I downloaded this lot:

http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=154585

The entire lot is flashing blue. When I first placed it in the lot, in neighborhood view it shows a blue box flashing in the yard. When I enter the lot the entire lot is blue. Not sure what is missing or how to fix it. Can someone help please.

Looks like the blue-flashing ground is a common problem with this lot, judging by the comments. Maybe it's a missing ground cover. The roof tiles are also added separately, so if you don't have that file, I'd guess the roof might be flashing blue.

If the trees flash blue, it could be incompatibility if they are recolors and you have Seasons.

Flashing blue build mode items like stairs, foundations, pools, custom walls (not wallpaint), fences, etc. could be missing script files (scriptorium?)

Otherwise it could be you're missing one of the EPs needed.

Flashing blue is also a common sign of having a slave mesh but not the master mesh. I can't say for sure if there are any slave meshes present in that lot, but it's possible.

It's also possible you missed out on the CC when you downloaded. Did you get a lot of new package files in your Downlaods folder when installing? And did you use the default installer (blue/green with EAxis-style writing) or the Clean Installer?

I have all EP's plus Mansion and Gardens. I can't get my SimPE to work right, keeps crashing even after installing the patch for Mansion and Garden. It won't run a system check, it freezes. I would try to fix it myself. If someone who has a working SimPE could fix it, that would be greatly appreciated. I even tried to install it with Sims2Pack Clean Installer without any custom content and it still flashes blue.

You are courageous...just looking at the list of CC required is making me nauseous. Besides, 2 of the 3 used terrain paints are listed as..???
So obviously, if no one can tell you where to get these and who made them, not even the creator of the lot, expect flashing blue!
Why is this even allowed/uploaded on this site?
Sorry, I'm either right or just having a wtf moment here.

@Rosebine I'm pretty sure that the MTS lot upload rules allow uncredited terrain paints to be uploaded with lots. (i.e. with "???" as the creator) It's precisely because of this blue-flashing issue. As in, if you don't include in the lot package all terrain paints used on the lot and/or the end user doesn't install them separately, then the ground will flash blue and can't be fixed by just painting over it. So, you have to allow all of them to be uploaded even if the uploader can't credit the creator, or else this would be a very widespread problem. I personally agree about the CC load with this lot, but back in 2006, when that lot was uploaded, there wasn't as much of a call for cc-free lots as there is now, nor was so-called "Maxis-match" a thing at all. People seemed to prefer lots loaded with a crapton of CC at that time...and some people still do. They want the pretty, furnished/decorated lot without having to do anything and/or they don't like the look of "Maxis-match." They'd rather just download a fully-furnished/decorated lot and drop it in a neighborhood, no fuss, no muss.

@suzymarie64 simmer22 gave you a good list as to the things that cause blue flashing in-game. Generally, it's caused by missing textures. I'm going to guess that either the lot upload itself is corrupted (more likely, since there are multiple complaints in the comments) or stuff got garbled when you installed the lot in your game. Did you use the Clean Installer or the game's native installer to install it? If you installed it with the game's installer, before you do anything else, I'd suggest re-installing the lot using the Clean Installer; the game's installer is known to eat/mangle files on occasion, in addition to renaming the CC with terribly alphanumeric file names so that you can't tell what's what. If you do that and it's all still flashing blue and you still want to keep the lot...Then you have a lot of repair work to do. You may have to simply replace a lot of the flashing-blue stuff with different stuff that you DO have the proper textures for.

One suggestion, though: You can use the Lot Adjuster to remove terrain paints from a lot. Aside from actually finding the missing paint(s) and installing it/them in your game, that's the only way to get rid of flashing blue terrain. Then, of course, you'll need to repaint, if you don't want to just have the default terrain showing.

If they included the unknown terrain paint, then ok..but did they?

The terrain paints are included in the lot package - I checked with Clean Installer. I wonder if they installed properly that way? Clean Installer will let you install whatever files you want to which ever folder you want - I would try installing just the terrain paints into a folder OUT of the downloads folder and then check them to see if they're fine. Would need SimPE to be working to really check them though. Without a working SimPE you could just drag those few files out of the folder you put them in into the downloads folder and see if that makes them work. Since they're included it's a bit odd that they don't work for some people since I'm pretty sure you don't need anything more than base game for them to work.

As for all of the other blue flashing - are you sure you installed all of the Objects & Recolors too? That stuff isn't included in the lot file.

As for the lot having been allowed on MTS the way it is: that was 2006 and things were a lot different back then.

@iCad I did use Clean Installer and saw the terrain paint in there. I've been trying to download terrain from various sites LOL, still doesn't help. And I tried a lot of different fixes for my SimPE and can't get that going either. THEN, I did try Lot Adjuster. Maybe I did it wrong to remove the terrain, it didn't completely flatten the lot like I told it and didn't remove the terrain. I did choose the option to match neighborhood terrain. I went through the list of links thinking maybe he got the terrain from a site he downloaded other CC, but failed again. I also wonder if it could be he used a modified neighborhood terrain that is no longer available that would keep it in that state. Is that possible?

Thanks for your input everyone. Like I said before, if you people have SimPE and running, can someone take a look at it? Possibly find the problem and fix it? It's a nice lot not to be able to keep as a download. That would be greatly appreciated.

It sounds like you've selected to adjust the terrain elevation (flatten lot) rather than ticking the box marked "Remove unused terrain paints". Try the LotAdjuster again with that option selected.

Since pictures are useful, here's a tumblr post from iCad, explaining how to do it: http://dramallamadingdang.tumblr.co...w-row-houses-im

@muridae Thank you I'll try this.

If I fix it, can I re-upload it?

@suzymarie64 The neighborhood terrain that the creator built the lot on doesn't really matter, as the shape of the terrain under the lot is saved with the lot package. The lot will force the terrain you place it on to fit itself. If removing all the terrain paint from the lot with the Lot Adjuster doesn't fix it, I don't know anything that will, unless you can track down the missing terrain paints somewhere so that you can redownload them. Since they're included in the package, they must not be installing correctly for some reason, since multiple people had the same problem with the lot. Thing is, it's an old lot, and the site(s) where those terrain paints used to be might be long gone. If you knew the creator's name, you might be able to track it down on the Graveyard, but without knowing the creator's handle, you're not going to have luck there. You might just have to buckle down, get all the CC you can from the lot download and rebuild the thing from pictures. If you decide to do that and want the swimmable river, there's a tute on how to do swimmable on-lot water here. It's not too difficult to do.

In any case, I'll download the lot and plop it in my otherwise-CC-free game and see what happens and/or take a look at it in SimPE, but I'm heading off for bed now, so it'll have to wait until I wake up and get back in front of my computer again. Maybe by then you or someone else will have figured it out.

@iCad Thank you very much. You're a sweetheart.

I downloaded the same lot from the creators website http://www.loverat.net/sims2riverview.htm and installed it in my game. All the terrain was blue but after using Lot Adjustor as described in muridae's post the result was:

You are using the wrong simPE, the latest version doesn't have the patch, that is the older version.



No, that is for the creator to do.

@muridae I am looking at the options in the Lot Adjuster and do not see the option to "Remove unused terrain paints", where is it?
@joandsarah77 I thought I did have the latest version installed before I installed the patch?

The latest version of SimPE doesn't have a patch, its called 'for everyone', the patch version is the one before that. https://sims.ambertation.de/en/

@clsve OK, I downloaded the recent version, but now it says "There are no neighborhoods available in the standard Sims 2 location" then, it tells me to browse. From the files, how can I tell which is mine and it's not showing any lot files in the folder?

Since clsve tested the lot while I was asleep, I just went ahead and looked at the three terrain paints included in the package. They are fine and appear in clsve's pic. So, there ARE missing terrain paints, and heaven only knows what they were. They obviously did not package when Loverat packaged the file for uploading, and this fact must have been missed by the moderator when the lot was uploaded 12 years ago. So, they'll need to be removed with the Lot Adjuster, as clsve did.

The option you need in the Lot Adjuster is under the "Advanced" options. There's a pic in my tumblr post that muridae linked you to. When you first open the LA, after you select the neighborhood and the lot in that neighborhood that you want to adjust, the window you see will be about half the size you see in the pic on that post. There'll be a little button at the bottom that says "Advanced." Click that and you'll see all the other options. Just click the "Remove unused terrain paints" option, nothing else (but leave the "Keep current lot elevation" option that's checked by default checked!), and then the "Finish" button. It'll think for a bit and then you'll get a message about the lot being changed. That should take care of the flashing blue terrain.

@iCad Thank you for checking that out, really appreciate it. Is there no way to remove his mistakes to be able to update the download for others? He's obviously not coming back so, maybe leave either this thread for others to follow to correct it, or put up a corrected file? Don't think he would mind, even if he did see it, wouldn't you think?

You're certainly free to upload it somewhere other than MTS. If you have or start a Tumblr, for instance (the TS2 community is alive and well and active with many new downloads every day on Tumblr), you can make a post to it with a link to the download, then upload the new file to a file-sharing site like Box or MediaFire or Sims File Share. (The latter is just better all around. ) Just make sure you give proper credit and all that, make it clear that you didn't make the lot, only fixed it. I don't know whether or not MTS would be OK with you posting a link to your separate upload here or not. I don't know what the rules are about that, and I'm not a mod, just a member who's been here a long time.

I did notice on the link that clsve posted to Loverat's personal site that there's an email address there. I have no idea if it's still valid or if Loverat is still active at all; it looks like all their TS2 downloads are in an archive, but they have stuff for TS4, so they've been around relatively recently, at least. If the contact email is still active, you could perhaps contact Loverat and ask if they're OK with you uploading a fixed version of the lot. If not, perhaps they'd put your fixed version in their archive on the site and maybe update the download here as well.

Within Lot Adjuster navigate to your The Sims (tm) 2 Ultimate Collection\Neigborhoods :


You need to know in which subfolder(Neighborhood) you have your lot installed or you have to search for it
N001 is Pleasantview and so on.
Select the subfolder with your lot and select the relevant package-file (Neighborhood/suburb/downtown) in it and choose Open:


Then you are presented to a list of lots.

@suzymarie64 You have the go-ahead from an Admin. If you fix the lot and upload to MTS if you can say it wasn't built by you that this is just a fix, with a proper credit and link back to the original.

@iCad Still did what your tutorial said, and I'm bummed, did not work. Don't know if it's me or what I'm missing.
@clsve Since you got it to work in your game, can you maybe remove the terrain and any hack or mods and reload this up to here?
@joandsarah77 Thank you for checking on that for me, if clsve can gratefully fix up the lot and remove the terrain and everything on it, it would be nice to give him permission to reload this lot.

Okay, I thought you were the one fixing the lot-but whoever ends up doing that can reupload it as a fix.