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| − | {{GameHelpHeader}} | + | {{GameProblemNavigation}} |
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| − | ==User Files== | + | =Game Problem= |
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| − | * I click the icon and nothing ever happens. | + | ==Problem(s)== |
| − | * I try load the game and I get a little popup with nothing but a red X and a button to click OK. | + | |
| | + | Various issues can be related to your user files. These include: |
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| | + | * Clicking the icon to load the game does nothing - nothing ever happens. |
| | + | * Clicking the icon to load the game gives you a little popup with nothing but a red X and a button to click OK. |
| | * The game crashes while loading, before getting to the neighborhood chooser. | | * The game crashes while loading, before getting to the neighborhood chooser. |
| | * The game crashes or freezes when loading a lot. | | * The game crashes or freezes when loading a lot. |
| | * The game crashes or freezes when loading Create-a-Family. | | * The game crashes or freezes when loading Create-a-Family. |
| | * The game crashes or freezes when viewing the buy or build mode catalog. | | * The game crashes or freezes when viewing the buy or build mode catalog. |
| − | * The game crashes or freezes when I save. | + | * The game crashes or freezes when saving. |
| − | * "The application has crashed. The application will now terminate." | + | * Error: "The application has crashed. The application will now terminate." |
| | * I need to find a piece of problem content. | | * I need to find a piece of problem content. |
| | * Custom content replaces Maxis content. | | * Custom content replaces Maxis content. |
| − | * My sims keep "jumping" and then they stop what they were doing. | + | * Sims or pets keep "jumping" or resetting and then they stop what they were doing. |
| − | * My sims' actions keep disappearing from the queue. | + | * Pets sink into the floor or get stuck in the floor. |
| − | * The class performance meter doesn't raise, though I have met all the requirements. | + | * Sims' actions just drop out of the queue. |
| − | * Time is frozen. | + | * The class performance meter doesn't raise, though the sim has met all the skill requirements. |
| | + | * Time is frozen - the clock is stopped and sims aren't moving. |
| | + | *'''Any other general game problem or error!''' |
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| | + | ==Solution== |
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| − | =='''My game is not working! My game doesn’t work as it should!'''==
| + | If you are having any of the above, including any general game problems or errors, you should try the steps in this FAQ to see if it is something in your user files that is the problem. If the problem goes away without your user files, then you know for sure that it was something in them causing the problem. This guide will then show you how to narrow it down to find where the problem is occurring in your user files to try to fix it without losing everything else. |
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| − | <big>'''This article describes the steps you need to take if your game doesn’t work quite as it should.'''</big>
| + | Try this article in the order it is written - as soon as you find the error and solve it you do not need to do the rest. However, you must actually '''try''' the steps entailed here - just reading this FAQ will not fix your problem if you do not actually follow it and do what it says. |
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| − | <small>Credits: Bairy, Psion, Lyric Lee and Daysies for the original article. Also thanks to Julianarosalia and Angel f for re-writing help.</small>
| + | ==First Step== |
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| − | <font color="blue">'''Try this article in the order it is written, as soon as you find the error and solve it you do not need to read the rest.'''</font>
| + | The first step in testing your user files is to make a back up of your user files. |
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| | + | [[Image:RightArrow.gif]] <big>'''Click here to go to the first step, [[Game Help:Game Problem-Back Up|Back Up]]'''</big> |
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| − | <big>'''FIRST, BACK UP YOUR FILES!!'''</big>
| + | =Contributor Credits= |
| | + | Thanks to the following users for help in writing and developing this FAQ: |
| | + | Bairy, Psion, LyricLee, Daysies, Julianarosalia, Angel f, Simsample |
| | + | <!-- User Files, Crash, Freeze, Problem, Hourglass, Not Work--> |
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| − | | + | =Related Links= |
| − | <font color="red">
| + | {{GameProblemNavigation}} |
| − | The best thing to do if your game does not work as it should, is to find out if the problem is caused by something you have downloaded. It could be a hack or just an object interfering with your game. We need to remove your user data files (All sims 2 files in ‘My Documents’) to test this.</font>
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| − | This step will need around 400Mb of free space. To find out how much you have, click start and then My Computer. Right click on the drive which holds your my Documents folder (usually this is Drive C) and choose ‘Properties’.
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| − | [[Image:CProperties.png]]
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| − | You’ll then see a window like this:
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| − | [[Image:Freespace.png]]
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| − | The figure outlined in red is the one you’re interested in. If it’s bigger than 400Mb you should be okay. Note- a Gb is just over 1000Mb. If you don’t have 400Mb, you’ll need to free some space up. For details on this, [http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?p=826543 click here.]
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| − | When you have enough free space, click Start and then My Documents. Double click on ‘EA Games’, then right click on the ‘The Sims 2’ folder. Choose ‘rename’ and call the file something else- I’d recommend The Sims 2 Backup. What this does is to make the game ignore these files.
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| − | [[Image:Renamesims.png]]
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| − | [[Image:Backupfolder.png]]
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| − | Start up the game. A new Sims 2 file with all of the subfolders will now be created, so if the game takes a little while to begin don’t worry.
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| − | Now, try to recreate the error you were having.
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| − | If you can recreate the error, then the problem is within the Game Data files. Delete the new Sims 2 folder, and rename your original folder to ‘The Sims 2’. Move on to [http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?p=1110067 this step.]
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| − | If you can’t, then the problem is somewhere in your User Data files. Delete the new Sims 2 folder, and rename your original folder to ‘The Sims 2’. Move on to the next step.
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| − | ==Isolating the problem folder==
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| − | <font color="black" style="font-size:1.5em">Finding where the fault lies</font>
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| − | Now we need to test each folder that is in your user data files (my documents/ EA Games/ The Sims 2) to find out which one is causing the problems.
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| − | Click Start, then My Documents. Double click on ‘EA Games’ and then ‘The Sims 2’. You should see something which looks like this:
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| − | [[Image:EAfolders.png]]
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| − | What you need to do now is to select each folder in turn, and right click it. Select ‘cut’, and then right click on the desktop and choose ‘paste’.
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| − | [[Image:Isocutpaste.png]]
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| − | What this does is to take that particular folder out of the reach of the game. When you’ve tested a folder, if the game still doesn’t work, you need to cut and paste it back to the Sims 2 folder. If the game has generated a new copy of the folder you were testing, you can safely delete the new copy before you put your copy back.
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| − | The most likely folders to cause a problem are the Downloads, Saved Sims and Neighbourhoods folders, so you could test those first. When you have found the problem folder, move on to the following instructions.
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| − | <font color="red" style="font-size:1.5em">If the problem is in your Downloads Folder:</font>
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| − | '''Important: This section involves removing or disabling various parts of your downloads to determine which file is causing the problems. When you enter your lots, they may look very different as any custom objects will be replaced by Maxis items, and wallpapers, groundcovers etc may have gone. Also, your sim’s clothes, hair etc may have been replaced by Maxis items. It is crucial that you do not save your families or lots at this time, as you will also be saving these changes. Just enter the lots, check for the error and exit without saving.'''
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| − | If you added new downloads to your game immediately before you began having the problems, you can almost guarantee that one of those files is causing your problem. You could either sort your files by date and move those most recently added to the desktop, or you could use the [http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?p=1110007 Clean Installer] to help you.
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| − | The types of files that most often cause problems like crashing or freezing in the game are hacks (including careers), so if you have a separate folder for your hacks or you know which files they are, try removing or disabling those first. You can use the [http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?p=1110007 Clean Installer] to help you.
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| − | If you have a lot of files in your downloads folder, and you have no idea what they are or if you have any hacks, you can use the [http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?p=1110007 Clean Installer] to help you.
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| − | If you prefer not to use the Clean Installer, you can [http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?p=1109986 manually sort] through the files to find out which are causing the problem.
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| − | <font color="red" style="font-size:1.5em">
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| − | If the problem is in your Neighbourhoods Folder:</font>
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| − | Unfortunately, it looks as though you are going to have to delete one or more of your Neighbourhoods. This is because we know the problem is not with just one lot- it affects the entire Neighbourhood.
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| − | To find out which Neighbourhood the problem lies with, open My Documents/ EA Games/ The Sims 2/ Neighbourhoods. Right click on N001 and select cut, and then paste to the desktop.
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| − | [[Image:HoodFolder.png]]
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| − | Try running the game, and determine if the error is gone. If it is not, then you need to place N001 back into the Sims 2 folder, and repeat this for all of your Neighbourhoods. You’ll need to delete the problem Neighbourhood.
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| − | If the problem is a custom Neighbourhood, then unfortunately you’ll have to recreate it as best you can from scratch. For the Maxis Neighbourhoods, you’ll lose all of your custom lots and any characters you’ve created, but you can restore the Neighbourhood to how it was when you first installed the game. To do this, [http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?t=138975 click here.]
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| − | <font color="red" style="font-size:1.5em">If your problem is with any other folder:</font>
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| − | You could either follow [http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?t=139702 this guide] to sort through a folder and find the problem file, or you could just delete the entire folder. Bear in mind that if you delete, you lose all content of that file. Any files needed by the game will be automatically regenerated.
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| − | If the problem is still not solved you need to try the rest of the suggestions in this article- move onto the next page.
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| − | ==Does it happen on only one lot?==
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| − | <font color="black" style="font-size:1.5em">Is it the game, or does it just happen on one lot?</font>
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| − | If the problem is happening on a lot rather than in neighbourhood view, or any other part of the game, then you can try loading a different lot and seeing if the problem occurs anywhere else. If other lots are also having the same problems, just move on to the next step.
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| − | If you cannot enter the lot at all, move on to the next step.
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| − | If the other lots are working fine, then you know it’s isolated to that particular lot. Sometimes the 'savegames' (lots) can become corrupted- evidence suggests that the risk of this can be lessened if you save the game often, and save BEFORE you exit the game rather than saving upon exit. If it seems as though your lot is corrupted, you may have to bulldoze the lot, but you could try the next step first.
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| − | ==Patch the game==
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| − | <font color="black" style="font-size:1.5em">Is your game patched?</font>
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| − | Please read [http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?p=1122729#post1122729 this first.]
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| − | Many problems with the game have been solved by official Maxis Patches.
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| − | Get the most up to date one for your game here: [http://thesims2.ea.com/update/ Sims 2 Update.]
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| − | Also read Jordi and Julianarosalia's FAQ [[Game Help:Patching Your Game|here]].
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| − | ==Delete the game- generated files==
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| − | <font color="black" style="font-size:1.5em">Game generated files</font>
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| − | The following files can cause problems if they become corrupted, and can be safely deleted.
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| − | <font color="red" style="font-size:1.5em">Delete groups.cache</font>
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| − | Go to My Documents/ EA Games/ The Sims 2 and delete the groups.cache CACHE file. There may also be a file called CONTENT REGISTRY next to this file; that one can be safely deleted too.
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| − | See [http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?t=75565 this article] for info on what groups.cache is.
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| − | [[Image:DeleteCache.png]]
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| − | <font color="red" style="font-size:1.5em">Delete Cigen</font>
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| − | If bodyshop will not load, you can delete the Cigen file.
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| − | Go to My Documents/ EA Games/ The Sims 2 and delete the Cigen.package file.
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| − | [[Image:DeleteCigen.png]]
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| − | <font color="red" style="font-size:1.5em">Delete the Thumbnails files</font>
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| − | If your thumbnails (catalog pictures) do not match the items that they represent, you can delete the contents of the thumbnails folder. The next time you enter your catalogs, you may notice a slight lag- this is due to the game regenerating these files correctly.
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| − | [[Image:DeleteThumbs.png]]
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| − | <font color="red" style="font-size:1.5em">Content registry and accessory.cache</font>
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| − | These are also cache files and can safely be deleted in case of problems.
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| − | ==If your problem still isn’t solved...==
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| − | <font color="black" style="font-size:1.5em">What can I try now?</font>
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| − | There are a few other things you can try:
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| − | If you have sims' faces invisible, sims invisible, icons blank or textures replaced by words, [http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?t=134921 click here.]
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| − | If one sim is stuck, [http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?t=74041 click here.]
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| − | If bodyshop is not working properly or crashing, [http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?t=177332 click here.]
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| − | If your custom content is not showing up, [[Game Help:Getting Custom Content to Show Up|click here]].
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| − | If your lot seems to load forever, [http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?t=71452 try this.]
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| − | If some Maxis objects are missing from your catalogs, [http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?t=70113 click here.]
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| − | If your custom content looks like Maxis items/ clothes/ hair or the bunny head, click here.
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| − | If your thumbnails show the wrong item, or look different than the item it represents, click here.
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| − | If your game crashes or freezes when you click on a catalog item click here.
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| − | If your game is running slowly or your computer is not performing well, click here.
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| − | <!-- User Files, Crash, Freeze, Problem, Hourglass, Not Work-->
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| | {{GameHelpHeader}} | | {{GameHelpHeader}} |
| | [[Category:Game Help]] | | [[Category:Game Help]] |
| | + | [[Category:Sims 2]] |
| | + | <!-- game crashes freezes crash freeze load loading red X lot CAS create a family buy build saving terminate catalog content problem jump reset stuck sink floor queue performance meter clock stop error--> |
Various issues can be related to your user files. These include:
If you are having any of the above, including any general game problems or errors, you should try the steps in this FAQ to see if it is something in your user files that is the problem. If the problem goes away without your user files, then you know for sure that it was something in them causing the problem. This guide will then show you how to narrow it down to find where the problem is occurring in your user files to try to fix it without losing everything else.
Try this article in the order it is written - as soon as you find the error and solve it you do not need to do the rest. However, you must actually try the steps entailed here - just reading this FAQ will not fix your problem if you do not actually follow it and do what it says.
The first step in testing your user files is to make a back up of your user files.
Thanks to the following users for help in writing and developing this FAQ:
Bairy, Psion, LyricLee, Daysies, Julianarosalia, Angel f, Simsample
Click here to go to the first step, Back Up
