Backup Tool for Mac Simmers and More!

Community NewsAuthor: jfadePublished: May 08, 2006Views: 826

Hi everyone! Lots of things happening now, and we�re getting close to the time we should be hearing about a new expansion. But, we�ll get to that in a second. First off, there�s a new tool available for the Mac Simmers! Entitled �Woohoo,� this tool makes backups of your User/Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2 folder. The maker of this tool intends to make more tools for the Mac, including a Clean Installer type of program, and a package editor along the lines of SimPE. Mac OS X 10.3 or later is required. You can get it here.

Speaking of Mac, the users in our Mac Forum are working to create their own neighborhood similar to Maple Valley that the PC users created a while back. But that doesn�t mean that PC users can�t help the Mac users! If you don�t have Open for Business or Family Fun pack, you can help too! You can read more about this project in this thread on the forums.

Now, about the next expansion pack. A simmer at Neighborhood 99 emailed EA about the E3 convention that�s currently going on asking if there will be any Sims products there. A PR rep at EA replied saying that a teaser video will be shown at the convention and that the new expansion will be formally announced after the convention, along with �other new Sims products.� So it looks like we will have something to look forward to soon! You can read the thread in it�s entirety (note that you have to be a registered member to access the thread) here.

Other than that, a new episode of the Strangerhood is available at the official site. That�s all the news for now, stay tuned for more!

Tremayne77 ∙ May 30, 2006

The wonderful author of WooHoo just updated the application. Many kudos and heaps of praise for his fine work. $\:rah\:$ $\:rah\:$ $\:rah\:$

∙ May 27, 2006

Hi, I'm the author of Woohoo. I just noticed TSR has an article about my application and thought I'd comment... At the moment Woohoo v1.15a can, backup and restore your game, can browse the .package files in any folder and show you the textures inside them, on your machine or over a network, it has a minimal package viewer that shows you the numerical guts of a .package file.

About the backup tool:
You're probably saying, "Why do I need to backup?" Well, The Sims 2 is an extremely advanced application making use of thousands of data files. One little problem and it's 'Reinstall your game time'. Woohoo backs up those critical data files.
You probably saying, "Why do I need Woohoo to do that? option drag in the finder, boom back up done"... Yes that's right but, Woohoo does smart backups. When you option drag every file in The Sims 2 document folder is copied including all the mp3s you might have added to the music folder (that's a gigabyte or more for each option drag)... Woohoo smart backup only copies those files that have changed since ANY prior smart backup (around 50MB on average). This means the first smart backup will copy everthing (except the music), but subsequent smart backups will be super fast 1 - 3 seconds vs. 60-90 secs for an option drag... The advantages: Saves you lots of time, saves lots of HD space, manage all your backups from a single window, automatically names and saves the backup to a special folder, you can add a description to the backup to help you remember why you made the backup, the description will be displayed in the backup management window and is editable.... And there's more. The smart back up does not backup the mp3s. But, never fear, when you do a backup restore, the mp3s in your current game are moved over to the new restored game, Boom! backup done. The backup tool is in final release and been tested for over a month, by hundreds of testers with no reported bugs or crashes...

About the broswer: the browser is highly useable, open any file in the browsr by double clicking on it, click the disclisure button to see whats in a .package file, and more features are planned for it... It is a single window browser, meaning no side windows pop up for viewing testures... Try it you'll like it...

About the package viewer: The viewer is minimal at the present compared to the highly evolved simPE. You can see a list of all the embedded files in the package, there are 3 embedded file types that can be opened and exmined in a seperate viewer. The next update will allow you to save all the textures in a .package as tiff files that can be edited in any graphics program. The viewer will evolve into a full featured editor...

Coming really, really, really soon: Sims2Pack Installer will be added to Woohoo list of capabilities. It will incoprorate the browser functions, so you can browse the files in a pack before installing only the files you want... The user interface is super smart, yet very flexible, powerful and intuitive... The Installer inteface is an example of the way Woohoo will evolve... For example editing Maxis files stuctures can be mysterious, convoluted and confusing, Woohoo UI will have the smarts to know what can be done, what should be done, and what must be done... giving you an intuitive, works every time, editor...

Features Coming Soon: diagnostics, .package editing, more browsing features, Sims2Pack editor, and I'm sure you'll think of more cool stuff I can do to Woohoo!

Enjoy, Lon