Round of Mod Updates
Custom Food Script
- Added new scriptclass: NonaDriedFoodSushi. This scriptclass also has a new custom moodlet.
- Updated OBJK Overrides at my blog for the new scriptclass. Download the OBJK overrides at my blog.
- Plant sims can now gain Water motive for eating Raw Meat! Let your plant sims embrace their ancient roots with the carnivorous cow plant by buying them some delicious raw meat foods.
- Fixed a typo in one of the raw meat moodlets.
Breastfeeding Mod V9
- Vampire Thirst motive is now reduced when using the HungryNurser tuning.
- Plant Sim Water motive is now reduced when using the HungryNurser tuning.
[WA/UL] Adventure Boards/Job Board for your towns
- WA Adventure Boards have received some coding updates to bring them in line with SN & UL.
- NEW: I have added the Job Board from University Life to the collection. When placed in Egypt/France/China, the job board will work the same way as the other boards.
New Mod Index: Nona’s Wiki!
Do you remember my Things to do list? No? Well, don’t worry, neither did I!
In any case, I have finally found the motivation to move my Mod Index over to a wiki, and I have to say, it’s a vast improvement to the old Mod Index page (which has been destroyed, forever!). I have also created a Recent Updates page, so you can even get notifications when I update a mod.
Check it out at when you have the time: Nona’s Wiki at Wikispaces
What is the ccmerged?
This is a continuation, and explanation, of my very popular post: DCBackup, ccmerged.package and Your Premium Content Items.
There are many doubters out there about what the ccmerged is, how it works, and why people need it. Many people don’t feel comfortable or safe using somebody else’s ccmerged. All I can say is: Good for you. You have no reason to trust me, and that’s fine. In fact, from the very beginning I have advocated that people fix their ccmerged themselves (eventually I relented and started allowing people to download my own ccmerged). This is NOT because of any inherent danger in using somebody else’s ccmerged (there is no danger. I’ll get to that later). It’s because I think people ought to fix their own stuff. Once you’ve fixed the ccmerged for the first time, it should continue to work perfectly for every other install. On top of that, I really, really hate having to make sure that I update the ccmerged every time there is new premium content. It is extra work and responsibility that I’ve never wanted. But I’m a sucker for people who want their paid content to work. I understand, I really do. So I folded, and I let people download my ccmerged, because I know that my ccmerged will always work. At least until I stop updating it. Hopefully that won’t be any time soon.
Right, so let’s get to the point of this post.
What is the ccmerged.package?
I’ve seen a lot of people on the official forums trying to guess at what is in the ccmerged.package. They are skeptical about why it works because they don’t know what it actually is. I applaud this kind of skepticism. After all, it is what gets people thinking in the first place. However, if you’re one of those people, I have a question for you: Why have you never tried to find out? It’s very simple, really. Just download S3PE and open the ccmerged.package. You can see for yourself exactly what it is in there. Alternatively, you could have just asked me. I never went into much detail about it because for many users, it is not necessary. I try my best to answer (and help) everyone who posts comments on my blog and on my posts and tutorials at Simlogical. If you have a question, just ask it!
Back on the topic. First let me say that the ccmerged.package is NOT:
- It is not a cache file. It is built once. If you delete it, the game will create an empty version of the package, with nothing in it and none of your content will work.
- In computer science, a cache file is where a program will store data so that when it is needed again, the data is readily available and does not have to be re-computed or re-downloaded. The ccmerged IS NOT created for this purpose.
- The data stored in the ccmerged.package is not created by the game itself: it is REQUIRED for the game to run the premium content.
- For Advanced Users: If you have S3PE and you want to see what happens when you delete your ccmerged.package, you can re-name it to ccmerged.package.off and start your game (just go to the main menu, no need to load a save file or new game). A new ccmerged.package will be created. Close the game and open the new ccmerged.package in S3PE. You will see that it is empty. When you’re done, delete the new package and rename ccmerged.package.off to ccmerged.package.
- It is not pirated material. There is nothing in the ccmerged.package that will allow players who do not own and have installed premium content objects to suddenly have them in their game. That is, the ccmerged.package does not distribute any objects from the store. It is simply XML data.
- It is not a Miracle Fix for all store-related problems. The ccmerged.package can only fix very specific problems relating ONLY to premium content. Some premium content may not appear to be premium content. Such as the party statue from University Life Limited Edition, or the Plants Vs. Zombies Peashooter from Supernatural Limited Edition. However, for all intents and purposes, those objects are premium content because they add new moodlets to the game and are installed via sims3pack (i.e. they are hot installs).
Ok, so what is the ccmerged.package then?
Simply put, it is a compacted file where the Sims 3 Store developers keep vital XML data that is required for hot installs, that is, Sims 3 Store content. You can consider it a sort of Sims 3 Store mod package. It contains all the data needed for the scripted premium objects to work. Here’s a screen shot of what the package looks like when you open it in S3PE.
The ccmerged.package contains actual game play data resources. Without these resources, most premium content objects will not work properly (some premium content objects do not need these resources, such as the massage chair and the wind chimes). Currently, the ccmerged.package can hold up to five critical resources for premium content:
- Buffs XML (contains data regarding custom moodlets)
- This includes: information about moodlet length, strength, whether the moodlet is positive or negative, moodlet name and description, etc.
- Recipes XML (contains data for all premium content recipes)
- Includes: recipe name, whether the food can be made a single and/or group serving, information about models used for the cooked food, how the food should be prepared, etc.
- This XML is used for all premium content cooking appliances (including the Sauna, as it can cook veggies).
- Skills XML (contains data for all store skills such as gambling and spell book skill)
- Includes: number of levels require to max the skill, number of points required for each level, the name of the skill etc.
- Plants XML (contains data for the store plants)
- This XML stores information about the actual plants, such as how man harvestables they produce, how many skill points they provide, bonus for soil being watered and fertilized, what models to use for the plants, etc.
- Ingredients XML (contains data for store ingredients — these are the objects that grow on the store plants, i.e. the lemons and purple eggplants that you use for recipes)
- This XML contains data about the ingredients that are harvested from the plants, such as the model name of the harvestables, whether they can be purchased at the grocery store, price, value for nectar, etc.
Normally, most people do not all have the same ccmerged.package. This is because the launcher can only read what you install. The Launcher does not download information from EA when it creates the ccmerged.package. It uses the data available in the Sims3pack. So, if you install only the Lemon Tree and Purple Eggplant from the store, and nothing else, you will find only the Plants and Ingredients XMLs in your ccmerged.package.
Is it bad to use a ccmerged.package that has data for content I don’t have?
Having these resources in your game, even if you have not installed all of the content, will not do any harm at all to your game. The only concern is that it will add a miniscule amount of extra loading time as the game parses unnecessary XMLs (since you do not have the objects installed) when you load. In fact, this happens to everyone who does not have every single EP and SP installed, as all XML data is included for every EP and SP as long as your base game is updated to the most recent patch. For example, even if you do not have Katy Perry Sweet Treats, you still have all XML data for Katy Perry Sweet Treats objects in your Sims 3 install if you have patched your game.
Actually, I originally included in my DCBackup, ccmerged.package and Your Premium Content Items post that it is safe to use somebody else’s ccmerged even if you don’t have all content they have, but it seems that in the many updates where I tried to clarify and be more succinct, I somehow managed to remove it without noticing.
How does this ccmerged.package actually work?
Simply put, when the game starts, it will load all of these resources if they are present. If they are not present, the resource is not loaded. Now, if the resource is not loaded, but you have an object that requires this resource, you will have a problem.
For example, when you click on the Wood Oven, the game will immediately generate all available interactions. The available interactions are determined by the recipes available. If there are no available recipes for the wood Oven, then the Wood Oven will have No Interactions available. The store developers did not hard code all recipes for the Wood Oven. This would be a serious waste of time and resources. Instead, they created an XML with a list of all recipes and included it in the sims3pack with the Wood Oven. The Launcher is supposed to merge this XML into the recipes XML in the ccmerged.package.
Now, for some reason, some people have a problem with their Launcher merging these XMLs. I do not know why this happens. In fact, I have said this before in the comments in DCBackup, ccmerged.package and Your Premium Content Items. It would be nice if the Sims 3 team could perhaps come up with a “Repair” button, that would look for all valid store XMLs and rebuild the ccmerged.package that way. Then, people wouldn’t have to play the re-install game, or use somebody else’s ccmerged.
More questions?
Post them. If you want to go into more detail about how the game parses these XMLs, feel free to ask at the Simlogical forums. I can show you the code the game uses to parse the various XMLs.
Premium Content: Missing Accessories
The second most common problem when dealing with Premium Content from the Sims 3 Store is missing accessories. Accessories are special objects that your sim uses to complete animations. Premium content that uses special animations with new objects require accessories for your sims to be fully animated. Here are some examples of accessories for premium content:
- Ladle (spoon) for the Magic Cauldron
- Needles for the voodoo doll
- All food and prepping tools for the Deep Fryer/Ice Cream Maker/Teppanyaki Grill/Wood Oven/Chocolate Fountain
- Chicken feed and Charles the Evil Chicken also baby chicks (Chicken Coop)
- Cards and poker chips for the Poker Table/Roulette Table
- Coin from the Wishing Well
- Megaphone and Magnifying Glass from the Garden Station
- Ball for the basketball hoop
- Lemon and Purple Eggplant objects (harvestables)
- Hot stones and needles for massage table
- Powder bottle for Changing table
- Binoculars and champagne glass for Hot Air Balloon
- Ticket for the ticket machine
- Fruit from the Tree of Prosperity
- Sunlight from the Plants vs. Zombies Sunflower
- Bow from the Violin
- Arrows from the Archery range
- Baby Dragon that hatches from egg from Dragon Valley
- Fully repaired car from the fixer upper car from Roaring Heights
Why are Accessories Important?
Without their matching accessories, some premium content may not work properly at all. Other times, the animations might just look silly. For example, the magic cauldron works fine when the ladle is missing, but the sim looks silly stirring without a spoon. On the other hand, if the sunlight from the Sunflower is missing, your sim will not be able to use the object at all. Additionally, sometimes a missing accessory will cause a large white box to appear at the object, with the text “Missing Object…” which will look rather ugly in game. This can happen with the blackjack, poker and roulette table, as well as several other objects.
Why Do Accessories Go Missing?
There are two causes for missing accessories:
- The Launcher did not properly install the accessory (this is a very common problem).
- The Sims3pack has been decrapified (which could mean an illegal download).
It is very common for the launcher not to properly install accessories when installing sims3packs. I do not know why this is, but it has been an issue since the very first premium content objects that used accessories in their animations (More Magic! set/Magic Cauldron/Voodoo Doll). When the Magic Cauldron was first released, the official forums was flooded with complaints from people who could not see their ladle when using the Magic Cauldron. Although most people seemed to have a working ladle, there were many people who did not.
How To Fix Missing Accessories
Luckily, fixing missing accessories is really easy. To fix missing accessories:
Simply reinstall the sims3pack until the accessory shows up.
Yep. It’s that easy. You don’t need to uninstall first. In fact, I don’t recommend that at all. Just re-install the sims3pack several times in a row. It could take 3 or more tries to get your accessory to show up, but this is the best (and least painful) way to do it. If you want more specific instructions, try re-installing 2 or 3 times and then start your game and test the object.
If you’ve decrapified your sims3pack, you will need to find a fix so that the object will show up properly in your game. Keep in mind that, even when using a fix, your Launcher still might not properly install the accessory. You may need to re-install the sims3pack until the accessory is installed and make sure that your fix is updated.
Related Reading:
DCBackup, ccmerged.package and Your Premium Content Items
PS This is a post I’ve been meaning to write for a long time, I just didn’t have the time. Sorry for the delay!
Problem: Baby/toddler is constantly teleported out of the crib
I’ve just experienced an issue in my own game where my sim’s baby was constantly being teleported out of the crib. The sim would put the baby in the crib, and instantly it was teleported outside of the crib. I tried to solve the problem in several ways, such as: deleting the crib and buying a new one, using different sims to put the baby in the crib, and using the base game crib instead of any CC (including store CC) cribs. None of this helped.
The issue was with the imaginary friend doll in the baby’s inventory. Using NRaas DebugEnabler, I was able to Purge the doll, and the baby could once again rest peacefully in her crib. This solution will work for toddlers as well.
Related reading:
- Toddler teleporting out of crib (no solution provided)
Possible alternative solutions:
If you’re really keen on keeping the imaginary friend doll (which I was not), you could try the following alternatives:
- Try using NRaas MasterController to reset the baby/toddler (you can also try using the resetsim cheat though this may not be as effective as MC’s reset).
- Try using NRaas DebugEnabler to reset the doll ownership.
- If the above doesn’t work, you can use NRaas DebugEnabler to purge the doll, and then buy a new one using claudiasharon’s Buyable and deletable Imaginary Friend Doll
mod. Note: This mod is fine with 1.50 and may never need an update.
Many thanks to crinrict for her input on this 🙂
Nona's Sims 