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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 3rd Dec 2005 at 6:18 AM

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 2, University, Nightlife, Open for Business, Pets, Seasons, Bon Voyage, Free Time
Default Disappearing Neighborhoods
Is there any fix for disappearing neighborhoods? I can go in, create one, and families/housing. As soon as I quit the game (after saving), and restart I'm left with only the 3 standard Maxis neighborhoods again. All the houses and families I create are gone as well.

This problem has been ongoing for about 3 weeks, and I can't figure out what's causing it. Do I need to back-up my downloads and reinstall, or is this a bug that can be fixed? :gonemad:

I've got the patch for my game (only Uni expansion), and I've tried both downloaded terrains and Maxis standard terrains to no avail. I'm getting fedup with this problem, and can't find a way to fix it. :mad:

Any help is greatly appreciated. Also, sorry if I missed this being answered somewhere. I searched all the forums, but I can't use the chat function, so I'm posting a question without chatting about it.

Thanks!

Valui ad satanam in computatrum meum invocandum

Simmer Romanus2 - My Yahoo! Group

Requests of Roman items taken. My NON-adult items are FREE to use, as long as they remain FREE! (NO PAY SITES!) I'd appreciate a link back, or a mention, but it's not needed. :D
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Object(ive) Investigator
retired moderator
#2 Old 3rd Dec 2005 at 6:34 AM
Is My Documents\EA Games\Neighborhoods read-only (fully or partially)?
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#3 Old 3rd Dec 2005 at 4:24 PM
Default Read Only?
Quote: Originally posted by jaxad0127
Is My Documents\EA Games\Neighborhoods read-only (fully or partially)?


I just right-clicked and 'properties'. The read-only box is checked. What do I need to do to fix it?

Valui ad satanam in computatrum meum invocandum

Simmer Romanus2 - My Yahoo! Group

Requests of Roman items taken. My NON-adult items are FREE to use, as long as they remain FREE! (NO PAY SITES!) I'd appreciate a link back, or a mention, but it's not needed. :D
Object(ive) Investigator
retired moderator
#4 Old 3rd Dec 2005 at 4:32 PM
Try this:
Quote: Originally posted by simsample
Try this:
If you open windows explorer (by clicking on my computer), click tools> folder options> view.... scroll right down to the bottom of the list. If you have a line which says 'Use simple file sharing (recommended)' then uncheck the box and click apply. Can you change the read-only status of your folder now?
Lab Assistant
#5 Old 3rd Dec 2005 at 6:10 PM
This explains a lot. I've been unable to save anything to my downloads folder so I've been putting it all in Objects in the program files. I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong.

Over the last few days I've created some sims, set them up in houses and when I went back to play with them later, they've disappeared completely from the game. I wondered if I'd downloaded a hack that might have caused this.

The folders being set to "read only" hadn't crossed my mind. However, I can't seem to uncheck it no matter what I do.

What steps am I missing?

thanks
Object(ive) Investigator
retired moderator
#6 Old 3rd Dec 2005 at 6:13 PM
earthshoes, please read the post above yours.
Lab Assistant
#7 Old 3rd Dec 2005 at 6:31 PM
Hi jaxad0127
I did read your post--that's why I tried unchecking the "read only" feature. When I look again-the check mark is back beside "read only". I've tried backing up as far as unchecking the feature in "My Documents" to no avail.

I looked under tools/view/ can't find a listing for 'Use simple file sharing (recommended)" under any of the subheadings. That's why asked what I was missing.

Thanks for your help.
Object(ive) Investigator
retired moderator
#8 Old 3rd Dec 2005 at 6:37 PM
What OS are you using?
Lab Assistant
#9 Old 3rd Dec 2005 at 6:40 PM
I'm using Windows XP Home SP2.

It looks like the issue may be with my over-all folder permissions--I'm checking on that even as I type this. I'm the "administrator" on a home network.
Object(ive) Investigator
retired moderator
#10 Old 3rd Dec 2005 at 6:43 PM
So, you have admin rights on your computer? The option simsample talked about should be on the Folder Options dialoge under the View tab.
Lab Assistant
#11 Old 3rd Dec 2005 at 6:47 PM
Yes I do. And it's not there. I'm still looking. I'm wondering if this has something to do with Nortons.

Thanks for your patience.
Lab Assistant
#12 Old 3rd Dec 2005 at 6:52 PM
Ah-hah! This feature apparently doesn't show up in Windows XP Home Edition. It requires a restart in safe mode.

Microsoft . . . sigh . . .
Lab Assistant
#13 Old 3rd Dec 2005 at 8:30 PM
Well, nothing worked. This may have something to do with the fact that I'm beta testing Office 12. As Office 12 is supposed to go out on Vista and the new Vista people are complaining about being unable to disable this feature . . .

Is there a way I can reinstall Sims and ask it to default-save my new sims files to somewhere else on the computer?
Test Subject
#14 Old 3rd Dec 2005 at 8:57 PM
its ont office 12 i have the samehing going on. forunetully i do backups evry couple of days all four need folders, so i dont know the cause or the fix expect to restall the backup i have. all i'm doing when this happs been crating new house or tried a trick i found on her about chaning the apperance of npc. and i have three crated hoods but it only happans to the hood i play most of the time.
what might be ing happaning is and a guess is that the save is cruppting somwhere and when uoi gone back to play after exiting the game and going back in the hood is damaged and it wont load into the game. that the only thing i determined so far.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#15 Old 4th Dec 2005 at 12:05 AM
I'm running XP, Service Pack 2. I can check the 'simple file sharing' option, but it still won't keep folders from going 'read only'. As soon as I right click the EA games 'neighborhood' sub-folder it's showing me 'read only' again. I can unclick the box, and 'apply' but it goes right back to being 'read only'.

Anything else I can try?

Valui ad satanam in computatrum meum invocandum

Simmer Romanus2 - My Yahoo! Group

Requests of Roman items taken. My NON-adult items are FREE to use, as long as they remain FREE! (NO PAY SITES!) I'd appreciate a link back, or a mention, but it's not needed. :D
Object(ive) Investigator
retired moderator
#16 Old 4th Dec 2005 at 12:32 AM
Will those who are using Windows 2000/XP and still having problems, please try this:
Open the command prompt.
Type:
cd %userprofile%\my documents\ea games\the sims 2
Type:
dir neighborhoods /p /s /a:r
Tell us the output
Lab Assistant
#17 Old 4th Dec 2005 at 3:08 AM
Well, if I just put in dir neighborhoods /p /s a long list of files appears. However if I follow through with the complete command I get the Volume of C drive and "File Not Found"
Object(ive) Investigator
retired moderator
#18 Old 4th Dec 2005 at 3:20 AM
Windows can't find and read-only files in your neighborhoods directory. I've noticed the same thing with mine.
Object(ive) Investigator
retired moderator
#19 Old 4th Dec 2005 at 3:23 AM
Could you please try:
cd %userprofile%\my documents\ea games\the sims 2
attrib neighborhoods
Lab Assistant
#20 Old 4th Dec 2005 at 3:43 AM
Once I got all the spaces in the right place (wearing my glasses always helps), it appears to have found the neighborhoods folder. Does this fix anything or are we still diagnosing?
Object(ive) Investigator
retired moderator
#21 Old 4th Dec 2005 at 3:56 AM
It should look like this:
Code:
           C:\Documents and Settings\Jared\My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Neighborhoods


simsample's idea doesn't help me either.
Lab Assistant
#22 Old 4th Dec 2005 at 4:54 AM
That's what it looked like. I've created a sims and set her up in a house. Tried not to get too attached . I'll do a restart and see what happens. One way or the other, thanks for all your help.
Lab Assistant
#23 Old 4th Dec 2005 at 5:08 AM
No. I'm sorry to say, that didn't work.

sigh . . . I think I'll go walk my dog . . .
Object(ive) Investigator
retired moderator
#24 Old 4th Dec 2005 at 5:12 AM
Quote: Originally posted by earthshoes
. . . I think I'll go walk my dog . . .

Good idea.

I'm going to bug Microsoft about this.
Lab Assistant
#25 Old 4th Dec 2005 at 8:03 AM
I have that dissapearing custom neighborhood problem as well, and I'm not sure how to fix that problem as well, best bet is to simply keep backing up the neighborhoods, I'm not sure if its a hack or something, but it can get annoying, good news is that if you hve the expansion packs, you don't loose your sims or your saved works if you back up to a previous day.

-Vlad

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