Shaluas' Original Caw FAQ @ EA Caw Forum

Shalua wrote:
CAW is not currently available for Mac users. It is unknown when/if it will be.

Useful shortcuts to know in CAW:


Problems downloading the CAW tool?

Blank page –
Try using a different browser. For me, Firefox didn’t work, but IE did.

Running CAW:

Need latest patch –
Go to “Game Updates” in your launcher and make sure you are up to date. If this doesn’t work, try reinstalling. You won't lose data when you uninstall The Sims 3, as long as you say "No" when the wizard asks "Do you wish to remove your saved games and custom content?" To be sure though, you can backup your data located at:
C:\Users\UserName\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 on Windows Vista/7 or
C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 on Windows XP.

Edit in Game:

Slow loading time fix -
go to My Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3
Move the folder titled 'DCCache' somewhere safe outside of your sims3 folder. (I use my desktop)
This should reduce your loading time to a couple minutes or less. When you want to play your game, just put it back in the same place.

Out of bounds fix -
If having problems with objects being considered 'out of bounds' when they clearly have enough room, go to the menu in the bottom left corner and click 'edit town' and edit all your lots through there. if you are still having problems then use the 'moveobjects on' cheat. using the cheat before going to edit town can make the object unusable and considered to be in another lot halfway across the world.

Riverview Objects:

Rabbitholes not showing up in CAW? If someone downloads a world with Riverview objects, but they do not have Riverview in their game, the objects will not show up.

Graveyard Ghosts:

Take a sim household and kill off all but one sim. Have the leftover sim take the graves to the graveyard and place them there and tada! You have ghosts!

If you don't care about having ghosts, then when in Edit-in-Game type in "BuyDebug" in the cheat bar. (ctrl + shift + c) Then you will have a small selection of gravestones to chose from and place.

Exporting Your World:

Add a name and a description for your town, these will show up on the exchange and you can’t change it after you upload, so chose wisely.

You need a 24-bit png Image -
Use photoshop if you have it, or use one of the many free programs out there. Here are a couple.
Paint http://www.getpaint.net/
GIMP http://www.gimp.org/
Make sure the image is sized at exactly 256x256!
Here is a helpful thread regaurding this.

Installing Your World:

After you export it successfully, go to C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Exports
Then open up the sims3pack file which should be called what you named your world. This should open up the launcher and automatically install. Just play your game and it should be an option when you start a new game.

Says “already installed” – This problem occurs usually when you’ve already installed your world once, and you’ve worked on it some more and are installing an updated version. You must first remove the last one you installed. Open your launcher and go to “installed content”. Check the box next to the world and then hit “uninstall”.

If the problem still persists try checking these folders for files related to the world, and delete them:
C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\InstalledWorlds
C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\WorldCaches
You might also try deleting any saved files accompanying that world:
C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Saves
I seriously doubt you will have to do that though, uninstalling through the launcher should work just fine.

Uploading Your World:

There is a known issue with uploading worlds. The launcher times out after 100 seconds - this has been confirmed by several simmers. If you get the message "upload failed: Network error. Please try again" then your internet is too slow for the size of the world. Until EA fixes this your only option is to upload it to an external site and maybe post a link in the world index sticky.

You can always upload it to another site and post the link in these forums if all else fails.

Uninstalling Worlds:
To uninstall a world simply open your game launcher, and click on the "installed content" tab. Find the world you want to uninstall, check it, and then click "uninstall". This will completely remove the world and any saves for that world from your game.

Using CAW:

Terrain Paints:

This is how you get different paint options for your terrain. All of the default terrains are there for you to use, but you can make your own custom terrain if you like.


Now that you have the paint you want to use for the terrain, you need to fiddle with the brush parameters to make it look nice, instead of choppy and goofy. Just play around with the Shape, Size, Opacity, and Falloff and see what works for you. Generally I have falloff set to 0, because I think it looks really bad and unnatural with the sharp, abrupt edges it has. You can save a bunch of different settings that you like so you can use them again and again quickly without having to play with the sliders every 5 seconds. When you have a setting you want to save hit the little arrow (small red circle). As you can see, I have two brushes saved in this image. The difference is shown on the left. When switching between brushes just double click the one you want.


Adding Layers:

You must add at least one layer to the map in order to place any objects, effects, lots, or roads. To do this, under the "World Layers" tab right-click on yourworldnamehere.world and click "add layer". Now you can place objects and such on your map.



Working with multiple layers:

To switch between layers, right-click on the layer you want to work with and click "Make Layer Active".



The active layer will be shown in bold text, so you know which layer you are working with at any given time.



Working with layers can be very helpful and keeps things neat so you can find things easier. Many people have layers set up similar to this: Lots, Trees, Effects, & Spawners. You can do it however you want, but keep in mind that all your trees should be in ONE layer. If you use multiple layers for trees it will bring the performance of your world down and may play very laggy on older, lower-end computers. Also, make sure when you're done placing trees use the "cluster trees" button to improve performance.

Be careful when working with multiple layers. Yes, working with layers can help you make everything neat and organized, but if you forget to change layers, and you place a ton of objects on say, your "Lots" layer, you now have to spend extra time putting those objects on the right layer. *If this happens, under the "World Layers" tab, simply drag the name of the object you want to move, to the layer you want it under.

Custom Roads:

You can use different road types, such as the dirt road, by clicking on the road tool and then clicking "create a custom road". From there you basically piece the road together by selecting the different parts for each section. (road base, road texture, sidewalk base, etc.) The dirt road is the easiest to do as all the pieces are clearly labeled, but you can always try out different textures and see how it looks.
Once you have your custom road, right click the road name and click "select as active" then just lay it out like you would normally. You can always change how it looks later by right clicking it's name and clicking "edit". So if you change your mind later, you don't have to place all your roads again. However, keep in mind you can't edit the default road, so if you think you might want something other than the default, make your own custom road that you can change whenever you want.
(I will probably be adding a few screenies for this section later. )