130 replies to this topic

[sakgonz]

If you are not willing to do this you could use this to repackage your files, but you will still run into the limit.
http://www.baumfamil...2/repacker.html



You need to start by using a program that will show hidden files.
I used OnyX
Open up the program and tell it to display hidden files. Finder will reboot, wait until it completely shows up.
Go into Macintosh HD and find the folder etc and open the file rc.local in text.
Add these lines or if you have something similar, edit them to raise the numbers.

sysctl -w kern.maxfiles=102000
sysctl -w kern.maxfilesperproc=100000

You need to have the amount on the top 2000 higher then the one on the bottom.
If you need to have more files open just change it.

sysctl -w kern.maxfiles=202000
sysctl -w kern.maxfilesperproc=200000

Save the file to your desktop (uncheck if no extenten is provided use ".txt") then move it into the folder.
go back into OnyX and change it back to not show hidden files. Restart computer.
That should save you from running into the file limit for a long time.

[sillygirl]

I want to try this but I cannot find a file named rc.local

In the etc folder I have:

rc
rc.common
rc.netboot
rc.shutdown

Is rc the same as rc.local? I searched the rc file to see if I could find kern.maxfiles and got nothing.

Any suggestions?

[sakgonz]

Sorry, You need to make the file. Start it as a text file.

[sillygirl]

Sorry, You need to make the file. Start it as a text file.

Does it need to include anything else besides those 2 lines??

[figaro_black]

Isn't there a reason for that limit? Something that goes like: "we don't want to fry your computer when it tries to handle to much and so we have actually put a limit to things it can do at once. Afterall we don't want any nasty PC accidents like frying motherboards, touch wood."

[sakgonz]

Does it need to include anything else besides those 2 lines??

No. Only those two limes.

[luws]

Isn't there a reason for that limit? Something that goes like: "we don't want to fry your computer when it tries to handle to much and so we have actually put a limit to things it can do at once. Afterall we don't want any nasty PC accidents like frying motherboards, touch wood."

I think Sakgonz sample was exaggerated to make a point. The normal limit is 10,000. If you increase it to 20,000, that should be plenty and shouldn't fry anything. If you get to 20,000 downloads, then clean house a little. But I suppose even if you do set it for 100,000 per his/her example you wouldn't fry anthing unless you actually had that many files.

Just a note though, I did this some time ago & all is fine, but it is definately NOT supported by Apple, so do this at your own risk. And be very careful that you do it exactly as stated because mistakes could bring your Mac to it's knees.

[alexpilgrim68]

Does this mean that 10000 is the limit? recently I had 8674 items in my Downloads folder and 1488 in my Saved Sims folder, which totals 10162 and my game started crashing when entering a neighborhood. I took out 932 items to another folder and my game runs again.

About the solutions proposed:
- Does the file created by Repacker count as one file or as all the files it packs? This sounds like the .far files we had in The Sims.
- For the second solution, could someone make a tutorial for the techno-stupid like me? It sounds scary and difficult!

On the other hand, the crashing was before I re-installed my game. It was installed at first in my Applications folder, and following some very useful advice here I re-installed on my hard-drive (Macintosh HD), and I don't know if this has something to do with it but I changed the graphic settings of my game to:
shadows: medium
lighting: medium
graphic effects: medium
sim/object detail: high (this is important so the pretty skins and textures show properly)
texture detail: high
instead of having everything set on "high", and you wouldn't believe how smooth my game is running, even families and CAS load fast! And I don't get the black screen in Body Shop anymore, but what can that have to do with it?

Oh, computer mysteries! :lol:

[luws]

Either the first or 2nd patch that Aspyr put out raised the limit of the game to approx. 12,000 (they never got real specific witht the number). If you don't have the patch(s) then approx. 8,000 would be your limit because the computer itself needs to run files too. I think, I'm going by memory here, and my memory is like a sieve sometimes!

Edit: atually without the patch the file limit is about 2000.

[luws]

Does this mean that 10000 is the limit? recently I had 8674 items in my Downloads folder and 1488 in my Saved Sims folder, which totals 10162 and my game started crashing when entering a neighborhood. I took out 932 items to another folder and my game runs again.

About the solutions proposed:
- Does the file created by Repacker count as one file or as all the files it packs? This sounds like the .far files we had in The Sims.
- For the second solution, could someone make a tutorial for the techno-stupid like me? It sounds scary and difficult!

On the other hand, the crashing was before I re-installed my game. It was installed at first in my Applications folder, and following some very useful advice here I re-installed on my hard-drive (Macintosh HD), and I don't know if this has something to do with it but I changed the graphic settings of my game to:
shadows: medium
lighting: medium
graphic effects: medium
sim/object detail: high (this is important so the pretty skins and textures show properly)
texture detail: high
instead of having everything set on "high", and you wouldn't believe how smooth my game is running, even families and CAS load fast! And I don't get the black screen in Body Shop anymore, but what can that have to do with it?

Oh, computer mysteries! :lol:

It sounds to me like your problem was the amount of downloads and not the location of your game. Too many dowloads = crash. Game in wrong location = other bizarre oddities.

It's been a long time since I used repackager, all it ever did was crash my game, so I don't know if it counts as only one file or not.

As to a step by step. Below are the steps I followed. They differ slightly from Sagonz's as I never used Onyx. And once again, I have to warn that this can mess up your computer if done wrong. I really had to beg in several different forums before someone would tell me how to do this. There is a way to do it temporarily in Terminal that is safer, which is all anyone wanted to say. But you would need to re-do it after every restart. That being said, changing the limits permanently has not caused any problems for me.

Here goes:
If rc.local doesn't exist yet, create a new file in TextEdit, choose "Make Plain Text" from the format menu, and then "Save As...". In the save dialog box, uncheck the "If no extension is provided, use .txt" check box. Navigate to /etc by typing "/etc" in the search box at the top right of the dialog box. Then enter "rc.local" as the file name and click Save.

You should now have an /etc/rc.local file open in TextEdit. Enter these two lines at the end of the file:

CODE
sysctl -w kern.maxfiles=22000
sysctl -w kern.maxfilesperproc=20000


Then save and quit. The commands should now run at startup. You can check if it works by rebooting then running "sysctl kern.maxfiles" and "sysctl kern.maxfilesperproc" in Terminal -- these commands will display the current values of the file limits.

You wil also need to be logged in as administrator to do this, possibly even root.

good luck

[aukestrel]

instead of having everything set on "high", and you wouldn't believe how smooth my game is running, even families and CAS load fast! And I don't get the black screen in Body Shop anymore, but what can that have to do with it?

Oh, computer mysteries! :lol:

Hi Alex! What processor do you have and how much RAM? I am just curious... since I am running Sims 2 on a computer that theoretically can't handle it (a TiBook 1 GhZ with 1G RAM).

[alexpilgrim68]

If rc.local doesn't exist yet, create a new file in TextEdit, choose "Make Plain Text" from the format menu, and then "Save As...". In the save dialog box, uncheck the "If no extension is provided, use .txt" check box. Navigate to /etc by typing "/etc" in the search box at the top right of the dialog box. Then enter "rc.local" as the file name and click Save.

I tried but I got a message saying I wasn't authorized to save in the /etc folder :confused:

aukestrel, I run the game on a 1.2 GHz PowerPC iBook with 1.25 GB SDRAM

[luws]

I tried but I got a message saying I wasn't authorized to save in the /etc folder :confused:

Yes, I'm pretty sure you need to be logged in as root to make these sort of changes. To find out how to login as root user, go to Mac help in the Finder and do a search for "root login" and follow those directions.

[alexpilgrim68]

Thanks luws, I did it... the text I saved was blank except for the two lines I copied and pasted in, I hope that's OK, it's kind of scary.
My computer seems to be working normally for the moment.

[luws]

Thanks luws, I did it... the text I saved was blank except for the two lines I copied and pasted in, I hope that's OK, it's kind of scary.
My computer seems to be working normally for the moment.

Yes, blank except for those 2 lines. Did you also restart & then run the commands in Terminal to make sure it worked? If so, and your computer seems normal, then all should be well. Congrats. I suppose now you're off on a downloading spree. :lol: :lol:

[alexpilgrim68]

I just ran the commands in Terminal, all is OK!
Thanks!

[sakgonz]

I just remembered this, you need to have a patched game OR have any expansion pack such as University.

[alexpilgrim68]

Do you need to this again after you re-install the game?
:confused:

[pixelize]

I have been fighting with my Sims2 installation for a week trying to get it to work again. I didn't know that there was a file limit, but I eventually figured it out. I will be trying this fix as soon as I get home from work and hopefully everything will run smoothly again.

Worst part about hitting the max file limit for me is that I couldn't get my game to restore to the way it was with all my characters and houses. And even with adding things in a few at at time after I had reinstalled, I still was getting crashes that made everything disappear. It's gotten to the point now that even with a "vanilla" installation I can't even open the game. *sigh* Darn addiction.

At least with this fix I have another shot at getting things working. And I've decided that losing everything could be a blessing, in that now I can train myself to play with less hacks, smaller houses, and what not.

Again, thanks.

[luws]

Do you need to this again after you re-install the game?
:confused:

No. Because what you're doing with this process affects a Mac's system files, not any game files. Which is why it can be dangerous to do if something goes wrong.
So if you want, you could reinstall TS2 everyday :Oo: and still not have to mess with the file limit fix again.