Game help

[Johnny Drake]

Oops, sorry wrong thread to post this under. I just realized that. Umm.. I don't know how to delete so I'll just leave it here I guess. Sorry again.
 
I just got the Celebration Stuff Pack (I have all the past expansions and stuff packs as well). I ran it on my computer and installed it. When that was done, I tried loading the game to play; however, a message popped up and told me that I had to put in the 'Seasons' disk to run the game (I had Celebration in). So I put in the 'Seasons' disk and tried to load it. It freezes on the first loading screen at the same spot everytime - I get one blue loading bar at the bottom. So I decided to restart and try loading it with the 'Celebration' disk. It won't load at all with that disk in and won't load with 'Seasons'. Does anyone have suggestions because I really miss playing my game. Thanks in advance.

[Mr Heartache]

Did you try to delete the .cache and the .cigen files? They get corrupted sometimes. And also, if you have hacks, they could conflict sometimes. If you have a download folder, try taking it out and see if the game loads that way.

[Johnny Drake]

It's not a hack that's conflicting, I know that. It might be the .cache and .cigen files. Can you explain where they are so I can delete them? Also, what exactly do those files do just for future reference and knowledge. Thanks for the help, Skull.

[ancienthighway]

The cigen.package and Groups.cache are located in C:\Documents and Settings\Ric\My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2.

The cigen.package file is used be bodyshop.  If deleted it will be recreated by the game.
The Groups.cache file is an index of all your CC.  If deleted it also will be recreated by the game.

I don't believe either of those files will be causing the problem you're having now though.  It sounds like your windows registry got hosed.  If you've got all your registration keys handy, you might try reinstalling Celebrations first, and if that doesn't work, the entire game.  Since Celebrations is the latest release of the EPs and SPs you have, you'll need to start with that disk.

[Johnny Drake]

Thanks for the help. I'll try deleting those files first and if that doesn't work, I'll go about reinstalling and losing everything I've built up. *Sighs* Thanks for the suggestions.

[ancienthighway]

You don't have to lose everything you've done.  Copy your My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2 folder to your desktop.  If you've never gotten Celebrations to run, the neighborhood should still be compatible with Seasons.  Otherwise it will be Celebrations compatible.  When reinstalling if you stop at any point less, you'll lose your neighborhoods.

In either case, your Downloads and SavedSims folders will have your downloaded CC and any sims you created in Bodyshop.  You'll be able to get those back into your game.

[Johnny Drake]

Oh that's great news. I was going to try to fix it tomorrow just to see if there were any other suggestions first. I surely thought everything would be lost but it's good to know that since I haven't played it with the new expansion yet that I can still save everything. Thanks, Ancienthighway.