Could you just try for me- DISABLE the custom content, and ENABLE the custom content warning dialog. Now restart the game; you should get a screen on startup showing you the custom conten you have, and warning you that there may be files which alter your game. Can you see that screen? Can you get a screenshot of it? You should be able to click on the 'enable custom content box at the bottom of that screen, then the game will continue loading. However, once you get into the game- don't expect your content to work yet. Go back into the game options and ENABLE custom content, then DISABLE the custom content dialog. Restart the game, hopefully content should be active now.

My problem is a little different. Since i have installed Pets even new downloads cause my game to crash, since it takes almost 2 hours for my game to load(millions of CC files). I find it very frustrating, to have to continually remove downloaded files, does anyone know if Maxis will release it's patch soon?

If installing Pets has overtaxed your computer and you have too many custom content files for it too handle, then the easiest solution is to remove some of the files until you reach an amount your computer can handle.

You could also defragment your hard disc and delete the caches to try to improve loading time:
http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?p=826563
http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?p=1110082

Wow, thank you so much for this! I tried almost everything and not all of my CC was showing up. But this worked beautifully. Thanks! :D

Uhm - Im having the same problem as Tessah.

But its gone a bit further than that...

She said her sims with cc hair was showing with the cc hair though she couldnt choose it in CAS. Same here. And when i made a random sim in CAS the cc hair did turn up on various occasions. different downloads and different artists. I did too all the things Simsample suggested - and did it several times too.
It was like my "enable custom content button" wasnt working. So i tried it the other way. I disabled all custom content and restarted my game with my cc in downloads folder. I checked that cc was disabled and went to CAS and pressed Random.
And got a nice lookin lady with xmssims hair...pressed again and got one with Nouks dreads... So i entered a lot - saved the game - closed it making sure i had disabled all cc. the restart and it was still there.

This means that my game recognizes all the custom files in my downloads (and saved sims) folder - but the game refuses to put it in "catalogue" for me to choose.
All my Game Objects show fine both in collections and single catalogue.

when i enable the dialogue telling me it found custom content, i dont get bodyshop files on the list of items. Seems like it treats the downloads as if they were maxis' own files - could it be a thumbnail problem? The list only features game objects not hair,skin,makeup and so on.

SOLVED this way: http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?t=139718 by forcing game to recreate entire The Sims 2 folder in Documents and settings/EA Games and then copy content of old downloads folder into the new (had to make the new with bodyshop method though) and copy content of every other folder of importance to my game into the new folders.

X-ept from the thumbnails and the Collection folders! I lost all my collections - but I still have the items and my guess is that with the changes made to the collections handling, Maxis outdated some of the cc collections

Im so happy i get to keep my Pets EP!

Athanay, glad you got it working. Well done!
Mother Sim, nice work- thanks for letting us know. It seems that something in the config files is screwing things up- deleting the Sims2 folder refreshes those so this makes sense.

I managed to narrow the problem to the collection file (!) I had been using DJS sims Collection Creator to organize my downloads in collections. All my collection object Mesh and recolor is still in game and functional - but the collection files somehow corrupted the CC enable/disable function.

As soon as i removed all custom content from the collections folder all the Bodyshop items "showed up". And just as quickly disappeared when i added the files to the game folder once more.

I am going to test it to see if its all the collections made or just 1 bad one.- but right now I hope ill never see another collection file folder again, AND i lost all my downloads due to a bad backup file in the process...soooo it mite take a while.

*goes back to download-replacing like crazy*

Mother Sim, since you have Pets you can create Collections from in-game negating the need to use the Collection Creator.

im having a problem with my downloads too.
all of the objects and building tools are showing up but all the custom clothes, people, skintones etc arent.
ive enabled content, tried the body shop thing but they still arent showing up.
you see, a while ago i stopped playing the sims so i took of my downloads folder, burning it on to a CD. recently, i installed sims pets and put the downloads back on from the CD and now theyre stuffing up.
any help that can be offered will be very appreciated
thanks.
xx

somekindofbeautiful, cut and paste your Sims2 folder from My Documents/ EA Games to the desktop. Run the game so that it created a clean Sims 2 folder:
http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?t=139718
Exit, and then copy the files in your old Downloads and Saved Sims folders to the newly created Saved Sims and Downloads folders. If there is no Downloads folder, install a Sims2Pack to create one for you. If there is no SavedSims folder, run Bodyshop to create one for you. Now run the game. You should see a lot of question marks on the custom content warning dialog. Do you see those? In game, turn the custom content dialog to OFF and display custom content ON:
http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?t=192907
Now exit the game and reload it. Does everything show up now?

thanks so much
i followed your instructions and the custom content is all working now.
thanks again!
xx

Glad it worked, well done!

Ok, it turns out I was using the Sims2Pack Installer, not a pack.

Since the not sounding like a complete moron ship has sailed already, what is a Sims2Pack, and where precisely can I find one?

http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?p=1531640 Great tutorial. Maybe you should read it from the start. I did, and it helped me when I first starte downloading!

Right, but I still don't know where to get a Sims2Pack, short of checking in every download on the site.

You can get a Sims2Pack by downloading either a lot or a sim (usually walls and floors too but some creators just upload the .package version instead).

BANG Simsample hits the nail on the head once again Thanks bigtime HP! I own it but I'm waiting a while so I can upload some things that won't have the Pets EP requirement and it's good to research all the problems that will be involved. But nothing would be possible without you moderators so cheers guys!

Hi,
I installed the pets 2..After I installed I went into my neighborhood and inside the homes I had in my neighborhood before I installed the pets 2 and several objects and furniture are now flashing blue..How do I resolve this problem..I am baffled..looking forward to hearing from you soon..

Have you enabled custom content and restarted the game as described one page one of this tutorial ?
http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?t=192907

thanks to the Body Shop tipp I finally got all my downloads back in the game

I'd tried all sorts, nothing seemed to work really good, some of my downloads showed up, others didn't. I was getting quite p.... off.
Now, when I have a problem, I know where to look and save myself some grey hairs

I need help with this game..I installed pets 2..I have no neighborhood, because I followed someones advice about, the bodyshop trick..I followed step by step and now I have no custom content at all and also I have no neighborhoods..I dont know what happened..I have my downloads folder sitting on my desktop..what can I do to get my neighborhoods back..My sims 2 pets, when I click on the icon, the game does not start..get someone help me get back to where I had my neighborhoods and the game..thank you,

I can't remember if this started with the Pets install or with the new patch.
I have all sorts of custom sim creation things and a few recolours that show up, but no custom objects. Anyway, my boyfriend has a serious hate on for the start menu and deletes everythign from it. Does anyone know what the .exe for body shop is called so I can try this trick?

thanks!..i have a question, my wall on the game is red...how do I change it to normal? it's killing me because I wanna see my wall

oh and please send me the message to my mail..i'm sure i will not find this page again haha!