Editing Premade Worlds: Info & Help Plz?

[kiwi_tea]

I am not sure about deleting trees, but I know that adding trees (or lots) using Edit In Game made my world crash when I first tested it out. I had to return to a prepared back up.

[simsample]

That could be it, then.

I've been seeing a lot on various forums that people have been having routing issues after using the in-game world editor, so that's why I was wondering about that. There seems to be some kind of problem with that since the latest patch.

Was yours 1.22 or before, Kiwi?

[kc922]

I am not sure about deleting trees, but I know that adding trees (or lots) using Edit In Game made my world crash when I first tested it out. I had to return to a prepared back up.

I'm pretty sure I didn't add any trees (or lots - this I know for sure) through EIG - I just added the buildings to the lots that way.

[kc922]

What would be worth trying is to open up your CAW world file in S3Pe, delete the WPID and then save. Then, open the world in CAW, check it still has a name and description, rebuild routing data and save. Then export the world again.
Still crashed when I sent the test sims out of the house. As an additional note, I tested it yesterday after using awesomemod to destroy all sims, and it did allow me to do some testing but did crash after 5-10 real life minutes. I really appreciate your help.

[simsample]

It might be worth trying an older backup though, to see if that helps. If it doesn't then it could be that you have to start again, although you could upload the files to a file hosting site so that others can test it. What game version are you running?

[kc922]

It might be worth trying an older backup though, to see if that helps. If it doesn't then it could be that you have to start again, although you could upload the files to a file hosting site so that others can test it. What game version are you running?
Unfortunately all my backups would have the same issues so I'm afraid I'll have to start over. I'm just afraid to try because without knowing what caused it this time, it'll only happen again.

I'm have all expansions and stuff packs and am patched through 1.22.

[simsample]

Give it another try, if you get stuck again then let us know step by step what you did, as sometimes even the most trivial things can cause problems. :)

[kc922]

Give it another try, if you get stuck again then let us know step by step what you did, as sometimes even the most trivial things can cause problems. :)

Will do though I'm going to take a break and actually play for a while. Thanks again for your help. :beer:

[kiwi_tea]

This was long, long before 1.22.

[Sentracks]

@Simsample

Normally I do it this way:

http://www.sims3forum.de/erstelle-eine-welt-tool/11846-tutorial-fertige-welt-create-world-bearbeiten.html

But I try it again and I make some screens where there are the errors

[Sentracks]

I get the first error when I mark the first Ressource to export
http://s7.directupload.net/images/110622/s7xm267r.png (http://www.directupload.net)

[Sentracks]

now do you know whats the problem ?

[g00d2day]

Hey guys, long time lurker here. I've really found the information in this thread helpful and useful. So thanks for that.

Something I recently noticed. I attempted another go and revamping Bridgeport. I follow the steps carefully as I have done before. After importing the files to my new world and saving in s3pe, I am ending up with more files than what I imported. I have only noticed this recently since I updated caw, but it could have gone on before and I have just never noticed.

To give a little more information, after removing the unkn and wpid, I believe you are left with 6875 files. After the import, the world has 6880 something.

[Sentracks]

I found out that every File that shows me an error is a Model File.
So I deleted all Model Files but than later when I opened it in CAW
it crashed ??

[simsample]

Sentracks, the MODL resources are related to the Sims in the world- for some reason S3Pe doesn't seem to be able to make sense of the code. Deleting the MODL resources is only removing part of the code related to the population, so your world will have files relating to things you removed, hence the crash.

g00d2day, yes- that is correct and is needed. I'll explain more in a minute. :)


Okay, so I've been meaning to take a look at this again for a while, it's on my long list of Things To Do (not enough hours in the day, etcetera etcetera!). :wtf:

(Before I start, just to clarify that when I say non-packed world I mean a world you made in CAW, that is not exported. And when I say packed world I mean a world you have exported from CAW as a Sims3Pack, and then installed to the game.)

I've been wanting to simplify this for a while, because it struck me as being messy to import all resources from a completed world into a base world- it would be more logical to just import the few needed resources to identify the file as non-packed, wouldn't it? Right, so I needed to figure out which resources are required.

From my previous experiments with splicing layers from one world into another (http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=429946), I knew which resource identified the Global Layer. And, from looking at the world files, I knew that in an unpacked world has a folder containing the layers and lots, whereas a packed world has everything contained in the World file itself.

So, I figured that all I needed to do was to graft the Global Layer from a new world into my packed world, then it would open in CAW. Right? Wrong.

There's another file that identifies the world as non-packed. It seems to be empty- it's zero bytes. Look at UNK 0x0477BD6A in your non-packed world if you want to see it. :)

There are also a whole bunch of other resources that exist in a non-packed world but not in the packed version, but they don't seem to be needed, and CAW seems to recreate them just fine.

So, here's a new method that you could test out for me. I would like to know the following:

If this works for you.
If size matters- can you make a small test world and import the global layer to a large world?
If you notice any assets missing from your opened packed world.


So please check out my next post for the details. :)

[simsample]

Create a blank test world in CAW- size large, height 300. Call it Test.world.

Go to Documents\ Electronic Arts\ The Sims 3 Create A World Tool\ UserToolData\ Worlds and copy the Test folder to your desktop. Open Documents\ Electronic Arts\ The Sims 3 Create A World Tool\ UserToolData\ Worlds\ Test.world in S3Pe, and find resources UNK 0x0477BD6A and UNK 0x0498DA7E. Right click those, export to file and choose your desktop.

Now you have three files on your desktop, Test folder and the UNK 0x0477BD6A and UNK 0x0498DA7E resources.

Find your packed world file, for example Bridgeport.World. Copy it to your desktop. Now, rename the Test folder to the same name as your world, for example Bridgeport. (Don't put the .world but there, just the name).

Now, open your packed world file, for example Bridgeport.World, in S3Pe. Resource> Import> From file and select your two exported resources, UNK 0x0477BD6A and UNK 0x0498DA7E, from your desktop. Tick the 'overwrite' and 'compress' boxes in the import dialogue box.

File> Save your world in S3Pe.

Discard the UNK 0x0477BD6A and UNK 0x0498DA7E files from your desktop, we don't need them any more. Also delete the Test.World file from Documents\ Electronic Arts\ The Sims 3 Create A World Tool\ UserToolData\ Worlds.

Put your world file and your world folder, for example Bridgeport.World and Bridgeport folder, into Documents\ Electronic Arts\ The Sims 3 Create A World Tool\ UserToolData\ Worlds.

Open CAW, and see if your world will now open.

Does it work?

For information:
UNK 0x0498DA7E- Identifies the Global Layer
UNK 0x0477BD6A (0 Byte file) Empty resource that seems to denote a non packed file.

[g00d2day]

Does it work?

Yep. It does. And it definitely expedites that part of the process. The problem, or annoyance, from here is that you still have to search for UNKN 0x296A6258 and WPID 0xF609FD60.

Now I'm not sure if s3pe filter can be utilized to help me locate these files. Did I mention I'm novice? I tried searching around for some information to help me, but no luck. So I'm searching for these 2 items manually. So, in the bigger picture it's taking me even longer than the old way. At least I had the search function available from the file I exported resources to with the original process.

That said, If you know something that could help me out, I'll be more than glad to try it. ;)

[simsample]

g00d2day, thanks for testing!

In S3Pe, you can sort and filter in a number of ways.

Check the 'Sort' and 'Tags boxes at the bottom of the screen (where my cursor is):
http://www.modyourpanties.com/hosting/28569_110629184714ScreenHunter_02 Jun. 29 23.39.jpg

Then you can click at the top where the labels are ('Tag', 'Name', 'Type' etc) to sort by that tab. Here I've sorted by Tag, so that all of the resource types are in an alphabetical list. If I then click Type, they are in numerical order.
http://www.modyourpanties.com/hosting/28570_110629184734ScreenHunter_03 Jun. 29 23.39.jpg

http://www.modyourpanties.com/hosting/28571_110629184812ScreenHunter_04 Jun. 29 23.39.jpg

Also, right at the bottom of the window there is a box, 'Filter Active'. Check that, then check 'Tag' and 'Resource Type', and you can then put UNK and the hex code into the boxes, click the 'Set' button and have it display only that single resource type for you.
http://www.modyourpanties.com/hosting/28572_110629184828ScreenHunter_05 Jun. 29 23.41.jpg

Using those methods makes it very easy to isolate a single resource out of thousands. :)

[g00d2day]

Thank you yet again. Wow... things that make you say derp. :p

So I spent some time fiddling with the new process last night. I first worked with Bridgeport. My first two attempts, I removed both UNKN 0x296A6258 and WPID 0xF609FD60 resources. Both success. The third try, I only removed the WPID resource. This was also a success and I am currently editing this version with zero issues. Nothing is missing.

I also spent some time using this process to try and open other worlds for editing. Unfortunately, I didn't have the same success as I did with Bridgeport. The first world I tried was Twinbrook. Four tries and no success. I also tried the Los Aniegos- LN edition custom world. Three tries and no success.

This is the error message I got with Twinbrook. It's also the same for Los Aniegos.

http://i.imgur.com/uj9Zv.png

So... I'm not sure what's different with these two worlds. I can spend a little more time looking at them this weekend. This is definitely a lot easier and faster than the original process. And the folks who are having memory issues with importing large quantities of resources would certainly benefit from this. So I would like to figure this out.

[hotroxy777]

Create a blank test world in CAW- size large, height 300. Call it Test.world.

Go to Documents\ Electronic Arts\ The Sims 3 Create A World Tool\ UserToolData\ Worlds and copy the Test folder to your desktop. Open Documents\ Electronic Arts\ The Sims 3 Create A World Tool\ UserToolData\ Worlds\ Test.world in S3Pe, and find resources UNK 0x0477BD6A and UNK 0x0498DA7E. Right click those, export to file and choose your desktop.

Now you have three files on your desktop, Test folder and the UNK 0x0477BD6A and UNK 0x0498DA7E resources.

Find your packed world file, for example Bridgeport.World. Copy it to your desktop. Now, rename the Test folder to the same name as your world, for example Bridgeport. (Don't put the .world but there, just the name).

Now, open your packed world file, for example Bridgeport.World, in S3Pe. Resource> Import> From file and select your two exported resources, UNK 0x0477BD6A and UNK 0x0498DA7E, from your desktop. Tick the 'overwrite' and 'compress' boxes in the import dialogue box.

File> Save your world in S3Pe.

Discard the UNK 0x0477BD6A and UNK 0x0498DA7E files from your desktop, we don't need them any more. Also delete the Test.World file from Documents\ Electronic Arts\ The Sims 3 Create A World Tool\ UserToolData\ Worlds.

Put your world file and your world folder, for example Bridgeport.World and Bridgeport folder, into Documents\ Electronic Arts\ The Sims 3 Create A World Tool\ UserToolData\ Worlds.

Open CAW, and see if your world will now open.

Does it work?

For information:
UNK 0x0498DA7E- Identifies the Global Layer
UNK 0x0477BD6A (0 Byte file) Empty resource that seems to denote a non packed file.

Hi @simsample.
It works like a charm for me when I editing the .world in CAW but when I want to save my world then I'm getting a message that I can't save my world be cause some of the data is missing or is corrupted. I've done everything exactly like it is in your post step by step. I'm not gonna be moaning here what I've done wrong but just want to let you know about my problem and I'm still trying to figure how get it to work for me :) and wanna thank you for your great job in here.
By the way I'm working with Bridgeport.world and Twinbrook ,and I was succesful to manage saving these worlds doing things like it is in the orginal post but another problem was that I was unable to export those worlds this time but like i said I'm working on it :)

little update:
I was successful editing ,saving and exporting (unpopulated, I've destroyed all Sims using awesomemod) Twinbrook few moments ago. I've done all the steps like it is in the orginal post. I've noticed that I shouldn't interrupt my computer while it saving the world.

[simsample]

g00d2day, I got the same error when I was using an old test world (made about a year ago). When I made a fresh test world Twinbrook worked just fine. Perhaps you could create a different test world, blank Large 300 height and save it, and try again for me? Perhaps this is showing us that some blank test worlds work and some don't! Also, Los Aneigos is populated, and there might be some differences with the way user populated worlds behave in CAW to the EA populated worlds. After all, they are populated by a different process.

hotroxy777, thanks for testing this! So it worked okay eventually? Perhaps the problems you had were due to CAW running out of memory- Twinbrook is quite complex, especially with the sims left in, and CAW is greedy on memory- even if you have a good PC. I'll do some more testing, I appreciate you reporting your findings!

Thank you both for your information, it is great of you to test for me! :)

[hotroxy777]

Hi @simsample when I've tested the method in your #266 post I was able to edit the world in CAW only. I wasn't successful to save it and export into the game. Still working on that.

So I've went to the first method from the oryginal post and using some of your advices in this thread I was successful with editing ,saving and exporting unpopulated Twinbrook ( I've used the awesomemod to wipe out all teh Sims in Twinbrook) and the world working great in my game.
Now I've worked in the same way with Bridgeport but this time with all population of Sims in it. I've managed to edit, save and export into the game Bridgeport (fully populated) and again the world working just perfect.

:cool: another update :D
This time I've done it like you wrote it in post #266 but I also deleted those UNKN 0x296A6258 and WPID 0xF609FD60 resources like it is in the orginal post. I've been working with this custom world: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=4055593 which is unpopulated.
Everything went fine ,and working like a charm ;) So maybe some of the worlds we can do this way and some others not. Like you wrote earlier It could be related to the population but I'll not give up with the EA worlds...O NO :lol:

[simsample]

hotroxy777, I see what you mean- I get an out of memory error with Twinbrook too, it seems like perhaps doing it this way causes CAW to have to do some pretty impossible calculations (remember, it has to process putting all of the layers, lots and objects into separate files when it saves, as initially they are all in the world file which is the wrong place for CAW). From what you've show it seems to be the sims causing this, but I can make Sunset work okay for example, and that's populated. So I think it has to be a method that we can use for most worlds, but some need to be done the long way!

Maybe there's some sort of information in the other resources that I mentioned in post #265 (types UNK 0xAE39399F, UNK 0x033B2B66 and IMG 0x00B2D882) that CAW has trouble recalculating in large populated worlds.

[omamemmie]

I really want to use this information to edit my pre-made world, but when I go into S3PE it refuses to open ANY world. I follow all the steps posted in this thread, but I get an error message every time. Does anyone know how to get around this? Thanks a lot in advance.
http://i56.tinypic.com/zv3eq1.png

[hotroxy777]

@omamemmie try to use a 32bit version of s3pe (latest version is recommended) and make sure you have the UAC disabled or copy your .world into different folder in My Documents for example.

[simsample]

That's definitely a UAC error- 'toegang tot het pad is geweigerd' means 'access to path denied'.

Copy the Bridgeport.world file to your desktop and open that instead as hotroxy777 said, as then you are working with a copy which is what you should always do (although, S3Pe is clever and will only open system files as read-only).

hotroxy777, I would never advise to disable UAC, as then you are rendering your operating system vulnerable.

[hotroxy777]

@simsample yes you're perfectly right. I should clarify myself. When I mentioned disabling UAC I had in mind temporarily. It shouldn't make any harm to our machines. Am I right?

[Inkantator]

Hello again
After few months of a break, I've got new complications with Bridgeport. It seems lack of names of buildings is a minor problem. Look at this :
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/4/5/0/1/3/4/1/MTS2_Inkantator_1211126_sim1.jpghttp://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/4/5/0/1/3/4/1/MTS2_Inkantator_1211129_sim2.jpg
clubby Vampire... known also as Jessica Talon. Moreover, famyli description is gone, as well as relationship with every sim in town.
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/4/5/0/1/3/4/1/MTS2_Inkantator_1211130_sim3.jpg
And this was supposed to be a Fire Station...

I've got CAW v1.10.9 and I think it still has got problems with Ambitions and Late Night. Perhaps this has been fixed it CAW 1.11.4, but I haven't tried yet.
One more thing - I did the same with Sunset Valley. Everything exept for buildings names was fine.
I was planning to create a customized Bridgeport, not ragged Bridgeport clone. Any ideas what can I do about it?

[simsample]

@simsample yes you're perfectly right. I should clarify myself. When I mentioned disabling UAC I had in mind temporarily. It shouldn't make any harm to our machines. Am I right?
It would be better to not install your games to a UAC protected area in the first place. :)

Inkantator, for the naming problem, that is a known issue and is mentioned elsewhere in this (now very long) thread. You need to edit those manually in EIG, as the EA worlds use a reference to the name data. Not sure how you'd go about editing the sim names, has anyone figured out an easy method? I think the family description and relationships problem is related- the sims are imported via an XML file (more information from Kiwi_Tea here (http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=427961&highlight=xml)) so during the process of editing the world the game no longer identifies it as Bridgeport proper, so the import is not clean.

For the problem with the fire station, is the lot itself actually corrupted? Can you enter it in build mode? I often have lot low LOD textures mess up when opening premade worlds, usually changing something on the lot will cause the game to regenerate the texture.

[omamemmie]

Thanks Simsample and Hotroxy777 for your help :) I managed to open the file in S3PE now and followed the steps on importing and exporting and saving as a new .world file. However when I try to open this file in CAW, it tell me firstly that it can't open the file:
Unable to load file. Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt
and then crashes.

I'm only in the testing stages, testing this out with Twinbrooks and Bridgeport, but if I eventually manage to get it to work, I would love to edit some things in my own Sunset Valley, the one I've been building in for months now. Can anyone tell me where I find the .world file for the world I've already been working with in game? (If that's even possible haha)

[simsample]

That's the error hotroxy777 and myself were finding earlier (post #270 onwards). If you are using my new method, try using the old method (post #1). Otherwise you could try removing the sims from the worlds, which will probably prevent the memory error.

For your Sunset Valley, all of the changes are in the Save file, as opposed to the world. You can save any lots to the library to import them to EIG to include in your new version of Sunset, but any changes you made with the in-game world editor cannot be transferred to CAW. You'll have to do them again, in CAW.

[Inkantator]

that is a known issue and is mentioned elsewhere
Yes, it was mentionded, inter alia, by me and this is a piece of cake, but a few days before I've seen problems with names and relationschips. So I decided to show them all.

About fire station. Actually this thing is still green in exported world as well as the rest of Ambitions buildings. Eventually I can just delete them and put them back when I start a new game. Just though this issue could be connected to some CAW problems with Ambitions.

The only really problematic thing is corrupted names and cleaned relationship.
As I said in Sunset Valley they are all right, but not in Bridgeport. A bit strange.

I'll look at those XML files and topic you have mentiond.

[simsample]

So do you mean that the problem with the names and relationships has only just occurred in a save you have been playing for a while?

[Inkantator]

No. The problem has occured in a copy of Bridgeport world created in CAW and exported to game. Created, exported and opened as a New Game several times. The same effect.

[simsample]

Just so that I'm clear, the sims are the original Bridgeport sims and not sims you've added since? If so then again I would assume it's to do with the xml import- we don't really understand much about how the population imports work in the EA worlds, and Bridgeport is more complex than Sunset (with occults and register NPCs).

For the ambitions lots, perhaps try the 1.19 game update with the 1.11.4 CAW version, you can download that here:
http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/278761.page

[Inkantator]

You're probably right, but now I have to get that XML file. I can do it using command worldbuilderoutput, right? Unfortunately, I've got v1.18.9 and neither debug console enabler nor awsomemod works.
It seems I have to upload to 1.22. Hope CAW 1.11.4 will work.

[Rockerduck]

Argh, seems I have to go over this thread in a non-busy hour or two. Right now, my ambitions to make the WA destinations playable are thwarted by CAW's "world export failed!" message. But at least I got everything else working which is good. :D

[hotroxy777]

Another Update : using method forum post #266 I've successfully extracted files, saved and exported Egypt.world which is playable now with no issues.

[Rockerduck]

Ohhh that's interesting! I'm going to try that tonight. Did you manage to export Egypt from CAW without incidents or is there something a noob like me should know/keep in mind to get it to work?

Thanks a bunch!

[hotroxy777]

Hi @Rockerduck.

so I've done this like that:

Create a blank test world in CAW- size large, height 300. Call it Test.world.

Go to Documents\ Electronic Arts\ The Sims 3 Create A World Tool\ UserToolData\ Worlds and copy the Test folder to your desktop. Open Documents\ Electronic Arts\ The Sims 3 Create A World Tool\ UserToolData\ Worlds\ Test.world in S3Pe, and find resources UNK 0x0477BD6A and UNK 0x0498DA7E. Right click those, export to file and choose your desktop.

Now you have three files on your desktop, Test folder and the UNK 0x0477BD6A and UNK 0x0498DA7E resources.

Find your packed world file, for example Bridgeport.World. Copy it to your desktop. Now, rename the Test folder to the same name as your world, for example Bridgeport. (Don't put the .world but there, just the name).

Now, open your packed world file, for example Bridgeport.World, in S3Pe. Resource> Import> From file and select your two exported resources, UNK 0x0477BD6A and UNK 0x0498DA7E, from your desktop. Tick the 'overwrite' and 'compress' boxes in the import dialogue box.

... also in this step I've deleted UNKN 0x296A6258 and WPID 0xF609FD60 Resources.

File> Save your world in S3Pe.

Discard the UNK 0x0477BD6A and UNK 0x0498DA7E files from your desktop, we don't need them any more. Also delete the Test.World file from Documents\ Electronic Arts\ The Sims 3 Create A World Tool\ UserToolData\ Worlds.

Put your world file and your world folder, for example Bridgeport.World and Bridgeport folder, into Documents\ Electronic Arts\ The Sims 3 Create A World Tool\ UserToolData\ Worlds.

Open CAW, and see if your world will now open.

I took all these steps using @simsample's method described above (with one exception I've been working with Egypt.world). :D

Now is the next steps I've took:

Save as (in CAW giving a new specific Name) and exit the CAW.

Make sure you've Game and CAW cache are cleared ( I actually do this every single time )

Open CAW go to File-> Open your world again (the new named one) go to EIG,
in EIG mode select edit town option and save it. Exit the CAW and Clear the cache in game and CAW.

Open CAW go to File-> Open your world again, go to 'global layers' and give the new (yes I know again :D) name, description and the thumbnail picture to your world and save it. Exit the CAW.

Open CAW go to File-> and select the export world (I've set the Polish language for my game and CAW so the translation could be not clear enough but I'm pretty sure you understand) option.

I know I do a lot of saving, closing and opening things in here but since I have no issues with it. I'll stick with that.
Also try never interrupt the computer while it extracting, saving, or exporting the files.

[Rockerduck]

*nods* Thank you, I'll try that! :D

Edit1: Works like a charm so far. I totally owe you a hug or three! :D Now, let's see if I manage to export it this time ...

Have you tried the reverse, btw? Replacing Egypt.world, France.world or China.world with say, Bridgeport? This game needs more travel destinations.

Edit2: Yaaaay, it's playable! No Sims as of yet but I admit I took the short route and skipped the EIG part. *grins* Thanks so so much! :D

[hotroxy777]

So far i haven't try to swap playable worlds for the vacation ones.

Good to know that there is a shortcut available :cool:

Thanks for that info :) I'll try to skip that part too, but sometimes in worlds like Brigeport for example you need to get rid of all sims in EIG (using awesomemod) and save it (this was advised in the original post and by @simsample)
but I was successfull to save the Bridgeport and Twinbrook with all population of Sims.

so it seems to be working in many other ways :lol:

[Rockerduck]

It may or may not be because it's a vacation world. All residential lots are set to "townies only" or "ownable" by default, which is unlikely to work with non-vacation worlds. I suspect everyone got evicted because their lots were townies only and they're no longer townies but residents in a base world. :D

[simsample]

Inkantator, the xml file is contained as a resource in the world itself, open any of the EA worlds to see. :)

hotroxy777 and Rockerduck- great research! Thanks especially for your step by step, hotroxy777.

I've collected what we know into a new thread, to make things easier to find now that we know more. So could you all please continue in that thread, the same as here- posting your findings and questions:
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=469942

We will keep this thread in case I missed something, if you spot something that should be posted in the new thread please let me know!