.

Any idea whether this is possible? If yes: how?

Oh, before I forget: I've tried previewing in SIMPE, Clean Installer and Delphy's Organiser, but can't get a full body view to judge the effect of a skin/clothing.

Thanks for trying......:smt120

//AndyB

[Debbycus]

I don't think it is possible to do that as CAF/CAS is a part of the game. I use BodyShop to delete my custom content and then run the Download Organizer for orphans.
To save time you can try adding not one piece of CC back to your Downloads folder, but let's say 10 and sort them out that way.
By the way, you are really lucky if your game loads only for approx. 2 minutes. Mine takes at least 5 with all downloads :smt120

[MissDoh]

There is no way to do this that I know of other than using bodyshop.

[AndyB]

Hey thanks for the bad news :tongue8:

As for the loading time: I only have Base+ Uni and I intend keeping it that way!

AND I emptied the Downloads.

OK, so it's back to slugging it stage for stage.........

Thanks for you help! Appreciated.

//AndyB

[Tenshii~Akari]

^^  Heheh... I sure wish my game loaded that fast... with all of the custom content and spare junk I have, it takes 50 minutes minimum to load the actual game, 25 minutes for CAS to come up, and if I delete any clothing while in it, 2 minutes and 40 seconds to wait for it to finish deleting that file (yes, I timed it, too)... so, just remember this: at least there's always someone worse off than you.  :evil4:

[MissDoh]

How many downloads in term of size do you have Tenshii?  Did you ever clean the orphans using delphy's tool at mts2?

[Debbycus]

Tenshii, how do you have the patience to play? :-O

[Tenshii~Akari]

Yes... I did get rid of all of my orphans and duplicates, plus any objects I don't use in my pictures at all (and I'm not even loaded with Buy/Build mode stuff)... I'm just bogged down with so many clothes and hairs (that I actually use!) that the game can be a pain to play sometimes... :lol:

And don't scream when you see how big it is... (and yes, I DID compress everything.)

9.34 GB

(I'm too ashamed to even make it a dark color... :oops:  I'm guessing I'm gonna go ahead, back up my sims and favorite downloads, and wait for the inevitable...)

Most of the time while I'm waiting for it to load, I go eat, watch TV, do an assignment for one of my classes, practice on my applied lesson music, or sleep.  Much better than just sitting there and banging my head against the monitor.  :laugh:

[Tiababy]

I'm in the same situation a Tenshii. It take about 30-40 minutes to load then another 10-15 to get in CAS or onto a lot if its the first thing i do in a neighborhood.
I have 7.64 Gb of downloads total. this is after pruning a tonne of stuff. Theres still more to go but I got halfway through and got sooo bored very monotonous. I'll get there eventually lol.

[MissDoh]

:shock:  That is surely many downloads.  Me thinks you have some which have very high polycounts which will slow down the game so much you would want to kill yourself.  Getting rid of those would be the best since they should not have even been made for the sims 2 in the first place since the game cannot handle those.  Check those out to improve performance, getting rid of those would make a huge change.

[Wednesday17]

OMG, I would never play that game, if I had to wait that long! smt103

And I am bitching about waiting five minutes (load game, load hood, load lot)... but that's mainly because my stupid graphics card won't let me play the game in a window.
But I have quite a couple of downloads, too: nearly 10.000 files, 3,5Gig - and I don't even have my medevial and victorian stuff in, only modern clothes and objects. And I promised myself to never have more than 5000 at a time, but the purging takes up even more time than loading and playing and everything else together. Stupid bodyshop, I have so many clothes and hairs I don't use anymore, but the deleting process is sooo tedious. Why don't they allow multiple items to be deleted?? And why does it always jump back to the beginning after deleting one item? :cussing:
Sorry, but whoever programmed this thing, should be punished for it. They should be forced to delete 10Gigs of files by use of bs only. Lots of high polycounts items. On a low end machine. On their own time *evillaugh*.

[Mr Heartache]

I bet you Tenshii! I have 10.6 gigs in my downloads folder! xD

Most of it is hair and clothes that I don't use, but might at some point. I've been thinking about cleaning it out, but unless it starts bogging it down, or crashing, I'm not to bothered.
It takes about 20 mins to load, another 15 to get into CAS and maybe ten after that to get into a family. It is annoying it takes so long, but I'm used to it now.
I probably have a load of duplicates and all that... maybe I should do a spring, er, winter clean? :smt119
I can't help downloading everything I see. CC is shiny and new!

[kathwynn]

When i was playing I had over 20 gig in my download folder. No kidding. Though I slapped a new power supply from the none to powerful 350v to a robust 550v. I should have gone for the 600v I just didn't have the extra twenty bucks at the time. Plus I slapped two more gigs of ram.
 
Funny thing though. It wasn't until I stopped playing and started playing the games I normally play. First shooters, rpgs, strategies. y'know blood gore, all of that. Was when I started to have problems. It turns out that I should have bought a p4 chip when I was doing all my other up grades.
 
Thought that a larger hd would have solved it. A small 80gig hd doesn't cut it when your wife wants to play her games and you have a business to run as well. Maybe I will get both. that would make my Yule.
 
My thought on why your comp was bogging down is two things. One you might need a larger hd. and two you might want to think about a general upgrade.
 
But as friend of mine says, there is always a need for speed.
When it comes to gaming this is very true.
My unsolicited two cents

[AndyB]

Thanks for your thoughts. Interesting facts here.

I've now copied back my Downloads and Defaults and have under 1 Gig. Now I am stuck with a problem where I need help:

there's hundreds of files with only numbers as filename, without any description. I load them into DownlOrganis or SimPE and still can't identify what they are. Also, in the CAS, the SIM files, i.e. complete figures like celebrities don't have any info when the mouse is on them.

Any pointer how I can put picture and filename together?

Oh, here's an added dimension: some come as "default" skin with "default" clothes, so there's something missing. But how the #$!@*&)!$% do I find out what it is and what is missing? Orphan scan is 0.

With increasing frustration..........

[miros1]

Sorry, but whoever programmed this thing, should be punished for it. They should be forced to delete 10Gigs of files by use of bs only. Lots of high polycounts items. On a low end machine. On their own time *evillaugh*.

That's a design feature, created by someone who doesn't like custom content.