So I should start by explaining that back in December I had gotten a nasty virus and ended up with a bunch of holes and corrupted files (including not being able to open, uninstall, reinstall TS2 or a lot of my other programs). Previously I had Vista but it made my laptop incredibly slow (index score of 2.7 based on the processor). I took it to a LCS and asked if they could do a clean install of XP. Since then I haven't had too many problems. I realize the laptop will probably never be the same but at least it's working!

It is an AMD Ultra Dual core 2.2gh
4 GB ram
100GB HD
and of course windows XP
I keep it clean and organized... I'm not one to download a bunch of stuff I don't need (unless it pertains to CC for TS2 of course...lol)


So, Problem #1
after a clean install
of TS2 Double Deluxe w/NL and Celebration stuff
Plus the EP AL

I put my download folder back in (copied to a flash drive before the reformat) and everything was fine.
Then I decided I wanted a new EP
Uni which I did a direct DL from Origin.
It's true I didn't know that I needed to remove AL first before installing Uni but I found that info on the game help site. BUT removing AL and installing Uni then AL didn't work. So I uninstalled everything and started over fresh.
Everything was working fine EXCEPT the cheat setQuarterTilePlacement on
I don't like using the snapObjectsToGrid cheat unless I absolutely have to. I prefer the quarter tile. I read that as long as I have AL it should work fine. Is this really true?
THEN
I decided I needed some Gothic items for a spooky house I wanted to do so I came to MTS and downloaded maybe.... 25-30 things.
Now the game wouldn't start at all.
So then I went to remove those items and realized I couldn't find them (I had started to organize my DL folder prior to the virus but didn't get very far) and so I came back to MTS and that's when I found the most ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL program; Delphy's Download Organizer (I so wish I had know about this a long time ago!!!!!)
So I found the new CC I DL'ed and removed it from my DL folder onto my desktop.
Game still wouldn't start.
So I uninstalled and reinstalled all three games put the new CC in the DL folder put the folder in the game and voila it works. Until I downloaded more CC.
SO I decided I wasn't going to DL any more CC (ha ha ha) but for some reason one of the games installed incorrectly this last time and crashed the hole PC so I've uninstalled them.
SO this week before I reinstall everything I plan on DL as much CC as I can, organize it all and then reinstall.
BUT
There are so many pretty shiny things to add. I don't want to go through this every time I find something I ABSOLUTELY have to have in my game. I would assume that Uni has the patches included in the DL from Origin since I only downloaded about a month ago right???
I never had ONE single problem with Double Deluxe and AL...(oh wait, the 45 degree angle cheat didn't work for about 6 months and then one day it did)
is it DD that's the problem? Because it has NL and I can't install exactly in order of published EP?
I would be grateful for any answers
(and thanks for reading my incredibly long overwrought post)

It's possible that your laptop has suffered too much wear and tear and just won't run it anymore. The fact that running the game crashed the whole computer sure sounds like it. Laptops aren't generally designed to handle high-graphics games, and attempting to do so can wreck them by overstraining the system. Compare your system specs to the requirements - if anything's subpar, that's probably your answer. Did you look at the FAQ? It tells you how to look at your system specs. If you don't understand your system specs, post the part that confuses you here and somebody will explain sometime.

It doesn't actually matter what order you load the EPs in. I ran fine installing Freetime and Bon Voyage after Apartment LIfe.

And don't assume anything - it doesn't hurt anything to try to install a patch that's already installed, but it does hurt things to run unpatched.

The quartertile cheat comes with M&G, not AL. It's probably also included in some versions of Store Edition, which you have if you downloaded Uni through Origin; however, since the Store Edition patches are no longer available you might not be able to update it far enough to get access to the quartertile cheat.

Did you try the various other fixes for not starting, particularly deleting groups.cache, after downloading new CC?

I've Never had M&G and the quartertile cheat worked fine with DD & AL. It stopped working after I installed Uni. Why would that make a difference?

Deleting cache files, etc isn't going to make a difference since I ran it for more then a year with Double Deluxe and Apartment Life without any problems and never had to delete those files. Since I uninstalled and reinstalled 4 times now each time I did a clean install it's not going to increase the cache files since we are talking maybe one to two weeks between re-installs. And like I said it works fine until I download even one CC item.

After the second reinstall, I loaded the game to get those document folders going and The only neighborhood that showed up was Bella Donna. Weird?

I'm considering Buying BonVoyage (Direct DL from Origin), wondering if it will make things worse, the same or maybe better.

This laptop is only 2.5 years old. It has a good graphics card and while it's not a quad core it is great on speed now that I have XP. When I had Vista it took 3 times to start TS2 and about 15 minutes to load when it finally went through. Part of this was due to the DL folder Because.....

After I downloaded Delphy's Organizer and cleaned up my DL folder I found out that some how the folder had become some kind of dumping ground for files I have NEVER put in there including
3 copies of program files for the program Blender plus scripts folder
1 set each of program files for two other design programs
a copy of my Vuze Downloads folder
something else I can't remember but it was internet related
and strangely enough copies of copies of certain CC all from 4EverSimFantasy (my favorite object designer)
needless to say, my DL folder went from 13.4 GB to 3.4
I am curious if anyone else has had this happen.

When I installed Uni the first time it kept asking me for the AL CD so I put it in and clicked retry and nothing happened. That was when I found the "Clean Install" guide and uninstalled everything and re-installed.

When it crashed a blue screen came up (DOS) stating that a program had been installed incorrectly. I was playing TS2 so I assumed it was that program and it was the only new install. I'm pretty sure I know why it installed wrong though.

Last edited by GipsiChick : 20th Apr 2012 at 07:11 PM.

I believe that your problem is with your Store Edition.

If the quartertile cheat came with Mansion and Garden, then you either need Mansion and Garden or a version of the Store Edition which is compatible with the Mansion and Garden game engine.

You have a version of the Store Edition included with Double Deluxe and another version included with your downloaded University EP. My bet is that neither version of the Store Edition has been updated to the latest version, which would be compatible with the Mansion and Garden game engine. In fact, I would bet that your currently installed Store Edition has not even been updated to the Apartment Life game engine.

Unfortunately, EA no longer allows people to download the updated Store Edition. Therefore, the only way (that I know of) to get the updated Store Edition is to install the Store Edition which is shipped with the Fun with Pets collection. I have seen several people now whose problems were solved in this way, especially if they install Fun with Pets last in the installation sequence.

If you are willing to explain the problem to EA, politely but firmly, they should be willing to give you the Fun with Pets combo pack download for free, since it is the only way to get your game working properly again, with a Store Edition which is up-to-date with your Apartment Life EP.

An alternative is to uninstall everything, then install Double Deluxe with the Store Edition, University without the Store Edition, and Apartment Life, which I assume doesn't include the Store Edition. I can't guarantee that this will work, but you would at least be avoiding overwriting your Double Deluxe Store Edition with the University Store Edition.

Is your Apartment Life EP on disk or downloaded? If downloaded, then it should also contain a version of the Store Edition, and that is the version that you should be using.

My Apartment life is a CD. I was considering buying both BV and Pets so I could get M&G since I've heard great things about that particular stuff pack (it has those dormer windows for the AL object roofs Right?)
When I install Double Deluxe the EA Games document folder shows a folder for both Store Addition and Double Deluxe. The same folders appear in both but I have to put my downloads folder with the DD otherwise it won't work. Is the Store Addition folder even necessary? Can I just Delete it?

When I had Double Deluxe and Apartment Life installed I used the Double Deluxe CD to run the game. After I installed Uni however, I had to use the Apartment Life CD to play the game. Is this normal?

*Are the Origin Downloads unlimited? I keep thinking there might be a limit of downloading an EP, installing and then uninstalling and doing it all over again.

*Wait a minute. On my Origins "console" it has a download for Store Edition and University life... am I supposed to download both? Is this my problem, because I only downloaded the Uni? I didn't think I had to download the store edition because I thought it was already on my PC.

Oops, I just reread your post. So I was right in not downloading the Uni store addition. But I'm still running my EP's on the old addition from Double Deluxe. So I'm guessing they don't include the updates in the CD's even though I bought Double Deluxe in December of 2010?

Well this explains everything.
Thanks!

Last edited by GipsiChick : 20th Apr 2012 at 06:58 PM.

Please don't quadruple post. Use the edit button to add information to your existing post.

Let me see whether I can answer any of your questions.

If your existing neighborhoods were created using the updated Store Edition, then you will need to have the updated Store Edition if you want to continue to play those neighborhoods.

Personally, I avoid the Store Edition like the plague. EA really botched the whole thing, especially the updates, and people seem to have a lot of problems getting it installed correctly.

This means that you do not have the updated Store Edition installed. You probably have an earlier version. If you want to use the Mansion and Garden features, you'll need either M&G or the updated Store Edition.

No. Unlike DVDs, downloaded versions have a limit on the number of installs. When you reach that limit, you'll have to buy the EP again (unless you can convince EA to give you a new key for free).

This is the fundamental problem: You need the most recent version of the Store Edition. You used to have it on your computer because the Store Edition was updated automatically. However, since EA has removed the Sims Store, it has become difficult to get the most recent version. EA no longer updates your Store Edition automatically. Instead, many of your packs will include an older version of the Store Edition.

I do not use the Store Edition and I have no information about which version of the Store Edition is included with which packs. Because of this, you may just have to try various things to see whether you can get the game to work. Basically, you need to to get the updated Store Edition. The only way that I know of is to install the Fun with Pets collection pack as the last thing that you install.

In general, you can expect that the version of the Store Edition for an EP is related to the release date of the EP:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Si....2C_and_add-ons

If EA gives you an option to download the Store Edition by itself, then I would try installing that Store Edition after installing everything else. If you're lucky, that's the most recent version.

Last edited by Mootilda : 20th Apr 2012 at 07:08 PM.

I didn't save any of my games. I was afraid that if I did it would cause problems later on. I'm more of a builder anyways, so there's always a new something to build.

I went ahead a bought the BV and the Pets Downloads.
So I should install:
Double deluxe (CD) without the Store Addition then
Uni (DL)
Bon Voyage (DL)
Apartment Life (CD)
Pets (DL)
Store Addition (DL)

Last edited by GipsiChick : 20th Apr 2012 at 07:14 PM.

According to EA (https://help.ea.com/article/RN2229), you should install:
Double deluxe (CD)
Uni (DL)
Pets (DL)
Bon Voyage (DL)
Apartment Life (CD)

However, EA doesn't give any advice about installing the Store Edition. From other people's experiences, we can conclude that EA's support people are unable to give any reasonable advice. Therefore, we are now playing a guessing game.

My suggestion is that you try this:
Double deluxe (CD) without the Store Addition
Uni (DL)
Pets (DL)
Bon Voyage (DL)
Apartment Life (CD)
Store Addition (DL) (assuming that you still want the quartertile cheat included with Mansion and Garden).

If you decide that you don't want the aggravation of the Store Edition, and are willing to live without the Mansion and Garden cheats, then my suggestion is:
Double deluxe (CD) without the Store Addition
Uni (DL) without the Store Addition
Pets (DL) without the Store Addition
Bon Voyage (DL) without the Store Addition
Apartment Life (CD)

I'm sorry that I can't give you a definitive answer. EA has never given us reasonable instructions for installing the most recent version of the Store Edition. Their support people don't have any idea how to solve this problem. However, I'm convinced that you used to have the most recent version of the Store Edition, you no longer have that version, and that your problems will be solved if you can manage to get that version installed.

You should also be aware that houses made with the most recent Store Edition will not be compatible with a game which doesn't include the most recent Store Edition. I don't know whether you like to revisit your houses, but that may help you to decide whether to install the Store Edition or not.

Last edited by Mootilda : 20th Apr 2012 at 07:28 PM.

I installed everything as above and the game is working perfectly even after downloading custom content.
Thank you!

I'm so glad that you got it working. It's interesting to learn that EA gave you a separate Store Edition download. Perhaps they've finally figured out that people are having problems with their out-of-date versions of the SE?