Not sure what to classify this question under. Is it safe to take the extra .package of the end of the file and it will still work? I found a lot of them and assume they are not good to use that way.

Is this happening from me or is it the creator of the file?

This is just one. Crazy
4979fc68c9cebc1a1921069e045452e9_0001.package.package.package.package.package.package

It's not you or the creator, t's the default sims2pack packaging system. This happens mainly to recolors (often the mailbox/trashcan, walls, floors, ground covers, some regular recolors, or similar) that the packager renames into random strings and adds a ".package" to. The ones with multiple ".package" extensions have often gone through several packaging rounds from different CC houses.

Renaming them to one ".package" (or none, if your folder/file settings don't have file extensions showing) is perfectly safe - safer, even, than leaving them as-is, because the game prefers just having the single "." in front of the file extension. Multiple "." can sometimes cause the file not to show properly, because the game may think anything after the first one is a file extension.

The default ingame packaging system sometimes also adds all available recolors to the package, and I've noticed this happens more often if you have the buyable mailbox/trashcan, the main CEP or certain CEPxtras, and other color enabling downloads. This is why you should always go through the CC in Clean Installer before uploading a house. Files like this spread like wildfire, and they're not fun to look through for the downloaders who want to minimize unwanted CC.

There's not much to be done - but you can go through all strange files in SimPE or Clean Installer to remove mail/trash recolors, and then rename the files you want to keep to something sensible. Spreading the info is also a good idea, so people who upload the houses know they should clean up in the added CC before they upload the house. This can also help reducing the filesize of the uploaded house, because those extra recolors take up a lot of space.

@simmer22 I don't usually go through Clean Installer except if it's a lot install. I have over 200+ files I need to change then lol. I appreciate your help. I'm still trying to figure out why my game crashes when I add new custom content. I thought maybe this would be a reason. Bummed.

What ever happened to DatGen. I use to use that program and the File Maid in it to find corrupt or other files that are not good. Delphy's doesn't do this.

I'm talking about the ingame installer/packager. It's got several annoying bugs, among them is renaming files (not sure if this happens when packaging or installing, though). As far as I know, there aren't many other ways to pack houses than using the ingame packager.

The randomly named files can be a reason for crashes - if you don't know what they are, they can be a potential problem. I've had to deal with bad CC shipped with houses a few times, so you should know that anything shipped with a CC house can potentially cause issues, particularly if the creator of the house has a different game setup than you or didn't clean up the house before uploading.

You should use Clean Installer for lot installs. That's a good habit

I guess you've already tried 50/50 for finding the problem content. Possibly also the 4GB enabler?

Wow Datgen , I remember that! I don't think it was updated beyond about 2006 though.
https://web.archive.org/web/2006111...80/default.aspx

I used that for a while - almost forgotten it.

Would be nice to see it come back to life.

Doesn't look likely, but there is the final release available here:
http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=DatGen

Yes I already tried 50/50. It's weird, some custom content will be ok, some others make my game crash. For example, the Bespoke collection. It crashes my game and it's brand new and updated by creator. Don't get it. Still won't work. 4GB fix won't work for me because I'm on Double Deluxe CD's and It seems like it's not made for Intel chipsets.

I know, it still won't work right. The file maid runs through the downloads, but when it tries to generate the report it comes up with an exception error and have to close the program.

Have you tested some of these downloads on their own in your game? Could be a GUID conflict with another item in your downloads. Before there was a fix to SimPE, some people who didn't have accounts on the SimPE site made GUIDs in other ways, and there's a possibility they've used the same GUIDs as for other items.

Too much CC, issues with the computer configuration, and various other things can potentially also cause crashes. A mod can work on its own, but paired with certain CC items it can suddenly be a problem. Various items can require a certain EP to work, and if you have the wrong version there might be crashes. Even some clothes can cause crashes.

I've found that it's easier to find problem CC if you notice when and where the game crashes - if it crashes in the same spot every time, or when doing something that requires a lot of computer resources, on startup, in a particular neighborhood or on a paticular lot, when there's resource-heavy weather on the lot, when you've played for several hours, etc. Crashes are rarely 100% random (and if they seem to be random they may be memory crashes, usually happening during resource-heavy tasks).

Whenever I have a problem with a CC item found on MTS or other sites, I look through the comments to see if other people may have the same problems. Turns out at least one other person also has a crash problem with the Bespoke set (page 4 in the comments). They haven't found exactly what the problem is, but slaved items can cause crashes even if there's just a letter missing in the references somewhere, or a tiny missing reference in one of the files, and the most annoying thing is that this can cause crashing for some people but not for others (may be an issue with your game setup), so there's a chance something's wrong even if the set works fine for the set creator and other people. Could even be a file you and that other person have, that clashes with one of the files in the set (this would explain why the crash issue happens for only a few people).

Not sure how it is with the 4GB fix and DD or the Intel chip set, but I can't see why it should be a problem. People are using the fix with the UC and CD versions of the game, and it seems a lot of people have Intel chip sets around here. I used a version of the fix that ran directly on EXE files.

I wasn't suggesting that you try to use it- more as a point of interest. It won't work with the later game patches or EPs as the DBPF code changed quite a bit since that version of GatGen was released. It might be okay for an unpatched game or SC4 but that's about it.

Lol I know. Thanks for everybody's help always appreciate it.

The game still only recognizes 2048MB of memory. I have 8GB of memory. Not sure what else to do to bump it up. Sorry if this is going off topic, but still trying to find a solution to my crash problems. I could place this under multiple topics anyhow. I miss DatGen, it's like losing your best friend or pet. It did a lot of good stuff.

I've never used any of the troubleshooting programs for TS2. Maybe because I'd gotten so used to manual troubleshooting by the time I heard of these programs that I couldn't be bothered downloading them. After finding a file that caused me issues for quite a while, my game now runs fine even with TestingCheats enabled, and if it doesn't, I know the issue is with something I recently added. I know I have some mods that these programs would react to as potential issues, but they still work as long as the loading order is correct.

I know these programs can be useful if you have no idea what your problem is - but at the same time they can give you a false sense of security because it seems they don't notice all kinds of conflicts and bad files. You may even end up cleaning out files that work fine, but not finding the actual issue, and then get frustrated because your game still crashes.

Well, @suzymarie64, you can try this: http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=610641

@Phantomknight I did try this. It fixed my standby memory, and I followed every step accurately. But, it still did not help with increasing the game memory. When I changed the .exe file from the TSBin to CSBin, it told me it can not find a graphic card to apply the fix. I'm on a Intel Chipset, so I don't think the fix is made for it.

I see, that's a bummer. I guess it's just one of those old game, new computer things.

@Phantomknight It's a Dell Optiplex 780 SFF. Not really that old. I plan on buying a graphic card for it, but money is tight right now for me (saving money to move), but have been doing my research. Factors include power supply, compatibility with Sims2 and making sure the size fits in the computer (have to use a low profile card). Game runs, but certain CC will work and others not.

For Example: I would love to use this https://sims2artists.com/index.php?topic=1935.0 but my game crashes.

Lol, I meant the game is old and the computer is new. Newer computers often need more tinkering around to make older games work.

If I ever do come across another fix to try, I'll be sure to post here, though.

If you are on a chip you will have to baby it and not use anything high poly. As to files, rename the heck out of those. There are a few mods that should not be renamed, that is all.

@joandsarah77 Thanks, I'll keep note of that. Appreciate it.