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Field Researcher
Original Poster
#1 Old 28th Oct 2021 at 4:19 PM Last edited by sillysoraya : 30th Oct 2021 at 12:14 PM.

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 2, University, Nightlife, Open for Business, Pets, Seasons, Bon Voyage, Free Time, Apartment Life
Default Basegame AM black hair missing from CAS and Bodyshop
Hi everyone!
So a weird one - AM black basegame hair mhairclosecrop is missing from CAS and bodyshop, with and without my downloads folder/defaults etc.

When I select amhairclosecrop in red/brown/blonde it shows up on the sim including the thumbnail, and in all colours for teens and children. However The thumbnail is missing for Adult Male black hair. If I switch from a different colour/age to black, it shows on the sim but again is nowhere in the catalogue.

I have tried deleting groups.cache, cigen.package, & CASthumbnails, and tried with no Downloads folder in place.
I checked the objects.package file in the basegame as well as the other EP game folders and they haven't been tampered with since pre-2010.

See the attached photos so you can see the difference between black haired adult, black haired teen, and brown haired adult.

This is on a disk installation of all expansion packs (not ultimate collection or similar, an individual game disk installation), on Windows 7 desktop PC.

Any advice would be very much appreciated!
Screenshots
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retired moderator
#2 Old 28th Oct 2021 at 5:01 PM
Does it still do this if you drag documents/ EAGames/ The Sims 2 to the desktop and run the game to generate another?
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#3 Old 28th Oct 2021 at 5:21 PM
Quote: Originally posted by simsample
Does it still do this if you drag documents/ EAGames/ The Sims 2 to the desktop and run the game to generate another?

Hi, Yes it still doesn't show (see attached)
Screenshots
Mad Poster
#4 Old 28th Oct 2021 at 5:39 PM
Have you at any point installed any hiders,defaults or similar in the Bins folders in the install location?

Check your latest EP (or M&G folder) in this location (install folders, usually in Program Files)
...\TSData\Res\Catalog\Bins
and see if there's any files other than "globalcatbin.bundle" in there.
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#5 Old 28th Oct 2021 at 5:59 PM Last edited by sillysoraya : 28th Oct 2021 at 6:07 PM. Reason: clarification
Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
Have you at any point installed any hiders,defaults or similar in the Bins folders in the install location?

Check your latest EP (or M&G folder) in this location (install folders, usually in Program Files)
...\TSData\Res\Catalog\Bins
and see if there's any files other than "globalcatbin.bundle" in there.

Yes there's a few things in the M&G bin folder, and the skins folder. I'll remove them (except globalcatbin skins.package and jewelry.package) and try again with the new fresh save.

Question - the skins.package files in both basegame and M&G, and the basegame globalcatbin.bundle file says they've been modified recently - could this be the problem, or does that often happen?
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#6 Old 28th Oct 2021 at 6:11 PM
It is still missing removing excess files from bins and skins folder for both M&G and Basegame
Field Researcher
#7 Old 28th Oct 2021 at 6:21 PM
Since you've mentioned disk installations, have all your packs (including base game) been patched successfully? Base game, University and Nightlife patches can sometimes be problematic and corrupt some installation files.
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#8 Old 28th Oct 2021 at 6:35 PM
Quote: Originally posted by mate54
Since you've mentioned disk installations, have all your packs (including base game) been patched successfully? Base game, University and Nightlife patches can sometimes be problematic and corrupt some installation files.

Hi, yes they were patched when they were installed (been installed on this PC since 2012.... a long time, uh-oh). It's only fairly recently shown to be a problem, but I'll admit I don't use this hair often. I only noticed when making a default replacement for it actually.
Mad Poster
#9 Old 28th Oct 2021 at 9:33 PM
Quote: Originally posted by sillysoraya
Yes there's a few things in the M&G bin folder, and the skins folder. I'll remove them (except globalcatbin skins.package and jewelry.package) and try again with the new fresh save.


Make sure you don't remove files if you don't know what they do. Some of the files are meant to be in there. Only downloaded/player-made files are safe to remove.

Quote: Originally posted by sillysoraya
Question - the skins.package files in both basegame and M&G, and the basegame globalcatbin.bundle file says they've been modified recently - could this be the problem, or does that often happen?


How recent? If you've recently installed or patched the game it's possible they've got that date, but they shouldn't have a much more recent one than that.
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#10 Old 28th Oct 2021 at 9:50 PM
Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
Make sure you don't remove files if you don't know what they do. Some of the files are meant to be in there. Only downloaded/player-made files are safe to remove.



How recent? If you've recently installed or patched the game it's possible they've got that date, but they shouldn't have a much more recent one than that.


A couple of months ago And I haven't installed or patched since 2012 so maybe that's a problem. I can get my disks from the attic and maybe replace those files with originals?

And don't worry they were only downloaded files I removed temporarily.
Mad Poster
#11 Old 29th Oct 2021 at 12:57 AM
Have you deleted anything ingame or in Bodyshop, using the trash bin button?

Certain defaults, when placed in the Downloads folder (and not in the Bins folder in the install files) will enable the custom star and the trash bin button, This can potentially cause you to delete things from the install files. That's one of the reasons it's safest to delete/remove the files from outside of the game, such as from the Downloads folder. I don't know if you've done this, but it's a possibility.
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#12 Old 29th Oct 2021 at 8:15 AM Last edited by sillysoraya : 29th Oct 2021 at 9:18 AM. Reason: clarification
Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
Have you deleted anything ingame or in Bodyshop, using the trash bin button?

Certain defaults, when placed in the Downloads folder (and not in the Bins folder in the install files) will enable the custom star and the trash bin button, This can potentially cause you to delete things from the install files. That's one of the reasons it's safest to delete/remove the files from outside of the game, such as from the Downloads folder. I don't know if you've done this, but it's a possibility.

Yes I've deleted things from both of these a fair few times, so it's a possibility. I thought only custom content though not defaults, but you never know. Just noticed pfhairpuff is also missing so something is definitely dodgy.
Do you think getting those recently edited skins.package and globalcatbin.bundle files back from the original disks and replacing them might help?
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retired moderator
#13 Old 29th Oct 2021 at 1:06 PM
That would be what I would do before completely reinstalling.
Field Researcher
#14 Old 30th Oct 2021 at 10:08 AM
Quote: Originally posted by sillysoraya
Yes I've deleted things from both of these a fair few times, so it's a possibility. I thought only custom content though not defaults, but you never know. Just noticed pfhairpuff is also missing so something is definitely dodgy.
Do you think getting those recently edited skins.package and globalcatbin.bundle files back from the original disks and replacing them might help?

I could work. And then it might be a good idea to try to patch it in case those files were ever updated by Maxis.
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#15 Old 30th Oct 2021 at 12:13 PM
Quote: Originally posted by simsample
That would be what I would do before completely reinstalling.


Quote: Originally posted by mate54
I could work. And then it might be a good idea to try to patch it in case those files were ever updated by Maxis.


Hi both, So I went through and replaced all the globalcatbin.bundle files and skins.package files that had been modified recently, replacing with the original disk files. I attempted to patch but it said it was up to date, so hopefully that's fine.

I went in game in a fresh save and huzzah! both the black amclosecrop and all the pfpuff hairs are showing again! Thank you both for your help! I don't know how all those files had been modified but hopefully the problem won't occur again
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retired moderator
#16 Old 30th Oct 2021 at 1:28 PM
You can mark those files as read only to protect them. Glad you got it fixed!
Mad Poster
#17 Old 30th Oct 2021 at 2:16 PM
Quote: Originally posted by sillysoraya
Yes I've deleted things from both of these a fair few times, so it's a possibility. I thought only custom content though not defaults, but you never know. Just noticed pfhairpuff is also missing so something is definitely dodgy.


Texture-referenced recolors, mesh edits or files including meshes (ingame, CAS items are generally recolor files showing, but defaults and mesh fixes can have meshes included), merged files... There are a few ways. Be extra careful in the back of the CAS catalog - if you notice custom stars on anything that shouldn't have them, or you use default replacements, or if you have items that use EAxis textures with new meshes, it's best to remove those from your game via the Downloads folder, just to be safe (I never delete stuff from ingame, but I'm kinda paranoid about this... Maybe I'll delete stuff I'm certain of from Bodyshop, but that's it )
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