I have all the expansions and have been using the disc for Mansion & Garden in my drive to play the game. Everything has been fine for months now, and all of a sudden when I start the game it loads Apartment Life instead of Mansion & Garden, and I don't know what's happened. I've done nothing different other that putting some downloads into the game. So the game crashes now when I click on certain houses because I assume the computer thinks Apartment Life is the last expansion installed. Do I need to re-install, or will this just confuse the issue? Is a gremlin in charge now, and I'm at it's mercy? Please help. Thanks, Susanne

Remove all the new downloads you have put in and delete the cache files and try your game.

I removed all the downloads and cache folders, and started the game, but it still won't load Mansion and Garden. It "defaults" to Apartment Life. I'm wondering if the Mansion & Garden disc has become bad. What do you think?

Susanne

Some how your computer has either remove some files for M&G or a mod is screwed it up.

You disk should be ok.

Someone else will have to help form here for I am out of ideas on how to fix this.

Might test the startup with the AnyGameStarter (downloads section of this site). first without custom content (mods/hacks/etc); afterward with custom content.

another thing to try is to install the patches if you have not already.

also might check if the Program Files directory has all needed files/folders. If any files/folders are missing, might copy them from the discs to the proper directories.

I can't open any of the houses, now. The game crashes, no matter which I click on.

I think it's time to reinstall. Make sure to make a full backup of your Sims 2 folder so to keep your hoods and cc safe. Perhaps ask and re-ask Origin for the UC (if you want to go that way) Once you have reinstalled your game make sure your installation files are set to read only.

@olyoldone before you do a reinstall you need to try 1 more thing, remove the complete Sims 2 folder from My Doc inside the EA folder and start up your game a see if the problem is still there.

I removed everything, as you suggested, and did a startup, and nothing changed, it still defaulted to Apartment Life.

So I decided to un-install and re-install Mansion and Garden, and without any downloads, I restarted it again, and it still defaulted to Apartment Life, and I still can't play the game.

OK uninstall both M&G and AL then restart your computer then start up the game after removing Sims 2 folder from My Doc and let it gen up a new one and then install AL, start up the game to make sure every thing is working and then install M&G and see what happens.

If this does not work then a complete uninstall is required.

OK, I'll follow your instructions. I can't imagine why the computer can't read a "stuff" disc.....there's no program on it....it's just stuff! And when I delete the darn thing the computer doesn't want to open anything just using Apartments, which IS a program disc. This why I'm not a computer person....I just don't get it, and I don't want to have to.....I just want my game back! Off to uninstall and reinstall. Then I have to figure out what download caused all this fiasco, if that's what happened.

M&G isn't just a stuff pack, it changed the game engine; so really it's an EP masquerading as a stuff pack. Just be careful that all files have gone. Sometimes that takes more cleaning then simply clicking on uninstall.

Oh, OK......I'm learning new things. Thanks! i uninstalled everything and dumped all files, except for my downloads. I'll re-review again, everything that might be Sims before I start the long tedious job of reloading. I'm thinking that I need to buy another Mansion & Garden, just in case mine is corrupted I haven't taken it out of the tray since I reloaded the game last year, so it's probably been exposed to who knows what. Anyway, I'm not going to load the one I have, unless you tell me that there is no way that my M & G disc can be the problem.

When the game works right, it just seems so simple and un-complex. When it has problems, it's all so complicated. Thanks for your help. I'll let you know the outcome, in a few days.

You could have ran afoul of the SecuROM trouble and may need to remove it first before you reinstall, now that it came to mind. https://support.securom.com/removaltool.html

After running the tool restart your computer then reinstall Sims 2, now if you have already started installing but as long as you have not gotten to BV (I think) your ok.

a disc could be a problem for sure in these cases::
-if the disc got dirty
-if the disc has scratches
-if the disc became cracked
that first one is easily fixed with a certain kind of cloth.
that second one; I printed a page telling different methods for that. http://www.wikihow.com/index.php?ti...D&printable=yes
that third one; the disc is unrecoverable.

not aware of other ways for a disc to be a problem.


sometimes operating system can cause problems. I recall at other Sims2 sites of Vista and Windows 7 having problems with this game.
And from various threads in this site, it seems Windows 8 has problems with this game.
I never had any of those operating systems.

OK, thanks for all your suggestions. I ended up deleting everything Sims, and reinstalling all expansions except for Mansion & Gardens. Too afraid to use that one again. Checking prices and availability from E-Bay and Amazon, there's not a lot out there at the moment, so I'll wait and continue to use Apartment Life for now. I'm back in the game, and that's what's important.

Susanne

If you were previously launching the game via the launcher, you should be aware that it's known to randomly uninstall EPs and SPs. That's been the most common cause of this issue that I've seen in the past.

It won't be a problem with your M&G disk, as the disk isn't used for anything after you've installed the game from it - all the game does is check that the disk is still there to make sure you're not a naughty pirate.

I now have the same problem as the OP, except I haven't added any CC for quite a long time. Yesterday the game was OK, but today it loads Apartment Life instead of M&G.



Does this mean that I will only have to re-install M&G?

Also, I went to quite a lot of trouble to create an empty neighborhood, without townies, etc. And I only have one hood, i.e. I don't have any Maxis ones. Will I need to do all the juggling with neighborhood templates in the Program Files folder again, or will it be OK as long as I don't create any new neighborhoods?

Try asking someone on EA Customer Support Chat. I needed help because I couldn't find TS2 on Origin and instead of fixing it or anything they just gave me a code for The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection, so maybe they will give you a code too (After they gave me the code, I read they're just giving The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection to everyone). If your game is not original, this may work. However, first back up your game and uninstall so you can install the new one and don't lose any information. If you do this, you would be reinstalling all your stuff packs and expansion packs, it would be less likely to have problems and I think the problem should be gone.

The ones in My Documents are just copies of the ones in the Program Files. If you look in Program Files and the changes you made are still there, you should be fine. To get new copies of the EAxis neighbourhoods in your My Documents folder just remove the Neighbourhoods folder (C:\Users\your name\Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Neighborhoods - for Win7) and run the game once. It will copy the versions in Program Files into My Documents. That's how the whole thing works - everything works with copies. You can then replace the folders you moved out before the reset but be careful not to let any folders overwrite (it borks the neighbourhood). If you have a folder with the same number either delete the new copy or rename one or the other with a bulk renamer.

I feel really stupid, but the issue actually resolved itself after I restarted the computer. Who would have thought? Never in a million years am I going to understand these machines!!! But I'm happy I didn't have to do the entire re-install thing