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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 16th Sep 2014 at 9:44 PM Last edited by Helianthea : 18th Sep 2014 at 7:43 PM.
Default (warning) Deleting non default eye colors makes nasty stuff happen
Hi everybody

Let me preface:
this thread was originally posted in the tutorial section, then edited because of what I first thought to be an issue with what the tutorial dealt about, and is now moved because it turns out said issue doesn't stem from the changes explained about in the tutorial, but rather are a problem concerning ALL non defaults. Therefore, the thread was split and is now here in CAS*Parts.

This is the original post from the thread. You can also find it in the new thread I made in the tutorial section. It's not a required read to understand the wall of text that's going to follow. Bottom line: I found out which value to switch in the CASP*file so non-defaults would inherit the same way as default eye colors, and this is the method I used.


And now comes the part that is of actual relevance. It's a copy& paste of the old thread:

A user asked the following:
Quote:
Just one question. I see you've fixed the genetics so that the non-default ones are inherited properly. Do you know what happens in sims 4 if you're using a non-default eye color and the mod is removed from your game? Does it corrupt your sim, or will it just pick a default color to revert back to?


I hadn't even THOUGHT about this until this point.
I tried it now. I took my test sims (both with non defaults - with working genetics), gave them 2 children in CAS (each inheriting one of either non defaults so both were in the game), saved, closed the game, removed all non defaults (I left the default replacements in, which happened to be a good thing because "easy overview of what is happening"), then fired up the game again.

This is what happens:
  • the eyes are replaced with a brown eye color. It looks like either the 3rd or 4th brown from the default game (I can't say for sure) for all lifestages except children, and like a really creepy brown with a greyish sclera for children. And it is not an actual swatch per se. If you ask me, it might be some sort of "safety placeholder". (pics attached)
  • There is no way to change it in CAS, not even by changing the eyes by using a preset (this worked for some non defaults that weren't in game anymore back in the Demo), nor by changing the lifestage of the sim. You're stuck with this random swatch forever, basically.
    This is no longer true as you'll see in the next edit
  • It's also inherited. So if two sims with this swatch get children, the offspring will have a 100% chance to inherit it, too – chance is 50% if only one parent has them.
  • I can still play the family no problem though.

Well, that's grand... I saved and closed the game. Put the non defaults back in. Fired up the game again. Origin gives me a "blablabla error this is not working yadda yadda"-message. Imagine me silently cursing at this point. I try again. Game magically works as if nothing had ever happened. Savegame is still there, family is still there exactly as I left them (I made them walk to predefined spots before saving). Interesting. Saving again, closing the game again. Removing non defaults, opening the game, getting the random replacement swatch (I expected no less), making familymembers walk to different spots, save again, close the game, put the non defaults back in again, open the game again. And this time, it worked at the first try, so apparently this origin-message wasn't due to that. I think I should mention this anyway because good documentation is all and what not.
Whatever kept the game from not starting this once was not related to this. I never got this message again, and trust me, I spent a ton of time saving, closing, opening back up, lather, rinse, repeat

The one and only positive: if you put the non defaults back in the game, all family members get their originally assigned non defaults back.

So for the time being, the only advice I can give is this: If you plan to delete non defaults, make sure to change all your sims eye colors back to either default colors, or non default colors you want to keep, PRIOR to deleting the non defaults.
This is no longer true seeing as the eyes can be changed back, but I'd still advise this. It's the easier way and doesn't mess up your sims' looks

* * *
And here's the second edit I made this morning (i.e. it was morning where I live ):

EDIT 2 (09/18/2014):
Well. Spoke too soon. After a good nights sleep I had some time to test this further.
  1. The issue described in the first edit arises with EVERY non default eye color, genetics or not. I've tested this with several non defaults that didn't have genetics, either made by myself or by other creators, and every time, the exact same thing happened: non defaults were replaced by this random brown eyecolor / safety placeholder / whatever that thing is once they were deleted from the mods folder.
    So: editing the flag value is NOT the reason this is happening. The problem has to lie somewhere else.
  2. There is a way to change this safety placeholder after having removed the non defaults! And it's actually the one I described at first and thought didn't work, but it turns out I just had remembered it all wrong.
    If you want to change a sims eyecolor from the safety placeholder to an actual eyecolor in CAS, what you have to do is select the eyes so you get to the eye menu. You won't see a single swatch listed at first. And if you click on the presets, as described below, the safety placeholder will still be there. BUT what you actually have to do is click on the randomize-button (you know, that cute little die)! If the game randomizes the eye, it also assigns a random eye color from the default pool. Bonus: the default swatches pop up again. Though they are not correctly aligned and overlapping the eye presets which looks really weird. But they work! You can select any of them.
    If you confirm your changes, leave CAS, then open it up again (I think I don't have to mention it, but you need to type "testingcheats true" and "cas.fulleditmode" every time you want to do this ingame), the swatches will appear as they usually do, no overlapping or anything.
  3. I think I can now give an all-clear as far as "breaking the game" is concerned. That origin-message about the game being unable to run hasn't popped up once this time, and I've really changed a lot of stuff and saved tons of times. So, apparently, it having popped up this one time was pure coincidence and not related to this in any way.
  4. through all this testing, my game has worked no problems. All savegames are still there, no crashes, nothing.

* * *

Which brings us to the present standings.

TL;DR: If you delete any non default eye color and still have Sims which have this eye color assigned, they'll receive some sort of safety placeholder eyes that are very tedious to remove.
  1. I have no idea how to fix this, I fear the only bypass could be writing a mod that forces the game to load a default eye color if it doesn't find a certain non default eye color. No, I don't know if that's even possible
  2. I have tried this with a couple of other nondefault CC that isn't eyes. Findings:
    Makeup males & females, with own thumbnail or without: gets removed completely, but all else works fine
    Clothing (top & outfit) males and females, without own thumbnail: gets either removed or replaced, but all else works fine
    Accessories, female, without own thumbnail: gets removed completely, but all else works fine
    Face details, with own thumbnail: gets removed completely, but all else works fine
    Non default hair color (own swatch): Sim gets bald. Haircolor swatches are missing. As soon as you select any hairstyle, they are back, though.
    Hairstyle (with own thumbnail, of course): Sim gets bald. Haircolor swatches are missing. As soon as you select any hairstyle, they are back, though.
    I don't have much CC in my game atm, so this is all I could test. If you've noticed any CC apart from eyes that upon deletion makes the game do crazy stuff, please post!

Anybody have any idea / thoughts on this topic? Would really appreciate any feedback, I'd love to see a workaround for this issue in the future.

Thanks for reading and happy simming,
Helianthea
Screenshots
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Pettifogging Legalist!
retired moderator
#2 Old 18th Sep 2014 at 6:33 PM
Moved! (And changed title)

Maybe you want to swap the sections around so they're chronological top to bottom? It does make sense the way you did it, but it's unlike most forum posts so it's also a bit confusing =).

Stuff for TS2 · TS3 · TS4 | Please do not PM me with technical questions – we have Create forums for that.

In the kingdom of the blind, do as the Romans do.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#3 Old 18th Sep 2014 at 6:38 PM
I'll do that. Thanks again for moving the thread!
Ms. Byte (Deceased)
#4 Old 18th Sep 2014 at 9:02 PM
Did the error message you saw when the game wouldn't start say "Game resources are missing or corrupted" or something similar? I've gotten that when I've accidentally had a mod package in the game Mods folder open in s4pe when I started the game.

Please do not PM me with mod, tutorial, or general modding questions or problems; post them in the thread for the mod or tutorial or post them in the appropriate forum.

Visit my blogs for other Sims content:
Online Sims - general mods for Sims 3
Offline Sims - adult mods for Sims 3 and Sims 4
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#5 Old 18th Sep 2014 at 9:17 PM Last edited by Helianthea : 19th Sep 2014 at 11:00 AM. Reason: fixed my "engrish" ;)
I unfortunately don't remember what the message said. I was so flabbergasted to see it I immediately clicked it away.
I didn't have s4pe open at the time though, so that couldn't have been the reason. (but yes, the same thing you described happened to me on many different occassions. I since make extra sure s4pe is not even opened because I almost get a heart attack every time that darn message pops up).
Only thing I can think of that caused this message to appear was that I perhaps started the game before all the mods were completely copied back into the mods folder. But not sure how likely that is.
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