Photos disappearing (and other odd things)

[SeleneMoon]

This is gonna be a little long, probably.
I have Uni, NL, OFB, and Seasons. My OS is 10.4.9... uh... I don't know what else would be helpful, so if you want to know anything else as far as specs, ask and I'll look.

My main issue is that none of my photos for one of my neighborhoods (maybe both, actually, I haven't checked the other) are showing up in-game. They're all still in the Storytelling folder for that neighborhood, they just don't show up in-game. Since I'm in the middle of a Legacy that I'm writing a story for, this has me a little (lot) freaked out. I haven't tried loading the game without CC yet, because I didn't think that could affect photos, but I'll probably try that tomorrow.

Now for the other issues I've been having that might have triggered this. I've been having trouble with the game crashing while loading a neighborhood, and sims (character files, to be precise) disappearing in that process. I constantly back up my neighborhood, so usually I can restore it without much trouble. I -think- this has to do with the file limit thing that's been talked about lately, but I'm not completely sure.
Anyway, this happened -again- just before I realized that all my picture were gone - but I think that the pictures were gone before this happened the latest time and I just hadn't realized it. (I was looking at the pictures in Neighborhood view, before this, and they weren't showing up then, and I just thought it was cos I was in Neighborhood view.)

The other problem I've been having seems to be sparked by various CC files. It makes my lots disappear - that is, they show up in the lot bin and all the already existing lots are still there, but if I try to place a lot from the bin, it shows up as an empty lot and if I try to build a new lot or change an existing one, the changes don't save. I can't quite figure out what causes this, but it's something in my CC folder (because when I take it out it goes back to normal.)

Uh, so, that's my litany of thing that are screwy with my game. Can anyone contribute advice, other than "delete your CC, reinstall, and get a better computer"?

[BeosBoxBoy]

there is a limit to the number of images you can have - it seems to be different for everyone, so I won't try to guess a number here.

also there may be one or more XML documents in the storytelling folder ("webentry_00000001.xml" for instance) this is used mainly for stories you might upload to the Exchange -- this also plays any role in indexing the images for your "family albums"

Some in game snap shots end up in the old storytelling folder (outside the neighbourhood folders with Downloads and SavedSims) - typically, these are screencaptures taken on community lots and in Create A Family, sometimes screen captures taken in Build or Buy mode end up here (usually on un-occupied lots).

I am un-certain where snapshots taken during holidays in Bon Voyage are stored - not the ones the sims take with camera, but the ones you get by pressing C in-game.

Check the following folder to see if your missing snapshots are there:

~Home/your user name/Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2/Storytelling

in this folder tree your user name usually appears somewhere, the root folder may have a custom name if you gave it one

[SeleneMoon]

Actually, it's turned out to be a problem CC file after all. Sort of. I started my game back up, and the photos were there. Then I looked at the lot bin to see if the problem with the lots not showing up had been fixed. It hadn't, and when I went to look at my pictures again, they were gone.
So the CC file was making the lots not work properly, which was making my pictures disappear every time I looked at the lot bin, I guess. So it's just a matter of finding the file. :\

Thanks for the help anyway! You guys can lock this thread or whatever you do here now.

[FyrDragon]

What type of CC file was causing your problems?  I've had the same problems recently after downloading a couple Sims and a couple of lots.  My photos weren't showing up and then sometimes when I went back in the game I had the same problem of placing a lot and having it show up empty!