If you look into the Downloads folder of the AnyGame and you DON'T see the file "ah_lotfullofsims.package", then you can be 100% sure that the mod is NOT loaded into the AnyGame. The AnyCame can't possibly read a package from the main game's Download. And in particular, it's not possible that only 1 BHAV from the mod is copied over to the AnyGame.

To double check if there's something weird, activate the "Custom Content check" and run the AnyGame: if somehow the mod is loaded (even if you have NOT put it in the AnyGame downloads), the CC check window will warn you.

No, nothing in CC check.
OK I started fresh with a new game in the original place.
Created an UpToPEt game from that.
Filled a lot with 4 couples.
The Try for baby is there anyway and it's not OK.
Edit: Note that the sims do not get pregnant anyway.

Next I copied The Sims 2 folder from AnyGame to the original place and played the full game on the same lot (removed the anygame1.id).
The Try for baby is NOT there so now that's OK.

I don't get it. You said you copy the game files from the Program folders. What about patches then? Is the patches from the newer EP's included in the UpToPets game or is it patched with the Pet's patch only or maybe not patched at all?

I have not noticed this behaviour when I only had the the EP's up to Pets installed. Any idea?

I'm curious to test an Up2Pets AnyGame myself; you talk about patches: do you think that it's a sort of bug in the game that has been fixed (or maybe introduced) with a Maxis patch?

The AGS games, as a general rule, *are* affected by the patches, but not all of them.
For example, in a Up2Pets game, only the patches related to EP up to Pets are taken in account. But there are exceptions: if - for example - you install a patch for FreeTime that fixes (among the various bugs) also a bug from Pets, it is possible that the patch:
- modifies the Objects.package from FreeTime (in this case, the AGS Up2Pets ignores it); or
- modifies the Objects.package from Pets (in this case, the patch affects the AGS game, too).


EDIT:
I tried an Up2Pets game without any CC (note that I do NOT have the LotFullOfSims mod in the full game, nor in any AGS game).
A house with 4 couples acted as you describe: I see the Try For Baby interaction, but the woman never gets pregnant.
I then added Seasons and ran again the same AGS game: the Try For Baby interaction has gone!
Therefore, this odd behaviour is due to the game itself: starting with Seasons, the person globals routines have been updated to get rid of the Baby interaction, and the Up2Pets game ignores (as expected) the "fix" introduced with Seasons.

Something like that, yes. You have at least verified that Seasons fixed one bug in Pets and that that fix is not included in an AGS UpToPets game.
But there is more to it than this. I will not bother you with more questions right now but it seems I have to uninstall every EP above Pets to prove that I'm not insane or something.

The thing is that when I played with only Uni, NL, OFB and Pets installed on my computer I did not only have Try for baby but the sims also got pregnant. I swear I could have 10 sims on the lot but not 11. I must have noticed if I could Try for baby without any pregnancy. So something differ in an AGS game and an irl game or I have a loss of memory or worse.

Don't think too much about this before I have tested this (if you have more important things to do).

I frankly don't remember how these things worked back when I didn't have Pets installed.
However, I'm fairly confident that if you would uninstall Seasons and newer EPs, you would get the very same result as an AGS "Up2Pets" game.
As far as I know, the 8-sim limit has always been implemented in the game since the beginning; but I could be wrong, of course. Fact is, if a patch modified the Objects.package that originally came with the Pets CD, you can uninstall whatever you want, but still the patch will act upon your game. You should uninstall everything and then reinstall the EPs up to Pets (without patching it) to actually re-create the environment you experienced back then.

Up to Pets it was always limited to 8 but with Pets new parameters was introduced with the following values, They can be seen in the config-logs file now:

uintProp maxTotalSims 10
uintProp maxTotalHumans 8
uintProp maxTotalPets 6

I guess the first one was set to 8 before and the other 2 was introduced wth Pets. Someone at Maxis probably did not check against the new ones because as I remember it the sum of pets and "humans" was limited to 10 in any combination.
Suddenly at that point the old Lotfullofsims by Dr Doofus stopped working too. That was when I started digging but never finished.

Thank you very much for your help. I guess there is no fault in AGS but in the game. The only thing to do is to reinstall everything.

I don't know for certain if this has any relation to your AGS but ever since I installed it and started using it I have not been able to use HomeCrafter. It will not start at all. I had no problems whatsoever with it prior.

No, the AGS doesn't affect the HomeCrafter in any way.

I have the Double Deluxe version of sims 2 but it always starts up without the disc and when I try to start the AGS, it tells me I need to insert the disc. Is there any way I can use the AGS without having to insert the Double Deluxe disc? Thanks!

DoubleDeluxe doesn't require the CD in order to start? Are you sure?
I see from your profile that you have also SSN and AL, therefore you should run your full game with the Apartment Life CD inserted. If somehow (and I don't want to know how ) you can start your full game without CD, then the AGS should do the same, but only if the AnyGame includes Apartment Life. If you uncheck Apartment Life from the EP list, the AnyGame will use a different executable when run.

Thanks! I figured out the problem. Turns out I had to start the AGS with Mansion&Garden stuff pack otherwise it wouldn't work. Thanks again!

I can't seem to get custom content to show up in the mini-game. I have dragged my downloads into the download folder under Anyway, and have checked the option for displaying custom content in game. Am I missing something?

btw, thank you so much for making this awesome mod! XD

the only thing that comes to my mind is that dragging the packages to the new Downloads folder you may have created shorcuts instead of actually copying the files.
Or maybe you have several AnyGames, and you have put the files in the Downloads of the wrong game.

Are you sure that the downloads copied to the AnyGame are compatible with the AnyGame configuration?

The downloads that I have trouble with are clothing mods, which I think works with any version of the game, so I don't think it's a compatibility issue. I have indeed *copied* the files over to the right folder. The only thing that brings to my mind after re-reading the instruction is the playing with administrator account. I can't get to my administrator account unless I'm in safemode (windows xp), but I am playing the game under a user account with administrator rights. Is that a potential problem? Thanks for your help!

Whenever you run an AnyGame, the Registry needs to be modified, in the HKEY_Local_Machine section. This can't happen if the user doesn't have administrative accounts, and Windows "reatcs" in a particular way:

1) Any modifications of the Registry are executed over the "HKEY_Current_User" section (instead of the general "Local Machine" section)
2) all references to the user documents folder are actually "misplaced" to the "common documents" folder.

As a consequence, I believe that your AnyGame actually creates its savegame folder (with its related Downloads folder, neighborhoods etc) in the Common Documents, i.e.:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents

Thank you Numenor this looks like a very usefull program, I just read everything asked here and still have some questions.

I have every Stuff- and Expansionpack installed, and would like to do a nostalgic tour starting with the basegame, and than adding/enabling expansionpacks to find the perfect combinaton for my new to build themed neighborhood.
Is it possible to start one new AGS game with only basegame enabled, build a neighborhood play it for a while, save it, add another stuff or expansion and play that same neighborhood, save it, add another etc.etc.???
In post 153 you say : "I then added Seasons and ran again the same AGS game"
So I hope that it is possible! And I mean adding/enable not installing, as I already have everything installed.

Another question: I always made a full backup before installing a new expansionpack. Is it possible to use those backups somehow with this Anygamestarter ?

I finally figured out why I couldn't see my custom content! I've put them in subfolders that the base game doesn't recognize. Then when I try to run AnyGame with only the base installed, Of course I won't see them!

So now I've put them into recognized folders, and AnyGame is working great! Thank you, Numenor so much for your help, and for creating this amazing mod!!

Cocomama - It's definitely possible, but it's not an automated process.

1) Create an AnyGame (let's say it's the "AnyGame1") with only the base game and play it at will.
2) Go to the "AnyGame1" folder and move the entire EA Games folder on the desktop.
3) Run the AGS installer and create an AnyGame with one or more EP; choose to REPLACE the AnyGame1.
4) Open again the AnyGame1 folder, delete the newly created EA Games folder, and replace it with the one from your desktop.

It's longer to describe than to actually do it


NOTE: the process can't be reverted, as you probably know, because you can't go back to the base game. But in some cases it *is* possible to "downgrade" a saved game, removing one or more EP: the only required condition is that you never remove the latest EP.

Examples: Base+UNI+NL can be downgraded to Base+NL; Base+UNI+NL can be "up-downgraded" to Base+OFB (thus removing UNI and NL, but adding an EP newer than NL).

These info apply to your last question, too: your old backup can be played in an AGS game that contains at least the newest EP that you were playing when you made that backup; all the other EPs can be removed, but not the latest one.
NOT: if you replace an AGS "EA Games" with the backupped one, you should manually create a file, named "AnyGame1.id" (or 2, or 3, of course) and place it in the "The Sims 2" folder: this is needed for the AnyGame to "recognize" the folder as an AGS folder.

LongPigeon - LOL! I'd never thought of that... We forgot the limitations of the original base game

Thank you Numenor for the quick and very complete answer. I will have so much fun exploring all the possibilities this program will give me.

Hey Numenor! Thanks for all of the wonderful things you've done for the Sims2 community over the years; your efforts are much appreciated by me and by many, many others.

I downloaded and installed AnyGameStarter 2.0.3 yesterday, and have been having some trouble as discussed in the F.A.Q, section 3.C ..."MY "FULL GAME" HAS BEEN DELETED/NUKED/BROKEN!"

AnyGameStarter seems to work fine on my machine, I've had no issues with the AnyGames I've created.

However, I can't seem to get to my "original, full" game (what's the terminology? "Legacy Install"?). I start up the game (with the "normal" icon") and once the game starts up and warns me about using custom content, presents me with an "empty" start screen ... with none of the Maxis Neighborhoods nor my custom one.

I've followed the instructions in the F.A.Q. 3.C to no avail.

I suspect my registry keys or whatever are barfloogled up somehow, I know my original 'hoods remain intact (and I backed up and zipped my "legacy" install before I installed AnyGameStarter, so in the unlikely event something is SERIOUSLY wrong with my machine I can just re-install everything).

I've attached my zipped AppFiles along with the AGSinstaller_Log.txt here. I hope you can help me figure out what's going on.

In the meantime, I'll just sort / clean my "Downloads" folder and perhaps build a few homes in an AnyGame!

Thanks again for all your efforts, Numenor!

-- Andy

Andy, please confirm that:
- your "full game" is located in: C:\Documents and Settings\Andy\My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2; you should find your Downloads full of stuff, your Neighborhoods folder containing all your neighborhoods, etc.
- you run the AnyGames with an Administrator account.

If you confirm both, you should double-click on the file "Sims2_Full.reg" located in your AppFiles (Windows will ask for a confirmation), and then try again running the "full game". If it still doesn't work, restart the PC and retry.

Numenor, thanks very much for your prompt response.

I followed the instructions you provided here, and I was still unable to open my "full game."

I don't think I indicated, but I had the "EA Store Edition" installed, and (wondering if that might have been part of the problem):

• I uninstalled the EA Store Edition,
• ran "Sims2_Full.reg" as you instructed here,
• rebooted my machine, and
• then downloaded the EA Store Edition (from the EA Download Manager) and re-installed it.

This solved my problem accessing my "full game" (I've been able to open and run it), but I've not ran any of my "AnyGames" since, as I'm a bit concerned I may end up befrazzled again.

Do you think having the "EA Store" Edition installed may be part of the problem I'm having?

As a side note, once I downloaded and installed the "EA Store Edition", I was able to run my "full game" without any disc in my DVD drive ...

Thanks again for all your help and efforts on my behalf!

-- Andy

Andy, I have the Store Edition, too, and I never had problems running the full game; besides, I knew you had Store Ed: I've read this info in your AppFiles
What puzzles me is that now you can play the game without CD in the drive: it shouldn't be this way. This should only happen if the game does NOT include FreeTime and newer EP, but you have ALL the expansions, so you should run the Full Game with the Mansion&Garden CD in the drive.

Anyway, I'm glad you solved your problem

As a bottom line, you did something potentially wrong: the "Sims2_Full.reg" file is tailored on your current game configuration: if you add or remove an expansion (you removed Store Ed.) you shouldn't use the Sims2_full.reg any more: you should rather let the AGS installer create a brand new one.
But in this case, you immediately reinstalled the Store Ed., and therefor the Sims2_Full.reg is valid again.

Hello, Atalantë!
... is why I said "I don't think I indicated" ...

I wasn't sure if handing you my AppFiles was gonna show you my [ANDY_LOCAL_UNDERWARE_SIZE-n-COLOR] or not, so I just *shrugged* and figured I could trust ya!

"I" didn't "indicate it ... but I suspected the files I was handing off to you might!

I know (and pretty much suspected, before I even posted) that my current Sims2 install is bonkered up somehow; it's why I mentioned I can currently run the "Full Game" with no CD/DVD in the computer's drive.
Thanks, me too! I just did some stuff to return my system to a "known 'unknown' state!"

As soon as I get my three "legacy" Sims out of college (and back-up my current install), I will fire up AGS again and see what happens. If The Sims2 / AGS behaves bazoonky, I'm planning on just completely re-formatting the hard drives on this box, re-installing the (I use the term loosely) operating system ... and starting over.

Troubleshooting PCs is difficult enough when their states are "known." I'm not sure troubleshooting known "Unknown" states is worth it ... for anyone.

Thanks again for your time and support, Numenor. I really do think you're a hero to the entire Sims2 community.

May Varda bless you.

-- Andy

I downloaded this to bypass Bon Voyage, because my computer crashed every time I try to run it, and it won't let me reinstall it cmpletely. But the game doesn't start! it just sits there. Help?