New version trainer will be posted soon. I've identified a couple of problem areas with the needs and lifetime points options, which could cause the side-effects reported (like save corruption, locked skills etc). These have been improved/fixed. However, to minimise the chance of you don't running into future problems, make sure you do the following:
> The obvious "make sure your game version matches". Also, make sure that you are indeed running on one of the supported regions of the game (ie, US 001 or Worldwide 002 - see the TRAiNER.txt file for finding this number).
> Disable any potentially conflicting background programs/services, especially anti-viruses and firewalls, which are known to cause issues with writing to memory on occasion, which is needed for a trainer to work. This is particularly relevent to the savegame issues. Make sure you're game actually loads and saves properly on Late Night before using the trainer. There's always a chance something is amiss on your system or that it's a bug introduced with the new game/patches.
> Follow the trainer instructions carefully. Re-read them again. Make sure you know when they are supposed to be activated, and when to turn them off. The usual advice of "turn the options of when not needed" applies here. For example, the lifetime reward points option. Use it until you see your points get maxed out, then turn it off. No need for it to be left on. Same with the sim needs option.
> START A NEW GAME. Don't load from any existing save/setup. Any previous save could potentially be bad from a previous rub. Start it from a fresh otherwise your problems could come back and the latest trainer blamed, when it actual fact it's OK.
> When reporting any bugs, make sure you've been able to play through that certain bit without the trainer. Although unlikely, game bugs do exist and do cause confusion. We need to be sure it's not an issue with the game itself or your system. Make sure you are specific with the report. What option(s) were you using, when, for how long, what stage/sim/specifics were you using, did the game crash or was it some other side-effect.. etc etc.
@aliceandcat: No, sorry! The existing options have had a lot of work done to them. I'm not prepared to add any; at least not at this time. It takes a lot of time and effort to create any sort of working option in this game. All it would do at the moment is throw another grey area into it, when there have already been problems to fix. Hope you understand.
Cheers,
~PhoenixCH
EDIT: New version up. Re-download if you were having the skill points/saves issue. Remember to read my above post first though!
[Edited by PhoenixCH, 10/30/2010 11:56:10 AM]