Yes I have Windows XP SP3, as far as I can see.
I HAVE spent a great deal of time reading the forums, including all the way through the supercomputer thread, which is why I dared to ask now. I do see many people on other fora asking for help with these same mods not working, and their creators do not seem to have an answer for them. I had assumed that all you clever people on MATY might have an answer, as some of you seem to know the workings of the game more intimately than most Simmers.

However, I do seem to have several copies of resource.cfg. Should I edit them all, remove some, or is only one of them relevant? They are in various directories around my Sims 3 install: Sims 3, Sims3\Game\Bin, Sims 3\Gamedata\Shared,  Sims 3\Gamedata\Win32, and Electronic Arts\Sims 3\Mods\Files.
Not being myself a modder, I dare not move these unless advised by some cleverer person... and am reluctant to go through the complete uninstall/reinstall process unless absolutely necessary.

Rip me to bits if you must but I cannot get various mods to work. I have checked that the Framework is in place and Awesomemod seems to work, though I do not see all the features people talk about on here. But things like the Supercomputer do not. They simply do not appear. I'm sure it is all marvellously obvious to people who know more than me about Sims 3, but can I please check if I have stuff set up correctly? It is very frustrating to read about all these wonderful things I SHOULD be able to do with my Simmies. I have the latest patched version of the game.

Questions that occurred to me:

1) Can I have subfolders in my Mods/Packages folder or do the packages all have to be in the one Packages folder?

2) I am using only mods that say specifically that they play nicely with Awesomemod; I tried the autonomous sex for instance, and the bathroom cabinet pregnancy thing. I simply couldn't FIND the bathroom cabinet ingame, after trying placing the file (separately) in Packages AND in Packages\Hacks so I dunno if it is installed properly or not. Autonomous sex simply didn't happen and no Try for Baby at all - and this in a couple who were well in love, married and itching to make a baby.

3) I also tried removing (NOOOO!) my Awesomemod files - and the hacks STILL didn't work.

4) I know about deleting the scriptcache file. Is there another file I need to delete to make mods work?

I REALLY miss the Hood editing, it was something I did a lot of for Sims 2. And pets, yes... weather is the thing for me, and hobbies. I want my lightening and my sewing machine! (wails). But as has been said, now that Wright and Maxis are out of the loop, all we can probably expect is the console-style "games" rather than the TOY we aer used to. I'm finding it impossible to even BEGIN to make a story involving more than one family, let alone do anything else. Still struggling even to learn the cheat codes, and AM adds a whole new set of cheats.
The problem is that we are ADDICTS and EA is the dealer.... even if the quality is degraded we will still come back for more, because WE CANNOT GET OUR FIX ANYWHERE ELSE! I Still say, we need an open source version of Sims. With all the knowledge in the community, why can't we build one?

Thanks, will try the Library.

Science Museum sounds good too.

What exactly IS the Library? I haven't used it because it comes up with a warning about losing stuff each time.

I saved out the house though, and I think that came up with the same warning? 

AFAIK the game didn't lose anything...

Yes, maybe. I tested it by building a temp house (walls and a roof) on that same lot and it worked, moved households, still worked, I can still see it in game. I will try closing down as that is what I did this morning. But I am an old builder and did save as I went along, I am sure. So it isn't just a case of ONE save not taking.

Quite annoyed because it was a beautiful house, and I'll have to do it all over again.

(addendum) I know which Lot it was on. Is there any way to search for a house? In the files? Other than by going into each savegame and LOOKING?

(further addendum) I had no intention of saying it was anything to do with awesomemod, which is already the only thing that makes my game PLAYABLE in the first place. I was trying out Story Progression, of which I am intensely suspicious. And it seems I was right.  I will go back to playing with it off as it appears to lie anyhow.

I spent a couple of hours today building a stately home, in Sunset Valley right next to the waterfall. I had gone to it from the Edit Town menu, from my legacy Carter family. I KNOW I saved, several times.
BUT I am now playing with Story Progression on, and awesomemod in. I don't like Story Progression, and even more so now.
Now going back I find the house has completely vanished, although the Carters are still there. I checked a later save (I moved across to play the Altos, again via the Edit Town menu) and noticed from there that the house was gone. SO it is not in either saved town.
So what is happening here? Has Story Progression eaten my house?  

I AM trying to like this game. But it is getting harder.

Incidentally, the reason I jumped across to the Altos was that Story Progression told me they had moved out of the town. I opened their house and found them still there - so I played them a little.

I know it is necromancy.... but I can only plead I was busy reading the Insim fiasco at the time  and have only just found this thread.
I HAVE googled till my eyes hurt and can't find anything similar anywhere else.

But I can't download these servo skins? (The box files have been deleted). Is there anywhere else I can find them or can someone please send me them? I love the brassy look.

Is there only one patch for AL? Reinstalling AGAIN - thanks EA.

Yay! I was going to say that I! just spotted this thread, screensaver was the answer for me too - damn WinXP built-in screenie. I had had this error since I put XP in months ago...

Does this work with Apartments?

Me three! It doesn't work for me with BV or FT.

3.75 Gig  and 10,381 files. Been on a bit of a spree lately, I need to prune. I am relieved to see mine is not the biggest!

 

Ah thank you, that is reassuring. That's exactly what I need to know.

/me runs off to play with the lot timer.

Polite request for clarification...

so... if I back up my Hoods with this timer installed in the houses, by copying out all the My Documents\EA Games\Sims 2 stuff,
and then play without any downloads, Neighbourhoods or anything installed (eg when installing a new EP or when i want to make clean stuff for uploading, which I do frequently)
can I then paste the whole folder back in and the clock still work? Or does it break at that point?

It's a great mod anyhow but I like to know all the possible consequences - if I have to reinstall it for all my families every time I do that it could be a bit irritating.

I made a terrain specially for beach Lots - it's here http://www.simechoes.org/sims2/hoods/beach_islands.htm

I wanted to make Lots close to the water's edge, so the roads run quite close the the coastline  - I do play with a neighbourhood camera hack from ModTheSims 2, but the water comes quite near to the centre of the map too. You can actually build a flooded Lot and it blends in with the sea, which looks really nice in the Neighbourhood Screen, though the edges may be visible in the Lot View.

well that's wierd. I exited game, reloaded and there it is, along with my other custom items in misc\misc which did not show up before. BUT I KNOW I had custom content enabled and in fact could see other custom stuff though not in that category.

Anyhow it is working fine for me and my dorm is progressing quickly. Thanks Jordi, and thanks once again to the great JM!

Has anyone tried this with NightLife? I did and I can't see it anywhere in the catalogue? So I have to assume it doesn't work?

ack - installed patch and now my game crashes on loading...