Can anything be done about this? I have such a humongous stack of CC I like to keep it as organised as possible - Downloads/Bodyshop/Clothes/Female/Adult/Everyday/Tops/Default Replacements etc, you get the idea, but this can mean that they just don't show up in the game. I'm not sure why, some things just seem to object to being too thoroughly 'sub-foldered'. I'm just wondering if anyone knows of a way around this or do I just need to learn to live with it?

If you're on Windows, chances are that your file system is NTFS. I think that there's a limit on how long a file name can be (the path to the file is part of its name too), and the only way around it is to either rename the file, not bury it in so many subfolders, or change the file system to a different one that doesn't have the limitation.

I suggest a bit different approach with categorization:
Downloads\DRs\BS\afcasualtop\

Windows 64-bit versions are supposed to handle more than 256 characters for folder paths in general, but TS2 is 32 bit so it's possible it's not reading past this limit (I had a lot of trouble back on my old XP computer, where filenames would simply be cut off if the filepaths were too long, but these days items usually just don't show ingame, or don't want to transfer to a USB drive during a backup, although that one is kinda rare, too)

I have noticed even with newer Windows versions that the game doesn't seem to read files past those 256 characters, so best shorten down those paths or filenames (and if there's any special characters other than letters, numbers or _ these may count as more than 1 character in the internal workings of the filepath, possibly including spaces). Keeping subfoldering to a minimum along with keeping filenames short and preferably avoiding special characters is a good idea. The more layers the game has to read through, the slower the loading could end up being, too.

A good rule of thumb is to keep to a max of 2-3 subfolders with short names, and if you don't use all three that's even better. Shorten down words wherever you can (for instance DEF or DR instead of "default replacements")

Don't be afraid of renaming files with long names. Also, if you're the kind who unzip directly to the Downloads folder, make sure check the folder structure, because some people put their files in 3-4 folders when zipping them up.

Personally I've adopted more of this style:
Downloads/BUY/Livingroom/CreatorNameOfSet/files
Downloads/CAS_Clothes/CreatorNameOfSet_AgeGender/files (age/gender is in the CU/AF/EM style)
Downloads/DR/CreatorNameOfSet/files (or just files directly in the folder) (I've got one folder for CAS and one for buy/build)

But categorizing is personal preference - just make sure to do it in such a way that you know where things are, and so you can easily separate out buy/build/CAS/mods/DRs if you have to locate bad CC (would keep DRs separate from regular non-DR clothes, maybe - so you don't get them mixed up?)

You will want to check and remove all special characters like [ ] gaps - &. Keep names short and subfolders should preferably be no more than 3 or 4 deep.
For example, a top folder could be 'Clothes_Female_Adult' and inside of that folder different folders like 'Everyday' 'Athletic' 'Formal' etc. Then the folder with the actual download ' MDP_SweetSweater' would sit inside the 'Everyday' folder.
So Downloads> Clothes_Female_Adult> Everyday> MDP_SweetSweater.
Not Downlaods> BodyShop> FemaleClothes> Adult> Everyday> MDP_SweetSweater.

This means when you open your download folder you see a lot of folders spread out rather than something tidy like:
BodyShop
Build
Buy
While that looks tidy when you open your download folder really all it's doing is hiding it like a closet crammed full of stuff. It looks good until you open it and everything tumbles out.

I subfolder my stuff quite a bit and I did get some not showing up, so had to put them in the main Downloads folder. I had to do it with some of Almighty Hat's hairs as her file names are very long.

Hat's files are a common culprit, just shorten the names or folder path. I haven't had issues with them showing but I have had issues with hers and a couple of other creators files when trying to make a backup and it stops and says it can't save X file. It's nearly always one of three creators. My own fault, I know who it will be even when I install so I should just shorten it right then and there.

Subfoldering is bad when it comes to Sims 2 cc. I used to do that, but then I learned from Pleasantsims that subfoldered cc can make the game loading time longer.

Yeah, Pickles89, I would definitely do shorter folders--looks like your files are at least 8 folders deep! Instead consider switching to a system that's only 2-3 deep. So for your example, Downloads/Bodyshop/Clothes/Female/Adult/Everyday/Tops/Default Replacements would become something like:
"Downloads/BS-Clothes-AF-DEFAULTS-EVD-Tops" or "Downloads/BS-Clothes-DEFAULTS-AF-EVD-Tops" where "BS-Clothes-AF-DEFAULTS-EVD-Tops" is the name of one folder; "BS" standing for Bodyshop, "EVD" standing for Everyday, and "AF" standing for Adult Female.

I'll also attach a picture for another example. My folders are still being worked on, but you can get the gist.

There is no reason why they can't keep their current naming convention, it just has to be spread out rather than made deep.

Downloads/Bodyshop/Clothes/Female/Adult/Everyday/Tops/Default Replacements (way too many sub folders)

Could change to something like:

Downloads/Defaults/Clothes_F_Adult_Everyday_Tops/ Named folder of item.

OP you have to understand whatever naming system you choose because you are the one who has to find the items in your game not us, but also your game has to be able to read your folders.

@Phantomknight what are the numbers for?
I enjoy looking at peoples individual cc sorting methods, even though I generally don't understand them.

Guessing the numbers are for keeping a system in the folders. I use something similar, with for instance "A_" or "Z_" in front, if I want some folders to load first or last, or together with other folders. Numbers would do the trick, too.

Punctuation marks are one of the characters you may want to avoid, so perhaps not the best idea to have those in a lot of folder names, especially if you want faster loading. Would maybe use _ instead. It's not that I've seen it being an issue with folders, but better safe than sorry. Extra punctuation marks in filenames can on occasion be seen as a cutoff point by the file, so it thinks whatever comes after is the file extension - this can be an issue with some files (can't remember if it's CAS or buy/build recolor files that flat out refuses to work, but it's at least one of the two).

@joandsarah77 I like looking at others' organization methods, too! You never know when you'll get some good ideas. And yes, the numbers are to keep folders in order a particular order, for organization, and for load order. So 0 and 1 for things I need to either load first or want to look at first when I open my Downloads. Then I have my Defaults at 1, so they load first after all the new stuff I'm testing. But really I suppose I have numbers to make sure my CAS items appear before my build and buy stuff. My folder organization goes Defaults, CAS Items, Custom Food, Build/Buy Items, Mods, Recolors, then stuff that has to load last. I didn't want to wade through all my build and buy stuff just to put clothes and hairs away. I suppose I could have used different terms (like bodyshop), but at the time I couldn't think of any.

And yeah, the OP could keep the same convention--I was suggesting abbreviations to keep file paths short. Because even if it was just one folder named "Bodyshop_Clothes_Female_Adult_Everyday_Tops_Default Replacements," for example, the file path would be pretty long, and you still need to include the folder for whatever items that go in there, plus the files--unless there are no more subfolders after that point. Plus I think it's helpful to share abbreviations--sometimes it seems like some simmers are unfamiliar with common ones like AF, TF, EF, CF, etc., or even 4t2 and 3t2. I'm always surprised that the conversion abbreviations don't see more use--4t2 and 3t2 just save so much more space. But maybe spelling things out is better for search terms? Idk.

And @simmer22, good catch; I had removed punctuation everywhere except with the period on those first folder names. Completely forgot about that; I should probably change that. And yeah, I've read a lot of stuff about whether dashes or underscores are better--they seem to be about the same in my experience, so I went with dashes. I've definitely gone back and forth about it a few times--so like my hair folders actually use underscores because way back when I first started, that's what I went with. And I've dithered a lot about what works better for me or looks better, and just wasted lots of time changing naming schemes back and forth. So I just decided to pick dashes and stick with it. I guess, if I had to name a reason, it's because underscores are more annoying to type? For the old stuff, I can use my renaming program (I recommend Renamer, btw, if any needs, or is still using Bulk Rename Utility, because presets). But for new stuff I usually manually type/edit the name because I'm usually editing the name in such a way that using a program would just be an extra step. Idk if that makes sense, but yeah, for now, dashes. Maybe later I'll switch everything over to underscores, when I'm ready to compress and merge files. (At my rate, that'll be another two years from now. )

Interesting and completely different to mine. I use no numbers as I wasn't sure if numbers were considered special characters or not just letters but I couldn't see me using numbers anyway. I admit my Download folder isn't nearly so well organized as that and I use words like 'farm', 'aquarium, 'police'. for sets dedicated to all the areas in my Integrated style play.

That's bit like what my folder used to look like, but over the years I've downloaded way too much stuff, and a lot of it I couldn't even find! I can't tell you how many times I was looking for a mod and just couldn't find it. And then I was hitting my cc limit--hairs weren't showing up in CAS because they were too high poly, etc. It was the worst! I had to really buckle down, get rid of some things, and get organized. Redoing all my folders was supposed to be the first step in reducing what I had. I suppose I've went from 23 to 20 GB.

Looks a bit like my current "buy" folder, Jo (mine is still in the works, but getting there)

Mine is a bit of everything now. I've roughly sorted items between what I've downloaded elsewhere and what I've made (it makes things easier as I've got a lot of projects going on, and semi-frequently decide to add or edit stuff, or need it for poses or whatever, so it's better to know where those things are), and I mostly sort by creator and/or set name. I don't think my exact system would work for everyone, as to anyone but me it would still seem a bit "messy"l, but it kinda works for me, because now I more or less know where to look for things. I don't like to separate sets and I keep meshes together with the recolors, because otherwise it messes with my memory. The system is a whole lot better than it used to be, though. I've also done a lot of file and name editing, a little bit of price/placement and added shift/quartertile/etc. to a lot of items (saves me from all the OMSPs everywhere...)

Numbers are fine, by the way.

I have to try and keep mine down under 14 gigs on this PC or the pink flashing becomes too much. My old PC had 20 gigs. I've been looking into merging, did a few recolours. That and sometimes switching out of texture sizes makes packages smaller.
I still have trouble finding things, especially mods, my mods folder is rather a mess.

As for hair... That needs an overhaul and a half. Mostly due to doubled meshes, colour types I won't use, sets with about 20 shades where I don't know what to keep or toss so I toss up my hands and kept them all. I mostly only download hair up to 20Kpolys unless it's something special. As far as I know, all my stuff shows up although a couple of mods don't work and a few clash.



Good to know about the numbers.
I have thought about making things look more like how the game catalogue has things sorted but I don't mind my current set-up. I could never find anything by creator.
I need to tweak a lot of things, shifting, quarter tile, update bookcases as well as sort and merge etc. Who doesn't right? :D

I often find things much easier by creator. I can't remember what I had for dinner last night, but I can remember roughly the name of a creator who made set X back in 2008-something, and even vaguely how the picture looked (which is why I keep pictures in my DL folder, which you're not supposed to do, but it's quite frankly the only reason I stay sane...). I could even find stuff in the mess of a DL folder I used to have (with some more difficulty, mind).

The rest of my computer still looks like Windows threw up, though (but the sorting system is still slightly better than my previous computers).

I also keep pictures, I have to or I would not have a clue what anything was. I just make sure they are all changed to jpg's which takes up less room than PNGs and much less than a bmp.