Insimenator.org

Okay, I finally bought Nightlife (used, in good condition), and decided to install it in my game. Naturally, being the ever-so intelligent person I am, I didn't back up any of my save files, thinking, "this is going to work. We've never had any problems with the base game, so Nightlife should install pefectly and work like a charm!"

If I ever think anything like that about the Sims ever again, I am going to shoot myself.

First of all, when I love up the game, it pulls up a list of all the custom content it doesn't like, saying that it "may cause issues within the game." List of things include Exnem's Tonberry doll, some custom foods, a lot of stuff from 4ESF, some stuff from Maxis themselves, and Numenor's toybox mod, and it says that they "override semi-global." This normally wouldn't bother me much, but here's where the massive amount of suck comes in.

It fubared a custom house I downloaded and had in my neighborhood after I clicked on the lot, making so whenever I looked at in from the neighborhood screen, there was blue stuff where the glass should be, and it froze. I demolished the house so I could enter that neighborhood, and it didn't seem to affect the Maxis house I went into, though.

When I go into Downtown, there are a bunch of visual artifacts (I think my term might be right), and if I don't move the cursor, it does fine. When I do move it, it lags to hell, then pastel green dots appear all over the grass, and it crashes.

This is most unnerving, you see, especially because I shot myself in the foot when it comes to my saved games. Does anyone, and I mean ANYONE know what might be going on? I have massive amounts of custom content (I stopped counting at 4 GIG), so I know that could also be a factor.

...please help me. I feel like a dumbass, if you'll excuse my language (it sums up how I feel). I would love you guys forever if you could offer me some advice, or at least condolences if I have to uninstall the game. In the mean time, I am going to beat up CPUs in Brawl to release my frustration.

you're sure everything you downloaded is COMPATIBLE with the EP's you've got? read carefully through what it says where you download things.

second - did you download meshes?

third: (again) the hacks might not be compatible with the EP's you've got. if something "overrides semi-global" then you have to be extra careful with it.

fourth: houses/sims often needs a certain EP to work.

fifth: download the sims2pack clean installer and install houses/sims... with that. hacks can sometimes follow houses, and these stray hacks will show up red.

there is definitely some custom content problems in your game. (at least if the game works normal without any CC)

1. I don't know if everything I have is compatible with Nightlife, because I just installed Nightlife. I'm assuming not, because it crashes.

2. Yes, I did. All the content I downloaded had meshes.

3. My hacks include: Bodyshop lighting, Numenor's Toybox mod, Squinge's pregnancy mod, and some custom food.

4. I know that. That house was base-game compatible.

5. I don't have that, and I've never had any problems with downloaded houses that weren't base game compatible.

I have no idea if it works fine with the CC, because my neighborhoods are dependant upon CC.

Excuse the double post, but I fired up the game just now, and I noticed something odd.

For example, stuff that I downloaded specifically from Maxis (like the Run with Scissors playset) are coming up as "overrides semi-global", but not the two custom careers I have (the Gamer and Acting careers from Sims Life Stories that someone took from the game).

Everything from 4ESF is coming up, too, like their latest "Cottage" set.

A lot of things that have never displayed in my game (like foods) are now displaying, but the game says they "override semi-global."

This is confusing the crap out of me.

The screen that pops up when you start your game is very misleading.  I turn it off as soon as I install a new EP/SP because it really serves no purpose other than to put the fear of God into unknowing players.

Most global mods/hacks will override the game's semi-globals.  This is by design.  If they didn't override, the mod wouldn't work.  Object hacks do this by design also to add or subtract functionality to the object.  Some object creators began by copying the semi globals and attaching them to their custom object, got used to that method and continued to do it.  One advantage is that object may not be subjected to pets destroying it.  One disadvantage is that object will not pick up new interactions introduced by subsequent EPs and SPs.  

In general, custom objects that haven't been hacked are safe to use in all EPs.  It's just a matter of whether you can live without new interactions.

Hacked objects and global mods need to be checked with each new EP/SP and removed until the mod/hack is known to be compatible.  The creator is the best bet for the final word, but you can put one in your game and test it yourself.

There are 3 things that I don't download because they are rarely updated for the new stuff: careers, university majors, and foods.  Careers and majors have been known to bork unexpected areas of the gameplay when used with EPs they weren't designed with.  The only creator of foods that I've had any trust in is Exnem, but with the changes introduced by Seasons and Free Time, I don't know if they are still working as they should.  This isn't to say that your careers, majors, and foods are a problem for you, but when you do have really weird problems, look at these objects early.

Well, I'm going to remove every last bit of custom food, careers, and mods until I know how the game will react, and put back the 4esf furniture, because my houses mostly use it, and because it's been the only furniture that's never caused problems for me in the past. I'm going to also remove Mary Lou's buffet table, just in case.

Do you know of anything right off the bat that can cause Nightlife to crash? I can list the mods I have in the game, because it's a relatively short list.

...excuse the double post again, but I seem to have found the problem.

EAGames, that big-hearted, user-friendly company that it is, never puts minimun system requirements on the ACTUAL BOX, and instead I had to find out via MTS2 and confirm it on their website that they do not support ATI 7x00 cards any more with this expansion. And mine is a ATI Raedeon 7200.

I am going to go cry for awhile.

^ :( thypical EA. I think we gamers know a lot more about the game than the makers themselves sometimes.