If securom is such an issue getting this new ep or the previous eps with securom, just wait till a nocd.exe is released then buy it. As long as you don't run the "original" executable securom won't install on your pc, simple.

Wow what a pain in the ass. I too noticed the Sims05.package file/files while sorting and organizing my files but thought nothing of it, thought it was something added when installing the pre-order items?. EAxis really screwed up big time, with this and the respawning and lousy anti-piracy software securom. Thanks for pointing them out, now i know its safe to delete them.

cause the previous stuff pks didn't run the .exe application that had securom software, since celebrations it was only required to run the latest ep and before bv the previous eps didn't have securom . Now bv has securom in the .exe application.

If bv hasn't been installed yet on your pc, and you have checked your registry to confirm securom is not installed in your system you can safely install your bv game and then use a nocd crack to bypass the securom software. You don't need to be connected to the net to play bv, but if you run the launcher you may experience difficulties due to the launcher trying to connect to the net. To avoid the launcher just run sims2ep6.exe application instead of the launcher.exe. Further info can be found at maty forums and beosboxboy sticky thread.

Yeah i understand what your going through. With mine it takes say bout 20-25min to load. Have about over 14gb of cc at the moment. I will be slowly threading though all my cc and delete any unwanted stuff. Ive already scheduled a timetable on how to do this, spanning of 4hrs each session for 3x days. Although i suspect its probably gonna take longer than that.lol.

With simpe i just don't get that program, i just followed the step by step guide from wikipedia. Downside of using that option is you can only disable the files, not delete or transfer them, can't scroll down to select all of them if you have alot, only one by one. What would be great, is a new program that does exactly this only has better features, maybe i should make a request.

Heres some info extracted from wikipedia if you still need to pinpoint the trouble maker :
http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Finding_Problem_Custom_Content

Remove Most Likely Culprits
Certain items are more likely to cause problems than others. Often, the following sorts of files can cause problems in peoples' games:

    * Careers
    * University Majors
    * Hacks
    * Hacked Objects

Remove Unlikely Files

Before you begin the steps below for the 50% method, you may want to sort out files that you can be reasonably sure are safe and will not be causing major problems with your game. These files include:

    * Walls
    * Floors (Regular ones - glass/transparent floors can cause problems with Homecrafter)
    * Ground Cover
    * Makeup
    * Eyebrows
    * Skintones
    * Recolors of Maxis clothing, hair, and accessories

By taking out these almost-always-completely-fine downloads, you can save yourself some time as you'll have less potentially-borked files to sort through. If you don't know where you have all those files, Delphy's Download Organizer can help you find them to sort them out.


As stated on wikipedia DDO is a great tool for sorting content and viewing specific categories, now i have individual folders in my buymode/objects folder. eg. seating, surfaces, electronics and so on. If you load only some cc eg. just the objects folder (or only 1 of the individual folders, seating folder for example) and leave out all bodyshop files, it will significantly reduce loading times.

What helps too is to sort items by date, so if you recall the last time/date your game run perfectly without crashing, then you can narrow down the amount of files to look at. Another handy tool with simpe, is you can find orphans as well, have heard its more reliable/accurate than DDO.

Hey JCSpencer, i had encountered similar issues like you with constant crashes mine was most likely a guid conflict cause while browsing the buy/build catalog id get a conflict with a particular object, and boom back to desktop "application has crashed". Heres a link for more info http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:GUID_Conflicts.  If you still can't do without your cc, and wanna find the damn bastard culprit file here's some more handy links i swear by,
http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Game_Problem
http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Finding_Problem_Custom_Content
- hack conflict detection utility tool from http://www.simswardrobe.com

If your culling your cc, i congrat you. Id never have the guts to part with my cc. If your starting fresh and wanna keep your cc nice and organized, here's some recommendations for programs to help with categorizing.

-sims2 clean installer
- delphy's download manager
- simpe (to check for guid conflicts)
- the compressorizer by jfade (if you wish to shrink your cc and make room for more cc lol, or just to save more hard drive space)
- the wardrobe wrangler by jfade (is beta though, good for organizing bodyshop files)
- fo more programs by jfade visit http://forum.djssims.com/ or
http://www.djssims.com/
- a good tutorial guide for organizing/categorizing content
http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Organizing_Custom_Content

Hey PiperK1980, there's a really good thread over at maty how to remove securom and play bv. Its a sticky in the podium section.

Pets ep had used safedisc not securom. H&M and supposedly celebrations stuff packs, bon voyage and sims2 deluxe have securom. Maybe when you installed pets you had other games that installed securom software.

Its not that for the purpose of copying/burning ea games (why on earth would people bother doing that?, its impossible to backup ea games without tweaking and customizing the anti-piracy software anyhows). What securom does affects legitimate consumers whom have issues with their burning software with all burning features eg.backup data, audio, pictures/family albums etc., antivirus programs, virtual drives, photoshop, itunes, playing dvd movies, experiencing memory leaks and so on. It compromises alot of software, which is why securom is highly intrusive. If some people are not affected yet, it will eventually degrade the performance of the pc, its just only a matter of time and depends on what software that securom doesn't like.

Bv has installed a bug in itself. Its called securom. The anti-piracy software has changed with this ep, problem is it causes more harm than good for legitimately owned consumers. Securom is know to cause very poor game performance and lag due to memory loopholes from securom, no matter what your specs are it will cause the same effect even on high end machines. This is a widespread issue in the gaming community, has effected other games in the past eg.tomb raider anniversary,supreme commander bioshock and list goes on. This issue should not be ignored, i believe this is one of the main culprits of bv's "memory leakage", other than the npc respawning.

Some further information regarding this issue of what SecuROM does:
- conflicts with normal programs eg.anti-virus, system explorer programs and nero
- scans unused areas of computer memory incl. the hard drive (leading to memory leakages)
- blacklists legitimate software eg. auto-run programs running in the background
- been reported that making backups and reinstalling bv is proven to be difficult due to secuROM
- can dysfunction cd-rom drives and virtual drives

Further discussion of this issue at:
http://bbs.thesims2.ea.com/community/bbs/messages.php?threadID=441e9fea8dbed1225b1461466d6267b9&directoryID=189&startRow=1&openItemID=item.189,root.1,item.43,item.104,item.41,item.127,item.23

From previous experiences with sims2 and sims1 eps eons ago. Honestly bv is one of the worst ep i have ever seen released. This ep far exceeds the bugs and glitches compared to previous eps. Biggest of them all is the memory leakage and serious lag, which makes the gameplay so unfun. Have tested this game with no downloads and all eps and stufffpacks, my system specs exceed the requirements so i know that is not related. Am very disappointed in EA, it is such a copout, trying to release a product to gain as much profit rather than of quality.

does this hack work with the new ep pets? excluding the inteen version.