Please help! "Could not find The Sims data directory" error.

I guess I did a big no-no. I needed a good deal of space on my hd to
download and edit some home movies so I moved the whole Maxis folder to
an external hd. I wanted to keep it there and just play off of that,
but the play was terribly slow. SO, I just copied the Maxis folder
back to my main hd. Well now when I try to play I get the error "Could
not find The Sims data directory". I do use the Magic no-cd crack but
I saved the original exe and tried to use that but I get the same
error. I also tried to play the game still on the external hd but I
get the error there too. I'm about to pull my hair out!

If it comes to it I am ok to re-install it all, but how can I back up
all that I've done? I've got a few special houses and families and
quite a few donwloaded objects. Or can I just install over what is
there and have it replace the missing files (if that's the problem.)

ANY help would be GREATLY appreciated.
~Bethany

bryantyler wrote:
> I guess I did a big no-no. I needed a good deal of space on my hd to
> download and edit some home movies so I moved the whole Maxis folder to
> an external hd. I wanted to keep it there and just play off of that,
> but the play was terribly slow. SO, I just copied the Maxis folder
> back to my main hd. Well now when I try to play I get the error "Could
> not find The Sims data directory". I do use the Magic no-cd crack but
> I saved the original exe and tried to use that but I get the same
> error. I also tried to play the game still on the external hd but I
> get the error there too. I'm about to pull my hair out!
>
> If it comes to it I am ok to re-install it all, but how can I back up
> all that I've done? I've got a few special houses and families and
> quite a few donwloaded objects. Or can I just install over what is
> there and have it replace the missing files (if that's the problem.)
>
> ANY help would be GREATLY appreciated.
> ~Bethany
>
This may sound like a dumb question, but are you *sure* you copied it
back to the right folder on your main HD? If it's Win2k or WinXP, your
files should be in c:\documents and settings\(your username)\my
documents\EA Games\The Sims 2. (I'm assuming you're playing Sims2 and
not the original game? And that you used the default location for the
data files.)

I've installed the game on several PCs now, and just always copied my
data files over without a problem. For example, when I first got the
game I had a laptop that barely met the specs. Then got a new laptop,
installed the game, and copied the My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2
stuff right over the top of the new installation. All my families and
neighborhoods and downloads were just like normal. Then I killed that
laptop (don't ask), got another one, installed the game, copied my
backed-up files over and again everything worked just like normal.

My point here is that I don't think you need to reinstall, but if you
do, you should be able to copy the files from your external HD right
over the new installation and have all your families and stuff back. I
also did the same thing with the original Sims game when I upgraded hard
drives, but I don't remember where the folders are supposed to go.

Good luck!

Donna