Disappearing Neighbourhoods

[Insaneagram]

Ok never mind, it didn't really work. Although the house and it's furnishings are the same as when the neighborhood stopped working, and the Sims photos in the thumbnails and stuff look the same as when it stopped working, the Sims skill points, ages, job status, memories aspiration and relationships are the same as in the backup version. The Sim which was meant to be a child turned back into a toddler and was sitting by the edge of the lot. :( Figured it was to good to be true...

I guess that was the problem for me though, somehow the neighborhood package file got deleted...

[ThePhantomFly---x]

Operating system - OSX.
Computer specs - I have no idea, it is pretty well spec'd I guess.
Games - Expansions up to (but not including) Free Time. I have patches up to NL I think.
Details of Neighbourhood loss - Tried to start the game one day, and none of my towns worked. All of the SC4 terrains are not recognised, but they are all in the specified folder.
Neighbourhoods are the neighbourhood files still there? - Yes.
Sim PE Investigation - N/A
What changed on your system immediately before the corruption - I cleared out my hard drive about a month ago and moved all my sims files to a new hard drive, but the game had still been functioning.
Any other relevant information - All the files are there, but when I go to create a new town, it says that there are none there. I got all of the terrains from my sister's computer -hers works fine-, however the game still doesn't work.

[simsample]

So is your problem that you cannot create a new hood from your SC4 terrains, or that your existing hood is inaccessible?

[Gittelbug]

Operating system: XP

Computer specs: I'm sorry i'm not sure. If you tell me how to find out I will tell...

Games: Sims 2 with all expansion packs

Details of Neighbourhood loss: Plesentview is gone but all other neighborhoods are fine and nothing has changed.

Neighbourhood File details: It's still there

Sims Pe: It calls pleasantview "unknown" and it doesn't have any of the sims in there not even the NPCs... This really concerns me.

What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: I installed K&B and Ikea before that everything was just fine.

[PsalmLove]

I'm still trying to pinpoint the file which is becoming corrupted, causing hood dissappearance- and to find out how to correct it. This is an experiment which could help with this. Try replacing the catalog description and ID number of the affected hood. To do this you will need SimPE, plus a fresh copy of the affected Hood (so, if you have lost your Pleasantview, you need a fresh Pleasantview to work with). First, backup your Neighbourhood files- even though you can't see them in game, we still want to preserve the files! Just make a copy of the entire My Documents\ EAGames\ The Sims2\ Neighbourhoods folder. Now, cut and paste your existing Neighbourhood folder to the desktop, and run the game to generate fresh hoods. Exit the game and open up the freshly created N00x_Neighborhood.package in SimPE (where X is your hood number- 1 for Pleasantview, 2 for Strangetown etc. Riverblossom is G001.) Now, extract the following two attributes- Catalog Description and ID Number. Save them where you can find them; now you can discard the newly created hoods.
Open up your actual hood package with SimPE- you now want to import the Catalog Description and ID number that you previously exported. You should be able to right click in SimPE to import the attributes. Commit and save. Now close SimPE and put your edited hood back into your Downloads folder. Test the game- does the hood show up now? Is it playable? This is devised from tutorials showing how to make the Tutorial Neighbourhood show up in game- it's an actual complete working hood, it's just that the Catalog Description and the ID Number are missing. So maybe these are the codes which are corrupted in missing hoods.

Thanks, this really helped. Before I had it up to the point where my some of my hoods had disappeared, I had been able to: 1. Start the loading screen 2. Actually finish loading without crashing 3. Show the hood selection screen with N001 missing.

This was the last piece of the puzzle. Now N001 shows up with all the saved and custom content.

Cheers for this mate.

[simsample]

Thanks, this really helped. Before I had it up to the point where my some of my hoods had disappeared, I had been able to: 1. Start the loading screen 2. Actually finish loading without crashing 3. Show the hood selection screen with N001 missing.

This was the last piece of the puzzle. Now N001 shows up with all the saved and custom content.

Cheers for this mate.

No problem buddy! :)

[cande]

Operating system Windows XP Professional
Computer specs I have no idea, but I can figure it out later if you need the info.
Games no patches, family fun stuff, glamour life stuff, pets
Details of Neighbourhood loss My neighborhood loaded but the graphics weren't working properly, a normal occurrence for me that is usually solved by simply restarting the game. I restarted the game, same problem. I rebooted the computer, started the Sims up again, and my neighborhood information for the first three neighborhoods (out of four) was gone. There's a space for the neighborhoods, but the images are in way simple CGI form (green with black lines arranged for a 3D image), the name of all three neighborhoods is simply 'Pets,' and the descriptions of all three neigbhorhoods read 'Hidden neighborhood for the pets.'
Neighbourhood File details The neighborhood files are still there. Pleasantview, Veronavilla, and a custom neighborhood went missing: the neighborhood still intact is custom as well. I tried making a new neighborhood and then replacing the new neighborhood's data with the data from my disappeared custom neighborhood with no luck. (I changed the ID numbers)
Sim PE Investigation: Downloaded SimPE this morning to try and fix the problem. I can view the neighborhoods in SimPE, and it has the correct images for the neighborhoods (the Romeo and Juliet scene for Veronaville, for example). However, SimPE cannot find the names of the neighborhoods, nor the neighborhood types (where the working neighborhood is described as 'Normal: The Kingdome' the lost neighborhoods are described as 'Unknown: Unknown'). The stored relations are all between 'Unknown' and 'Unknown,' but all the character files are still there properly identified as people as with their names.
What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: After at least an hour of gameplay using the 'boolprop testingcheatsenabled true' cheat, an error message came up. I didn't understand it, but I assumed the message was meant for a tester: it said something wasn't working. I was given the options of 'cancel,' 'restart,' and 'delete.' I tried pressing 'cancel' but it wouldn't go through, so I pressed 'delete.' Gameplay continued as normal for about another hour. The problems began the next time I opened the Sims more than twelve hours later.
Please give brief details of any system or game changes you made just before you noticed the missing neighbourhoods. Some custom content had been uploaded a few days before. Bodyshop was used a few hours prior to the problem. Homecrafter was also installed a few hours prior, and used. The Homecrafter files worked fine in my working neighborhood, but I have since uninstalled Homecrafter in hopes that would help. It didn't.
Could you also try this: Didn't change anything. Although I do have three neighborhoodmanager files in the My Documents/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ Neighbourhoods folder, which seems to be a problem. Two of them are only 1 KB: NeighborhoodManager.package and Neighborhood..Manager.package. The other, Neighborhood_Manager.package, is 153 KB. The neighborhoodmanager file under Program files/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ TS Data/ Res/ User Data/ is 23 KB.

So to sum it up it appears I deleted something I needed. However, I cannot think of any reason why three of my four neighborhoods were lost and one wasn't: cheats other than 'kaching' and 'motherlode' have only been used in the two custom neighborhoods, and those are the only ones that have been in use for the past month. Custom content is in play in all the neighborhoods, but custom objects and furniture have only been used in the custom neighborhoods (I'm pretty sure...). I haven't had any problems with custom content, including objects, or the one global mod I have downloaded.

[Hollistergrl923]

Hi...
I have also had this problem...sort of!
What happend was that I was in the middle of finishing a movie that I was making with the sims. I needed just one more scene so I started up the sims just like usual. Nothing out of the ordinary Until i selected the neighborhood which is Desiderata (I think i spelled that right!) The one that came with free time and it took an extrodinarily LONG time to load...about 5-7 minutets long!
So when it was finally done loading all of the little plumbBobs over the houses were MISSING and all my little simmies were M.I.A. :cry:
So I left that neighborhood and went into Pleasantview and everyone was still there so I exited and started the game again and this time when I went into Desiderata it loaded in like a seconded and a half and sure enough everyone is still gone!!!
So I exited again (And called my BF to cry...='( He said that somthing might have gotten deleted and that I should look in my recyling bin and see. The only thing in there that looked simish was this thing that I can't even understand! I opened it and read it and it looked like jiberish!
So I don't know what to do...I think I might go cry or somthing!


I Have a Windows Vista Operating system...Blah...
And A ton of Custom Content from here... and various sites!
I also have the inteenminator hack and a lot of movie making hacks a well. I thought that maybe all the custom content may be the cause of the problem but I havn't added anything new for a while!

I also have the Free time Patch from 7-2-08. I'm not sure which one that is since I heard that they have a newer one now but thats the one I have!

Any Help and or advice would be greatly Appreciated!
Thank you in advance!

~Hollistergrl<3

[aori_tsuki]

Question! What if the neighborhood.package is missing and there's no .bak?

[MCA]

My problem:

I made three families in Strangetown and then turned the Sims 2 off. Then I shut down my computer because it's always really slow after playing Sims. The next time I turned on the Sims, I was planning on playing with the families I made. But Strangetown wasn't there. I normally never play with Strangetown, so I hadn't done anything with it for a a while. I don't have Sims PE, or any software for TS2. I have the Sim File Maid 2 that doesn't work and that's it. I'd like to be able to have Strangetown back with all the families the same as they were without downloading a ton of software if possible, because I have very little disk space left on my computer. Can anybody help? And in clear English please.

[simsample]

Hollistergrl923, if you look in documents/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ Neighborhoods/ N002/ characters, are there any files there?
aori_tsuki, the neighborhood.package file basically is the neighbourhood; if that's corrupted and you don't have a backup, you have pretty much lost the entire hood. You need to be able to restore all neighbourhood files at once, not just the neighborhood.package file as the character files will carry data pertaining to data in the neighborhood.package.
MCA, the only thing you can do if you don't have a backup is to delete N002 and copy a fresh version from Program files/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ TSData/ Res/ Userdata/ neighborhoods to your documents folder. Two points I'd like to make though, are firstly- allow your computer several minutes after closing The Sims2 to shut down fully, before you switch off your PC. When you shut down the game is the time when the changes you have made are written to the Neighborhood.package file, so if you interrupt this process you could be in trouble. The second point is, make sure you free up some disc space. If your PC is using a lot of virtual memory and you have little disc space left, you could find that the game isn't writing to disc correctly. Free up some space- ideally you need more than 20% free- this will increase performance too. Uninstall File Maid- if you aren't using it, it's dead space. Do a disc cleanup and get rid of temp files and temporary internet files. Uninstall any programs you don't use (as long as you have the install discs, you can always put them back later) and burn off any unused files to a CD or DVD. Defrag the disc if you can after you do this. Then, make a backup of any hoods you play in future to stop this happening again. All you need to do is to copy Documents/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ Neighborhoods to somewhere safe, like a CD, a flash drive ('pen stick') or even your desktop.

[Slytherin-Girl]

Operating system: Window XP Home

Computer specs: 1014MB ram (Not sure how to find anything else, sorry :( )
Games: Base Game+ NL (the Deluxe edition combo), as well as the TSS pack and Celebration Stuff

Details of Neighbourhood loss: I just went to play this morning and pleasentview was completely gone. I believe it was the last hood I played, and the only thing I can think of that I did to it was click to uninstall ACR from the nieghbourhood, because I only use it in my custom hood and didn;t want it in this one.


Neighbourhood File details: All the files are still there

Sim PE Investigation: No Sim PE for me

What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: I probably defragged it and did a disc cleanup, since I try to do that daily.

Any other relevant information: The only thing I can think of is that I did something to it when I clicked to uninstall ACR, because it was still working in game even though I clicked to uninstall it and deleted the adjuster. But that probably makes no sense. I haven't played any other hoods since, I don't want to bork anything and screw my game up. I tried all the stuff above and none of it seemed to work.

[simsample]

Slytherin-Girl, it's worth posting on TwoJeff's forum to see if you can get any help on this one.

[Slytherin-Girl]

Do you think it was something related to what I did with ACR then? Should I try removing the download itself and then see if the hood pops back up?

[simsample]

It could be, as ACR works with 'tokens' given to sims. That would mean that the game is likely reading those tokens as it loads the hood; therefore it could well prevent the game from loading if a token is broken, or present when the ACR is not.

[Skunky]

i had the same problem as arcadia i installed the sims 2 pets bought a pet and the game crashed on me, when i started again pleasantview was missing, does anybody know how to fix the problem.. or get my families back

[Charlizzie89]

Charlizzie89, did you try replacing the neighborhoodmanager file like Simsample suggests in the first post?


Yesssssssssss! I tried! Almost EVERYONE here tried. It does NOT work. I don't understand! When I check in the files I can still watch all of the Videos from the neighborhoods that are gone! :help:

My first post:

"I MADE SURE to save before I quit. As I am quitting the screen always goes black and music plays. While that was happening the power went out for about 2 seconds and my computer was shut down. The next day when I went to play, I saw that my two favorite neighborhoods were gone. Pleasantview and Strangetown are gone but Veronaville is still there. Also there is another weird neighborhood I've never had before named Pets. It light green with dark green lines all over it and when I hover over it, it says it is a hidden neighborhood for pets. I am about to cry for all the hard work I did. When I check in the files and stuff Pleasantview and Strangetown are still there. What can I do!? Any way to bring back what I did! HELP!"

In my files it still has Pleasantview and Strangetown, the characters, Lotcatalog, and all this other stuff. o_o When I click on it, it says this: 'Adobe Reader could not open 'N001_Neighborhood.package' because it is either not a supported file type or because the file has been damaged (for example, it was sent as an email attachment and wasn't correctly decoded).'

I have no idea what to do! This sux a lot. Isn't there a way to bring back everything? Plz? Help! (I'm pretty stupid with stuff like this..)

-Charliz :(

[clawsy]

i jsut had this happen too.
all my neighbours are missing on the niegbourhood menu. Except for Veronaville and some dumb one i made but never played, and some wierd neighbourhood called Weather.

I cant remeber if something bad happened in the middle of saving/shutdown last time.

[clawsy]

i have no backups made and had just installed ikea and played it once i beleive :-(

[ThePhantomFly---x]

So is your problem that you cannot create a new hood from your SC4 terrains, or that your existing hood is inaccessible?

Sorry. I've been MIA.

Both.

At first, I realised that none of my towns were working. I'd go into them and the whole thing would load and load and load and then stop. And I'd have to force quit.

After about a week of me going "OMGWTF?" I tried making a new town, and then I realised that somehow, the game couldn't find the .sc4 terrains that were in the RIGHT FOLDER. I checked the path about 4 times, checked for spaces in file names, had my computer wiz dad have a look and he's stumped.

[InuRose]

I've looked around and I'm pretty sure this is where I should be.

My neighborhoods are fine but my sims keep disappearing. It happened the first time a few months back when I was working on a custom neighborhood. I was playing and everything was fine. Then I loaded it one day and many of the sims were missing and some of the remaining sims kept getting errors that gave me no option but to delete them because reseting didn't work. Then this afternoon something similar happened when I loaded Riverblossom and several entire households were missing. I don't know why my sims are randomly disappearing.

I play on a mac and I have a lot of custom content and several hacks, but I recently did a purge to fine troublesome downloads and this problem happens so rarely that I can't think of what the problem could be.

Luckily when I was getting rid of bad downloads I made a backup of my game. Any idea what might cause disappearing sims? :blink:

(If there's any relevancy, my Pleasentview screwed up about two months ago, with all the sim's aspirations hitting bottom red. When I try to load a house their aspirations have changed or disappeared and the game crashes. I don't know if this has anything to do with my other disappearing sims.)

[Canoodle]

This really doesn't belong here and deserves its own thread, as the neighborhood has not disappeared. It does sound like you have a corrupt hood or game. Have you ever moved sims from neighborhood to neighborhood, lot binned a lot with sims and then placed it again (even in the same hood?), or deleted sims from the simbin? All of those things can cause neighborhood implosion. :/ If that is the case, there is nothing to do but to start all over again.

[InuRose]

Thanks, I'll make a new thread. I have deleted sims from the sim bin so maybe that's it.

[007aaa1]

Operating system: Win XP Computer specs :i got like 600mb for ram...thats all i really know.
-Games:base,NL,seasons,OFB, Party stuff
-Details of Neighbourhood loss : My family on pleasentview just had a baby. I was really tired so i saved my game and went to bed.

I didnt use any hacks sept for something that made you throw away the bottle after feeding your baby

-Neighbourhood File details: all the details are still in the folder( I think everythings still there...)

-What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: i don't think anything changed.

Any other relevant information:
I was just playing perfectly regular. I saved my game and turned off the computer. Came back on the next day and the neigborhood wasnt on the selection screen anymore. :help:

[emblysims]

Wow, it's like a neighborhood loss support group...fabbo! Ok I think my problem might be with my computer, since I have mac OS 10.3.9 or something which is less than the recommended. Also I only have 512 ram which isn't much. So it may be a problem with my computer but I figured I'd post my sad tale here and see if anyone else knows what's going on.
I've been having the same issue with dissapearing neighbohoods, with a fun twist. Every so often when I load the game (which btw takes up to 4 1/2 hours which is no bueno) POOF! My hoods are back! With no effort on my part. Populated with aspiration-less, personality-less, relationship-less sims who are a different skin tone than I made them with. Huh???. Other times, the hoods are empty. Mostly the game just crashes while loading the neighborhoods or never ever loads.
When my sims skin changes color it changes from custom skin to a different custom skin, not a maxis default. Also, their eye colors change.
I took out my downloads folder and the game worked, so it may be something I've downloaded. But I sifted through my downloads and took out anything that looked harmful. Basically all I've got is a lot of hair and clothes, inTeenimater, gunmod's radiance lighting and camera mods, some objects, and miscelanneous small hacks that only change like one thing. This is the second time the computer has "eaten" my game. The first time I just erased all the files and re-installed, but now it's doing it again. Is this more likely to be an overlooked download, or is my shoddy computer not fit enough to handle all my downloads? Advice would be great. Oh and sorry I'm not more specific about my system specs, my computer is struggling to load sims as I sit here hijacking my granparents' computer for troubleshooting purposes. I can get specifics later if it will help my cause.

[Canoodle]

Basically, what you have is a custom content problem. Not really for this thread. ;)

Try this FAQ to narrow down what is causing your game to break:
http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Finding_Problem_Custom_Content It's written for Windoze, but I think you can figure out how to do it on a Mac. :)

The 50/50 method is tried and true. And, it takes a lot less time than you think. If this doesn't help, please repost in the Mac forum in game help.

[emodork96]

I don't know how many RAM or Giga hertz? my computer has but this has happened to me too.

Games- Glamour Life, Nightlife, Family Fun, Seasones, Open for buisness (can't spell it) bon voyage, university, pets, H & M, festive holiday & teen style stuff.

I was putting my laptop on an airport scanner and then when I went to check my sims in my hotel everything had gone, pleasantview, veronaville, strangetown and riverblossom hills, (I have since got back river blossom hills, I have no idea how though)
So answers, would be so helpful, thanks.

[simsample]

emodork96, try deleting the neighborhood manager file. Did you perhaps shut down your laptop whilst the game was running?

[bugga357]

Pleasantview vanished. I was able to restore it using my back up in SimPe. When the neighborhood was back, the Broke house-the last house I had played-was gone. The Broke family still exists but is non-playable since they don't seem to live anywhere. I would love to bring them back somehow.

[coolsimsgal]

256 ram
windows xp home edition
CPU Family: Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.53GHz Model 3, Stepping 3
CPU Speed: 2532 MHz

games: all the way up to seasons and no stuff packs installed

problem: Pleasentveiw vanished after disk check on my pc. This happend before after dsk check, so I know that is the problem.

Can anyone help? The chk dsk made pleasentveiw vanish ugh

[simsample]

coolsimsgal, look through this thread for some suggestions of things to try.

[coolsimsgal]

coolsimsgal, look through this thread for some suggestions of things to try.

Couldn't find anything about dsk check, but I managed to find a thread how to reset your hood. In which I did but I messed up my files and just ended up starting pleasentveiw over again. I didn't lose much anyway, just some ugly sims.

thx anyway

[Merisua]

Ok, i have been buggering about with N001 for 3 days because it would not delete(i wanted to re-install all games without any CC so that i could have a fresh start.) N001 wouldnt dissapear nor would the EA games folder. So, what i did was re install it all and voila i could get rid of the file, uninstall and re-install again with no problems. This thread got me thinking of how to fix it. 10 stars, thanks duckie <3 :P

[simsample]

Well done for fixing it, Merisua. Don't forget to backup- the same goes for you too, coolsimsgal. Happy simming!

[wrightgallery]

Operating system - Windows XP Media Center
Computer specs - Pentium D 2.66, 2GB RAM, GeForce 9800


Games - I've got Sims CD, Business, University, Bon Voyage, Nightlife, Seasons. H&M / Fashion stuff. No patches.

Details of Neighbourhood loss - No hacks. um, Had a very fragmented hard drive and, after defragging it, Pleasantville. I tried the transfer trick, nothing happened.

Neighbourhood File details: All there - they look correct.

Sim PE Investigation: A little weird, many of the character descriptions are listed as "Unknown"

What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: Lots of defragging.

Any other relevant information: Thats all I got.

[simsample]

Sim PE Investigation: A little weird, many of the character descriptions are listed as "Unknown"

NPCs that are objects such as Grimmy and the Hula Zombies are listed as 'Unknown' so that could be normal. Do you have a backup you could restore?

[wrightgallery]

Yes. I re-pasted my Documents / Sims 2 folder as it said, zipped folders, everything. Then I reinstalled and tried again. My town still won't come up. :(

Is there a chance I'm doing it wrong? Is there anything else I can do? I'm in mourning over here.

[SarahCagle]

I have windows vista (I know it's not really compatible but its been working fine for about five months.

2.8 GH Processor 1526 MB RAM

Sims Base Game only

I was playing strangetown the last time I played and when I restarted the game the whole neighborhood was gone. <<correction>> The neighborhood is still there and selectable..all the lots are just gone. I have some custom content but I don't think I installed anything before I played it last, I did install a few new lots and sims before I loaded and neighborhood was gone. I checked my neighborhood folder and the lots folder is empty but all my characters are still there. Is there anyway I can save my sims and get my families back??

When I open the neighborhood in SimPe everything looks fine except there are no lots. Please help if you can I spent alot of hours building families and realtionships

[simsample]

wrightgallery, try deleting all old files first and then restoring the backup.

Sarah, look in the Documents/ EA Games/ The Sims 2/Neighborhoods folder- open the folder for your hood. Look in the Lots folder. Are there files in there? Are they .package files?

[SarahCagle]

No, all the lots are gone for some reason....and also i noticed after I posted that all the music and tv files are gone too...strange.... When I open the neighborhood in SimPe all of my sims are there and everything looks normal I just don't have my lots anymore...some of them were maxis and others were some i made and downloaded. I'm not worried about the lots but do you know if I can still use my sims even though their lots are gone??

[simsample]

No, I wouldn't even advise trying as other files could be missing or damaged too. If the files are gone there is nothng you can do unless you have a backup. This could be caused by a lot of things:
If the game crashed;
If your computer has disc errors;
If you have run antivirus or malware detectors that have eliminated your files as a threat;
If you have viruses, malware or other nasties that have removed files for you.
What I would recommend is to perform a disc cleanup, full antivirus and malware checks, check your hard drive for errors and defragment. I would scrap that hood (unless you have a good backup) and start over. Make sure that you backup in future- to a CD, flash drive or another hard drive, if you can.

[SarahCagle]

Well I left the game running all night the last time I played and the hood was still there, I saved and shut down normally the next day but I think this may have something to do with it. I have a backup but it's kinda old...I will try and start over with that. Thanks so much for all your advice and help :)

[Cork2]

I had 2 neighborhoods disappear from my game at the same time. Not sure how it happened my computer may have frozen up and then the next day they weren't there anymore. They are pleasentview and bluewater village or whatever they are called again. This didn't happen until a day after I installed open for business. didn't have this problem even with my computer freezing up with just the Sims 2.

I installed both to the default directory whatever the path was I didn't edit/change it. I am running this on Vista 64 bit. If this has already been answered I am sorry but I do not feel like looking through 12 pages. Do I need to reinstall the game to get them back. Oh also I did not install any patches, even if I did it doesn't look like it has been solved yet. Kinda sad seeing that this topic goes back to 2006 and there is not patch to fix it.

[simsample]

Oh also I did not install any patches, even if I did it doesn't look like it has been solved yet. Kinda sad seeing that this topic goes back to 2006 and there is not patch to fix it.

The patches solve multiple game issues, some of them critical.
However, the majority of problems on this thread where neighbourhoods are not accessible appear to be caused by file corruption. This is caused by the computer, not the game, and so cannot be fixed by a game patch.
The only known protection against file corruption is backup, which is something we have been advising since before 2006!

[johnepic]

Hello!
Can you please help me solve this?

Here are the details:

OS: Win XP Pro Service Pack 3

PC: 1.81 Ghz AMD Athlon 64 3000+, 2GB RAM, ATI FIreGL V3100 PCIe 128 MB

Games: Original DVD, University, Nightlife, OFB, Family Fun Stuff, Glamour LIfe Stuff, Pets. Everything patched

Details of Neighbourhood loss: I had only the original and University, both patched. Then i installed Pets without touching my downloads folder. I patched it but i kept playing university for a while (when i entered pets it showed a message about deleting everything i had from university, so i quit) and everything looked ok. But then i decided to install the stuff packs and Nightlife and i didn't make a backup (silly me..). After finishing that, everything was gone: Chars, Neighbourhoods, everything. I do have hacks
but none of them meant any problems (i didn't add any hacks prior to the hoods failure)
Neighbourhood File details: i checked my folder and i have five N00i folders (i=1..5) and they look normal, with files and folders inside, including the characters one.

Sim PE: i installed it but it won't run, don't know why :S When i run it, it does nothing (there's not even a process i can relate to the program actually running)

Changes before the corruption: other than the game installing, nothing changed.

Other: I made a defrag of my hard drives today (after the corruption). I also did a little organization for my downloads, making some folders, but after the corruption i erased them and put everything back on its place (i had some folders for my dls before too). I have already tried the neighbourhoodmanager.package file trick and it didn't make any difference.

Whenever i enter any of the hoods, they look just like fields crossed by streets. All the families are gone and when i try to put occupied houses on the terrain, the game crashes (i can still create families and put them on empty houses).

I've also tried to uninstall everything (even sacrificing my downloads) but, whenever i run the uninstall it does nothing! i could only uninstall the base game but the expansion and stuff packs were still there and i don't know how to get rid of them.
So i tried Uninstalling the base game and reinstalling it, hoping that would at least restore the base neighbourhoods, but as i entered the original game, i saw that the hoods were still just fields and streets, no houses or characters.

Can you please help me?? i can't think of anything else and i can't uninstall either :(

Thank you!

[simsample]

For the problem with running SimPE, look on the SimPE site for solutions. Make sure you have the latest version- uninstall your existing version and reinstall.
For the neighbourhood loss, again this sounds like some data corruption and if you don't have a viable backup it sounds like you'll need to start again.
For the game install problems, you'll need to completely uninstall and reinstall the game. As your uninstallers will not work you'll need to do this manually which will involve deleting the files and editing the registry. See this article for details:
http://www.modthesims2.com/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Uninstall

[quetzilla]

Not sure if this has been posted about before so I'll post i again just in case.

I was having problems with disappearing neighborhoods. It was driving me crazy -- The neighborhoods would disappear if I simply copied the Neighborhoods folder and left the neighborhood files alone. It turns out that the problem was that I was leaving my copied Neighborhoods in the same folder that the normal Neighborhoods folder is in (EA Games\Sims 2\). Once I moved the backup copies from that folder to the desktop the problem went away.

[simsample]

Thanks for that information; yes, the game will read all files that are in the Documents\ EA Games\ The Sims 2 folder. It will even read files if they are in the 'wrong' location; for example it will read your neighbourhood files if you put them in 'Downloads', and your Downloads if you put them elsewhere. Having two versions of a neighbourhood will result in certain data being 'overwritten', causing inconsistencies that the game cannot handle. For example, a character being dead and alive at the same time, or Pleasantview both having and not having a Downtown. Therefore, as quetzilla advises, you should keep your backups outside of your Documents\ EA Games\ The Sims 2 folder. On Mac OSX you should keep the backup files on a different disc altogether as apparently the game can read files outside of the Sims 2 folder.

[ttyl_sims]

Oh thank goodness there is a help thread on this, I've been freaking out when I found out my neighborhood dissapeared!

Computer Details Win XP Home, 2.79 GHz, 640 MB of Ram, Dell, is there anything else you need?

Game Information I have the Base Game, Family Fun Stuff, Nightlife, Open for Business, Pets, University, Bon Voyage, Celebration Stuff, FreeTime, H&M Fashion Suttf, Seasons, and no patches. I also have the Body Shop of course and the CEP_Setup and Sims2PackInstaller_v1514 if that counts for anything.

I lost a custom neighborhood but it is still in the Neighborhood file. Actually, I just now found out why I think it is not showing, but I'm not sure how it happened, why, or how to fix it. When I go to the neighborhood files and click it's file (N005) all the storytelling pics, and I think all the Characters and Lots are there (but I'm not sure, how can I check? It just looks like a greater amount than all the other neighborhoods). The colleges, downtowns, and etc that I added to it are also there. But under the n005_Neighborhood package, it's size reads 1KB and I know it should be more. So I'm guessing that's the problem? I'm not sure though. But everything else seems right except that.

Besides that, I'm quite sure the last neighborhood I played was the one I lost (I play that one the most) and all the other neighborhoods seem fine. I actually have a lot of downloads (I've been trying to delete some) and I know i have many hacks, but they are all old hacks and they've never caused problems before. I have hacks like the inteenimator, insimenator, CBOY no censor package, free time aspiration critical fix, hack for no social worker, an email hack, smarter lights hack, cash register training hack, the last name for marriage hack, move in all hack, and the novel progress package. And of course I also have hundreds of other downloads for clothing, objects, body shop, etc.

I don't have SimPE. And unfortunately I dont quite remember what I was doing right before it happened. I think I had taken a week's break or so from playing, and then I came home, started the game, and it just wasn't there. I'm worried, also, that maybe my sister could have done something (sometimes she sneaks onto my computer, and even onto my Sims 2 games, and plays on her own neighborhoods or just other games on my computer) but she denies it. I know I was, before that, trying to get rid of some downloads. I also know that before this happened there was another glitch in that same neighborhood for one of the families (I could go to their lot, but they'd just stand there and not do anything, and they'd ignore any action I gave to them, so I just gave up using that family) and I've had other glitches before in Sims like the OFB objects not showing up, but I never got around to fixing that. The last thing I downloaded was a download for something like a "cootie kiss" or something that would add an option to children's actions. I never got to try if it worked or not because after that the neighborhood dissapeared and, thinking it may have been the download, I deleted it.

Oh I'd also like to say that I think I do have a backup, but unfortunately I made that a while ago and I'm not sure when or what information it has (or what expansion I made it on) and I'd like to use that as a last resort if I absolutely can't restore my neighborhood, because then I might have to start over for some families etc.

Okay, so I'd really really like to find a why to keep all my characters, it would be tragedy for them all to be lost and deleted since this is pretty much the only neighborhood I play and it has ALL my character. But thank you and I hope we find a solution!

[simsample]

If your Neighbourhood file is corrupted then there isn't much you can do, except for to restore your backup. You could possibly rescue the characters by exporting them through Sim Surgery if you can open them in SimPE- but this will only give you the face structure and genetics, not memories or relationships. You may be able to do the same with the lots. Really, I would advise to go with the backup. Be sure to backup more often- after each game session of you really put value on the hood.
As advised to other people, check your hard drive for errors and viruses in case this is what caused your loss. Make sure your PC is in good condition.

[ttyl_sims]

Okay, thank you very much, I guess I'll have to go with my back up. Hopefully it's not that old. Thanks again for spending your time helping us, I really appreciate it!

[StephieC981]

Operating system WIN XP Home


Computer specs Processor: Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.00 GHZ
Memory: 766MB Ram
ATI Radeon 9250 128MB

Games Sims 2 base game CD
University CD
Pets digital download
Seasons digital download
DLed and Installed Patches for each

Details of Neighbourhood loss : I recently posted a thread where I was having issues of the game crashing while loading Seasons. I backed up my userdata files to desktop, uninstalled the game and reinstalled. When I run the game "clean" (my backup still on the desktop) it loads and all neighborhoods appear in pristine "unplayed" state. When I exit and move my backup back into My Documents/EA Games/Sims 2 (renamed the "clean" folder to "Sims 2 backup"), then try to load again, now I only get 1 neighborhood, the Rosebloom Hills or w/e (the Seasons Neighborhood). Pleasantville, Strangetown and Veronaville are completely dissapeared (along with all my Sims...)


Neighbourhood File details : Yes the files are there but again, in a pristine, unplayed state from the recent reinstallation. The files in my backup folder also appear to be in their correct places.

Sim PE Investigation: Not sure...I tried viewing Pleasantville from my backed up data in SIM PE and the program locked up at 59% loading "CEP_Extra videogameconsole" I had to end the program through Task Manager.

What changed on your system immediately before the corruption:
Backed up my UserData, uninstalled the game and all expansions, reinstalled with clean files. Tried to put my backed up UserData back into the game and this causes Pleasantview, Veronaville and Strangetown to dissapear. I assume I've now lost all my sims, custom content etc and need to start from square one...again. =/

Any other relevant information: not that i can think of.

Could you also try this:
Go to My Documents/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ Neighbourhoods and cut and paste the neighbourhoodManager.package file to your desktop. Now go to Program files/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ TS Data/ Res/ User Data/ Neighbourhoods and copy the neighbourhoodmanager.package file- paste it into your Documents folder where your old neighbourhoodmanager file was. Does that make any difference?

I tried this and there was no difference. The problem seems to be in my old files...the ones I was playing on before I uninstalled and reinstalled that contain all my custom content and sims. It appears I will have to (once again) re-download everything and make new sims....

Thanks for everything, I hope someone comes up with a solution...I will keep my back up on my desktop hope to be able to restore them someday...

Edit to add: After restarting my comp and coming back to it later after lunch, I tried moving my Downloads folder out of the backup and into the "clean" new Sims 2 folder created by the reinstall. Restarting the game, all my neighborhoods were back and custom content was functioning. So this restored the custom content and leads me to believe the "disappearing neighborhood" issue is, in my case at least, not linked to the contents of my Downloads folder. I will keep toying with it and see if I can't get my families and lots to return as well.

Edit (again): Okay so to help all of you I'll let you know the things I tried next and where I'm at now...

I tried moving all the folders (folders only: i.e. Lots, Thumbnails, Storytelling etc) from each neighborhood folder (N001, N002, etc) in my backup file into the clean file, moving the "clean" versions of these folders into the backup. I did this for N001 and N002 (Pleasantville and Strangetown, the two I am trying to resurrect). The game loaded all neighborhoods and custom content, but my old lots/families are not back.

Next, I tried switching all the neighborhood .package files out of my backup folder and into the "clean" folder (created during the reinstall) for Pleasantville and Strangetown. So now I'm working with folders from the backup, and the .package files from the backup. All the "clean" files and folders have been switched into the backup folder for safekeeping. Reloaded the game...Pleasantville and Strangetown have disappeared again.

Next, to narrow it down, I switched out ONLY the N001_Neighborhood.package file, placing the backup (or "old") file into the game folder and moving the new "clean" file into backup folder for safekeeping. This caused Pleasantville ONLY to disappear.

So I know now that the disappearance and non-functioning of my old families and lots has something to do with this file, the neighborhood.package file. Unfortunately I am not enough of a computer expert to try anything further. Hopefully this info of what I did will help someone else figure it out.

[simsample]

StephieC981, the Neighborhood.package file is what contains the bulk of the information- if this is damaged then your hood is toast. I'm a bit confuddled by what you have switched and tried- so let me just check- do you have a copy of your hoods that you haven't yet loaded onto this new computer? If you do, then try this: Delete completely the Neighborhoods folder from Documents\ EA Games\ The Sims 2 (in your current Documents folder- not the backup! Leave yout backup intact). Then run the game with your custom content installed. Enable Custom content, disable the custom content dialog box. Restart the game and check that your custom content is working. Now exit the game, delete the neighborhoods folder that the game has just created. Copy paste the backup of your old neighborhoods folder into its place. Start the game- do they show up now? What I was thinking was, if you have any hacks at all which affect the game on a global level- such as a 'time synchronize' hack or a 'Payment' hack- they will be loaded at neighborhood level. If for some reason the game has not read these files when the hood started, it could potentially damage the neighborhood file and prevent it from loading. It's a long shot, but worth a try.

[StephieC981]

Thank you for the thought but I don't use any hacks at all, so I don't think it's a hack causing the issue. I went ahead and started a new family, I'll just rebuild. :) Thanks again!

[simsample]

Ah well, never mind. Be sure to backup your new hood often though!

[ttyl_sims]

Okay, so I was mistaken before: I didn't back up my Neighborhood file. So I have have to start from scratch. I just installed simPE and have got it running, but I have a question. If I have all the character files in my Neighborhood file, can I still edit them? I mean will the neighborhood and everything still be on simPE?

[simsample]

You may be able to view the characters in SimPE to extract them using SimSurgery; it depends on the extent of the damage. It's a case of try it and see.

[sunhair]

Operating system Vista Ultimate Edition 64 bit
Computer specs Custom Built AMD Phenom 9850 BLACK EDITION 2.5GHz , 4 gb of mushkin RAM,Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX (768MB)

Games Sims 2 CD All Exp and Stuff Packs no patches or Updates

I created a custom Neighborhood Lastnight I went to load it after saving and shutting down and Now it is not showing up my other custom neighborhood is showing up but the other with my main family isnt.

I haven't removed any CC or hacks I haven't noticed anything different besides the game taking a while to load. I haven't installed any updates or put anything new in my rig.

The neighborhood and the family are showing up in SimPe I can not see any corruption so far

Neighborhood Files are as followed E001,F001,G001,N001,/N002,N003,N004, N005,
N005 is the neighborhood that isn't showing up in the game but i can see it plain as day in the neighborhood file and simpe. N005 file size is 187 mb

I tried going to My Documents/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ Neighbourhoods and cut and pasting the neighbourhoodManager.package file to my desktop.

Then I went to Program files/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ TS Data/ Res/ User Data/ Neighborhoods and copied and pasted the neighborhood manager.package file into the My Documents/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ Neighborhoods it made no difference after loading the game back up

[simsbabii]

I had to uninstall some things on my computer and I uninstalled 1 Sims2 ep'sbecause it kept crashing on me (IKEA Stuff) and I went back into my game and the default neighborhoods and my custom neighborhoods were gone. I exited and looked at the flie location and there were no neighborhoods in the file location. Is there any way possible to be able to get these back?

My computer is a toshiba laptop and its Windows Vista.

[simsample]

The installer deletes your hoods and all custom content upon removal of an EP. You need to remove the neighbourhood file completely to reset the hoods. If you did not make a backup of your played hoods then they are gone. The installer does give you a warning that your game will not be playable, but it does not specifically warn of the pending deletion.

[Simulato33]

Operating system: Win XP Pro
Computer specs: Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 @ 2.66ghz; 2gb RAM; nVidia Geforce 8800gt
Games: All expansions and stuff packs barring Kitchen and Bathroom stuff
Details of neighbourhood loss:
The game has crashed twice in the past month, due to a faulty graphics card. However, the last two times I played, it worked fine, and the game quit as normal.
Now, when I run the game, all the neighbourhoods are there with the exception of my single custom neighbourhood (and the only one I happen to play). I do use various hacks but I have not installed any for two months or so, and I have never experienced any problems with them.
Neighbourhood file details: The files are all there and appear to be correct. No size issues, the neighborhood.package file is 8mb. However, it does appear to be corrupted, as when I replace it with the equivalent from the most recent back-up, I can get into the neighbourhood (even though people are missing, lots are missing, and so on).
SimPE investigation: Presents an error message when I try to load my custom neighbourhood. When it does load, everyone is Unknown.
Changes before the corruption: None.
Any other relevant information: Checked for viruses, removed all custom content.
Neighbourhoodmanager deletion: Tried. Didn't work.
SimPE ID: Tried, using my backup of the neighbourhood to get the ID and description. Didn't work.
Chkdsk: Didn't help.

After trying the relevant suggestions in this thread it doesn't look like anything will help. Everything seems alright with my hard drive, so I'm guessing it was just corruption due to the game crashes.

Thanks for all the potential fixes in this thread. :) Shame about the corruption, and the fact I haven't backed up for a month, but that's life. I've sure learnt my lesson about regular back ups...

[simsample]

Aww, sorry to hear that, Simulato33. Remember to backup!

[Jaedle]

Has anyone tried removing the afflicted neighborhood and all files, making a brand new neighborhood with the same terrain as before and the same neighborhood number, and then adding back everything? I did something like that once successfully, but my memories of what I did about the neighborhood manager are alas hazy. I have a vague notion I somehow forced it to regenerate itself because pasting a clean manager didn't help( sims missing but in perfect shape in SimPE). I may possibly have swapped the old manager back in after recreating the neighborhoodfa. All I am sure of is nothing I tried got everything back until I actually recreated the neighborhood itself, same terrain, same number hood. Then I dumped pretty much everything back in, not sure about the manager. I'm not even sure why I tried that. I had just run out of files to test for corruption I think.

Possibly relevant: I think the only hacks I had in the game at the time of the neighborhood poof were Insim, Selzi's custom face template set, a custom live file (Potter names) and a newspaper replacement (Daily Prophet). I was testing Potter content for compatability. So yes, global hacks present. Also should mention I had made the brand new account to test things in because I had recently installed a new expansion and I was gradually updating everything to my new game configuration, new versions, adding back cc slowly, etc. It was test neighborhood 002 that disappeared. No crash, just not there when I launched suddenly. Hmm. Both Sims accounts are hosted on the same hard drive, so basically, what I am wondering about is this. I had two neighborhoods on my drive named 002 (and also 2 001) and they share the same copy of the game on the same volume. Different accounts but...this problem occurred for me only a couple days after making the new test account and never before. I had played the new expansion without any AWOL neighborhoods for awhile, so I wonder. The test 002 was NOT a Maxis neighborhood either. I deleted the Maxis hoods but the originals exist in my other account. It has not happened again since, but I liked my new test account hoods more, and I haven't touched all my old hoods much since. They are pretty much dormant because I am too lazy to copy my downloads folders back and forth and don't have room for two of them. The missing neighborhood occurred when I was going back and forth between two game accounts a lot. I moved the download folder several times a few days prior to that. I always cut and paste to desktop. Never drag. Hope some of those weird details help someone. Again, I am sorry I do not remember exactly what I did that fixed it, but maybe something might help discover the cause at least. I think a lot of people have multiple accounts for family members or testing. Why that would matter, I can't imagine, but the problem did not happen immediately after installing expansions. It happened soon after making new account.

[antha71]

Operating system: Win XP Home

Computer specs: 2.1ghz Athlon, 1 gig RAM, 256mb GeForce FX5500

Games: Base, Uni and NL. Patched after each expansion installed.

Details of Neighbourhood loss: Downloaded and installed the Riverside neighborhood from http://www.freewebs.com/thsms204/. Installed according to his directions. Does not show up on my neighborhood list ingame. In my neighborhood folder it shows there as N004. His website says on the base game is required for the neighborhood to work.

Neighbourhood File details: All files are in the N004 folder.

Sim PE Investigation: Can browse the neighborhood with Sim PE and pull up individual characters.

What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: Installed a set of replacement CAS faces before installing this neighborhood. Had to remove the cigen.package and CASthumbnails.package file for the new faces to show up. Nothing else was changed.

Any other relevant information: The Riverside neighborhood is listed as N004, just not showing, but if I make a new neighborhood it is assigned the number N005. Installed other custom neighborhoods and they show up with no trouble.

[simsample]

antha71, try deleting your cache files. Can you verify that there is a neighborhood_N004.package file in the N004 folder, and that there are characters and lots there too? As it is a downloaded hood, I would be tempted to redownload.

[antha71]

antha71, try deleting your cache files. Can you verify that there is a neighborhood_N004.package file in the N004 folder, and that there are characters and lots there too? As it is a downloaded hood, I would be tempted to redownload.


There is a neighborhood_n004.package file listed at 659kb. It comes complete with character files, lots and storytelling pictures.

Tried deleting the cache files and still it does not show up in the neighborhood chooser. Redownloaded it and it still does not show up. Ran Clean Installer and it does not list any package file as being empty or incompatible.

[simsample]

The only thing I can think of is that it requires an EP which you don't have. I have downloaded that hood in the past, so I know it does work- but the only other time I've heard of this happening is when transferring hoods between different game versions.

[antha71]

Was coming to that conclusion also after all my readings and fiddling. Oh well, Walmart has every Sims2 expansion pack on sale for 15.00 until Dec 27, so I can afford to get a few.

Thanks anyway.

Edit: Found OFB at Wal-mart and the missing neighborhood now shows up.

[cahudson]

Operating system: Mac OS 10.4.11

Computer specs: 2 Ghz Intel Cor 2 Duo

Games: Sims 2. Expansion pack= University and Open for Business

Details of Neighbourhood loss: Installed packaged lots from my previous sims game on a different computer. I did not download anything from the internet. I packaged lots on my old computer a year ago and I just now installed them to this computer. Again, they are not downloaded.

Neighbourhood File details: The Neighborhood Files show N001, N002, N003, N004, N006, N007 and N008

Sim PE Investigation: I can't view the disappeared neighborhoods. Its' not even showing up on the menu.

What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: I installed all of the old packaged lots. I was playing one of the packaged lots when it crashed. Also, my startup disk was getting full and I had deleted a lot of old files (not sim related files).

Any other relevant information: When I open the game, the pre-loaded neighborhoods show up (Pleasantview, strangetown, vernoaville) but the neighborhood that I created doesn't. Also, my university doesn't show up. In Bluewater village, the shops I created aren't there.

[simsample]

cahudson, are your hoods on your 'startup' disc? If so, they may have become corrupted if the computer did not have space to write the changes correctly. All hoods are read and written when you run the game, to even if you don't access them.

[cahudson]

well my 'startup disc' is basically just all the memory space i have on my computer. i'm not sure why its called the startup disc... but anyways, yes my neighborhoods were saved on my computer ('startup disc') in my EA games folder.

is everything ruined? :(

[simsample]

Try deleting all of the hoods and copying your backup over again. It may be that whilst you were playing the game, lack of disc space meant the game could not be saved correctly, so causing the error when you restarted. Now you've cleared some space it shouldn't be a problem.

[cahudson]

I did that, but now nothing's showing up. Not even the preloaded neighborhoods... It just shows me the option of creating a custom neighborhood.

[simsample]

Did you previously have any EPs installed that you don't have installed now? That's the only thing I can think of that will cause an intact hood to not show up. Either that, or your original copy of those hoods is corrupted somehow. Make sure you have all patches on your EPs, too.

[cahudson]

what are EP's?

[simsample]

Expansion packs.

[cahudson]

I didn't have any ep's installed then that are installed now. it's actually the other way around. i have more now than i did then.

I tried downloading the patches, but I don't think they are mac compatible :(

[centraliajew]

Operating system: Win XP Home

Computer specs: 2.19 Ghz processor, 338mb RAM, Nvidia GeForce4 MX

Games: Sims 2 special DVD edition, NL, Uni, OFB Packs, All are patched

Details of Neighbourhood loss: I lost a custom neighbourhood. It was the only one I had. It had a college, a downtown and a businesss district based off of it. I had not changed or removed and custom content.

Neighbourhood File details: It was in the N003 file. The neighbourhood files are still there and also files for the relevant subneighbourhoods and the character/lots files. In SimPE Subneighbourhoods still show but cannot access them without the main neighborhood (Konnigsburg).

Sim PE Investigation: Opened certain relevant files with SimPE. Resources all loook like black cube covered in question marks. In the neighborhood browser Konnnigsburg shows as "Unkown: Unkown".

Any other relevant information: The only thing I can see unusual is the neighboorhood.bak file is missing. I know all the info is there. If the neighborhood cannot be salvaged is there any way to transfer the characters or lots a new one?

[simsample]

cahudson, hop over to the Mac forum for advice on patches:
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=75968
http://www.modthesims2.com/forumdisplay.php?f=443

centraliajew, only if you can export the sims through sim surgery in SimPE. It would be easier to construct their personalities, memories etc in a fresh hood than it would be to try to transport intact character files to another hood. For the lots; I would recommend to create a test hood (one you are going to discard later). Cut and Paste the existing lots in your Lotcatalog folder to somewhere safe. Copy all of the files from the lots folder of the broken hood- N003\ lots into Documents\ EA Games\ The Sims 2\ Lot Catalog. Rename these files so that they are named cx_00000001.package, cx_00000002.package and so on. Run the game and the lots should be in the lots and houses bin. Place each one in the hood. You then need to move a sim in and out of each lot. This will reset the lot and clean it up, so that you can cleanly package it. Now you can package each lot and import to a new hood, or else delete everything from the lots and houses bin, then put all the clean lots from the hood to the lots and houses bin. Retrieve the packaged lots from your packaged Lots folder, or from the lot catalog folder if you just put them into the lot bin. Not sure if it would be safe to use one of Inge's shrub hacks to keep the furniture in when you move the sim out... you could try it. Discard that test hood after. Your case sounds like typical file corruption- there could be a number of reasons why this could happen. I would check the disc for errors and viruses.

[centraliajew]

Thanks for the tip. I used the Lot Catalog trick and got back all my lots still fully furnished in a new neighborhood. Only problem now is salvaging my characters. Tried to export them using simPE, but when I go into my old neighborhood (which is now called Unknown) none of them show up in sim surgery or the sim browser. If you know any other way to extract them please let me know. I don't care about reconstructing their personalities and memories. I just don't want to have to build all completely from the ground up.

[simsample]

If they don't show up in SimPE, you can pretty much bet that there isn't enough information there to reconstruct the sims. You may be out of luck, unfortunately.

[Esther_and_Giovanni_4ever]

I installed Bon Voyage, and all my neighborhoods disappeared. It will load my downloads (which I had to redownload since it deleted them), but if I try to put my N004 in, it deletes all the neighborhoods... I'm perplexed...I tried uninstalling BV and reinstalling...same problem.

Windows Vista home edition, 32-bit
3 GB Ram
Intel Pentium Dual CPU T3200 @ 2.00 GHz
Direct X 10
Intel display chipset 4 10/7/1008

I have sims 2, nightlife, celebration, Pets, university, business, teen stuff, holiday, kitchen and bath

[sparkayy]

Operating system: Win XP Home

Computer specs: 1.8ghz processor, 2gb ram, 160gb hd, directx 9. nvidea geforce fx 5200

Games: All eps, glamour life, family fun stuff.

Details of Neighbourhood loss: After install of any new ep starting with pets, all previous neighborhoods were gone. When I replace the backups into the neighborhood folder and start the game, it clears them out again.

Neighbourhood File details: All of them are gone. Since Apartment life was the last installed one, E001 is the only one there.

Sim PE Investigation: Nothing shows up at all in SIMPEs neighborhoodbrowser

EDIT:
Any other relevant information:In C>program files>es games>sims 2>tsdata>res> the userdata file as been renamed to NO_userdata.
In all the ep folders, Userdata is normal but neighborhoods, lot catalog, sc4terrain, thumbnails, and collections all have the NO_ before the folder name. Im going to try to change these names back to their originals and give it A try. Ill update this post when I find out.

[simsample]

Esther_and_Giovanni_4ever- that is by design. If you have neighborhoods that you created with an expansion pack installed, it can no longer be read by the game once you remove that expansion pack. There is a warning when you uninstall an EP that your saved games will no longer work. The game automatically deletes all userdata files- including downloads- when you uninstall an EP. This the game does not specifically warn about, but you will see that we do in our Wiki articles; we advise to backup before making any changes.
sparkayy- something very odd is going on in your game. It sounds as though the game is deleting the hoods as it detects they were created with a game that you no longer have installed. Do you have any programs related to The Sims 2 which may cause your gamedata files to be renamed? I would advise you to reinstall the entire game; it is impossible to be sure that all files are intact, even if you rename the folders.

[Nixx4444]

I made a custom nieghbourhood and detele the old ones that are built in. when i got my expansion packs(University, Season, Pets)
because i thought it would speed up my game. I was playing it the other night and the game crashed. I just restarted it and it work perfectly. But this morning and started it up and all my custom niegbourhoods are gone and are replaced with the old built-in ones (Pleasant View, Strangeville etc.) I have custom content, alot but it never cause me problems before. Its a real bummer cause I've put so much work into it! Some one help me please! Is my nieghbourhoods gone forever? Or is there a way to get them back? i sure hope so. :(

[simsample]

Nixx4444, are your custom neighbourhood files still in your Documents\ EA Games\ The Sims 2\ Neighborhoods folder?

[chloepatra899]

Help! I only read the first 10 pages of this thread, since it is pretty long, so I don't know if there is a resolution to this problem that everyone is having. So i'm just going to ask you and hopefully you will reply directly. So here is my problem:
I installed Sims 2 Double Deluxe and University on my PC a few days ago. I spent the longest time making a family, moved them into a lot, spent alottt of time builing a house, and everything was fine. Today, I downloaded many objects and build mode items for the game. I was stupid because I did not thoroughly read instructions for downloading (I extracted the files, but I didn't know hacks could cause damage. and there were some read me files I should have deleted). So anyways, I was so exited to play the game and check out my new downloads, so I started it up, and as the game was loading, I get a message that it crashed. So I started it again, and the same thing happened. Then it froze the third time, and I couldn't ctrl alt delete or esc or anything, so I directly shut down the computer. I think that was bad. When I went through all my downloaded files, I cut and pasted the hacks to my desktop, then deleted the read me's, etc., started the game, and got to the neighborhood (finally). Then I found that my family and lot were gone, and it was as if I was playing from the start :(
I checked to see in the sims 2 folder if Neighborhood 1 (the one I used) was still there, and it was. My screenshots were there too.
So I don't know what to do. I just need step by step instructions, or a link to a page that has them. Thank you :)

[simsample]

chloepatra899, it is difficult from people's description to figure out exactly what is happening. The thing that is certain is that all instances of hood loss are due to file corruption- that is, the neighborhood files are altered in a way which means that the game cannot read them. The causes of this seem to be many- so far, circumstances have indicated the following:

Sim PE editing gone wrong
Computer crash (causing the game to not be exited correctly)
Disc error
Lack of disc space
Removal (intentional or unintentional) of global hacks which work at the neighborhood level (such as lot synch hacks or global payment/ money hacks). Starting without CC enabled would affect this.

Other cases have seemingly indicated no actual cause, although I would suspect antivirus programs (possibility that a package file is suspected of being malicious, and removed?) and permission problems (the game cannot write to disc for some reason).

Solutions that have worked for some people are:

Deleting the neighborhoodmanager.package file from Documents\ EA Games\ Neighborhoods (so the game generates a clean file).

For the Maxis hoods- cutting and pasting hoods to desktop, run game to generate clean hoods, copy files from old N00x folder to new N00x folder. (Why this should work is a mystery to me- it indicates that a file must have been missing. If that were the case then replacing with a copy from a 'reset' hood may appear to work, but the hood would potentially have many more errors caused by substituting a file, and I would not consider this viable).

In SimPE- open the affected hood and replace the Catalog Description and ID Number from another hood.

Any of the above may work for you, but the snag is that you say you managed to eventually open the hood, and it appeared reset. I would have thought it more likely that the 'tricks' above would work before you opened the hood- as opening it in game will, as you can see, write data to the neighborhood.package file, so 'corrupting' it further as all lots and characters now appear removed from the hood.

The only convincing protection from neighbourhood loss is to backup your data often. If you would be upset to lose a hood then I would say to backup after each game session. This is because the neighborhood.package file is written to every time you enter/ exit the hood- so each time the game opens the file there is potential for glitch/ loss/ corruption. The disc space needed to backup a hood amounts to a few hundred megabytes for a large hood- but this may increase if you take a lot of in game images. All you need to do is to copy the N00x file to a safe place- preferably on another drive, such as another computer, a secondary hard drive, flash drive, CD/DVD, external hard disc etc. You can even set up a Windows scheduled task to do this daily, or write a batch file to do this at a click of a button.
I would realistically consider any hood which does not show up in the neighbourhood browser to be corrupted and therefore lost. Even if you can repair the files, there is no way to check if there is further damage which is not apparent, and which could cause problems in the future.

[Rachael7292]

Operating system Win XP Home

Games: No pathces, Sims 2 DVD version, pets, uni, nightlife, buisness, apartment, bon voyage, seasons, family fun stuff, ikea stuff.

Details of Neighbourhood loss
Pleasantview, Strangetown, Veronaville- all missing, plus custom neighbourhood. Custom neighbourhood or pleasantview was played most. Downloads not removed, everything i download isn't kept in the Sims 2 folder.
In custom neighbourhood, most lots are imported. One is a lived in lot, rest are empty.

Neighbourhood File details If you go to Documents/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ Neighbourhoods are the neighbourhood files still there?
N001/N002/N003/N004 missing. E001, G001 still there

What changed on your system immediately before the corruption:
I installed Apartment life & neighboourhoods disappeared. familes, either existing or create in apartment life- once game was saved & closed, they were no longer playable. It still showed them as living in the apartment, it just said 'family'


Any other relevant information:
Follwed advice to delete Sims 2 folder, run game so it could re-generate itself. wouldn't let me delete a 'Characters' folder, said directory not empty. and 'Neighbourhood manager' was corrupt, when tried to open it it said to run Chkdsk, which was ran but no changes.


Could you also try this:
Go to My Documents/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ Neighbourhoods and cut and paste the neighbourhoodManager.package file to your desktop. Now go to Program files/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ TS Data/ Res/ User Data/ Neighbourhoods and copy the neighbourhoodmanager.package file- paste it into your Documents folder where your old neighbourhoodmanager file was. Does that make any difference?

I can't move the neighbourhood manager as it is corrupt.

I have already tried a re-install. This made no changes, i cannot play any family without them disappearing. this is only after i close the game, i can save and exit the lot.

[simsample]

Rachael7292, are the corrupted files still there and unmovable? If so, try unlocking and deleting them with this app:
http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/
It sounds as though you've had some pretty serious file corruption there- see if you can get rid of the stuck files and then do a checkdisc, followed by a disc cleanup and defrag. Backup all of your important files before you do this though- not just your Sims files, I mean your documents and artwork and music too.

[westsidecraver]

I have had this same problem. One day some of my neighbourhoods disappeared and I wasn't able to save my game play. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the game; It didn't help.

So what I did was delete my sims 2 folder. How to do this: Go to My Computer --> EA Games --> and delete the file. When you put the Sims 2 cd in, Auto run kicks in to start the game and that automatically respawns the sims 2 file. All of your original neighbourhoods are back. I don't think you will get the neighbourhoods you created though. You need to save your "creations" in a back up file in case something like this happens again. I also deleted stuff on my hard drive to free up space. I think that also helped in fixing the save problem. Hope I helped.

[ceramicaaa]

What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: C drive near death on computer, installed new J drive, loaded all Sims2 games onto J drive and copied over old Sims2 folder from the C drive. All neighborhoods (G001, f001, and n001- n010) show up in the TSData/Res/Neighborhoods folder but not in the game.


if i'm not wrong copying game folders alone will not work because you installed sims 2 on c drive. one solution would be to install the game again, but during installation when they ask you where you want to install it, choose advanced user instead of typical user - this lets you install the sims 2 to j drive instead of the default c drive.

another solution would be to move your other files to j drive and leave sims 2 in c. i have found this to be the most hassle-free method. however when moving "My Documents" remember to leave the EA Games folder behind. otherwise, you will have missing game data which might cause your game to not work.

good luck!

[SilentLucidity]

Ick! I just came down with a case of the disappearing neighborhoods yesterday. I didn't even know it was possible. :( Here goes:

Operating system Windows XP Pro
Computer specs Intel Core 2 Duo E3110 (Xeon-labeled) Dual Core at 3.0 GHz
2 GB DDR2 @ 1,000 MHz Dual Channel
2 nVidia GeForce 8800 GTS 512
Games Base game holiday edition, plus all ex-packs and stuff packs, and the 2nd Apartment Life patch
Details of Neighbourhood loss All of my neighborhoods were gone. There should have been five: Desiderata Valley, Riverblosom Hills, Strangetown, Veronaville, Custom. The custom neighborhood was the main one used, and the last to be used before the mass neighborhood exodus. Riverblossom Hills and Veronaville had never been played in.
Neighbourhood File details Yes, the files were still there.
Sim PE Investigation I forgot to do this, sorry!
What changed on your system immediately before the corruption I had just uninstalled an old SimPE and installed the newest SimPE plus the M & G patch, but I don't think that had anything to do with it. Two days before the disappearance we installed new antivirus software and I started having hard crashes--is that the term? where the game crashes to a black screen and you have to reboot the computer to recover--but disabling virus guard and turning off shaders in game solved it (darn you nVidia, I miss my fish!). But the game had a proper shut-down the last time I played before the neighborhoods vanished.

I do have a camera mod, ACR and Pescados money order, and probably some other hood related hacks, and my custom hood uses a custom terrain. All of these were hand extracted.

As to all your suggestions about what to do, I'm afraid I won't be any help, since I didn't do anything with the neighborhoodmanager file or restore the original hoods and then replace the catalog description and ID number of my vanished hoods. :/ Instead I did CHKDSK, as suggested by Hinata_Kidou on page 10 (but none of that other stuff he/she did). This was just a few hours after finding my neighborhoods gone. Starting up the game immediately after CHKDSK and a reboot found all my neighborhoods back, and my custom neighborhood appeared to be just as it was before the vanishing, lots, sims and all. So thank you a million times, Hinata_Kidou, for suggesting this!

I did have a days-old backup, that thankfully I didn't have to use, and really it can't be stressed enough to make regular backups. Backing up a neighborhood into a zip or rar does not take nearly as much time as backing up the whole game, and it can save a lot of heartache in cases like this.

[simsample]

Thankyou for the info SilentLucidity- in your case it sounds as though disc errors caused your hood files to become unreadable. Well done for fixing it, and yes- backups are the only real way to guarantee the safety of any file. Be sure to backup all of your data, not just your sims! Make sure your music, documents, photos etc. are safe too.

[blackzebra]

Hi. I experienced the dissapearing neighbourhoods problem today. I dont understand what happend. I hadc created a few families in Belladona Cove and played for a week or so. I downloaded many new objects, skins, houses, etc. Today when i opened my game, Belladona Cove had dissapeared from the menu screen. the other neighbourhoods are there but i only played in that one particular NH. PLEASE HELP!

[MalukanHamish]

I have fixed the problem, at least for myself: DELETE YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD FOLDER. It worked for me, it may work for you, but I am pretty sure it does work! :)

To reitterate: DELETE YOUR NEIGHBOURHOODS FOLDER.

The game will replace it with all the default neighbourhoods. You'll have a clean start, but it's better then starting with nothing, eh?

[blackzebra]

Which neighbourhoods folder, the one in my documents or the one in program files?

[jx1]

Operating system: Windows Vista 64Bit

Computer specs: 2.8 Core 2 Duo

Games: Sims 2, univ, nightlife, out for business

Details of Neighbourhood loss: All work perfectly except for Pleasantview. I recently formated my computer and did a backup of my SIMS2 folder from My documents. I installed all my sims expansions again to the same point I had left it, (except, this time before restoring I installed nightlife before out for business, as I didn't have that one when I did a backup. But since OFB is newer, I don't think this is mostly an issue). But when I load my game, my neighborhood doesn't load it how I had it, it's just as if I started fresh. Any ideas?

Neighbourhood File details: Everything is still there. As I only used N001, and I backed that up perfectly.

Sim PE Investigation: Have never used.

What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: Formatted computer. I had 2 custom houses I downloaded. Both had original Sims 2 items.

Any other relevant information: I have everything in place. Would it work if I installed nightlife AFTER I install it just how I had it? I don't have the houses that I downloaded, which I would have to download again. Could this also be a problem?

EDIT My N001_Neighborhood.package file doesn't work S:
does this mean I lost it?


thanks S:

[expressionality]

:cry: I'm soooooo upset, I cant even tell you. Ive been working on this neighborhood for prolly almost a year!

I'll start off with the basics
Windows Vista Home Premium
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Duel Core Processor 4600+ 2.40 Ghz
RAM - 1918 MB (Alot of my games are stored on an external hard drive)
I have all of the expansion packs, but none of the stuff packs

Details of Neighborhood loss:
I was playing my custom neighborhood when i went to save. I got up from my computer and tripped over the external hard drive cord, unplugging it while it was saving. The save box disappeared, so i thought it had saved. But after the game crashed and I went back into it, only that neighborhood was gone. All the standard ones and the other custom ones were still there.

Neighbourhood File details: I have E F and G and N1-7

Sim PE Investigation: I have sim PE, but i haven't used it in a while. I can do some screen shots if you need something specific.

What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: I have alot of custom downloads (none installed recently). But the only thing I can think that spurred the disappearance was the hard drive being unplugged.

Any other relevant information: I did unplug the hard drive earlier in the day, but when plugged back in it worked fine. This is the only time its been weird, and I DID restart the computer afterward too.

And... I tried that.. but im going into my program files and because I have so many expansions I dont know what one you mean... I looked in alot but none of them have the neighboorhood manager.

Oh please help Im soooooooo upset about this.

[callistra]

You're lucky you didn't lose more than that with tripping over the cord. Unplugging the cord when you're in the middle of transferring data is a real good way to lose everything. Sounds like it corrupted that hood. If you don't have a backup I don't think there's anything you can do.

[vouslavous]

basics
Windows Vista Home Premium
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Duel Core Processor 6000+ 2.40 Ghz
RAM - 4 MB (Alot of my games are stored on an external hard drive)
have university, nightlife, mansion+garden stuff, pet, glamour life stuff

Details of Neighborhood loss:
dont think i did anything saved shut off computer, next morning hood wasent there, i looked in the hood file to find all the others seemed fine but the main hood file was only like 96 bytes
Neighbourhood File details: I have E F and G and N1-7

Sim PE Investigation: when i opened it in pe i was able to open all the other destinations (nightlife, university, buisness, areas successfully). but the main hood is now called unknown,unknown and when i opend it there is no data in it.

What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: only thing might of been a bed or something i downloaded, but i never unrared it and decided to delete it anyway.

[Moonflower]

Aaaargh, it did it again, after deleting my Arbordale neighbourhood in May last year which I never managed to get back, my Pleasantview deleted itself in September. I backed it up after Pleasantview got deleted so I could salvage my downloads etc, but my only other backup is from April 2008 :( I am currently in the process of reinstalling so hopefully if I try copying some of the characters/lots into the new game then I might at least get them back, my best family was on there T_T

[Rachael_09]

Operating system Win XP Home

Games DVD version, nightlife, university, bon voyage, apartment life, buisness, seasons, pets
No patches

Details of Neighbourhood loss
I made a custom neighbourhood, saved my game. Closed off the sims normally. Went back on the neighbourhood has disappeared. Made the neighbourhood again and the same thing happened. Haven't played any other neighbourhoods recently.



Neighbourhood File details
All neighbourhoods are still there, plus the created ones. In the folders they have the right things in.


Sim PE Investigation: Dont have sims PE

Any other relevant information: This has happened to me before & i was told to delete all files & re-boot the game. The game would make the files again. this didn't happen. No hacks, only thing i can think of is i downloaded a lot (no custom content in it though) with a family (again no cc) and put it in my new neighbourhood.

Could you also try this:
Go to My Documents/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ Neighbourhoods and cut and paste the neighbourhoodManager.package file to your desktop. Now go to Program files/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ TS Data/ Res/ User Data/ Neighbourhoods and copy the neighbourhoodmanager.package file

I can't cut the neighbourhood manager as it is corrupt & unreadable.

[cassccc]

My Belladonna Cove disappeared this morning without any signs and warnings too. The folder is still there but it doesn't appear in the neighborhood chooser menu. I have tried the cutting and pasting neighborhood manager package and the CHKDSK solution but neither worked. I do have a backup but it is a month old so I was quite hesitant about using it. But as I compared the contents in my current E001 (Belladonna Cove) folder and my backup E001 folder, I noticed that the E001_Neighborhood package file is missing in the current folder. Probably deleted itself due to corruption or whatsoever. So I copied the same file from my backup onto the current folder. To my surprise, when I loaded the game again, it resumed to my previously saved version, not the month-old backup version.

So perhaps, you should check if your 'missing neighborhood' problem is caused by the missing neighborhood package file and do what I did to retrieve it. If you don't have a backup, my suggestion is that you follow the 'cut/paste the Neighborhoods folder onto desktop, load the game to generate new folder' method as suggested in an earlier post, cut the neighborhood package file from the new folder, paste it in the old folder on your desktop and finally replace the new folder with the old, now modified, folder. A bit complicated, I know but doing it step-by-step will make it clearer.

Good luck! :bunny:

[Vealdrich]

Operating system: XP Professional
Computer specs:
------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 3/5/2009, 02:23:00
Machine name: AURON
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.080814-1236)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: ECS
System Model: M848A
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: AMD Sempron(tm) 2400+, MMX, 3DNow, ~1.7GHz
Memory: 2048MB RAM
Page File: 588MB used, 3355MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode.

Games:Sims2 and University.
Details of Neighborhood loss: All Generic Neighborhoods. I had installed the two and was able to play, it was slow though. AVG doesnt like Sims2 lol. Figured out I had a virus, reformatted my computer, reinstalled them both and the mesh and any and all neighborhoods are gone. No hacks, no downloads, fresh install.
Neighborhood File details: Yes.
Can you see the folder: yes
Sim PE Investigation:Dot have SimPE I think.
What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: Virus, AVG acting up, slow game. Reformatted my computer, reinstalled. No Towns what so ever.
Any other relevant information:Posted it up there.

Could you also try this:
Go to My Documents/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ Neighbourhoods and cut and paste the neighbourhoodManager.package file to your desktop. Now go to Program files/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ TS Data/ Res/ User Data/ Neighbourhoods and copy the neighbourhoodmanager.package file- paste it into your Documents folder where your old neighbourhoodmanager file was. Does that make any difference?

Tried that. Made no difference.


UPDATE!!!!:

I uninstalled the University tried playing just Sims2. Guess what. The neighborhoods show up. So Its probably a bad file. People if you get a cracked sims2 University and there are NO neighborhoods, try what I did. Uninstall he the University. They *should* show up.

[SY_89]

Could someone please help me! I had the same problems just like most of you guys here. My neighborhoods disappeared.

I'll tell you my story. My computer got corrupted. The one who fixed my computer backed up every single file on my computer. When i got my computer back, Everything was looking brand new and my harddisk got formated. Everything but my C: harddisk was backed up into D:
So the Sims 2 files were all there. When i reinstalled all the EP's and SP's of the Sims 2, I copied and pasted everything from my bakup to the EA game folder my computer made. When i started the Sims 2 to check if everything was ok. I saw all the neighborhoods weren't there anymore :( :( .. I tried everything in this post to get it back. But without any succes. I never got so upset about my game not working the way i want it to work as now :cry:

The neighborhoods do show up in SimPe and the characters too

These are my computer specs:

Time of this report: 3/7/2009, 16:41:27
Machine name: GEBRUIK-K3PWCD8
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Ultimate (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.vistasp1_gdr.080917-1612)
Language: Dutch (Regional Setting: Dutch)
System Manufacturer: HP-Pavilion
System Model: KN463AA-ABF a6432.af
BIOS: BIOS Date: 02/26/08 10:59:48 Ver: 5.21
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E4600 @ 2.40GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
Memory: 3070MB RAM
Page File: 1792MB used, 4564MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 10
DxDiag Version: 6.00.6001.18000 32bit Unicode

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 8800 GT
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0611&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_A2
Display Memory: 1757 MB
Dedicated Memory: 477 MB
Shared Memory: 1279 MB
Current Mode: 1280 x 1024 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Algemeen PnP-beeldscherm
Driver Name: nvd3dum.dll,nvwgf2um.dll
Driver Version: 7.15.0011.6925 (English)
DDI Version: 10
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 12/11/2007 17:06:00, 5263360 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
WHQL Date Stamp:
Device Identifier: {D7B71E3E-4551-11CF-BD78-0B2002C2CA35}
Vendor ID: 0x10DE
Device ID: 0x0611
SubSys ID: 0x00000000
Revision ID: 0x00A2

All files are in the folder. Really don't know how to solve this :cry:

EDIT: I noticed i forgot to instal M&G stuffpack maybe thats the reason my neighborhoods are not showing. I really hope so..

EDIT 2!!:I got everything back! i forgot to instal M&G stuffpack but it was installed when i was playing and backed up my files. Now i got everything back. So make sure you have all the right Ep's and Sp's you had at the moment you backed up your game. In case you did.

I'm happy!! :rofl:

[plasticbox]

I've had neighbourhoods disappear a couple of times. It always happened when the game crashed on save -- my theory is that it does this when it gets interrupted by background activity somehow. The OSX game seems to hate being interrupted; AirPort disconnects/reconnects seem to be particularly problematic. I don't really *know* who is misbehaving here, but since no other application has any issues with AirPort reconnects, I'm placing the blame squarely on Aspyr.

Obvious sign of neighbourhood loss was always the N00X_Neighbourhood.package being 4KB. In Seasons games, the missing neigbourhood usually showed up as "Weather" and crash on load.

I'm running the Aspyr game, NL/OfB/Pets/Seasons in various combinations.

MacBookPro, Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.4GHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP31.0070.B07
250GB HD (currently ~80GB free)
4MB RAM
GeForce 8600M GT, 256 MB

[plasticbox]

Those neighbourhoods have DISAPPEARED, as in, they're gone. Vanished. Not there anymore. That's what this whole thread is about, see post #1.

[simplyshiny]

Operating system MacOSX
Games Sims2 and Open for Business
Details of Neighbourhood loss I lost Strangetown, Veronaville and Pleasantville are ok
Details of which neighbourhood you last played or which you play a lot would be good. It would also be great to know if you have removed your Downloads recently for any reason, and also if you have used any hacks which may affect an entire neighbourhood I download things from the EA site, and use boolprop cheat all the time
Neighbourhood File details If you go to Documents/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ Neighbourhoods are the neighbourhood files still there? Can you see the folder, and in it the neighbourhood files? yes
What changed on your system immediately before the corruption:) ummm nothing but downloading CC
Any other relevant information Ok, So I was playing Strangetown and decided to download Bluewater Village, so when I started to download it, The Sims quit, and I had to delete stuff to start Sims again, and delete the extra stuff on my desktop, including the custom content that I had installed on my Sims...then it was gone

[MoonageDaydream]

Operating System
MAC OSX

Games
Sims 2, all expansions up to Bon Voyage.

Details of Neighbourhood Loss
I lost Riverblossom Hills, although the three defaults are fine.

Which neighbourhood you played or play frequently
Riverblossom Hills, and frequently that neighbourhood

Recent downloads, hacks that may affect neighbourhood
Haven't downloaded anything for quite some time nor have i touched the folder. I do use boolprop a lot but for tiny things like adjusting a sims mood.

If you go to Documents/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ Neighbourhoods are the neighbourhood files still there? Can you see the folder, and in it the neighbourhood files?
Yup, still all there.

What changed on your system immediately before the corruption
During my save and quit of the game my house power was cut.

[xzkiskazx]

I lost the whole entire pleasantview town
I have windows vista home edition
Intel Core 2 Quad CPU 2.40GHz

I have Nightlife, pets, seasons, appartment, free time, open for business, bon voyage, seasons, college, all packs except mansion.

It happened today at 4 in the morning when i restarted my computer, before that i tried to clone a sim in simPE but i don't know if that's the reason it happened.


Later after it happened i opened my simPE on neighborhood browser it had the picture of Pleasantview but it said unknown and when i load it, it doesn't have any names of sims or how other neighborhoods look like when uploaded in simPE.

I went on my sims folder into the Neighborhood folder and everything is still in there, it has a characters folder inside of the Neighborhood folder and it gives me a huge list of numbers user00008 for example.


I was playing that neighborhood for a while including the new appartment life neighborhoods, the sim i tried clone lived in Pleasantview, after i cloned it it gave me two files and i placed them in saved sims folder inside the sims 2 folder, nothing happened.


The last hack a i downloaded was the Insiminator but that was a week ago and i restarted my computer plenty of times before that and nothing wrong.
Oh and I think i restarted my computer without exiting the game, i don't know if this is relevant.

I was thinking about doing system restore.

[BubbelsDarling]

Operating System: Mac OSX 10.4.11 Tiger

Games: The Sims 2, Nightlife and Open For Business

Details: I Didn't Exactly lose me neighborhood as such, but the names of all my neighborhoods that I make disappear, and even if i type them back in they disappear next time i start up the game.

Downloads etc.: Nothing much, i do have the Insimenator, a few downloaded lots, objects, that stuff you put on the floor that sprays on and clothes, but there isn't much of that stuff.

If you go to Documents/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ Neighborhoods are the neighborhood files still there? Can you see the folder, and in it the neighborhood files?
Yep Still there.


What changed on your system immediately before the corruption? It was so long ago that i have forgotten anything that happened, but i don't think anything did, it may of been because i had to un-install my game once, but i don't think i don't it properly, and then i re-installed it and added and extra expansion pack.

[kimithegreat]

Operating system: Win XP Professional
Computer specs: ATI Mobility RadeonX1400, 400 megahertz, 1022MB RAM
Games: The Sims 2, University, Open for Business, Pets, Nightlife, Seasons, Bon Voyage, Free Time, Celebration Stuff, Glamour Life Stuff, H and M Fashion Stuff, Teen Style Stuff, Family Fun Stuff, Kitchen and Bath Interior Design stuff
Details of Neighbourhood loss: Okay, I'm not sure if this is even the same thing, but I'm at a loss and I don't know what to do! I started up my game today, and for some reason, it wouldn't load at all. Like, not even the little dancey movie at the beginning. Finally, when it decided that it did want to load, I didn't get the screen that asked me if I wanted to enable custom content. So, I clicked on Strangetown to play my legacy, only to have it start loading things like weather and pets, like I had never loaded the game at all. When Strangetown loaded, none of the families I had built were there. And none of my custom content was there either. It was like I had loaded the game for the very first time without any downloads. I've tried this on my other neighborhoods and it's the same too.
Also, I'm pretty sure I deleted some of the default neighborhood's a while back and they're listed as being in the neighborhood menu again. And Veronaville's picture is all white and I'm too scared to click on it to see what would happen.
I don't have any hacks either.
Neighbourhood File details: I've only got neighborhoods F001 and G001 (which I think are custom neighborhoods that I'm pretty sure I deleted, but it doesn't matter anyway because they're not showing up in the neighborhood menu, an N002, N003, and N005. These all have the subcategories in them.
Sim PE Investigation: I don't have this.
What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: I installed some hair and some walls and floors. I used the quick installer. That's about it.
Any other relevant information: It worked fine the last time I played it, so I don't know what's wrong with it.

[ThePhantomFly---x]

Specs are back on page 11.

All my neighbourhoods disappeared - completely this time.
I gave up. Backed up my Downloads and deleted everything.
Trying to reinstall. Hopefully doesn't die again. :)

[EAMaster]

Operating System: Windows XP

I want to create a Completely new Custom-Made Neighborhood, not Premade Neighborhoods, when I copied my "backed-up neighborhood" back to its original state, but when I goes back into the game, the custom made neighborhooid is not showing up, is there a easier way to get back into my custom neighborhoods. :|

[Ayasugi-san]

Operating system: Windows Vista Home Basic
Computer Specs: Intel Celeron 1.73 GHz, RAM 2038 MB, 32-bit OS
Games: Double Deluxe (Base+NL, Uni, Seasons)

Details of neighborhood loss: My single custom neighborhood doesn't show up, all Maxis neighborhoods do; the missing one is practically the only one I play.
Neighborhood File details: All there, no difference between the missing one and the valid ones according to WindowsExplorer.
SimsPE investigation: Shows up as "Unknown:Unknown", appears blank.

Changes to system just before disappearance: Had been fiddling with SimsPE to change a few names and family connections. Loaded the game to see if they took; a couple didn't, I thought because I forgot to click "Commit", so I exited the game and opened SimsPE again. The neighborhood showed up only as Unknown, so I closed it and checked the game itself, and the neighborhood was missing from the "load neighborhood" screen. I also installed a few behavior hacks and a hacked object before starting the game to see if the character relationships had changed, but the game showed no problems with those. I installed them by C&Ping the single package file from the .zip folder to ...Downloads/mods.
Possibly related errors: A few game sessions before the disappearance, the game seemed to not be shutting down and closing, which was messing up my computer, so I used Task Manager to close it. Everything seemed fine afterwards, though. I can't remember whether SimsPE started giving me error messages before that crash. Just now, the game crashed when a family visited a community lot (which had been a non-rare occurrence before), and the neighborhood disappeared again.
Could you also try this: Tried, no change.

Anything else? The missing neighborhood had a couple of extra files; a "Suburb" package file and a .bak file. I removed the old neighborhood package file and renamed the .bak to .package, and lo and behold, the neighborhood returned, except that it was the version from one game session before the last "good" load. SimsPE recognized the neighborhood, but gave me an error message relating to the package file, so it seems like the problem isn't completely solved.

More: Okay, so I've gone through the disappear-make-reappear cycle twice now; in my case, it seems to be triggered by opening SimsPE, when it gives the error message for opening the neighborhood package and then altering stuff. The latest time, I made it N006 instead of N005, and the neighborhood remained, though all the lots disappeared.

[vertimyst]

Operating system: Windows 7 RC 32-bit
Computer specs:
System: TOSHIBA Satellite Pro P100 PSPA1C-TM30XE
Processor: 1.67 gigahertz Intel Core Duo
RAM: Two 2048 MB (4GB in total)
Gfx chip: Mobile Intel(R) 945 Express Chipset Family, 1440x900 res

Details of Neighbourhood loss: I had The Sims 2 (original) installed, no custom content, with one non-maxis family living in Pleasantview. Everything working fine. I then proceeded to install /all/ of the expansions and stuff packs, and updated with the latest patch. The game runs fine except that all three original neighborhoods (Pleasantview, Strangetown, and Veronaville) are missing.

Neighbourhood File details: As far as I can tell, all the neighborhood files and folders are still there, and all are the same size (I backed up my neighborhoods before installing the expansions).

Sim PE Investigation: I don't have Sim PE.

What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: Nothing, aside from installing all the expansions and stuff packs.

Any other relevant information: Nothing I can think of at the moment.

Any ideas?

[medb1]

I have Window XP home on a Dell Duo Processor. My EPs are Uni, Nitelife Open, Pets, Seasons and AL.
I installed Gardens and Mansions several weeks ago and AL and 2 custom neighborhoods. I saved everything and I also had SimPe backup. I reinstalled everything but Gardens and put everything back but my custom neighborhoods are not there even though they are in the EA file. I am afrais to install anything new.

Lately there have been an inordinate number of cases where users are loading the game only to find that their neighbourhoods have gone. In an attempt to link these cases and to find a solution, I am requesting that anyone who has encountered this problem should post their details here.
Specifically, I would request the following:
Operating system (Win 98/ Win XP Home/ Win XP Pro/ Mac OS10.4 etc- I am particularly interested in whether it is Pro or Home for XP users)
Computer specs (for example, 3.0 Ghz processor, 1Gb RAM, Nvidia MX440- this should be enough info for the purposes of this thread).
Games (list your Sims 2 version- CD/DVD and your Expansion Packs, and also whether you are patched- I also want to know which patches you have, for example base game patch, Uni patch, NL second patch etc)
Details of Neighbourhood loss For example, "I lost Veronaville and a custom neighbourhood, but Pleasantview and strangetown were okay." Details of which neighbourhood you last played or which you play a lot would be good. It would also be great to know if you have removed your Downloads recently for any reason, and also if you have used any hacks which may affect an entire neighbourhood (for example, a bank hack which allows money transfer, or a time synchronisation hack).
Neighbourhood File details If you go to Documents/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ Neighbourhoods are the neighbourhood files still there? They should be as follows- N001 to N003= Pleasantview, Strangetown, Veronaville. N004 onward= custom neighbourhods. Can you see the folder, and in it the neighbourhood files? There should also be files for the relevant subneighbourhoods- Campus, Downtown and suburb if you created them, and there should also be a folder containing character files.
Sim PE Investigation: If you have SimPE can you still view the 'disappeared' neighbourhood in SimPE? Can you see anything obviously corrupted or unusual about it (try comparing it to other neighbourhoods).
What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: Please give brief details of any system or game changes you made just before you noticed the missing neighbourhoods. For example, "I performed Windows Updates and installed some hacks using File Maid. I also defragmented the hard drive." If you installed custom content prior to the problem, I do not need to know which items/ hacks you installed, but rather the type- so I would be interested to know if you installed a lighting mod, or some clothes, or an SC4 terrain, and also how you installed them (Clean Installer, manually unzipped, QXpress etc).
Any other relevant information: Whatever occurs to you which may be relevant, I'm sure you will be able to make a connection that I haven't!

Could you also try this:
Go to My Documents/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ Neighbourhoods and cut and paste the neighbourhoodManager.package file to your desktop. Now go to Program files/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ TS Data/ Res/ User Data/ Neighbourhoods and copy the neighbourhoodmanager.package file- paste it into your Documents folder where your old neighbourhoodmanager file was. Does that make any difference?

I would also be interested to hear from anyone with a similar problem, for example if you have had whole lots disappear from your neighbourhood, or entire families disappear as though they were never there. Please keep discussion to a minimum so that it is easy for me to make sense of the data, but please do offer suggestions if you have them!
Thankyou.[/QUOTE]

[SpacemanHPSpiff]

I don't know how much good it'll do to add to this, but one of my custom neighborhoods just disappeared, and I don't know what else to do. I have a backup from four months ago, but still, I'd infinitely prefer to have my neighborhood back as normal....

Operating system: Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Computer specs: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5200+, 1982MB RAM, NVIDA GeForce 6150 LE
Games: CDs for base game, UNI, NL, OfB, Seasons, FT, AL
Details of Neighborhood loss My sister played the game this morning in a residential lot (with some sim pregnancy difficulties, which I don't think are necessarily related). I then played with a family in an apartment (where there were some problems concerning what area was considered a part of each apartment). I moved them out, entered the apartment in build mode. I then used the cheats "move_objects on" and "boolProp aptbaselotspecifictoolsdisabled true" in order to furnish an apartment. My dad requested I turn off the game, because a man was at the house working on our cables (we have consistently poor internet/phone connections). I quickly shut the game down from the apartment, forgetting to turn off any cheats. I blinked, and my computer was turning on. When the computer arrived back at the desktop, I received a message saying my computer just suffered from some error. The cable guy fiddled around without internet connection (I don't know exactly what he did). I booted the game back up, while worrying that my edits to my apartment haven't saved. (In the past, we have had our game and computer crash while playing and while the game was turning off. We've only lost data before when it's crashed during gameplay.) When the neighborhood screen finally loaded, it was apparent that my custom neighborhood, the one I was playing in, had completely vanished. All other neighborhoods (Maxis and custom) are still there.
Summary: After trying to edit an apartment building with cheats on, I turned off my game. While it was turning off my computer crashed. When the computer came back on and I rebooted the game, the custom neighborhood I was playing in vanished.
Neighborhood File details: Everything is still there, I compared the neighborhood with my backed-up version and everything was still there. I can see the folder, and all the files are there.
Sim PE Investigation: Sim PE listed the neighborhood as "Unknown", though it still showed the neighborhood picture along with the others.
What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: When my sister turned the game on this morning, while the game was loading she received a message approximately saying 'the DirectX Thing isn't loading' with a black screen. She moved the mouse, and it continued loading as normal. I played in and attempted to edit an apartment lot (see above details). My computer crashed while turning the game off. Immediately afterward a man worked on our cables/internet connection, using my computer. I turned the game on and found the lack of my neighborhood immediately after the computer crashed and was worked upon.
Most Recent Downloads: Curtain recolors, some clothing, a hair, nothing particularly significant. No recent hacks. I've played with all these already with no issue.
Any other relevant information: While the cable guy fiddled around with the computer before I discovered I was missing my neighborhood, I have a feeling that it was more an issue with my computer crashing while the game shut off. I have no idea how my editing an apartment lot or shutting off and forgetting to end the cheats I was using affected the missing neighborhood. I should note that my sister says she's never had the game crash before while using an apartment (and neither have I), so I don't know if that caused problems. We have experienced several game and computer crashes while playing and exiting (though more often the game will minimize without any explanation, and when put back up there will be no change). There have only been losses of games/houses being currently played from the last saved point.
I am basically using this space to say that I have no idea why I lost a neighborhood! It sounds like crashes when closing can cause this, but I haven't had this problem before. I'm miserable, as this is the only neighborhood we play in currently. While I feel lucky to have a backup, I am going to lose a huge number of children just born and many families...

[stardust17]

Operating system: Mac OS 10.4.11
Computer specs: 1.83 Ghz processor, 512 MB RAM
Games: ASPYR brand Sims 2, Sims 2 University, Sims 2 Nightlife; combo patch installed but patch for 7.6 Quicktime NOT installed (Quicktime not updated)
Details of Neighbourhood loss: I shut down my game and computer properly before the disappearance happened. I saved and waited until Sims 2 was completely exited before shutting down my computer. When I returned three hours later, Pleasantview and Veronaville were gone. I closed the game and restarted it, and they were still gone. I have not touched my downloads or any parts of my Sims files within the last week.
Sim PE Investigation: N/A
What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: N/A

[racingGal13]

==System==

Operating System: ?
System Manufacturer: Intel Corporatuin
System Model:Dell
Processor: ?
Memory: 64.0 MB
Page File: ?
DirectX Version: I don't know
==Display==

Name: Intel(R)82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller
Manufacturer: Intel Corporation
Chip Type: Intel(R)82845G Graphics Controller
Approx. Total Memory: 64.0 MB
Main Driver: ialmrnt5.dll
Version: 6.14.0010.4342 (English)
==Sound==

Name: ?

Problem: Until the last few months I have had all my neighborhoods appear. the neighborhoods I have now are Desiderata Valley, Riverblossom Hills, Pleasanview and Veronaville, but no Strangetown. I had used FileMaid to download all of my custom content. But I dont use the FileMaid anymore. the 3 money hacks I have are a checkbook from Paladin's Palace, a treasure chest hack from MTS2, and a money stack from MST2 to bribe the beadmaster. Please help me.

[Mootilda]

Try this link for information about how to post your system specs:
http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game%20Help:System%20Specs

[anakura]

OS: Win XP Pro

Computer specs: Processor: 2.80 GHz, 1262MB RAM, Intel(R) 82865G Graphics Controller

Games: The Sims 2, EPs: University, Nightlife, OfB, Pets, Seasons, BV; SPs: Family Fun, Glamour Life, Celebration, H&M Fashion, Teen Style (there was also a Christmas patch for Nightlife too but I don't know why it's not listed on TS2's homepage O_o)

Details of Neighbourhood loss I had only played Pleasantview until it disappeared. I only installed Scriptorium and the latest CEP, nothing else, not using SimPE either.

Neighbourhood File details: All the folders are still there, safe and sound.

There was no change on your system immediately before the corruption. In-game, I used the Quit button properly. I only defragmented the HD after the loss. The latest custom contents I installed were the Ford cars from TS2 homepage (I downloaded them through torrents though)

Also, my PC have been acting weird recently, it kept checking for error when I boot up, well I had it fixed, the HDs was in a bad status and I have already formatted them, it became fine again, then now (sometimes) the PC react to the commands quite slow and even "Not Responding"

P.s: now come to think of it, I renamed Pleasantview's Downtown before the disappearance. Last time I renamed Pleasantview itself and THIS neighborhood disappeared too. May be that is the case? If it is, how can I change back the name?

Please help :cry: and thanks in advance! :(

[Clambase]

Windows Vista 64-bit Home Premium
2.1GHz, 3.0GB
ATI Radeon 3200

Nightlife, Celebration Stuff

Details of Neighborhood Loss: Been playing exclusively in Pleasantview, with an added Downtown destination. Both areas are visible in the main menu, but loading up the neighborhood reveals a city full of empty lots. Was using SimPE to remove nudity censoring before this happened.

Neighborhood File details: All files are there.

SimPE Investigation: SimPE can browse through the neighborhood and Sims, nothing seems out of place. (Used Scan Folders to check packages, no corruption detected.)

What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: Was using SimPE to remove the nudity blur, but found that it crashed family creation. After deactivating that feature, I deleted the neighborhood folder and pasted in my backup copy of the neighborhood folder before booting up Sims 2. All I can see are empty lots (but family creation works just fine now).

Any other relevant information: Interestingly, my redecorations for the neighborhoods are intact.

Could you also try this: Replacing the Neighborhood Manager package did not change anything.

UPDATE: 28 July 2009
-Used SimPE to scan packages in the affected Neighborhood; everything checked out.
-Reinstalled Sims 2 and Nightlife; problem persists.

I may just have to reset the neighborhoods and start all over. :(

[rushofblood]

Hello,

Operating system: Windows XP Home
Computer specs: Pentium (R) 4CPU 2.80GHz
2.80GHz. 1.00GB of RAM
Games: Sims 2 and ALL expansions packs (up to Apartment Life). No add-ons.

Neighborhood File details: They all seem to be there! And have been backed up to an external hardrive.

Details of Neighbourhood loss: All neighbourhoods (Veronaville up to Desiderata Valley) are still there, only Belladonna Cove is missing. In "My Documents/EAGames/TheSims2/Neighbourhoods" I have N001 N002 N003 E001 F001 and G001 (as well as 'Tutorial' and the Neighbourhood Manager Package)
I was playing 2 characters from Belladonna Cove, who were on their honeymoon to Twikkii Island. When I returned to play with the characters the following day, B.Cove was gone.

Sim PE Investigation: N/A --- I have no experience or knowledge of Sim PE.

What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: Other than simple cheats e.g. kaching, I used two cheats which may well have affected the game: the 'changelotzoning' cheat - as i wanted a wedding party thrown on a community lot which wasn't possible until it was changed to a residential lot, and then back to a community lot. I read on another site that this cheat is not a good one, and can negatively affect the game (?) I also used the 'setHour' cheat.
I have some custom downloads - a few clothes, some hair, makeup, stubble and a few decorative pieces e.g. paintings.
I believe I ran a Defrag on the C drive *before* the problem occurred - please excuse my vagueness on this...I'm sure I ran a defrag, ran the sims, and then the problem appeared the following morning.
After coming across this corruption, I restarted the game a few times. I then backed up all my files, and re-installed the game (to no avail).

Could you also try this: Go to My Documents/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ Neighbourhoods and cut and paste the neighbourhoodManager.package file to your desktop etc etc... Nope, this did not work :/

please please reply!!!! i would really appreciate some guidance towards how to sort this out. obviously, apartment life without belladonna cove is pretty ridiculous and so i really need this sorting out. thank you ;)

[rushofblood]

Hello,

Operating system: Windows XP Home
Computer specs: Pentium (R) 4CPU 2.80GHz
2.80GHz. 1.00GB of RAM
Games: Sims 2 and ALL expansions packs (up to Apartment Life). No add-ons.

Neighborhood File details: They all seem to be there! And have been backed up to an external hardrive.

Details of Neighbourhood loss: All neighbourhoods (Veronaville up to Desiderata Valley) are still there, only Belladonna Cove is missing. In "My Documents/EAGames/TheSims2/Neighbourhoods" I have N001 N002 N003 E001 F001 and G001 (as well as 'Tutorial' and the Neighbourhood Manager Package)
I was playing 2 characters from Belladonna Cove, who were on their honeymoon to Twikkii Island. When I returned to play with the characters the following day, B.Cove was gone.

Sim PE Investigation: N/A --- I have no experience or knowledge of Sim PE.

What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: Other than simple cheats e.g. kaching, I used two cheats which may well have affected the game: the 'changelotzoning' cheat - as i wanted a wedding party thrown on a community lot which wasn't possible until it was changed to a residential lot, and then back to a community lot. I read on another site that this cheat is not a good one, and can negatively affect the game (?) I also used the 'setHour' cheat.
I have some custom downloads - a few clothes, some hair, makeup, stubble and a few decorative pieces e.g. paintings.
I believe I ran a Defrag on the C drive *before* the problem occurred - please excuse my vagueness on this...I'm sure I ran a defrag, ran the sims, and then the problem appeared the following morning.
After coming across this corruption, I restarted the game a few times. I then backed up all my files, and re-installed the game (to no avail).

Could you also try this: Go to My Documents/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ Neighbourhoods and cut and paste the neighbourhoodManager.package file to your desktop etc etc... Nope, this did not work :/

please please reply!!!! i would really appreciate some guidance towards how to sort this out. obviously, apartment life without belladonna cove is pretty ridiculous and so i really need this sorting out. thank you

[Carth]

I did not actually lose a neighborhood (yet) but when I ran the game today, I recieved a message from my computer that my "neighborhoodmanager.package" file was corrupted, and I needed to run something called a "chkdsk utility". Do I need to do this, or will overwriting the corrupted file work? If I do need to run this, well...how do you do it?

[alicey]

Operating system: Windows XP
Computer specs: 2GB RAM
Games: original Sims 2; university; freetime; open for business; seasons; pets; bon voyage; nightlife.

Details of Neighbourhood loss: all of my neighbourhoods are gone. I'm left with 'Hobbies' and another one I've now forgotten the name of :s
Neighbourhood File details: All of them are still there, even 'photos' of the different neighbourhoods/families. They're also backed up on an external hard drive.

Sim PE Investigation: N/A

What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: I updated my RAM from 512mb to 2GB; then installed the nightlife, seasons, business, bon voyage, freetime and apartment life expansion packs; then uninstalled the apartment life EP.
Any other relevant information: with each expansion pack I was given a warning that if I uninstalled them it would make some of my data unreadable. As I had backed everything up, I didn't think this would matter. Maybe that's what's happened...?

Copying and pasting the neighbourhood manager file etc etc didn't work.

[VisualCafe]

My custom neighboorhodd dissaperaed just recently, and all my file folders are still here.

operating system: Windows Vista
computer specs: 1 GB
Games: Sims 2, Nightlife, open for buisness, university,bon voyage


Details: I was playing normaly and the next day my custom nieghborhood was gone! But the files are still here. and for some reason I don't have a "neighborhoodmanager.package"- file, i don't even know what that is!

[Siremele]

Hello!

First, sorry for my bad English.
I have a really big problem.
I has in my "The Sims 2" the following neighborhoods (I don't have all expansion packs): Pleasentview, Veronaville, Riverblossom Hills, Strangetown and Desiderata Valley (no custom neighborhood). I used to play in Pleasentview and in Desiderata Valley.
My sister wanted to play the game too, but I don't wanted she plays in my neighborhoods, and she wanted play in Desiderata Valley.
Well, I opened the folder "The Sims 2" in "My Documents" and renamed the folder "Neighborhoods". As I wished, the game created a new "neighborhoods" folder. The plan was: when my sister was playing, my "Neighborhoods" folder will not be acessed by the game; when I was playing, her "Neighborhoods" folder cannot be acessed.
She decided to delete all other four neighborhoods and stay only with Desiderata Valley. And she did it.
When I went play with my "Neighborhoods" folder, only Desiderata Valley was showed up. And if I try to open my neighborhoods with SimPE, the same things happens: only Desiderata Valley appears.
I deleted mjy sister's folder, but my Desiderata Valley don't load anymore (I can't enter this neighborhood). Then, I forced my game to create another "Neighborhoods" folder (all five new neighborhoods worked well), then I copied my "corrupted" N001 folder and paste it to the new "Neighborhoods" folder, replacing the newest one.
The results: All four new hoods are there, but Pleasentview stays disapeared.
So, what can I do to recover my lost neighborhoods? And Desiderata Valley, it will returns to works?
I already tried "Go to My Documents/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ Neighbourhoods and cut and paste the neighbourhoodManager.package file to your desktop. Now go to Program files/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ TS Data/ Res/ User Data/ Neighbourhoods and copy the neighbourhoodmanager.package file- paste it into your Documents folder where your old neighbourhoodmanager file was." and doesn't make any difference.
Desiderata Valley was the latest neighborhood I played.

Operating system: Windows XP Pro

Computer Specs: 2.0 Ghz, 1Gb RAM.

Games: Base Game (CD), NL, Seasons, BV, FT, Glamour, Celebrations, H&M, Teen Style, K&B. All EPs patched with most recent patches.

Please help me!!!!!!!!!!!!

[stregha]

first, i opened my game a few days ago, and my sims were gone. i only play one household, but that saved game was completely gone. this happened when i moved those sims into another house. also, all the custom content would not show up. so, i completely deleted ALL content, and did a clean reinstall. now, none of my neighborhoods are showing up, they seem to all be in the folder. i installed the helper monkey, and it seems that it changed all my files to open with the monkey. i want to change them back to whatever they opened with before, can someone tell me what they are supposed to open with, what i need to do? and does maybe the install monkey changing those files to open with it instead maybe might have something to do with the game going all possessed? i ask this because i thought the monkey for specifically for the sims 3. if it shouldnt be a problem, then im not worried, i did delete the monkey, thinking that my files would go back to whatever previously opened them.
i have, xp, with a pent 4, 4 gigs of ram, a ati 2400, i have all expansions, except for apartment life, and none of the stuff packs.
all my neighborhoods are gone, i never reinstalled ANY custom content, just started over from scratch. i went in, and tried that manager thing, and it didnt help. i had to make a custom hood, but when i started placing lots, i noticed the pleasants were in the houses bin. i went to place them and the game crashed. i read on that before, and so i know why it crashed.. but where the pleasants in my bin because they had nowhere else to go? poor pleasants.
any feedback, is appreciated. from this thread, looks like nobody has really figured it out?

-stregha

[stregha]

i apologize, for the double post, but upon returning to the game, now i see that i still have custom lots that are showing up, and i have some from h&m, (game lots) that are in my houses bin.. i dont even have h&m installed!!?? i reinstalled from scratch and erased EVERYTHING in my registry so why do i still have custom houses installed? :blink:
what the fig is going on with the sims 2?

[RedRedAkazukin]

Operating system: Win XP Home

Games (before the problem of disappearing neighbourhood): The Sims 2, University (but couldn't remember whether I installed and uninstalled it or has never installed it in the current computer), Nightlife, Open for Business and Glamour Life Stuff Packs

Addition of Games (and hence the problem of disappearing neighbourhood?): Family Fun Stuff Pack, Teen Style Stuff Pack, Happy Holiday Stuff Pack, and Mansion and Garden Stuff Pack

Details of Neighbourhood loss: I lost Pleasantview, it no longer appears in the neighbourhood selection. But when I went to the My Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2/Neighbourhoods, the whole N001 is still there. Before the installation of addition packs, I made a backup. And after the installation of those packs, Pleasantview disappears. So, I replaced the N001 with the backup N001, but Pleasantview still won't show. An interesting I noted is that the backup N001 which I copied to My Documents has a N001_Neighborhood.package which is 2,988 KB, but after I load the game application and quit (with Pleasantview not showing), then when I go back to the N001 in My Documents, the N001_neighborhood.package becomes 1 KB.

I tried uninstalling everything and install again from The Sims 2, Nightlife, Open for Business, Family Fun and Glamour Life but to no avail, Pleasantview still doesn't show.

Sim PE Investigation: When I try to open the 2,988 KB N001_neighborhood.package in SimPE, it will say that the char output buffer is too small to contain the decoded characters, encoding 'Unicode (UTF-8)' fallback 'System.Text.DecoderReplacementFallback'. Parameter names: chars, and when I tried to open it from neighbourhood browser, it's the only neighbourhood which is not named properly as pleasantview but was named as C:/Documents and Settings/.... and when I selected Unknown:Unknown to open it, the files coming out is some compression files I can't recognise what it is.

Is the N001_neighborhood.package file corrupted? And if it is, is there a way to fix it?

[mj2004_3]

I have Windows Vista Home Premium, on an Acer Aspire M5620 desktop, with 38.7 gigs free on my C: Drive. I'm no expert, but I do know that this is pretty average for a computer, it's either I play it on here or on my Windows 95/NT/3.0 triple-boot Seanix with 2 MB of free space.

I have two video series going on right now, one on a Belladonna Cove layout called Dawn Village with 1922 living residents last time I ran a census check with that tool (I needed this many sims, trust me) and all EP's plus Celebration, H&M Fashion, Teen Style, Kitchen & Bath, Ikea Home and Mansion and Garden. Downtown, the three Universities (plus my custom one) and Bluewater were enabled and in full use too. No CC in this 'hood, because this series was strictly Maxis as it was a collaboration project and it made it easier in the long run.

My other one is called Jewel Falls and is on a custom map DL-ed from here. It has 148 residents and is packed to the rafters. No extra 'hoods on this one, but it is jammed with CC except for eyes and skins, because those just irritate me. This one keeps on crashing when I come back to it from doing something else on the computer, only after I installed H&M.

I just got H&M yesterday at Future Shop and installed it to go update my sim's wardrobes, and noticed that my beloved Dawn Village, the hood I had spent 4 years planning out and building to perfection, populating and getting it to 5th generation occupants, plus countless hours just having fun with my sims, was gone!

I can't uninstall because my dad downloaded this thing to protect some of the applications from my little brother's love affair with the recycle bin and delete button, and it asks me for the four-digit code to get in, which my dad has. It's too bad my dad won't give it to me, because he thinks I'm going to unload all of his crap to put more of mine on. Stupid old man.

I'm really upset over this seeing as this happened before about a year ago with another one of my 'hoods, Langley, which was laid out exactly like my city and was my pride and joy. I had to cancel one of my series because of it, and if I cancel another, well, I just can't bear to do that.

Should I just rebuild? Or is this something that can be recovered?

The hood files are still there, so I know it still exists. I tried to rename the files but I'm on a User account so no luck there.

Any help?

[Scobie26]

I don't know how it happened
Once It was late and I was finishing for the night so I turned it off.
So I wake up the next morning and Start up the sims and Poof!
There are no neighbourhoods there. ;(

[simlian]

Operating system: Windows Vista

Games: Every expansion in Sims 2

Details of neighbourhood loss: I deleted the lots that were found in EA Games/ Sims 2/ Neighbourhood/ N001/Lots. Upon realising my mistake, I restored all the package files from the recycle bin. However, when I tried to play, all my houses in Pleasant view had disappeared, when I created new characters, I realised that all my old characters were still there and I could see and interact with them in community lots, the only problem was that all the houses are gone. I tried CHKDSK to fix the problem but it doesn't help.

Neighbourhood File details: Strangetown and Veronaville are fine, only every lot in Pleasantview has vanished, how can I restore them?

[JewelsMax]

I saved and quit the game last night, loaded it this morning and the neighborhood that I was playing last night was gone. I tried moving out the sims2 folder and loading the game then moving the folder back in. I looked at the game in simPE all looked good. I deleted some sims. Finally, I deleted the groups.cache and accessories.cache, loaded the game and the neighborhood was back and just the way I left it.

If it helps, I was playing the mega hood, and all my neighborhoods were sub hoods of Pleasantview. The one I lost was Belladona Cove.


System Specs:
Pent 4 3.2g dual core
4 gb ram, but windows only sees 3
Nvidia Gforce 9400gt
500g Hdd, 5 partitions 10,000rpm
Windows XP Home service pack 3

[Mootilda]

Details of neighbourhood loss: I deleted the lots that were found in EA Games/ Sims 2/ Neighbourhood/ N001/Lots. Upon realising my mistake, I restored all the package files from the recycle bin. However, when I tried to play, all my houses in Pleasant view had disappeared, when I created new characters, I realised that all my old characters were still there and I could see and interact with them in community lots, the only problem was that all the houses are gone. I tried CHKDSK to fix the problem but it doesn't help.

Neighbourhood File details: Strangetown and Veronaville are fine, only every lot in Pleasantview has vanished, how can I restore them?This isn't really the disappearing neighborhoods problem; you specifically deleted all of your lots.

Here's what I think happened: when you loaded your game with the missing lots, the game just removed the descriptions of those lots from the neighborhood package. If you have a recent backup of your neighborhood, your best bet is probably to restore from that backup. If not...

You may be able to get unoccupied lots back by placing a copy of the lot package into the Lot Catalog and renaming it to match the lot catalog naming scheme. Here's a tutorial which does something similar; you'll have to modify it a bit for your situation:
http://community.livejournal.com/thesims2/6049797.html

[...]
8.) Go back to the lots folder you have open from your neighborhood and find the file name
9.) Copy the file
10.) Go to C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR NAME\My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\LotCatalog
11.) Paste the file
12.) Rename the file cx_00000001.package and if that name is taken, rename it whatever the next number is available. So, if you have files in there named cx_00000001.package all the way up to, say, cx_00000021.package then you need to name it cx_00000022.package.
After that, you'd have to move your sims back into the appropriate houses.

[dcricket]

Windows XP pro
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2Ghz
1 gb ram, 111 gb hd
Sims 2 Deluxe (base + nightlife)
Here're the details:
I reinstalled the game on a laptop which I had installed and played the fully functioning game on before. I ran the game, got it to load, but when I got to the main menu the only option was to create a neighborhood. Well, I wasn't too bothered, I would just make a new one, whatever. But when I clicked the create a hood thing, no maps. Nothing. So I went and checked all my folders. N001-3 were there, but there was nothing in the folders. No characters, no stories, nothing. I'm not sure why, considering the game has worked on the laptop before, without a hitch. However, Bodyshop did work. I loaded it up, found that it worked and then downloaded some content. Bodyshop continued to work, which I guess is good. I'm assuming I can download a new map, and just use that to create a new hood if I ever want to. But I would like to know what to do to fix it, just in case it happens again. I'm going to clean the disk and try to reinstall again in a few days, since it is Christmas and I have family over. I'll let you know if that helps or not. Would really love to know if you guys find a solution. Thanks!
~Drew
PS I have never installed any of the patches, even when the game did work. Not sure if that would change anything now.

[jackkk1]

I have recently installed The Sims 2 + almost all expansions. Everything worked until I copied my old backup "neighborhoods" and replaced the new one that was created after the installation. Not only am I not able to see my old neighborhoods, but also the default ones have disappeared. I tried to recover at least the defaults by copying neighborhoods folder from The Sims 2 core folder (replacing the not working one in my documents/the sims 2), but it doesn't help. Does anyone know a solution?

I can live without the old neighborhoods, but I need to recover my houses so that they show up in the catalog. They're all saved in neighborhoods/n001/lots (If I'm not mistaken) but copying them to LotCatalog folder doesn't help.

Please, help me! THANKS

[Mootilda]

This isn't really the disappearing neighborhoods problem. Instead, it sounds like you didn't manage to restore your backup correctly.

To restore your neighborhoods from backup, you shouldn't copy your neighborhoods over the existing default neighborhoods. Instead, you should move or delete any neighborhood under My Documents that you intend to replace. Then, copy your backup into the appropriate folder under My Documents. Here's a helpful link which explains the process more fully:
http://www.simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Back_Ups#Restoring_Backed-Up_Files

If you want to continue to try to salvage your lots: Did you rename the lots after copying them to LotCatalog, to match the file name format of the other files in that folder? (See my post up a couple from here.)

Do you have the same EPs installed now that were used to create your lots? If not, the game may not be able to open your backup neighborhoods or lots.

To recover the default neighborhoods, you just move or delete your existing save game and the game will regenerate the default neighborhoods the next time that you play.

Here are the steps that I suggest you follow:

1) Read the FAQ about backing up. Did you do it properly? If so, then read and follow the FAQ about restoring from your backup. Be sure to keep your backup intact until you have everything working correctly.

2) If that doesn't work, then try using the method that I outlined several posts ago to copy your lots to the LotCatalog. Do not attempt to use the Clean Installer to install these lots; it won't work.

3) If that doesn't work, then start a new thread in the support forum explaining everything that you have done (in detail), so that we can try to figure out what went wrong.

[jonas_sister]

I have Windows Vista Home basic on a Compaq laptop but i'm not really sure of the specs. the games i have are the original (sims 2), seasons and i am getting University and nightlife shortly.
My problem is that when i get to the main screen of sims 2 and i click on pleasantview, it comes to the loading screen as usual, but after it comes up with "loading weather" it crashes and i can't get into it.
I had previously downloaded a very large lot, with lots of hacked items and lots of cc, that i was going to use as a school. I had put it in pleasantview and moved a family of one into it (so that the school could work). But after about two times of playing it, i thought it might crash my game if i used it as a school, so the next time i went to go in plesantview to delete the lot, it wouldn't load. After i tried loading pleasantview a few times, i didn't bother for a while but now it's really annoying because i have a lot of important families in there that i forgot about!

please help!!! :cry:

[Mootilda]

This is not the disappearing neighborhoods problem; this is a crash issue. Please follow this FAQ:
http://www.simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Before_Posting_a_Help_Question

If that doesn't help you, then please create a new thread in the help section:
http://www.modthesims.info/forumdisplay.php?f=31
and explain your problem and the steps that you've followed to attempt to fix it.

[wschneid]

One of the default community (Swim club) lots has disappeared. I'm not sure how long it has been gone. Is there a way to get it back without losing everything I've done since it disappeared.

wschneider

[simetra866]

Operating system: Windows Vista
Computer specs: No idea what that even is...how do I find out?
Games: Base game, Pets, Seasons, Nightlife, Bon Voyage, and the Cellebration Stuff Pack
Details of Neighbourhood loss: I'm sorry to say...I lost every single neighborhood on the game, even the nearly empty custom ones that I made...
It would also be great to know if you have removed your Downloads recently for any reason, and also if you have used any hacks which may affect an entire neighbourhood (for example, a bank hack which allows money transfer, or a time synchronisation hack).
Well...I have a hack that lets toddlers use stairs (so quickly that I'm often startled by it 0.o)...uh...I moved my downloads folder to my desktop at one point, as suggested by the game help tutorial thing...
Neighbourhood File details The neighborhoods appear to all still be there.
Sim PE Investigation: I don't have simPE.
What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: I downloaded some custom hairstyles, clothing, and some objects, and installed them with winRAR.
Any other relevant information: After I downloaded and installed the custom content, I started have issues with my toddlers getting stuck, more or less. You can get more details here:http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?p=3039983&posted=1#post3039983
It was after I moved some other files to my desktop that the neighborhoods dissappeared.

Could you also try this: Unfortunately, I can't find the folder...

[Mootilda]

Computer specs: No idea what that even is...how do I find out?http://www.simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:System_Specs

[sadi-chan]

Operating system: Windows 7 Home Premium

Computer specs:Intel(R) Core(R) Duo T2350 2CPUs 1.86GHz
1.9GHz 1.00G RAM , Inter(R) GMA 950

Games:Sim 2, All 8 EPs, Family Fun Stuff, Happy Holiday, no patchs

Neighbourhood File details: All there, nothing is missing.

Details of Neighbourhood loss: All EA neighbourhoods are there, my 2 custom neighbourhoods that are missing. I only play with custom neighbourhood so I was there last but to test I played in Belladonna Cove and delete EA sims, left one to play saved and quit the game.When I started the game again Belladonna Cove was there, the deleted sims didn't came back but the sim that I played and saved did go missing.

Sim PE Investigation:I installed it to check,I can view my custom neighbourhoods they are like unknown unknown.

What changed on your system immediately before the corruption:I reinstalled The Sims 2 and All the EPs that I had because I couln't save the game, but even after that I couldn't save and I was only with EA content.

Downloads:There is no hack since I reinstalled just hair, clothes, object recolors... I have Scriptorium with Gunmod's Radiance Light System 2.4

Could you also try this:Didn't work and the game won't open but when I replace by the one in my desktop the game open again.

Any other relevant information:Did install some lots to see what would happen, some of them are there and others doesn't appear.My documents are in an external hardrive...

I would love help don't know what to do anymore....

[AndreaCat]

My dissapeared neighborhoods don't even show up in simPE. They say "unknown" then when I select them there's nothing.
I think I may have messed it up by trying to get all the data from that neighborhood into the one neighborhood that did show, and the one I never use.
I'm thinking that if I can extract my sims from the neighborhood to body shop, I can start over again. My neighborhoods were SO important to me, because I had a legacy, a challenge and a series going in different ones! I don't really mind not getting my neighborhoods back, I just want my poor simmies!!! So if anyone knows how the hell I can get my sims into body shop, or even into the sim bin of another neighborhood, PLEASE tell me! This may be irrelevant, but it also may be a sollution... kinda. What's a neighborhood without sims?
I will try out a few things, and let you know if they work...

[anabana]

Hello, people!
I faced the same disappearing neighbourhood problem when I reinstalled the sims 2 and rewrite all my backup files. All of my neighbourhoods are gone,though they're on their place in Mydocuments.
As I guessed, it's because I have a lot of download packages and I think it causes the problem. Because when I do not write my backup files in My Document\EAgames\The sims2 the game works fine and the neighbourhoods are still there.
If my information helps you somehow it would be great, cause I really miss my old sims and houses, and if there's any way that my savegames could restore without disappearing neighbourhoods.
Good Luck! :)

[coinneach]

Operating system: XP Home SP3
Computer specs: Intel 3.3GHz, 2GB RAM, Geforce 9600GT video card
Games: TS2, Nightlife and Pets EPs, Ikea and Celebration SPs
Details of Neighbourhood: Pleasantview does not appear in the neighborhood browser. Strangetown and Veronaville appear to be OK.
Neighbourhood File details: N001 folder and files are all there.
Sim PE Investigation: Pleasantview appears as Unknown:Unknown.
What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: Nothing that I'm aware of. I shut down as normal (saved, then exited) at 0230 this morning. I saw no errors prior to shutting down.
Any other relevant information: Nothing that I can think of.

Could you also try this: Yes, no change. Something hosed my Pleasantview neighborhood. I'm going to try to recover it with SimPE.

ETA: Neighborhood is blank. I have a backup, but I'd made significant progress since then and losing it is insanely frustrating.

ETA2: It happened again tonight. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over!

[lightstarz]

Hi there, I usually have no problems in sims 2, with all expansion packs except uni, then after installation, and added a few mods and CCs, my neighborhoods dissapeared at the neighborhoods selection, EVERY one of them T_T. As I couldn,t find a solution to my problem, I hope you guys can help me out, many thansk!

Operating System: Win Vista

Com Specs. : Athlon LE-1600, ~2.2GHz, 1790MB RAM, DirectX 10

Games: Installed Sims Double Deluxe, then University, OBF, Pets...Apartment Life(every EP), no SP exoect the one that comes with double deluxe, and I do not have patches except some auto-patch ones

Details of neighborhood loss : every neighbourhood(from all EP)

-I have removed the "Downloads" folder from the game to desktop, so as to install University(lastest and last EP that I bought)
-I downloaded some mods that has got to do with money order, banking, but I have removed them.

Neighborhood File Details : I have no custom neighborhood, so only N001-N003, E001, F001, G001, all present in neighborhoods file under my documents.
And a side-note, I don't have this file, " Program files/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ TS Data/ Res/ User Data/ Neighbourhoods "

SimPE Investigation: I have no SimPE

What changed on your system immediately before the corruption : I uninstalled all of my EPs to install University, as I do not have Sims 2 base game, only double deluxe, so I installed double deluxe first, then university expansion pack, then the rest, will that affect anything?
After that, I went to download some custom contents for university, some includes the banking, money order mod in MTS2(forgot the creator) but have removed them thru Delphy's Download Organiser, I am not sure of other mods that will cause any problems.

Could you also try this: I don't have the " Program files/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ TS Data/ Res/ User Data/ Neighbourhoods " file, so I can't try, so is there any problems with it?

So thats about it, any help will be grateful :D

[Mootilda]

The multi-packs, which combine multiple EPs and SPs (such as Deluxe and Double Deluxe), have a slightly different installation folder layout. The top level directory is named for the multi-pack, for example: "Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 2 Deluxe". Then, there is one additional subdirectory layer under that, which specifies each of the EPs or SPs included in the multi-pack. The base-game subdirectory is likely named "Base" (for base-game). So, try looking under: "Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 2 Double Deluxe\Base\TS Data\Res\User Data\Neighborhoods".

Installation order should not affect how the game works, although there is a bug where occasionally installing one pack will accidentally uninstall a different pack. EA recommends that you backup your "My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2" folder before installing or uninstalling. Did you do that? Did you try restoring the neighborhoods from that backup?

You should not need to uninstall everything in order to install a new EP. When you uninstall, EA deletes all of your neighborhoods, because they will no longer be compatible. If you didn't backup before uninstalling, your neighborhoods were destroyed during the uninstall. I don't believe that the neighborhoods are moved to your recycle bin, but are instead permanently removed. However, it wouldn't hurt to look in your recycle bin to see whether they are there.

To reiterate:
1) Try restoring from the backup that you made before uninstalling, or from any previous backup.
2) If you didn't make a backup, look in your recycle bin to see whether your The Sims 2 folder is there.

[lightstarz]

First of all, thank you for taking some time to explain to me my problem :),

As I had no problems in the past, the thought of creating backup did not appear to me, so yes, I have no backup. About whether the Sims 2 folder is in the recycling bin, I...erm...have a liking to clear memory, so.....is isn't there, hehe...=_=''' So that means I have to reinstall everything?

[Mootilda]

No, you shouldn't need to reinstall everything.

First, check the location that I specified in your "Program Files" directory to ensure that the default neighborhood directories still exist. If not, let us know and we'll walk you though restoring them from DVD.

Once the neighorhood directories exist in the correct location in "Program Files", you should be able to regenerate the default neighborhoods by renaming "My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2" to "My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2.BKP" and then running the game. Once the neighborhoods have been regenerated, you can move or copy your Downloads folder to the new directory under "My Documents"

Note that if your neighborhoods are not in the recycle bin, then you've lost everything that you've done so far.

[lightstarz]

Ok, yes, I do have N001-N003 in the "Program Files" that you pointed out to me previously, and after renaming the current sims 2 folder, I was able to load all the neighborhoods, so currently, I am shifting all of my downloads to the new folder :D So, does that mean that the problem is solved? But I think the saved games are lost, and is there anything else that I lost? But nevermind,,, :) Thanks for your help

[Mootilda]

You never really had the "disappearing neighborhoods" problem. Instead, your neighborhoods were probably destroyed during the uninstall process... a separate problem.

[zaland]

i saw ur post about disappearing neighborhoods,i have a similar problem,but my neighborhood didnt disappears something else happened.
it all started when i accidentally hit the power button on my keyboard while saving a family in VERONAVILLE.when i restarted my pc and the sims 2,veronaville wasnt there,i checked my N003 folder in the sims 2 documents directory,all my character and lot data was there.but the N003_Neighborhood.package (which is the actual neighborhood package) was corrupted.even clicking on it said that the file was corrupted and unusable.,i cant even delete it...now what can do to get my characters and lots back.all files r intact exept the neighbourhood package,i also have no backup of the neighbourhood.and no simpe.plz help me out. i cant loose all those sims and house...

[Mootilda]

I'm afraid that there isn't much that you can do if your neighborhood package is corrupt and you don't have a backup.

First, make a backup now, just in case.

To get back your lots, move all of your lot packages from My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Neighborhoods\N003\Lots into My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\LotCatalog. Then, rename each file to cx_########.package, where ######## is a unique 8-digit number, for example: cx_00000018.package. Note that this will not work for occupied apartments and may not work for some other special and hidden lots. However, it should get back most of your lots, although they will be unoccupied.

I'm not aware of any way to get back your sims. This is why it's a good idea to keep a fairly-recent backup. Perhaps someone else has some ideas?

[zaland]

thanks alot moontilda..plz inform me if u ever find away to get back the characters..

[kareeser]

Sadly, this seems to have affected me as well.

GF played the game, no issues, except some weird glitches here and there (multiple identical sims, etc). Game saved and exit properly.

Upon return, Pleasantville is missing.

SimPE lists N001 as "Unknown, Unknown", and entering it, all I can see are "UNK" values, with the instance bits incorrectly set.

Investigating with a hex editor, it looks as though the content is still there. After all, Neighbourhood_N001.package is 2.7 MB in size.

All of the prior-posted solutions, short of re-installation, have not worked.

It looks as though the neighbourhood package file has been corrupted, but to what extent, I cannot determine without further analysis.

Unfortunately, Hex editing is not my forté.

[Charlio4444]

Ok I uninstalled all the expansion packs and tried again, but I still had the same problem. I went to the Neighbourhoods folder and all there is in it is a PNG 'picture'. I'mm assuming there's supposed to be 3 folders there (1 for each neighbourhood) so I went to the CD and explored it for the same folder and it was the same there. Have the folders been completely wiped? If so is there somewhere I can download them or will I have to get in touch with the EA people?
EDIT: I contacted the people at EA games so I should get a reply withing 24 hours, will update again if they solved the problem!

[Mootilda]

When talking about the Neighborhoods folder, you need to specify (at the very least) whether you are referring to folders under Program Files or under My Documents. Even better, give us the full path.

The My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2 folder (or equivalent) is not created when you install. Instead, you need to run the game to allow the neighborhoods to generate; this can take a while so be patient. The Neighborhoods folder under My Documents is basically a copy of each of the Neighborhoods folders under each of the EP installation directories, usually under Program Files.

These are, in turn, copied from the CD or DVD during installation, although the directories are zipped on the CD / DVD. When I look at one of my Sims 2 DVDs, I see a file compressed.zip in the root directory of the CD. The neighborhoods are found inside of this zip file, under TSData\Res\UserData\Neighborhoods. If you accidentally deleted the neighborhoods under Program Files, then you should be able to get them back from the shipped disk.

There is no way that neighborhoods can be removed from the shipped CD or DVD. Could you please give us the full path that you are searching on the CD?

[sassy1010101]

I have a mac, and pets, seasons, bv, ofb
Okay, I don't know if this will help anyone, but I'll say what I did .

My neigborhoods disappeared after i got a load of CC. I couldn't create a new one b/c it said I had no terrain. I deleated the chaches, and did this
Could you also try this:
Go to My Documents/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ Neighbourhoods and cut and paste the neighbourhoodManager.package file to your desktop. Now go to Program files/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ TS Data/ Res/ User Data/ Neighbourhoods and copy the neighbourhoodmanager.package file- paste it into your Documents folder where your old neighbourhoodmanager file was. Does that make any difference?

Now i have all my neigborhoods, but there are no pics of them in the main menu thing, just green/white terrain square thing
And then i clicked on one, it loaded, and it quit unexpectedly.

[cbryant911]

I'm getting the same issue with my neighborhoods disappeared.

OS: MS Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit
CPU Specs: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5200+
RAM: 4GB
Video: NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430

Games: The Sims 2, The Sims 2 University, The Sims 2 Nightlife, The Sims 2 Open for Business, The Sims 2 Family Fun, The Sims 2 Glamour Life, The Sims 2 Pets, The Sims 2 Seasons, The Sims 2 Celebration, The Sims 2 H&M, and The Sims 2 Bon Voyage.

Details: It appears I lost all the neighborhoods that where in the game, but ,somehow, SimPE detects there all around, I have some mods and I didn't have this problem, until today and I haven't downloaded anything recently. The past days I loaded the game my neighborhoods where there. I don't recall closing down the game incorrectly and I save often. I tried moving the downloads I had and that didn't clear up the issue.

If you need more information, let me know and I will try to provide more information.

[moondragon77]

With me I didn't even have families to try to save. When I got the "fun with pets" pack in order to get Mansions&Gardens (not sold any other way anymore here) it was a complete agony to get to work, I'm guessing because I'd already had pets and the other stuff pack in it installed. I had to completely uninstall my game and reinstall from scratch. Gave up on even having my old games. Load it up at last... Not one single neighborhood in the game. And yes, Simpe sees them. And everything in them. I actually never play the neighborhoods that come with the games, only play the uberhood I got here. So was stranger yet that it lost them as they had never even been loaded.

Windows Vista home premium
Intel Core2Quad CPU Q8300 2.50 GHZ (4CPUs) 6142 mb ram direct x 11 NVidia Geforce 9500 GT

Sims 2, University, Nightlife, Open for Business, Pets, Seasons, Bon Voyage, Free Time, Apartment Life, Family Fun Stuff,Glamor Life Stuff, Celebration Stuff, Ikea Stuff, Mansion and Garden Stuff.
Hopefully got all the info requested in that.

[Mootilda]

moondragon77, are you aware that the neighborhoods which are installed by the game will conflict with the uberhood? At the very least, you'll need to remove the other neighborhoods to avoid a conflict.

[S-DUBZ]

Hey I had created a neighborhood on sims 2 and copied it from my saved games onto a new laptop, however the neighborhood N004 is still in my EA games folder but when I load my game it does not show on the game , could anyone please help , I would d anything to have my neighborhood back?

[Mootilda]

Do you have (at least) the same EPs and SPs installed on your new laptop that you had on your old computer? If not, you will need to do that.

Did you run the game once to generate the Sims 2 folder under My Documents before copying over your neighborhood? If not, try running the game once, then copying in your N004 folder.

Do you have other neighborhoods which might be conflicting with N004? You could try moving all of the other neighborhoods somewhere else on your disk and see whether N004 might work by itself.

[S-DUBZ]

Thanks for the response x. I have installed all of the new sims 2 expansion packs that I had before on my old computer and this makes no difference, any other possible suggestions :( I would be grateful x.

[S-DUBZ]

I also don't know what you mean by neighborhoods that conflict with N004, how do I know if they do. I have tried it as a neighborhood on its own but it still does not show when I load the game :(. please help xxx

[Mootilda]

Neighborhoods can conflict even when they have different Neighborhood IDs (N001, N004, etc). This is because some of the internal data conflicts. This only occurs if you create your new neighborhood while the other neighborhoods are not in your Neighborhoods folder, then you move those missing neighborhoods in later. If you've tried running with only N004 and you still have problems, then the problem cannot be a conflict with another neighborhood.

Did you run the game once before copying N004 into your Neighborhoods folder? If not, please do. Be sure to keep your backup of N004 safe while you're going this.

Otherwise, it sounds like your neighborhood may be corrupt. If so, there's not much that you can do. I have documented a technique for recovering your lots in this thread and there may be a way to clone any sims that you want, but I don't know of any other way to salvage your neighborhood, once it's been corrupted.

[TUL]

Operating system: Windows Vista...Home edition, I think, if there is one for Vista.

Computer specs: Uh...I'm not quite sure what that means, but here's what it says on the sticker thing that was on my computer when I got it:
CPU - Intel Pentium processor SU2700(1.3 GHzm 800 MHz FSB)
VGA - Ubtek GNA 4500MHD Up to 4500MHD
4 GB DDR3 Memory
Storage - 320 GB HDD

Games: I have Sims 2 Deluxe - the one that came with Nightlife built in, as well as Freetime, University, Apartment Life, Seasons, and I got The Best of Business pack(the one with OFB, plus the H&M Fashion and Kitchen and Bath Stuff packs.).

Details of Neighbourhood loss: Everything is gone. The only option I have in the choose neighborhood screen is to start a new neighboorhood.

Neighbourhood File details: Everything is in the Sims 2 folder, nothing seems out of place. I checked the Program Files folder, and I think everything is in their proper place there, too.

Sim PE Investigation: I don't have Sim PE, so I couldn't do much.
What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: I installed the Best of Business Collection, and I think I screwed up by also installing the store edition of Sims 2. The sneak peak thing of Sims 3 was also installed.

Any other relevant information: I played Sims 2 for a while, ended up having to restart the computer, and then went to see what the Sims 3 thing was about. After I bored of that, I started up Sims 2 again and everything was gone. I have plenty of hacks and CC installed(which still seem to be in tact and recognized by the game), but I don't think I've made any recent changes to that. The most recent one was a hack in which PlantSims could be made with their normal hair...and that was a week or so ago. I tried to do that thing with moving the NeighborhoodManagers, but it made no difference. I also uninstalled the combination of OFB and the stuff packs, but that made no difference either.

[MetroVix]

System: Windows XP, Service Pack 3
Expansions: University through Freetime
Missing, but still there strangely: Riverblossom Hills, Freetime neighborhood

My problem is slightly different than those I'm seeing in this thread. I can see every single one of my neighborhoods. I can load them. I can play with families. No errors. The problem is that my created families and new homes/lots are gone in two of my neighborhoods. It's like I just installed the game and reset the lots. Only the pre-made families in their original homes are there. Here's the catch, this is only happening in the new Freetime neighborhood and Riverblossom Hills. The original three neighborhoods still have all of my created families and homes. It's like I have a Bella mystery in the two new neighborhoods. Where did everyone go?

I can see my photos, snapshots, character files, and other information in the EA neighborhood folder too, so I know it wasn't deleted. So, the neighborhoods are there. Why aren't my created families and homes showing up too? I really need Riverblossom Hills back more than anything. It has all of my Legacy families!

Thanks!

[TUL]

Since no one here seems to be willing to help, I attempted to fix my game...I uninstalled everything and reinstalled it, then added in my neighborhoods from my back up...nothing. Some of the neighboorhoods that came with the game were missing(Strangetown and Veronaville...and those are the only ones that I know of are gone), and my neighborhoods still aren't there.
*sighs* I've given up at this point...I'm just gonna start everything over with Pleasentveiw and a custom neighborhood...

[Mootilda]

Since no one here seems to be willing to help, I attempted to fix my game.It's not that no one is willing to help. We just don't understand enough about why this occurs or how to fix it.

[S-DUBZ]

Thanks mootilda ur a babe :) :P lol , you mention a technique of cloning the sims from my neighborhood, what is it?? xxxxxxxxxx

[spawn71]

Mine neighbour hood disappear right after i added this into my neighbourhood camera.

# Camera configuration file for the Neighborhood screen.
# See cameras.txt for a description of syntax.

camera "Neighborhood" Neighborhood

zoom 1 (650 450 230)
fov (33 33 33)
clip (2 2 2) (2000 2000 2000)
pitch (40 32 25) (40 32 25)

orientation 0 (0 45 90 135 180 225 270 315)

smoothing 5 8
wheel 5

constrain .35 .35 .35 .35

setparam defaultminchange 0.5

setparam keyboardrotationspeed 15
setparam keyboardrotationlerpsteps 2
setparam keyboardrotationlerpminchange 0.5

setparam keyboardtranslationspeed 50
setparam keyboardtranslationlerpsteps 5
setparam keyboardtranslationlerpminchange 0.5

setparam keyboardzoomspeed 1
setparam keyboardzoomlerpsteps 1
setparam keyboardzoomlerpminchange 1
setparam keyboardzoomscale 3

[Mootilda]

you mention a technique of cloning the sims from my neighborhood, what is it??From the wiki: Game_Help:Extract_In-Game_Sim

[salamanderer]

I have had this as a recurring problem!
Operating system\specs: Windows 7 64-bit, Intel Core i5 proc (3.2 GHz), NVidia GEForce 310

Games: I had all EPs installed (recently uninstalled Mansion and Garden because I suspected this EP, but am now getting Failed to Enumerate Directx 9 error after going back to Apartment Life, and can't get the game to work at all now). I've only been playing Pleasantview.

Just a note: I only lost one house when I ran all EPs but M&G on Windows XP machine. It has really become a problem after I installed on my new system, and included M&G.

Anything changed before the lost lots/families? No, nothing out of the ordinary.

Details: Neighborhood files are there and visible in SimPE, as are MOST of my sims, but not all. Some have disappeared along with their family names and the ability to browse into their family ties. Some sims only show up in family information and not in the sim description list, but most just lose all the family and lot information.

I lost almost all my houses, including ones populated by default sims, and lost most of my families. I rolled back to several earlier backups (took me days to do this to get all my houses) and managed to package the empty and full houses to reinstall in the game, but could never get the families to work again. Examples: I had several "family unknown" or listed as "family information" and not their last name in SimPE. Also, in a couple of the houses, the kids would just spin and never move and couldn't be interacted with.

Hacks?: Nothing I can pinpoint.
*I have had trouble with the in-game skin tone changer (sorry can't remember who to give credit to here), but I stopped using it before I lost everything, so I don't think it was involved.
*I did edit some things in SimPE (mostly things like turn-ons and hobbies), but I did that since the beginning and only recently had the disappearing lots problem consistently.
*I also used boolprop cheat in the past, but after I lost my neighborhood the first time, I stopped using it. I am still losing things, so I don't know how far-reaching the effects of trying it are.

Wish I could try moving the neighborhood package file as you suggested, but I have a non-functioning game right now. Arrrggghhh! I uninstalled M&G because I thought it would solve the disappearing lots/families problem, but I guess I just created an even bigger problem for myself. I still haven't recovered the game.

Might be of help to more adept gamers: I think I made some headway, but couldn't fix the problem entirely. What I planned to do was package all my houses after moving the families out and somehow getting the one remaining family to move in and then move out all my other families in succession so they could move back into their proper houses. However, with the family name problem, that wasn't working all the time. Wish I could have completed my test on that.

Another thing that I noticed is that you can't rename the neighborhood folders. Weird, but they stop working. I tried to create a backup folder, to read my several backups in SimPE, and called it N001 and renamed the default folder to N001bak, but it wouldn't open in the game until I restored the Maxis-created folder to its original name.

[Mootilda]

Another thing that I noticed is that you can't rename the neighborhood folders. Weird, but they stop working. I tried to create a backup folder, to read my several backups in SimPE, and called it N001 and renamed the default folder to N001bak, but it wouldn't open in the game until I restored the Maxis-created folder to its original name.To rename a neighborhood folder, you must rename all of the files and subfolders as well. For example, if you are renaming from N001 to MyNewHood, then every file and folder with the prefix "N001_" must be renamed to have the prefix "MyNewHood_".

[Elephant]

Operating system Windows Vista Business
Computer specs Acer 5515
Games Holiday edition (original), All EPs and SPs except for Kitchen & Bath Stuff and Celebration Stuff.
Details of Neighborhood loss Reinstalled game and restored backup, but was missing ALL neighborhoods (even Maxis), even they show in my documents folder and in SimPE. I removed neighborhood manager and replaced it with the one in my program files with no luck. I removed my entire "The Sims 2" folder from my documents and started the game so it would create a new folder with all files and Maxis 'hoods now show. When I copy a custom 'hood to my neighborhoods folder, it doesn't show in game.
Sim PE Investigation: Yes, the 'hoods show in SimPE

What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: I backed up my game and reformatted my computer. Before it was Windows 7 Ultimate, but for the moment it is Windows Vista Business.
Any other relevant information: I tried creating a new 'hood with the same map as one of my custom 'hoods, then replaced it with a backup of the custom 'hood, changing ALL the N007_ prefixes to the number of the new 'hood. I wasn't sure if this would do anything or not. It didn't. :|

Also, I'm currently working with no CC, hacks, or anything that didn't ship with the game other than one custom 'hood.

[salamanderer]

To rename a neighborhood folder, you must rename all of the files and subfolders as well. For example, if you are renaming from N001 to MyNewHood, then every file and folder with the prefix "N001_" must be renamed to have the prefix "MyNewHood_".

Yes, I did that, too, and it was very tedious. Perhaps it was the package manager not reading the newly created files.

[Mootilda]

Yes, I did that, too, and it was very tedious. Perhaps it was the package manager not reading the newly created files.As far as I know, the only other conflict which can occur is in the neighborhood ID, which is inside of the neighborhood package. If two neighborhoods have the same neighborhood ID, then they will conflict and that will cause problems; one or both will not be displayed in the game.

[Cherry.x]

I backed up my neighbour hoods and rebooted my pc and reinstalled sims, put the neighbour hoods into the sims 2 documents folder and when I load sims I have NO neighbour hoods at all, none in the menu bar at all all i can do is make my own :( I dont understand!? I saved them all :( and I saved 'saved sims' and downloads etc

Im using vista, and tbh I dont know alot about my pc but sims worked fine before :( sorry x

[Mootilda]

After installing the Sims, be sure to run the game once before replacing with your backed up neighborhoods.

[cece1]

Operating system:Win XP Pro
Computer specs: 1.80 Ghz processor, 510MB RAM, Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller (Hope this all makes sense!)

Games: Sims2, NightLife (w/ patch), Seasons(w/ patch) --I have FreeTime but currently not installed, I'll explain later.

Details of Neighbourhood loss: I installed FreeTime but found it wouldn't load a family past the 'Family' screen.
I contacted the EA helpline which they told me I had to get a new graphics card -- fair enough I thought, but I knew there would be ways around this because if Custom content was disabled, the game worked perfectly. I removed some unnessarcy content and tried again but still to no avail.

To cut a long story short, I backed up The Sims 2 folder with Freetime installed, but then uninstalled FreeTime after this. I then uninstalled all the games I've stated then reinstalled them up to Seasons. I copied and pasted my custom neighbourhood (I only made 1) to the 'fresh' folder but in game, only the first few default neighbourhood show up. I've tried so many things (I've been sat here for the whole day :|) & am at a complete loss of what to do.

Neighbourhood File details: Yes, I see the neighbourhood files, including my custom one within the EA folder. (Please see attched image)
Sim PE Investigation: -

What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: All detailed in 'Details of neighbourhood loss'

Any other relevant information: -

Any advice will be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance & apologies for spelling mistakes, I've been up for so long trying to figure this nonsense out :( x

[Mootilda]

Your neighborhoods were probably all converted to FreeTime, including your custom neighborhood. If you backed up before installing Freetime, as suggested, then try restoring your custom neighborhood from that backup. If your only backup was made with FreeTime installed, then those neighborhoods will not work without it.

[cece1]

Your neighborhoods were probably all converted to FreeTime, including your custom neighborhood. If you backed up before installing Freetime, as suggested, then try restoring your custom neighborhood from that backup. If your only backup was made with FreeTime installed, then those neighborhoods will not work without it.

Woohoo, Many many thanks Mootilda, game's working perfect now.
Such a simple step aswell, lol x

[Labelleinconnue]

Operating System: Windows XP
Games: Sims 2 Deluxe, Sims 2 Seasons

I was playing normally when I turned off the game for the day, when I went to load it the following day Veronaville had been deleted and in place there was only an unloadable weather. I immediately copied the entire neighborhood folder and noticed that the neighborhood file itself became only 1 kb. I tried a number of things from removing the corrupt neighborhood folder and letting it load, reinstalling seasons, and replacing the corrupt 1kb file with the larger one created by the reinstallation, however while I managed to get the neighborhood back into working order all my lots and sims were gone.
If anyone figures out how to restore the neighborhood that would be lovely. Being that I still have all the lot files and sim files, is there anyway to get the character's back if not the lots being I still have both folders that were not corrupted? I would be happy with this at least.

[Mootilda]

To get back lots, see post #408:
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?p=3150071#post3150071

To clone your sims:
Game_Help:Extract_In-Game_Sim

[narainu]

Hmm, I'm not sure I'll get a reply since MTS is telling me the thread has been abandoned for like a month but I'll still try.
I tried reading some replies too but I got lost quickly so I don't know if there's a solution or something yet.

I backed up my two neighbourhoods and downloads folder to move to a new computer. After installing everything, I ran the game once, checked the graphics and loaded a lot for a few minutes to check if it's ok. It was.
Then I put my downloads and neighbourhoods folder... one of the neighbourhoods is there- all my saved families, lots and storytelling pictures are there, no problems. But the game is not recognizing the other - as in, it doesn't appear in the neighbourhoods list as if it doesn't exist. But the files are still there.

I never had any corruption problems either, it always ran smooth and with no bugs. I also saved it the right way etc soo I don't think it's a problem with the files...

[Mootilda]

Do you have exactly the same EPs and SPs that you had before? Do you have any additional neighborhoods that you didn't have before; ie, after running the game the first time, did you remove everything from the Neighborhoods folder before copying your backups in?

[igopogo]

I just installed all the EP's onto my new laptop except apartment life, and since I have double deluxe as my base game, when I was first playing it was making me use that as the disc I needed in order to play. But then I took out the double deluxe disc to let my sister use it, and when I tried to put it in again to play, it told me I needed to use the free time disc so that I could play. So, I put in the free time disc and it let me play, but all my neighbourhoods were gone! I do have a lot of custom content downloaded, and a few hacks.. is that a possible reason why this happened?

[DigitalSympathies]

Prompted my Mootilda a little bit late, I've come up with a solution. She's detailed it in the last post of this thread. I take no credit for the idea, it was just an accidental discovery from a recovered file, but it works. I've tested it, and it works. This might be the solution, but I'll need testers that are willing to give up time for a breakthrough.

The thread is here.

http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=420149

[wollmonster]

Hi everyone,

I need your help please =(

My operating system is Mac OS X, 10.5.5. I only have the Sims 2 basic game.
Today I lost most of my neighbourhood in Pleasantview (I always only played in Pleasantview). I noticed only the 3 families that I made without custom content are still there. There are custom content objects in their houses and they do have custom content hair etc. by now, but when I made them, I only used clothes etc. that were already in Sims 2. For everyone else, I used at least custom content eyes. I never used any hacks.

I played earlier today and everything was okay, then I downloaded some new custom content. The game crashed, so I deleted most of it and it worked again. (It has happened a few times before that it crashed after putting new custom content in, usually I got rid of what I thought was responsible and it worked again. This time, I think I may have accidentally deleted some of the "older" custom content files too instead of just the new ones)

I made a new family and only afterward I noticed that most of the families were gone. The remaining ones do still have their history with them, like "Met xx for the first time", but they are listed as "Sim" and all the relationships are gone. Their lots and houses are also there, but empty.

The Neighbourhood data is still in the folder. The only "special" thing I can think of that I did differently this time is, as I said I may have removed some (only a few files, like 5 maybe?) older custom content files as well, but I didn't think this could be responsible for almost the entire neighborhood disappearing. It has been a long while since I made a backup... and I really grew to like many of my families. Is there a way to save them? ;_;

I'm pretty much a newbie when it comes to this. All I did was download custom hair/eyes/accessoires etc and some items so sorry if there's any confusion, I'm not well-versed in PC or Sims.

Thanks in advance

[em90]

I'm having the same problem. :(

Operating system Windows XP Home
Computer specs will post if really, truly necessary. I know that they are definitely fine for running the Sims 2 and all EPs, I've checked multiple times against the various FAQs here at Mod The Sims.
Games The Sims 2 (CD version), Uni, NL, OFB, Pets, Seasons, Free Time, Kitchen & Bath Stuff, and all relevant patches.
Details of Neighbourhood loss All the Maxis hoods are gone (Riverblossom, Desiderata, Pleasantview, Strangetown, Veronaville), but I don't care, I never played those. I have seven custom neighbourhoods, of which only four are showing up. I only want two of my custom ones back - my current one, which I have spent hours working on, is not showing up. (The second custom hood I want, is showing up alright.)
Neighbourhood Files all still exist and are in their right folders..
Sim PE Investigation: The disappeared neighbourhoods DO NOT show up in Sim PE.
What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: Basically, I was playing a lot as normal. My pregnant sim had twins. I didn't want her to have twins, so I went to exit the lot without saving, but saved accidentally (damn). Additionally, I sometimes minimise my game to do other things on my computer, and at one point I forgot it was open, and started running Sim PE. I tried to export a sim using it, but kept getting error messages so I quit SimPE. I then opened up and quit my game.
I had done a complete backup of all my user files the previous day. In case I'd stuffed something by using Sim PE, and because I wanted to undo the changes I'd accidentally saved, I completely reinstalled all of my sims games from scratch, and then transferred my custom files across as normal. And that's when everything went horribly wrong.

Tried already:- The solution from Digital Sympathies here: http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=420149 using the AnyGame starter. That is, I created a new AnyGame according to the instructions in that thread, tried copying all my custom neighbourhood folders directly into the relevant AnyGame folders, and the problem's still there.
- Moving a fresh Neighbourhood Manager package from the reinstalled files, to my custom neighbourhood folder.
- Playing without custom content (eg loading everything without common problem folders like Downloads and SavedSims etc).

I am seriously willing to pay someone to fix this :( I'm kind of devastated - I know it's just a game, it's trivial, but I have put a lot of effort into this, and it's upsetting to "lose" my neighbourhood even though the files still exist.

Please, please help.

[Mootilda]

Unfortunately, no one has a solution (not even for money). We're still trying to understand why this problem occurs and how to fix it.

Please try this:
- Move or rename the entire Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2 folder, so that the game will not find it.
- Run the game to regenerate that folder, then exit the game
- Remove all of the folders (N001, N002, N003, etc) from the Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Neighborhoods folder.
- Copy one and only one of the custom neighborhoods from your backup, preferably the one that won't work right now.

I'm working on a theory that this problem is related to an internal conflict between two or more neighborhoods. If you can get each neighborhood to work by itself, then I may have a solution for getting them to work together.

[DigitalSympathies]

^ I've tested it and it seems that that is the case. I've gotten disappearing 'hoods to work in an empty AnyGame, but not in the original if it has the other 'hood folders in there.

[simsample]

Basically, I was playing a lot as normal. My pregnant sim had twins. I didn't want her to have twins, so I went to exit the lot without saving, but saved accidentally (damn). Additionally, I sometimes minimise my game to do other things on my computer, and at one point I forgot it was open, and started running Sim PE. I exported a Sim using it. I then exited, and then opened up and quit my game.

The thing with Sims 2 is that it saves your entire neighbourhood when you exit the neighbourhood, not when you save. So, if you change a neighbourhood decoration and then exit the game, that change will be automatically saved. You cannot prevent the game from doing this- there is no such thing as exit without save in Sims 2.

So, if you open SimPE when your neighbourhood is open, SimPE may be able to obtain a lock on the files your game has open. When you then exit the game, it attempts to write the changes to your neighborhood file but cannot, due to the SimPE lock. This could cause a mismatch between the actual neighbourhood package file and the lots/ characters/ subhoods, so invalidating the save.

It's only a theory, but I think that's why Sims2 neighbourhoods corrupt so easily.

[em90]

Thanks, I'll try the renaming etc...and DigitalSympathies, did you say somewhere you were looking for people to test various different ways of trying to fix this problem with AnyGame? I'm happy to try!

So, if you open SimPE when your neighbourhood is open, SimPE may be able to obtain a lock on the files your game has open. When you then exit the game, it attempts to write the changes to your neighborhood file but cannot, due to the SimPE lock. This could cause a mismatch between the actual neighbourhood package file and the lots/ characters/ subhoods, so invalidating the save.

It's only a theory, but I think that's why Sims2 neighbourhoods corrupt so easily.

Interesting - however I'm still not sure why having SimPE open during the game in my particular case has caused so much trouble, since I did a complete backup of all my user files the day before all of this happened. So essentially, when I did a complete re-install of the game and then transferred my backed up user files across, it was the same thing I'd do if, say, I got a new computer and wanted to install my game on that. My messing around with SimPE shouldn't have affected those backup files. (Also I should probably clarify, I didn't export a sim like I said while my game was open - after I wrote that post I realised I did that after quitting my game completely.)

Could SimPE have affected some files that a complete reinstall can't fix?

[Mootilda]

Thanks, I'll try the renaming etc...and DigitalSympathies, did you say somewhere you were looking for people to test various different ways of trying to fix this problem with AnyGame? I'm happy to try!That may have been me. If installing only one neighborhood at a time solves your problem, then you may be able to edit the neighborhood ID records to create a more permanent solution. However, that will only work if you can play each neighborhood when it is the only neighborhood in the game.

Could SimPE have affected some files that a complete reinstall can't fix?SimPE can affect files within the installation directories and it can affect your save games, but I think it's unlikely that it would affect anything else. So, if your game doesn't work with a newly generated save game after a fresh install of the game, then I doubt that SimPE caused your problems.

[MagicMarker]

My Strangetown as disappeared.

Operating system: Windows 7

Computer specs: Intel Core i5 2.27GHz, 5GB Ram, 500GB hard drive.

Games: All expansion packs and stuff packs except the christmas one. I have all the patches installed.

Details of Neighbourhood loss: I was playing Strangetown and there was a power cut and the computer shut down mid-play. The next time I loaded the game Strangetown was gone. All the other neighbourhoods were okay. I mostly play Strangetown. My game was fine right up to the power cut. I had no recent additions to my download folder so I don't think it was caused by that. Last time I added anything to my download folder was about 2 or 3 months ago. I've no hacks installed.... just clothes and furniture.

Neighbourhood File details: The file for Strangetown is still in the my doc games folder (N002). All the folders inside it seem to be intact.

Sim PE Investigation: I haven't used SimPE since last may. I checked and strangetown shows up in there only the file name says unknown where it would normally say strangetown. See pic below:
http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/1323/simpe.png

What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: Nothing. All other programs are okay since the power cut. It's just my sims game that was affected.

Any other relevant information: can't think of anything.


Anyone got an idea about how I could fix my game. Strangetown is the main hood I play. My last back up was in may. I've no back-up since then (dumb I know).

[Mootilda]

Details of Neighbourhood loss: I was playing Strangetown and there was a power cut and the computer shut down mid-play. The next time I loaded the game Strangetown was gone.This is undoubtedly your problem. The game has the neighborhood package open while you are playing and is constantly writing new data to that file. When you experienced the power loss, the neighborhood was in an inconsistent state. Your neighborhood is now corrupt and there is no way to get it back.

Your best bet might be to restore from your backup.

If you prefer, then you may be able to recreate (at least partially) your neighborhood:

To get back lots, see post #408:
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?p=3150071#post3150071

To clone your sims:
Game_Help:Extract_In-Game_Sim

Potential lessons:

- Be sure to backup at frequent intervals. Backup whenever you feel that you can't stand to lose what's happened since the last backup.

- Get yourself a UPS (uninterruptable power source). I have one on my computer and it allows me to continue to work during brownouts, blackouts, surges, etc. In general, it's best not to continue to play during a blackout, but at least the UPS will allow you to save and shut down without data loss.

[MagicMarker]

It's okay! I fixed my game! I checked the help section at the microsoft website and Windows 7 makes a temporary copy of all the files it recently opens and keeps them in the Windows folder. I got copies of N002_Neighborhood.package and the NeighborhoodManager.package there (cause SimPE said these files were both corrupt) and copied it over to the sims 2 folder in my documents. It looks like all I've lost was an hour or two of gameplay. I know I was REALLY lucky! I've made two back-ups of my game already and plan to back it up now at least once a week from now on!

[Mootilda]

Well done!

[funcioná!!!]

I have a question. I won't write all the specs because my intention isn't to keep the neighborhood. One neighborhood disappeared from the main menu. I opened the file called "N001_Neighborhood", which is the neighborhood that dissapeared, and it is completely empty. I created the neighborhood a few days ago and I almost didn't play it, so I don't mind deleting it. My question is if I can just delete that neighborhood folder or if that could corrupt my game. I read that I have to delete the neighborhood from the game, but I can't do it since it doesn't show up. I just installed neighborhood deco, a fence and an object. Sorry if this question has been asked before, I don't have time to read over 400 replies. I'm not lacking patience, just time. Thanks.

[Mootilda]

I have had no problems when I delete an entire neighborhood folder, so it seems reasonably safe.

[funcioná!!!]

Thank you. I had doubts after reading the article about deleting neighborhoods:
Do not delete neighborhoods by simply removing the folders, deleting them from your hard drive. You must delete them in-game as described above.
But it also says that if you want to keep playing the lots, you have to move them to the lot bin, and it doesn't specify that the lots must be unhabitated or the neighborhood were you place them will become corrupt. Conclusion: I don't trust that article too much. Anyway, I will delete the folder.

[xobsessed]

I've already got my Pleasantview neighborhood back, using the common trick, but I want my Sim State University neighborhood back.

Operating system Windows 2000

Computer specs I have a fast proccessor.

Games The Base Game & University which I recently installed. I have never installed any patches.

Details of Neighbourhood loss I've recently installed University 3 days ago, and today when I just started up the game, suddenly I realized that Pleasantview and Veronaville (The 2 neighborhoods I've ever made universities with) name's have been changed into the universities. When I opened Pleasantview, all the lots and characters were gone. Therefore, I did the common trick (copy paste neighborhood), and it worked. The Veronaville one still had all the lots, for some reason. Anyway, I thought everything was there Except, my university neighborhood in Pleasantview had nothing at all in it.

Neighbourhood File details Yes, they are still there.

Sim PE Investigation: I have never installed this program.

What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: I honestly did not do anything to it. The last time I played it was last night, and I shut it down because I had to go to sleep, and this afternoon when I switched my laptop on, this happens.

Any other relevant information: I'm only looking for the neighborhood of the university, thanks.

[Mootilda]

It's not clear where you found the "common trick" that you used to restore your neighborhood. Could you give us a link so that we know what you're talking about?

Are you referring to the technique for restoring from a backup? If so, you've probably copied your backup over your existing neighborhood folder, which is wrong.

The correct way to restore from backup is to completely remove your existing neighborhood folder and then copying your backup in its place. If Sim State is not attached in your backup, you'll then need to add the university again.

Please note that the symptom that you experienced (neighborhoods turning into universities) is not normal. You might want to consider patching your game, in the hopes that the patches will fix whatever corrupted your neighborhoods in the first place.

[xobsessed]

I have never backup-ed my sims before.

The common trick I meant was the one:

Go to My Documents/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ Neighbourhoods and cut and paste the neighbourhoodManager.package file to your desktop. Now go to Program files/ EA Games/ The Sims2/ TS Data/ Res/ User Data/ Neighbourhoods and copy the neighbourhoodmanager.package file- paste it into your Documents folder where your old neighbourhoodmanager file was. Does that make any difference?
^ I tried that and it worked for my neighborhoods, but not my universities.

I don't mean that my universities has overwritten my neighborhoods, but I meant that my Sim State University Lots has been erased.

[Mootilda]

OK, thanks for the clarification. I'm afraid that I don't have any ideas on how to get back your university lots.

[speressa]

Hi, I came accross this thread after all my game reset itself entirely yesterday and everything disappeared. Well basically the entire EA games folder had been moved to an awkward location (a sub-folder of "my documents") so EA games had to recreate one from scratch. And the folder moved by itself: I played the sims on Friday night, turned off my computer just after it, turned it back on on Saturday just to play, and that's when I noticed the problem, so I'm sure I definitely didn't move the folder (and no one was around to do it either). I am REALLY confused about this but it definitely happened by itself.

I was quite upset when I notice all my families and ALL MY CUSTOM CONTENT had gone, but did a search for "EA games" and found the entire folder in a very random place, so I just copied the necessary folders back in their right place. I don't have an explanation for this really weird event, but I think it's a very useful thing to know and I hope it helps.

[Mootilda]

the entire EA games folder had been moved to an awkward location (a sub-folder of "my documents") so EA games had to recreate one from scratch. And the folder moved by itself: I played the sims on Friday night, turned off my computer just after it, turned it back on on Saturday just to play, and that's when I noticed the problem, so I'm sure I definitely didn't move the folder (and no one was around to do it either).Folders don't move by themselves. You probably moved it unintentionally.

[speressa]

I know what you're saying but even if we forget that I didn't touch the computer in-between, the EA Games folder is HUGE and takes about 30 minutes to move. On windows 7 it means there will be a green bar (the progression) in the task bar, and for having copied this folder several times when my computer crashed in December (and when I copied it again today), I know for sure that some neighbourhood folders in my game systematically lead to an error message that requires an action from the user. Impossible to miss.
I read about other people having the same problem as me (the game resets itself one day without reason), and EA games is not a folder you can just move without noticing...

[123blissb]

Operating system:Windows XP Home
Computer specs: Acer Aspire One Laptop
Games: Base, Pets, (Best of Buisness was not installed at the time) , Seasons, Nightlife, Double Dexlue
Details of Neighbourhood loss: I was playing in Pleasantview in the car. When I open up the game at the house, Pleasantview is missing from my main menu. Corrupted my backup and Downtown. I cant move the corrupted files.
Neighbourhood File: N001 Downtown and Neighbourhood
Sim PE Investigation: Messed around with Pleasantview once before corruption
What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: Killing a sim, added some custom content
Any other relevant information: when Bodyshop opens, I get a corrupted file message.
~123blissb

[Hello Katie]

Operating system: Mac OS X
Computer specs: Mac Mini? Not too sure what else I know
Games: Base game plus all expansions and I think one or two stuff packs
Details of Neighbourhood loss: All neighborhoods except Bluewater Village (might have the name wrong) which include Pleasantview, Strangetown, Veronaville, and a custom neighborhood.
Neighbourhood File: All files seem intact, they just don't show up in-game.
Sim PE Investigation: I don't have Sim PE.
What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: Earlier today I downloaded a few houses from this site, but one of them wasn't showing up properly (it looked like an entirely different house), so I re-installed the ts2pack. I went into the game, looked in the lot I was having troubles with, then went back to the neighborhood to get the prompt to add a vacation destination to the town as if I had just downloaded it. The lot I had downloaded showed up as an empty lot without a house, and I deleted the house (which now showed up twice) from the Build menu, and then restarted the game. When the game restarted the neighborhoods were gone.
Any other relevant information: Okay, you guys might not be happy with this, but my version of the game was acquired via torrent. But that is because I already own all the games- for the PC. And I switched to a Mac, meaning that if I wanted to play I'd have to buy all the games AGAIN but in Mac format, so I just downloaded them instead. I've had my game for a long time and never had any problems, and the lots were the first CC I ever downloaded for it.

I hope you guys can help. Thank you.

[Asteriski]

I know this thread's been dead, but I'm having the same troubles.

OS: Windows 7
Specs: I honestly have no clue, but I've never had trouble.
Games: Double Deluxe, University Life, Fun With Pets, Apartment Life, in that order.
Loss: All custom neighborhoods, Pleasantville, Strangetown, Veronaville, and Belladonna Cove.
Files: Everything seems to be in order, but it won't show up.
SimPE: I don't know how to use it.
What changed: I downloaded and installed Sims 2 Seasons and Best of Business.
Other: Other than the two I just added, all of my games were on disk. I'm sure my custom content was not the cause. Riverblossom Hills appeared just fine. When I uninstalled BOB, Belladonna Cove came back, but without any of my buildings or Sims I had put there.

[Mootilda]

When you uninstall any EP, SP, or collection, EA deletes your save games because they will no longer be compatible with your installation. I believe that they warn you about that when you uninstall.

[claripossum]

Operating system: Windows 7
Computer specs: It's a laptop, that's about all I know. :)
Games: Double Deluxe on disc, and downloaded EPs from EA store: The University Life Collection, Pets, Seasons, and Freetime. I installed Apartment Life which is when the problem started.
Details of Neighbourhood loss: I installed AL, then pasted my saved neighborhoods into the appropriate folders, then when I started the game the ONLY one available was Belladonna Cove. So I reinstalled everything (except DD because I can't find the case) and started the game without pasting the backup files, and the regular hoods showed fine. I pasted in my one custom hood, started the game, but it will not show no matter what I do. It's like the new EP did something to the game so that it doesn't recognize the files in the old hoods anymore.
Neighbourhood File: Files are all there.
Sim PE Investigation: I don't have Sim PE.
What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: All I did was install Apartment Life.

Any other relevant information: I run the game through Store Edition since I like to buy downloadable versions of EPs. Not sure if that matters.

I looked through some earlier posts but to be honest, 19 pages is a lot. X_X I apologize if this particular issue has been solved and the solution has been posted... I've been trying to get this to work for two days. I had two legacies in that hood so I really would hate to lose all that work. :(

[Mootilda]

Did you remove the EA neighborhoods before copying your neighborhood in? If not, then your custom neighborhood may conflict with one of the shipped neighborhoods.

[claripossum]

Hmm, I could give that a try. If I only paste in the custom hood, the rest show fine. Just that one won't show. If I paste in my hoods that I copied before installing AL, they don't show. I'll see what happens if I delete them all and just put in my one custom hood.

[Mootilda]

If that works, then you definitely have two or more conflicting neighborhoods and there's a way to fix it via SimPE. Let us know what happens.

[baileyschmailey]

Operating system - Windows XP Home Premium.
Computer specs - 2.6 Ghz, 1Gb RAM, AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core
Games - Original, University, Pets, Nightlife, Seasons, Apartment Life, Family Fun Stuff, H&M Fashion, Kitchen&Bath, Teen Style, Glamour Style, Ikea Home (Not sure if the STuff was needed..thought I'd put it up anyways.) No patches.
Neighbourhood loss - I lost Belladonna Cove and Riverblossom Hills. The three main neighborhoods are still there. I really only play in BC. No custom neighborhoods. The last one I played was BC, also.
Neighbourhood File details - Everything is all there. E001 shows up, with associated college and characters and lots, the file seems fine.
Sim PE Investigation - I JUST downloaded it, after this problem happened. BC shows up as Unknown in the neighborhood file.
What changed on your system immediately before the corruption - Nothing changed after I played. I got off my name on my computer, and my sister went on her name to play the sims, and she told me it froze once, but unfroze during the game, so she was able to save it. Then she got off. Apparently no updates happened, she didn't update anything. Nothing happened while I was playing, no disruptions, no freezing, or anything.
Any other relevant information - The only thing that I don't get is that the neighborhoods still show up for my sister on her name. But not on mine. All her sims and whatnot are still there. But everything has disappeared for me. Sorry if a situation like mine has been solved already, but I have been searching for a long time and haven't come across anything. Not sure what to do! Help would be appreciated.

Oh, also, ever since I noticed the disappearance of two neighborhoods, the load screen to get to the actual neighborhoods will randomly go black..it's never done that before. I never have any problems with loading.

[xpeachgirlx]

Hi, I just found this thread and I was wondering if anyone could help me with this problem. All of my neighborhoods, exccept Riverblossom Hills have dissapeared.
I think it all started when I re-set Plesantview. (I moved my plesantview folder to my desktop, made a backup copy of it, then I took the plesantview file, from program files/EA games/the sims 2/base/res/user data/neighborhoods and put it into my neighborhoods folder. It worked perfectly, (I restarted plesantview for my machinma series.) and I started to create charachters and lots for my series. About a week later, I decided I wanted to take a break from my series, and I tried to switch the plesantview folders back (temporarily.) if didn't work. :/ Then I decided I would just play another town, so I loaded the game and I noticed that strangetown was gone too! I never touched the strangetown folder, so I have no idea how it happedned. My sims game reset itself when I installed the sims 3, and I only had back ups of Plesantview and Strangetown, since they are my favorites. Becaus of that, every other neighborhood is unplayed, so I tried to get plesantview and strangetown back myself. Big mistake. I have no idea what exactly I did, but I attempted to re-set my game, and now all of the neighborhood folders are there, they all show up in sim pe, but only riverblossom hills show up in game :/ Any advice is appreciated !

[evelie]

Today I bought Bon Voyage at EAStore. I have the Sims 2, University, Night Life, Open for Business, Pets, Seasons, Free Time, Apartment Life and soms stuff packs and downloads (but no hacks). Everything worked fine - until I finished installing Bon Voyage. When the game has finished loading there are NO neighbourhoods to choose from. They are still in my sims folder though, and I can see them in SimPE. There were more than 1000 sims living in Veronaville and I really want the neighbourhood back, I've been playing with it for years :(

When I was trying to find out what the problem was, I noticed there was another sims folder created in my documents. At first I tried to delete it (since it was completely empty), but it came back - so I copied my complete sims folder to the empty folder with the same name. It's still not showing any neighbourhoods.

I have Windows 7 and the game worked fine until I installed some downloads and Bon Voyage.

[M.M.A.A.]

Originally posted by evelie
When I was trying to find out what the problem was, I noticed there was another sims folder created in my documents. At first I tried to delete it (since it was completely empty), but it came back

i also found the folder ur talking, i also tried to delete but it came back, although im not sure from which expansion pack, u should always back up u know, just in case...

[evelie]

I know that and I did make a new backup today, but the strange thing is that ALL of my downloads and sims and neighbourhoods are still where they should be - the game just ignores those folders. I tried copying files to other maps, I tried starting the game without Veronaville, and without downloads, but it's always the same. Which is no neighbourhoods at all. Except when I remove all of my files, in that case I get the standard game + expansions without any sims - but that's not what I want of course.

[Mootilda]

Try using those newly generated folders, but replace Neighborhoods and Downloads (and any other folders which contain CC) with your backup versions.

[evelie]

I tried, but in that case only Veronaville disappears. I tried deinstalling Bon Voyage, then everything worked like before again. I reinstalled Bon Voyage and now I have the same problem again.

[Mootilda]

The Veronaville that disappears: is it the Veronaville from your backup or the newly generated Veronaville? Do you have any of the newly generated neighborhoods left in your Neighborhoods folder?

[evelie]

Well, I tried everything - replacing the complete neighbourhood folder or just the Veronaville one, or just the files. If I replaced all neighbourhoods, none of them were shown in most cases. If I replaced just Veronaville, then that one was gone or empty, same case with just the characters and lots.

At one point I got the neighbourhood working, with Bon Voyage even, but all of my sims - including babies and dogs - were acting like adult men :|. Pretty creepy. Then I tried replacing the neighbourhood files again (I thought I might have done something wrong with those) but Veronaville disappeared or was empty again. I've had it for now, I just deinstalled everything and I'll have to wait a week before I can reinstall everything because I don't have all of the expansion packs here. I really hope I can save my neighbourhood when I've installed the whole game again :(

[xpeachgirlx]

can anyone give me any advice about my previous post?

[Kirstygreen2]

Computer Specs: AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 dual-core processor
AMD Athlon 64 processor
AMD Sempron™ processor

Level 2 (L2) cache

Up to 1 MB per core
Up to 256 KB for Sempron processors

Memory

Type

533-MHz, 667-MHz, 800-MHz (when available) DDR2 SDRAM

Memory connectors

four

Memory capacities

256 MB, 512 MB, or 1 GB non-ECC
OS: Vista
Games Sims 2 up to Seasons
Neighboorhood loss deets My games were installed out of order and was causing problems with bodyshop, so I made a back up, uninstalled Seasons, pets and OfB, reinstalled in the correct order, Seasons would not install. I just need to get a new one I guess. Pretty pissed about that. But annnyyywwaayyss, fixed my body shop problem, so I wanted to play around with the camera in game bc I'm going to start filming...only to find ALL my neighborhoods are gone! D: I unzipped my sims 2 backup folder into EA games, and it like 'merged' with the other one, but i check through that one and there was nothing important so i just deleted it. But ya, my neighborhoods are gone, my custom content wont show up (like buy mode build mode stuff, shows up in CAS though) And...I'm/.....freaking out!

[Mootilda]

If your neighborhoods were used with Seasons and you no longer have that EP, then your backup will not be compatible with your currently installed EPs. You'll need to re-install Seasons to use that backup.

When you uninstall, EA deletes all of your neighborhoods; this is to be expected. They delete your save game because it is no longer compatible after an uninstall.

To restore from backup, don't merge your backup into your save game; delete the save game and completely replace it with your backup.

[Kirstygreen2]

If your neighborhoods were used with Seasons and you no longer have that EP, then your backup will not be compatible with your currently installed EPs. You'll need to re-install Seasons to use that backup.

When you uninstall, EA deletes all of your neighborhoods; this is to be expected. They delete your save game because it is no longer compatible after an uninstall.

To restore from backup, don't merge your backup into your save game; delete the save game and completely replace it with your backup.


Ok....I'm half understanding this...So what do I do at this point? Do I delete the files again and have the ea folder empty THEN unzip my backup into it? And why would the missing seasons cause ALL my neighborhoods to disappear? :blink:

[Mootilda]

Any neighborhood that was opened with Seasons requires Seasons. If you made your backup when you had Seasons, then every single neighborhood in your backup will require Seasons. If you want to use neighborhoods from a backup made while you had Seasons installed, you will have to reinstall Seasons before you can use those neighborhoods.

[Deastrumquodvicis]

Talk about your basic WTF moment--I made some CC and needed to see if it was BG compatible, so I loaded up the AnyGame Installer and made one there. I went back to my normal game, loaded it up, and voila! All my neighborhoods were still there, but they reverted to default state. I scratched my head numerous times, tried importing the hoods into a different AnyGame, and still no luck. I tried deleting cache files (which have been known to keep my game from starting in the first place), and still nothing. The irritating thing is that I used the Sims 2 Album to see if my stories were still there, and they were, followed by opening individual lots in SimPE. All the characters and lots are there, but for some reason, neither the Neighborhood Browser of SimPE nor the actual game acknowledges the existence of my characters, and the game does not use my modded cameras. I've even tried that thing with NeighborhoodManager.package which was the only thing listed here I hadn't thought of.

I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling everything. It still didn't work.

All the lot bin stuff is still there and working, both occupied and unoccupied lots, as are the contents of my (compressorized 3+Gb) Downloads folder. Also my custom and base game hoods are completely intact--it's just the EP ones (Desiderata Valley, Belladonna Cove, and Riverblossom Hills) that are fouled up.

Help?

EP/SPs: All of them (NL and Celebration Stuff are via Double Deluxe); M&G version 1.17.0.66

Hood played last: Desiderata Valley

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
2.67GHz
9Gb RAM


If you guys could help, that'd be fab. I'll keep puttering around with it until I do, and if it gets fixed, I'll share what I did. But I'm really hoping for some help here.

[jheyjuneice]

System specs: Windows Vista Home Premium, 4GB RAM, 32-bit operating system, processor is Intel Core Quad CPU 2.40GHz
Games: All EPs up to Pets, no patches downloaded
Details of Neighbourhood loss:

I made 2 custom neighbourhoods, Driftwood and one for movie-making. After doing the game problem FAQ of backing up my stuff and removing then putting back in custom content all was well with my game until I started it up and realised one of my neighbourhoods had vanished. When I first installed the base game the other 2 neighbourhoods (veronaville and strangetown) never showed up but I wasn't bothered since I knew I wouldn't play with them anyway however, when I removed my downloads, saved sims and neighbourhoods folder (like what the game problem FAQ said) and started the game without them Strangetown and Veronaville showed up as well as Riverblossom Hills and Desiderata valley (I had deleted those 2 the first time round) but only Driftwood neighbour hoods showed up, my movie neighbourhood was gone. I tried to retrieve it from my back up and put it back into the neighbourhoods folder again but it never showed up in my game.

[evelie]

Earlier I posted in this topic about my Veronaville loss (on this page) and I still didn't get my sims back. I thought something might be wrong with the backup I used, so I tried other backups. I had two different ones.

The first one I tried was from 2008 (I tried that one by accident, I thought it was a lot newer) and it worked. No problems at all, even though I have more expansion packs now than back in 2008. So I thought that if that works, a backup (made the same way - just by copying the the Sims 2 folder) from 2011 should work as well. I had used the 2011 backup before - when I installed my Sims games to my new laptop in January. It worked great until I tried installing Bon Voyage (which was the beginning of all the problems).

But now it didn't work! I am absolutely sure that I couldn't have messed up things because it DID work for half a year. There are still two different scenarios:
- no neighbourhoods are shown at all (except maybe for the Apartment Life one)
- neighbourhoods are default as if I never played the Sims.

I really hope someone has suggestions to solve this problem. I tried contacting EA but it doesn't look like they can help me.

[Mew1210]

I'm sorry for reviving a dead thread, but I really need help. :cry:

Operating system Windows 7
Computer specs Um... it's a laptop? :P
Games Double Deluxe, Fun w/ Pets, Best of Business, Seasons (downloaded online), University Life (downloaded online)
Details of Neighbourhood loss None of my neighborhoods show up. The only option is to create a new neighborhood.
Neighbourhood File All files are intact.
Sim PE Investigation: Don't have SimPE
What changed on your system immediately before the corruption: I installed University Life. I installed it as a direct download from Origin, EA's website.
Also, the game is telling me to use my Fun w/ Pets disk. I always use the Double Deluxe disk, so I don't know if this is causing the problem or not.

[Mootilda]

This isn't a dead thread. The problem is that we don't understand why neighborhoods sometimes disappear and we don't have a general solution. Since you've already opened a new thread about this issue, I'd suggest that we keep all discussion in that thread; there's really no use in posting in multiple threads:
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=449520

[Mew1210]

This isn't a dead thread. The problem is that we don't understand why neighborhoods sometimes disappear and we don't have a general solution. Since you've already opened a new thread about this issue, I'd suggest that we keep all discussion in that thread; there's really no use in posting in multiple threads:
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=449520
Oh, I'm sorry. D: I posted twice because I really wanted to fix my game after waiting five hours for it to download. >__>

[cymrypolitan]

Hi everyone!
A couple days ago, I started up my Sims 2 game, and to my dismay, Strangetown was missing! (I have Double Deluxe, University Life, and Seasons installed.)
I googled my problem, but nothing worked for me and I was too lazy to unistall>reinstall>remove CC/hacks, etc etc. :lol:
I don't know if this will work for anyone else, but I fixed the problem this way.

If you have a program called "Microsoft Security Essentials", which you can get for free on the microsoft website, right click on the corrupted file (for me, it was N002_Neighborhood.package), and underneath all the winRAR options, there's an option to "Restore Previous Versions". Click that. I went to the oldest version it would let me restore to. I hope this helps!

[Mootilda]

cymrypolitan, that's not a general solution. You're lucky that your old neighborhood package was still compatible with your current character and lot packages. That isn't always the case.

That said, it's worth a try. Just be sure to backup your save game before overwriting any of the files.

[Jimmyjazz]

Crap. This happened to me too.

I had only played Desiderata and had only 1 apartment in a building with 2 sims. Lots of custom content but no problems until yesterday.

I saved my game yesterday, it completed. Then I clicked the exit button. The game froze on a black screen with the Windows wheel spinning and audio stuttering. I had to end the task after 10 minutes of waiting. Today, I open it and the neighbourhood is missing.

I tried the whole Move Neighborhood, copy one from Program files, run game, enter it, quit game thing. Then I copied folders one at a time between running the game to see if it would start working at one point. Every step would now show the neighbourhood as an option, but it wouldn't get past the loading screen. The last file I tried moving on top of the newly created Neighborhood folder is F001_Neighborhood.package. Moving this one caused the exact result I had started with (Desiderata not shown as an option).

Opened it in SimPe, and all resources lost their names, like "Family Ties", and it's now a giant list of 0x20FFFFFF (UNK) (86) type categories with similar contents. I compared them to the default version of that neighbourhood package and it's not like they've just lost their name, the numbers in each category are scattered.

Tried the AnyGame thing, but same result.

One other thing of interest, I have this ginormous file in the F001 folder called TempDBSegmentPackedFile_1311948492.tmp. It was modified last night, and I'm guessing it was the result of the crash. (no info when opened in SimPE) You'd think that the exit operations of a game would have nothing to do with the save files after a successful save. (No, it wasn't one of those Save&Exits)

I was hoping I could at least extract my characters with skills and relationships intact so I could move them into a new place without too much loss. But I'm not that lucky. It's too disheartened and think I'll just get rid of the game.

[Jinyuu]

Pleasantview dissapeared for me, I still see the folder and storytelling pictures from premade and custom families, the only thing thats gone is Pleasantview from the menu..

[raptureSIMmer94]

I installed Freetime, but it was a library copy, so I had to return it - which, of course, meant I had to uninstall the expansion. So I did.
The problem is, my base game neighborhoods are gone. I can still install custom neighborhoods, and I have Riverblossom Hills from Seasons, but that's it. I can still see the files in their proper folders, the storytelling files and screenshots are still there, and SimPE recognizes the neighborhoods, but they don't show up in the game.
While I had Freetime, I played with the base game neighborhoods, so is it possible that they now contain data from the Freetime expansion pack, and thus can't be played without it?
If so, I guess I'll start saving up for a copy of Freetime...
Any ideas?
I run Vista on a 2GB Ram, 160GB HDD Toshiba. The model is 'Satellite L305-S5919'.
As for global mods, I'm sure I have several, but given the circumstances under which the neighborhoods disappeared, they don't seem to have anything to do with this.

P.S. I have installed and uninstalled Pets on my computer before, and that was a library copy as well -- could that be part of the problem?

[simsample]

I installed Freetime, but it was a library copy, so I had to return it - which, of course, meant I had to uninstall the expansion. So I did.
The problem is, my base game neighborhoods are gone.
Yes, that is absolutely your problem. Once you play with an expansion pack installed, the neighbourhoods are updated to that EP. When you remove that EP the hoods are no longer compatible.

Sims 2 is very sensitive about this, I remember that my daughter and I had exactly the same EPs and SPs installed but my hoods would not show up for her. It turned out that she had missed one patch, so her game version was different to mine, and that made the neighbourhoods incompatible.

[LadyGreenEyes649]

Had this same issue, quite some time back, but still annoying. Problem started simply. For some reason, several of the OFB windows were no longer in five colors, but in red only. Contacted EA for help, and followed their directions. Backed up everything. Uninstalled all, reinstalled per directions, in the order they said to do it in. Left out ALL custom content (no hacks, just some recolors, and a few items), and hoped this would fix things. Well, it didn't. With ONLY the games themselves installed, the windows were still only in red (The Embrasure by Ergo, The Pythagoras, The Breech by Ergo, The Artefact by Ergo, and the Intake by Ergo). After adding back in my backups, I noticed a VERY annoying thing. A beautiful custom neighborhood was missing. Totally GONE. Well, they were no help there, either (and no, STILL no fix for the window issue, years later...), so I figured it was simply gone. I built a new custom hood, and went on from there. Then, there was yet another little glitch, and I was given, you guessed it, the same "solution". Wasn't happy, but figured I would try it anyway. Did, and when I reloaded everything, the NEW custom hood was GONE, and the old one, that was gone before, was there instead! Certain that I used the correct backups. Was very careful to store then in different locations, and even checked the dates to be sure I had loaded the proper one. Now, if that isn't weird enough, add this oddness. In Pleasantview, where I had spent some time playing, things were all messed up. I had spent a great deal of time on Brandi Broke. She had married, moved well up in a career, and relocated to a new home. When I reloaded my backups this second time, she was in the new place, with the new last name, but her children were ALONE in the old trailer lot where she started. I was able, thankfully, to move them to the bin, and add to her family, but what the heck?? EA was ZERO help, and I never did locate the second custom hood.

I have on this system Windows Vista Home Premium, 64-bit. 8GB RAM, and AMD Phenom 9750 Quad-Core Processor 2.40 GHz. NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GS display adapter. I didn't notice any issues in Strangetown, though I had not played it much at the time, and have not played Veronaville at all, so no idea there. I was, repeat WAS, using Norton at the time, and that did cause other computer issues. Got rid of it, and got Kaspersky, and MUCH happier on that account. Didn't seem to affect the game, but who knows with Norton....could be related. Like I said, OLD issue for me, but maybe the data can help with the problem for all. Would not mind getting back that other hood, either, lol.