TS2 crashes while replacing wheel bearings!!

[cmserene]

I got something of a problem here and I was hoping someone might have a solution OTHER than reinstalling the game. I have TS2 & Nightlife installed. I just reinstalled the a couple weeks ago. Everything has been working perfect up until a couple days ago. I began downloading some new objects, skins, etc. and you know how that can go right?? Before I knew it I had downloaded a few hundred items! Anyway...i installed them all into the downloads folder, tried to start up the game and it keeps getting stuck then crashing when it hits the message "Replacing wheel bearings". My first thought is one of the new downloads is corrupt, so I began the troubleshooting process of figuring out which dl is causing the problem. With a couple thousand dls in the folder, it became a daunting task, so I deleted all the custom content...confident that would solve the problem. NOPE! I now have no custom content in the dl folder and it still freezes and crashed at the same spot. Please help! I really really dont wanna have to reinstall again. If I do have to reinstall...then maybe someone can tell me a way to backup my existing lots and reinsert them in the game after its reinstalled. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME :sad4: Thanks!

[SherrytheCherry]

Did you try deleting groups.cache?
It worked last time this happened to me.

[cmserene]

where do i find groups.cache? im not sure what that is...

[SherrytheCherry]

Go to My Documents > EA Games
You should find groups.cache somewhere.

The "groups" are actually records of stuff. It usually solves most of my problems, and don't worry, it will eventually pop back up again (the cache). So yeah.

[cmserene]

Thanks! I'll have to try that tonight when I get home ) I'll let ya know if it didn't work...lol

[cmserene]

It didn't work (

[ancienthighway]

If you deleted your CC with Windows Explorer, you may be able to get those back from the Recycle Bin.

If you have a SavedSims folder, move that to the Desktop, along with the Downloads folder is you were able to recover the CC.  I'm guessing you downloaded some Sims that were placed into the SavedSims folder, and have meshes not compatible with your set up.

[cmserene]

thanks for your suggestion ancienthighway. unfortunately, that didnt work either. as for my cc...i actually still have all the zip files i downloaded in another folder so i can always reinstall them. thanks though ) i'm just hoping i dont have to reinstall the game. theres alot of time and effort in there!!

[ancienthighway]

The error you're getting is usually related to meshes for EPs you don't have or a corrupt mesh.  If you've already move everything out of Downloads and SavedSims, I guess it is possible you've got one someplace else somehow.

Use Windows Explorer to Search for files with the work mesh in My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2.  It's a long shot since I'm sure you've put the meshes in the Downloads folder, but it's worth a shot.

[cmserene]

OMG OMG OMG THAT WORKED!!! lol i had created a new folder under My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2 called "Holding Bin". when i was trying to figure out which file was causing the problem, I had moved most of my newest dl's into that folder not realizing the game would read what was in that folder as well. when i took your advice and did the search it pulled up all these files i had moved into that folder! once i moved that folder to my desktop and tried running the game again...it replaced the wheel bearings with not even a hiccup and the game started right up!!! omg you have no idea how thankful i am to you. you saved my sims lives!! lol ok now i got one more question for ya :oD is there a damn file cop for ts2?? i cant find one anywhere. i thought that might help weed out the bad files.....holy crap it works!! thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ancienthighway]

If you've got a bad mesh like I suspect the Binary search is probably the best method to find them.  

Delphy's Download Organizer may help, but I'm not that familiar with it.  Sims2Pack Clean Installer is a good one to have.  DDO and CI are both available at MTS2 if you don't have them.

Another indispensable utility is Paladin's Hack Conflict Detection Utility from http://www.simwardrobe.com.