If you don't see any neighborhoods, try this: http://www.modthesims.info/showthre...444#post4454444

Being the silly girl that I am, I forgot to uninstall TS2: Double Deluxe before installing UC.

I want to uninstall my Double Deluxe to hopefully get UC to work. I know I need to delete the program (x86) file of Double Deluxe, but before I do I just want to make sure I've got a good back up:
If I have my backed up EA games folder from Double Deluxe, (even from before I installed UC,) will that be enough to restore my old neighborhoods?

Hopefully that makes sense. ^

EDIT: Never mind, I figured it out.

I never uninstalled the EPs or anything on the old PC.... and I sure as heck didn't lose all my saves at the time when I first installed FreeTime Way Back Then. The UC is newer (It includes Apartment Life, which I'd never had); logic tells me they should have worked.

It's funny... in my Bon Voyage box, I found a CD-R where I HAD made a full backup... before starting clean with a "fresh" Sims 2 game because BV was acting weird - this fresh game was where the game I can't recover was based.

Why did two people dislike my post?

It is fact you know...

The game doesn't support backward compatibility for save games unlike in TS3. In TS3 you can use save games from an older version of the game onto a newer version of the game (but not the other way around, naturally) just fine, but in TS2 that isn't the case. Especially with the many Edition variations for the game like UC, Fun with Pets etcetera.

If you didn't know that then that only means you're one of those impatient idiots who do not bother reading the various prompts that appear whenever you install stuff on your computer and just click buttons just to get through the installation. Then you go running to a forum or customer support for help when the problem is simply a matter of "PEBCAK" (Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard).

Because that simmer isn't going backwards. Freetime is an earlier expansion than UC.

UC isn't an expansion, it is a Core game Collection Edition. Here read through the SIMs 2 Wikipedia article ---> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sims_2

It's near the bottom :P

So yeah, those folks having issues with UC is proof of this. UC is basically a new version of the game which includes all EPs & SPs but is a totally different can of worms than what you'd get if you did have the base game with all EPs & SPs installed the old way. This thread further ellaborates on this fact...

http://www.reddit.com/r/thesims/com..._collection_be/



So yeah, UC is a totally different & a bit borked rehash of TS2 with everything included.

The Sims 2 has always been backwards compatible with saves from EP to EP. The prompts onscreen say specifically that the saves won't be compatible with earlier versions of the game. AL and FWP both run on newer engine versions and automatically upgrade saves to the new version when you load them. This has always happened. I can't find anyone complaining that their saves weren't compatible from an expansion to a collection. Only when installing the Complete Collection. Furthermore, the Complete Collection is merely all of the collection packs installing in one download. That's all it is. All of the problems with the neighbourhoods not showing up are related to the Store Edition, a locale glitch, or a registry glitch. Not incompatibility with any EPs or SPs (except, of course, the SE). (I have also heard reports of neighbourhoods showing up after patching.)

For the record, my old saves didn't work when I reinstalled all my old Sims 2 CDs; all fifteen of them. So, it's my fault for not backing up the whole Sims 2 folder way back then. Unless there's a program somewhere that can convert/fix my old N001 and N002 folders...

You said you only had EPs and SPs up to the FT engine, which would be the reason. There are a few fixes for the "no neighbourhoods" thing that don't involve SE (but you could always try the fix for that as a last resort) that are documented from here on.

Well, I did try the no TM fix, but it didn't help. My problem isn't zero neighborhoods; just if I replace the existing N001 (Pleasantview) and N002 (Strangetown) folders with my backup copies, those two neighborhoods don't show up in game. The others included with the UC still show up. The same thing happens with my "Legacy" install, for want of a better term.

Congratulations gwynne on getting over 1,000 posts in your thread within 14 days of starting it! I don't know if it's ever happened on MTS before, but it's the first time I've seen it. The first time I looked at this thread, you just had 2 replies, and I found it hard to believe what I was reading! I suppose EA must take some of the credit for the success of your thread. After they closed the website (about 6 weeks after I got my game), I didn't think EA would do anything else for TS2 ever again, let alone give it away free.

Giving it away free has of course reduced the financial value of the product, though I'd still willingly pay for disks, but I still wish they'd franchise it to a smaller company, who might run it as a niche product. Personally I would be prepared to pay for a fix for all the major outstanding corruption issues, so that we might actually be able to delete Sims and move them between 'hoods as Maxis originally intended.

Jesus, I only know about UC from a thread posted on another random forum somewhere, if I hadn't accidentally clicked on the thread and briefly scanned on it I never would've gotten my hands on this. I am still in awe that EA would do this.

shinyknightinarmour:
You deleted the blank N001 and N002 before copying your old ones in, right? Failure to do so would be bad.
Have you run your old 'hoods through HoodChecker?
Can SimPE open their neighbourhood.package files without freaking out? Open it up, load the Object Workshop and hit start , wait for it to finish processing (to prevent it freaking out, this takes a while), then go file -> Open -> N00x -> neighbourhood.package.

Oh, SimPE doesn't complain when I open those neighborhoods - I can look in the Sim browser and see all my Sims there, etc...

I just downloaded HoodChecker, but Norton 360 deletes all its .dll files because they're "not safe". Yes, I downloaded it from MTS. Some sort of Ws.Reputation.1 finding; which according to the details, it sounds like Norton deleted it because it felt like it, not because of any ACTUAL threat.

EDIT: Ran it again with Norton turned off.... and all it found to check and remove was a lot of invalid Sim relations and Memories; nothing I'd think would cause Sims 2 to not see it at all on the neighborhood screen...

My sister wants to get this too... she has most expansions but never had origin and currently her computer isnt available..

If she gets an origin account and uses the code, will she be able to download the sims 2 later on?

Did you have the store addition back when you played those hoods? Store addition is needed for any hood made with it, so that if you install without store addition the hoods will disappear.

Yes! We certainly hope so! That's what I'm doing because I'm pretty sure that UC would break my little computer, whereas my current game plays well on it.
But be quick in using the code. 31st July is the last day to redeem it!

That's just it... I don't remember ever having the Store edition... it wasn't bundled with EPs until Apartment Life and onward; which I never had, Unless it was part of a patch and I never used it. Any "signs" to look for in my old saves?

What form of EP's did you have? Were they all separate disks or did you have some collections or digital downloads?
University Life Collection, Fun with Pets Collection, Best of Business Collection, Apartment Life Limited Collection and some Double Deluxe players had it also, but others did not. I checked your profile but it doesn't say what you had.

If for some reason you can't get your hoods back you can rescue your sims with simpe.

I just updated my profile, but I'll list them here. I have:

Sims 2 DVD Edition, University, Nightlife, OFB, Pets, Seasons, Bon Voyage, Freetime, and Teen Style Stuff. All disc versions.

I'm pretty sure I never had the store version - It came out in July 2008 and nothing in my backup folders is newer than April 8,2008. I can't try the SE fix because I've nothing with the EP99 folder. :/

Well that's a good thing, separate disks really is the way to go. So you cut out/deleted the game made Pleasantview and the other game hood before pasting in your backup? (I didn't see what the other hood was, Strangetown?) Now I don't have the UC, but my hoods can be found under Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2/Neighbourhoods. Is it similar to that? I just want to be sure you cut and pasted in the correct place. They should all be listed in there as N001, N002 etc.

My game is extremely laggy on my $3,500 retina MacBook pro (bootcamp). I don't understand...Bioshock Infinite and The Sims 3 on my Mac side both run exceptionally well, but somehow TS2 is laggy on my PC side! I really want to play without lag and screen tearing, and I know that it's not because of my computer...it has to be bootcamp. I literally played TS2 (Mac version) a decade ago on an atrociously bad computer and it ran much better than it does now.

Also, that stupid black square shadow bug isn't fixed by turning the shadow setting to medium.

Does anyone know why my game is so laggy and why I can't get rid of the shadow bug? Is it because of Windows 8.1? Should I get Windows 7? Is there anything else I can do? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

It's not the shadow setting in the game you need to edit, it's the SimShadow in the graphics rules file you need to disable.

http://www.leefish.nl/mybb/showthread.php?tid=5446

Also, TS2 was not designed to run on Bootcamp on a Mac. There just might not be any way to fix the problems you're having. Wait to see if anyone's successfully been running it and they'll answer you about improving performance.

Edit: If you have nothing of importance on your Bootcamp install, perhaps Windows 7 might be a better fit to run TS2 with. Though I have no technological basis for it, people do have issues running TS2 with 8 and 8.1 at times.

Yes, I know, I edited the files to no avail. I just downloaded Windows 7 and OF COURSE it wont connect to wifi and the resolution is all screwed up. I'm so done with this crap lol...I'm just gonna get 8 or 8.1 again and wait until TS4.

Does Apple provide drivers specific to your Bootcamp install for Windows 7? I've never had to use Bootcamp so I'm sorry I can't be of help.

Not to sound like a sour puss, but a $600 Mac Mini and a $400 Windows desktop are the best of both my web design world and game-playing world. Especially when certain amazing design programs only come out for OSX and certain games only come out for Windows. IE The Sims 4 with absolutely no information on a release date for Mac.

I just hate seeing people on both sides of this fence. "I can't get Affinity Designer for Windows, I don't have a Mac." "I can't get Sims 4 because I don't have a PC". It's miserable feeling that way. Unfortunately not everyone can drop $1000 on two computers for their work / hobbies. Wish game companies worked a bit harder for cross-platform play. Companies are getting better as the years go by but there will always be a gap.