12-03-2011, 09:57 PM

So I'm not sure if anyone can help me with this but I'm sincerely hoping some other Mac-person out there will have a solution or at least an explanation for me.

I just got a brand new MacBook Pro and am running Lion. I've re-installed the Sims 2 and all available expansions (I can explain how if you want to know, since the general consensus seems to be that it's impossible) and it launches and runs fine, EXCEPT after I put all my downloads in. I have roughly 28000 .package files (custom content/downloads for Sims 2). I know that on my old, ancient PowerBook G4 (running Tiger), there was a file run limit of 10000. I followed this tutorial to change the limit and the game ran just fine (as before it was crashing or randomly deleting other files).

I can not get the game to launch with all my DLs installed on this new computer in this new OS. I tried following the tutorial and created a new rc.local file but it makes no difference, the game still crashes while trying to load. After playing with multiple combinations of downloads, I can now safely say that I'm convinced it has to do with the file limit (and not a bugged out file). Does anyone know a way around this? Does the code entered into the rc.local file need to be adjusted for Lion?

Old code:

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

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


Update:

So it appears that Lion is not seeing or recognising the rc.local file. The only way to get around this is to use the following instructions:
-------------------------------------------
What it amounts to is basically that it's the same concept as creating the rc local file in etc, except that the information gets entered into Terminal instead. By doing it that way, it's not permanent -- a restart of the computer will wipe the information. So if your Mac wigs out, a restart should set it right again.

What you want to do is launch Terminal and type in sudo sysctl -w kern.maxfiles=22000

Hit return

Enter in your password when it asks.

Then you'll need to raise the max files per process (here my instructions get a little fuzzy) but it seems logical to me that you would enter:

sudo sysctl -w kern.maxfilesperproc=20000


Also, if you enter

sysctl kern.maxfiles

and

sysctl kern.maxfilesperproc

into Terminal, it will show you the computer's settings and you can confirm that the changes took place.

Quit terminal and launch the game.

Don't forget, it will need redone anytime after the computer has been restarted.
-------------------------------------------

A bit inconvenient, as the rc.local fix was permanent, but at least I can run the game now. Hopefully this post can help other Sims 2/Lion users.

03-03-2012, 09:19 PM

Hey,
I have been looking for a way to install sims 2 onto my os lion for days now and without enough memory to partition my computer (nor did i ever want to do that) I am stuck. If you could give me step by step instructions on how to do that, that would be awesome!

Thank you

03-03-2012, 10:47 PM

Hey,
I have been looking for a way to install sims 2 onto my os lion for days now and without enough memory to partition my computer (nor did i ever want to do that) I am stuck. If you could give me step by step instructions on how to do that, that would be awesome!

Thank you

05-26-2012, 05:38 PM

You don't want to partition your drive, you want to follow the instructions above.

05-26-2012, 05:45 PM

I have used the following code in terminal to increase the number of files my computer can handle at one time so that I can play The Sims 2 with an insane number of add-ons:

- Type in sudo sysctl -w kern.maxfiles=22000
- Hit return
- Enter in your password when it asks.
- You will then need to raise the max files per process so you enter:
- sudo sysctl -w kern.maxfilesperproc=20000

This worked perfectly... until I was running about 40K files at a time. I had adjusted the code accordingly and have gone well beyond the number of files I have (upping it to 62000 and 60000 respectively) but the game still crashes. Is there a secondary file cap somewhere in the computer that I need to / can change? Or have I finally reached my true capacity for how many files I can load at one time?

05-26-2012, 06:26 PM

Or have I finally reached my true capacity for how many files I can load at one time?

Very likely, since more files loading equals more memory. There may be other limits beside system memory. I'm not a programmer but perhaps someone who is can chime in here and offer advice.

Edit: Please do not start a new thread. I merged the new thread together here to the original.

05-28-2012, 04:41 AM

What you're basically doing is debugging a really old game and trying to make it work on a newer OS. I wish you luck, but if the manufacturer didn't think it was worth the time to patch it I suspect you're only going to get so far.

PS. You say "since the general consensus seems to be that it's impossible." Given your experiences (which are FAR above and beyond what any normal user would be able/willing to do), the consensus doesn't seem that dumb to me.

There are lots of late-PPC-era programs that can be installed on Intel Macs running Lion (which doesn't offer Rosetta) because the core program is universal. A friend of mine just succeeded in installing the CS3 version of the Adobe apps (basically he found a way to bypass the PPC-only installer in terminal, the only bit that was PPC-only. Silly Adobe ...). But as you've discovered, it's not really worth the time investment unless you're quite determined.

05-28-2012, 02:58 PM

I am quite determined. I know what the problem is for definite now (after mucking around a bit) and I want to know how to tell my computer to do it. It's no longer responding to either the rc.local file in the etc folder OR the code in terminal. Unfortunately I don't know much about configuring a computer which is why I came here, hopefully someone can help me!

Here are my stats:


If no one can help me here that's fine. I'm aiming to be able to tell the computer how many files to run. I need it to be around 45K.