Empty Packages?

[summer_wine]

I was cleaning up my downloads folder and i found a lot of empty packages. i think i have close a hundred. most of them are duplicates. and the dates were all around the same time i started having crashes every time i use a custom lot

can anyone tell me what they are? can i delete them? are they causing my downloaded lots to crash?

i have attached some pictures for your perusal. thank you!

*attached image removed*

[Witchboy]

Hi Summer Yes it is safe to delete them. I'm not sure how or why they are created. Also im not sure about them being able to crash your game.

Someone else here might be able to explain what they are or how they get created.

*Hint Hint Yakov* :wave: :love3:

[summer_wine]

i put them in a folder and took them out of my downloads folder and my custom lot worked.

i hope someone explains their existence too

[BeosBoxBoy]

from time to time, Sims2Pack Clean Installer will suffer from a sort of brain malfunction that causes it to make empty files.  This happens for two basic reasons, the in-game lot exporter and Body Shop's Sim exporter are buggy beasts that don't always transcribe all the necessary data to the TOC (table of contents) in the Sims2Pack... the second reason is witchcraft (or at least that's what I call it).

First, let's all admit that The Sims 2 and all its ancillary add-ons are the largest assortment of bugs and lacklustre coding ever passed off as non-beta software since the release of Windows Millennium Edition. Once we accept this as fact, we are prepared to think about this logically.

The reason that the TOC gets buggered in lots is easy to explain, EA simply underestimated the number of downloaded and self-made custom content Simmers might have in their Downloads folder, so they made the data chunk for the TOC far too small and inflexible, so you end up with a TOC that is truncated (a big part of the full list is chopped off) resulting in a damaged TOC, resulting in a doomed Sims2Pack.  This is especially true of the Pets EP and later.

Body Shop created Sims2Packs are the devil's toolbox.  If you have certain default replacement packages (e.g., Windkeeper's underwear replacement) or certain mods/hacks (e.g. anything that allows you to see and use otherwise hidden content in Body Shop or might be useful for getting your Sim to hold some in-game object like a coffee mug for film-making); and you then export the Sim using SimPE for sharing, well... things can get weird and God alone knows what might happen depending on which EP or SP you have installed.

Then we have to consider Sims2Pack Clean Installer itself.  It is an imperfect little thing.  It operates in a small portion of RAM and may very well bugger up for no reason at all.  I have seen it re-save a lot with all empty packages 8 or 9 times in a row, then suddenly save it as it should.  Can't tell you why.  So I say witchcraft.

S2PCI is a useful tool, but it has severe limitations, limitations that become too apparent from extended use of the software.  It has not been properly updated or seen regular maintenance.  I don't want to sound ungrateful, but it is typical of the sort of work one sees in gaming communities, works but is flawed and abandonned by the original developer.

I use both Sims2Pack Clean Installer and Delphy's Download Organiser to identify potentially troublesome files, but I don't believe they are "bad" files until I open them with SimPE.  Why?  because all three are alpha or beta software, and albeit they are largely reliable, they don't always tell us the facts we need to know to make an informed decision about deleting a file. Thus, I only delete files after I find all three bits of software in agreement.