Troubleshooting Sims 2 won't start anymore

Sims 2 won't start anymore

Hi all. I am one VERY frustrated person. I live thru my sims and now I can't get the rotten thing to start up! I am running XP and have installed The Sims 2, University, Nightlife, Open for Business and Family Fun Stuff.

One minute I was able to play the game and then I looked for some new objects to install. I stuck to the legit ones (only recoloured items and the such). Now when I go to start the game I get as far as "Crenellating Crenellations" and then the whole thing just freezes! When I look at the task manager it tells me that it is no longer responding!

Has anyone else had this problem, and if so, HOW THE HECK DO I FIX IT!?!?!?!?!?! This is most frustrating. I even tried using the "-nosound" toggle, as this worked for The Sims 1, but still no go. I'm dying here, please, someone, HELP!!!!

Nomes

 

Try taking out your downloads folder and see if the game loads up ok without it.
Just move the whole folder to your desktop.
If it loads ok without it then you've got a bad download and you'll have to start sorting through them by putting only a handful of the files back in at a time to find the problem file.

 

I was afraid of that

Thanks for taking the time to help me with this issue. I had a horrible suspicion that that was going to be the suggested solution. I am actually in the middle of trying this and will let you know whether or not it helps. I have also updated my video card drivers as well.

Again, thanks heaps

Mystical

 

Well, I removed all the downloads from the folder and guess what. Nadda! The first time I was able to get a little further, so I rebooted the computer, but sure enough same problem, same place! HELP! Please!

Here is the low down on the comp as needed;

PROCESSOR: AMD Sempron Processor 2600+, MMX, 3DNow, ~1.6GHz
SYSTEM MEMORY: 256 MB RAM
WINDOWS VERSION: XP Pro 5.1 Build 2600
FREE HD SPACE: 5.49 GB
TOTAL HD SPACE: 37.2 GB
DIRECT X VERSION: Direct X 9.0c
DISPLAY ADAPTER: NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT
ADAPTER DRIVER DETAILS: nv4_disp.dll 6.14.0011.6218 29th June 2007
APPROXIMATE TOTAL VIDEO MEMORY: 128.0 MB
GAME DETAILS: Sims2 DVD, University, NightLife, Open for Business & Family Fun Stuff
NATURE OF PROBLEM: Won't load past "Crenellating Crenellations"

 

Try renaming My documents/Ea/sims 2.
The sim 2 folder and start the game and see if it starts.
Then tell us if it did and we go to next step.

 

Well, that didn't work!

I tried renaming the folder, but no progress, in fact, probably went backwards! I have also upped my free HD space to 17.18GB and defragged the computer. Any other suggestions?

 

Try deleting these files: Accessory.cache and Groups.cache
They can be found in C:\Documents and Settings\*****\My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2.
Don't worry the game will make new files to replace these ones.
This seems to fix a lot of loading problems with the game.

 

Those files would have been unavailable anyway if the EA Games\The Sims 2\ folder was moved.

I'm not happy with the renaming option. I recommend physically moving the folder from My Documents to the desktop ... making absolutely sure that that there is no folder containing any Sims 2 files in the My Documents\EA Games\ folder before trying to reload the game.

I am afraid that if that doesn't work then you should undertake a full manual uninstall followed by a careful and systematic reinstallation (keeping your original file folder on the desktop until you have completed reinstalling all the expansions.

Do not uninstall until you have located ALL the registration codes. If you are missing any we can point you to the loaction were they are saved on your computer before you uninstall.

See the FAQs for the how to manually uninstall (which makes sure that all the important registry keys are removed before you start trying to install again.

 

Me Too

I am having the same problems. I have downloaded stuff and it worked then i downloaded a bit more and now i get as far as the 'preparing bacon@ bit and it stops. I have to restart comp as nothing else works.
Will let you know if anyone answers my problem.
gill

 

Hi, Gill2002.

The first thing I'd try is to just drag the Downloads folder to the desktop and see if the game starts up without it.

If that doesn't work, read Mirelly's post and go from there.

Hopefully, moving the Downloads folder will do the trick. If it does, then you only have to test your downloads to find the bad one.

 

If all else fails you can always uninstall / reinstall everything. It may be a pain in the butt, but at least you might be able to play it again. Just back up your files first! Otherwise you will loose all of your familes...

 

Can you give details on how to back up these files so families wont be lost?

 

Google the Sims2 Wiki as you'll find details on how to back up your game.

 

yeah im having the same problem with my sims!!!! university expansion thingy lol ive installed it properly and when i try to start it it shows the splash sayin sims 2 uni but after that.....nothing but my iron maiden wallpaper........can someone plz tell me how i can fix this?

 

MysticalNights? Hi...I'm new...but I have the same problem!! It was working fine, started, and I played for hours...I had about 750 downloads a few days ago, and I was happy, it still worked perfectly fine, I dowmloaded a mesh for some horses I downloaded, aswell as other things, so I probably have just about 1000 downloads...(lol--x_x) When i went to open it, it did load, but it stopped at Crashproofing Parties, and freezed!! (just like yours) I had to restart the computer because it wouldn't close (I tried Ctrl+Alt+Delete, Alt+ F4, Esc, Alt+Tab) and this is really annoying...BUT! It did the same thing upstairs, where there aren't ANY downloads, and same thing...again, BUT! My grandpa picked the disc up, and dropped it with no care, no worries of it being wrecked, he just dropped it..and after that, it stopped working...Would that spray stuff to get rid of scratches on discs work? My g-pa has a mini bottle of it....

Can any of you help me? I WILL try the downloads thing, but anyway to fix the 'disc'??? And I only got it---maybe 3-5 months ago...

 

Try using this...http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/sims-2/280652-how-reset-your-neighbourhoods.html you will loose your downloads but you can always get more. I had the same problem and followed the instructions and it's been fine since. Hope it works for you. x

 

my sims is doing this aswell its driving me mental is there any way of polaying it online insteadd because i just cant get it to load!!! :mad:

 

no there's not.

 

dont delete the downloads "folder" but delete what's inside on that folder.. definitely the game will work again )