Hello Gingerkid, I put my answers at the end of your questions:
Can you tell me where to find my Game folder and when I find it am I just saving it to desktop (click & drag)? Game Folder in your Documents or My Documents Folder inside Electronic Arts. Use copy and paste. Dragging will remove from the game file. I think if you open up this folder and look at the sub folders and files, the information below will become clearer. Everything you are reviewing and/or cleaning is located within these folders.
No External Hard drive. You don’t need one. You can store where ever you like. Before I got the external I backed up on discs.
So is TSRMerlin no longer available & what is it actually? It’s a file manager and installer. Best to leave that program aside for now. I have the .msi file but believe it should not be sent via the forum and it’s not really a necessity. Might just cause you future agony until you get better acquainted with your files.
What is Delphy's Dashboard? And where are my cache files please? As Ricalynn pointed out (and thank you Ricalynn) you do not need to download programs to accomplish clean up. These have been so much a part of my clean up ritual I naturally shared them. If you would like more detail and the free download it is located at ModTheSims3. The main files cleared are scriptCache.package, compositorCache.package, CASPartCache.package, and simCompositorCache.package as Ricalynn mentioned but there are several other Cache files that can be cleaned (NOT the social cache) You can choose which to clear. I clear them all except Social cache and that is not included in Delphy’s for clearing. There is also a post on this site that provides an excellent overview with illustrations on Delphys Dashboard. It is in Game Modifications – Tips for keeping your mods organized and avoiding conflicts. Posted January 13, 2013 by NonaMena.
What do you mean unwanted items? Downloads with CC? How do I uninstall? Yes, any CC you installed. You can uninstall via the launcher.
I only have one MOD - Overwatch, do I need to do anything with this? Twallan is amending the code so it will work with Island Paradise. You will need to update your MOD.
I have downloaded a few things from the exchange, is there a way to check good content & corrupted content? How do I go through & delete these? Is there a way to look at each item downloaded? Again, my rule of thumb for my personal process has been Delphy’s Dashboard. It is worth looking into. There are package editors available at MTS3 but I only use Merlin as all I want to see are the thumbnails of the packages. Thumbnails also show up right in the Launcher if you still have the files you downloaded in the downloads folder.
Where are the DCback up files located? In your game files folder.
- Remove and store games you are not playing and also remove and store the back up’s of current games. How do I do this? Cut and paste them to a separate folder out of your game folder. Store them on your desktop or where ever you choose. Just not in the Electronic Arts/The Sims folders
- Go through your Saved Sims folder and delete the ones you are no longer using. Or, you can uninstall via Launcher if you can find them there.
Is this in the game mode when you go to edit town and delete them? No. That will only delete them from CAS. . You can uninstall lots and Sims you downloaded and installed via the Launcher. You cannot uninstall Sims or lots/housing that came with the game.
How do I uninstall worlds that I am not using? You can only uninstall worlds you downloaded and installed. Again, use the launcher.
- Keep only the EP’s and SP’s you really want. I uninstalled all my SP’s and currently only running EP’s through Showtime (cannot wait for Island Paradise!). Keep in mind though, if you have CC that requires any of these EP’s or SP’s the CC will not show up in your game. What are EPs & SPs Expansion Packs and Stuff Packs.
- If there are objects in your game that you want to install but cannot find them in Launcher put the file back in the download folder and Launcher will indicate it is installed and you can uninstall from that.
How do I do this? Again is there a file with a list of downloaded content that I can go through and delete what I no longer want etc? Only if you kept a copy of your downloaded items. Look in your down load folder located in your game files as identified above.
I’m afraid this post is getting a bit too long … may I suggest you go through the information and after trying what you can, send a new post with what you are stuck on. Good luck and hope this has been helpful.
