as for the foods....well i took out most if not all my foods, i kept the ones i got from Sims2 Libbido (delisious japanese foods yum^^)

they are sims2 vanilla based, but my dumplings come up as santa cookies ^^ and the other foods come up as (      ) as in empty bubbles, but that happened befor i installed FT ^^
they play fine..make, (need to try make many) eat and clean up, along with serve are fine, no crashing.

alot of the OfB foods were getting the !yellow box on startup, so i took them out.
so far, the only hacked content i have in are the Targas super fridge (larger capacity) vincents Sim modder baby (still works, phew) targas transparent water, numenors coal stove, simstones stove/grill and the imperfect sensoriser (that i know of, also the aromatherapy vases from parsim)
i took out all the custom careers, the sinfull shower (my romance sims would be sobbing right about now, if i were playing them) and all thecrafting and packaging stuff i got from paladin's place.

on the upside, the mountain and paper windows i recently DL that match up with the BV ones seem to be ok. i may have to dump the whole damn  lot and just restart my folders..but i will not empty my oriental and goth ones out, along with the medi evil ones, but i can do without a lot of stuff.

*seconded for the 'Dont Tinker' hack..but i bet it will need updating as son as you install the nect pack or stuffpack....*

have you tried taking out the downloads folder?
i know its dreastic, but i have found that alot of stuff seems to work again when you take the folder out.

so far, i have had lots of crash to desktop with freetime, even when in the desiderata vally hood (i dont DARE go to my own custom hoods, i bet they would explode *eye roll*)
ive take tones of hak items from my dl folder...sinfull shower (sob, poor Jack) the BV houskeeping fixes, my crafting stations..it stopped crashing when i tried to go into that house with the genie lamp in the grampa's atic at least, but im still debugging and checking.
took out my OfB foods too, but my sims2 vanilla foods seem to be ok..(made some japanese dumplings i dl from sim2 libbido..no crashing on making, eating or cleaning)

so, only think i can think of with the stuck non ft hood is, take out the dl folder (or if those sims have custom clothes/hair ect, try taking out the items and hak and so on folders), load them up, replace all the flashing custom items in there (or at least, all the interactable stuff..but i think display items that just have 'view' are fine) nd then try putting the folder/s back in after a save and reload them.

first of all, did you just install the new freetime ep?
if yes, ohhhh boy.......

*hands you some hot chocolate and a big pillow to sniffle into and scream thru*

also... hm...have you any scriptorium items? part of those goes into your DL folder, but other parts go into your actual game, not into the My Documents / ea area.

you can check if its something you dl today by just taking out the downloads folder and booting the game. if it still crashes (and you dont have the scrip stuff ether) it might be sometihng else

buggerit.

*shakes angry hand at EA*

i guessed that stuff was going to be bad, but this is well....my local game had 3 copies taken back this mornign allready, so im gona have to advise them on monday with more info.

are they trying to make us all give up our lovely, lovingly made free content, that they COPY SHAMELESSLY? you think...
*looks over the list of stuff that they added this pack, that i could have had for free from guys like paladin and carrigon and numenor*
oooh, highscore, EA.....*rolls eyes*

but maybe a highnote....i have some havked foods, and they were sims2 vanilla based..that is, needed NO expansions to use...yummy japanese dumplings on a stick ^^
i made them i ate them and the game didnt crash so maybe that means that we can still use vanilla items without crashes?

have you checked to see if your have any time or aging related hacks or items in your downloads folder?

(i havent had that crash yet, but i also havent got any aging hacks installed. anything to do with aging might be it, but this is just a guess lol. even those enhanced water of life hourglass cooler thingies or the clock tha tyou used to use to set your sims aging on and off)

jonny, did you totally remove the downloads folder, or just your hacked stuff?

i took the whole folder out and it played fine, all be it crappy amounts of things to use

i have so far checked and a few of my things work fine (copied over into a new downloads folder)
so far, my japaneese foods got from a link thru sims libido (i think they are all sims 1 compatable, dont need any eps, so i assume stuff that is hacked to be sims1 no ep are compatable)
the Grand Trianon set from Mts2
mostly clothes and skins (enaylas havent crashed me yet, but i am not going into my custom hood till i find out whats causing this) are fine, but i have only used my build and japaneese item folders yet.

im guessing that walls and floors are safe too.
but i totally took out anything i thought might affect it (haks i mean) yet it still kept crashing. im gona have to add folders by hand..*sob*

oooh, i almost missed them *stifles a sniffle at the thought*
lucky i back tracked to find them

god.....you know, i have a friend that pulled my leg saying he would go Bi for Dante from DevilMay cry...and i wondered if there was any girl char i would do the same for in games.....i think you just found her

ooh..i would love, hell, kill to have that outfit of JCs in reality
(for me or any guy that was mad enough to have me )

and nice?! oooh, nice isnt a word ya wana use with him....smoakin is good, casue thats what your undies do after one look *Winks*

*grabs both, and is probably gona grab the rest as they arrive..oooh, pity the poor guys and galls of my New Simland...what with this lot and Cap'n Jack Harkness....*rolls eyes at what jack and JC will get up to...oooh*

thats wierd.....i havent noticed any spamming.

you mean that theres a tour guide on all lots in a holiday hood? yeah, i seen one of each of them, but only ever seen one on each lot.
usually looks like the same guy per hood to me...
have noticed slowdown on some lots, though.....are the guides invisible/only shows up as one, or do you mean the game is spaming thier uh..dunno how to say it, like...
like someone standing in the game and spamming the same message over and over, but since its game side stuff (ie, internal spamming) i dont see it as anything but slowdown?

*edit* you do realise that that fix and info is unavailable for those that have given up regestering at places, just to be able to see the content, dont you? im sick and tired of regestering at places i might only visit once in a 6 month period, simply to be able to view a single topic >.<

hm.....well i just leave the cd in the bottom (newer) dvd drive and never take it out unless i play a game that also needs the newer drive *cough*Black and White2*cough*

then again, i have a seperate machine for sims2 ^^ and offline games....(built from spare parts, i might add)

well as far as i know, theres only 3 maps to locations that you can visit.

the Pagoda in the takemisu hood
the burrows in the Mountain (3 lakes) hood
and the witchdoctors hut (i think its called mysterios hut) in the twikkii hood.

i havent goten any others so far, but i will keep my eyes open

great, so, i found that theres only ONE hotel in Takemisu that has a suit for a family of mom, dad and 2 kids/teens >.<

its the Jade's Villa's, and though its cheap, i wanted somewhere for familys.

so, i sat down, and started to make one. finished it and packaged it (though, i had yet to add the check in booth, but i dont think thats the problem)

closed the game, went to run clean installer....
the package file isnt associated anymore :smt120
clean installer wont find the file ether....:blob6:

infact, if u go to new, and try to overwrite the file, it gave me a page of why i cant do this *swear in machine* and then deleted the file
  :sad4:

so...anyone else having this problem once you have installed BV?

i mean, i know theres gona be some sneak ins, specialy the most basic door, i got a nasty little thing that keeps sneaking in and poping grungee doors in with the normal ones (its a bayou recol, and it needs a good slapping *sigh) but its usefull for trashed lots

and i wanted to uplode it when i was done, but its 15 and a bit megs befor even ziping >.< and i need to take out the sneaky buggers that try to go in with the file...*sniffle*

:blob6: :blob6: :blob6: :blob6:   :chainsaw:

*deep breath*........ok......guess i gota wait till clean installer is updated...

*whimper*

alot of people have been having pauses that are short thru to stopping totally with BV

some of it seems to be sound card issues. do you have any of the creative soundcards? or are you using onboard sound.
also, which version of windows are you using, those bits of info can help us help you narrow it down a little

Beo's right about the AC97....i have that, and all i get is an occasional pause in the sound and some slowdown when theres a lot of simies on my lot (on the vacation island)

so far, i havent had that many probs.
but they havent realy thought things out.....i can order food as a child from room service, but i cannot get seated and order food with a kid? 0.o toddler, i can understand, who wants a rugrat underfoot on their hols (from a sims pov)

i had a few hacks that no longer worked, like the no dance on toes, flush lavies ect. took them and a few others out...

oh, the merola's multipainting? i heard that was no longer compatable past um, was it Nightlife, when the Vincents sim modder came out? try removing that one and squingies, since each ep, they need re-doing anyway

also..if your going to have kids/teens on a vacation, i found that its better, but not as good, to book only ONE suit/room...the kid could'nt go to her room when i had the hacks i took out in, (i also removed the extra gypsy potions, the ones with the virility and sterilty option, all sims had check my pots stats over their heads) then afterwards, she was the only one that could, mom and pop were stuck unable to select doors, so i left the hotel and went to another smaller one (i was at the twikkii named one) and went to the 1simoleon listed one and bought a 1 single 1 double room and bingo...everyone could go to bed....

(so, for those wanting to make useable good hotels, i sugest a seperate room for kidies, that way, mom and pop can have some fun when the kids asleep ^^ i duno if kids react to whoowhoing pearants in the same room when they are asleep, but i bet they will now *grumble*)

hm.....i wonder if they(ea) are messing about with the non vista users....i have win2K on my sim machine, and 1 gig mem, and i only get slowdown sometimes, i played all night last night....i never had insim or inteen though....(i can see enough teen mom where i live lol, just look outa my window and HELLO! ^^)

havent tried buying a vacationhome yet from the normal neighbourhood, but i cant buy it from my hotel....hm.....oh and i wonder..can we make a from scratch isle, or will we need to moddy the ones they give us?

will keep looking for bugs though

last time i had a problem like that...
(my nightlife was uninstalled by my Uni)

yeah, i just re-installed my nightlife, and it worked....

also....is the machine you install on connected to the net? if it is, next time you have to re-install, try unpluging or turning off yer modem, since it then cant try looking on the EA site for updates ect
(which might explain your lock up)