Just about fed up with Free Time - Problem solved 3/20/2008 Yay!!

[AjiDivine]

I swear this expansion is nerve racking. One day it works fine with my CC and then another day I can't load any lots...even Maxis created. What the heck is going on? I haven't loaded anything new since the day it was working great. I tried going into one of the Maxis created families and it just sits there loading. Uggghhh!!!!!!! So all I can do is shut the game down completely. I do have mods/hacks in the game, but all have been updated for FreeTime. I did have InSim OBJ in and the game was working fine, but I took it out when the lots would not load. Well, taking it out did not change anything....so.........I guess I just have to take everything out again and add a little at a time again. Anyone else have this issue?

I ran hackdiff and I have no conflicting hacks in the game.

Edit:
I can create families, but I can move them onto an empty lot or empty house. It just keeps loading...and loading.....nothing happens.

Now all I have is Hair, Make-up, Skins and clothing in my game and still the lots won't load.


3/18/2008

I can play one family I created that lives in Pleasantview and I can play a maxis made family in the new FT neighborhood. My new problem is playing on beach lots.....no can do!! I created a family and bought an empty beach lot and the screen just kept loading and loading. I quit the game, cleared out the cache files and thumbnails.....tried to load again....same problem....not able to enter property. I have even taken out CC and mods.....so now I am convinced my game is doomed to be messed up forever!! Any thoughts...or ideas for me.

[amc462000]

have you tried uninstalling and then reinstalling?

[Ali]

you must have something lurking there, take out ALL your CC and try again. If that doesn't work then you'll need to reinstall - I had an issue after I played one of my custom hoods and the game wouldn't load at all, I ended up dumping the lot and reinstalling

[AjiDivine]

Well...that is the conclusion I have come to....I must uninstall the game. It will probably take me all day to do that (I have every expansion and stuff pack) and defrag the hard drive before installing the game and all the patches.

I will back up the game I have now, but I am wondering if I put back all of my CC and sims will cause me to have the same problems. I really hate to lose some of my sim families, but I suppose I can start over with a clean slate. Boo hoo Boo hoo!!

Will it matter what order I install the Expansion packs and stuff packs in?

[drsims]

i dont have eather eps-bv/ft and i hope i dont have this problem to  ,i love to have my c.c s thay are my life...boo too..

[PegasusDiana]

I ran hackdiff and I have no conflicting hacks in the game.

All that does is tells you if you have hacks that are conflicting with each other. It will not tell you if you have a hack conflicting with the game. Before I uninstalled. I'd remove all CC. Plus delete the cache files(those could be corrupt which will keep the game from loading) plus delete the thumbnails. Then I'd reboot the PC and reload the game/try again. If that works, then I'd use Delphy's download organizer. Not Clean Installer. Clean Insallter only picks up global hacks/mods. Anything in Red I'd move temporarily. Put back in my CC and reboot the game again -the mods/hacks. Test if all goes well, it's a hack or mod not updated. You even have to be careful with non-globals and this EP, anything to do with time/aging/aspirations. The different elixirs. If that quarantines your problem I'd put back in the mods one at a time and test again to see which one it is, even if it takes 30 or 40 reboots. Uninstalling and reinstalling isn't going to solve your problem if you have a corrupt file, mod/hack that hasn't been updated.

PS: You do also realize you can completely delete the Sims 2 folder from my documents and then click on the game it will rebuild all those files on it's own. You have to leave it be, it could take awhile to rebuild them and if you stop it, it will have to start all over. But it will rebuild all those files without having to uninstall/reinstall. You can also move out your lots, and character files. Reset the neighborhoods and then copy those files back over.

[charmany]

i know its a pain but when you install a new ep it always takes longer to load.and you have to wait to enable custom items than go out and back in again.what i do is when its all done go in to the computer and do a disk cleanup and a defrag.yes it takes all day but just think of what fun your going to have the next day.and i usually do cleanup and defrag once a week that keeps the computer running quick.i hope that helps some...

[AjiDivine]

All that does is tells you if you have hacks that are conflicting with each other. It will not tell you if you have a hack conflicting with the game. Before I uninstalled. I'd remove all CC. Plus delete the cache files(those could be corrupt which will keep the game from loading) plus delete the thumbnails. Then I'd reboot the PC and reload the game/try again. If that works, then I'd use Delphy's download organizer. Not Clean Installer. Clean Insallter only picks up global hacks/mods. Anything in Red I'd move temporarily. Put back in my CC and reboot the game again -the mods/hacks. Test if all goes well, it's a hack or mod not updated. You even have to be careful with non-globals and this EP, anything to do with time/aging/aspirations. The different elixirs. If that quarantines your problem I'd put back in the mods one at a time and test again to see which one it is, even if it takes 30 or 40 reboots. Uninstalling and reinstalling isn't going to solve your problem if you have a corrupt file, mod/hack that hasn't been updated.

PS: You do also realize you can completely delete the Sims 2 folder from my documents and then click on the game it will rebuild all those files on it's own. You have to leave it be, it could take awhile to rebuild them and if you stop it, it will have to start all over. But it will rebuild all those files without having to uninstall/reinstall. You can also move out your lots, and character files. Reset the neighborhoods and then copy those files back over.

You know I did not think about remove the Sims 2 folder. Thanks for that idea. I will try your suggestions before uninstalling the game.

Thanks for all the suggestion everyone. If all goes well I will up date post.

[GisIzzy]

yeah i have that problem too , but i can only play with one family , i think its the game , just go report it to EA and see what they say?

[hcokeyall*93]

That happened with me too all you have to do is delete some towns nd stuff then it works perfectly. I know its annoying!

[synnaj]

Are you using downloaded lots made by other people? I have noticed that FT doesn't like that. I lost all CC when I installed a lot. There wasn't a problem with the lot itself as it was working fine prior to installing FT but since ... it doesn't seem to play nice with CC. You could also just try uninstalling that expansion pack only, make sure it's also deleted from the EA Games folder in C-Drive and check that it's still not hanging about in the "regedit" screen and then reinstall and see if it works. Saves having to do the whole reinstall.

I do know how you feel. I've already had to reinstall once already.

[Marn39]

It may be as simple as deleting your groups. cache file before you start you sims game - I found ever since OFB - I need to delete the groups.cache file and then I have no problem with the game.

To find it go to  My documents - EA games -  the Sims2 - click on that and you will find near the bottom the groups.cache file - simply delete it - it will create it a new one every time you play - hope this helps

[AjiDivine]

Well, the trick that worked for me was deleting the entire Sims2 folder from my documents and letting the game regenerate them. I kept my saved sims folder with the sims I could not do without and 2 neighborhood folders...oh yeah and my CC folder. I cleaned out a lot of CC that I wasn't using too. I have been adding my CC back a little at a time and so far I have had no problems. I have even added back some hacks that were updated for FreeTime.

[PegasusDiana]

The only CC you really have to be careful with is the aging/time/aspiration things. I had to remove a few, not many custom fences because they were causing my game to freeze for some reason. Then I removed my old book cases. A lot I had have been updated by Sims2Play. I also removed all my plumbing stuff for the time being because of the tinkering thing. Then I really did a deep cleaning which I didn't need too, but figured while I was in there I might as well do it right. Oh and if you have Rebecah's toddler beds, she's updating those for us. There is some problems with them. I'm glad that worked for you. I made a mistake of keeping mods/hacks in with Pets, and within a couple months everything was nuts. That's how I found out about that trick. I had tried to reset the neighborhoods, it didn't work for me. So only thing I can figure is I must have corrupted a needed file. After I did what you did everything was fine again. Keep us posted.

[DarkAmaranth]

Did you let it update when you installed it? Check Add/Remove programs for the last used date, if it's 3/12/2071 unistall ALL Sims @ EPs and the base game, delete the folders and registry keys for EA Games whereever you find them, then re install one by one, loading (starting) each as you go. now load the town, associate NL, BV, OFB, UNI etc.. exit, add ONLY the cc you feel you MUST have one thing at a time and run it before adding more.

I had to do that to ge FT working with CC, it's finiky and a lot of cc will conflict that didn't before FT. ie cc stairs and cc body parts are a no go now as is moving a custom sim, custom sims can't eat if you move them off the first lot you had them on so, pick an empty lot, use motherlode to build and leave them there.