Sims being kidnapped by gremlins? I've already complained about this at a couple of other forms about this (very nice, helpful people--they just don't seem to know anymore about this than I do so I'm just using the scatter shot approach). I'm about ready to give up on this game entirely, but am willing to give it one last ditch effort. I've been playing the game since October ,but I've had to reinstall it probably three (now six counting this evening) times since Thanksgiving. I've done it all different ways--saving games, not saving games and the outcome was approximately the same. I play it two or three days--maybe as long as a week and then, without explanation, a newly added sim or a baby will disappear (that last one is really discouraging) and it will stop saving any added sims after that. The other day, three sims I'd added to the neighborhood vanished, not to mention a new baby. And the sims that were still there--seemed to have a memory of the "subject" instead of their names. I have all four expansion packs (this incl. Holiday--though I think I've uninstalled that at this point), I'm patched, have two hacks (and have played with or without them so it doesn't seem to matter) a noschool hack (I'm a homeschooler, I prefer to educate my own sim-kids), a simslice hack that keeps aspirations high (I get tired of fighting the constant need to cook and go to the bathroom and I want to have large families). Taking out the hacks doesn't seem to make any kind of difference. Yes, I'm running it on Windows XP Home and I can't change the "read only" feature on my files (have tried all the command prompts--in safe mode, out of safe mode, etc). My file permissions are set to "read only" and nothing (and I do mean nothing) seems to change them--including changing file permissions in safe mode--command line changes and so on (all suggestions from Microsoft's site and useless ones at that). I seem to be stuck with "read only" period--and it doesn't make much sense to me that it would run for a week or two without a problem and then suddenly stop saving the files to the same place without rhyme or reason. At the most I had was 342 character files. I did marry off a couple of NPCs, but one of those ran for days without a hitch. In the most recent reinstall (I've tried three times this evening), things seem to have gone from bad to worse-now it isn't finding the downloads folder at all and the only sim I've put in the neighborhood is shown as there (on a maxis lot without a stick of furniture), but the lot won't load. I'd appreciate any insights if you have them. I'm at my wits end. I've devoted far too much time to trying to fix this. And also--if I just play with the Maxis characters for the time being--marrying them to each other--do I have a hope of keeping them and/or their babies? That's not ideal, but it's better than nothing.
The causes for this could be numerous. First you say you only have those two hacks, have you downloaded any lots or careers? Second, have you tried running a antivirus or spyware software program on your system? Third, have you tried the game from a freash install with out any custom content in it to see if the game will run properly or if the problem still persist?
