Hi. I wanted to run TS2 in windowed mode and to do this, I have to go to
C:\Program Files (x86)\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Mansion & Garden Stuff\TSBin and add a -w at the end of the .exe file.

But while I was in that folder, I found three strange XLS files that link to the sims in one of my neighborhoods.
N002_User00035 - Bear047_ScoredInteractions_1620117
N002_User00062 - Prof. Clemens293_ScoredInteractions_96966
N002_User00079 - Mom288_ScoredInteractions_50274

So I moved them into the Characters folder of my neighborhood. Is it safe to remove these three files? What are they and why are they in the TSBin folder? Shouldn't these files be in the neighborhood folder?

Can you open them with Notepad and read them?

I've just checked all my TSBin folders and I don't have any .xls files there. The filenames certainly look as if they've been generated by the game.

.xls files are usually Excel spreadsheets, so, if you have Microsoft Office (or standalone Microsoft Excel) on your computer, you should be able to open them in Excel. If you don't have Office, could you upload them so I can have a look at them?

It's not obvious why The Sims 2 should export anything to an Excel spreadsheet. The only thing that comes to mind is to ask if you frequently play with Boolprop TestingCheatsEnabled on. Because it does seem possible that a programmer might want to export something to a spreadsheet for debugging purposes.

I always play with 'boolprop testingcheatsenabled on'.
I have also added this line in my userStartup.cheat file.

So is it safe to remove these files?

On a quick look at the files they look very like the error reports you get when you use "Force Error". They seem to be reports on failed interactions. I think they're tab-delimited text files rather than being in the proprietary Excel format, but can be opened either in Excel or in Notepad. I think I was right in my guess that they were created by debug code written by a Maxis programmer. That they are saved in the TSBin folder rather than in the Logs folder is probably just a mistake on his/her part. I think they will be safe to delete, but back up your game first, just in case! Anyway' I've now got them in a folder that will eventually get backed up, so I could give them back to you in the highly unlikely event that you ever needed them.

It's the sort of thing that mootilda could likely have given us a definitive answer to. We miss her so much!

Why do you do that? Can't you just add the -w to the shortcut?


Yeah that is odd and I have no idea. I'll have a look at your files but I'm going to go with they shouldn't be there. The thing is, the game reads everything it needs regarding saved games (i.e. your neighbourhoods) from My Documents so I would guess it's not using those files anyway. Do they have a date created?

Edit - I partially agree with Andrew though I'm not sure they're error reports. They also look like the information you get in sim package files. I'm guessing they're a temporary working file that didn't get deleted - though in support of Andrew's idea, they do each contain a record of a failed interaction. It may be the failure of the interaction made the game skip the deletion routine. Anyway, I get to the same place as Andrew, I'd guess they're not necessary, that they were temporary files and that you can delete. And, the same also, try it out and see if the neighbourhood works ok. Also, I checked all my TSBin folders and I have nothing similar in any of them.

I removed those files from my TSBin folder and will check it out now.

But do those files contain any special behavior records for those sims?
I'm not sure who Bear and Prof. Clemens are but Mom is an alien-zombie-vampire-werewolf-plantsim-witch hybrid.

So if I remove that file, will Mom loose his special skills and behavior?

I'd be very surprised if he did. As maxon says, the game stores information about your saved neighbourhoods in My Documents. The information about Mom will most likely be in his character file N002_User00079.package, failing which it will be somewhere inside the N002 folder structure, possibly in N002_neighborhood.package. Like maxon I really don't think the game would look for character information in a .xls file in TSBin. I think your safest bet is, after backing up your neighbourhood, to play Mom's lot and see if he still has his special powers. If playing his lot now would mess up your rotation, you can always quit without saving or restore from backup. (If you restore from backup, make sure you don't accidentally put the .xls files back!)

Incidentally my copy of N002_User00079 - Mom288_ScoredInteractions_50274.xls has a file date last modified of 5th October 15:08. Do you recall playing Mom on a date, an outing, a party or any other scored scenario around that time?

Yes, I have played him around that time. There weren't any dates or parties. It was then when he became a zombie, vampire, werewolf, plantsim and a witch - everything on the same day.

Jawusa - test on a back up of your neighbourhood, not the one you are actually playing. That's kind of what Andrew said isn't it? Well, do it anyway to avoid tears before bedtime.

And just to comment further - remember when you edit with SimPE, you never edit anything in the game files. It's always the files in My Documents.

Apologies for necro, but I figured it is worth adding the explanation in case others google and find this post. The xls file is caused by the debug interaction "Dump happy log", which is found on sims when boolprop testingcheats is active and you hold down shift when clicking. It sits next to force error in the menu, so it is easy to hit by mistake if you are for some reason intentionally triggering errors.

Mystery solved!