Better Exceptions v3.17: Mod Tracking & Report Enhancements

This release adds some improved detection for cpp_message exceptions.
This type of exception became more common with the last game patch, as many career mods were broken by a new tuning property EA added.

v3.17 Changes

• Improved File Read/Write Exception tracking

• Improved Script Mod Tracking

• Improved stability for Critical Exception scans

• Improved stability for UI Reports when not in a household

• Improved tracking precision for critical and UI scans.

• Multiple Minor Animation Errors added to Better Exception's suppressed report list. (Less interruptions for ignorable posture errors)

• Added Modal to UI report clarifying the ALL vs BROKEN report type.

• Added Modal to Patch Day scan clarifying how to use Patch Day reports.

=======PREVIOUS UPDATES=======

v3.16 Changes

• Improved exception tracking for cpp_message exceptions.

• Career Mod exceptions should be tracked to the responsible file without issue now.

v3.15 Changes

• Corrected detection for the "takes x arguments, but y were given" exception that is a common mod-related exception from the recent game patch.

• One cause, possibly the only cause, of stuck Critical Scans has been resolved.
  It was related to the Patch Day scan waiting to run when a Critical Scan is triggered.

• Detection for Script Mod exceptions have been greatly improved universally.

• Likewise, the chance of false positives related to Script Mods have been greatly reduced.

v3.14 Changes

• Hotfix for a change EA made that broke BE's hook into aspiration exception data.
  UPDATE IMMEDIATELY to stop the "util > resolver" exception.

v3.13 Changes

• Removed the previous hotfix for mod menus due to EA fixing it natively.
  UPDATE IMMEDIATELY to avoid issues with any mods that utilize script-triggered menus.

v3.11 Changes

Conflict Reports

• Improved Image resource conflict detection - visually similar resources with different filesizes should be properly excluded now.

• Refined ts4script comparison to avoid false positives with the commonly reused injector module from scumbumbo.

• Added an exclusion for a non-game resource added by TSR Workshop.

• Refined XML comparison to ignore non-game attributes like icon filenames and ?ignore style comment blocks

• Added extra handling for String Tables, Images, and Object definitions that were saved with TSR Workshop due to unexpected deviances in the resource data.

• Added ObjectDefinition and ObjectCatalog labels.

• Fixed a bug that could have caused the conflict report to be too inclusive when compare large amounts of mods.

UI Reports

• Added an extra notice to UI Reports with ALL detection type.

• Added UI Report data for mods missing a mood pack dependency.

• Added version to UI critical scanning page.

• Added total file count to UI

CC Reports

• Added total file count to CC report footer.

• Removed Duplicate Entries

Exception Reports

• Added script mod count to Exception Report summary.

This is the public release, and while not many issues were found in early access, please do continue to bring reports that you believe have a false-positive to my discord.

v3.10 is a jump in version to represent another major feature update. This one has been requested quite a bit since BE's release - a conflict detector. As some of you might know, my team and myself have historically been against these types of reports as they're usually inaccurate and/or misleading. I'm only bringing this report to BE now because I've come up with solutions to ensure only conflicts that are actually detrimental are shown on the report.

Thanks everyone! 🧡

How to Use:

To trigger a conflict scan, just open the BE menu from the better exceptions welcome notification, which appears the first time you load a household each session.

Click "Check for Conflicts" and allow the scan to complete. This can take several minutes depending on how many mods you have, and more importantly how many conflicts you have.

The report will open in your browser. If you have issues opening the report, try using a browser other than Edge as it has a bug when opening local files.

If you need info on Better Exceptions in its entirety, please review this video carefully. Install instructions at bottom of post.

v3.10 Changes

• Added a conflict scan report that displays only conflicts that will degrade or alter the experience in-game.

• Added in-game error messages in case a CC or conflict scan fails.

• Added version info to the Critical Scan "Scanning..." page.

============PRIOR UPDATES===========

v3.04 Changes

• Fixed one remaining condition that could cause infinite scanning when a critical scan is necessary.

v3.03 Changes

• Improved UI Detection for exceptions caused by shared library UI files.

• Fixed a bug where an interaction caused UI Exception could return zero mods found.

• Fixed a bug where confidence would be set to 10% even though it correctly found the culprit.

v3.02 Changes

• Added some additional gallery game bug handling.

• Trait-related UI reports were over-eager to blame certain traits. The tracker has been refined and this should no longer be an issue.

v3.01 Changes

• Fixed an issue that could stop all reports if the player had an excessive amount of CC files.

• Added handling for some EA-caused UI Exceptions I was previously unaware of.

• Added handling for UI Exceptions caused by invalid interaction categories.

• Added diagnostic info to the UI Reports for my team's use.

This is the official release for Better Exceptions v3.0. We're jumping to v3.0 to represent the completion of the three types of TS4 errors - Exceptions, CAS CC glitches, and now UI Exceptions.

UI Exceptions are the ones that show as random boxes, random warped menu images, and sometimes failure to load certain modes like CAS. This update adds detection for those errors and attempts to locate the cause for you automatically. If it can't, it will show you the full list of UI mods so you can only worry about the mods that could possibly cause the issue.

v3.0 Changes:

• Fixed the infinite scanning page on critical exceptions.

• Updated CC Tracker to locate CC skintones.

• Better Exceptions will now alert you when a lastUIException occurs. This usually manifests as visually glitched UI elements as seen above.

• BE will automatically open the report in your browser and show which mods could be responsible.

• It will narrow the results when possible, but if the UI exception is too generic, it will list all UI mods (typically players only have 4-5 of these)

• You can also get an unfiltered list of your UI mods by going into the Better Exceptions welcome menu and clicking "Locate All UI Mods"

• Added a Locate Outfit CC button to BE's menu that shows how to track outfit CC.

• Added new records to the Animation Error (ignorable) list.

• Found and corrected a bug that may have been inhibiting certain types of heuristic scans.

• Fixed false positives stemming from using a sim as a heuristic seed.

• Fixed an issue with UI Exception monitoring causing a lastCrash while exiting the game. (harmless but annoying)

If you need info on Better Exceptions in its entirety, please review this video carefully. Install instructions at bottom of post.

v2.05 Changes:

• CC Outfit tracker - with testingcheats true, shift+click a sim with bad CC and select "BetterExceptions: Locate Outfit CC" to generate a list of CC used by the current outfit. The list tells you the exact folder path where the CC file is located.

• Updated BE's tracker to be able to track bad Traits/Whims due to the 1.90 changes.

• In the process, I discovered a deficiency that has been corrected so in general BE's tracking should be the best it has ever been.

It should be able to track nearly any mod related exception now, but this morning I specifically tested the following with 100% success.
[X] Traits
[X] Whims
[X] Aspirations
[X] Careers
[X] Bad CC Beds

• The deficiency was likely the cause of occasional false positives as well, so that may potentially be fixed as a result.

• Fixed the long-standing bug of BE's blank LE correction breaking on Mac.

• Expanded list of animation/posture exceptions so those reports should be less intrusive.

• Updated Example Report to list Probably Cause as "You." due to the amount of players who were getting confused by the example.

• Fixed a 404 error that could occur when the fallback scanner (zone load failure) is used.

• Fixed a bug where multiple exceptions could sometimes override the possible causefor the first exception, usually with a less helpful result.

This is a release candidate for Better Exceptions v2.05. It includes a brand new Outfit CC Tracker.

How to Use:

1. Spot the sim with glitched/undesired CC.
2. Make sure testingcheats true is on, or utilize a mod of mine that forces it like AllCheats or Always Testing.
3. Shift+Click the sim -> Select "BetterExceptions: Locate Outfit CC"
4. Wait for a few seconds to a couple of minutes depending on amount of CC and how old your hard drive is.
5. A list of CC files used by your sim will be displayed in your browser.

Public release set for 8/18 if no issues are found. I'm also investigating a bug for blank LE correction on mac that I will squeeze a bugfix in if I can reproduce the issue in time.

If it's helped you, please share some of your reports on discord or Twitter and @ me! Interested to see how it helps!

Better Exceptions is a low-maintenance mod that gives players a more detailed exception file when the game encounters errors, and in many cases can track down the exact file that caused the exception automatically.

• Refined Broken Script Messages: If a script is newer than the python version upgrade date, but still using incorrect python formats, the message will now be an informational "Mod Author needs to update to .pyc standard" instead of the technically incorrect advice to remove the mod.

• Better detection of Animation Errors: When the exception is caused by an animation error, it's usually ignorable and there's no advantage to scanning and generating a BE Report. Instead you'll get a notification that gives you the option to scan if you'd like.

• Scanning Dialog Can Now Be Closed: If players had unlucky timing, they could end up causing the scan dialog to get stuck on screen. For this reason, I've added a close button. It should be noted that if BE is actually still scanning and not frozen, closing this dialog will not stop the scan and your game may appear sluggish until it's complete.

• Help & Resources Updated: The General Exception link has been updated to go to Sims After Dark, where many of them same bots and helpers you're used to can now be found. Here's the invite if you'd like to go ahead and join.

Installation:

The mod is now inside a zip. On Mac it may automatically be removed from the .zip when downloaded.

To install, open the zip below and drag the tmex-BetterExceptions.ts4script inside to your Mods folder. Do not open or unzip the .ts4script file. Make sure 👉Script👈 mods are turned on in gameplay options -> Other.

Sims 4 Players Have Begged Me To Add This Feature for Years... (YouTube)