out of order install and play disk sorry if this post is in wrong forum, not sure how to ask...i have univ, nitlif, fam fun and glamour installed. i want to add OFB, question is this...will i need to use OFB for play disk or still use glamour, i have laptop install and want to carry only the needed disk, also from reading other posts doesn't seem like this out of order thing should hurt my install. just in case, when i back up files do i install OFB, back up save games and reinstall everything in proper order then restore old saves? will that corrupt my save game files? afraid to ruin months of growth on this. thanks for any advice
hi you use the disk that was the latest to come out so you would use ofb but if you get pets you wud use that disk and the same if u gt seasons that wud be the disk you wud use
OFB would become your play disk. Backup your game before you install OFB just in case anything goes wrong with the install but do not use these backup files unless you uninstall OFB because the save format is different and will mess up your game if you try to overwrite the OFB ones.
thanx to wootster and dangerousgem for your input. not sure i get it yet though, please be patient with me. right now, i use glamour disk to play. if i install ofb, save files will be modified for use with all my EP's. as i understand this, even though glamour is most recent release of my EP's, i would still use ofb for play because that was most recent install. since install of ofb would modify my save game files, i was thinking of backing up after my ofb upgrade, uninstalling everything, then installing in order of release and replacing save game files. that should give me all my EP's, my old save games and still play from glamour disk. should also give me most stable final game. does this make sense or am i just a-retentive about the whole order of install thing?:(
I honestly don't know if it would work doing it like that as each expansion added changed the format, but if you do a backup and it doesnt work when you reinstall in the right order after adding the saved files then you could always reload in the order they're in now and add your saved files back. Just make sure that you dont just cut and paste the saved files across the first time as you might need them again if it doesnt work. Did that make sense? Sorry if that sounded complicated its only early over here and I'm not really awake yet.
yes, makes sense. hadn't considered that format changes might be unique according to the order of EP's installed vs just which EP's installed. probably making this more complex than it needs to be. i do that sometimes... i have made full backup copy of "The Sims 2" folder, so i think i am safe. i am feeling the need for simming with new options so i am going to just throw OFB on and fire it up thanx again for all the advice, always learn new stuff when i log in here
Further to all the above ... when you install a new expansion pack, the installer will normally seek to start the game. This will give you the definitive guide as to which disc is required to launch the game. But as everyone else has said, the disc wqould expect to be required would be disc for the last installed expansion pack. The following is the crucial part of my advice. Installing expansions out of order is widely regarded as being more likely to create game running instabilities. Whether there is a rational basis for this belief is moot. What is paramount is that if you do decide at any stage to perform a full reinstallation, then that is the moment to decide, once and for all, if you are going to get any missing EPs. If you lack, say, University and you decide you need to do a reinstall and will get University as well, and you want to try to keep your existing games then you have ONLY ONE OPTION. 1) Buy and Install the missing Expansion before uninstalling. Otherwsie you will never be able to install the missing EP in release order sequence because the game at that stage will not recognise your existing saved game files properly to reconfigure them for the erstwhile missing EP. 2) Make a full copy of you saved games folder My_Doc~1/EA_Gam~1/The_Sims 2/ to be restored when the full reinstallion has been completed. 3) Perform a full manual uninstall (as per the instruction found in the FAQs) 4) Install each pack in the order it was released. 5) After installing each EP I would strongly recommend installing that EP's patch. This might make the EP installation interesting because it probably won't recognise the patch (game exe file version number) ... don't fret and swear, just sweat it out ... it'll get there in the end.
thank you everyone for your help. i was sweating losing my little digital beings through all this. great news though, after installing past OFB and "going back in time" by adding it after glamour, everything seems perfect, still use glamour disk to play, no bugs so far and whole new world of simmy things to do. after installing and registering OFB, game checked for updates automatically, found the game was up-to-date and gave wrong disk error. popped glamour disk in and now will not get enough sleep tonite hope this helps others facing "sim"ilar install issues
