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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 4th Dec 2016 at 9:07 PM
Default Game Suddenly Won't Load, Suggestions?
Hi, I've been having a bit of an issue here.
My Sims 3 game has usually been pretty fantastic for me. It loads pretty quickly, everything runs smootly for the most part. I never had any major issues with my sims games before. Even being that I have almost all the expansions and I have at least 200 mods working in the game.

Well, a little over a week ago, I downloaded about 20 more mods. They were all package files, little ones like hair and sliders and such. (I don't have any mods that affect the deep core scripts in the game.) Well, I tried loading my game after that, and I noticed that it didn't really work. I've been trying to start a new game, and I cannot seem to get the world to load. It loads pretty quickly on the first loading screen, but the second one (where you get you find the objects for lifetime happiness points) doesn't load fast anymore. In fact, I haven't been able to get into the game at all!
I waited about an hour, and it stopped halfway through. So I went away from my computer, and I came back, and it was STILL loading for 8 HOURS. The odd thing was that it was indeed almost done loading. Which means my game isn't frozen, it just wants to load for over 8 hours... and I'm not doing that.
So I assumed that one of the mods I recently downloaded was one of the culprits. I couldn't remember which ones I had downloaded, so I decided I would do a virus scan on all of the package files I had. No viruses. So then, I thought I'd clear out all my cache and start off fresh and such, but it still hasn't worked.
What else can I do? I don't want to have to delete all my mods and get them all again... that would be such a pain... but I do believe one of the mods must be causing this issue. Any suggestions and help would be seriosuly appreciated... I would like to play the sims again!
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#2 Old 4th Dec 2016 at 10:18 PM
First, get Delphy's Dashboard. http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=387006
Extract it into its own folder somewhere (mine is in Documents) and use the .exe to run it. Scan your entire Mods folder with it.
Note that it will probably find some files that it says are conflicts, but which really are not. There is a tutorial about how to interpret Dashboard "conflicts," but I can't find it right now. The ones to really worry about are the conflicts in script mods, sliders, etc. unless one of the files is in Overrides and the other in Packages. The override is intended to conflict with the package, because it's changing the behavior by editing the same resource.
You can also get rid of Sims 2 files, corrupt packages, empty packages, and duplicate files with it, as well as clear your caches. It was made well before Sims 4, so I have no idea what it says about a Sims 4 file, but it would probably call it corrupt. It's a useful utility, even though it might not help in this case.

Now backup your save(s.) Move your Mods folder out of the game temporarily, and clear the caches.
If it works (which it probably will) put the Mods folder back in, and take out half of your packages. Hair, skins, and clothing are unlikely to be a problem, so they can stay in. Sliders and tuning mods can be a problem, so they need to be part of the test. If you have Error Trap or Overwatch, they need to stay in, but if you've got the right version for your patch level they aren't likely to be causing the problem.

Testing can be simplified by making a Working Folder somewhere convenient and putting everything that needs testing into it.
Clear caches and add half of your CC to Packages. Test. Keep dividing your Working Folder of CC that needs testing in half and testing half of it.

When the test works, the stuff you just added stays in Packages while you leave the other half in the Working Folder. When it fails, take out whatever you just added, put it into the working folder, and take everything that had been in the working folder and add it to Packages. (A process which can be simplified by making folders that hold what is going to be moved, as long as things end up in the right spot when you've finished.)

Eventually you will get down to one file that fails. You've found the bad one.

I am Ghost. My husband is sidneydoj. I post, he downloads, and I wanted to keep my post count.
Group for Avatar Makers* Funny Stories *2017 Yearbook
Top Secret Researcher
#3 Old 4th Dec 2016 at 11:23 PM Last edited by barbarat : 4th Dec 2016 at 11:48 PM.
Here is the link to the Dashboard info Ghost sdoj mentioned. Understanding Mods Conflicts and Delphy's Dashboard by Nona Mena
Mad Poster
#5 Old 5th Dec 2016 at 4:27 AM
Quote: Originally posted by nitromon
hehe it always makes me smile when I read people waited 8 yrs to save or load a game. Why? Why would you do that!

For the same reason that, before GPS devices became so common, some of us would walk or drive in the same direction for hours when we got lost. What we were looking for might just have been over the next hill, and if we turned around we would never know it.
Site Helper
#7 Old 5th Dec 2016 at 2:38 PM
Quote: Originally posted by igazor
For the same reason that, before GPS devices became so common, some of us would walk or drive in the same direction for hours when we got lost. What we were looking for might just have been over the next hill, and if we turned around we would never know it.


To this day, I think the term "lostmark" should be a word. I use them all the time. A lostmark is similar to a landmark, but it tells you when you have gotten lost again.
"If you see the library while looking for WalMart, you're lost. Turn around." "If you see that big white building next to the 7-11, you are lost. The only thing past that is the bad section of town."

And if your game is taking more than half an hour to get past that final 1/8 inch on the loading bar, it's hung up on something.

But the only way to develop a lostmark is to be lost in the same spot a few times so you can learn the scenery.

I am Ghost. My husband is sidneydoj. I post, he downloads, and I wanted to keep my post count.
Group for Avatar Makers* Funny Stories *2017 Yearbook
Test Subject
Original Poster
#8 Old 11th Dec 2016 at 4:26 PM
I'm so happy. I tried and downloaded the Delphy's Dashboard thing and it said it found two filed that were corrupted or whatever. So I deleted them and bam... I loaded my game and it was done in about 5 minutes or so! All my other mods work just fine in the game. And the culprit? Some custom content for a CURTAIN! Lol. Well now that's deleted I can go on about playing my Sims 3 again. Thanks so much for the help!!! :D
Site Helper
#9 Old 11th Dec 2016 at 5:30 PM
I'm glad it worked! Have fun!

Edit: Now we all have each button clicked. (Except for the last 2 posts, but I'm sure the random disagreer will fix that soon.)

I am Ghost. My husband is sidneydoj. I post, he downloads, and I wanted to keep my post count.
Group for Avatar Makers* Funny Stories *2017 Yearbook
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