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The Sims 2 Windows 7-10 Fixes

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  • OldeseadoggeOldeseadogge Posts: 4,973 Member
    Mixed results. Yesterday checked out the leefish as Scribal_Goddess suggested, and found the advice to run as administrator. Tried that, and the game actually launched and ran well, even when I went into CAS as a test. Resolution was 800x600, so more hunting needed there.

    On the unhappy side today, tried installing the University EP. All went well until it got to the updating phase with the base game disk. Part way through got the message 'TS2UPD.exe has stopped working'. Windows then shut the whole business down and the EP uninstalled. To make matters worse, tried running the surviving game. While it launched OK as yesterday, it crashed when trying to load a household, giving the appalling grammar error message. Anyone know how to fix those two issues?
  • JULES1111JULES1111 Posts: 4,489 Member
    Mixed results. Yesterday checked out the leefish as Scribal_Goddess suggested, and found the advice to run as administrator. Tried that, and the game actually launched and ran well, even when I went into CAS as a test. Resolution was 800x600, so more hunting needed there.

    On the unhappy side today, tried installing the University EP. All went well until it got to the updating phase with the base game disk. Part way through got the message 'TS2UPD.exe has stopped working'. Windows then shut the whole business down and the EP uninstalled. To make matters worse, tried running the surviving game. While it launched OK as yesterday, it crashed when trying to load a household, giving the appalling grammar error message. Anyone know how to fix those two issues?

    You need to have the basegame patched before you can download expansions, and then be sure to patch each one of those. The reason it goes wonky trying to update is because it is trying to connect to a server that no longer exists. You can download and install each patch manually. You can find them all here.

    http://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:TS2_Patches
  • OldeseadoggeOldeseadogge Posts: 4,973 Member
    Thanks! Getting too late and too cold to do now, but this will be a big help.
  • OldeseadoggeOldeseadogge Posts: 4,973 Member
    Less than good news. Downloaded the correct base game patch, ran it, and got the error message part way through that it stopped working & that Windows was shutting it down.
  • JULES1111JULES1111 Posts: 4,489 Member
    Less than good news. Downloaded the correct base game patch, ran it, and got the error message part way through that it stopped working & that Windows was shutting it down.

    Hmm you could try this, not sure if it works with the disk version or not, but it is worth a shot.

    Go into where your game is installed. Find the TSBin folder. (I don't know the exact path for you, I use the UC) Copy and paste a copy of the paul.dll onto your desktop. (for safe keeping in case it does not work) Download a new paul.dll file from here:

    http://d2ro3qwxdn69cl.cloudfront.net/documents/paul.dll (it was a patch made by EA they now include in the UC, so you can bypass the launcher that doesn't like to work anymore)

    make a copy of the paul.dll file you just downloaded, and paste it into your TSBin folder, say yes to override the one you have, (you should have a backup of the original on your desktop) Note if it does not ask you to override, make sure you delete the old one, you can only have one.

    Launch the game and see if it works.

    Have you tried launching the game from the .exe in your game file instead of using a shortcut? That has worked for some also. I don't know if you have tried to run it as administrator, but that is also something to try.

    I have read sometimes people have a folder called "Content registry" in the game files. They recommended deleting this file if you have it, I assume this is more for the disk version, as UC does not have a file by that name that I know of. But they say it can stop your game from launching.

    You can also delete the groups.cache, cigen.package, and accessory.cache files. If you have them. You can also go in the neighborhood folder and delete the neighborhoodmanager file. NOT the whole neighborhood package, just that one file inside it, on the bottom of the list and see if it makes a difference.


    I hope one of these things work for you. Good luck!
  • OldeseadoggeOldeseadogge Posts: 4,973 Member
    Thank you! Have made notes & will try them out. Will advise of results. I wonder if machine type is a factor. Sims3 looks and runs poorly on my shiny new high powered Dell (which is my primary computer & the one I'm trying to get Sims2 on), but just fine on my old ex-vista now W10 HP.
  • OldeseadoggeOldeseadogge Posts: 4,973 Member
    After trying all the suggestions - thank you everyone for caring and helping! - with no success, went to Maxis support, laid it all out, and asked if they had any ideas. The first one didn't work either, so after going back & getting a different tech, had some more discussion on which discs I was using and what was happening. He said the 'curtain was closed' on discs, and after getting and verifying my game code for my base game gave me Ultimate Collection! Thanked him profusely, and it's working fine so far. Still need to get the resolution up from minimum, and start adding my CC, but am happy camper with Sims2 running on new machine. :) Thanks again to everyone that has offered help.
  • JULES1111JULES1111 Posts: 4,489 Member
    After trying all the suggestions - thank you everyone for caring and helping! - with no success, went to Maxis support, laid it all out, and asked if they had any ideas. The first one didn't work either, so after going back & getting a different tech, had some more discussion on which discs I was using and what was happening. He said the 'curtain was closed' on discs, and after getting and verifying my game code for my base game gave me Ultimate Collection! Thanked him profusely, and it's working fine so far. Still need to get the resolution up from minimum, and start adding my CC, but am happy camper with Sims2 running on new machine. :) Thanks again to everyone that has offered help.

    Awesome! Congrats Oldeseadogge! I am glad you finally have a working game after all that. I hope you can finally enjoy playing again! :smiley:
  • OldeseadoggeOldeseadogge Posts: 4,973 Member
    Oh, yeah! Current adventure is my favorite sim living in a classy Victorian (built from period plans) and is being step-mom to the Pleasant twins. So far, so good. Their feud is over and are building their relationship, building skills in preparation for college, and otherwise getting their lives back together. Lilith is also now an A+ student and their sim lives are humming along nicely. Thank you for being one of my best helpers!
  • JULES1111JULES1111 Posts: 4,489 Member
    Oh, yeah! Current adventure is my favorite sim living in a classy Victorian (built from period plans) and is being step-mom to the Pleasant twins. So far, so good. Their feud is over and are building their relationship, building skills in preparation for college, and otherwise getting their lives back together. Lilith is also now an A+ student and their sim lives are humming along nicely. Thank you for being one of my best helpers!

    Awesome! :smiley: Your game sounds like it's going great! If you want to share stories and or pictures you should drop into the what happened in your game today thread. We all love seeing what is happening in everyone's games. :)
  • OldeseadoggeOldeseadogge Posts: 4,973 Member
    How does one do pictures here?
  • JULES1111JULES1111 Posts: 4,489 Member
    How does one do pictures here?

    You can upload any pictures you take to a free image hosting site. Such as Photobucket or Tinypic. Then they will give you a code you can just copy and paste in the forums. :)

    I prefer tinypic. You don't have to sign in to a account, and the pictures don't disappear as quickly as photobucket.
  • OldeseadoggeOldeseadogge Posts: 4,973 Member
    Thanks! Will check it out.
  • OldeseadoggeOldeseadogge Posts: 4,973 Member
    Thank you, Sparky1922! Thanks to the links you posted have been able to get my UC working at monitor level resolution, much better than 800x600!
  • SPARKY1922SPARKY1922 Posts: 5,965 Member
    @Oldeseadogge

    You are most welcome I truly hope now you can get on and enjoy your game you so deserve to :)
  • OldeseadoggeOldeseadogge Posts: 4,973 Member
    Thank you! This game rocks in the best of both worlds! Sims2 in all its creative, gameplay, and storytelling glory matched with a CPU and video card that can actually handle the load. One almost gets the feeling that in terms of performance and graphics the game was ahead of its time, made for today's hardware to enable taking full advantage.
  • TheLibrarySimTheLibrarySim Posts: 966 Member
    Okay, hopefully this is going to be the stupidest question you have to deal with today. I just installed all my Sims 2 games (Windows 10). I got the update files for each pack.
    Here goes: When I go to "Extract files," where do I extract them to? I just extracted them to the appropriate game, but is that right? It seems to run fine, but I only played for a short while last night.
    Thank you in advance for your help and patience!
    7mQr8Yt.jpg
  • JULES1111JULES1111 Posts: 4,489 Member
    Okay, hopefully this is going to be the plum question you have to deal with today. I just installed all my Sims 2 games (Windows 10). I got the update files for each pack.
    Here goes: When I go to "Extract files," where do I extract them to? I just extracted them to the appropriate game, but is that right? It seems to run fine, but I only played for a short while last night.
    Thank you in advance for your help and patience!

    Do you mean the patches for each pack? After you extract them, I would think it would be fine to put them in your game files, but it might give the game more to sift through when loading. I believe you have to click on whatever you extracted, to have it installed. There should be a install manager that comes up.

    I have never used the patches you can download now, as I have the UC, but I am pretty sure they need to be installed, and not just extracted.
  • US_Marshall42US_Marshall42 Posts: 236 Member
    Wow. I haven't been on here in awhile but it's cool to see people are using this thread. :smile:
  • TheLibrarySimTheLibrarySim Posts: 966 Member
    Thanks @JULES1111 I had the Ultimate Collection too, and it stopped working, so I went back to the discs.
    My only problem right now is some weird black rectangles that appear under my Sims' feet when they walk. Even the dog. I have to work on that.
    7mQr8Yt.jpg
  • JULES1111JULES1111 Posts: 4,489 Member
    Thanks @JULES1111 I had the Ultimate Collection too, and it stopped working, so I went back to the discs.
    My only problem right now is some weird black rectangles that appear under my Sims' feet when they walk. Even the dog. I have to work on that.

    You can usually take care of that by setting shadows in the options to medium, but some people have to turn them off completely. Or if you are not opposed to mods, you can install this one and get rid of the black squares and keep your shadows on however you like.

    http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=569585

    How did the UC stop working? :astonished: That is very strange indeed.
  • TheLibrarySimTheLibrarySim Posts: 966 Member
    Hey, thanks for that!
    I would try to start UC, and it would give me a message like "Mansions & Gardens is taking up too much of your disc space (which is ridiculous). Do you want to continue?"
    I would, it would load, and there would be no neighborhoods. Only a "Create a Neighborhood" and the tutorial, which wouldn't load.
    7mQr8Yt.jpg
  • JULES1111JULES1111 Posts: 4,489 Member
    Hey, thanks for that!
    I would try to start UC, and it would give me a message like "Mansions & Gardens is taking up too much of your disc space (which is ridiculous). Do you want to continue?"
    I would, it would load, and there would be no neighborhoods. Only a "Create a Neighborhood" and the tutorial, which wouldn't load.

    You are most welcome. Oh yes I see, there are other people who had that problem as well. In case you ever wanted to reinstall the UC, the accepted solution for that problem is this.

    Go to "Run" or press Windows + R then type "regedit" and open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and then select SOFTWARE

    For 32-Bit: Find "EA GAMES" folder and open "the sims 2" double-click on the Display Name then you will see the pop-up. Delete "™" from Value Data text field and the problem will solved.

    For 64-Bit: Open "Wow6432Node" then Find "EA GAMES" folder and open "the sims 2" double-click the Display Name then you will see the pop-up. Delete "™" from Value Data text field and the problem will be solved.

    Before: The Sims 2™ Ultimate Collection
    After: The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection

    Hopefully that should take care of the problem for you. :)
  • TheLibrarySimTheLibrarySim Posts: 966 Member
    I'll give it a try! Thanks!
    I just started playing Sims 2 last night for the first time in years (I'm normally a Sims 4 addict). What a trip down memory lane. And there's so much I forgot about it. I'm having a blast.
    7mQr8Yt.jpg
  • JULES1111JULES1111 Posts: 4,489 Member
    I'll give it a try! Thanks!
    I just started playing Sims 2 last night for the first time in years (I'm normally a Sims 4 addict). What a trip down memory lane. And there's so much I forgot about it. I'm having a blast.

    Your welcome. Hopefully it works as good for you as others. Glad you are having a blast with the game. :) I know there are so many little details, that you can't keep track of when you haven't played in a while. I hope you continue to enjoy it.

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