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Mad Poster
Original Poster
#1 Old 25th Feb 2017 at 9:13 PM Last edited by gazania : 28th Feb 2017 at 8:56 PM.

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 3, World Adventures, Ambitions, Late Night, Generations, Pets, Showtime, Seasons, University Life
Default Floating head, feet, shoes, bracelet for an outfit... and nothing else. SOLVED. (Finally!)
I think I did the steps I was supposed to, but at this point, my head is spinning.

I have a piece of clothing in the woman's Everyday section of CAS that ... well ... isn't there. The body part is gone.

Back in Sims 2 days, that meant a missing mesh, but I don't think it's that in Sims 3. Or is it?

Now I was a foolish old lass back in the early days of my Sims 3 adventure in 2015, and did not convert Sims3pack files to package files. I realize the error of my ways now. As a result, my DCCache file is full of Sims 3 goodies, many from TSR (in all fairness, though, I generally check to see if these installed correctly after downloading) and like sources. This problem definitely is not a package issue. I've done the 50/50 with the packages, and the offending item has a Store icon, which indicates a Sims3Pack item. I can't find anything of use in in the Launcher to easily pick out. The clothing that's listed there is fine. The outfit is NOT listed on any "Bad CC Content" list, though honestly, it's hard to keep track of it. But I don't recall seeing anything I downloaded on there.

I have no idea when this invisible outfit appeared. I didn't think I saw it earlier, but checking the dates I installed Sims 3 packs will not help here. Figures. That would be too easy. I tried the Crinrict tutorial here: http://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2011/0...om-content.html. My Sim is packaged without her body in Everyday. i used the Extractor to find the packages. I see three of them. One is a pair of shoes that work fine, so no worries there.

Two files are left. How hard is it to find offending content with two files?

Well ... it might be harder than I thought! First of all, my Preview has Off/Hex/Preview on the bottom. No value. I don't think this has anything to do with anything, but I thought I'd mention that.

Secondly, one file has the sportswear, which wasn't the problem. At least, I don't think it is. No ICON or THUM to check in there, though.

That leaves the other one. I see the ICON for the entire Sim, but not the clothing. That might be my Saved Sim, and deleting her isn't going to help!

I have been deleting those four files you're supposed to delete constantly, so I don't think it's that. What essential thing am I missing? Or will I have to see that bodyless outfit for as long as I play this game?

Also, I think I read this correctly, but are you permitted to delete duplicates in Downloads? I think you can. That could save some much-needed space.

Am I missing something really important here? Constructive scolding is OK if I didn't do something I should have, as long as I'm pointed in the right direction. Thanks

EDIT. I've read this could be associated with Monte Vista? I've been reading of certain fixes for files on another site.

But no clothes are listed here, and I got Monte Vista legitimately. I do see a Store Fixes link somewhere. Was a missing outfit in Monte Vista part of the Store Fixes?

Thanks to ALL free-site creators, admins and mods.

RIP Sunni ... truly a ray of light.
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Department of Post-Mortem Communications
#2 Old 26th Feb 2017 at 12:58 AM
Just to make sure that I understood you correctly. The invisible outfit is in CAS and you can choose it and give it to a Sim, right?
And it shows the Store icon (the little bag) and not the pink asterisk one?

There are two ways how you may have got it: Either it came as a sims3pack and you just couldn't find it in the Launcher, or it came with a Sim/Lot/Household you downloaded somewhere, which means that it doesn't necessarily turn up in the Launcher because it's tied to that Sim/Lot/Household.

In order to narrow it down you can do a few things:
(1) Empty the SavedSims and Library folders and check whether the item is still in CAS. If it isn't then the item came with a Sim/Lot/Household.
(1)a You can do the 50/50 approach with both the SavedSims and Library folder like with packages in Mods to find the Sim/Lot/Household in question.
(2) If the item is still in-game then chances are that it is hidden in the DCCache files. You can do something like the 50/50 approach there too but it is a bit more complicated and may require you to rename files. So I recommend to make a full copy of the DCCache folder first and work with that copy in a fresh user folder.
(2)a First open the copy of the DCCache folder and place all files ending in .dbc in the DCCache folder of your new user folder, start a test game and check whether the item is in the game. *.dbc files are third party downloads, not Store. If it is not in there, do the same with all files ending in .ebc. These are Store files.
(2)b After you've narrowed it down to either Store or 3rd party files comes the more complicated part. If you've got more than one .dbc or .ebc file you can test these individually, but it may be necessary to rename them before you can place them in the DCCache folder for testing. Let's say you want to check a file called dbc7.dbc and place it in DCCache and the game does not recognise it when you start your test game rename it to dbc0.dbc and it should show up.
Check each ebc/dbc individually to find the one that contains your broken item. If you found it check whether you can see it in the Launcher now and try to uninstall it. If this was successful rename the ebc/dbc to what it was before and use it as a replacement for your original ebc/dbc file that is still in your old user folder (keep the old one as a backup in case anything goes wrong)

As regards the Monte Vista problem. As far as I recall it affects two hairs from Monte Vista that a later patch caused to disappear, the female updo, in any case, and possibly the male hair with the straw hat. The fix for that is in the Store patch.
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#3 Old 26th Feb 2017 at 9:27 AM Last edited by gazania : 26th Feb 2017 at 9:47 AM.
Good news, I guess, is that I found right away that the content in question is third-party content. I have only the one .dbc folder. As far as I know I can't go in there and read it (I did try. newb that I am!) I have two .ebc folders.

I've looked several times to make sure I'm reading your message correctly, and that I'm looking in DCCache ... not anywhere else.

Either I'm mega-lucky and found the culprit immediately, or I'm doing something bone-headed again. I would not rule out the latter.

My .dbc folder is 162 MB. From what I'm reading ... and please tell me directly if I'm wrong, rather than hit the "disagree" ... the game generates other folders once you hit 200 MB or so, I guess I'm lucky I don't have downloads folder the size of those in my Sims 2 ... yet ... but now how do I find where in that 162 MB of gaming goodness is the file that's making my life miserable?

I tried removing the .ebc folders and put the .dbc folder back in there, thinking that perhaps without the Store content, I could find the culprit. Big mistake. The Launcher didn't read ANY of it save the lots, even when I put the folder I copied to desktop back in there. I tried renumbering, but that didn't work either, so I guess I muffed that up. Fortunately, I put my Sims 3 backup file nestled in my game backup folder in there, so now everything's back, including the offender. Great, I guess.

I can see why people created package files for Sims 3. Egads, this is frustrating!

Thanks to ALL free-site creators, admins and mods.

RIP Sunni ... truly a ray of light.
Instructor
#4 Old 26th Feb 2017 at 10:31 AM Last edited by Blyss : 26th Feb 2017 at 9:22 PM.
So if I understood where you are, you could identify that the problematic piece of clothing is in the .DBC file, right?

If you want, you can open .DBC files with S3PE.
Open S3PE. Drag and drop the .DBC file you want to open (it might ask if you want to Auto-save, just say no).

Now that you have a way of exploring inside those files, we can try to find more info about that piece of clothing.

If you have Nraas MasterController:
1) Go in game and into Edit in CAS (via MasterController if you don't have the Integration module).
2) Once in CAS Right-click on the outfit that doesn't appear right when you see it.
3) When you right-click, a notification window should open at the right of the screen. Edit: Or it should? For some reason, it didn't show anything for me just now, haha.
4) In there, you see some information about the CAS item. One of those will be the Instance Number.
5) And if like me, you don't see a notification, go to your Documents > The Sims 3 folder. Look for the most recent "ScriptError" file (XML) you see. Open it in Notepad or another text editor. There, you'll see the Instance number, that you can copy.
6) You can quit the game after all that.

Now back in S3PE, we will try to search for the outfit using the Instance Number we just wrote down as a our "keyword".
1) At the bottom, you see some boxes. Tick the "Filter Active" and "Instance" boxes. Write/Copy the Instance Number of your glitchy CAS item. Click on "Set".
2) Open the .DBC/.EBC file in S3PE.
3) If the outfit is in there, you should now have one CASP file in the list. Maybe you'll be lucky and the CASP file might be named? Maybe there's also a thumbnail (THUM), that could help identify it?

If you can identify the clothing and still have the individual Sims3packs somewhere, it is easy removing it.
But maybe, let's go step by step and before going into that, try the different suggestions above and tell us how it goes?
Department of Post-Mortem Communications
#5 Old 26th Feb 2017 at 11:02 AM
You said that you put back the dbc folder into the DCCAche folder. If that's the case then this is the reason why its content didn't show up in the game anymore. .dbc/.ebc files have to be loose in the DCCache folder. It does not support subfolders.

@Blyss By default S3PE cannot open ebc (Store) files. They are encrypted. And the right-click method of MasterController only works with package files.
Instructor
#6 Old 26th Feb 2017 at 12:01 PM
Of course, you're right @Don Babilon, thanks for the precision. I just never got out of my decrapify-ing habits, back when I couldn't get Store items to install, so I didn't mention it, as it is kinda my own default.
As for the right-click with MasterController method, it does create a ScriptError, even with Sims3pack (as I was doing in parallel of writing). You just don't get a notification, that must be it? But you can get the information, so that's what counts, I suppose?
Department of Post-Mortem Communications
#7 Old 26th Feb 2017 at 2:52 PM
I just took that info from the NRass site regarding the righ-click thing, so, good that it works nevertheless somehow.
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#8 Old 26th Feb 2017 at 5:43 PM Last edited by gazania : 26th Feb 2017 at 7:11 PM.
No .... I was trying NOT to be wordy and failed at communication. I foolishly (?) followed what I used to to with Sims 2. Made a full backup of Sims 3 and put it in a game backup folder I use for Sims 2, 3 and 4. Made a full copy of the DCCache for the desktop. Took out the file in the game and put it to desktop to test. Looked at the Launcher. Couldn't find anything but the ebc and package files. Duh ... of course. I took OUT the dbc file, silly goose! Tried taking out the ebc files instead and putting the dbc file back in. Saw ONLY package files. Took out the entire folder and replaced it what I thought was the untouched copy on the desktop. Got nothing but the lots. Panicked and wrote unclear gibberish on here. I'm guessing that I might have removed files in the desktop copy, rather than what I was told to do, or did ... something. I blame myself for my ineptitude. However, using the traditional method, I can't get this file to show up, even when I am doing this correctly.

I didn't renumber the dbc file because it was only one file. Maybe I messed up there. In another effort, after making sure in the game that everything was in there, I tried renumbering the ebc files to force the dbc stuff to come up, since taking them out such as heck didn't work. Got only package files.

It turned out that the folder in the full backup (the one I backed up first and that was not on the desktop) works fine (well, except for the annoying outfit), so I'm breathing a little easier now. I always made a couple of backups while testing in Sims 2 (One on the desktop and one in a backup game folder), and it now looks like a good idea in Sims 3.

The moral of this story, though, is because I most likely have a whole lot more package files than Sims3Pack files (BOY are package files easier!), those and the store files kept overriding my efforts to find the errant dbc file. And the file in question is a dbc file. So that's good. It's not store content. It's poorly-done CC, or maybe this one had a sort of mesh or preliminary download I was supposed to do first. One option I guess I could do is to remove several package folders AND the ebc folders to see if I could flush out the culprit (try to leave essential mods in there, since they are not the problem), but after my misadventure, I'm reluctant to try that, since I did such a good job nearly messing up the Launcher last time.

It's a dbc file. It's taunting me. And now I'm more super-annoyed than upset. Maybe that emotion will work better .

I do know about the Sims 3 installer (well, now I do) and decrapifying, and have been looking into the latter. I delightfully change every Sims 3 pack to package files when I can now. But these downloads were from my earlier days. I was so green starting this game that I didn't even know about the fixed hoods. Well, not much I can do about that now. Play the two I have until they explode or I get tired of them.

I can try S3PE, I guess, since the offender is NOT a Store Item, thankfully? I guess the worse it can do would be to not work.

EDIT ... Yup. The illustrious Don is correct. This doesn't work with package files.

Honestly, I feel like this content is now an errant cockroach, and just as evasive.

I'll try the alternative methods and if those don't work, I'll try removing all packages but the errant mods and THEN try to remove the ebc files. This little cockroach is not going to go quietly!

Thanks to ALL free-site creators, admins and mods.

RIP Sunni ... truly a ray of light.
Department of Post-Mortem Communications
#9 Old 26th Feb 2017 at 7:05 PM
Okay, now I am a bit confused. But I guess this is a terminology problem. Maybe we can start from scratch. Could you post a screenshot of the contents of your regular DCCache folder?
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#10 Old 26th Feb 2017 at 7:24 PM Last edited by gazania : 26th Feb 2017 at 7:45 PM.
My image service is being wretched right now, so I'll do it this way ...

I have two ebc files and one dbc file. With only one dbc folder, one would think it would be easy to find this bug. The jpg is below.

And this is what I get when I open the recent XML file in Notepad:

Log CAS Parts

Body Type: FullBody
Instance: 0x1C5900CD3396AFF4
Group: 0x00000000
Ages: YoungAdult, Adult
Genders: Female
Species: Human
Categories: Everyday,Athletic,Career,
Extended: ValidForRandom,
BotPart: False

<InvalidParts>
<Instance>0x1C5900CD3396AFF4</Instance>
<Group>0x00000000</Group>
<Age>YoungAdult</Age>
<Gender>Female</Gender>
<Species>Human</Species>
<Categories>Everyday</Categories>
<WorldTypes>Base</WorldTypes>
</InvalidParts>

Could this be the pest I am seeking? I will open it in sims3pe.

EDIT ... I am feeling super-stoopid here. I checked to make sure the proper boxes were checked, entered the instance number in the instance box (well, it seems logical), hit "set" and nothing is happening. This is the first time I've used sims3pe.
Screenshots

Thanks to ALL free-site creators, admins and mods.

RIP Sunni ... truly a ray of light.
Department of Post-Mortem Communications
#11 Old 26th Feb 2017 at 7:42 PM
Ok, you can open the whole .dbc file in S3PE and search for the 0x1C5900CD3396AFF4 under Tools/Search... Enter 0x1C5900CD3396AFF4 into the top line and change the Little-endian from the left drop-down to Big-endian. Hit the Search button.
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#12 Old 26th Feb 2017 at 7:46 PM Last edited by gazania : 26th Feb 2017 at 8:43 PM. Reason: Instructions. Good to read them. Sorry, Don!
I'll give that a try. But I will add, I need to leave in fifteen minutes and will be out until later in the evening, so if you don't hear from me, it's not as if I've disappeared.

Thanks to ALL free-site creators, admins and mods.

RIP Sunni ... truly a ray of light.
Field Researcher
#13 Old 26th Feb 2017 at 7:58 PM
I haven't read through everything, but in your screenshot I see that the following files are each 2 KB in size. In my experience, if everything is right, those files should be 1 KB each. If you delete them, they should be recreated when you open your game.

dcc.ent (ENT File)
missingdeps.idx (IDX File)
Instructor
#14 Old 26th Feb 2017 at 8:52 PM
So, I just did a bit of gambling and thought that it wouldn't cost me anything to look in my own installed files for the Instance Number you gave us.

And I actually have a match: Athletic Dress (afBodySportsTennis).
It's actually a Store outfit. For me, it came with the Bohemian Garden Set.

Do you have this set or outfit installed? If yes, try reinstalling, maybe?
If not, as mentioned before, some references might have travelled with another download?

But now that I think about it, I think it's one dress, I'd never seen before I installed some Store Fixes. I'll try to look more in depth.
Edit: right, so the dress must have needed that fix, because I have decrapified it (link to MATY). With the fix in, it shows up with no problem.
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#15 Old 26th Feb 2017 at 9:16 PM
Fixed! Thank you Don and Blyss! I'm guessing it traveled with a download. I was quite reckless for a while. I'm checking for the infamous hooker boots I've been reading about even as I'm writing this.

But if this involves a decrapified file, is it a no-no to leave this thread here? I will leave it for a mod's discretion, or will delete this thread myself later.

And it looks like I have some housecleaning to do, per Lee Alee. (Thank you as well!)

Thanks to ALL free-site creators, admins and mods.

RIP Sunni ... truly a ray of light.
Department of Post-Mortem Communications
#16 Old 26th Feb 2017 at 10:23 PM Last edited by Don Babilon : 26th Feb 2017 at 11:55 PM.
Hm, that's one of the problems with decrapified files. They tend to hitch a ride with Sims and lots, something they shouldn't do.

I don't think that this warrants closing the thread, though. A lot of people decrapify their legit Store stuff for one reason or another, and some do it without actually needing to because some instructions that wander through the ether advise decrapifying although most of the time recompressorising would be enough. And then they upload their Sims or lots to the Exchange and spread their decrapified crap, turning innocent downloaders into potential pirates, without knowing it themselves.

As a rule of thumb if you find a Sim on the Exchange or anywhere else that is larger than 500KB or a lot that is larger than 10MB and the creator claims that they are CC free, then the chances are very high that it comes loaded with CC that the creator doesn't even know about.

But anyway, do you know now how to proceed in order to get rid of that dress?
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#17 Old 27th Feb 2017 at 12:55 AM Last edited by gazania : 27th Feb 2017 at 5:15 AM.
I guess you're right. I was just gleeful that I no longer had an invisible body that I forgot this is a store item! I oughtn't keep it. Editing the title of the post now, because it's not exactly solved.

And no ... I'm not quite sure how to get rid of it. Assistance might be needed there, please. This will also be useful in case I accidentally get another hitchhiker.

Thanks to ALL free-site creators, admins and mods.

RIP Sunni ... truly a ray of light.
Department of Post-Mortem Communications
#18 Old 28th Feb 2017 at 10:06 AM Last edited by Don Babilon : 28th Feb 2017 at 9:34 PM.
The quick and dirty way would probably be to simply delete the CASP resource 0x1C5900CD3396AFF4 in dcdb0.dbc with S3PE. The dress would still be in the file but the game would not be able to recognise it anymore. But I wouldn't recommend this.

The other would be to try to delete it with the Launcher.

Make a copy of dcdb0.dbc and place it on your desktop.
Rename your The Sims 3 folder in Documents\ElectronicArts to something like The Sims3_old or something similar.
Start the game. This will create a new The Sims 3 folder in Documents/Electronic Arts. This one will be completely clean.
Quit the game again, open the new The Sims 3 folder and put the copy of dcdb0.dbc into the DCCache folder.
Start the Launcher and search for the dress, now that you know what it is called, Athletic Dress, and know what it should look like.
Tick the check box and hit Uninstall.
Quit the Launcher again.
Go into the DCCache folder and move the new dcdb0.dbc out to your Desktop and delete the new The Sims 3 folder.
Rename The Sims 3_old to The Sims 3
Open the old DCCache folder and move the old dcdb0.dbc out and the new dcdb0.dbc in.
The dress should be gone.
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#19 Old 28th Feb 2017 at 8:56 PM
That sounded so basic that I am amazed I didn't think of that. (Then again ... maybe it's not so amazing.) It's not that different from finding an errant download in Sims 2 .., rename files, generate a new game, then put nothing BUT the offending folder/files in the game and get rid of what you want to get rid of that way. Thanks! And ... solved!

Thanks to ALL free-site creators, admins and mods.

RIP Sunni ... truly a ray of light.
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