here is exceprt from EA, hopefully this will explain better than me..

Hello!

There might be a possibility that you have a conflicting window setting.
You can try running the game using a new Administrator account. You can do this in the User Accounts interface.

1. Click on the Start button.
2. Click on Control Panel.
3. Locate the small Control Panel sub-window at the top left of the window.
- If it says Switch to Category View, you are in the correct viewing mode.
- If it says Switch to Classic View, click on the text to switch to the correct view.
4. Double-click on the User Accounts icon.
5. Click on the Add button.
6. Choose a user name and password.
7. Make sure to give the account full Administrator abilities.
8. Once the account is created, you will be able to restart and log in with the new Administrator account.

Should you require further assistance about this or any Electronic Arts games in the future please visit our website and review our extensive Self Help knowledgebase (http://support.ea.com).

I will copy and paste the word for word info that EA sent me when home. I believe tho if goto control panel there should be a user account option, under this is a choice to setup new account and will have a check to have admin rights. Then logon to the new name.

You can install the game on the new Id but if you want to play the old saved stuff you need to logon back to original user. Otherwise it will be a fresh game with no settings or download folder setup.

Ok I finally got it to work after all weekend going back and forth with EA tech support.

Basically what I had to do was just make a new user account under my XP and give it administrator rights and it seemed to install. Apparently its a windows configuration conflict.

What I havent tested is if I will get to work while back on old logon name. And wether I can ever find the conflict.

tried that , hasnt worked for me, but thanks wasnt something I thought tot try.
So far EA support just keeps sending me the standard info to make sure this and that is done.

I dont even think he's read my error logs or dxdiag yet.

Well I have about 100 gigs left, and its not even getting to start a setup it basically hits that error 5 seconds after put disk in drive.

Even trying to manually setup from cd will have same results. I have ticket in to EA but wonder how long thats gonna be before get it to work.

Well its those exception errors that you send to microsoft, and was able to get it to pop up an install window in laptop so thinking something is conflicting with my pc but no clue as to what

I am having this issue too, going to take back disks tomm, but I am getting an error almost as soon as autorun starts kicking in. I even got it from putting in disk 2 first. Something is not liking my computer and I closed all applications that I could and still get this.

I have XP 2.4 duo 2 gigs mem , 512 mem vid card. I dont use any cd/dvd software altho it is on pc.

But the drive doesnt even run long before I get the error message. I have never had any problems with any game before until this one.

Yeah was gonna make greenhouse when got a tad richer, right now trying to make a small farm and yeah can wait til spring to plant, just wondered if anyone had any sort of guide for which seeds thrive better when planted different seasons.

Sort of like a harvest moon setup...(yes I play that!)..

I have searched a few different forums and websites and have found several tips for gardening but cant seem to find any list of when is the best time to plant different seeds.

Anyone have a link to such a list? Started farming but watsed several plants because I planted them in winter and they didnt thrive.

Lol its funny you mention that cuz I was just thinking about that the other day, I still dont know what groom is for but I thought it would be better to have an unshaven look and even hair mussed after so long of inattention. And on a smaller scale for autonomous would be good as well but I figured go for broke. With toggable options, we could use your example and control the sims to get  them married, even try for a child, but if thats all you want to do for them, then you can toggle them back and let them rear the kid(s). Maybe take control again to marry the kid off to a particular sim, etc.

Its just funny the sims have settings for abilities yet most times we control them or else they become miserable.

Not god but the ability to choose a hands off approach if you like or the ability to have them run themselves just like a created sim would do w/o cheats if he shows up at your community lot or home. I would just like to take it a step further so the neighborhood grows if I choose without my full hands on guidance.

I wouldnt say make the game all like this and the options of what you want be in control of, wether its 1 house or several, or none at all. You can still override commands if you wanted.

I dont know if anyone is old enough to remember little computer people, but the sims renminds me of a complex version of that game. In that one all you did was ensure he had food and water and he would do his own thing. Some may get bored of a hands off aproach, but sometimes just watching sims do their own thing is interesting.

Right now we pretty much influence all aspects of the game from the business their in to the house they live in, to when they need to hit the toilet. If he's sloppy we pretty much force them to clean up, if he's lazy we motivate them. I would love to see a sim decide his place is a mess and if he doesnt want to clean it then hire a maid. Or a person with a knowledge aspiration get a job as a scientist or any other job that promotes that field. Choose to build up his logic if needed. I can create 2 complete opposite personalities and plop them together and see how long they get along.

More than a lab experiment than playing god, afterall this is a life simulation, but right now these lil fellas couldnt survive on their own  w/o our help. I think the current game is more of a god role than what I would like to see..

I, Servo

Lol Vampyre, it sounds like your neighborhoods are on the verge of a Terminator, Matrix, or I robot takeover. Hehe with that mod of squinqes that lets servos look like normal sims, you could be taken over!

That would be a cool new career, Servo destroyer, drafted into a secret society that has knowledge of the servo takeover they pledge to get rid of them. Like a burgular they hit houses , not to steal, but to kill the servo. Armed with modern tech they can override normal house security..

Lol I just want 1 dangit so I can see what all the fuss is about.

Since I been playing lately , what I would like to see is.

. Fully autonomous neighborhoods. Optionable but what I mean by this is you create what ya want, and if you want to play a family, thats fine, but while your playing so is the AI. I dont mean just on your lot but everywhere. Time passes all this time, unless its stopped manually. This would be more like a science project, As for how the Sims function, the AI dictactes percentages of what the sim should focus on, as far as aspirations, if needs friends they auto call or invite friends. They get their own jobs, pay their own bills, all you have to do if ya want is watch, or nudge here and there if you really want to direct something specific. You add your ingredients, maybe stir the pot, and presto see what you created.

I would even go so far to say, when building houses, you could highlight floors to specific rooms and designate them dining, kitchen, bathroom,etc. With all objects assigned to room, let the AI also buy its own furniture with its personality style. Maybe by setting priorities to specific items like a bed being number 1 item for a sim in a bedroom then once thats placed it can add other things where room permits.  

Maybe its just me but I would love to just leave the sims on for a long period of time and come back and see all the surprises/changes that took place. If I do that now, chances are the house is burned down, the sim peed all over the place or had a nervous breakdown and died. Got a favorite sim? Put him in, speed the game up, watch a movie or whatever and come back to see what he did with his life.


Smaller things, permament household staff, butler,maid,COOK!, hehe we have a maid and gardener partime but no cook, just the ability to eat out or go out for food. Well the servo I guess....

hmm someone did a c3po on MTS2, I may have to try this to see if I can get it to use the skins, but still trying to get one the old fashion way by crafting it, lol..

Nice, found this searching for direction on how one uses the durn things, seems a tad low of a default setting.  Good fix!