The FT Patch, Take #2
 

Well, I see the new (fixed?) version of the FT Patch is up.

http://thesims2.ea.com/update/getpat...&languageCode=

I was amazed at some of the things it is supposed to fix; there were that many floors "missing" in Free Time?! Sheesh!

I would be interested to know how this "new improved" Patch compares to the original. (I can't help but notice that nowhere does it say anything about the whole package file overwrite issue, which was the reason the Patch was pulled in the first place! )

-ZW

:lol: Oh, they couldn't figure that out, so they just commented out the size check on the file.

Hokieman has been having a right wretched time with Free Time. He posted notes about it over at The Chateau.

Wretched about descibes it too. But I am making progress. Got it up and running on a fresh new game at least. Still working on trying to figure out why none of my occupied lots will open in my main hood.

You mentioned that you moved a family out and were able to enter the lot and fool around in Build Mode, but the lot wouldn't open when you moved the family back in.

Have you tried...

1. moving in a newly created sim to see if the lot would open then?
2. moving the existing family into a new lot?
3. if (a) works, having your new character invite the family members back, one at time?

It sounds like you can reasonbly expect (a) to work and (b) to fail. If that's the case, it might be possible, albeit incredibly tedious, to use SimPE to export the existing sims and then rebuild your families.

There's probably some thing you can do directly with SimPE to fix the existing families, though I don't know what that might be.

Sorry to hear about your FT troubles, Hokieman! I hope you get them sorted out soon!

Well, from what I've been reading on the BBS it seems that the main purpose of this new FT Patch is to add the newest (very scary) version of SecuROM to your PC. Many people are having to completely reinstall their game after the patching. Of course, the BBS is hardly the most...rational...of Sims 2 boards, so I am taking all comments there (good or bad) with a tablespoon of salt.

From what I can gather, it again seems that people who patch on a fresh FT install are generally fairing better than those who have played FT for a bit before patching. It also seems that there are some MAJOR complaints from people with CD Burners & (legal) burning software getting an "emulation error" message after patching. (Again, why me burning off pictures from my camera to a CD is any concern of Ea/Maxis has never been explained to me. )

This is a bit disturbing to me, as the old SecuROM could be avoided completely by simply never launching the game via the original .exe file. Is the newest SecuROM not so easy to avoid?

Also, I can find no word about the Sewing Machine Glitch. Since this was a huge problem with the first Patch, this surprises me a bit.

Still sifting through the hysterics & searching for facts...

-ZW

At a whopping approximate 85 Mb, that patch has more than fixes in it. You can bet your bottom dollar.

85 megabytes? Yikes! Yeah, that's a heck of a lot more than patches to computer code.

Yes, given that the Seasons executable is only 17 meg, they must have most of the FT CD in there...

I suspect it includes a lot of images. Even the most complex computer code wouldn't add up to anything like that. That implies lots of textures for objects and clothes and stuff.

both a & b failed. I can move sims between the family bin and unoccupied and occupied lots. But I can't open an occupied lot. Doesn't make a difference with either an existing sim, premade maxis sims or new sims made in CAS.

per ZW's post, I didn't run the game until after installing both patches. I was an upgrade from BV with all prior EPs and SPs installed. This time I installed in order, Teen Stuff, Kitchen & Bath stuff, Free Time patches 1 (the one they pulled) and 2 (the new one released on Thursday, 5/29/09.

I'm wondering a couple of things now - if installing K&B stuff before Free Time had an effect or if installing the 1st patch had an affect. I'm inclined to say no since by moving my The Sims folder and letting the game create a new game came up without the problem I'm having in my existing, upgraded, game.

I still have a bunch of trial and error troubleshooting to do yet. So more to follow.

A new Sim in an old lot in an old hood doesn't work?
A new Sim in a new lot in a new hood does work?

Does a new Sim in a new lot in an old hood work? If not, that seems to mean that it's the old hood that's the problem (as in, not updated).

And you have tried letting the loading lot just sit there for half an hour or so?

A new sim in a new lot would be another test.

Oh man, there are too many variables here! The basics are sims, lots, and neighborhoods. Any one of those could be new or old; and old could be defined by the state of the game when they were created and the state of the game when they were last saved. It gets to be a rather large matrix of of possibilities.

Not to mention you could try a downloaded lot, or a downloaded Sim, or even a downloaded hood!

Didn't make a difference with a new lot (empty) either. Didn't try to install anything new just yet. No need to introduce any more variables. Too many other combinations to try them all just yet. Especially now that a new clean game doesn't have the problem.

I've narrowed it down to a mod conflict or so it seems at the moment. Everything opens without my global mods installed. I'm pretty sure it isn't some unfound bug in FT. More on this over at the Chateau.