The Sims 2: Castaway (PlayStation 2, Wii)

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The Sims 2: Castaway
Developer: The Sims Division Publisher: Electronic Arts Platform: Wii Released in US: October 22, 2007 Released in EU: October 26, 2007 Released in AU: October 25, 2007 This game has hidden development-related text. This game has debugging material.

To do: What's the arc compression? Is there any way to access a debug menu?

An odd console exclusive Sims spinoff where your sim crashes onto a remote island and you must survive by making base, cooking food, crafting items and making friends with monkeys.

Development Related Text

Compile Log

An log file with over 5MB of compile info is found in the root. It has quite a lot of information, nothing too juicy though.

Download The Sims 2: Castaway (Wii) Compile File File: TS2CA_-_eorwb.rar (Compressed: 349KB; Uncompressed: 5MB) (info)

Logger

Found in log, this appears to be the remnants from a debugger/logger. How it was used is unknown.

Download The Sims 2: Castaway (Wii) Log Folder File: TS2CA_-_log_.rar (Compressed: 8KB; Uncompressed: 26.5KB) (info)

content_version

content_version basically contains the version of the game.

668453 
1.Content.DL.1706 

build_tools_version

build_tools_version appears to be the build date of the sdk tools used to compile the game.

666849 
1.devline.0.1401 

Lot Errors

Most of the compile file lists some error and debug messages, never seen in the game. Most of it is made up of various errors with lots.

 * Level lot_14 has routing islands for sims!

 * Level lot_14 has routing islands for boars and chimps!

 * Level lot_26 has routing islands for sims!

Build Confirmations

The log also has lines stating build dates, file conversions, and multiple error messages.

 

 [8/23/2007 19:49:42] Building Datasets...
[8/23/2007 19:49:42] Making Datasets...
Making Datasets

Converting Maya files

Processing Maya files list from node Datasets

Maya file conversion time: 0:0.12

Converting Max files
Max file conversion time: 0:-0.24
Datasets folder took: 0:1.01

Processing Time: 0:1.02
done.

Developer Notes

QA Read Me

A "readme" is located in scripts/qa/. It's pretty self explanatory.

This folder contains Lua test scripts that were created by the QA/Autotest team.
There shoudl be no dependency on these files from the game side, but it's okay for these files to use files from teh game side.

-Eivind (ehagen@maxis.com)

viewer_settings.js

viewer_settings.js contains multiple notes from a developer on how not to compile code and layouts for the game.

// Must have a delay before doing the initial ReadCookie.  Who woulda figured that Javascript would
// have thread timing issues.   Sheesh.

A note explaining how to deal with a certain script error.

// Important Note: DO NOT modify this file in engine/logger/scripts unless you
// wish to change the default settings for everyone.  You should only modify the copy of this file in
// your output/disks/[platform]/logs directory.  When the game is compiled, a check will be done to 
// see if the version of this file in the engine/logger/scripts directory or the version in the 
// output/disks/[platform]/logs directory is newer.  If the version in your logs directory is newer,
// the global version of this file (in the enginer/logger/scripts directory) will not be copied and
// your version will be kept.  Thus, changes made to your local copy will remain unless 
//    1) the version in engine/logger/scripts is newer
// or 2) you erase your copy in your logs directory.

Another note warning the user not to delete the .js file.

Debugging Material

Throughout the logs, there are many sources and mentions of a debug mode being used throughout development, however it is currently unknown at this time if you are able to access these features.

[debugger]
log_level = info
formatter=simple
formatter_settings=
; filter this channel from the debugger
 MEMORY_CHECKPOINT = none

(Above) Presumably settings for adjusting the debug channel.

log_level = all
formatter = simple
formatter_settings = none
GENERAL = none
MEMORY = none
RESOURCE = none
MULTISTREAM = none
GRAPHICS = none
SOUND = none
STATE_MACHINE = none
SIMULATOR = none
EDITH = none
CAS = none
UI = none
UI_CORE = none
APT = none
PLATFORM = none
MEMORY_CHECKPOINT = none
SAVEGAME = none
TIMING = none
ASSET = none
ANIMATION = none
WANTS_AND_FEARS = none
WEATHER = none

(Above) A complete list of toggled debug settings.

#nomenu = 0         # skip the menu?
#mute = 0         # mute the sound?
 #nocountdown = 0      # skip the countdown?
#fps = 0            # display fps counter?
#enableprintf = 0   # display debug text to console?

(Above) Even more settings.