I'm not much of a builder, but decided I'd give making a new home for my sims a shot. However, when I put down a new empty lot to build on, it won't open. It starts loading, but when it's almost there, it stops and there is no further progress. The loading music keeps playing as normal. I've left it for half an hour and nothing. I've tried doing this is multiple neighbourhoods and naming the lot different things, but that didn't fix the problem either. Any ideas?

Are the empty lots regular empty maxis lots, or any of the "extended" empty lots, such as this set, or similar? (Thinking of compatibility, especially if you don't have all EPs - maxis lots should be fine, but "Extended" empty lots might require EPs since they're technically regular lots)

Do you have issues with placing lots with houses, or just the empty ones?
Do you have any issues with long loading times for other lots?

Which size lot are you placing? (if you're trying with a large one, try with a smaller one, just to see if it's the size that's causing trouble)

Have you tried waiting longer? (Does the loading screen ever go to the "light-up splash" stage that shows the lot is close to finishing loading?)
If you for instance have slow loading times elsewhere in the game, especially when loading lots in general, it could be that.

Does the game crash, or does the music stop, or are there any other signs the game has frozen/isn't loading?
(If not, it's possible the game is still loading, but slowly. I've had the occasional weirdly long loading of newly placed lots, sometimes it's just the game being weird).

I believe they are are maxis ones. Mostly trying to place 2x2, but I have been trying with other small sizes too. I'm using the ultimate collection.

I can place houses no problem, just not empty lots. I have no issues with long loading times for anything else. Everything else loads in I want to say under a minute.

30 minutes is the longest I've waited. It doesn't crash. The music plays as normal. Sometimes it does reach the light-up splash stage.

Maybe I'll try and give it longer.

Tried waiting for one hour and 40 minutes, still nothing. I will post a picture of the screen I keep getting stuck on when I figure out how to do so.

Are you playing with mods? If so try taking them out. As well as generating a new Sims 2 folder.