I tried it, but must have done something wrong cause alot of my CC (if not all) was gone. I'll look at the one with pictures later, and see if I can follow that one! :P

I much prefer package files simply because the installation is faster.

EAxis better start fixing this sims3pack travesty STAT. I want that Old Town set!

Well given that sims3packs hardly ever work for me, are slow and annoying to delete the answer is obvious. Package is the only way for cc.

well i choose neither. .dbc files are much better. though there isn't really a way to creat one yet except via Launcher.

Question: Sims3packs have a package file inside, right? So if that package file is corrupt, would not the Sims3pack file cause the exact same slowdown problem as if the cc goodie had been downloaded as a package file?

If that's so, then . . . I already prefer packages and now I prefer them even more.

Blue lot fixed my packages with Delphy's tool, merged packages, and my game is running like lightning with over 1500 items of CC. The difference is unbelievable.

Wait, which tool supposedly "fixes" packages? I have a lot of store content saved as packages that simply cause slowdown like mad, could that help?

Package. I have the Installer Monkey, so installing package files takes less than two seconds to download. Sims3Pack files take forever, because the launcher always takes an ungodly amount of time to load, then finally open.

Actually.... there may be another way to do it without needing to totally re-merge everything but the offending file. Try getting another version of the file, merging that into what's already been merged... and then seeing what files exactly are deleted when the new file is added. Then simply delete whatever is a duplicate of the files you want to be rid of.

I haven't tried it yet, as I have a sortof quarantine process before I merge anything into a main file, but in theory it should work.

Packages. They don't depend on EA spyware, uh I mean, Launcher.

I have to say I prefer sims3packs, now!
Actually the best downloads are very often .package, some of my favorites are, but after the latest patch I have been unable to install but sims3packs, and no matter what you may say about it, my game has never been so fast before when including cc. So I don´t buy the fact that .packages shouldn´t slow down the process.
Now I just wish it would be piece of cake for the creators to save their stuff both ways so that you could chose for yourself. But then again creating should be funny not just hard work.

Packages, and it's not even close.

No spyware launcher is needed; they install much faster; they can have real names; and they only can slow down your game if they're screwed up or you mishandle them.

I prefer whichever the latest patch hasn't borked at the time... so I preferred sims3packs a couple of patches ago and now I prefer package...

Delphy's Blue Lot Fixer

I've converted most of my Sims3Packs to packages (for ease of organisation), have run everything through the Blue Lot tool, and I'm now in the process of merging all my package files. I hope like mad I'm doing it right, as it's taking AGES!

I am really sorry if this has been asked b4 but is the Sims3Pack tool like Numenor's CEP for Sims 2? I ask because I have downloaded something from TSR which was a decorative dvd player to place in my Sims home and it just turned up in my game as a plant that had been coloured....

Thanks to the Sims 1 2 and 3 programmers that have worked so hard throughout the whole Sims saga.... I am and assume others are very appreciative of all your efforts! xx

Not sure I understand your question, Jake Sims3Pack isn't a tool, it's a file format used for some mods, including EA Store items and mods made by TSR's mod tools. Basically a Sims3Pack is a Package with a little additonal data, but it's installed and managed by the game differently than a Package.

There is no CEP for Sims3. Recolor capability is built into the game.

If you're having trouble with a specific TSR mod, I'd suggest getting help with it over there. Or if you're having trouble with Sims3Packs in general, go to our Help section, check the FAQs, and if you still have questions, you'll find the link to the Help forum at the bottom of the page.

Srikandi thanks for ur reply, most helpful I will pop over to tsr and ask in their forum

After the last patch I intentionally couldn't use sims3packs because I took the framework out and wanted to run the game completely EAxian style for awhile with just their content to see if it would be stable, and it was. But naturally I grew bored of that and wanted my cc back. However I got confused reading about where to put packages once World Adventures came out. I thought I had it figured out but was still hesitant to try it manually again. But I recently learned about Delphy's Monkey Bar tool that automatically sets the framework up for you and now I can have both Sims3packs and packages again. I am glad to be using both since it's impossible to find attractive custom hair available in Sims3pack format. The ones I saw on TSR weren't recolorable.

I'm not sure why you can't anything but Sims3packs--don't know if you have some underlying issue or, like me, were just hesitant and unsure about how to proceed. If you're hesitant give Monkey Bars a try. The link for it is here: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=384014 That will install the framework the correct way so you can install mods, hacks, cc packages. So far I've been putting all my CC in the Sims3 directory and not under World Adventures and everything works fine, except I have to go to the mirror to get custom skins to appear on my sims, even though I delete and refresh all pertinent cache files. So possibly I should be putting custom skins in the Mods/Packages folder in both directories. But eh, I'm fine with how it's working. I don't need to be seeing Ms. Crumplebottom in a Jiao skintone just for cheap thrills.

It worked beautifully for me under Windows Vista 32 bit, which was a nice surprise because previous utilities from MTS didn't always work as advertised with Vista, even though I run as an administrator, with all the necessary permissions complete with winged monkey footmen to do my bidding.

My game has slowed down a little bit now with packages back in, even though I have only about 12 package files in it. But the slowdown was just in the addition of the last 4 files, so I probably have one bit of trouble cc I need to hunt down.

Packages, definitely. I use sims3packs only for store stuff. I even extract packages out of sims3packs of custom lots just because.

.sims3packs - after experiencing the blue lot issue with .package files after WA, and then the slowdown again with .package files and then the next patch, I'm done with .package. Now we are supposed to merge files, keep backups and remerge everything everytime we download new .package CC? And people think THAT is easier to do than use the Launcher? I don't understand that.
To me .sims3pack is the format EA intended CC to be created in... I don't understand why the CC creating community chose to ignore the file type EA created to be compatible with the game and instead chose to create a different one when the original one seems to work fine. (at least it does for me). But I'm not a creator and based on this thread alone, I can see the issue is not so clear cut, and what works for one, doesn't seem to work for all.

What I don't get is that there is alot of CC sites out there who offer their creations in both .package AND .sims3pack, allowing people to choose what format works for them. Why won't Mod the Sims do the same?

To me .sims3pack is the format EA intended CC to be created in

The Sims3Pack is merely a wrapper for packages. .package files aren't a new format: they are one of the game's own file formats.

Ok I phrased "To me .sims3pack is the format EA intended CC to be created in" badly.

I understand that .package files are used in the game. What I should have said was that EA intended CC to be installed via the launcher in .sims3pack format, letting the launcher do whatever it does to convert it into one big .dbc? (Am I getting that right?) file, that the game accesses out of Mydocuments/EaGames/TheSims3/ect....
Not as seperate .package files accessed out of a user created folder in the game files that can only be read, by adding yet another user created file to force the game to recognize them. T

The above may not be a perfectly techically accurate description either, but I hope I'm getting my point accross better.

Well, Rick or Delphy or Inge or somebody can correct me on this if I'm wrong, but IIRC the .cfg file that tells the game where to look for packages is an EA format that they leaked to the modding community right around the game release. Rick came up with it, anyway, and my understanding is that somebody from EA clued him in.

Regardless, the game wouldn't be able to use the information in that file if it didn't expect it to exist, and in a particular place and form. So it's not like it's some kind of devious trick which wasn't intended by EA.

We may just have to agree to disagree

I see your point...but I still feel EA never intended for CC to be installed via another method than the one they created (Launcher). Now don't get me wrong.. I'm not saying the launcher is perfect.... it's slow and trying to find anything to uninstall/install is horiffic. There are pro's and con's to each method.

But what about my other question... why will MTS not allow people to upload in .sims3pack files? OR if you wan't to keep the format semi-uniform, require that a creator must upload in .package but can also upload in .sims3pack if they so choose.