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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 20th Dec 2004 at 1:20 AM Last edited by bairy : 19th Jul 2005 at 4:51 PM.

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 2, University, Nightlife
Default Read this before you reinstall Sims 2 - updated 03/14/05
TRY THIS FIRST: If your game comes up with a red X (like after playing around with Body Shop) or it just will not launch at all (no message, nothing in task manager), close out of that error and delete the groups.cache file in My Documents / EA Games / The Sims 2 folder. Start your game up again. This has happened to me, both ways, and after deleting that file, my game came up with no problems. --- Daysies


If that doesn't work for you, then try Hardonmachin's suggestion:

This trick will save you alot of time/effort

Many of the times that a full reinstall was considered nessesary in The sims, is not the case now with The Sims 2! Reinstall is also Standard operating procedure for later parts of normal troubleshooting, and this trick delays that step.

Enough with all that. Here it is:

1. Move your My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2 folder outside of the My documents tree. (i.e. Place it on your desktop, anywhere the game won't find it.)
2. Start The Sims 2. While starting the game will automatically recreate the default neighborhoods with everything as it was when you first installed the game

This can be done INSTEAD of a full reinstall of TS2 in most cases, but not all.

You can then add your files back into My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2 at your leisure to see what caused the problem that deemed a reinstall nessesary!
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Test Subject
#2 Old 22nd Dec 2004 at 8:40 PM
Thanks for the cool little tip... this will be very handy when we encounter hacks we did not choose to download, although I happen to love most of the ones I have. lol

I will Always be Me
Always Holly
Test Subject
#3 Old 22nd Dec 2004 at 9:29 PM
Also good if you lost the default families and want them back. (I deleted all mine)
Test Subject
#4 Old 23rd Dec 2004 at 12:19 AM
wow i wish i saw this before so i didnt have to reinstall the sims 2..
Test Subject
#5 Old 23rd Dec 2004 at 6:25 PM
Yay! Now this is a great advice!
I'm gonna do this asap in my pc.
Thanks a lot!
Test Subject
#6 Old 28th Dec 2004 at 12:49 AM
you...are...GOD!
Lab Assistant
#7 Old 28th Dec 2004 at 8:42 PM
weeeee! a very good tip...especially now im having probs w/ the jealousy thingy...cuz' my sims are not jealoused even i provoke em' too...T__T anyway, are u sure it won't ruin anything ingame? p0sitive?!?
Test Subject
#8 Old 28th Dec 2004 at 10:04 PM
This has got to be one of the best tips I've seen for TS2, thanks!
Test Subject
#9 Old 29th Dec 2004 at 5:15 PM
Hmmm...This would have helped me so much. I reinstalled my game about 7 times
Test Subject
#10 Old 30th Dec 2004 at 11:28 PM
Default thanks
thanks so much
I was just about reinstall sims 2 because somehow all of my houses in my houses bin disappeared. :err: so that helped alot
Test Subject
#11 Old 31st Dec 2004 at 8:48 PM
Dang...I JUST reinstalled mine. Wish I had known that before!
Lab Assistant
#12 Old 31st Dec 2004 at 8:51 PM
That's cool, thanks!
Field Researcher
#13 Old 3rd Jan 2005 at 8:08 PM
That was a great help. I wanted acouple of old Maxis-made Bin Houses back in my game,( that I demolished a long time ago). After reading this Post, I just removed the Lot Catalog folder before restarting the game, and I got all 12 back.Thanks hardonmachin .
Instructor
#14 Old 9th Jan 2005 at 5:57 PM
Wish I knew this before. I'm from Australia and EA support is a timed call here. Cost me $30 for them to tell me to reinstall my game. LOL.
The Quiet One
retired moderator
#15 Old 12th Jan 2005 at 1:37 AM
I encountered my first Sims 2 crash EVER. I double-clicked on the game icon and all I got was a tiny box with a red X. I even double-clicked on HomeCrafter Plus and I got a "this program has been terminated" crash. I was just cleaning up flashing blue textures when I was in the game last night (I was redecorating a lot) and that could've been the culprit. I saved my game after that and went to bed. After seeing the red X popup today, I followed this to the T and I was able to get back up and running. I also copied in my Neighborhoods, Downloads, and Collections directories. This small piece of advice is a godsend! Thanks for making this a sticky, Hardonmachin!
Field Researcher
#16 Old 13th Jan 2005 at 11:11 PM
Thank you hardonmachin for sharing this tip/trick, it has been incredibly useful
Test Subject
#17 Old 17th Jan 2005 at 6:32 PM
Default Reason NOT to use the Patch
Another way to avoid a reinstall - DO NOT use the patch EA games provided. I tried it on both computers (one of which is used for nothing but house building, no hacks of any kind). In both cases, the first time I tried to start the game I got a message "some files were corrupted during the install. Please reinstall the Sims." When I went into the EA folder in Program fiiles, whole directories were missing. Finally got the Sims2 working today. Guess who WON't be using the patch again? Several people I know have had the same experience...so be warned.
:weep:
Test Subject
#18 Old 17th Jan 2005 at 6:50 PM
And also...hardonmachin's tip is terrific. I used it in the past (pre attempt to install the patch) and it saved my game. Thanks for letting us know!
Field Researcher
#19 Old 17th Jan 2005 at 10:18 PM
Brilliant! I would just like to know how you figured this out!!!
Test Subject
#20 Old 19th Jan 2005 at 6:10 PM
so can i do this then add my own neighbourhoods back to the game?

In the words of RGiles:

AREN'T YOU THE ONE WHO TYPES LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME AND ACTS LIKE A CHIMP ON CRACK?

Oh that made me laugh.
Lab Assistant
#21 Old 19th Jan 2005 at 6:31 PM
:agree: Anouther way is to create anouther acount/ user on the machine you are running. A dummy acount and then use it as a spare. If you are having trouble just move all of your contents in the sims2 my documents folder to anouther folder then copy the dummy acounts folder contents into it and then you instantly have a new game. :bump: Then work with moveing back your original contents slowly. And if you keep the dummy acount "pure" it will always be there for a recopy if any new problems acure. Both ways work though. Some times one way is better than anouther when dealing with a bad hack or a conflicting hack. Cheers

Looking on the Bright Side of Life!
Lab Assistant
#22 Old 25th Jan 2005 at 6:28 AM
hardonmachin, Would this trick also help me get the original wants.package back that I accidentally had over-written instead of renaming it for a mod I got from this site? I hope it would so I dont have to move all my hacks and stuff out of the folder before re-installing my game.
Lab Assistant
#23 Old 25th Jan 2005 at 6:38 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Grahamster
you...are...GOD!

... You shouldnt say that... You could have said your holy than the unholy..

Dude...
Lab Assistant
#24 Old 29th Jan 2005 at 7:16 AM
LOL argggh a day late and a dollar short ....I just reinstalled mine too.
thanks for the tip ...this is one of the most helpful tips I've seen.
Test Subject
#25 Old 1st Feb 2005 at 12:09 PM
Marvellous! i just screwed up the Calliente's I shall do this and the package the lot, get them back that way. Cheers!
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