Saturday 14 January 2012

CHAPTER SEVEN: EDIT IN GAME

Congratulations! you have made it this far. This is the end of Part One of World Building I believe. The next part we are about to enter can be easy or hard depending on your choices. But first let's run down our to-do list. Below is a cut out of Port Jones with all the necessaries in place.


TO-DO LIST
  1. Roads, Lots and Terrain Sculpting - Check
  2. Trees, Lights, and Deco - Check
  3. Plants, Spawners and Effects - Check
  4. Terrain Painting - Check
  5. Lot addresses and particulars - Check
  6. Routing - Check

On the menu bar, you will find the Edit in Game (EIG) icon as below. DO NOT USE yet. Although you are free to jump into EIG mode if you want. I advice that you be patient and follow the next few steps.

First, Right-click on the world name, and select Add/Edit description


This pop-up window will open. Fill in the necessary details. You can just write test, test , test if you want. You can change it later. If you are inserting an image, make sure it is 256x256 png. SAVE your world.


Under the File tab, click Select World to Export, a window will open. Choose your world file and click OK. Wait a few moments then another pop-up window will open, World Export was successful. Click OK.

Go to "C:\Users\...\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Exports" where your export files are saved. Your world will now be a sims 3 package file. Double click it to install. (Please if for some reason you already have a previous installation of the world in your game already, uninstall it FIRST before installing a new copy)
Start a new game and select your world.


Now there are two things to do here. One you can select Move in Household and place a sim in your world. WHY?? For the purpose of testing. Just use the sim to drive around the map, check out your spots and pay close attention to roads and views and terrain paints. Note down areas that may need editing. I usually leave CAW running in the background and I switch between the game and CAW, making any changes I need.


Second thing you can do is go to Options and select Edit Town. With this you can start fixing in your lots. After each lot you have edited, make sure you save a copy to the bin. Do this until you have put in all  your community lots and some residential lots. Always remember to save each lot in the bin as you go. You can also use the sim you put to test your lots so that everything is in good working order as you save.

Most importantly, take your time. Sunset Valley was not built in a day. Do some editing, save, come back another day. You'll get better quality. You may build from scratch or just download ready made lots.
When you are satisfied with the way the world looks and works, Exit from the game. Open up CAW, if you haven't already, then finally you may now click the EIG icon. This is similar to being in the real game but the spawners are visible as you can see below.


Go to Options and select Edit Town, and start placing all those lots you have been saving in their places. Easy, right? When your done, Save and Exit.

You should have something like this below. You may make last minute adjustments, but avoid tampering with the lots or you may cause errors. If your satisfied, Export your world and PLAY. But remember to uninstall all previous versions BEFORE installing your finished product.


53 comments:

  1. Thanks for the great walkthrough. Made it so easy. For some reason, my game wouldn't let me export unless I had the thumbnail as well. Simple fix but!

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    1. Hi and thanks for visiting. I did mention you need to insert the .png image, even if it is a blank

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  2. yeh i agree this is the best tutorial i've found <3

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  3. Very useful and clear tutorial, thank you so much!
    I have a problem though, my CAW won't let me export my world even if I insert the .png, has it ever happened to you? The program only says "world export failed" and it is a bit frustrating actually. Is there a way in which I can bypass this error? I can still modify it in game, but can I actually use it if I cannot export it?
    Thank you very much for your help!

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    1. Hi Headache is it? saw your pm on modthesims too. :D
      Well I personally have not had that particular problem, so lets try to narrow it down. Are you on the latest game patch and also the latest version of CAW? I know there were some issues with exporting with supernatural/seasons CAW, but they have been fixed
      Also you can do a test and try to export the sunset valley lite world that comes with CAW, see what happens then.
      I don't think it is the .png file, because it would give you a warning that you need an image before you can export.

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    2. Yep, that's me! I just forgot to sign...Sorry for bothering you pretty much everywhere!
      I have the latest versions of both CAW and patch, so I guess it is not because of that.
      I searched on modthesims and found out that there are (or have been) several people with the same problem, many of them solved it by renaming the file, others by moving the file, etc., I tried everything but without any luck, until auntielynds suggested that I pulled the DCCache folder and then it magically worked! =) that made me really happy because I could finally export my world! And it was fast too! (Although one of the bridges disappeared, still trying to figure out if it will happen again after I modify the world again...)
      Thank you very much for your suggestions though, you're helpful and kind! =)

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  4. I found this and it has made me so happy. For some reason I can not use to edit in game function via CAW, which was really bumming me out because I had already worked so hard. I only have one question. After you add all the lots in the Sims how do you export in again? I am wanting to upload my world for other people.

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    1. Hello Riley,
      So sorry for the late reply, it was unavoidable. Thank you for visiting this site and am happy you found it useful.
      Let me see if I get this,
      1. You added the lots through normal gameplay, OR
      2. you used Edit-In-Game to add the lots.

      Now, if you added the lots through normal gameplay, the only way to share the world, is to do the follwing
      (1) Export the empty world from CAW; and then
      (2) Save the game you have with the lots and share the SAVE file.

      On the other hand, if you used Edit-in-Game to add the lots, the tutorial above should explain it all.

      But I gather that Edit-in-Game didn't work for you. Have you tried updating your CAW?

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  5. Hi Krrank. You've helped me in SO many ways through your informative walk-throughs. And you've answered one or two questions for me, as well. I sure hope you can help me now. I have spent HOURS building and detailing my world. Believe me, with an 8month old baby, this time is borrowed! I followed the directions for exporting, exactly. When I open my game, though, my world doesn't appear in the select a world menu! I downloaded it from C/users/doc/ea/ts3/exports, it appears in my launcher with the icon that says it's downloaded, but it's NOT appearing in that selection menu in the game. ????? Am I missing something?? I am SOOO frustrated! Help me, please!

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    1. Hello there,
      This comes a little late and I apologise. Well, when I had problems exporting it had to do with CAW needing an update. I don't know if that will solve your problem. You can also share the world (CAW) file to me, so I can see whats up from my end.

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    2. I have the same problem

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    3. HI there,
      As always, sorry for the late reply, I had to reinstall sims 3 to test this issue out. After exporting, the file shows up in Exports folder. I double click to install, the world shows in the list of installed items in the launcher. I launch the game and the world shows up in the list....
      So, I can't really say why you have this problem. Unfortunately Sims 3 and CAW can be very glitchy.

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    4. I have to manually copy the exports packs into the downloads folder. This allows them to show up as installable and such. I learned this by using the pattern creater tool.

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    5. hello, thank you for this suggestion, I'm sure other with the same issues will find it very helpful.

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  6. I built all the lots on edit in town on the actual game, does that have an effect in the future or not?

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    1. Hi there,
      Building your lots in-game, in my opinion, is the best way to go since it is faster and allows you to test. It has no negative effects in the future except if the landscaping doesn't match in CAW and then you will have to make some minor adjustments.

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  7. Also,what do you do if edit in game won't come up?

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    1. Now this is a problem. Even if you have already built your lots, you need EIG to put them into the world. Otherwise you have to manually insert the lots each time to start a new game. Although a work-around would be to export the empty world, insert the lots in game, and keep the save game file for future use. That's a bit of a hassle true. EIG not working is a technical issue and sometimes just waiting for a new update of CAW will solve the issue.

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  8. A serious error has occured while trying to load test.world

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  9. first off Krrank great stuff you got you. Been reading a lot of it and finding it very helpful, but I am having a issue. I've gotten the game to export and was able to test some of it out. But when I try to EIG from CAW all it does is open up my Origin and that's as far as is it goes. I just down loaded the Caw on 12/10/13, As well as the basic game I have the following ex's, Ambitions, High End Loft, Island Paradise, Late Night, Pets, and Supernatural. any help you could of this would be nice. and sorry in advance for not having a user name on here, you can just call me Tim.

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    1. Hi Tim, sorry for the late reply. Christmas holiday and all that. Personally, I haven't had that particular issue. The game is just supposed to start. Here is a thread with some solutions
      http://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-3/Sims-3-Create-a-World-edit-in-game/td-p/1294092

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    2. No worries on the delay Krrank, And I have actually read that one. I have tried everything but getting a new license and right now that is just going to have wait. but thank you for getting back to me, and keep up the good work with the site, this place has a lot of nice info for ppl.

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    3. Thanks a lot. I'm sorry you haven't gotten a solution. Sims can be so frustrating at times.

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  10. Ok. So I followed all of the steps for CAW I even put the lots in my game. I got it to export and I can play in the game. The only problem I have is when I click EIG all it brings up is Origin. It wont do anything else. Am I doing something wrong? I have the latest game patch and version for CAW and my Sims Games. That was the first thing I checked. Please help.

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    1. Hi, Looks like you have the same problem as the Reader above. I really don't have a solution to this issue, but I will keep you posted if I come up with one.

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  11. This tutorial helped me a lot. EIG mode crashed everytime I clicked on lot and tried to build a house. Thank you so much! Now I can actually build stuff :)

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  13. I love your tutorial. It made my start in the game much smoother than if I'd tried to figure it all out on my own. But this thumbnail issue is really irksome. I can't seem to get it right. I resize it and it tells me it must be 24-bit PNG. I can't believe how picky these things are. There's no way (that I can see) to make that happen. Plus resizing it, makes it slightly distorted b/c there's no way to keep the aspect ratio. This thumbnail is a real pain. Is there anything you can suggest to help me get it right?

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    1. I meant application (CAW), not game.

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    2. From what I understand, if you make the thumbnail in Paint then it should automatically save as a 24-bit PNG.

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    3. Hello GothCeltGirl and Anonymous. Sorry for the late reply. You need to save you picture as a 24-bit png. It is not automatic. So depending on the image program you are using, when you saving, select Save As or Export As...PNG
      (1) This can help u make your own http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/15/278761.page#3772698

      (2) You can download pre-made thumbs here http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/278761.page#3736582

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  14. This is probably going to sound like a stupid question, but how do you uninstall the old world? I am ready for my second round of testing, and no matter what I do, I can't start a new game with my world. I uninstalled the city with the game launcher in the Installed Content tab. Then when I tried to install the new version (different save file name) it says the package is already installed. And when I check in "C:\Users\...\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\InstalledWorlds", my world file isn't there. I can't even find the world file anywhere in my computer to copy and paste it in (though I don't even know if that would work). I am SO upset and frustrated ... if I can't finish my world I don't know what I will do!! :'(

    Edit: I found the .world file in "C:\Users\...\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 Create A World Tool\UserToolData\Worlds" and copied it into the Installed Worlds folder. No luck. :(

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    1. Hello Caittorr,
      You can try this solution..
      http://modthesims.info/t/400150
      Hope it helps

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    2. Hey krrank,
      I followed the suggestion on the link, and it worked, more or less. All my CC ended up getting uninstalled, but not deleted, so it was okay. But now my buy mode is missing items!
      I posted on the forum
      http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/743061.page
      but do you know what happened? :(
      Darn this technology is confusing...

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  16. Is there a way that all my lots stay when I open my world? Now, I need to put all my lots when I start a new game and it's really anoying. If I put them in CAW (Edit in game) will they stay or I will need to put all of them each time I start a new game? Thank.

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    1. Yes, if you put them in Edit in Game mode in CAW and then save the world, they will stay.

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  17. Thank you so much for these tutorials! I've been waiting for some of the EP's prices to drop now that Sims4 is out, but I'm so impatient. Working on a world is a great distraction though, and now I have the perfect world for when I get new EPs. Thanks \o/

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    1. HI there, thank you also for using the site, it truly warms my heart.

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  18. Plz help!! It will not let me eig and I was working ao hard on my wworld! And I do not understand how you would enter lots in otherwise. Plz help, I nedd it!

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    1. Hi, I'm sorry I don't have a solution for that particular technical problem. It could because of a wide number of reasons. I suggest you google the particular issue for a solution. Thanks.

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  19. Hello!
    I have finally made my own world!
    but, but, but I have problems when I upload a photo, it writes '' The selected file is not a 24-bit PNG color-image ''
    I have tried to save it in 24-bit and PNG, and the image size is also correct. I can not search for other files when I need to find my 24-bit image, it is locked in PNG ... hope you can help me!

    I have windows 8

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    1. Hi there, I usually use a photo editor like adobe photoshop to create the pic. What software are you using?
      Here are some pre-made ones that you can edit on the sims 3 forum.
      http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/278761.page#3736582

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  20. You have NO IDEA how helpful this was!
    I've been searching forums and i watched tutorial videos and OMG I was so lost. I'm so glad I came here.
    My issue was finding my world after I exported it. I honestly feel so stupid now that I know that it was in the Exports folder!
    Thank you so much!

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    1. Hello ChapmanCree. Welcome to my blog! I'm happy you found a solution here, that's what the blog's for. Don't feel stupid, it has happened to us all, trust me. Have a good week!

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  21. Hey =) I read somewhere else you would need some apartments for NPCs like barkeeper and so on, because otherwise the game would load them every time because they have no home, which would make the game lame and cause to spawn new barkeepers every night instead of always the same sims. Is that true?

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    1. hello Koa,
      In my experience, the game will generate npcs for the world regardless. i don't really pay attention to new npcs or not. I do know that with Late night installed that Yes, npcs will be attached to apartments, but note also that playable sims that are generated through storymode to fill up the town may also be designated those jobs.

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  22. I am not sure if you still read your blog comments as we are now in 2018 :D but it seems like you have a really good knowledge of CAW. Hopefully you can help me... I have done everything right and everything is working. The only problem I have is edge scrolling in CAW EIG. I can rotate and move in or out but not sideways. Am I missing soemthing or should I have built my world in the centre of the map?

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    1. hi, first of all my deepest apologies for this extremely late response, blogger stopped sending me notifications on new comments and I only just rectified the issue.
      You might have a routing issue but I cannot be certain.
      I do hope you have already found a solution to this issue, but if you haven't, please email an image of the situation and I'll figure something out. Thanks

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  23. sorry, I want to ask for help from all my friends. I have just created a new world in CAW. I want to play it on my TS3 but I can't. I tried it through the tutorial instead I was dizzy. want to take a picture where when you want to export. please friend to know how to check it

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  24. sorry, I want to ask for help from all my friends. I have just created a new world in CAW. I want to play it on my TS3 but I can't. I tried it through the tutorial instead I was dizzy. want to take a picture where when you want to export. please friend to know how it is tested I have a game ts3 complete edition. v1.67

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