i think i got mine from emule i downloaded it not sure if u heard of them u get lots stuff for comp free lol anyhow i do use this site a bit and they have some also i find this one good cos i dont get virus's from them normally
http://m0010.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_the_sims_2_bv.shtml
i do have mine on file i keep as back up but im not sure if im allowed to or how to add here for u i use no CD cracks all the time saves ruining the disks and deletes a lot of start up probs i didnt no u could delete the group cache though might have to try that next tikme and see if it works

hmmm something ive never come accross before sounds strange lol ive never known the cheat box not appearing and if it was working before and just stopped happening that is even weirder maybe someone else can help on this one does the game load and play ok its not slow sluggish or anything like that not sure what system u run graphics etc... cos sometimes if u running a smaller system it does take longer for things to appear or happen unless something in the other expansions u have hasnt loaded proper u might need to reinstall the whole lot and start from fresh maybe

ok by sounds of it do u think maybe it is the CC u have downloaded maybe try taking the stuff out see if the cheat box comes back if so then something u are downloading is upsetting yr game play is weird mind u it would effect the cheat box ive never had a prob with it i run all expansion packs to and quite a few CC and mods to alter the game and no probs woohoo lol good luck hope u sort it or someone can help but just out of curiosity take yr CC out and reload the game see if it works again might be something u recently downloaded it conflicted with u will have to find it if it is

i have had this problem several times and never been able to fix it it is truely annoying lol maybe it is something with the disk i thought and the way they have it so i went and found me a no CD crack so now i dont need the disk to load the game and i have no drama with it lol yay i just click the icon and the game loads maybe u need to do the same i even tried the BV patch still made no difference maybe someone else here can help but i found that the easiest with all my games just bypass the disk loading and use the patch

mine is the same as jinyc and it all runs smooth now used to get that graphic prob of diff colors etc.. when i run sims turns out i needed to boost ram and graphic card to run the sims and bon voyage you could try a reformat wont hurt but if your card is fried u will need to get a new one hope u get it sorted good luck I love the sims be lost without it (smiles)

hmmmm interesting i used to run nvidia also and found that was a huge prob with my games just not sims hardware conflict everything crashed so I rid it and changed back to radeon ATi and boosted ram and processor and everything is sweet again odd crash with certain CC but very rare maybe the nvidia is causing probs for u also i also rid my spyware programs and it has helped heaps hope you sort it id be lost without my sims(smiles) hehehe even hubby had probs with running nvidia he now has duel core stuff so his running sweet again to GeForce good graphic but has room for improvement i think I wouldnt use again mind you

I agree it is kind of boring but i enjoy BV its a shame they didnt put more into it cultural wise etc... but i use all the cheats and have heaps of fun i think its what u put into it and how u make it that makes the game ive created my own towns and fun but it is dissapointing to but i do like it i love the sims2 all of my custom content works only prob i found installing BV is my hair, eye, skin tones and colors wont work now grrr but everything else does
as for pets i havent reinstalled that what a waste of time that was a really dissapointing EP i think the one in sims 1 was more interesting than this one it really annoys me the pets one and it slows the game down heaps