how do you trouble shoot a bad download?

[Artmaker]

hello, first post here.  I JUST found this site yesterday.  Went a little nuts downloading new stuff for my game.  And of course now it crashes!

So... lets start from scratch.  First, I am a mac user.  (And yes these work just the same. About the only differance is instructions to "start" and let files install themselves is useless to me.)
I started out downloading just about every fountain and tree object.  Tested in the game and they all work fine and dandy.

Then... I downloaded just about every building on this site.  I left out the teleporters, (Got the tunnels though) and I have the building package but did not put it in.  Too many files. Lets get the easy ones working first.  So every bar, candy stand, etc etc on this site I got.
 
Put all the ztd files into the dlupdate folder.  Put all the dll files directly into the zoo tycoon folder.  Started the game and it crashed.  
So.... took out all the ztd files, game starts fine.  Started putting them back a batch at a time.  Got down to about the R's, and the game starts crashing on start up again.  
Thinking ahhh, found a bad file, but no.  Seems there may be a limit to how many files I have in there?  Possible?  If I take some out, add some from the bottom of the list, it works. Sometimes.  I cannot seem to find one particular file that is causing a crash.  

Also... several of the dll files are duplicates.  Could there be a file conflict between the object and this?  
I have been adding files to my sims games for some time now.  I have a pretty good understanding of how this works.  Object calls up a set of instructions right?  Guessing the ztd is the object, and the dll is instructions.  Could it be one of the dll's I "replaced" has an object now not getting the right information?

I need an expert here.  either that, or I have to UNdo ALL of this, and add one blasted thing at a time.  (Yea, I should have done that the first time.  sigh.)

[Bengal]

I do know there is a limit to downloads in ZT1. I believe the amount is 300 ztd and 63 dll, somewhere around there.

HERE is a topic discussing combining DLLs, ZTDs, and has a few helpful links. Read there and see if you can come up with a solution, and let us know if you do.

[Artmaker]

ahhh.  Wow that's a pretty small limit there.  And I just checked, WAY over.  Which also explains why I can remove some files, game works, put in others and it doesnt' again. It's not a bad file, just too many.

One of the links you posted mentions "combining dll files?"  Can't find out how.  Looks like the best fix it so organize and only put in the game the ones your going to use at a time.  Royal pain that is!  Will the game crash if  you try and open a zoo you started with the wrong stuff in it?  Or will it just replace with other stuff?  hmmm. I'll have to find out.

Going to switch gears a bit.  IN the sims game, there is a nyfty gadget to compress tons of iff files into one far file.  (Kinda similar to a zip file.)  The game reads the far file as ONE.  And each far can have hundreds of little iff files.  The iff is the object, and there will be other files that give it instructions.  Those too can be far'd.  So I litterally have thousands and thousands of downloads in my game.  Tools like farmaker were created by cleaver third party people and are free.  
I sure wish someone could make a dll compression gadget like this.  Turn your 60+ dll files into one.

Meanwhile, I will simply clear my game, REdownload my stuff again and sort sort sort!

Thanks

[RedNotDead]

its actually quite simple to merge your ztd's into one or a couple of ztd files.  you have to remember that ztd are another type of zip file.  so you just unzip them then zip them all up again into a file and change the extention from zip to ztd