So... it seems time to do another 50/50 winnowing of my downloads folder, as the game now crashes when I try to load neighborhoods. Background info: I'm on a Mac, so there's no option for using SimPE, HDCU(?) or any of the other download organizing/checking programs that people often refer other Simmers to.

For some time, I've kept my downloads in 4 folders, according to function. This was because, while I do indeed have over 10,000 downloads, at least this way they wouldn't all be in the same folder, although... those 4 folders are in fact themselves all in the main Downloads folder, so in reality they're all still in the same folder. But maybe it doesn't look like it, to the computer? Yeah, so... whether I'm doing myself a favor or a disservice with this method, no idea - hopefully someone smarter than I will chime in here on that score. I've heard of folks who keep them organized by creator, which to me sounds like creating hundreds more folders, all of which would count towards the Mac file limit... (BTW, I've increased my upper limit significantly, going into the terminal and messing with the OS - with no discernible adverse side effects, so hopefully... in theory... it shouldn't be the mere number of files that's making my game crash.)

The problem with having my files in 4 separate folders - BODYSHOP, BUYS, BUILDS, and BEHAVIORS - is that, to do a 50/50, I have to do one for each of those folders. Typically, I start with the BUILDS, figuring that if the game is going to crash on loading the hood, it's not likely to be due to an object that a Sim could interact with (which may be faulty logic). Usually, that will expose the guilty party; If not, I move to the BUYS, assuming that bodyshop and behavior issues aren't going to show up unless I've actually entered a lot to play. However - I've done the entire process before, with the end result being that the mere removing and replacing of ALL the files actually fixed the crash problem - in the end, no CC was actually eliminated permanently... go ahead, try to explain THAT one. Also, how do I know that something from one folder isn't having a negative reaction with something from another folder? This is where my brain starts to shut down...

Since I'm on a Mac, there are things called "Labels", by which I can give files a highlighted color. I've considered giving the four types of downloads four different color labels, and then just dumping them all together into my master downloads folder, relying on the different color labels to keep myself organized. But I'm not sure THAT's a good idea, either. It would streamline the 50/50 process. And, having them all together, I could sort them either by "date added" or by "label", which would visually separate them into download types.

So that's my basic question: To Separate, or Not To Separate? Am I foolish in my assumptions about the different types of downloads' ability to cause crashes? That's really the only reason I keep them split up into those 4 folders.

You do the binary search on the whole Downloads folder, not on just part of it. The more folders you have, the easier it is to divide your files in two, because you can just remove half of the folders. Folders also aren't files, so they don't affect anything to do with file limit. Just follow the instructions for the binary search and you don't really have to think very hard.

OP do Mac's have a folder limit? The less folders you have the harder keeping things organized is or doing a 50/50. I have literally hundreds if not thousands of folders. Don't go deep, go wide.

Well, as far as the user interface is concerned, folders are counted as items, along with other sorts of files, but as to whether they actually count towards the file limit, I don't know. They use up zero bytes, so maybe not.

Yes, I think you must be right about folders and file limits - the Mac interface just presents the folders as if they were items, as opposed to "mini-partitions", or whatever they actually are. However, I would think that the FEWER sub-folders I have in my Downloads folder, the easier it would be to move half of them at once into quarantine.

You're moving half of your files, not half of your folders. It's much easier to move large numbers of files when they're divided into folders. If you have four folders with thousands of files in them at once then once you narrow it down to one folder you have to manually sort through thousands of files.

I do find it helpful for doing the 50/50 method, because while there is a chance that odd behaviour can be caused by body or build content, the likelihood is it's a mod. So I tend to take all my mods out first and see if that fixes it. It makes it much longer when it's not a mod (looking at you, the time I didn't know I had a custom newspaper installed in a collection of grungy hotel stuff!) but it makes it much quicker the rest of the time.

Nah, just do the 50/50 on the files. Still works the same and just as fast.

I firstly remove game mods and Buy cause I have Buy objects the most and game mods are most likely to mess up the game. So it's 30/70 and it usually works.

It took me many crashes to figure this out. I recommend putting every set (or collection), for example a bedroom set in a separate folder in Buy, and make sure to have a picture so you would know what you're looking at.

I keep sets in separate folders. Makes it easier to pull them out. I also keep a picture of the item in the folder so it's easier to find (yes, bad - no, I don't care - it keeps me sane to know what I have and where, plus it's searchable).

I have sorted my downloads generally into buy/build/CAS (CAS-Hair, CAS-clothes, etc.)/mods/defaults/posebox/sims/lots (and various others that make sense - anything that would be a "this category of item looks like it's causing issues, I need to test that") as main categories. Within those I sort after creator and/or site, and set name. My Buy category is slightly different, in that I've sorted roughly after category or theme (room/deco/electronics/school/bedding...) because it's a bit easier that way to keep sane in there.

Examples could be:
CAS_HAIR --> "Site_Creator_Setname" --> (files)
BUY --> "Room_Bedroom" --> "Creator_Setname" --> (files)
I don't go beyond 2-3 subfolders deep, and keep the folder names short and to the point.

And when I introduce new items, I quarantine them in a "test" folder for a bit, so if anything weird happens in my game, that's the folder/files I'll check first. That way I'll avoid a whole lot of 50/50 (done that once with a 35+ GB folder to find a borked file, and still trying to work through sorting the folder to dig out any bad stuff that might be lurking, so once that's done I'd prefer to never do it again...)

Ooh, I do like that idea of the test folder. Once I get the game back up and running, I'll probably do that. HOWEVER...

Currently, the game crashes immediately upon startup, meaning it won't even go to the title screen - just an instant "quit unexpectedly" message. ALL my downloads are in the quarantine folder, so... what now? I'm TERRIBLE about backing up my stuff... my last one happened in July. However, SINCE all my downloads are in the quarantine folder, I can just slide them back into the new one, right? (meaning the one from the backup file).

Update: The word "backup" in this post auto-generated a link to the appropriate set of instructions, so no need for a tutorial here, looks like. I stuck my Neighborhoods folder in with the quarantined Downloads, and the game started up like it's supposed to, recreating the Sims 2 folder in the process. I quit out and substituted my pre-existing hoods folder for the newly created one, and all my lots and Sims seem to be where they should be, but now there are no downloads currently installed, so everything looks weird. I'm going to try adding half of them back in at a time and see what happens.
Actually, since I have the "luxury" of starting the downloads folder from scratch , maybe I'll just add a few at a time so I can test them. Like a couple hundred. It should only take me a week or so. I actually only have 6500 downloads or so, not over 10K...
Anything else I should do before that? Thanks for bearing with me.

So here's my reloading procedure...
1) I made a "Caution" folder inside my Downloads, and, I'm moving around 100 files at a time into there, from quarantine.
2) After each bunch, I launch the game, go to my favorite neighborhood (Hawkins, IN), and then enter the Hawkins Lab lot, my current pet project.
3a) Provided everything loads (so far, so good) I then quit out, BUT DON'T SAVE THE LOT. My thinking is that the CC affecting the structure - windows, walls etc. - are slowly transforming the building back to where I had it before all this crashing business. But if I save it before exiting, the windows (e.g.) that have reverted back to their original Maxis look will be saved that way, and then I'll have to go change them manually one at a time. DOES THIS MAKE ANY SENSE, or should I actually be saving the lot after each successful load?
3b) After quitting, I move the successfully "vetted" CC files from the Caution folder into the general Downloads folder, and then process a new batch from quarantine, but... if there's a crash upon loading either the neighborhood or the specific lot, then I can perform a binary surgery, on the "Caution" folder contents alone.

Make sense? I think this is all working so far, but I don't want to get ahead of myself in case I'm setting myself up for disaster. Again, thanks for your collective patience.

Yes, it works just as well, but the physical process of selecting several thousand files at once in Windows is extremely annoying.

I'm not sure what you're saying here. You put your Neighborhoods folder into your Downloads folder? You shouldn't do that, that will cause all sorts of very weird problems. But it sounds like you actually just removed your entire Sims 2 folder, instead? I don't know what you did.



The whole point of doing the binary search/50/50 is that it is way faster than adding back your downloads in small chunks at a time. Just do a binary search, it is the same thing except done in the fastest possible way so that it will not take you literal weeks to complete.



No, it doesn't work like that. Once you loaded the neighborhood without your downloads installed, all of your CC objects and so forth permanently reverted back to Maxis objects, there is no way to reverse that process, and you don't have to save any lots for that to happen. That's also why you make a backup of your neighborhood before doing a binary search - so that you can delete the version of the neighborhood that you used for testing that is now missing all of your CC afterwards and replace it with your backup that still has your CC in it. As long as you have a backup, you don't need to worry at all about what happens to the neighborhood that's in your game during the binary search,

If your lots contain CC, and you remove the CC, then save the lot at any point - that CC will revert to Maxis items and stay that way. If you don't save, the results are a bit more iffy. Pretty sure you can't easily fix custom NH objects if they revert to maxis.

Not saving the lot should in theory stop the CC from reverting, but this doesn't always work the way you want it to, especially with several trips in and out of the game - and if your trigger finger usually hovers over the save button every five minutes, it's very easy to make mistakes. This method can't be trusted, and even when you put the CC back in, and you're positive you haven't saved, the items won't always revert back. Maybe on other lots, but not always on the one you've used for testing.

CC on sims follow similar-ish rules (items usually just go missing, clothes revert to maxis), but there the info about the CC is stored in a different way, so if you're lucky you can get the sim back to somewhat their original look if you put back their original CC. I've had some mixed results here, though especially if the items go missing for too long.

50/50 can also cause some issues in regards to mods, depending on which you have and what you temporarily remove. So make sure you do a neighborhood backup BEFORE you start testing, and switch it out AFTER, to be on the safe side.

No, I moved my Neighborhoods folder into my quarantine folder, which just sits on my desktop, as a means of backing it up, and then renamed the whole Sims 2 folder (and put it in the quarantine folder also), and then let the game spawn a new one... then replaced the new Neighborhoods folder with my old one, and all my lots and Sims were back.

And... you're right about the Maxis objects reverting back to their primal state, and I now have a lot of re-remodeling to do (or whatever you call it). HOWEVER, some items that were new meshes did in fact re-appear when I put those download files back where they belonged, notably some fences and a certain window-screen object.

Yes, I think an additional backup of the Hoods folder might be in order, just in case.

Doing a little psychic jig right now... my junkyard has re-materialized. For the "buy" CC items, I just dumped them all back into the Downloads folder at once, and everything loaded no problem. The bodyshop stuff, I think I'll be a little more picky with what I choose to keep - it was time to clean house anyway.

So... everything looked good, except for the fact that some households had disappeared. But I wasn't really worried about that - I created them a long time ago, before I had all the cool facial creation sliders that I have now... I can re-make those few.
So, I have all the CC back in the Downloads folder EXCEPT for the Bodyshop files. Things look okay, so I quit out.
I move half the Bodyshop files in (about 800), re-launch the game. Go to the neighborhood... It's taking a bit longer to load, as expected... but it stalls out, and crashes.
Fine - I take those ones back out, put them into quarantine. Launch again, without any Bodyshop files. Go to the neighborhood. It loads... but now ALL the household groups are gone.
Huh?
I replace the Neighborhoods folder with the one I had backed up, launch again. Now the households are back.
So, two more questions to further confuse everyone on this thread...

First: If no lots were saved, or even entered during the process, why would deleting Bodyshop CC make whole families disappear? Because some of those Sims were made with custom skintones or something contained in the CC? Wouldn't they just revert to Maxis in that case? Why vanish altogether? Or, did it most likely happen when I put the CC into the folder? (no way to tell for sure, because the game crashed before I could see the hood) To me, that would make no sense whatsoever. Bad CC, I could see causing a crash, but not a disappearing family, right?

Second: Disregarding the vanishing Sims, should I, theoretically, be able to narrow down which files were causing the crash (using binary processing), and then if there were families that vanished during the process, re-substitute the Hoods folder from backup afterwards, and have the missing Sims just re-appear? This is the way I'm leaning at the moment. From what simmer22 was saying, the Neighborhoods are maintained in their folder, unaffected by what's happening in the Downloads folder, until a save happens. But then... I refer to the previous question.

Houses and sims are going to look different without CC, depending on how much you've used, so it is possible you won't recognize them - but they shouldn't vanish. That sounds like a different problem (and more concerning - could be a Mac issue, though - the Mac version has some issues the Windows version don't).

All the more reason to make sure you have a backup, though.

If you want a cleaner testing environment without any CC leftovers (I assume this would work on a Mac too - it's one of my go-to-methods on a Windows computer) - Move out your current game (the full The Sims 2 folder) and run the game so it generates a brand new folder with new neighborhoods, etc. Then you can copy over the downloads and do all the testing you need to do in that folder, without any concerns for your current game. Once you've found the issues, you can delete that folder and replace it with the old folder. Make sure to remove any offending Downloads files or other items causing issues before you continue playing.

_____
I guess that's what I'm doing here... I have the old Sims 2 folder safely squirreled away in my quarantine folder, and am slowly moving downloads into the newly generated one (although I did copy my old Hoods folder over). I guess I could've waited to do that, to be on the safe side, but...

I've had all the sims in a hood just evaporate before, on several occasions. You're probably right, I'll bet it's more of a problem on Macs. Just from the way the various elements of the game are organized, you can tell that it was designed for Windows. In fact, to my eye, it actually runs in a sort of "Windows emulator" on the Mac, which is probably also why Body Shop doesn't work with it so well. It's funny, because I remember Body Shop actually working, a long time ago, and being able to import and export from the game. But that's a subject for a different thread...

Here's where I'm at:
All the downloads have now been returned to the download folder. In the end, I only ended up trashing maybe three behavior mods that didn't really work so well anyway, a default dirt replacement of the road in the hood view, a Sims 4 Hellfire Club shirt that I meant to store someplace else, and a handful of garble-named files. Everything seemed good, so I slid my old, saved neighborhoods folder in, to replace the default one. Everything loaded... except the Sims themselves. They're totally gone. I'm going to try a slightly older Neighborhoods folder to see if that makes a difference. Kind of sad, but if all the correct bodyshop files are working, I should be able to re-create them, worst case scenario... I guess.

* * * *

SOME of my Sims came back when I subbed in an older Neighborhoods folder... or rather, most of the families were there, but not all of them had all of their members still. Really wacky. I also had to sub in my old Music folder to get my radios back to normal, obviously. Too bad the Sims aren't saved in their own folder, but... I guess that might get a little complicated. Well, back to a semblance of normalcy.

The moral of the story:
BACK THAT THING UP! Regularly. Nobody should have to go through this amount of rigmarole. And, to answer my original question: it really makes no difference how you organize your CC within your Downloads folder, as long as you have a system that makes sense to you. If you have the wherewithal to include images of all your CC files, hey great. I'd be interested to know what was meant by that - for my money, adding thousands of jpegs to my thousands of package files would probably be a fatal mistake. I suppose I could edit the icons for any new files, but that sounds like work and not play.

Strange things happen when the game crashes while saving, and some files are definitely saved when you load a neighborhood. Anything can happen if that happens, pretty much, sims, households, lots, etc. disappearing, strange types of corruption, etc. I don't know why the sims from your backup would be missing, if that backed up version was never in the game while it was crashing, and especially since you restored that same backup before and it worked just fine. In that case it looks like it's probably just a one-time glitch, and you should just try again.

I've got 867 items in my Downloads folder though 5 of them are scriptoriums shortcuts and there's 350 package files directly in the folder which means the rest are folders.I've often backed my TS2 folder up at least once a month.It is almost always in a 7zip form to take up less space on my hard drive.I've had cases where a newly installed CC item crashed my game and always found the cause right away because it would be the only thing newly installed.

After successfully (hopefully) re-creating Ted Wheeler - this is a Stranger Things neighborhood, I went to add his wife Karen to the family, and bang - the game crashed from CAS. Maybe it will let me create one at a time, and Sim-Blenderize their family ties later? Worth a try, I suppose.
However, first things first - if there's CC at fault here, it's bound to be Bodyshop-related, so maybe it's time to do a cleaning of that "department"... I do tend to let Bodyshop files pile up without thinking about them. It's also a real pain, after doing a 50/50 sweep, to have the clothing re-load itself into the game, which happens in real time, seemingly, as you're selecting outfits for your new Sims, as opposed to pre-loading at launch. Every category of clothing, for every age group, for each gender, has to load separately, one "page" at a time (the first time it's being used after a purge, anyhow). As I say, I have a LOT of Bodyshop files, which means this process is excruciatingly slow, reminding me a little of waiting for games to load from 5 1/2 inch floppies in the '80s. So... slimming down the folder really isn't a bad idea once in a while.
I've heard people say they keep their clothing CC in separate folders according to neighborhood, and remove the ones they're NOT going to be using at any given time. This strikes me as overly nerdy, but given all the issues I've had... maybe there's something to that.