CC Magic User Tips
This is not a tutorial on how to use CC magic. There are several of those already. I highly recommend this one by Nonasims (as it was the one I used). Some people seem to find that one difficult to use though, so @gruesim created a video tutorial that some might find easier.
This is intended to be tips for navigating the quirks of the program, beyond what’s covered in most tutorials.
Tip #1: I do not recommend taking the short cut of simply placing .package files into the ‘cc magic > content > packages’ folder. While this can sometimes work, if you do it this way the game may not catch duplicate files, and you will still have to make sure to rebuild.
Tip #2: CC magic is a really great program, but it can make mistakes, especially if overloaded. Try to install new CC in batches limited to 100 or 200 at a time, and rebuild each time you add more. It also helps to close the program once in a while, and then re-open it, if you’re doing a lot of installing or moving things around.
Tip #3: Rebuild each time you make changes, and try not to make too many changes at one go. If you import some new stuff, it'll show up under 'default'. You can sort some of that before rebuilding, but I recommend not sorting into more than 3-5 categories before rebuilding (depending on how many items you have in those categories). If you change a lot of things without rebuilding in between, this can lead to errors. Remember to always rebuild after removing items as well, before you start installing new ones.
Tip #4: To force rebuild one category without doing a complete rebuild, disable and then re-enable a single item in the category you want to rebuild. This can help fix errors without doing a full rebuild.
Tip #5: New categories are disabled by default for all configurations. So if you make a new category, make sure to go enable it for the configuration you want to use it in. (Also make sure you have the right configuration selected when doing your last rebuild before you go in-game. Changing configurations requires rebuilding.)
Tip #6: Once in a while, something will glitch, and an item of CC will be 'detected' when you open/refresh cc magic, that is already installed. When this happens, you end up with two of this item, but it's likely neither will show in-game. Delete both from CC magic, and then take the original out of your recycle bin and try again. Usually on the second try it will work. If it continues to fail to install properly, you may want to put this particular item in your packages folder instead.
Tip #7: If you are into converting your own patterns to .package format, CC magic will catch it if you try to install any which have the infamous Materializing Materials issue, and notify you of which pattern has the issue. It will only give this notification when you FIRST install it though, so pay attention!
Tip #8: Most of the time, CC magic will catch it if you try to install something you have already previously installed (often even if the file names are different). It won’t notify you of this though, it’ll just reject the duplicate and throw it into your recycle bin.
Tip #9: If you are installing an updated version of a file you already have installed, this is the one use-case where it might be more beneficial to use the shortcut mentioned in Tip #1 (Only IF the file name is the same.) Otherwise, be sure to uninstall the older version first. If you don’t, CC magic may reject the new version as a duplicate and throw it out.
Tip 10: Once in a while, when you add new items to CC Magic, the rebuild icon will pop up, but your new items will not actually show in ‘default’. There are a couple of ways to resolve this. I usually just rebuild, then shut down CC magic and restart. After restarting, everything should be there as usual.
Tip #11: Category names are important. Remember your sims game needs to look inside each folder that is named after a category, so try to create category names without special characters other than _ underscores, and with no spaces. (If you do accidentally create a category name with an ‘illegal’ character, and find that CCMagic crashes and will no longer open, check your log files in Documents/ElectronicArts/CCMagic/Logs to find a mention of the illegal character. You can use a MYSQL browser like SQ Lite to remove/replace the ‘illegal’ character so that CCMagic will run fine again.)
I hope that helps y’all avoid some of the common pitfalls and get more out of this awesome tool. It can take a bit of work to set it up, but I’ve never once regretted the time I spent to get it going. Happy Simming!
