Okay, so I read all of the help sections, and I can't find the answer to my question. If it's there in plain black-and-white, and I didn't notice it, I'm sorry - I'm just not good at searching for things. And if this is in the wrong category, I'm sorry for that, too.

The latest expansion pack that I have is Pets. I THINK I downloaded the Bodyshop patch for Pets - but I can't remember if I did or not. I want to share some of my Bodyshop creations, but I know that I cannot do so without installing this patch. Is there a way that I can check whether or not I have the patch already? I don't want to download it again, because I'm not sure what will happen to my computer if I do... But I don't want people to have problems with my creations if they do not have Pets installed. How can I check and see whether I have installed the Pets patch or not? Thanks!

I can't imagine why any harm would come to your computer from re-downloading the patch. In fact, you should really have ALL the patches you need (or might need in the future) already stored on your computer or an external device, preferably both, for safekeeping.

Once you have the Pets patch, attempt to run it. If it won't run, that's a good indicator that you're already patched. If it does run, that means you weren't but that you will be shortly.

Question: You're not thinking that the Pets patch is the only one you need, are you? Because if you've got other EPs, those need to be patched also, as well as the base game. If you're using combo packs (like Double Deluxe, etc.), you don't have to worry about it, but any standalone EPs you have need to be patched. The only exception is that if you have both Uni and Nightlife, you only need the NL patch for those two, because NL contains the Uni fixes. All other EPs need their own patches.

Thanks for your answer! I have Double Deluxe and Pets, no other expansions. So I thought that the Double Deluxe already had the patches needed for base and Nightlife. But my Pets came with Mansion and Garden, and Family Fun Stuff. Do stuff packs need patches, too, or just EPs? (I keep getting errors in SimPE about Mansion and Garden, that's why I'm wondering.) I was concerned with re-downloading it because I have to download things onto a flash drive, and transfer to my gaming computer, which doesn't have internet, and my flash can't hold too large of files. But the patch download seemed to work fine. I just downloaded and tried to run the patch several times, but I get a message that says "You do not have the Pets EP. This patch is only for the Pets EP" (or something similar to that.) every time that I try to run it. Then it won't go any farther, and it closes itself. But I DO have the Pets EP... So I guess that means that I've already got the patch? I hope so!

Yes, any EP that comes as part of a compilation/combo pack is believed to be pre-patched, and the patches will only run for standalone editions. So, you're good there. (Only one SP has a patch, by the way, and that's Family Fun Stuff.)

So M&G comes in a combo pack that doesn't include AL? That's weird, and not good. M&G is built on AL's game engine (not sure what that means, but I know it's important!), and doesn't run that well if AL is not installed as well. I'd guess that's why it's giving you errors. Best solutions would be to either install AL as well, or uninstall M&G. The former being preferable, if possible.

It doesn't hurt to rerun patches, but it does hurt to have an unpatched game. I'm not sure what to do about M&G though.Like Darby says, it uses AL's game engine, so um... I'll leave advice on that one to the experts.

Ohhh... so THAT is why SimPE keeps giving me errors about AL and M&G! I don't have AL; just Double Deluxe and the Fun With Pets collection. Fun With Pets comes with the Pets EP, M&G, and Family Fun Stuff. This is the collection that I have:

http://www.amazon.com/Sims-2-Fun-Pe...c/dp/B002SMJ414

So, since my Pets came in a combo pack, does that mean that the game has been patched from the beginning? Well, either way, I've tried to run the patch, and it won't run, so I seem to be good. But hmm, I didn't know that about M&G. It makes sense, seeing as I keep getting errors all over the place about AL - but I don't have AL. Lucky for me, my birthday is in two weeks, and I was just asked if I wanted any EPs for my birthday. Now I know which one to ask for

if i were you, id ask to get all of them (if possible)

Haha, I WOULD get them all, if I could. Sadly, none of my local stores carry any Sims 2 games or EPs anymore - just Sims 3. So I guess I'll have to look online to order one.

SimPE needs a patch to run Apartment Life and Mansions and Gardens. You really should install Apartment Life, it sounds like Mansions and Gardens is looking for code and not finding code from Apartment Life that wasn't available with the previous expansions.

Patches only work with stand alone EPs, not combo packs.

I had to find my Sims 2 games at the local used games store since the stores like Walmart stopped selling 2.

You need to install SimPE's mansion and gardens patch. SimPE worked fine for me between getting Fun with Pets and Apartment Life because I had SimPE's patch.

The game worked fine too, just a few things wonky. Kids couldn't always tell secrets, there were a few interactions available I couldn't use, and the coffee bar was missing. You'd need university before having the coffee bar anyways so no worries there for you. :p

I would still recommend getting Apartment Life when you can though. It's really hard to find it for a decent price. Only one I don't have right now is Bonvoyage, and I'm not sure I'll be able to get it outside of downloads, no one seems to have it for less than 80 bucks.

Try e-bay and the Amazon "used" sections, Mule. I got Bon Voyage and OFB there a few months ago, for - shoot, never can remember numbers - under $25 apiece, anyway.

I've been trying Amazon, since shortly before Christmas (when my boyfriend wanted to get me Apartment Life) the prices have jumped up. I don't trust used games sold by individuals, and the ones sold by Amazon factories, are still rather expensive.

I've got all my disks used, and they work fine; in fact I've gotten more than all my disks used, since one person threw in an unnecessary Double Deluxe and I had to buy Apartment Life again after my first one cracked around the hole in the middle. Make sure you get ones that still have the registration number, and check seller ratings before you pick, and you'll be all right. You may not be able to get them as cheap as I did, since collector prices were bound to hit sometime, but you should be able to do better than $80.

Seriously, my husband has an e-bay/Amazon habit that I periodically have to get on him about, and he's been burned about twice since the sites went online. The seller ratings are generally a pretty reliable guide, plus you can often tell the idiots and unsavory charlatans by reading the listing.

I think that I'll look on eBay/Amazon to see if I can find any good deals, too. So, as long as the game still has a registration number, it's good? This might sound like a stupid question, but... If an EP has already been installed on someone else's computer, but they still have the code, can the code be used again? What I mean is, if the EP was installed on someone else's computer and they used the code, can it be installed on a different computer, too, with that same code?

I haven't had any problem with it, and none of my games came sealed. As long as the code is recognized (i.e., I don't make a typo), it registers and installs just fine.

Remember that the software was made with the knowledge that people would be reinstalling it after bad installs, installing it on new computers after after updating, etc. A one-time only number would be a crippling restriction.

Oh yeah. I forgot about that. Haha, silly me. Because I've installed my games on at least three computers, and the codes worked just fine.

The main thing I'm paranoid about is there being no code, and since it's used I wouldn't be able to get a refund. I may eventually wind up buying used, but for now I'm going to try and keep an eye out for getting it new.

Just don't buy a used one unless it specifies that it comes with the code (or "with booklet," since that's where the code's printed). Then, if you get one without, you can demand your refund from the seller, who misrepresented it to you.

Places like Amazon and eBay are very good about protecting their buyers, that's why they're so successful. I had someone once send me the wrong Olympic Games Wii game (summer, instead of winter, and was worth half the price) and when I sent it back for an exchange and never heard from them again, Amazon refunded my money no problem.

There's also other game exchange places that might have the games for a reasonable price, I like to check out Game, CEX and Cash Converters, although of course, they may not be available in your country. Oh, that reminds me, CD-ROMS are NOT region coded, so if you do go the eBay route, expand your search worldwide.

Unless I'm competely misunderstanding, the SimPE M&G patch doesn't have anything to do with patching M&G. It's for making SimPE compatible with games that have M&G installed.

Yup. My copy of M&G stuff is from the UK and works just fine.

Where can I get the SimPE M&G patch? I've looked all over for it, and I can't seem to find it... It seems just plain stupid that M&G would be bundled with Fun With Pets, if it needs AL. But... M&G is my favorite SP out of the ones that I have, so I'm glad that I have it

The M&G patch for updating SimPE is here:
http://sims.ambertation.de/en//

Again, to be clear, this is not an M&G patch, as there's no such thing that I'm aware of. EA certainly never made a patch for M&G. This is a "patch" to make the AL version of SimPE compatible with M&G. Has nothing to do with the M&G EP itself.