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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 11th Jul 2010 at 10:56 PM Last edited by heyvanity : 13th Jul 2010 at 6:42 PM.

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 3, Ambitions, Late Night, Generations, Pets
Default Custom Content Limit?
I'm having a big problem with my custom content (as per usual). I honestly think I have a custom content "limit" in my mods folder. I honestly cannot have over 860-864 (must be more related to the amount of space used rather than the actual amount if items in the folder, which leads me to believe it's a system requirement problem) items in my mods folder. The game will not load and it either ends at the very beginning screen or stops loading at the black screen.

I prefer to download .package items rather than .sims3pack items because the launcher is finicky. This is why I have so many .package files. I have around 1000 items that I would like to have in my mods folder.

I have been working on finding the "corrupted" file that I thought was preventing my game from loading but I have figured out that no matter what, if I add more items that takes up too much space, my game won't load.

My most recent attempt at fixing the problem was to install Snow Leopard so my system was totally updated. My specs are as follows:

Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac7,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz

I don't know if my system is the problem? I don't know HOW to fix this? It's driving me insane! Is anyone else having this problem? I have searched quite a few other sites and no one seems to have this problem with the game. Can I compress these .package files to use less space? Any suggestions at this point would be most helpful because I've exhausted my options.

By the way, all I have is the base game, but it's completely updated to the most recent patch (1.4).

After more trail and error, I've found that I must remain under 3.7GB in my mods folder. Right now I'm at 3.7GB but I only have ~850 items in the folder.

Any response is appreciated... are there people with more than 3.7gb of information in the mods folder?
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Test Subject
#2 Old 14th Jul 2010 at 4:18 AM
i'm having the same problem. im also on a mac. a macbook pro however. that probably explains why my mods folder can handle less (2.09 GB). frustrating...
Test Subject
Original Poster
#3 Old 14th Jul 2010 at 4:22 PM
It is! And you know, I'm *assuming* that my system is the problem but then I question that and frantically search for a file that could be "corrupting" my mods folder, but to be honest, it's SO difficult to go through ~850 items. And I don't think that a file could prevent me from having a certain amount of items in my folder. The ONLY mod I have currently is the SuperComputer. I've been going through files for days now.

Uh, I hope we find a solution. :-/
Field Researcher
#4 Old 15th Jul 2010 at 9:31 PM
It sounds logical that there could be a file limit pertaining to the number of package files, since there was in TS2. The more packages you have, the longer it takes the game to load, so I would assume that means the game is loading all those packages when its starting the game. Which, past a certain point, the OS can't handle.

To see what Snow Leopard allows, go to the Terminal app and enter "sysctl kern.maxfiles" and "sysctl kern.maxfilesperproc" (separate entries and no quotes) -- these commands will display the current values of the file limits.

What's odd though, is that others aren't having the same problem. Seems like a lot of folks would be hitting the limit by now, if indeed there was one.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#5 Old 15th Jul 2010 at 9:46 PM
For "sysctl kern.maxfiles" I got 12,288. For "sysctl kern.maxfilesperproc" I got 10,240.

Is this how many files a folder can hold? I'm not exactly sure what this means.

I think it's odd too and it seems like there has to be something else going on as to WHY I'm hitting a limit. I'm positive that other people on iMac's have gone over 3.7GB worth of storage in their mods folder, so I'm not sure what's going on with my game...
Field Researcher
#6 Old 16th Jul 2010 at 5:18 AM
Those numbers show how many files the whole OS can load at one time. It's pretty much the same as in Leopard.

So, I suppose there could be a limit, but you should rule out other possibilities first. It's more likely that some of the CC you have is no longer compatible with the game version you're running. If I were you, I'd follow the instructions in post #7 by plasticbox in this thread, to check that your CC is good.
Lab Assistant
#7 Old 16th Jul 2010 at 2:44 PM
I have a similar problem, but I only have 965.6 MB in my Mods folder. I did have 1.22 GB of hair packages but the game wouldn't load with them in there. I tried the 50 - 50 method of finding out which mods were corrupt, but it turned out that my game wouldn't load with all the hair packages in there, no matter which ones I tried to keep and which ones I didn't.

I wonder if it has to do with 'free space' on the computer, because it is strange that it is happening to many different people, but at different amounts of files. It doesn't help that I'm having other issues with the game. I've wondered recently if it's worth all the hassle of things like a sim that can't go to another world, or game quitting to desktop, etc. The game suddenly quit working (stopping at the flash screen) when I added some new hairs. I want all the hairs! AND I want the game to work! Is that asking too much?
Test Subject
Original Poster
#8 Old 16th Jul 2010 at 7:17 PM
Luws, I have spent quite a few hours trying to find the files that is screwing up my system, but the weird thing is that as long as I have 3.7GB worth of items in mods folder or under, my game loads. I can still play the game as long as I have under that amount, and I can add ANY type of CC and after I hit that point, my game won't load. That what leads me to believe that it's not a file in my mods folder. So, to me, it seems rather pointless to go through and try to find the "corrupt file" because I don't think there is one. I tried the method of finding the corrupted file and weeding it out (have done this many times before) but this seems not to help me in this situation. The only mod I have is the SuperComputer, could that be the problem? I removed every other mod since I know a lot of them aren't compatible with the newest patch. Could another .package file cause the type of problem I'm having? It doesn't sound logical.

bestock - Yes, this is exactly what I've done as well. I tried many methods to find the corrupted file but soon realized that all of my CC works as long as I'm under a certain amount of storage. The "free space" theory sounds like it could be possible, but I'm not sure. You mean free memory or free hard drive space? Generally I'm only running safari as I'm playing the sims so you would think I would have plenty of memory left. My game has been crashing lately and it's pretty annoying and I'm not sure if it's related to the storage space problem that we're having. I've been contemplating deleting all of my files and just starting fresh with new downloads but to be honest, I'd download the same files so it's kind of pointless to me. I want hairs and clothes and objects toooooo!
Field Researcher
#9 Old 16th Jul 2010 at 8:46 PM
If it's a file limit issue, it's not the size of the files or folder, it's the amount.

The OS can only handle a certain number of files loaded at one time. That is the 10240 and 12288 figures heyvanity posted above. Those numbers are system wide, and believe me, when running an app like the sims, get maxed out quite easily.

If it's an issue with the amount of free space on the HD, then the sizes would matter. But free space would only become an issue if there was only a small percentage of your HD free. Is that the case? Have you checked to see how much of your HD space is available?

There was a fix for the file limit issue developed for Sims 2 which you could try. But as far as I'm aware, it has never been applied to Snow Leopard and since it messes with system files, it can totally screw your Mac if done improperly. So be aware of the risks before attempting it, should you choose to give it a try.

You can find instructions for the file limit fix for TS2 here

There is a temporary method also posted in that thread, which might be wise to try first. If the temporary method doesn't break Snow Leopard, then neither should the permanent method.

I don't have SL, so haven't tried it, plus, the file limit increase is still in affect from when I did it for TS2, so I wouldn't expect to have limit issues.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#10 Old 16th Jul 2010 at 9:16 PM
I really don't want to go messing with my computer. I'm not a computer genius and can navigate my way around a mac fine, but other than that, I'm pretty useless.

This may be a stupid question, but I'm wondering how ~850 files can max out my system? There must be thousands of other files running as well. I'm surprised a ton of people haven't run into this problem if that's the case, considering that there's way more than 850 CC files out there available for people to download. I suppose it's different for every system though?

And if it's a file limit, it doesn't make sense that I previously have had 870 files and it loads.

I'll have to check my HD when I get home to see how much space is available. But from what I recall, there's still quite a bit of space left on my HD.
Lab Assistant
#11 Old 17th Jul 2010 at 3:33 AM
I'm running Snow Leopard, Mac Intel dual core, 2.66 ghz, 14 gb ram, and the original video card, nvidia geforce 7300. It seems to be the video card that causes the most problems, but I looked around for a new video card and I can't find one. Seems the companies that make them have moved on to newer model computers, so I'm just out of luck. RAM and other things never seemed to make much difference to the Sims 3 gameplay. And I only started having this problem after I installed the game update, 1.14, the most recent one. Of course, I've had other problems, too, so it's hard to figure out what is causing any of the problems when there are multiple problems.

I just want to load lots more of my mods. I hate having to give up one to have another. I don't think the OS is stopping the game from playing, but I could be wrong. Especially since this problem (for me) coincided with the new game update. I also have something that corrupts my adult female sims, some file somewhere, that won't allow them to travel on World Adventures. Most recently, the game would quit whenever I was in CAS of "change appearance", but it seems to have stopped when I locked the same hairstyle in for all outfits! It's all confusing. It takes so much time to test the files, start up the game, test it, etc. that it's impossible. How long does it take for your game to load with the 3.7 GB of mods?

Of course, I use the 50 - 50 method, but having to wait for the game to load each time, it can take a long time. I spent an entire day doing this only to find out it was 'too many' files and not a single corrupt file. *sigh*
Test Subject
Original Poster
#12 Old 17th Jul 2010 at 3:41 AM
I never thought about the video card... I don't want to purchase something like that if I'm not *sure* it will fix the problem.

My game seemed to have major problems once I updated to the 1.13 patch (I'm at 1.14 now but things got all screwed when I updated previously). So maybe it's that? I should contact EA but I don't know if I should. My game has been randomly crashing ever since, but it could be I have some crappy files in the mods folder too. But yes, that's the problem that I have, that it takes SO LONG to test out each of these files. I honestly spent probably a good 3 days (not entirely but at least 3 or 4 hours per day) researching and testing and had no success. It's so frustrating!

It takes my game quite awhile to load! I would say 5 minutes or more. I can handle that, though, because my game play isn't super slow, although it does lag at times.
Lab Assistant
#13 Old 17th Jul 2010 at 6:10 PM
EA always says it's probably corrupt mods that causes the problems. There's very little way to tell which file it is due to the long load time. It was easier when my game refused to start at all! That was due to the 'too many files' problem, because it would stop at the flash screen and I would not have to wait for the whole game to load. I found out accidentally that it was 'too many files' rather than just a corrupt file or two, because I divided the hair mods into three groups and tried each group separately to see if there was a corrupt file in each of them. Just to prevent the game from starting at all, mind you. And the game started right up with each of the three groups, but never with two of them. I had to choose which group I wanted!!!! That's really awful. I'm going to play around with adding one or two files at a time. But so far, I've not had luck with adding *any* new files. It makes me wonder if there is a mod that could conflict with this or if it's the game itself. I don't believe it's the OS.

If you do contact EA, it would be good to know if there is a file limit inherent in the game. We *know* that we're being limited to a certain number of mods, but we don't know why. And how to get around it. How do you contact EA?
Lab Assistant
#14 Old 17th Jul 2010 at 6:15 PM
Just reading what I just wrote, I'm wondering if it's something to do with the caches and thumbnails, which I have deleted several times. I'm at a limit smaller than your 3.7 GB, so it could well be something in the new patch that unintentionally limits one to a certain number of files. And it's probably something that you and I can't figure out. My mods folder is topped out at 971 MBs, not even one whole GB.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#15 Old 17th Jul 2010 at 7:08 PM
I've contacted EA before by going to the Sims 3 website and clicking "Help" and then writing them. I have a feeling they'll have the same response as you suggested, that we have a corrupt mod in our folder. Yeah, maybe it's something wrong with the patch... I wish I could just figure out the problem at least so that I KNOW that it's a problem that I can't fix and that I just have to deal with it. I've just been playing my game without more CC even though I wish I could have more.
Lab Assistant
#16 Old 17th Jul 2010 at 8:53 PM
Quote: Originally posted by heyvanity
I've contacted EA before by going to the Sims 3 website and clicking "Help" and then writing them. I have a feeling they'll have the same response as you suggested, that we have a corrupt mod in our folder. Yeah, maybe it's something wrong with the patch... I wish I could just figure out the problem at least so that I KNOW that it's a problem that I can't fix and that I just have to deal with it. I've just been playing my game without more CC even though I wish I could have more.


Playing the Sims 3 and "winning" (having it start up, not crash, and have sims actually go on a World Adventure (not disappear), all seems to be a crap shoot. There are a lot of answers out there for how to fix sims not appearing on a world adventure, but different answers seem to work for different people. Same for getting Error 12 when saving a game.

I'm pretty sure that having to get rid of your sims or reinstalling the game and starting over is not the answer we hope for. It's a bad answer. One doesn't play a game for weeks, hours a day, and then happily start over. And, yet, I've done it with Sims, Sims 2, and Sims 3. The mods are why we play the sims. If there were not mods and just things to buy from EA then I wouldn't play. It's the mods that make it fun. And if there weren't mods out there I'm sure EA would still be handing us the crappy stuff they start the games with. I love the game and yet the frustration is driving me crazy.

OK enough of my rant. If I find out anything I'll post here, and I hope you will too!!! I'm so glad for your first post. I thought I was the only one!
Lab Assistant
#17 Old 19th Jul 2010 at 12:39 AM
Good news, I added two hairs and the game still started. It was actually 4 package files total. They were newer files, as I'm trying to determine if the age of the package file is relevent. I'm trying to only add files slowly, in case it's a game rebellion against too many new files. Also I updated Awesome Mod.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#18 Old 19th Jul 2010 at 6:28 AM
I've never used Awesome Mod... but honestly, I've been adding "newer" files and it still screws my game up. Are you sure you were at that "limit" before? I find that it doesn't matter how many files are in my mods folder, it has to do with the actual amount of space, which for me, is 3.7GB. So, I've had 874 files in there before, but removed a few and only could add up to 850. It changes depending on how large the files are.

Although, you could be on to something? I've been downloading from All About Style, LiliSims, and PoppySims lately, so maybe they have corrupted files? I also downloaded some hairs from Anubis.
Fat Obstreperous Jerk
#19 Old 19th Jul 2010 at 2:26 PM
One of the limitations of Macs is that they only allow a certain number of files open at a time. Therefore, jumping in huge numbers of files will overload this setting. To avoid this you can jampack everything into a DBC like EAxis does, or you can go and rummage through your system settings to change this limit.

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I cannot accept, and the wisdom to hide the bodies of those I had to kill because they pissed me off.
Lab Assistant
#20 Old 19th Jul 2010 at 3:29 PM
The new hairs were from Anubis.
Lab Assistant
#21 Old 23rd Jul 2010 at 8:29 PM
Try using S3PE to 'moosh' packages into dbc archives, as Pescado says. Use S3PE to do it... (if you don't know how, this is it - http://mactasticsims3.com/tutorials/s3pe-mono/ and also the tutorial that follows after.) It doesn't ALWAYS work perfectly, so keep backups of your original packages... but doing that CAN make the game load a lot faster, and solves the file limit.
Another thing to help with the file limit is to quit all un-necessary processes. Use Activity Monitor to check that things are properly 'quit' (although, if you don't know what it is, don't quit it, lol). There are some dynamic processes that are loading files etc all the time... You could temporarily remove all the widgets from your Dashboard while you play TS3, you could quit Speech Synthesis Server, GrowlHelperApp (if you have it), as well as other things you may or may not have like ISP monitor programs, 'Squeeze', 'Drive Pulse', clamd.
You could also turn off your Airport and Bluetooth while you are playing TS3 (although if you have a wireless mouse and keyboard, don't turn your bluetooth off LOL)
(make sure you quit activity monitor properly too!)

Also, for iMacs, Macbooks, Macbook Pros and Mac minis, you can't change the graphics card. You're stuck with it. The only thing you can really update hardware-wise is the RAM.

An easier way to test mods than the '50-50' is to keep them all arranged in subfolders, with an accompanying list... so you can test a subfolder at a time. (For an example of how to organise that go here http://mactasticsims3.com/358/adven...ntent-overhaul/)

That can help you narrow it down to one particular subfolder, which you can then test in smaller groups.

Mac-tastic Sims 3 - Tips and tutorials for making the most out of your Sims 3 experience on Mac :D
http://www.mactasticsims3.com
Test Subject
Original Poster
#22 Old 23rd Jul 2010 at 9:48 PM
I downloaded S3PE but honestly, I had no idea HOW to use or where to start, so I'll have to look at that tutorial and try it out.

And I'll try your other suggestions when I go to play next.
Lab Assistant
#23 Old 21st Aug 2010 at 1:50 AM Last edited by bestock : 21st Aug 2010 at 1:52 AM. Reason: adding info
I'm still struggling with this. Thanks to Loofahdoofah I was able to use S3PE and the sims3dashboard.exe to get fix corrupt files and get rid of conflicts. But the game still doesn't want to start up if I add new mod .package files, esp. hairs.
Lab Assistant
#24 Old 4th Sep 2010 at 1:41 AM
Something else, bestock - a lot of anubis's hairs, while absolutely GORGEOUS have a really really high polygon count - which could be an issue, although ya'd think with 14GB of ram (how do you manage that? do you have a mac pro???) it wouldn't be an issue.

I've noticed that sometimes, if you have a 'problem' mod (I won't call it corrupt or anything... because i'm not sure that's the case) the system will load all of the files UP TO that one, and then nothing after. Which is weird, I know, but that's what happens.
That's another time my system of sub-folders comes in handy. Add files by subfolders until you figure out which one it is that might be causing the issue, and then try them in progressively smaller amounts to see if you can figure out the ONE that might be doing it. Dashboard won't necessarily pick that up, because it's not necessarily corrupt.... it's just not playing nice!

Perhaps you guys are just going to have to be a bit more discerning with your CC. I mean, 3.7GB of CC is a lot. Also, be careful *where* and *what* you're downloading, because some sites are better moderated than others... and some content is bound to be buggier. Stuff from MTS is pretty good as long as it's up to date with your game :D

Mac-tastic Sims 3 - Tips and tutorials for making the most out of your Sims 3 experience on Mac :D
http://www.mactasticsims3.com
Lab Assistant
#25 Old 12th Sep 2010 at 7:48 PM
I have found a way to put in new hairs. This is very strange, but I've tried and tried everything I can think of, and here is something that works, at least for me. I've done it more than once with success.

I add the new hair package files to mods/packages/hairs. I delete the cache files. I start the game because it might just work. The game hangs and I have to restart my computer. Then, I keep a spare file of package files on my desktop (leftovers from trying the 50-50 method) which contains a lot of package files. I put that in mods/packages. I do not delete the cache files. I start up the game. The game hangs and I have to restart my computer. Then I take out the extra folder of package files, do not delete the cache files! and start up the game again. For some reason it will start up with the new hairs. I guess because it has so many less package files since the last time it tried to start up.

I know it sounds crazy, but it's worked for me.
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