I know its 3 months since last post but I currently also have the 15 numbers only -problem. I have tried making several test worlds but everytime the global layer comes out with 15 numbers. Has anyone found the solution to this or what is causing it?

This is the Global layer's HEX ID and filename? What is the impact of this 16char-long versus a 15char-long name, if any? Any issues that arose from this "mis-naming"? Any differences in gameplay in worlds with the 16char-long versus a 15char-long one?

Yes, it is. When I opened the hex editor to change the numbers, the test worlds filename only had 15 char. Everytime. I didn't go any further than that because I was afraid to mess something up. I would also like to know if it could be done with only 15?

I'm trying this now, and reading through the thread. What did Simsample do? Can one of those files solve the problem?



This is very useful, as it ties in very nicely with my experience of visible stuck and unremovable objects, such as boathulls, sea weeds and pocket boats.

In the post 9... I was hesitant to try but I guess I have no choice, since I keep getting 15 characters only. Though, now that the CAW is messed up again by EA... oh well, we'll see.

work for me, thanks

I haven't tried this method yet and have a question: Will it get rid of objects in the global layer _permanetly_? Or will they reappear?

To clarify, I am working on a world that I had to salvage from an old .world file using s3pe. There are 204 objects in the global layer (they are all of the small-invisible-block-twenty-thousand-leagues-under-the-sea variety, except one flower spawner that maintained its coordinates). I manually deleted all of them several times, but they are recreated every time I save.
I remember that the spawner was originally on a lot that was then deleted (don't remember if in CAW or EIG), which is why I suspect that the objects all stem from this lot and were moved to the global layer because of a botched up deletion process, and that they are somehow still connected to some kind of dodgy lot residue in the global layer.

So if I use the method presented in this thread, will this clear _all_ of the global layer, or only the objects in it (like manual deletion)? I understand that it restores a nice and clean fresh layer from a virgin world file, so, that should do the trick, right?
It worries me that CAW insists on restoring these objects each time I save, so maybe they are somehow important to the structural integrity of my world's fabric of reality or summin..I really don't want to risk completely effing up my world

Ok so I have a small question about this: 1) Open CAW. Create a new world of the same height and size as your existing world. So, for my Large 300 high world, I made a new 300 height world.

What if you dont know the height of your map, is there anyway to find out?

So, while creating (unpopulated) worlds I tend to have many exports and testing versions. And I seem to have made a weird observation: worlds that don’t have a clean global layer seem to run better. With an empty global layer it seems worlds are more likely to suffer from micro freezing, tiniest stuttering. Not as bad as lag for example created by stuck sims or bad routing. Just not running as smoothly as it could.
Same if I have an empty object layer which I forgot to delete before export.

Anyone experienced something similar when creating a world?

Thank you for this tutorial. I just tried it, and it worked great. I also had an issue where I had a 16 number file name, but only 14 placeholders to use. My numbers were 32c009f2737db20, to be replaced with 5890009f363628da80. I decided to eliminate one of the '36' sets in my replacement series, since I had two of them, and this also made the 'f9' set of numbers -- which was in in both series -- stay aligned in the same placeholder (if that makes any sense). Anyhow, it worked, but it might have just been a lucky guess. Also, I did have to remake my default sim, but no biggie. Thanks again!

I did some research and tried several methods, and I figured it out.

OP means that you must reverse the Hexadecimal code.

Let's say your new layer to be forced onto a World is this: FB4F00A3B2F4AB60.
Break the code into units of two: FB 4F 00 A3 B2 F4 AB 60.

Here's the trick. That is NOT the correct Hexadecimal code. There are two types of Endian formats: the Greater (Big) Endian, and the Lesser (Little) Endian. The "Sims III" video game uses Lesser Endian.

That means the code you enter into the game is this: 60 AB F4 B2 A3 00 4F FB.

Do that, and your file will work perfectly!

The process worked, but as you warned, it will delete your pre-populated Sims. Is there anyway to find a work around for this? Would the Porter work? What if I exported all the "SNAP" files?

One note I've discovered: the SNAP files can be safely deleted. I had NINE THOUSAND of those files, all PNG images. I deleted every of them and miraculously turned my two hundred megabyte World file to FIFTY. My World even has some custom content in it and it's still that low!

Another warning- if you're working on a world, add the houseboat & their lots first in Edit-in-Game, and then back up your Global Layer, as that's the location where they're stored.

Replacing the global layer with an empty one will clean out your houseboats!

Honestly, still not sure what else is in the Global Layer (leftover data from deleted items from Edit-in-Game?) beyond sims and houseboats.


I think you're right on that issue- I experimented switching out the global layer with an emptier (not empty) one, and the world had microstutter and felt a bit slower when panning across the map view.

The global layer objects must be directly linked to the lots IMO- Errortrap sometimes cleans up some objects on it when starting a new game.