Various Problems Regarding Reinstallation and Custom Content

[s0ccEr4lifE]

1. My first problem is custom content does not appear, specifically from this website. I've downloaded things from http://www.parsimonious.org/ and they have worked, but this website has not. I downloaded a university patch thing that people told me would work, but this has leaded me to problem 2.
2. I downloaded the patch, and afterwhich I tried to play my game, I got an error message saying 'Sims 2 not found. Please reinstall.' When I tried again, I got a message saying 'Please insert Sims 2 University or press quit.' and my game was already inserted.
3. If I do reinstall my game, will all of my sims go away? Is there anyway to save my sims, lots, and custom content?

[ejnarts1]

As far as your first problem. Are you certain what you're downloading is compatible with the EPs/SPs you have? And everyone will tell you to perform this ritual (http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:GCCTSU). which has every known means of getting CC to show up. It's tedious and I dread it, but it works.

As far as your 2nd problem... where did you get the patch from? Here or at the BBS? I'm assuming you're on a Mac, correct? If you installed a patch for a PC on a Mac more than likely you will get problems?

[plasticbox]

1 – what ejnarts said: Please do the FAQ.

2 – Please post your system specs. Which "university patch thing" are you referring to? For all I know the only patch that's still supported is the 2007 Combo Patch, available from http://www.aspyr.com.

3 – See here: http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Back_Ups -- this is talking about Windows but the paths are very similar on OS X (User > Documents instead of My Documents, for example), everything else is the same.

[s0ccEr4lifE]

I download the patch from here:
http://www.macgamefiles.com/detail.php?item=19160

[s0ccEr4lifE]

I tried to read that thing, but it confused me even more.
: (

[s0ccEr4lifE]

I know I probably sound terribly annoying, but can anyone break down the back up process for a mac? As you probably realized, I am FAR from a computer genius, and need all the help I can get.

[luws]

to back up your game files, all you need to do is make a copy of the game folder inside your user folder. The path would be youruser/documents/EA Games/The Sims 2.

Copy everything in there.

Where and how you make the copy is your choice. (ie: burn to a CD, flash drive, etc.)

[rhiamom]

You installed the wrong patch. You need to be using the Combo patch. http://www.macgamefiles.com/detail.php?item=18775 The older patches, like you used, cause issues, particularly under Leopard.