How do I back up my sims and neighborhoods?

[Jelenedra]

Having an issue with an annoying sound coming from my computer towers internal speakers every time I play the game. I have figured out that it is NOT any of my custom content causing the problem so I was going to do a reinstall, but I don't want to lose my sim families that had my first NATURAL twins EVAR. (That and I made a Carth Onasi who is currently shacking up with a female Revan while his son Dustil and the ghost of his ex-wife Morgana make faces at them both.)

Anyways, I want to save those two families (the rest I couldn't give flying flips about, they were made to fiddle with the new features) and I have never made backups of these kinds of things before. So... help me pretty please? If possible I would like to save the houses as well, but that is no big deal if I can't, with twins in one house and Revan and Carth having a lil one and expecting another, it is getting kind of cramped. =)

[Simlover]

Ive found the easiest way (and then I don't forget anything either) is to go to your my documents >eagames folder and then copy the sims2 folder to another location.

[Simlover]

Have you actually done anything to try and troubleshoot the sound before you uninstall and reinstall though?

[Jelenedra]

Not really, I am sort of computer challenged to an extent. All I could think of was my custom content causing some sort of complication, but that wasn't it. So beyond that I am clueless. I did update my drivers though, and that didn't help. After that.... 

[Simlover]

They are a smart lot at this site and I'm sure they would be happy to offer advise..

Firstly, what type of annoying sound is comming from your tower and is it doing it while using any other programs?

[miramis]

Does the annoying sound happen only in a house or in the Neighbourhood view aswell?

[Jelenedra]

It sounds like a siren. It's all "BOooOoWeeeboooowwweeeeeboooo." Over and over, ad nauseam.

I get about five minutes of quiet gameplay and then it starts. It'll stop for a SECOND if I save the game or go into the option menus, but the moment I return to live or buy mode it returns. If I leave the game sitting in neighborhood view it will start doing it as well.

It's weird because I was playing the game just fine for days and then all of a sudden in my first OFB household, after playing for an hour or two it started. It wasn't as constant as it is now, it went for a few seconds and would stop if I changed modes. I figured it was some custom content or some hack I put in the game, but that wasn't the case. The only thing weird about the house it started in is that the family had natural twins (no hacks, or Maxis cheesecake) and they had just grown up into toddlers. But it happens regardless of what family or neighborhood I am playing. Nothing shows up on debug mode either.

If it matters I was wearing headphones the first time it happened.

[angelyne]

That's pretty weird.  Have you tried going into the sounds settings for TS2 and selectively turning off some sounds?

[Jelenedra]

I muted everything and it still does it. The problem isn't my speakers. It's my computer tower making the noises. Don't ask me how.

[blackjacksims]

I muted everything and it still does it. The problem isn't my speakers. It's my computer tower making the noises. Don't ask me how.

Seems that you may have either a software or hardware alarm going off. It may be a temperature related alarm as your cpu is working 100% at running The Sims.
FYI, there is a small speaker inside nearly every pc to indicate system status.

[Jelenedra]

I hope not, but I just don't get why it is happening now. It's not like OFB is any harder for it to run than the rest of the sims. Besides if that was the case, wouldn't the sound continue even after I quit the game as the pc cooled down? And if I alt-tab out of the sims the sound stops. Soo... *so confused*

[Simlover]

I think it sounds like an alarm as well, Try taking the side off your computer and make sure the little fan on your cpu and graphics card are working well, although usuallly if the fans are at fault you should get the alarm minutes after starting your computer.  The other thing would be to try playing with the side off and a small fan blowing into your case and if the sound stops its generally a good indicator of overheating prob.

[Jelenedra]

Lord, I hope that isn't it. It just so weird because it ONLY goes off while I play. The MOMENT I turn the game off it stops. *sighs*

[Simlover]

I would imagine if its overheating it should continue for at least a short time after quitting the game so maybe there is something corrupt there.  Do you have intergrated sound or sound card and what type is it?

[Jelenedra]

I believe I have a non intergrated sound card. It's a sound blaster something ZS or something like that. It's been two years since I bought my pc. 

[Simlover]

Try running dxdiag or easy info to find out what your card is, its possible it may be no longer supported in OFB or it could be a conflict which may be easily rectified by updating drivers.

[Jelenedra]

I did update my drivers. *pouts* It had no effect whatsoever.

[Jelenedra]

I am going to try a reinstall when I get home tonight, maybe something got corrupted when I purged my downloads after installing OFB. I got tired of the long as heck loading times so I deleted everything from my download folders. Maybe there is a townie running around wearing a hair and make up I don't have anymore and it's FUBAR'D something.

[Simlover]

LOL, Its quite possible I guess.  I did find this below in the OFB readme file which might help, otherwise before you do uninstall then try adding -nosound to the end of the target line in you desktop icons property box, at least you will be able to tell if the sound is comming from the game or your computer.  And if you still intend on uninstalling then do a manual uninstall to remove registry files as well.


Incompatibility with SB Audiogy2 or SB Audiogy2 ZS sound card on Windows 98SE:
The Sims 2 Open for Business is not compatible with the SB Audiogy2 or SB Audiogy2 ZS sound card, when running on Windows 98SE.
If you have one of these sound cards on the Windows 98SE operating system, and are experiencing problems starting up The Sims 2 Open for Business, updating to the VXD driver for that sound card may fix the problem.

Windows 98:
  4.0 and 5.1 speaker configuration not available on some Windows 98 sound drivers, and only stereo is available. (Sound Blaster Live!, Sound Blaster Audigy, Forte Media FM801) Updating to the latest drivers may allow these options to be selectable.
  NVidia NForce 2: sound problems when selecting 4.0 or 5.1 speakers.  Sound is played correctly only in stereo.
  M-Audio Sonica Theater 7.1: Sound frequently pauses and skips.  Upgrading to the latest drivers may help.

[Jelenedra]

Hmm I do have the Audigy ZS Soundcard. I know it is coming from the pc though as it is still audible when I have the headphones plugged in or the game muted. I will try  getting different drivers. (AGAIN) Thanks for that!

Coulda sworn I had windows XP though....

[Jelenedra]

Yep, Windows XP and the SB Audigy 2 ZS soundcard. And there are not any "VXD" drivers. At least as far as I can tell. I hate not being computer S-M-R-T.

[Simlover]

Are you in the states jelendra?

[Jelenedra]

Yeppers. Doing another hack test before reinstalling.

[Simlover]

Well hang on a tic, I'm just searching creatives database now. Do you know if you have eax enabled or not?

[Jelenedra]

No clue, but I am testing my hacks again, so far nothing has caused it, so maybe it was one of my hacks. Long process though.