Fixing a mod of the Debug Hug

Ok, you're right. In that sense, you could consider your program files infected. It's like a genetic defect, a congenital disease, an inherited trait, a curse that is passed on from one generation to the next, ultimate doom forever... All we can do is keep fighting the good fight, like Captain America and the Avengers. Once we give up our vigilance, we lose.

lol on the Captain American reference.

Okay..not so funny is that it means I cant really test any more lots as a lot could be clean..yet tested in my game show otherwise.

What I want to know then..does this mean I cant share lots, even if they show clean with the fix? The lot that infected my game showed clean in the CL. If i package a lot that shows clean in my game..will it stay clean for others to dl?

You CAN test your lots, because the version in the sims2pack isn't changed by it. But if you change something about the lot, and package/extract it anew, then you *do* need to run the new sims2pack version through CI or DDO to see if the hack is hitching a ride. If so, you need to remove it, and otherwise, you can upload immediately.

The Debug hug does not show up in CI...running a new sims2pack through the CI will not show the Debug hug.

If I test one of Jo's lots, and it shows it has the bug. Then I put in the fix, and then the lot when tested by sims shows no debug hug...the lot appears fine. Now, backing up a bit on that same lot..after I had placed in the fix, and before i tested the lot with the sims, I placed the lot in the bin, sat it back down...and it past the test, lets say. Can I then package a non-played copy of that unaffected lot in my game, and share it, not passing the issue on?

You are actually making it complicated, Dominie.

Do you normally have the Debug Hug in your game? If so, then testing any lot will CAUSE that lot to get the bug from your game, EVEN if you have the fix for it.
If you do NOT have the bug, and Jo's lot does, then your test will infect your game, and you will need the fix from now on.

But ok, let's back up a little. Let's assume that you recieve Jo's lot as a sims2pack, which you open in CI. If the package only contains a lot segment and all kinds of building materials, furniture and recolors, this lot is safe. BUT if it also contains hacks (ANY hack, BHAV or interaction, actually), then those hacks need to be removed. If you have checked the instructions coming with CI, you would know how to do this: select all contents of the sims2pack, and then deselect every hack, and then select the SAVE function to create a NEW sims2pack which will be free of the hacks. THAT new pack can be safely distributed.

Installing the fix in your game is NOT the way to clean up infected houses for export.

But that is what we did BO. The file was downloaded - checked in CI, no sign of the hack, installed to dominies game and she then had the hug. She did not have the hug before installing the lot. So how can we tell?

BO I don't think you are getting my lots. Most of my lots contain nothing but the lot file. They had all Maxis furniture and objects. They had no cc, no recolours and no hacks. I prefer where possible not to add cc so it's easy for people to install and for me to upload. I would never upload a lot containing a hack if it showed in CI! The lots that do contain cc I am careful to know what that cc is and list it.

If I do a reinstall I would not keep any of my old hoods. It's safe to extract sims and make clones in bodyshop isn't it? The hug won't come with them? I've saved sims by doing that before and I believe they are clean. This is what I am going to do for my friend on the mac who tested the social hacks for me. I better tell her not to save any of her hoods since she gave herself the Hug by testing things.
Actually from what you say, I'm thinking maybe this should be added to the Wiki and people should be advised when they remove their entire download folder to not just remove it but to make sure they keep no sim loaded or one of those fixes in at all times, even when doing a 50/50. We might be causing them the Hug.

I'm still unsure if AGS will allow me to upload clean lots? If it can I might need help if figuring it out. Computer savvy I am not.

Hello! I am Jo's friend with the Mac, and I thought it might be helpful to give a little background here.

I picked up the Hug about a year ago from aliasthepal's Kiss Cheek interaction. (I have since replaced it with BO's far superior version. Replacing it fixed the interaction without spawning the Hug, as it was designed to do.) For the last several months, I have had BO's No Sim Loaded in at all times, unless I am testing for Jo or doing a 50/50 for myself. I play almost exclusively in a custom 'hood I built myself. I do most of my testing in Pleasantview, since I don't care for it and don't play it aside from an occasional building contest. At the start of the testing, with my entire Downloads folder removed, neither Pleasantview nor Strangetown showed the Hug. In Pleasantview, I tried the Dreamers, the Calientes, the Brokes, and Don Lothario, and in Strangetown I tried the Curious brothers. I went through every interaction on the pie menu and all submenus looking for it, and it wasn't there. This leads me to conclude that aliasthepal's hack only affects a 'hood in which you actually use it.

To test the hacks Jo wanted tested, I placed the hack(s) in question in my Downloads folder, entered the Broke's trailer, unpaused the game for between one and forty-five seconds, saved, quit, pulled my Downloads folder, and went back into the Broke's house to check for the Hug. (Except for when I was testing the Rub Belly hack, for which I used Pascal Curious in Strangetown instead.) Once I placed the extended family hack in my Downloads folder, the Hug showed up, and refused to go away. However, with the Downloads folder out, it only showed up in the Broke family. The Calientes and the Dreamers did not have it, and neither did the Viejo family in Riverblossom Hills.

I decided to check out my custom 'hood, Sandersville, to see if/how the Hug manifested there. With the downloads folder removed, the Hug showed up in two different families. I put in Dolphin's Control This Sim, played one of those lots for fifteen game-minutes, saved, and quit. (This is the method recommended in Dolphin's thread for removing the Hug.) When I pulled the Downloads folder and went back into that same lot, the Hug was gone. (This is the result I was expecting, although it did not work on the Hug in the Broke's lot.) Because the Hug in Sandersville responded to Dolphin's hack, but the Hug in Pleasantview did not, I conclude that they are not caused by the same thing.

I currently plan on simply rebuilding my 'hood using a never-played duplicate of Sandersville and the Sims that Jo will be extracting for me. Since I do not upload lots and I have No Sim Loaded to suppress the Hug, I'm not particularly worried about whether I have it in my game or not. However, it would be nice to know if it can travel with extracted and cloned Sims, since I am thinking of making the extracted sims available for download. (With Jo's blessing.) I would guess that the Hug can't hitch a ride with Sims, since the Sims are clones created using a completely different program, but knowledge is never wasted.

Please let me know if you find any flaws in my reasoning, or if you can think of any other experiments I can run to provide more information! Since I don't have CleanInstaller or HoodChecker or SimPE, I'm pretty well limited to save-add-pull-look-here-look-there types of experiments, but I'm game.

One thing I did think of that I have not tested is to open (for example) the Calientes, play them for a few game-minutes, save and check now that the Tenacious!Hug is in Pleasantview. I have just opened the lot and looked around. Is there any diagnostic value in my trying that to see if the Hug spontaneously appears under those circumstances even without the in laws hack?

Esme ((hugs)) thank you for popping in and helping me with this quire of EA muck. I want to make sure I give you sims so clean they smell like Palmolive Gold. (Do American's get that joke?)

BO, I am not complicating anything, you just haven't understood all that I have asked. I have stated several times that the CI showed no hack on her lot. I already know all you last said to me. I am no newbie to the game nor the CI.

I had a clean game..period. Put in her lot, which showed absolutely no cc or hacks in it, and got the bug. I understand that even with the fix, I was still infected and from that point cant test anymore lots.. I did manage to package a couple that have been showing up as "clean" in spawned hoods without the fix mod...them I am curious on.

Anyways, the problem is I do have a couple more questions that I can't seem to express in a way to be understood...so i'm not going to ask them again.

Thank you though for helping us to understand this bug even more.