Not sure if this is the right place to ask for help.

I don't know much about mods and hacks and things, but I have been downloading customs content from Mod The Sims for quite some time and I have had no real issues. But I do have this one problem where the stove that you use to open your own restaurant from Open for Business has been replaced by a seemingly custom one. The problem with this is that there is a permanent chef cooking on it that always burns the food. I can never assign my own chef to the stove anymore.
I wouldn't have downloaded this on purpose, so I was thinking maybe it came in something else I downloaded, like a lot or something?
Is there anyway I can find the object, hack, mod or whatever it might be and delete it? Or if I delete the stove in the game, will the original be gone too?
If anyone has any ideas about how I can fix it, that would be awesome!
Thanks :D

You could try to find it by building a lot with that stove on it, and then package the lot and then look at it with clean installer. The lot could have nothing on it but the stove. Clean Installer would be able to tell you the name of the package that the stove is in, then you should be able to find it in your downloads to delete it.

If you don't already have it, here's clean installer: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=409950
It is a great tool for only installing the content you want when you download a lot and for helping find duplicate packages in a large downloads folder.

Edit: I had no idea that the words Clean Installer would auto link - good to know for the future, and thank you to whoever set that up.

Could be an object where the creator forgot to change the GUID, and it overwrites the original one. Those objects can sometimes be a bit tricky to find, and don't always follow lots. I've got one such object that suddenly has started to replace some ingame object, so whenever something is missing from ingame, I get a bunch of CC clothing piles randomly spread about.

If it doesn't show up in the clean installer, take a picture and post it here. Chances are someone can help you locate it.

You need to use the Help section.

Thank you! I will try that! :D

Hi,
Thanks for this, I put the stove on an empty lot and packaged it, opened it with the clean installer.
So I'm looking through the Clean Installer and there's a whole bunch of files with really lot sets of letters and numbers but they all seem to be recolours of the mailbox.
Then there's the stove, it's called Tempest Cooktop from Cuas, which I'm assuming is the original because I can't find it in my downloads.
Then there's also loverat-maxiscommunitycooker-medieval which is a recolour. I deleted that just in case that was the problem, but it didn't change anything.
So I don't know what else to try. And I also don't really know what I'm looking for.
Do you have any other suggestions?
Thanks again :D

Yes, with a default, you wouldn't get the package in the Sims2File for the lot - and thus visible in Clean Installer. I think you need to do a 50-50. I'd also get rid of all those mailboxes if I were you - unless you use them, of course. The likelihood is you got them from downloading other people's lots (a risk always) and they pack up en mass into any lot with a mailbox you package.

Couldn't they run a GUID check in simpe?

One more thing ... if you do a 50/50, do it on a COPY. Once you find the culprit, change the file in the original. I'm not sure if you have custom NPCs, such as custom PTs, or if anyone put a custom NPC in a lot file (it's very rare, but it has happened). Rename your original for now, and change it back when you're done and have discarded your copy. I tend to be over-careful and even make another copy before I try anything, which I temporarily use as a backup copy until I make another scheduled backup in the future (always wise to make game backups, anyway). I put that copy away from the game in a special folder, and can change the file or files in it as well once I've finished testing.

In my experience, when an item is replaced by another, it's usually a CC item, so the stove in the game oughtn't disappear. 50/50s can be more time-consuming, if anything. If you're really worried, you could run a vanilla game first, though that's usually reserved if you really can't find the naughty item in question after a 50/50. (I do it more often than I usually admit, however. I find starting vanilla first easier for me, though I really, really doubt it's easier for anyone else!)

But the good news is that even if this stove is an extremely-rare problem child and does something strange during a 50/50, you still have the original game, just in case. You haven't touched that, other than to rename it. Even if you do what a certain silly person here did (looks really red-faced right now), even if you accidentally messed up the original, you still have an untouched copy away from the game.

Of course, if you CAN check the GUID, that would save a whole lot of hassle. But it's probably good to back up the game, anyway.

Always do your testing in a hood that you do not care about just in case you take something out that will cause corruption.

Post a picture of the object in question - maybe someone recognizes it and can help you find it. A picture usually gives more information than a long explanation

So to update all my helpers, thank you.

I have been trying to check the GUID. I haven't ever downloaded or used Sim PE before, so I was trying to do that but it seems my computer will not allow me to download the required things. Or I could just have very little idea what I'm doing haha So I don't think I'll be doing that.

As for the 50/50, that sounds a little scary and complicated for my skill and knowledge level.

I think for now, I'm just going to put up with it and maybe one day I will be brave enough to try a 50/50.

So thank you guys for all your help and suggestions :D

(Third time's the charm?) How about putting up a picture, so we can help you find the item?

@Mystie17 Put up a picture like simmer22 suggests.

Ok, so I went into my game and took some snapshots of the stove.
Not sure if these pictures are helpful? Is there anything in particular I need a picture of that might help you identify it?

Thanks.

Just to let you know the Clean Installer can be use to scan your downloads folder and find duplicated mods/items of cc.

So far the color code that I remember is red are BHAV that change something in the game and can let you know what the mod/object name is to look up what it does.
Pink are duplicated and you can right click on them and delete them with clean installer.

As one who has done more 50/50s than I can count, it's really more annoying than scary.

One caveat, no matter which method you use: Back up your current game. Put in on the desktop, put it in a folder outside the game ... just always have it on-hand in case you mess up. It's your safety net. I cannot emphasize the importance of making a copy, since I've learned the hard way why a direct 50/50 isn't always a good idea. When you're done, fix the version you haven't touched and use that version, whether you test on the copy or your current game.

If you're really wondering if this is a CC issue (or even if you aren't ... I often do this while testing in general), start the game vanilla after you've backed up. (ALWAYS back up!) Rename your current game. A simple "The Sims 2aaa" will do. Let the game re-generate stuff. Make a custom hood in the vanilla game if you don't want to deal with the Maxis hoods. Make a lot (it could be just a field ... we're not going for pretty at this point!), create a Sim, plop the Sim and the stove on the lot. Is that stove OK now? Then it's a CC issue.

That is the restaurant stove from NL, probably updated in OFB to support owned restaurants. A chef will usually be spawned with that one in the house, if you don't set up the restaurant properly. I got the unpleasant surprise when I suddenly discovered what I thought was an abandoned restaurant on a home hospital lot turned out to be a fully functioning one with waiters and everything (though no customers). Deleting the stove removed the NPCs too. Deleting the NPCs might work, but you have to set 3 sims to fill their positions. You can try to pause the game, delete the stove, place a new one, and set the workers before a NPC is spawned.

Some info here: http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Restaurant

You might also get some clues from these videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAF9qxXGNFg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=falgSViOlpE

It could simply be you're doing the process wrong.

It could also be that you've downloaded a hack that influences how the stove works. In that case you'll need to do 50/50, or search for related words. You really should put hacks in a separate folder as far as possible, so you don't mix them with your other CC. Hacks are the most likely to cause trouble, particularly if they're not updated to your combo of EPs. If you've added a hack made before OFB that influences the stove, chances are the hack won't be compatible.

I think we forgot what the item was. Have you searched your computer for 'Tempest Cooktop from Cuas' or just Tempest or stove?
If a custom one replaced it a GUID search should find it. If you are having trouble getting SimPE to work I would make a separate post about that.

I've used this stove before and it has been perfectly fine. I think I've set it up properly, as far as I can tell.
Since it has been doing this, the icon in buy mode has the little CC symbol, so that seems like it's been replaced maybe?

I have tried deleting the chef that shows up, but he just keeps respawning. So would you suggest trying to delete him and then before pressing play, try and assign my own chef?

Is it possible to download a hack with something else? By accident? Because I don't know why I would download a hack on purpose to make it mess up my stove.

With separating hacks, how is the best way to do that? Can I make a folder within my downloads folder? Is that how it works? Because at the moment. everything I've ever downloaded is just all in the downloads folder.

Thanks @simmer22

I have searched my downloads folder for words such as those and there has been no results.

Thanks @joandsarah77

I would run a GUID scan in simpe. http://modthesims.info/wiki.php?tit...:GUID_Conflicts

@marka93
So I'm trying what you suggested and have found the following things:
Pink - mostly empty packages. I can delete these?
Red - mailbox? Sticky Mango Bush (which I googled and can't find), alfixes behaviour mod from 2008, Bird cage close when done pets behabiour mod, stairs nouveau recolorable, chic stairs relcolorable, recessed sash window long diagonal, perfect plants behaviour mod, tv watching mog behaviour mod, hacked still life painting to max needs. Do you think these might be effecting the stove?
Blue - incomplete bodyshop project. No idea where these came from, I don't even use bodyshop.

Thanks @ joandsarah77

I'll keep trying to get SimPE to work.

Is this in Clean Installer?
Pink = duplicate packages
Red = mod or modded item.

Alfixes is not really needed since the AL patch.