I have bookmarked the backing up your games and resetting neighborhoods pages. I *kinda* think I'll be able to do this. What I need to do is uninstall and reinstall ALL of the Sims 2. Some of the expansions or stuff packs I purchased in that wonderfully convenient digital download format. But having issues over the years with reinstalling, general game stability, etc, AND the concern that since Maxis seems to not care a single bit that we loyal Sims 2 fans are still out here, I decided to bite the bullet and buy Every. Single. Expansion and Stuff pack on disk. My most recent issue is that a neighborhood I was really enjoying suddenly just crashed. I tried a few things, but ultimately just made a new neighborhood. I do still have the old files from the Belladonna Cove that crashed though. I'm to the point of copying the game into a .rar file every day, just to be on the safe side. I've become excellent at weeding out problem custom content. I'm just a little scared about this reinstall process and whether I can have my Sims, my neighborhoods, and all my stuff when I re-install.. These tutorials say you can, but can a few people tell me if they've done exactly what I'm about to do and if it worked just fine? I'm not asking you to tell me how, I've found those instructions, I would just like some reassurance. Sorry if me asking this makes anyone mad or violates forum rules.

No one will yell everyone here is mostly pretty awesome....this is not maty lol

I've done the reinstall bit quite a few times & things have been good. As long as you have back ups of your neighborhoods, downloads (which you could just move to desktop while reinstalling & move back again) & etc.
Belldonna (& the rest of shipped hoods) come borked, so having it crash eventually is an expectation (I've heard). Are you patched? That does help.

If you re-install and then load it, quit (don't replace your files before you load it for the first time on re-install) and then replace the documents>The Sims 2 folder with your backed up TS2 folder you SHOULD have everything you did before. I moved my entire folder from mac to PC and got everything back without trouble. I believe you can do it and have everything back too

If your game has run well up until now, I'd not take the risk to reinstall - unless you've got more EPs/SPs than you originally had. Having the CDs as a backup is surely better than digital copies, and if you ever get game troubles or if the digital files get corrupted somehow, at least you have that backup.

If you have troubles with crashes, you can try to do a quick factory reset instead.

Move the entire "The Sims 2" folder from the "C:\Users\[USER]\Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2" location to somewhere else on your computer (consider it a backup), and run the game. The files will reset to factory settings, and you'll start from scratch for every neighborhood. You can also just move out the entire "Neighborhood" folder, which in most cases should be enough.

This is the fastest way to "reinstall", as long as the game installed properly the first time around.

Crashes can be caused by mod conflicts, EP conflicts (objects, mods, or other things not compatible with your EPs), neighborhood corruption (playing around with 'untouchable' NPCs, object.package corruption, deleting sims improperly, moving occupied lots to the house bin, etc.), or simply memory crashes (too much CC, computer can't handle weather/reflections/shadows/high graphic settings, too heavy lots/neighborhoods, or similar).

Doing a quick factory reset will sort out most of these, EXCEPT corruption in the install files. That's either fixed by a clean install or by replacing the corrupted files from the game CD. Reasons for a complete reinstall would be if you wanted to add or remove EPs/SPs, install on another computer, or if you have major corruption in the install files. In 99.9% of the times, a quick factory reset will sort out game problems, along with being the best way to reset the game if you want to start over from scratch. It's always worth a try.

As for using backups, it's easy. If you've made changes to other folders than the Neighborhood folder, just move out the newly installed "The Sims 2" folder, and move in a backup of a "The Sims 2" folder. That's it.

Backup, backup I can not say that to many time, whenever I have to re- install which have been a very long time that I have to .If there are some major changes and any of my Sims household like a new child is born, or my Sims reach Platinum, or add a new family.

Then I will make a new backup to keep up with the most recent happening, Once I re- install and the game have been loaded I take out the new Sims 2 folder, that the game loaded.
And then I replace it with my "Save" Sims 2 backup folder, when you enter the game all will be there as before.

@>> Flyingmouse>> you said you purchase every single expansions and stuff package, and that you had a few crashes "Be sure" that you do have enough Ram, and a good Video card that can handle all of that and if your hardrive have the space, and as always your patches. No one is going to yell at you here on MTS we are civilized, most members will try to help or direct you to where to get help. Not To Worry hope all work out good for you.

Do you have Store Addition on your digital downloads? That might change things. I've known people lose all their hoods after ditching SA. I think Mootilda might know of a way to save them though.

I bought everything sims2..but have the Store Edition as a digital of course, since you had to download it. Never I had problems installing or reinstalling. Of course, whenever you add any EP or SP, it is always safer, a must even, to rename your own EA Games folder prior to install. Maybe those having problems didn't do this step.

Thanks everyone! I was just afraid that since I'm sure this topic has been covered in depth (has its own Wiki even) people might be like, READ THE WIKI. Lol. My computer runs The Sims 2 just fine, and was actually purchased because my old one didn't have a good graphics card. And you wonderful forum people helped me make sure I was buying an adequate computer. Mainly I'm buying all the physical disks just to be on the safe side. Wasn't cheap, but I've loved this game since it came out. I've not had a lot of crashes playing this time around, just a lot of those error messages where you can cancel, reset, or delete, and some of my Sims heads "exploding" but usually that clears with a few tricks.. If you don't know what I mean, the Sim's face sort of explodes into spiky angles that go all over the house. I also have some clothing items missing meshes I'm guessing, and that's annoying me but I haven't been able to track them down. And some of Sims clothing or faces disappear from time to time, and when they're buying new clothes their faces sometimes disappear or develop a grid-like appearance. This also happens with hair. And sometimes it happens with things from the best creators here, so I feel confident it is NOT their item causing the problem. Anyway, I think tomorrow's the day all of the discs arrive, so if anyone has last bits of advice, please let me know.

Exploding heads or spiky triangles are usually a sign your graphics card or chip isn't coping and could be overheating. If you just bought a new computer make sure your game is using the graphics card and not the chip. If you feel it's being taxed try turning some graphic details like shadows down.

Make sure you do a backup on an external hard drive or stick. never paste over a hood. So say you are playing pleasantview, cut the one in the game and then paste in your saved one. Don't paste over. I did that many years ago and ended up with white sims covered in blue writing, panicked and tossed it all. Not that it would have lasted I had done terrible things to my game like using delete all characters and moved sims between hoods and other sim atrocities. Needs a *slaps self* smilie.

What Jo said about the exploding heads is correct. Your graphics are saying "STAHP!" Just like if you start having chest pain while exercising. I just recently replaced my machine's existing card (which was a 250MB card with no fan) with a new one, 2GB with a big ol' fan. Before the replacement, I'd started to have exploding heads and some exploding objects as well, plus a few game/video driver crashes here and there, and I knew all of it was a bad sign. Which is what prompted me to get off my butt and look into finding a replacement card, which I'd been wanting/meaning to do but just hadn't gotten around to it yet. Since the replacement...no exploding heads/objects.

So if you're using integrated graphics, get and install a separate card. The one I bought was $60 on Amazon, didn't require me to upgrade the power supply, and by default runs the game with all EPs/SPs plus a crap-ton of CC on the highest settings. If you have a separate card, check its specs and, like Jo said, make sure the machine is actually using it and not an integrated chip.

I really need more RAM and I think a new card and I don't know what else as I have no idea on that kind of thing. Mine is ancient. What did you get? I'm worried if I get some new shiny card it will go Sims 2? That ancient game? You're kidding me right?!

Edit: NVIDEA GeForce 9800 GTX + A darn good card, but years old now.

The card I got is this one: http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-02G-P3-2..._pr_product_top
It was perfect for me because, since I run an older machine, I don't have a really high-powered power supply. Everything I looked at that had better specs than the one I got required a stronger power supply, and I wasn't confident in my ability to change those out. I have no complaints with the card. I can run my game at the highest settings and nothing I've thrown at it so far has made the game lag, and I've thrown it some tough situations just to see if I COULD make it lag. I can also play the game in a 1600x1200 window without problems, which I think was the final nail in the old card's coffin because that was when I started having the graphics problem. But now that I've got this ginormous monitor, I wanted to be able to play in a ginormous window. So, it was time to get off my butt and shop.

The card is fine and dandy with TS2, no problems at all, but for whatever reason TS3 doesn't like it. It doesn't matter to me because I don't play TS3, but I think you do? So, that might be a consideration. It might just need a driver update for TS3 to like it, though; I haven't tried that because TS3 is a non-issue to me. I only bought it used the other day on a lark, mostly. I also don't know if there's an Australian Amazon, but if not you could look for the same card or one with similar specs at something more local to you.

Sounds great!
I do play some sims 3, which looks like pig swill if I put on more than 3 EP's. Not that TS3 needs much help to look like that. What I really want is a computer that can play sims 2 on large lots with very little lag, loads in under 5 minutes with high graphic settings with all EP's and SP's + 18 Gigs or more of cc; while also playing Sims 3, all EP's. Yeah, not much of an ask... But new cards tend to mean new other things like that power supply. I could get more RAM though. I only have 2 sticks of 2 each and I was told I could have 2 sticks of 4. I've saved that card to Word-where I save everything. Then of course we have Sims 4 coming along which is an unknown, maybe it will be so great we all go stampeding off to that. You never know the moon could turn rainbow striped.

As I understand it, more system RAM would affect how quickly your game loads. This machine is maxed out at 8GB and it loads up the 6.5GB of CC I have plus all EP's/SPs in about 8ish minutes from zero to household. Subsequent households load faster. You have like three times more CC than I have, so yes, more system RAM would be beneficial. However, for actually playing the game, I believe more video RAM is more beneficial because the system RAM is only raided once the video RAM is exhausted. In my case, I'm getting a crapload more frames per second now, so all of the characters' movements are fluid. The camera pans and zooms at lightning speed. The lighting looks way better. Object detail is awesome. And as I said, I haven't been able to make the thing lag yet, and I threw a huge beach lot (I think the largest is...5x5? Whatever the largest is) with an elaborately-furnished apartment building on it, teleported in practically the whole damn neighborhood, at least 50 Sims, and then made it rain. The card's fan clicked on after farting around on the lot for about half an hour or so, but no lag. So..Yeah, I'm happy.

Oh, and it's virtually silent, too. I can hear the fan when it's running, but the machine itself has two case fans, and they make more noise than the card's fan does.

ETA: Sims 4? BAH HUMBUG! C'mon, Jo, you know what a curmudgeon I am. I'll be playing TS2 when everyone else has moved on to TS15.

Oh man, that lot would have crashed on my machine probably straight after loading. Any lot that is a bit large or with more families like an apartment I turn off neighbours and deco. It doesn't like snow on apartment lots either. I have shadows off all the time now. Okay so video RAM, is that the card? Computer jargon may as well be brain surgery for as much as I know about it. I recently did DEP and that stopped a fair bit of the crashing I was having. Also this fan whirs like a helicopter especially when the day is hot. I put on my ear phones and play music to try and drown it out. We open the side and dh dusts it out every few months which helps a little.

Lol, well I did say the moon might also turn rainbow striped. I'm waiting to see what everyone says because I know what I'm like, I'll get curious and it's always an easy gift for dh. So I know even if i don't ask he'll be buying it for a birthday, Christmas or even Mothers day if I like it or not. It would have to be the kind of jump we had from Sims 1 to Sims 2 to get me to stop playing Sims 2 though, so I'll still be around to download your 2030 creations-given that I'm still here.

Yup, video RAM is the RAM on the video card itself. The one I got has 2GB of GDDR3 RAM, which is apparently RAM optimized for video usage/performance. System RAM is the RAM that's plugged into the motherboard, the machine's main "card." When you were talking about sticks, that'd be system RAM. Anyway, my card is an entry-level card and probably wouldn't be spectacular for new games but the only game I play is TS2 with an occasional foray into SC4 (which I haven't played since I got this card, now that I think about it), and it suits me perfectly. It does need at least a 300W power supply. My machine has 375W, so I'm good. If you don't know what your supply's wattage is, you can look up your machine's make/model online and get a spec list. Unless yours is a custom build, of course, in which case whoever built it would probably know what they put in it.

ETA: Ethan knows better than to buy me new-fangled games. I shocked the hell out of him when I bought that copy of TS3, having heard me bitch about it so often. He does, however, buy me 32" monitors. What's that in cm? Like 72cm or something? I wuv it. You'd have to tear it and TS2 out of my cold, dead hands.

It was custom built and it's been upgraded twice by two different techy friends. Where do I go to find RAM on the card? I have no idea what the power wattage is. I think he upgraded the power supply last time. I just wish husbands tech friend played sims because he didn't think it was a taxing game or that I'd need any more RAM than 4 when I suggested 8.

More like 106!

You mean the RAM on your current card? I think if you go to the Control Panel and pick the option that's called something like "System and Maintenance," you can get to the device manager. In that, you look for the category called "Display Adapter" and then click on it and I think it'll bring up its specs, if I remember right. Beyond that, if you have the box or a hard-copy manual for it, that should tell you. You might be able to find your power supply's wattage that way through the device manager, too. I'm not sure.

But yeah, computer people don't seem to think that TS2 is a system hog. The base game by today's standard isn't, but if you get all EPs/SPs on there playing a big neighborhood with big lots on it, it certainly can be. I say get as much RAM as you can afford and tell the know-it-all techies to stick it where the sun don't shine. :p

Mine looks a bit different to that, although I found it by putting device manager into search. Can't see any RAM mentioned. There is something in there called memory range, but that is just a lot of zeros followed by FBFFFF I told him it was to play both Sims 2 and 3 and he looks at the box and doesn't think much of it. Lol, he's an old friend of the hubbies so I gave him cups of tea and biscuits (cookies) and left him to it.

Hmmm...Well, in that case, if you know the make/model of the card, you can search online and see if you can find its specs. Other than that, the RAM amount is sometimes printed on the card itself, but then you'd need to open the case and look at the card, and you might not be able to see what you need to see without taking it out. So, looking online is probably your best bet, if you know or can find out the make/model.

Hey, if you've got techies who will take tea and biscuits in payment, I'd say that's a pretty good deal. I've become techie enough that I understand the basics and can take out and put in new cards. So, I know enough to be dangerous, basically, because I think I know more than I do. But really, eyond that, I really don't want to know. That's what Ethan's for. In another life, he was a software developer, so he knows techie things way more than I do.

And now, my dear, I need to go to bed. I know it's the middle of the afternoon for you, but for me it's past 2AM. And I've got an 8AM call tomorrow. Or, um, today, as the case may be...

I'm scared stiff of messing up so I'm even nervous when hubby dusts it. He did something to it once when he tried to updated the drivers, thought he had to uninstall something and and my computer wouldn't even start! I had an mad woman moment ahmm... I don't think he dares touch it now. So last time I was looking around something to do with the video card I saw a button for updating drivers, so I tried it and it worked! Really simple unlike the fandangled thing he was trying to do. He was sure surprised, so was I! I'm known as technically challenged, can't even program the TV hard drive.

Online, a good idea. I had a hunt and found it has 512 MB... that doesn't real flash does it.

Last time you posted I was wondering what you were still doing up.

I don't play Belladonna it's bad glitchy.

@Jo: Yeah, I think 512MB is quite a ways underpowered for what you're wanting to do. You're a step ahead of where I was, when I had a fanless 256MB card, but just playing the way I was playing for a couple of months started frying that one. If I were you, I'd put more effort into upgrading the video than the system RAM right now. My game doesn't load any faster with the new card, but playing is certainly far more enjoyable. And the level of card I got can be had for pretty cheap, at least here. It's probably cheaper than upgrading your system RAM, at any rate, although I haven't looked at RAM prices lately. Ethan maxed out my machine's RAM when he bought it for me at a library surplus sale; he knew I really wanted an older machine because I didn't want Win 7, much less 8. My machine runs Vista, and I've got no problems at all now that I've got the new video card.

And yeah, when I installed this card, I did upgrade the driver because it was a bit out of date and there were a few odd issues with transparency with pixel hair that weren't there before. Updating the driver cleared them up. And you're an old pro at that now, right?

Which OS are you using? I have Windows 7 and found my RAM status under Control Panel -> System and then right there before you even click System, mine has a click-able "View amount of RAM and processor speed."

Oh, one more thing. I read about how you reset neighborhoods, but I want to clarify something. I made a custom neighborhood after my Belladonna Cove stopped working. I understand that when I install all these like, 18 discs, it will create the neighborhoods as usual. So, since I am only playing a set of Sims in one neighborhood (they have 2 shopping districts attached), can I simply add that to all the neighborhoods Maxis installs? Just cut and paste the neighborhood file right in with the others?