Hello all! I haven't posted here in a while, long time no see ^_^

I am using an HP Laptop running Windows 10...

So, for starters, I'm starting on a fresh game. Uninstalled my old game (that was corrupted...oops...shhh-) using Revo Uninstaller, so it was a clean uninstall. Reinstalled it today, booted it up.

I had never had problems with the game loading prior to this, mind you- My old install pre-corruption ran fine (as fine it could be lol). The issue is: The game loads to the neighborhood selection menu just fine. The tutorials work just fine; they load quickly and everything. However, when I try to load any of the base game + EP hoods, the loading screen ALWAYS, without fail, freezes on "creating magic." As of writing this post, it has been loading for about... 3 hours.

This is a completely vanilla, fresh game. My mods are all backed up and stored in a folder on my desktop. I've already tried deleting cache files with no result. Running as administrator? You betcha. Compatibility mode? For sure. Have I tried the Origin "repair game" feature (that I'm skeptical even works)? Yes.

This has to be some sort of issue regarding hood generation. What's curious, though, is this doesn't affect the Tutorial hood...which doesn't load any of the hidden subhoods (Pets, Magic, Hobbies) AFAIK. SO, this has to be an issue with subhood generation, right? Specifically the Magic one??? Is it like corrupt or something or are my files just broken??

I'm taking literally any suggestions here, please help because I really miss playing

Loading in and creating the sims and all that can be a bit of a RAM + CPU hog. Unless something is wrong in the install folders, it's quite likely a memory crash.

Have you tried the 4GB patch? (if you do, turn off Compatibility mode - it makes the patch not work) It can help with the crashing because it extends how much RAM the game can access from 2 to 4 GB - but only use if you have 8 GB or more RAM, as Windows 10 can be a bit of a RAM hog. This one is pretty much a necessity with Windows 10.

Have you done any fixes to the GraphicsRules? (you may have to - the game may need to be set up to run better with your chip or graphics card)

(By the way - if you have a corrupt game, don't reinstall the entire game unless something is actually wrong in the install folders, which is usually quite rare - although the UC game has some issues... Most likely you just need a "soft reinstall" which you can do by pulling out or renaming the Sims 2 folder in the Documents location and running the game (don't delete, or you'll lose your downloads, etc. and it's always good to have the old game in case it's salvageable). The folder will then regenerate a completely new game for you. Reinstalling, especially multiple times, can sometimes cause more trouble than it's worth. It's aleays a good idea to test if this works first, especially before considering a full reinstall).

Do you have an E002 folder in your [install location]EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Apartment Life\TSData\Res\NeighborhoodTemplate folder, and can you access it okay?

It looks like my E002 folder is intact and everything...
Though I just tried the 4GB patch, and after some adjustments I got my hoods to load perfectly! Honestly had no idea about the patch until now. Thanks a bunch ^w^!!!

(Ah, and I'll keep that in mind about the corruption )