Need help transferring data to new PC

[Beaucat001]

Hope someone can help. I'm trying to transfer all my old Sims 2 files to a new PC and have a problem.

I have all the expansion packs up to Seasons, do not have Celebration Stuff. A few days ago, I copied all of the Sims 2 files from the My Documents/EA Games/Sims 2 file on the old PC and downloaded them onto the new PC. I have many, many files in the Downloads folder, as well as about six months worth of saved games and other data.

I downloaded all of the Sims 2 games I have onto the new PC, then loaded all of the files from the old Sims 2 folder into the new folder, the My Documents/EA Games/Sims 2 folder. Everything worked fine. When I opened up the game, everything was right where I left it on the old PC.

Then, however, I used IntelliMover to transfer the remaining data files from my old PC to the new one. Something screwy happened after this transfer. Now, when I open Sims 2 Seasons, a screen saying Sims 2 Open for Business appears while the game is booting up. This is despite the fact that I've downloaded Seasons and clicked on the Seasons shortcut to start the game.

After the Open for Business screen disappears, I'm given the choice of choosing a neighborhood. So I click on Pleasantville. I get the screen for Pleasantville. I click on a lot. I get a loading screen. The progress bar works its way across the top. But after the progress bar is complete, the lot doesn't load and the game stalls. After waiting a long time, I tried Ctrl/Alt/Delete and I get an error message saying the game has crashed.

I tried removing all Sims 2 games from the new PC and downloading everything again, and the same thing happened.

As I said, everything worked OK until I did the data transfer with the IntelliMover software.

The old PC is a Dell XPS with 2 gigs of RAM, 500 gig hard drive and two video cards. The new PC is a Dell XPS with 4 gigs of RAM, 600 gig hard drive and also two video cards. It doesn't seem that there should be any problem with memory or hard drive space.

Anybody have any suggestions or ideas on how to correct this?

Thanks very much.

[Wednesday17]

This is despite the fact that I've downloaded Seasons and clicked on the Seasons shortcut to start the game.

What exactely do you mean by "download"? Downloading is receiving something from a remote server (internet). I guess, you mean that you copied data from your old pc and put it on your new pc, right?

Sooo... you didn't install the Sims, but rather copied all the data to the correct path where it's supposed to be? That doesn't work. You have to get all your cd's and dvd's out and properly install the game and every ep (plus patches in the proper order: game, patch, game, patch...). Then I'd recommend you run the game once and make sure it's all fine. After that, copy all your custom data to where it belongs (mostly the download folder and subfolders, if you have them).

Is that it or did I understand you completely wrong with what you meant by "downloading"?

[Beaucat001]

OK, I should have said "loaded" or "installed" all of the Sims 2 games on the new PC. Then I copied the Sims 2 data from the old PC to the new Sims 2 files on the new PC. As I said early in the previous post, everything worked fine until I did the data transfer using the IntelliMover software.

So if you read my first post and substitute the phrase "installed all of the Sims 2 games on the new PC" instead of "downloaded," you'll get the picture. The game was "properly installed" before I tried to add the files from the old PC. But I did not try to run it before adding the old files.

Hope this is clearer. Thanks.

[ancienthighway]

It's sounding to me like IntelliMover isn't that intelligent.  lol

I recommend uninstalling everything from the new computer, then reinstalling it.  Once that's done and things are working properly, copy the data you want from the old computer to the new one without using IntelliMover.  To keep your downloads, neighborhoods, and the like, you'll need to copy these folders at minimum:
  Downloads
  Neighborhoods
  SavedSims

If you had any specifics for the configuration and what it back exact, copy the Config folder also.  The Collection folder should be copied if you had any custom collections in your game.  Same goes with any Music you may have added, Packaged Lots you want to move, etc.

[Beaucat001]

Removed everything and started over again, starting with the Sims 2 base game. I intended to try to start the game after each installation step.

When I finished installing Sims 2, I put Disc 1 back into the drive and tried to start the game. But I got a message readout saying I had to play the latest version of the game, and that I should insert the Seasons disc -- even though I hadn't yet tried to re-install Seasons. Inserted the disc anyway, tried to start the game, and it crashed again.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks very much.

[ancienthighway]

You'll need to clean up the windows Registry.
Run regedit, then under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/EA GAMES delete the entries for the EPs/SPs you haven't installed.

[Beaucat001]

Doing the registry thing worked. Thanks very much.