My Tiger fell over and unfortunately I stuffed up the reinstall. So I upgraded to Leopard. As far as Leopard goes it works well. I think reinstalling must have defragged the system and improved the performance. I miss some of my Tiger applications, some I think I am glad that they have gone as I was sure that they were turning themselves on at inappropriate moments and stuffing up the game.

The first reinstall which i somehow stuffed up I could not get the Sims 2 to work at all. I could see the data there but the applications would not open.

After the upgrade to Leopard. The Sims 2 back up copy worked once again at least as well as it did before and so far so good. I have installed all EPs up to BV, the first patch and the combo patch. Not too bad for a G4 but my video card is the weakest link. Sometimes it runs sooo slowly and freezes. I have one problem in one neighbourhood with one family with a jump bug which I had before when everything went ummm haywire. I may get round to fixing it one day. IPhoto is not working for some reason but I don't need that for the sims.

Currently getting used to the new functionality in Leopard. My sims have been on holiday so to speak but not on BV.

WooHoo - the most useful feature in WooHoo was the Backup which I think tidies up the files. I was not able to use any other features for any practical purpose but it was fun looking at the files in more detail. Not sure if  WooHoo works under Leopard. The Activity Monitor says that it is ticking over but it seems so slow. It seems to be stuck on 'Initializing' and then I give up on it. Oo Oo oo just as I wrote that WooHoo kicked in and Backup worked. Nooo must have a corrupt file it quit unexpectedly. Must get back to the game now; excuse me for babbling on thanks for listening.

That is interesting I had not noticed that it gets 'stuck' at that point. Set UnrarX up to extract to your desktop. You may have to browse to find your desktop.

If it is still 'stuck'. Quit UnRarX. Then double click a rar file. The rar file should decompress to your desktop.

Drag the .package to the lower part of the screen, open your the Sims2/Downloads folder at the top then drag the .packages in.

I would recommend downloading the UnRarX software from the link mentioned above. It is free. (You may already have Stuffit maybe not. Either UnRarX or stuffit will decompress your rar file.)

After the UnRar software is downloaded and installed. Double click on a rar file and it should automatically open.

If you do get the question What should you open it with? browse for UnRarX (or Stuffit.) select that program and the rar should open.

Don't give up yet; you are getting sooo close now.

Good choice of sites the artists here and there are superb!!!

Follow the tips in the sticky How to download a RAR file with Safari. ( I use Firefox myself)

Briefly - after you decide on the item you would like to use ... one click on the link (not a Q-Xpess link LOL) this should open a small window which will ask you how you want to open he file and where you want to save it. (I save it to my disk on my desktop) If you have one of the programs from the 'sticky' above you then need to double click the rar file to release the goodness inside.

If you find it is .package it goes in the Downloads folder if it is a .Sims2pack double click it and follow the instructions.

Hope that helps a little. Read the stickies above as there are quite a few traps to fall into. I have found the instructions there so helpful.

Enjoy your simmies!!

Slightly off topic. One of my reasons for using a mac is to keep clear of viruses. Therefore I don't like the idea of programs that work  'in the background'. Viruses by definition work in the background. So would a mac Q-Xpress which works invisibly be safe? or am I just being paranoid?
As it is now I can watch what is being downloaded in the downloads window. By the same token I can choose to do other stuff and not watch the download. I like to have that choice.

I agree there are problems to be resolved. Unfortunately Woo Hoo did not do all that  i had hoped it would do.

It is a matter of good housekeeping just as in the game a sim could suffer a slow Death by Flies, our Macs could suffer a slow Death by Files - so any tool to keep the download folder tidy is useful. The Sims 2 did seem to run more smoothly after getting rid of a large number of files from the download folder but I changed my mind and prefer to recover what I had before. Having deleted all the files  that Woo Hoo identified as corrupt I decided to reload the back up copy (made by the finder).

Another tool is the DBPF Reader - it reads the .package file in the Sims 2. It is available from Atelier Quebec.

http://pages.infinit.net/origami/Atelier_Quebec/

From the home screen select the program button and go to the program screen.

Here you will find three programs. IFF.Snooper is for The Sims 1 IFF files, Skn2UV looks at the maps inside SKN files - I think. On the right hand side is the DBPF Reader.

Below the icons are three rows. The top row is for PCs and links more information - I think, the second row is for Mac OSX, the last row is for Mac OS 9.

The explanations there are very good, even I can understand them.

Back to Woo Hoo. The browse button works OK. When I use the Backup button in Woo Hoo (doe that sound bad?) A button New Smart Backup on the lower right right hand side should appear to initiate the back up. A small window should appear to Rename the Back up folder. This will take a while but you can have fun watching a blue bar gradually extend across the lower part of the big window.

The back up seems to work only if there are not any bad corrupt files. But there are two kinds of corrupt files: those that work (good corrupt files)  and those that don't (bad corrupt files). The ones that work I think are from the more recent EPs which were released after Woo Hoo was made and not recognised by Woo Hoo as good files. The DBPF reader identifies these good files as Version 1.2.

I am still happy with the funcionality that it offers but it reads Version 1 and 1.1 only. the later Version. 1.2 files are considered corrupt and these files are files I want to keep. I think I will use Woo Hoo in conjunction with the DBPF reader to identify and remove files which are no longer required.

Phew! Basically what I am trying to say is that in my opinion Woo Hoo is  a small step in the right direction but has to be used with care.

Thank you for starting this topic and thank you too for providing the link. The people in this community are so helpful.

This is a good way to tidy up the downloads folder.

I think I deleted a bit more than needed to and some sims have reverted to defaults. But hey the good thing is that the game still works, it works better and I did not have to reinstall it or anything complicated like that.

Once again thank you for sharing and caring.