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thesparklecollective2012-10-17 06:17 am
pooklet) wrote in thesparklecollective2012-10-17 06:17 am
CC Magic Tutorial Take Two!
Pre-req installs so as to make CC Magic not crash and die.
Microsoft .NET Framework 4
Visual C++ runtime for 32 bit (need this even if yr running 64 bit)
Visual C++ runtime for 64 bit
You also might wanna scan yr shit w/ the Dashboard.
And here's the link for CC Magic, ofc.
STEP ONE:
OK so first, figure out how you want yr CC to be organized in CC Magic. This is how I do mine:
IT'S NOT SCARY I PROMISE DON'T PANIC
CC Magic comes with two folders, Default and Legacy. "Default" is where your CC goes, "Legacy" is where your mods go. Basically the difference is that stuff in the "Default" section gets merged, stuff in the "Legacy" section does not, and goes straight into your Mods folder. How you organize yr shit is up to you, this is just what works for me. And the cool thing about CC Magic is:
You can see categories for shit, so you know where shit goes! So even if your downloads folder is a fucking mess, you can organize shit pretty good with CC Magic once you get it in there.
CC Magic deals only with package files, btw. At the time of this writing, counters, patterns made with CAP, worlds (and I think lots?), shit like that, you gotta still install with the launcher. Ofc if you download something that isn't a counter/CAP pattern/world/lot that happens to be a sims3pack, you can convert it to a package w/ Delphy's Sims3Pack Multi Installer and chuck it into CC Magic.
STEP TWO:
So here's what I recommend. Before you install CC Magic, round up your CC. If it's organized, awesome. If it's not, no big. Dump it in a folder on your desktop and set it aside.
Scan yr shit w/ Dashboard, install pre-req programs, install CC Magic.
Now open up CC Magic and start making subfolders in the "Default" folder. Just click on it, click the "Add" button at the bottom. In the "Name" field on the top right, give it a name. You can also give it a description but I never fucking bother, personally.
Get your folders and subfolders organized how you want. You can always change them later, this shit isn't set in stone, so no worries.
STEP THREE:
Now that you have your organizational system set up, start dumping your content in. If you have it organized, go folder by folder. If you don't, just go in chunks, and figure out where things go based on what it tells you stuff is.
This is where you dump your content: "Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Downloads"
Then when you hit the Refresh button in CC Magic, it will "eat" your content and do a few things with it:
1) the content will show up in the main window of CC Magic
2) it will dump the individual packages in the directory "Documents\Electronic Arts\CC Magic\Content\Packages" which functions as a backup for your content as well as I think where the main data goes that the smaller, compressed files reference
3) it makes smaller, compressed, merged file lumps that stress your game out way the fuck less and makes everything shiny and wonderful and awesome forever. I mean I have 1.3GB of content rn and it takes me literally no time at all to load CAS. I'm just sayin'.
STEP FOUR:
When all of your content is done getting into CC Magic, go to the Configurations tab, click this button.
If you ever change your folders up, delete some, add new ones, w/e, make sure to check back to the Configurations tab that everything's in the left column.
If you want to delete content, don't delete it out of "Documents\Electronic Arts\CC Magic\Content\Packages". Ever. Find where you installed it in CC Magic and delete it inside the program. By clicking on it in the window and hitting the delete button above the main window. Also, when you delete something, it goes to your trash, it doesn't vanish from your system, which is handy if you're a lazy asshole like me and you decide "oh I want to retexture that hair but I don't want to dig it out of Packages" so you delete it and ta da, it's right on your desktop. In the trash.
You can also "disable" content. But you can't have two of the same piece of content in, even if one's disabled. So you can't just, say, disable your default eyes and install another pair when trying out some new ones, you have to physically remove the others.
Other stuff to know: rebuild whenever you see the little hazard symbol:
Don't rebuild/delete/otherwise alter your content while your game is running. If you installed your game somewhere other than the default directory, make sure you set it to the right one in the Options tab.
There's a button to clear your cache, which is super useful. When you click it, it'll ask you if you also want to clear all your custom launcher data. If you say yes, it will completely rebuild your CC, which can take a while. I don't click 'yes' often, usually just after a big ass install of new CC.
You do not, btw, need to keep a massive, ongoing, organized backup of all yr CC. I mean, there is a chance CC Magic might explode, but it won't take your CC with it, that's what the Packages folder where it lovingly keeps yr CC unmerged is for. The worst it can do is unorganize your CC if it does explode and you have to uninstall it and you lose your settings in the process. BUT before you do that, I would urge you to make an account on the programmer's forum and post yr CCMagic.log file there. CCMagic started crashing on me once, I posted about my problem, and the creator personally fixed it for me in a day and a half. I have no idea how. WIZARDRY, I guess.
Last but not least: the fucking clicking. OK, this is kinda tricky, but I promise you get the hang of it quick. CC Magic is kinda sensitive about clicking. It selects and unselects things mega easily and you have to get used to, say, if you want select everything in a folder, you can't click to select, then click again to drag, you have to click to select, and then keep holding and drag.
And I think that's everything you could ever need to know about CC Magic. I use mine to boot my game. idk if it's essential that you do to have the super fast load time but it can't hurt, right? Btw you do that by clicking the big Play button in the top left corner and make sure "Default" is selected.
Lemme know if you have any other questions, I'm always happy to answer them!
OPTIONAL STEP FIVE (IGNORE THIS. I AM LEAVING THIS IN CUZ I ALREADY WROTE IT AND ALSO IF YOU EVER DECIDED TO USE 3BOOTER FOR WHATEVER REASON):
FRAME RATE LIMITER STUFF TIME.
CC Magic needs a .bat file to hold its hand. Here is what you do. Open notepad. and paste in:
start /d "[WHERE YOU INSTALLED SIMS FOR ME IT'S D:\]\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3" 3booter.exe
Save it as a .bat file or, if you can't, save it as a text file and then change the extension to .bat, whichever works. Then stick that file somewhere. I put mine in D:\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\
Now go to the Options tab in CC Magic and browse to the file in the Game EXE Override section and you're done!
Microsoft .NET Framework 4
Visual C++ runtime for 32 bit (need this even if yr running 64 bit)
Visual C++ runtime for 64 bit
You also might wanna scan yr shit w/ the Dashboard.
And here's the link for CC Magic, ofc.
STEP ONE:
OK so first, figure out how you want yr CC to be organized in CC Magic. This is how I do mine:
IT'S NOT SCARY I PROMISE DON'T PANIC
CC Magic comes with two folders, Default and Legacy. "Default" is where your CC goes, "Legacy" is where your mods go. Basically the difference is that stuff in the "Default" section gets merged, stuff in the "Legacy" section does not, and goes straight into your Mods folder. How you organize yr shit is up to you, this is just what works for me. And the cool thing about CC Magic is:
You can see categories for shit, so you know where shit goes! So even if your downloads folder is a fucking mess, you can organize shit pretty good with CC Magic once you get it in there.
CC Magic deals only with package files, btw. At the time of this writing, counters, patterns made with CAP, worlds (and I think lots?), shit like that, you gotta still install with the launcher. Ofc if you download something that isn't a counter/CAP pattern/world/lot that happens to be a sims3pack, you can convert it to a package w/ Delphy's Sims3Pack Multi Installer and chuck it into CC Magic.
STEP TWO:
So here's what I recommend. Before you install CC Magic, round up your CC. If it's organized, awesome. If it's not, no big. Dump it in a folder on your desktop and set it aside.
Scan yr shit w/ Dashboard, install pre-req programs, install CC Magic.
Now open up CC Magic and start making subfolders in the "Default" folder. Just click on it, click the "Add" button at the bottom. In the "Name" field on the top right, give it a name. You can also give it a description but I never fucking bother, personally.
Get your folders and subfolders organized how you want. You can always change them later, this shit isn't set in stone, so no worries.
STEP THREE:
Now that you have your organizational system set up, start dumping your content in. If you have it organized, go folder by folder. If you don't, just go in chunks, and figure out where things go based on what it tells you stuff is.
This is where you dump your content: "Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Downloads"
Then when you hit the Refresh button in CC Magic, it will "eat" your content and do a few things with it:
1) the content will show up in the main window of CC Magic
2) it will dump the individual packages in the directory "Documents\Electronic Arts\CC Magic\Content\Packages" which functions as a backup for your content as well as I think where the main data goes that the smaller, compressed files reference
3) it makes smaller, compressed, merged file lumps that stress your game out way the fuck less and makes everything shiny and wonderful and awesome forever. I mean I have 1.3GB of content rn and it takes me literally no time at all to load CAS. I'm just sayin'.
STEP FOUR:
When all of your content is done getting into CC Magic, go to the Configurations tab, click this button.
If you ever change your folders up, delete some, add new ones, w/e, make sure to check back to the Configurations tab that everything's in the left column.
If you want to delete content, don't delete it out of "Documents\Electronic Arts\CC Magic\Content\Packages". Ever. Find where you installed it in CC Magic and delete it inside the program. By clicking on it in the window and hitting the delete button above the main window. Also, when you delete something, it goes to your trash, it doesn't vanish from your system, which is handy if you're a lazy asshole like me and you decide "oh I want to retexture that hair but I don't want to dig it out of Packages" so you delete it and ta da, it's right on your desktop. In the trash.
You can also "disable" content. But you can't have two of the same piece of content in, even if one's disabled. So you can't just, say, disable your default eyes and install another pair when trying out some new ones, you have to physically remove the others.
Other stuff to know: rebuild whenever you see the little hazard symbol:
Don't rebuild/delete/otherwise alter your content while your game is running. If you installed your game somewhere other than the default directory, make sure you set it to the right one in the Options tab.
There's a button to clear your cache, which is super useful. When you click it, it'll ask you if you also want to clear all your custom launcher data. If you say yes, it will completely rebuild your CC, which can take a while. I don't click 'yes' often, usually just after a big ass install of new CC.
You do not, btw, need to keep a massive, ongoing, organized backup of all yr CC. I mean, there is a chance CC Magic might explode, but it won't take your CC with it, that's what the Packages folder where it lovingly keeps yr CC unmerged is for. The worst it can do is unorganize your CC if it does explode and you have to uninstall it and you lose your settings in the process. BUT before you do that, I would urge you to make an account on the programmer's forum and post yr CCMagic.log file there. CCMagic started crashing on me once, I posted about my problem, and the creator personally fixed it for me in a day and a half. I have no idea how. WIZARDRY, I guess.
Last but not least: the fucking clicking. OK, this is kinda tricky, but I promise you get the hang of it quick. CC Magic is kinda sensitive about clicking. It selects and unselects things mega easily and you have to get used to, say, if you want select everything in a folder, you can't click to select, then click again to drag, you have to click to select, and then keep holding and drag.
And I think that's everything you could ever need to know about CC Magic. I use mine to boot my game. idk if it's essential that you do to have the super fast load time but it can't hurt, right? Btw you do that by clicking the big Play button in the top left corner and make sure "Default" is selected.
Lemme know if you have any other questions, I'm always happy to answer them!
OPTIONAL STEP FIVE (IGNORE THIS. I AM LEAVING THIS IN CUZ I ALREADY WROTE IT AND ALSO IF YOU EVER DECIDED TO USE 3BOOTER FOR WHATEVER REASON):
FRAME RATE LIMITER STUFF TIME.
CC Magic needs a .bat file to hold its hand. Here is what you do. Open notepad. and paste in:
start /d "[WHERE YOU INSTALLED SIMS FOR ME IT'S D:\]\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3" 3booter.exe
Save it as a .bat file or, if you can't, save it as a text file and then change the extension to .bat, whichever works. Then stick that file somewhere. I put mine in D:\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\
Now go to the Options tab in CC Magic and browse to the file in the Game EXE Override section and you're done!
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NOW, DOWNLOAD ALL THE THINGS!!!
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ok if like you genuinely have fun w/ it and it is not intruding on other stuff you want to do or such then.............. I WILL ALLOW IT? lkjhsdg i mean, you know what i mean. /o\
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have you tried loading your game yet and if so is not heart-stoppingly amazing????
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Thank you!
(Anonymous) 2017-08-27 01:59 pm (UTC)(link)