Starting Over / How to create a backup of MCCC/WickedWhims/Etc.

[thellama99]

Hey,

 

So I am planning on splitting my mods between MM and Alpha, and running two save files (or more) 

 

I want to basically start fresh, since my games are a mess of duplicate CC.

 

I'm worried that i'm going to lose the Saved Outfits I have in MCCC Dresser. I save every good outfit so my townies don't randomly put on the most awful outfit you've ever seen in your life.

 

If someone wanted to completely back up their game before a fresh re-install what all would they need to backup? I think some of the MCCC settings are beyond the folder they sit in 

[Crashdown117]

AFAIK, anything beyond what a mod stores in its own folder along with its main files (e.g. stuff like "mc_settings.cfg" from MC Command Center) would have to be in the saves folder (Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 4/saves). The information can either be stored in the regular save files themselves or in additional files created by the respective mods (e.g. all the stuff in the "WickedWhimsMod" sub-folder within the saves folder).

 

If you plan to split your save file into multiple new ones using "Save As..." in-game, you should be fine without the need for doing anything else (or at least that's how it was for me about half a year ago or so, when I split my old save file). So, if you want to more or less start over fresh, simply keep everything you want to keep in your Mods folder (e.g. MCCC, WW) and throw out the rest. Remember to delete "localthumbcache.package" (found in "Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 4) before launching the game, then load some household, use "Save As..." and enjoy your brand new, slimmed down save file.

Then go to work on fixing all those Sims that are running around half-naked, because some of their outfits used CC that is no longer present in your Mods folder.

 

You just need to be careful when using different mod setups (e.g. one with WW and one without), as saving the game without a particular mod installed will result in any information related to that mod being lost from the save file (additional files like those created by WW should not be affected). This mainly affects things that are very tedious to "repair", like custom traits or CC clothing, so if you don't want to spend half your time with fixing every single Sim, always know which saves go with which mod setup.

 

Of course. you could just create a copy of your entire TS4 folder within Documents for every setup, allowing you to keep the saves together with the correct mod setups at all times (no need for mod managers or anything). A rather simple batch script can then take care of renaming the folders before launch, so that the one you want will be the one that the game loads everything from.

For two setups, one with WW and one without, it could look something like this (the comments and the brackets "<>" denoting the placeholders need to be removed):

cd C:\Users\<Your User Name>\Documents\Electronic Arts
if exist "The Sims 4 WW\" (  <that backslash here is very important, which is why I tend to forget it ;)>
rename "The Sims 4" "The Sims 4 noWW"
rename "The Sims 4 WW" "The Sims 4"
)
  
<if TS4 is not installed on drive C:, replace the next line with the correct drive letter>
X:
<if TS4 is installed on drive C:, remove this entire block>
  
cd <directory to wherever you installed TS4 to>
start "" .\Game\Bin\TS4_x64.exe

This example code would run the game with the setup that includes WW, and you can probably guess how the if-part for the "no WW" counterpart would look (everything below that stays the same). With more than two setups, you would need to do something a bit more complicated, e.g. inserting a series of "if not exist"-blocks that check for the names of all setups you want inactive, then continue with the "if exist"-block (that will just rename the folder for the setup you want active) and the rest of the example code above.

 

Whew, that got a bit longer than I had intended initially. I hope this is of some help and if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

[justintyme985]

On 6/26/2023 at 1:33 AM, thellama99 said:

Hey,

 

So I am planning on splitting my mods between MM and Alpha, and running two save files (or more) 

 

I want to basically start fresh, since my games are a mess of duplicate CC.

 

I'm worried that i'm going to lose the Saved Outfits I have in MCCC Dresser. I save every good outfit so my townies don't randomly put on the most awful outfit you've ever seen in your life.

 

If someone wanted to completely back up their game before a fresh re-install what all would they need to backup? I think some of the MCCC settings are beyond the folder they sit in 

MCC Command center settings are saved until you change them in the menu, or delete them. So Make sure to just copy your MCC folder somewhere, and when done, copy it back. Same with WW. If you don't delete the WW folder in your SAVES folder, it will save your settings etc.

 

And if you wanted to completely back up your Sims.. you would just need to copy the Mods, Tray, and Saves folders.

Edited June 27, 2023 by justintyme985

[thellama99]

On 6/26/2023 at 3:37 AM, Crashdown117 said:

AFAIK, anything beyond what a mod stores in its own folder along with its main files (e.g. stuff like "mc_settings.cfg" from MC Command Center) would have to be in the saves folder (Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 4/saves). The information can either be stored in the regular save files themselves or in additional files created by the respective mods (e.g. all the stuff in the "WickedWhimsMod" sub-folder within the saves folder).

 

If you plan to split your save file into multiple new ones using "Save As..." in-game, you should be fine without the need for doing anything else (or at least that's how it was for me about half a year ago or so, when I split my old save file). So, if you want to more or less start over fresh, simply keep everything you want to keep in your Mods folder (e.g. MCCC, WW) and throw out the rest. Remember to delete "localthumbcache.package" (found in "Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 4) before launching the game, then load some household, use "Save As..." and enjoy your brand new, slimmed down save file.

Then go to work on fixing all those Sims that are running around half-naked, because some of their outfits used CC that is no longer present in your Mods folder.

 

You just need to be careful when using different mod setups (e.g. one with WW and one without), as saving the game without a particular mod installed will result in any information related to that mod being lost from the save file (additional files like those created by WW should not be affected). This mainly affects things that are very tedious to "repair", like custom traits or CC clothing, so if you don't want to spend half your time with fixing every single Sim, always know which saves go with which mod setup.

 

Of course. you could just create a copy of your entire TS4 folder within Documents for every setup, allowing you to keep the saves together with the correct mod setups at all times (no need for mod managers or anything). A rather simple batch script can then take care of renaming the folders before launch, so that the one you want will be the one that the game loads everything from.

For two setups, one with WW and one without, it could look something like this (the comments and the brackets "<>" denoting the placeholders need to be removed):

cd C:\Users\<Your User Name>\Documents\Electronic Arts
if exist "The Sims 4 WW\" (  <that backslash here is very important, which is why I tend to forget it ;)>
rename "The Sims 4" "The Sims 4 noWW"
rename "The Sims 4 WW" "The Sims 4"
)
  
<if TS4 is not installed on drive C:, replace the next line with the correct drive letter>
X:
<if TS4 is installed on drive C:, remove this entire block>
  
cd <directory to wherever you installed TS4 to>
start "" .\Game\Bin\TS4_x64.exe

This example code would run the game with the setup that includes WW, and you can probably guess how the if-part for the "no WW" counterpart would look (everything below that stays the same). With more than two setups, you would need to do something a bit more complicated, e.g. inserting a series of "if not exist"-blocks that check for the names of all setups you want inactive, then continue with the "if exist"-block (that will just rename the folder for the setup you want active) and the rest of the example code above.

 

Whew, that got a bit longer than I had intended initially. I hope this is of some help and if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Thank you so much! I was wondering about where WW settings etc all got saved since the actual mod folder for it is pretty basic. You've answered all my questions!