Computer got zapped by a brief power outage a couple of days ago, frying the keyboard and graphics drivers, and I was unable to fix it. So I took it down to the local Staples and left it for working on, asking if it could also be updated to Windows 10 from 8.1.

Well, it could, but it required a factory reset and a lot of things went away, including my installed Sims game. (I had saved my playing folders regularly, so I still have all of that stuff.)

There are ways to re-acquire the game files, and I used one of the recommended ones. Of course my antivirus program argued with me at first, so I shut it up temporarily. (And made sure to add the game and playable folders as exceptions so it won't try to bug me about them.) One rather annoying thing was that as soon as I turned it back on, it removed the installer program to Quarantine as a "threat" (yarite, and I let the antivirus company know it's not supposed to be dangerous).

The download came with some extras, like clean hood templates, extra clothing, Sims2RPC, Graphics Rule Maker, and the 4 gig patch, all duly applied. Have re-added my Tools folder and was pleasantly surprised that SimPE picked right up on the "new improved" layout. (So did HoodChecker, but WHoward's PickNMix utilities all need telling.)

So while I get my bearings and sort out what's what with the new install, I plan to play one of the "new" neighborhoods for a while, probably Belladonna Cove. There are a few mods that I will need to track down the overrides for that make them work.

Now that I have a completely clean new game, I'm considering whether or not to give ACR another try. It has some features I really like, and some I don't (like maxing the Sims' sex drive so they're always making out and WooHooing). If I can just figure out how to tame it down....

Get a decent power surge protector while you're at it.

That's on my agenda along with replacing the (balky) printer. (It keeps thinking it's out of paper, when it isn't.)

I can't find it in the documentation and think it may have been a thread at simbology, but I am remembering a possibility to adjust sims' timers so that they decay slower with ACR which makes them less likely to go at it all the time. I had an entire plan I wrote about who to give shorter timers and who to give longer timers XD but then I was disappointed that it turned out to be a global rather than individual setting.

Pleasant Sims has detailed instructions on what each setting does, and some recommendations for which settings to choose (you don't have to agree with their choices, but it's as well to know why they made them): https://pleasantsims.com/sims-2-acr/

But yes, the timer is global, not individual. Which is a shame, as one's personal gameplay will generally indicate that some sims are hornier than others.

I use a "Battery back up surge protector." Its this whoping black box that is as heavy as a a pile of bricks. So any power surge or lightening strike it handles and if the power goes out its a battery so I can safely save and shut down. I would never have my PC unprotected. Also this is my second as my first did get fried so there, paid for itself. Your PC is going to be at least 2 thousand dollars if its a desk top gaming rig, so its worth protecting.
As for printers... I don't believe a good reliable non drama queen free printer exists.

Congrates on getting your game set up and running and now run out and get a protector.

Ever since reinstalling, I've had a peculiar phenomenon I never noticed before: when I tell a Sim to go swimming, they intermittently pop up as though standing on the water, while the graphics still show that the Sim is supposed to be in the water. Has anyone else had this happen, and if so what did you do about it? (It's ignorable, just annoying.)

Have already ruled out Pescado's poolhack as possible cause - that's not what's doing it.

I have had this a very long time. I don't think it's a mod-I think it's wonky game behavior. I just ignore it.

Bulbizarrre, joandsarah: backup power supply is on order from Staples, should arrive tomorrow. Printer is TBD later.

That doesn't sound like normal game behavior. Could be a different mod - check with the HCDU, and you may also want to turn on debug to check if the game is throwing errors. Could be some new form of pool jump bugs. If you get an error log, check with the "What Caused This?" utility by Whoward.

Certain idle animations can cause that. Some of them were patched out of various EPs but I still occasionally have Sims pop out of the water to heartfart.

Whatever is going on, it isn't a jump bug - nothing got logged. I thought it might be a weird side effect of the Water Reflections setting in RPC, but it's not that either.

So it looks like I have to yank every mod that has anything to do with swimming pools, and re-add the mods one by one until I find the culprit. Tedious.

UPDATE: No, it's not the pool mods qua pool mods - there were only three of them, and pulling them made no difference.

This never happened with my old installed game. Now it's continuous - Sim swims a few strokes, pops up, swims a few more, pops up, lather rinse repeat. So something changed, or was changed, with the new install, and if it isn't a mod I don't know what it is. (Time for the even more tedious 50/50 dance! And if that doesn't find the problem, then what?)

UPDATE2: Got the right subfolder on the first try: it was a Game Hacks issue. Cleared the first 50%, took the next 25% (which also cleared), and so gradually narrowed it down to the Elder Male & Female Walk Anim fix, which never did this in my old installation (undocumented tweak in the RPC modifications?).

Once that mod was gone, the problem went away. (I also haven't noticed a difference in the elder animations, so hmmm....)

Do you know who made this mod? I've been trying to find it in my files, but can't come up with a name.

This one? https://sims2packrat.tumblr.com/pos...alk-like-adults

Probably. I've got it tagged with the initials VM_, but I don't know who or what that refers to. At some point someone ("Telefon"?) combined both male and female mods into a single mod, which is what I've got.

I downloaded it to see if it is the same one I have, which it is- Bloom's "Adult walk to Elder Animation" which was based on Telefon's mod, which is in the same download package.

And you're correct-the package is a combination of both male and female walk animations. Someone should have kept them apart.

I'll see if taking it out will do anything for the "walk on water" thing.

I have had sims popping up out of the water for ages. No idea if its a game bug or a mod, I haven't been bothered enough to look.

The more I play Belladonna Cove, the less I like it. For some reason most of the characters just don't appeal to me, and the lowest-rent sections are really low and scummy. Would like to fix up the messiest section, but only one person has reworked it, and they way overloaded it with custom content - including required content that is not included and that you must have Dropbox to get.

I suppose I could download and install it stripped, and fill in with what I have that approximates it, but really, that's extra work that should not have been necessary.

Let's not involve Dropbox, people.

If they've shared a working Dropbox link (you should be able to see the files in the background, and not get to a "dropbox 404 error" page), you shouldn't need an account to download. You just need to click the "download" button at the top once or twice, and then click a "download without logging in" line at the bottom of the box that pops up (a similar box pops up at first too, but without this line).

It appears to have worked. Now we will see what we will see.

A lot of the worst mess turned out to be hood "deco", and easy to get rid of. However, I am re-starting Belladonna Cove, as it got cluttered up with all those extraneous bin families from all the stealth hoods (should have voided those out first, but I got careless).

On a happier note, my extant Strangetown reinstalled without a hitch. Now I just have to figure out how to tame down the more aggressive amorous tendencies of ACR...turning Autonomy Off and setting it to Static appears to help, as well as maxing the Timer. (Adults with young children should not be constantly macking on each other and ignoring the kids' needs - that was a problem I had with it originally.)

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Update: Something went wrong with the Belladonna Cove reinstall, and I'm coping with various levels of borkage that I expect will eventually trash the 'hood. Nothing has affected gameplay - yet - but it's bound to be a mere matter of time.

* None of the Default Sims exist in the Default folder - no Therapist, Grim Reaper, Hula Zombie, etc. There are fifteen heavily borked character files that were probably supposed to be them, but they have no family, no names, no character information, and RED backgrounds under SimPE.

* EVERY time I run HoodChecker, the exact same errors show up and have to be dealt with - again and again and again. The graveyard borkage is apparently unfixable, because it constantly recurs.

* The family for Townies had no name until I explicitly named it ("Townies").

* The family for Service Sims had no name until I explicitly named it ("Service").

Will continue playing until the hood blows up (or I get too frustrated with the borkage) - but next time, if there is one, I will use a clean and EMPTY template.

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Update2: Gave up on Belladonna Cove because the borkage was too deep and too unfixable. Even reverting to my original install did not fix the borked Sims - I don't think they can be fixed. (If anyone has solved this problem, please let me know.)

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Update3: The problem may actually be on my end, due to incorrectly set permissions on my computer (which would be the fault of the reinstaller not realizing what I had actually been doing with it). As primary user I should, but do not, have full administrative control. Even setting "Run as Administrator" isn't quite enough. Will have to ask some experts I know, what can I do about this.