Testing Cheats (Solved!)

98kB !!!! Oh my god, yes, that must be the issue. Something went haywire while accessing that file, and then it grew out of proportions. In my game, that file seldom - if ever - goes anywhere beyond 20kB.

Maybe this Google search result page may help you with getting rid of it?

Mine is 1.34 MB and I CANNOT delete it. Everything I try just freezes up whatever program is attempting to access the file. I tried using cmd.exe with the explorer.exe task ended, but when I attempt to delete the file, the command prompt just gets stuck and nothing happens. Then I found this how-to and got Process Explorer as they suggest. But when I do as they say and search for the OETreeDelete file in Process Explorer - the search gets zero results, as if the file doesn't exist. Process Explorer did find the Sims 2 Logs folder when I searched for "sims" so I tried to "close handle" on that but it didn't help at all. Argh!

I did manage to make my backup by copying all files except that one. And the game seems to run fine. But now I really want to get rid of that file.

@mustluvcatz & @fanseelamb; Could the both of you attempt to zip up that file and attach the result, or put it up someplace where I can access it?? I'd like to have a look at it in UltraEdit.

My scans are still running (gonna be an all day thing and I want to do other stuff! *cries*) but they haven't found anything yet. (And I haven't run them in safe mode yet.) It makes you wonder just how many people would have this problem if they turned testing cheats on then tried to delete the file. It can't be just fansee and me!

BO - 98kb isn't that big really, the one I tried to delete (and could if I wanted to) in the other folder is bigger than that. Maybe the size is related to how much cc is in your folder when testing cheats is turned on.. I'm sure I've got loads more cc than you do.

@BoilingOill
Nope. The file won't archive, it just stalls. I even tried zipping the whole logs folder and when it gets to that file it stalls. I'm getting a bit ticked off at the stupid thing.

Well hallelujah. I finally managed to delete the file. Windows exploror froze so badly that I couldn't even logoff or restart the computer. Had to hold down the power button to force the computer to shut off. Restarted the computer and only then could I finally delete the file.

I'd previously logged off and on several times, and shutdown and restarted the computer. But I think this forced shutdown was more complete than whatever quick shutdown it normally does. That must be what finally released the file.

So @BoilingOil, I no longer have the file to upload for you. But I scanned a copy for viruses (none found) and opened it in Excel just before deleting. It looked like a big spreadsheet of errors (sim name or object id number listed next to error, things like that). Before opening, Excel warned that the file was corrupt. So IDK. I doubt it's a virus. I think the file just got corrupted somehow - maybe by quitting or crashing the game while testingcheats was on? I've probably done both those things. Or maybe the file was very stubbornly flagged as "in use" and wouldn't let go. I've definitely seen that before with other files. This was just the most stubborn one I've encountered.

When you just restart a computer things don't get shut down completely. Why I didn't remember that until reading fansee's post, I dunno. So I closed everything and just turned the computer offf. Voila! File was able to be deleted. I didn't bother opening it or anything before I deleted it, it was obviously corrupt.

Now I'm loading my game and yes I'm going to try turning testing cheats on. Will let you know how that works out!

Edit: I was able to turn the cheats on and am now a happy cat since I know my new meshes don't throw any errors! Yay! (And I deleted that file after exiting my game.. just in case, lol.)

Thank you, both of you, I'd have never figured the problem out on my own. One silly little file.. *shakes head*.. but it does make sense that it caused my game to act the way it did when testing cheats was turned on.

YAY!! So glad that fixed your problem, MLC. One little error log file. Sheesh. Total coincidence too that it was causing me problems at the same time it was causing you problems. How bizarre.

Oh wow... Well, since the issue has been cleared for the both of you - no thanks to me, because obviously I was talking out of the wrong orifice again -, it is of no importance that I get no zipped-up copies of that stupid file.

It's true, that file should be a spreadsheet of error information. UltraEdit will show it as if it's a text file, ignoring the spreadsheet formatting and codes. And it's very well possible that a crash caused the file to get corrupted, making it misbehave the way it did.

Thanks, @fanseelamb, for finding the forced power-down as a way to fix this. I'll try to remember this for similar issues in the future.

@BoilingOil
Whatcha mean, talking out of the wrong orifice? I mean.. I *know* what you mean but that's not the case here. Not at all. Faulty CC definitely could have made my game not load with testing cheats enabled. And you know it! Yeah that turned out to NOT be the case but this case turned out to be a bit unusual. I, too, am going to try to remember this for future reference.

I will admit that every fiber of my being was resisting it being faulty CC, but that's only because I am so unbelievably anal about what goes in my downloads folder. If I'm not 100% about a download, I'll open it up in SimPE and if it looks like it won't work for my game, I'll fix it if I can. The only time I do have a problem? It's something I did playing around with one of my meshes, or I forgot to delete the groups.cache. But that doesn't mean something couldn't have slipped by me.

@mustluvcatz
I know, hun: it was entirely possible that bad CC (or maybe even corrupted CC) was the cause. But in this case it wasn't, so my diagnosis was totally useless. And *therefor* in this *specific* case, I was talking poo. Not poo in general.

Being anal about what goes into your downloads, may sometimes be a curse, but it also prevents your game from screwing up too often. I know, because I'm quite retentive myself. However, a piece of CC could have recently *gotten* corrupted, because some malicious software had altered it! You cannot always see that coming. The file was fine when you inspected it before the first installation, but now it no longer is.

Either way, I'm just happy that both Fansee and you can play "normally" again.