Sad day indeed.  Especially for us TS2 simmers.

I did those fixes for TS2 and they work just fine for me (LAA and the other one - sorry can't remember what that was).  Game has stopped crashing (huzzah).  Downside is you can't use the noCD crack anymore.

Oh yes please.

If you're loading the game from the game launcher, you could try bypassing it.

No idea what has happened to them but it would be possible for someone to pack them up for you (unplayed) and send them over, I guess.

You can move/delete them as snabul said - you can rename them too, I usually put their name and age in the name.  The sims you created in game are a completely different set of files - the game just copied the data from Saved Sims when you created the sims in CAS.  One thing I do is put these files in a sub-folder inside Saved Sims once I'm done (assuming I want to keep them) - the game does not read sub-folders in Saved Sims (it does in Downloads, of course).  This means you can save the files somewhere where you're likely to find them again without it affecting read-time.  (At least AFAIK - they don't show up in CAS anyway).

Sounds like you could hold sweepstakes.  Well, I admit it sounds fun.  If you can also add a tracker of the number of times they get drunk and hit on their boss's wife, I'm in.

Perhaps not, but I'd be up for a record of every single fight.

For me it's the record keeping: you just can't keep records of sims lives in TS3 like you can in TS2.  I am a very heavy user of the camera/story-telling facility of TS2.  That, and the lack of memories, it's just a pointless game to me with little meaning.  I also like genetics and very inter-related neighbourhoods so that's another turn off for TS3 for me.  I do like the design aspects and the open neighbourhood though I have not bothered with AM or anything else that would seek to control who gets wiped out when you don't want them to, mainly because I've only played the game twice since I played it in June last year to see what it was like.  I get BORED with it very quickly.

Yes, I did that with my game when I had XP - you right click on something (probably the icon for My Documents) and pick properties - there's a wizard in there that will do the whole thing for you; reassign all programme access addresses and everything.

The EAxis neighbourhood folders will regenerate if you remove ALL the neighbourhoods folders from the neighbourhoods folder:

My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Neighbourhoods

But it will only do this if that folder is empty on start up.  An easy way to do it is just take the other neighbourhoods folders out temporarily.  You can put back any custom hoods once you're done.

Pandaah is right - I had both my installations of Sims (bought a new computer 18 months ago) on drives other than C without problems.  A manual installation of University might have got round this problem.

Aw c'mon Pescado.  Stop being coy.  I could try a Fat Gwill impression if you like.  mmmm maybe not.  But throw a bone to those of us still playing TS2 you miserable git.

Actually, no, again I'm afraid.  When you create the hood, you can see the baristas clearly enough in the first load after creating the hood before you add a university.  Quite a lot of NPCs get made before any sub-hoods are added.  I've done the count a number of times - it's entirely consistent each time and I can actually send you the reports if you like.  As I said before, quite a few of the BV NPCs get created too before you add a BV sub-hood.  I can't speak to original EAxis hoods because, as I also said before, I never play them.  These number counts are done with new hoods and not EAxis ones.  EAxis hoods are not made in quite the same way as the basic game hood creation mechanic.  Sorry but whatever applies in SimState doesn't necessarily apply to what I am saying.  I did say clearly, in my first post, that these numbers were based on empty hoods, not on EAxis ones.  If you don't believe me, I suggest trying it yourself.

So am I - actually, I'm talking about both.


Well, as we know from TS3 fiasco, the tractability of games on individual systems can vary enormously.

@ Tarlia - no, they aren't.  I didn't post my full report and perhaps I should have explained more clearly.  This is a list of sim files which appear after the uni sub-hood is added.  That's how I did the tests.  I created a hood first and listed all the files created (the 390) and then added a university and then listed the extra files generated, then a downtown and so on.  The baristas are generated when you create the neighbourhood, before you add a uni so are not included in this part of the list.  The OP's original query, if you remember, was what gets added when you add a university?  Basically, baristas get added whether you attach a university or not.  Even though certain NPCs come with a specific EP, some of them will get generated before an EP sub-hood is added, while some, often those who do not appear unless you have the sub-hood actually attached, don't and then get added when you add the sub-hood, though this is not always the case.  The same thing happens with BV, for instance, these people get added to the base hood BEFORE you add any of the holiday destinations (and are therefore counted in the 390).

Hotel Clerk (male 3)
Ninja (male 3)
Unsavoury Charleton (male 3)
Hotel Maid (female 3 - no particular evidence these can't be male, but were female with this test)
Local Chef (3)
Masseuse (3)

and it's only afterwards, when the first sub-hood is added, that tourists and the vacation locals for that sub-hood appear.

@ Rufio - Not as far as I know.  The streakers aren't in the list given here - again. as above, it's only part of the report.  What I did was list everyone that appeared as I added the sub-hoods but didn't include any sims (until the end of the report) that get generated as you play.  The streakers, I think, get generated as you play.  They are also YAs - in my game anyway but then I play with empty templates and no regen hacks (when I'm not doing the tests) and NPCs like that get added as needed so in my game they aren't 'originals' so to speak.

edited to add - also, I will point out that there are several sets of 'random sims that get generated but never appear in game' that get added to your neighbourhood's sim files as you add various EPs and/or sub-hoods to a new neighbourhood.  This is one (of the many) reason(s) why you would not get me to remove the empty templates from my game under any circumstances.

Sounds like the drive is failing - are you having trouble reading other DVDs on the drive?

You must be doing something wrong then because I've run V:tM under both XP and Vista without any problems.  Vista did have problems at the start but it's stable enough now.  I've been running it for about 18 months without problems.  I am thinking of ungrading to W7 but I've no real complaints except the memory hogging (lots of RAMz helps).

You can't put nine families in it anyway - the maximum is four.

Well, I'm not convinced it would work in play.  Say you sent off someone to work in their store after the kids have gone off to school and their partner has gone to work.  They work all day, stay open late then have to clean up and restock and you both get home at, say 10pm.  What then?  The kids still at school?  And when are they supposed to do their homework for tomorrow?  The problem would be that the sims left at home would get robbed of hours out of their day.  

My solution to this, BTW, is to put the shop owner to bed when we get back to the home lot and leave them there (they are usually tired out anyway) until later in the day when they might reasonably be expected to have returned home.  Works for me anyway.  I can understand the frustration with this aspect of the game, especially when you go out for short trips or take everyone to the beach for the day and arrive home at 10am again - but then in that situation, Crammyboy's fix works just fine - or if you don't (or can't) use it (I don't), you can use the sethour cheat.  Get home at 8pm according to the time on the community lot, sethour 20 when you get back - simple.

I have done the numbers test several times (and can send you the report if you like).  What happens when you add universities without empty templates is as follows:

The first one, you get a full set of NPCs and dormies.

The second and any subsequent one, you only get a set of dormies - though it's 50 per university.  This is the relevant bit from my report (yes, I was that anal about it).  The number at the top (390 sims) is the number of character files you would expect to already be present in a new neighbourhood just before you added a university.  This is from the Freetime report so includes all the NPCs that get initially generated in a hood with all EPs to FT included.  As you can see, adding a university then adds 98 files.  Obviously, using empty templates prevents all this except for the generation of the professors (lecturers to us English) which will always be generated no matter what you do - and actually need to be in order for the university to run properly.  If you use the empty templates and no regen hacks, the game will spawn NPCs as it needs them, though with my regular empty template hood I only got one of each of the streaker, mascots and so on.  The random extra sims (I've never worked out whether those are just there because of Maxian laziness (probable) or whether they actually have a role of some sort) don't ever get generated.


Adding a University
390 Sims +98

Professors (24 elder and adult)
Students (50 YA obviously)

NPCs (21)
Cheerleader (female YA 3)
Chinese Delivery (3)
Motivators (elder 3)
Dorm Cooks (elder 3)
Llama Mascot (YA 3)
Shop Assistants (adult 3) - never used?
Cow Mascots (YA 3)

Random Sims from University who never appear in game (3)
MA 2 FA 1

Adding a second or subsequent University will add another 50 dormie sims (built to the same template so they look exactly like the first set - different names)


Oh, edited to add - these numbers are, of course, with otherwise empty hoods.  I have never, ever played a Maxis hood, always preferring my own.  If you use the Maxis hoods, you will also get the Maxis playables included with those hoods, unless you (again) use the empty templates.

Thanks ritaxis - the ATS one is the one I have/use.  Sims will sit in it which is good.  But I like the pole too - better for less important lots.

I shouldn't rely too heavily on something like that if I were you.  The effectiveness of grammar checkers is very limited.  Similarly, spell-checkers - there are many words that sound the same but are spelled differently depending on what they mean.  You need to know (no) this, so you use the correct word.

Be smug - you're the only one who got it.

In some ways that's fair comment - it is one of those supply chain management things - like Caesar only with more stuff.  Really, a lot more stuff.  I happen to like that sort of game very much but if you don't then it's not the game for you.  I like the atmosphere and the campaign side of the game has a story which I'm always a complete sucker for.  The reason I was thinking of it (despite playing all the time at the moment) and mentioned it is that it's a new game to me, like Sims 3, and, well, basically there's just so much more in it than TS3.  It made me realise just how much EA has stripped out of the sims game.  This game is a new game, cheaper than TS3 and has and does more.