the sims 2 expansion pack problem

Also, did you try loading the game and ALL expansions without running the
game in between? It's a good idea to do that. There's also a known problem
with newer versions of University though I have no idea what the fix is.
And delete groups.cache. That often fixes crashes on start up.

Best wishes
maxon


"Jeanie" <Nobody.DeleteThis@home.com> wrote in message
news:AETNi.8557$vS1.828@trndny08...
> amdx wrote:
> > I have installed the sims 2 on my new computer and then i installed
> > all of the expansion packs. After i click on a family to play and it
> > is loading the game gets an error pop up reading application has
> > crashed it will now terminate or something like that. i have
> > uninstalled and re installed all of the games and this happens with
> > any expansion pack. i have made sure that my comptuter meets all of
> > the requirements for the game. does anyone have any suggestions?
>
> Look in My Documents/EA Games/The Sims2/Logs and see what exactly is
making
> the game crash. It will probably give you some clues about what your
> problem is. Some likely culprits....
> Have you updated your video drivers?
> Do you have a Downloads folder? Have you tried starting the game without
> it?
> Have you turned off all other programs that might be running in the
> background before trying to start your game?
> Do you have a nVidia video card? There seems to be some problem with Bon
> Voyage when you have one of those cards. If you do have an NVidia video
> card try adding the
> line boolprop useShaders false to your userStartup.cheat file
> (just ask for more information here if you don't know how to create one)
and
> see if that stops the crashing.
>
> HTH
>
> Jeanie
>
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: the sims 2 expansion pack problem 

maxon wrote:
> Also, did you try loading the game and ALL expansions without running
> the game in between? It's a good idea to do that. There's also a
> known problem with newer versions of University though I have no idea
> what the fix is. And delete groups.cache. That often fixes crashes
> on start up.
>

But not invariably As I am finding.

One thng I have found though, is that after deleting the groups.cache, the
game might again freeze on start up - it doesn't get as far as the EA Logo,
just a black screen - but once out of it it can be worth trying again.
Sometimes it starts second go. Weird.


--
kat
>^..^<
 >> Stay informed about: the sims 2 expansion pack problem 

"kat" <kat.TakeThisOut@ntalk.org> wrote in message
news:fean05$6vp$1@babylon5.colinjones.co.uk...
> But not invariably As I am finding.
>
> One thng I have found though, is that after deleting the groups.cache, the
> game might again freeze on start up - it doesn't get as far as the EA
Logo,
> just a black screen - but once out of it it can be worth trying again.
> Sometimes it starts second go. Weird.

I'm wondering if this recent problem with having to/avoiding deleting
groups.cache is something to do with the launcher and Securom. I have
bypassed the launcher by making the shortcut point to the game exe and not
the launcher exe. I'm not having any problems. No idea if that'll help but
it might be worth a try. Something has happened with this EP for many
people - A LOT of it down to not removing hacks. Apparently, there have
been significant changes in the coding (according to info gleaned from the
QA SimPE thread, SimLogical, Inteen and over at MATY) so not taking out
hacks that have not been updated is a real no-no this time. Not doing that
is causing a lot of trouble. OTOH, a lot of 'responsible' people (by which
I mean the types who have the sense to run the game clean first) are also
having trouble and it seems to be proving hard to pin down. And then
there's me, with my five year old system and everything is running just fine
(touch wood - I bet having said that it turns into the game from hell now).

Best wishes
maxon
 >> Stay informed about: the sims 2 expansion pack problem 

maxon wrote:
> "kat" <kat.TakeThisOut@ntalk.org> wrote in message
> news:fean05$6vp$1@babylon5.colinjones.co.uk...
>
>>But not invariably As I am finding.
>>
>>One thng I have found though, is that after deleting the groups.cache, the
>>game might again freeze on start up - it doesn't get as far as the EA
>
> Logo,
>
>>just a black screen - but once out of it it can be worth trying again.
>>Sometimes it starts second go. Weird.
>
>
> I'm wondering if this recent problem with having to/avoiding deleting
> groups.cache is something to do with the launcher and Securom. I have
> bypassed the launcher by making the shortcut point to the game exe and not
> the launcher exe. I'm not having any problems. No idea if that'll help but
> it might be worth a try. Something has happened with this EP for many
> people - A LOT of it down to not removing hacks. Apparently, there have
> been significant changes in the coding (according to info gleaned from the
> QA SimPE thread, SimLogical, Inteen and over at MATY) so not taking out
> hacks that have not been updated is a real no-no this time. Not doing that
> is causing a lot of trouble. OTOH, a lot of 'responsible' people (by which
> I mean the types who have the sense to run the game clean first) are also
> having trouble and it seems to be proving hard to pin down. And then
> there's me, with my five year old system and everything is running just fine
> (touch wood - I bet having said that it turns into the game from hell now).
>
> Best wishes
> maxon
>
>
I haven't done anything with the launcher other than direct my firewall
to disallow access and delete groups.cache all the time...and I ahve an
Nvidia card...I am beginning to think I am a blessed individual... I
have a little bit of lag on some lots but not enough to go tinkering
with...what I did notice is that there are strange new files in the Log
folder...there was a file with all my computer info, and a file listing
custom content! I deleted everything in the Log folder and will check to
see what is regenerated when I reopen the game. I did find both the dorm
that was giving me trouble and the lot where the origami chair thing was
going on so I am glad I deleted those two .lots.
 >> Stay informed about: the sims 2 expansion pack problem 

maxon wrote:
> "kat" <kat.RemoveThis@ntalk.org> wrote in message
> news:fean05$6vp$1@babylon5.colinjones.co.uk...
>> But not invariably As I am finding.
>>
>> One thng I have found though, is that after deleting the
>> groups.cache, the game might again freeze on start up - it doesn't
>> get as far as the EA Logo, just a black screen - but once out of it
>> it can be worth trying again. Sometimes it starts second go. Weird.
>
> I'm wondering if this recent problem with having to/avoiding deleting
> groups.cache is something to do with the launcher and Securom. I have
> bypassed the launcher by making the shortcut point to the game exe
> and not the launcher exe. I'm not having any problems. No idea if
> that'll help but it might be worth a try.


I tried that, didn't seem to make any difference. Indeed, at one point I
wondered if it was causing it!



Something has happened
> with this EP for many people - A LOT of it down to not removing
> hacks. Apparently, there have been significant changes in the coding
> (according to info gleaned from the QA SimPE thread, SimLogical,
> Inteen and over at MATY) so not taking out hacks that have not been
> updated is a real no-no this time. Not doing that is causing a lot
> of trouble. OTOH, a lot of 'responsible' people (by which I mean the
> types who have the sense to run the game clean first) are also having
> trouble and it seems to be proving hard to pin down. And then
> there's me, with my five year old system and everything is running
> just fine (touch wood - I bet having said that it turns into the game
> from hell now).
>
>

I certainly ran the game clean at first, and the hacks I put back in are
those from Pescado, and Two Jeffs which they declared safe and clean. Ok,
there's one or two other odd ones now but that's after the problems started.

And then there's the thing I did where I completely removed the entire
EAGames folder and let it generate new everythings. Running the game witout
any modifications whatsoever, basic camera, collections, terrains, no
downloads, no hacks, etc etc - didn't change it at all.

Somewhere something is conflicting - or maybe it is that securom thing. I
don't know. I am highly irritated, because I have to sometimes reboot to
restart the game, or at the least force it close down and try again, and
that isn't a huge problem when you want to play for 3 hours, but it is if
you are checking things and continually closing down and starting up. And I
do like to have a look at downloads before I put them into the game.

Oh well. At least once it's up it runs. Stutters a bit but runs. I am not
even getting much in the way of error messages. One Too Many Iterations
last night surprised me!


--
kat
>^..^<
 >> Stay informed about: the sims 2 expansion pack problem 

"katy" <katysails.DeleteThis@netscape.com> wrote in message
news:5ms8qeFf748cU1@mid.individual.net...
> I haven't done anything with the launcher other than direct my firewall
> to disallow access and delete groups.cache all the time...and I ahve an
> Nvidia card...I am beginning to think I am a blessed individual... I
> have a little bit of lag on some lots but not enough to go tinkering
> with...what I did notice is that there are strange new files in the Log
> folder...there was a file with all my computer info, and a file listing
> custom content!

Sorry those have been there since the game was released.

Best wishes
maxon
 >> Stay informed about: the sims 2 expansion pack problem 

>hacks that have not been updated is a real no-no this time. Not doing that
>is causing a lot of trouble. OTOH, a lot of 'responsible' people (by which
>I mean the types who have the sense to run the game clean first) are also
>having trouble and it seems to be proving hard to pin down. And then
>there's me, with my five year old system and everything is running just fine
>(touch wood - I bet having said that it turns into the game from hell now).

I'm not having any problems either:-) However, I did remove what was in the download
folder (only the DMA Sims) and the game took almost 20 minutes to load. After having
played a while I saved and reloded the game and it only took a couple of seconds to load -
which is normal on my system- and then I put the DMA Sims back again and again the game
took ages to load.

I don't know why this happens but it didn't happen with the other expansion packs so
there's something strange going on with BV.
 >> Stay informed about: the sims 2 expansion pack problem 

>>
>I haven't done anything with the launcher other than direct my firewall
>to disallow access and delete groups.cache all the time...and I ahve an
>Nvidia card...I am beginning to think I am a blessed individual... I
>have a little bit of lag on some lots but not enough to go tinkering
>with...what I did notice is that there are strange new files in the Log
>folder...there was a file with all my computer info, and a file listing
>custom content! I deleted everything in the Log folder and will check to

I also have the file listing custom content, but no file with computer info. Perhaps it's
securom that generates that file?
 >> Stay informed about: the sims 2 expansion pack problem 

Strider wrote:
>>I haven't done anything with the launcher other than direct my firewall
>>to disallow access and delete groups.cache all the time...and I ahve an
>>Nvidia card...I am beginning to think I am a blessed individual... I
>>have a little bit of lag on some lots but not enough to go tinkering
>>with...what I did notice is that there are strange new files in the Log
>>folder...there was a file with all my computer info, and a file listing
>>custom content! I deleted everything in the Log folder and will check to
>
>
> I also have the file listing custom content, but no file with computer info. Perhaps it's
> securom that generates that file?
>
>
>
Was thinking the same thking...
 >> Stay informed about: the sims 2 expansion pack problem 

> I don't know why this happens but it didn't happen with the other
> expansion packs so
> there's something strange going on with BV.

Tell me bout it... im not sure if its just the BV you can get in Australia
or something, but the box is completely different to all the expansion
packs, being slender rather than the normal bulky thick ea games packaging.
Also, the game cd's were not labelled with disk 1 or disk 2... instead disk
2 was placed in a lack ea pouch like they forgot to include it in the
packaging process, opened up each individual box and inserted another disk.
And the disks are not consistent with all the other sims 2 disks, which have
pictures of sims in funky costumes... instead they use a light aqua blue
disk with BV title... the way i can identify disk 2 is that the small plane
on the disk is actually not coloured at all... strange huh?

Trinity
 >> Stay informed about: the sims 2 expansion pack problem 

Trinity wrote:
>>I don't know why this happens but it didn't happen with the other
>>expansion packs so
>>there's something strange going on with BV.
>
>
> Tell me bout it... im not sure if its just the BV you can get in Australia
> or something, but the box is completely different to all the expansion
> packs, being slender rather than the normal bulky thick ea games packaging.
> Also, the game cd's were not labelled with disk 1 or disk 2... instead disk
> 2 was placed in a lack ea pouch like they forgot to include it in the
> packaging process, opened up each individual box and inserted another disk.
> And the disks are not consistent with all the other sims 2 disks, which have
> pictures of sims in funky costumes... instead they use a light aqua blue
> disk with BV title... the way i can identify disk 2 is that the small plane
> on the disk is actually not coloured at all... strange huh?
>
> Trinity
>
>
Way weird...I wonder if the set you have is pirated or something cause
the BV sold here in the States has the same package consistent with the
other EP's and the CD's are light blue with people on them and are
labeled 1 and 2 as usual.....very odd....
 >> Stay informed about: the sims 2 expansion pack problem 

On Mon, 8 Oct 2007 11:51:08 +1000, "Trinity" <nanomed DeleteThis @hotmail.com> wrote:

>> I don't know why this happens but it didn't happen with the other
>> expansion packs so
>> there's something strange going on with BV.
>
>Tell me bout it... im not sure if its just the BV you can get in Australia
>or something, but the box is completely different to all the expansion
>packs, being slender rather than the normal bulky thick ea games packaging.
>Also, the game cd's were not labelled with disk 1 or disk 2... instead disk
>2 was placed in a lack ea pouch like they forgot to include it in the
>packaging process, opened up each individual box and inserted another disk.
>And the disks are not consistent with all the other sims 2 disks, which have
>pictures of sims in funky costumes... instead they use a light aqua blue
>disk with BV title... the way i can identify disk 2 is that the small plane
>on the disk is actually not coloured at all... strange huh?

I don't know, all my Sims disks (including Sims 1 and expansions) have been one-volour
disks with no pictures, and the last Sims2 expansion packs have been available only on
DVD, but I'm in Europe.
 >> Stay informed about: the sims 2 expansion pack problem 

Strider wrote:
> On Mon, 8 Oct 2007 11:51:08 +1000, "Trinity" <nanomed.TakeThisOut@hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>>> I don't know why this happens but it didn't happen with the other
>>> expansion packs so
>>> there's something strange going on with BV.
>>
>> Tell me bout it... im not sure if its just the BV you can get in
>> Australia
>> or something, but the box is completely different to all the
>> expansion
>> packs, being slender rather than the normal bulky thick ea games
>> packaging.
>> Also, the game cd's were not labelled with disk 1 or disk 2...
>> instead disk 2 was placed in a lack ea pouch like they forgot to
>> include it in the
>> packaging process, opened up each individual box and inserted
>> another disk.
>> And the disks are not consistent with all the other sims 2 disks,
>> which have
>> pictures of sims in funky costumes... instead they use a light aqua
>> blue
>> disk with BV title... the way i can identify disk 2 is that the
>> small plane
>> on the disk is actually not coloured at all... strange huh?
>
> I don't know, all my Sims disks (including Sims 1 and expansions)
> have been one-volour disks with no pictures, and the last Sims2
> expansion packs have been available only on DVD, but I'm in Europe.

And only one disk.

But I have other EPs where Disc 2 was in a an envelope inside the box. All
of which are slim, the usual DVD cases - here anyway.


--
kat
>^..^<
 >> Stay informed about: the sims 2 expansion pack problem