I get the excat same thing, but only when I play sims3.
For sims 2, the very only thing that can crash my game..is when I forget something making a custom object. lol
As soon as I get to the category the object is in, BOOM.
Well..it has that useful info..my object isn't working, back to it!

Mine has been crashing recently but it's because of no more memory I am ordering some more Gigs to install into my computer. My boyfriend is amazed at how much memory the sims sucks up in comparison to his 3 or so MMO's he has installed but he explained that the Sims 2 is an old game and probably didn't have a lot of optimization algorithms like games today (also as we all know a lot of the coding is flawed as it's so easy to corrupt the game). Also he said that the developers didn't account for the game being played this far into the future and so all the extra CC use wasn't accounted for.

Anytime I try to make a playable floor above the 15th floor, the infamous "this application has crashed. this application will now terminate" message appears. Columns placed with "moveobjects" don't mess it up, so I use them as radio antennae, but that's why none of my skyscrapers are 20 floors high! (I feel like there should be a biblical joke about the Tower of Babel and building too high here, but I can't think of one... feel free to make your own!)

Like... everything.
My laptop just really doesn't like Sims 2. I've tried installing it in every way I've read ever (apart from with the "get the program files off an earlier laptop" one, because I can't do that because my old laptop was completely reformatted and given to my younger brother).
Other than when it crashes randomly, it also crashes:
When sims change their appearance
Buying clothes
Changing clothes (e.g. to go to bed, to take a shower, to go to work) and when using "plan outfit..."
Adding/Marrying/Birthing sims into the family
Using CAS
Community lots in some neighborhoods
Grim appearing when a sim dies
The helicopter carpool
The headmaster, unless it's BJ Ryan (and even he sometimes just disappears for no reason and then the game crashes)
and when sims age up

A lot of those crashes can be avoided though, by saving just before. So I've kinda gotten use to it.

Never heard of windowed mode before but it worked! Might carry on playing full screen and just accept I can't leave, since windowed mode loads slower for me and I can't move around the lots as easily. Thanks for the education, though - will keep it in mind

I've not played fullscreen in ages, ever since I had my old laptop. When I got a new computer I had troubles with the graphics first (fullscreen + widescreen = bad combo), and the game would sometimes spend ages getting back up if I minmized it, or crash. I figured I could live with a slightly smaller screen, if it meant I could use other programs while the game loaded.

I play nearly fullscreen in windowed mode, in that the window cuts off a little bit on each side (no stretched sims, so that's alright). I've learned to use the right button to navigate (used the edge scroll a lot earlier), so that's no big problem, even if I miss the edge scroll.

Something I notice as far as crashes go- regardless of WHAT causes the crash- is that the game actually closes itself down FASTER with a crash than it does with a normal save/quit... My game is unbelievably slow when it comes to shutting down, so much so that I often just leave it running behind whatever other games or work I'm using my computer for. Anyone else notice similar problems?

Well, the only thing I can think is that you might be waiting too long between your saves...
But maybe this has nothing to do either.
If you save & quit, it will take more time. Of course we all do this. But saving often makes it close faster, as it does not have to proceed as much before it can actually close.

That seems obvious. A crash is a premature termination, so it will always be faster than a proper termination (although perhaps only nanoseconds faster... ).

Haha, fair enough! (though I'm not convinced that it should make FIVE MINUTES difference...)

I've had the same glitch with Sims becoming elders (mainly men), probably just because all my Sims know that when they become elders I'm pretty much waiting for them to die so I can move on to the next generation...
It seems to be less glitchy when they age up separately though - can't blame them for wanting their own cake, I suppose (greedy little gits).

But otherwise some community lots crash my game (which is annoying because I don't want my Sims to be going around with randomly paired clothes... denim on denim!?) and also inviting everyone in the neighbourhood to one lot because there were two Sims that simply had to meet because I was kind of planning for them to get married - inviting everyone seemed like the easiest way to meet this Sim rather than stalking them at the time.

Not those of us who want to keep our hoods. You shouldn't save and quit to hood, or save and quit game, because those risk not saving properly which can make things vanish, or corrupt. Some think it is worth the risk for the convenience, but I rather take the time to save, then quit/leave to hood screen, and know my game is a slight bit safer than it would be if I didn't.

Touch wood! I think I've been extraordinarily fortunate in avoiding game crashes, especially considering that I'm playing on a netbook with 2GB of memory and an integrated graphics chip.

When I first started playing, my computer hung trying to play the tutorial. I thought, "I'm not going to have much luck with this new game I've bought!"

But since then it's only really crashed about twice. One of those times I was in neighbourhood view so I didn't lose anything anyway. The other time I lost some odd scene in which Andrew was chatting with Julian Moltke, who later became his boyfriend, Jess Shaikh the paperboy, and the Social Bunny! As a noob, I thought the latter had been sent to torment Andrew for not having enough friends(!), so I really wasn't too upset at losing it. What caused the crash then was that my computer had gone into hibernation, and The Sims 2 was frozen when I restarted it. So I learned not to let my PC hibernate when playing The Sims.

YES!!! totally, you are right.
When I posted this, i remembered that sometimes, often even..we will save, because we are planing to quit the game. This is usually what I do..what i meant was, at times..you'll either..bring the walls up, or..stupid things like this and the game sees this as..a "new thing"..and pressing on quit, will prompt the..save before? message.

Too much on the lot. Hmm, Cassie should have the Pleasants and the Dreamers and the Capps and the Calientes at her wedding, and whoops, those are some high poly hairs and formals the Capp ladies are wearing, and, oops! Too much!

Now do I want to not invite someone, change their looks, or do I want to take some trees off, or what? Well, no, I really don't. Could I put my computer in the freezer, would that help?

Well..originally, there was a 8 sims limit per lot...
It probably was, for a reason lol
I have it set to 20 sims. But never really play the "party" thing.