Hi Allen,
I am experiencing similar issues, so I feel your pain.
I have to say that everything ran fine until I upgraded my nvidia drivers.   I'm running a Geforce 6200 AGP, and since yesterday, when I decided to be kind to my system and update my drivers, I've been having constant lock-ups during gameplay, and once, for the first time ever since I've had this pc, my machine  started revving so badly to the point where it sounded like the damn thing was going to explode. At that point, I turned off the computer and let it sit for a minute and once I turned it back on, all was fine again.
I have been reading a lot of things like this online lately, about the new drivers...you might want to do a google on nvidia lockups, there's a ton of people having the same issues.
I am going to try to downgrade my driver, if I can find the older version, and I'll let you know if that helps at all.
Sorry for you troubles, I feel your pain!
-RabidAngel

LOL!
That's hilarious, sanmonroe.
Going back to what Pescado said about the Holiday pack...Does this mean that if you remove the .package file, It will remove all of the holiday content?  Or is there anything else I should note if I decide to remove it til next holiday season?
I fear BFBVFS when toying with things I don't fully understand....

That is a great idea!
I hadn't thought of it for this family, but have been thinking about starting a new one for awhile since my neighborhood has gotten huge due to all of the npc bugs that had come about previously.....
I think I will do that since it's been something I've considered for awhile.....Thanks for the great idea, ZZ

AH yes, That is exactly what I feared ZephyrZodiac....
Well, I think I'll just leave their relations and tree alone for now...Perhaps someone will create a program that is automated for that specific task....
At that point, I will try to fix it again, but for now I'll leave their relationship to my imagination. lol, i fear the burnintation and inevitable lip ripping I will receive if I screw things up and have to come whining and begging for assistance with my pile of molten ash of a neighborhood.
Thanks for clarifying, Zephyr.

That has been addressed in the patch, I believe.  Sims should no longer browse for clothing before buying.
 *edited because I can't type well at 7am*

I tried editing the family ties via simpe and using a random sim as the father for both...It didn't work for me.  It didn't make the sims siblings, (I had to do it manually) nor did it update any of the other family members (ie nieces & nephews)...
Perhaps I've done something wrong? 
Could anyone possibly suggest a decent & current tutorial for character relationship editing in simpe?
I know how to get around it for things like creating, but just have no knowledge of family editing.
If I mess around with that and forget to update people in the family, will it burninate my entire neighborhood?
Many thanks once again!

Thank you both for the info!
It sounds like I won't have to go and manually edit each member of the family individually, which is exactly what I had hoped to hear.
Thank you again, most humbly.

Hi all,
I have a question about relationship editing in Simpe...
In fact, when it comes to this, I'm a complete newb...I rarely delve into this stuff, so please bare with me if these questions are completely dense...
When I initially started one of my families, I created two males who were supposed to be brothers (this was way back when the sims2 had first come out) and I forgot to tie them with the family tree as brothers. (So, in essence, I made them brothers in my own mind, heehee)...
I began playing and soon moved one of the brothers out to start a new family, and never got back to playing the other "brother" until very recently.
My question is this...
I would like to tie them, now belatedly, as brothers...My issue is that the one I played has children and grandchildren by now so there are many character relations I will have to edit to get them all correct.  Back when simpe was newer, I thought I remembered reading that you have to go in and individually edit each character file to get all of the relations correct....
Is this still the case?  I'm wondering if I just tied the two as brothers, if all of the other characters (ie nephews, nieces) will update automatically or if i'd have to go and edit each character.
It worries me a little to do it manually since I might forget something and screw everyone up...
Is there, as of yet, a simpler way to go about this?  Can anyone suggest a method?  Or should I just forget about it and leave everything as is? 
Does any of my rambling make sense?
Hehe...
Thanks everyone...I look forward to clearing this issue up..
From now on, I'll try to remember to tie up the family's in the CAS section, but I'm hoping to be able to fix this one issue as this was supposed to be one of my founding families.
Thanks again!

This will come is very handy...
Ever since Nightlife, it has been nearly impossible for me to get my kids into Private School as dinner would drag on for hours and hours and take up all of the precious time that I had to wine and dine and kiss booty. 
Thank you, kind sir.

Thanks, Banglenuts...
Just a quick update to say that it worked this time around! Phew...I think it may have had something to do with having differing version of the CEP upon reinstallation  ...IE, I had the old one in my downloads folder....
Not sure, but that's certainly not a good thing to do, I'm sure, LOL...
SO thanks for making me aware of the CEP thing, as I probably would have overlooked it a second time around.
ILikeFishFood, I've never heard of the brown pool syndrome, but I know that if you have smartlights installed, it can corrupt your pool lights...
Even the newer version had the same effect on my game, so you may want to delete that hack, if you have it, and then enter all of your lots in the daytime that have pools (yeah, it's a pain, but I had to do it too) and delete the lights, and replace them with new ones.
I'm not sure if that has anything to do with your issue, but I thought i'd mention it in hopes that it may be of some help.
-RabidAngel

Wow, okay....Glad to know it isn't just me.
Thanks for the tips, I'll backup my EA folders since I have plenty of disk space and try it til it works! LOL
Thanks again, everyone!

Now suddenly, all of the Nightlife clothing shows up as white!! They look as though they are uvmaps(with words all over them and such), and unable to find the actual textures! I can't believe it, LOL...I've had the worst luck with this whole Nightlife thing!
Getting to the point, I reinstalled everything (again) and now I'm afraid to apply the patch...But I'm also afraid not to apply the patch...hehe
Tis a catch 22, and I'd love some guidance on this, not the first and surely not the last, issue I am having with the game.
Thank you and may the Boris be with you.
-RabidAngel

AH, good bit of info there...I didn't know about leaving the neighborhood...That would explain some issues I had in the past as well. 
I had the exact same problem moving certain lots, and then trying to put it back in the same spot to no avail..
I'm guessing my current issue has to do with the terrrain levels though, since that didn't fix this problem this time around...
Okay, off to do some studying on adjusting the terrain.
Thank you guys, very much.

Yes, Zephyr, you're right about that...I've noticed the same thing only recently and have deleted many of those blue boxes, but I've still run into problems on supposedly clear areas....
Very strange, indeed...

Hey all,
I did a search to see if this has come up for anyone else, but was unable to find anything on the subject...My apologies if this has already been addressed somewhere.
I've been trying to build up my downtown community, but am finding it exceedingly difficult to place lots within downtown.  Even in places where I've removed certain Maxis lots and have ample space for smaller lot placement...I am finding very few places where it's possible to place any lots.  Has anyone else experienced this?  And is there a way to "reopen" areas for placement since once I've moved the Maxis lots, the areas often become unusable...It's so weird..
damn this game! 
Thanks so much ahead of time for any advice!

AH, okay thanks Mokey!
Here's the link to the other thread that simmiecal was talking about in case anyone has this same issue.
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=1037.0
Thank you both, ever so kindly....Though I will miss the pretty blue loading screen. heehee

LOL, it figures, eh?
No, I don't have the light hack, but I do have smartlights and radiance lighting...perhaps that is causing a conflict.  I really can't be sure, but I'm going to have to test it out and see if it works without them.
Thanks for replying so promptly, simmiecal...
Do you, by any chance, know which sofa it was that caused the conflict?  Or where the thread you read that on might be?
Thanks so much.

Strange that you should mention LuLu Lounge...That's one of them.
But the other I've just had troubles with is the Hub..
As for whether or not they load with the hacks I have...I will try loading without them...
Unfortunately the damn thing is still loading, so I will have to force quit. lol

Hi kids...
I think I am doomed...I've finally decided to play around more with NightLife after having a whole bunch of issues and having to reinstall, and now I suddenly can't enter any of my downtown lots...
They look like they're loading just fine, and they don't crash, but once the loading bar has finished, it just hangs there and hangs and hangs and...ok, you likely get the point..
Does anyone know why this might be, or has anyone had similar troubles?  This is a Maxis made lot with absolutely no custom content....Usually if I have a conflicting game object in my game, the lots will just crash in the midst of loading anyway...not hang like this.  As I write this my game is still sitting, pretending it's loading my lot...and I am woefully staring at the spinning cursor...I've noticed that if you stare at the blue loading screen long enough, you start seeing things as though on an acid trip....it's lovely..
But back to the subject at hand...Can someone please advise? I'd be forever indebted.
Thanks so much.

Heehee, JM refers to Boris as a "he" so I guess we all that stuff about gender preference in the romance mod now has a good basis of reason. **Big WINKS**

Bless you for this, Motoki...Bless you

Heehee, **Ducks behind screen** It was the "Rennie" nickname that threw me....Still sounds rather strange to me...Maybe someone assumed Boris's identity and spammed her.   
And, I always just assumed Boris was JM....it's that whole Soviet "Boris" thing...ie Bathroom uses you implications..

Who in god's (or buddha's) name is Rennie??
Sounds rather odd....

Hmmm, ZephyrZodiac...that sounds like a great idea...
THen I'd get all of the meshes as well, and those are starting to pile up for me...It's likely that I'm not using many of them since I am constantly deleting files....
Very good idea, although not quite as convenient as clicking on the icons...will give that a try for things that I simply want no traces of anymore.
Thanks!

Cool, thank you for the links, radiophonic...I'll certainly be checking those out