I've been working on a CAW world on and off. I've come back to it after being gone for two years and I could use a little guidance, if you don't mind

I'm using only major expansions and the Dragon Valley content, and I've noticed that a lot of rabbit holes seem to have reverted to placeholders, and a number of scenery objects have disappeared entirely. Maybe I should mention that I'm doing all of this through Origin, which is new (for me). I think that most of the vanished content is Dragon Valley, and it seems that the world objects from Dragon Valley aren't available in the editor anymore. I had to download CAW from a third party site (I got the link on here) because the official download link on the Sims website doesn't seem to work.

Thank you for any clarification you can give!

What did you do to the dragon valley content before installing it? Is it the world you're talking about.

Did you try this link for caw? What version did you use?

Don't tell me you downloaded piracy content. MTS does not allow it. Also piracy content has all kind of proplems. There is not much we can help you with if that is the case. If you do have a proper lisence for sims3 though, it's fine.

Are you talking about in EIG on lots or in the world building? If the world, did you add mods as needed in the program files to include additional content that is not normally in CAW?

I installed 3 and CAW on this a few months ago and got CAW from the official site with no problems.

All I did was redeem my base game and expansion pack keys on Origin, and then I downloaded Dragon Valley from my store account on the Sims 3 site. The Sims 3 launcher came up and installed the world and everything that came with it.

I tried that 1.69 official link last night and nothing happened, but tonight it worked. That's weird. I uninstalled CAW and reinstalled using the file from the official link, still no change.

No, I don't steal games or anything else. Why do you ask?



When I go to EIG, the rabbitholes reappear as they're supposed to, but the world objects (like Horizon Guard Post) remain disappeared. I haven't added any mods. Do I need one?

It has been a long time since I did this, but as I recall not all items from all worlds done by EA will show up in the standard CAW. One example that I recall is that I wanted to use a certain street light that is not available in CAW so I had to add it to the mods in the program files to place it in the world and not on lots. Think I had to do that with a fountain. I also have had to do that with custom content. So I just wondered if you had done that in the past and not gotten around to doing it yet with your new install, and that is why some items were missing?

Those items have to be coded specifically to do this also as I recall. Right now I have just one item in there. A sailboat I did not create and did not do the coding for it.

edit: just found my notes about this:

Showing Objects In World Editor and Create-a-World Catalog
Basically all objects can be made to appear in World Editor or Create-a-World catalog. To make an object appear on those catalogs, apply this value on your desired object OBJD data:
• Set Version in CommonBlock to 0x0000000E.
• Set Unknown7[3] to 0x01 (IsVisibleInWorldBuilder to TRUE in later versions of S3Pe)
• If you want the object to show up in the World Editor catalog, set BuildCategoryFlags to 0x00001000 (Tree), 0x00002000 (Rock), or 0x00008000 (Community/Misc. Objects).
In order to make your CAW recognize your custom content, you will need to create a CC Framework like the framework for The Sims 3 games inside your CAW program folder. As soon as the CAW load the flagged custom content, it will appears in CAW catalog.

Because some people seems to think it's their right to download from hacking sites.

I had lots of problems with content from EA when I made my big world. One day it was there, then it was not. I don't quite remember, but I think I kept reinstalling content from time to time. Also what daisylee says. To "show hidden objects in metadata".

I was considering decrapifying and install as package files, but that wouldn't be right, and thinking about downloaders, and the amout of work it would be. Store objects doesn't follow the world to a downloader though, so perhaps worth thinking about?

I don't remember what I did to get Dragon Valley content appearing in CAW 2 years ago, but I'm pretty sure I didn't go through each object's metadata (I don't even know how to do that). I'm not actually sure I did anything before, I think it might have just worked. Or there was a fairly simple fix, like a mod.

But yeah, the world environment objects and rabbitholes from Dragon Valley reappear whenever I go into EIG, but I need to be able to see them in the CAW editor.

Edit: I'm on the line with EA support. I think I'm probably shooting the moon with them, but I'll keep you posted.

Tutorial here: http://modthesims.info/t/453818

You might have found a place to download the files elsewhere. I don't know where that may be.

I don't know why Dragon Valley content isn't showing up in CAW, and I'm certain I didn't have to fuss around with this package editor last time. But I'm going to give it a shot. Thank you for your help.

That said, I'm worried. I'm afraid that if I enable these objects through this package editor you've linked, I still won't be able to access the Dragon Valley objects around my world that I already placed using different object data from two years ago. They may not be showing up in CAW, but they are showing up in EIG and I'm afraid I won't be able to move them or delete them. Anyway, I've been throwing myself at this problem for hours, I'm tired and angry, so I'm gonna take a break and screw around with it later.

Do you happen to know where specifically the package with the DV objects would be? I know where the GameData folder is, but there's a lot in there and I have no idea what I'm doing.

Use copies for anything you alter to put in the CAW files. Your originals stay as is and should be fine.

CAW can be so finicky. Right now the items I have are not showing up!

CAW often requires fiddling with new technical stuff.

Always keep a backup as daisylee says. I think it's searchable, that should make it easier to find.

I am sure I have grey hairs because of CAW but still love it.

I think the fact that Origin has since come into play, and that I don't have a disk drive, may have a hand in this. I asked my dad if he had a USB disk drive; lo and behold, glory and hallelujah, he has one, so I'm uninstalling the Sims 3 in its entirety and reinstalling from hard copies, so that's my evening booked. I don't want to get my own hopes up, but I think this might solve the problem.

Anyway, I'll let you know by tomorrow for sure.

Let us know how it goes!

You should try to stick to 1.67. some things isn`t working properly on 1,69 apparently.

I made sure to patch only to 1.67 when I installed on this laptop. Have heard that 1.69 is problematic too.

Sorry guys, I haven't forgotten you, I just shelved the issue for a couple of days. I'll try 1.67 later today. Hard copy install didn't work, the install was badly broken and non-functional. I think redeeming the key on Origin invalidated the hard copy.

Edit: trying to start up 1.67 gives me this error:
"Sims 3 Create A World Tool - Beta Has Crashed!
Exception information:
Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often a indication that other memory is corrupt."

This seems familiar. I feel like I've dealt with this before, like back when I was originally working on this project.

Oh yes, are you sure you have a big enough comp? Oh, and you got the game at the same patch level?

i get that darn error for some things too. I have it now when I pan to just one location in my world. Have no idea why it does that. Had it earlier when trying to place a lot in another world. Gave up on that and worked elsewhere adding more, and then later went back and had no problems at the location where crashed before. So have no idea why was getting the error for a while and then it was gone.

CAW can drive us nuts at times.

For sure, this machine rules. It's my first serious gaming PC, I'm never going back to consoles. My Sims launcher tells me that my game is patched at the most up-to-date level.



I'm getting that error when I run Create A World. The splash screen comes up, the error about 1 second after it.

Anyway folks, I'm taking a deep breath and getting back into this. Let me know if you have any ideas and I'll post updates if you still want them. I wish I had a smart AI like in Iron Man or Her. "Hey Jarvis, will you figure this out for me while I run to the pub? Thanks man."

Edit: I've looked into a few resources that I might try. Here's something called Super Create-A-World that Edge Of Darkness posted a while back, might try that and see if it works: http://modthesims.info/t/468279

Hope you have better luck with super CAW than I am having now. I do not know if something about Windows 10 or not, probably not, but that is not working well for me now. I can add items and then crash there. And am having other problems too. I am not having much luck with CAW right now.

I just gave Super Create A World a shot. It installed properly, but it didn't clear up my problem. I don't know what to do here. I'm not sure if the Sims 3 transferring to Origin messed it up or not; I didn't do Sims 3 through Origin when I was first working on this world. But I have since redeemed all my stuff through Origin, and I worry that burned the bridge behind me.

Edit: Here's something called the 1.67 Superpatch, might give it a shot, but .exe files from 3rd party sites that aren't MTS make me nervous.