Image issues (yes, again) and a question.

[strangetomato]

I received another warning from Photobucket about my bandwidth today, so I've changed the setting on all of my older chapters to private until I'm able to switch them over to my scrapbook. This way, they won't just disappear completely until next month, and I can take on the much easier task of downloading them from the post and numbering them for re-posting, rather than hunting for them in the sea of images on my external drive and trying to figure out where every image belonged (which would not be fun). So you can expect me to post at least a couple of those chapters every day, depending on how busy I am. I'll try my best.

Current status: I've posted up as far as Chapter Eleven.

Also, I have a (maybe stupid) question. It's been a while since I've seen ceilings in my Sims 2 game. Could this be due to having Sims 3 installed, occupying space on my computer? If that's not the cause, then maybe I have a conflicting mod or piece of cc? Has anyone heard of something that makes ceilings disappear? I think I might uninstall Sims 3, just to see if I'm right. I sure hope you can back it up the same way... we'll see, I guess.

ETA: It was the ceiling toggle. *slaps forehead* Sorry for inflicting my bad case of the Monday stupids on you all. This is why I posted this on my own journal instead of a public community. Now that would have been embarrassing!

Comments

[will-o-whisper.livejournal.com]

Somebody's popular. ;)

As for the ceilings, this might be stupid question but are you sure they're toggled on? I've noticed mine go missing a few times, and it's always been because they'd turned themselves off for some reason. Otherwise, I have no idea.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

It's completely surprising to me, but I've been getting a number of people who've just "found my story yesterday" and have been reading it from the beginning. It's very cool.

This is a really, really stupid question. *whispers* How do you toggle them on and off? I'm sure I knew at one point, but I don't seem to be recalling it.

[will-o-whisper.livejournal.com]

*whispers* it's okay, I keep forgetting too. D:

In the lower left hand corner of the blue...bar...thing, next to the video camera is a button that looks like two little squares. If it's highlighted, the ceilings should be on; if not, click it. :p

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Heheh. Okay. That does ring a bell. I'll try it.

Man, I will feel so silly if this works, but also happy. :P Thank you!

[simgarooop.livejournal.com]

I've just seen the teaser of your newest chapter so I bookmarked it to read it as soon as I get home! :)

Hmmm... if you're playing with old downloaded houses, like Plasticbox's, you'll need to add the ceilings to the top floors. Even if they have "traditional" roofs, you'll need to add tiles under them.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Cool. I hope you like it. It's just a short little thing.

I guess you've been busy lately, huh?

That can't be the issue. They're not even showing up under rooms with floors above them. Maybe they're toggled off like Will_o said. I'd feel really stupid if that's the case (what else is new?), but it would be nice if it were that simple.

[simsinthecity.livejournal.com]

I got a warning telling me I had used up x amount of my space, but I really hadn't. I don't know what's going on there — bandwidth, maybe? I mean, with my stuff popping up on all different sites (surely you saw the rant I posted, or at least the secret made in response?)

They could just be toggled off, but I'm pretty sure they'd be toggled off by default, which means that you would have had to have toggled them on to see them in the first place. But correct me if I'm wrong because I've only been using ceilings since OL started.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Space should be a different concern than bandwidth. Bandwidth is about how many times it's been viewed, so it shouldn't make a difference to the space. Are your photos very large? That might be the issue.

I could have toggled them off by accident. I'm going to load up the game while I'm getting ready for work and take a look at it.

[(Anonymous)]

You're getting RAM confused with disc space.

Disc Space: The amount of space on your harddrive for stuff you have saved, games you have installed, etc.

RAM/Memory: Memory is where the computer puts stuff that is currently being edited/accessed/changed. If you open 3390892 word documents simultaneously, that takes a (relatively) large amount of RAM. If you create and save 3390892 word documents, editing them separately and not having them open at the same time, that doesn't take much RAM at all.

Graphics in TS2 are dependent on RAM (not disc space), which is dependent on your computer specs and the number of other things you have running at the same time you're running TS2 (including background stuff like anti-virus programs and auto-update programs). Having TS3 installed on your computer only takes disc space - unless you are actually running TS3 at the same time as you are running TS2, it should not affect your TS2 graphics.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I realized that after posting this. I actually woke up this morning thinking about it and realized how stupid I must look now (but oh well, that's life). I did know that RAM is the thing to worry about. Afterall, I increased my RAM for that very reason.

I just didn't have any other explanation. *is embarrassed*

Thank you for this detailed reply.

[zepheera.livejournal.com]

My only answer about the toggles is the same as what others have posted. However I can assure you that you can back up your sims 3 saves by going to:

Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3

And then backing up both your Saves and your SavedSims folders.

When you uninstall the launcher will save any store content for you as well.

You could potentially save any of the folders in that directory that you want to as well.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Okay, that's what I suspected, though I didn't know about the Saves and SavedSims folders. Is that how you'd extract a sim, also? I'd love to package up my sims, but I don't use the launcher.

Thank you.

[zepheera.livejournal.com]

You can save the sim itself in game by using the Change Appearance option in the mirror. While in that mode you can click the little folder button to save the sim and that'll stick it in the saved sims folder.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Awesome. Thank you for that! ^_^ Now I can post my hamdful of sim recreations on Box.net, so I won't lose them.

[meetme2theriver.livejournal.com]

It's not The Sims 3. That simply takes up hard drive space, which has nothing to do with The Sims 2 and how it runs - game at runtime uses your RAM, not HD space.

Beyond that, I have no advice that hasn't been mentioned already, but don't go through the trouble of uninstalling TS3 unnecessarily. :)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I figured that out after posting this. I had one of those "Oh god, I'm an idiot" moments. :P

Uninstalling Sims 3 probably wouldn't have been that much of a hassle, though, since I barely ever play it. It'd be nice to have it for a scene here and there, but I could easily do without.

[meetme2theriver.livejournal.com]

Heheh, that's okay, we all have those. :)

Yeah, I haven't actually played it for two months or something now. My SO would kind of like to, I think, but he's just not that into it without me. Eh. Maybe it'll look fun after 4-5 EPs and lots and lots of modding, but right now I'm more like .. "oh well, maybe Sims 4 will be good".

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

"Oh well, maybe Sims 4 will be good".

Yeah, I might also be in that camp. It's a long wait, though. Or maybe someone will come out with an alternative...

And maybe I'll have finished my Sims 2 story by the time Sims 4 comes out. :P