Thank you Lord Darcy for your help.  The network connection would have been a logical source of the problem as it is a common factor with both computers.  However, the other common factor was the game disk!  It turns out we have a faulty disk after all.   

After trying many many possible solutions suggested on various threads on various sites with no luck my son borrowed another game disk from a friend.  I manually uninstalled then installed the game from the friend's disk and so far everything is working perfectly. 

I will be taking the game back to the shop tomorrow for a replacement.

Running Windows XP on both computers.

Just tried this and attempted to launch the game.  Instead of restart I got a very pretty blue screen with the following text:

A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

Driver_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

(then some blurb about new software probably not correctly installed and to restart computer and uninstall it)

Technical Information:

***STOP: 0x000000D1 (0x00420040, 0x0000002, 0x000000000, 0xA9DFF8CE)

***tcpip.sys - Address A9DFF8CE base at A9DFB000, Datestamp 485b99ad

Beginning dump of physical memory
Physical memor dump complete
Contact system administrator or technical support for further assistance



This message displayed on both computers.  Do you think I may have just got a faulty disk?

1st computer

Pentium 4 3.2Ghz
1G ram
ATi X300

2nd computer

Pentium 4 3.4Ghz
1G ram
ATi X800

Is that enough info?  Both computers have about 16G space available on HD after installation.

Hi - I really wouldn't be asking this here if I had any idea where else to ask but I am at my wits end.  We have just purchased the game today and have been trying to get it running all afternoon.

Installation seems to go okay but attempting to start the game just causes the computer to restart.  We have tried it on two seperate pcs with the same results.  We have tried updating graphics drivers and uninstalling and reinstalling with no improvement.  I also downloaded the patches and installed but that also made no difference.

I cannot get any help from the offical website as I am unable to log in with starting up the game - which I can't do.

Any help at all would be appreciated.  Google suggests graphics drivers as the problem but we have tried everything suggested (upated or different drivers) with no result.

Please and thankyou

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,8012.0.html - it took me ages to find when I went looking a few weeks back myself.

I love everyones makeovers so far!  Here's my take on it.  Not particularly grand and definately not awesomespec but still an improvement on the original I think.  I have all eps up to seasons but no stuff packs.  Fully furnished house is 118,114 - unfurnished is around 35,000.

I use dentedtrain's Loan Paintings & Investment bonds.   http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=122224&highlight=painting They are based on Inge's mortgage shrubs but are perhaps more in line with what you were wanting?

Okay - One very red faced Rascal here.  Yes this works for me ... because I have edited the txt file.  I went and had a look at it and sure enough the 'notInCatalog' has been cancelled.  I apologise unreservedly for posting incorrect info and will accept any pointing and laughing/poking with sharp sticks for messing with game files and forgetting about it - duh.  I keep a backup copy of any files I've changed (a few) but somehow missed this one.

As an alternative to editing the floorpatterns.txt file you can use the eyedropper tool (with moveobjects on) to select a piece of sidewalk and use that to replace the deleted bits.

I don't have downtowns attached to my testing hoods so don't get these calls.  Good thought though.

I think maybe Inge didn't mean that quite the way it sounded - I hope not.  Pbox your lots have been very clearly labelled as experimental and you've posted links to the R&D discussion.  That's how I found out about your first crash - your subsequent testing and failure to reproduce.  And that's why I posted about my first crash despite the fact I couldn't reproduce it either (to start with).  I don't think anyone thinks you've been irresponsible posting the lots - in fact I am very grateful to you for the time you have invested in trying to help solve this.  Thankyou!

Moontilda's work with the LE is incredible (thankyou Moontilda!) and it there is no reason to delay progress because of this issue but I don't believe we have wasted time on this.  It may be there is no solution and the game simply can't handle walls/roofs on the boundries but as you say, without this testing we wouldn't even know there was a problem.  For me, having walls on boundries is the whole point of shrinking lots and I will continue to use this feature in my own game.  I still hold out hope a solution will be found that allows lot sharing, and if a solution is found I am sure that this thread will have contributed greatly to it.

Sorry to report I have noteleportpuddles too - doesn't stop the crashing for me.

To answer a couple of questions, ask a couple of questions, and probably add to the general confusion:

I've managed to crash with and without my (many and varied) hacks so none of them at least play a part.  Which is not to say that something baratron has doesn't prevent crashes (that would be very handy).

The very first crash I had was on Plasticbox's Backdoor 42.  I didn't install the invisible driveway or the staircase as I have different versions of both these things already in my game.  Before I moved any sims in I entered the lot in buildmode, changed the staircase and recoloured the driveway and saved the lot.  So I have managed to get a crash on a lot that was altered and saved in buildmode prior to moving in sims.  Duh!  Nevermind - I just realised pbox meant if someone with bv had saved in buildmode prior to moving in sims.  I don't have bv.

With the eps in creator's game thing.  So far we have crashes on lots made in basegame and base+nightlife, and not crashes on lots made in games with bv.  Has anyone tried a lot made with seasons, or pets, or ofb?

If there is something different about the way the game deals with off lot objects and/or day to night change between different eps, it may be the relevant difference is present in pets, ofb or seasons as well as bv.  Does any of this make any sense?

I will try making a row house in my game (up to seasons) and see if I can make it crash.

What I wondered about, and what I think Simsample was getting at, was that the lots made in a game with BV (ie Inge, DocDofus) don't seem to crash, whereas lots made in a game without BV (yours and aelflaed's) do.

In other words the eps in the creator's game (rather than the end user's) may be important.

Perhaps the way the game handles the 7pm lighting change is different in BV?

I downloaded aelflaed's lot from MTS2 and tried it out.  Crashed at 7pm - so it's not just your lots pbox.

Maybe there is something to the ep thing?  I don't have BV either so of course this means I can't test Inge's lot (after saying I would - sorry  ).


1. In a different neighbourhood with another brand new CAS sim I tried changing to night view in buildmode pretty much as soon as the lot loaded.  It crashed straight away.  For me at least this proves it has something to do with the change of lighting from day to night.

2. I've already tried turning on and off house lights and it doesn't appear to make any difference.

I also tried packaging and then installing my empty lot (previously I'd just moved it in and out of the lot bin).  Still no crashes.

  -- My son asked me what I was doing and I explained I was testing these lots in order to help some clever people work out why they were crashing.  His response?  Oh - so you're the crash test dummy! 

ETA I don't have any lighting mods if that's any help.

I'll try one of your lots Inge - where can I find them?


I have had a crash in an existing neighbourhood.  A fairly new neighbourhood admittedly, with no subhoods attached, but it had been played before.

I have also only had crashes with new CAS sims.  Moving an existing sim into the house has never caused a crash yet.  However, as Plasticbox pointed out, I have had lots that don't crash with a CAS sim so either this isn't the only trigger, or its a trigger that doesn't always work.

In other news, I shrunk a 3x2 empty lot down to 1x2, placed in the lot bin then moved it into various neighbourhoods and moved in sims to see if any would crash.  Out of 7 tests none have crashed.  I tried the lots on their own, sandwiched between two row houses and sandwiched between two other empty shrunk lots.  I have no idea whether or not this is significant but it could possibly point to the problem being walls on the boundries rather than the shrinking of the lot itself.

Of course it could mean nothing at all ... apart from the 7pm-ish time slot nothing is particularly consistant about these crashes.

I really hope walls on the boundry aren't the problem - its kind of the whole point!

Ah ha!  Thankyou.  I'll have a look when I'm next playing and I think I'll try without nouneededcoats as well and see if that makes a difference.  I'm aware my townies wont freeze - its just the look of the thing.

I have this issue in seasons also and decided to try this - doesn't work without BV for me.  Just causes the sim to jump out of the sleep action.  I'm not reporting this as a problem as I know this wasn't intended for pre BV games - just as info for GayJohnScarrit or anyone else who wants to know.

  duh - thanks Emma.  Okay - now just to prove I'm really stupid - how do you know what the temperature is?  As far as I can tell the sim's individual temperature bars only show red, green and blue - not an actual temperature.

Also I do have JMs no uneeded coats hack - maybe that's why my townies aren't wearing their coats?

A few minutes is no doubt an exaggeration.  I have only had seasons installed for a few days so I haven't let any sims freeze - I just take him inside when his temperature bar is blue.  I'm not worried about how long he can stay outside.  I'm just curious why non-controllables aren't wearing outwear when there is deep snow on the ground.  Are you saying they will change if the temperature is low enough?  How low does the temperature have to get for that to happen?

I've recently installed seasons (yes I know I'm behind the times) and I'm enjoying the lovely snowy winter.  However, it's very weird to see the neighbours saunter by in their mini skirts when my sim has to retreat indoors after a few minutes - even when bundled up in his hat and coat.  I've looked here and less awesome places but I haven't noticed any discussion about this.  Does anyone know of a solution for this or is it one of those simish things I have to learn to live with?

^{Rascal nervously waits to be poked with sharp sticks and have her stupidity/terrible grammar pointed out to her.}

Very cool!  Did you see Pescardo's comment? 

 I use these http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=122224

They are a series of buyable paintings that look like loan certificates.  You pay 1% per day interest and repay the loan by selling the painting in buy mode.  I think they work more or less the same as Inge's shrubs.

http://www.sussissogoodsims2.com/DickensLondon.html

Scroll down a little to get to the scruffy stuff - the teen stuff is on the next page.

As far as your royal men - I know I've seen some but I'll have to go look.

I don't know if these are quite right either but there's a loin cloth thingy here (its the last one - the rest are female) http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=105932 
another http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=163398