Donated $50 in thanks for all that JMP has contributed to Sims modding.

I haven't seen an answer to this, but I have the same issue.  The Belladonna Cove apartment buildings that came with MAXIS Sims in them can't be modified, deleted, etc. even after using the clean, empty template.  It says there is a family there (no name) and gives the amount of family funds.  Is it okay to remove some of the Lots in addition to the Character files in the Userdata/Neighborhoods/E001 folder when creating a clean, empty E001 neighborhood?  I don't use SimPE much, but I assume there is a way to identify the Lots that were pre-made with playables? (Or maybe someone can tell me another way.)

EDIT: I was wrong - the lots can be modified.  Changelotzoning works.  Once the lot is changed to Residential, it can be bulldozed.

I don't feel so bad now - I have around 15,000 CC files and was ashamed to admit it.  I'm normally very careful with my filing system, and use subfolders by type of content.  I play medieval neighborhoods almost exclusively and put CC that's not appropriate for the time period in a folder outside the game - to be used on those rare times I play another theme.  This was one of those times.  I've learned my lesson though - any time I move a large amount of content into the game, I'll run Clean Installer to look for duplicates before playing.

I found the duplicate hidden in a subfolder - thanks so much for your help.

When I run clean installer it doesn't show duplicates, but it's possible.  I have a lot of CC.  In fact, there is another 3x4 rug object that I can't modify either.  I'll remove my Rugs folder from Downloads and only use the Echo rug and see if it works that way.

Thanks, I gave it a try and replaced the modified Echo's rug with a fresh download.  I opened it in SimPE, selected Decorative/Rugs, hit commit, hit save.  In game it's still in the Decorative/Miscellaneous category.  I went back in to SimPE after I exited the game to make sure the changes were actually saved and they appear to have been - it still says Decorative/Rugs.

I've used Sims 2 Categorizer (Sim Wardrobe) for a long time without problems.  Recently some items don't appear in the new category in Buy Mode despite having changes saved in Sims2Cat.  The item that I notice most is echo-3x4-floorrug because I use the recolors so often.  It stays in Decorative/Miscellaneous regardless of the changes I make with Sims2Cat.

 I rarely use SimPE and don't really understand the mechanics of item creation/modification, but I opened the rug package with SimPE and it appears to have the correct subcategory (Decorative/Rugs).

I deleted cache files and reinstalled Kitchen Stuffpack because I thought there might be a corrupt file.  That didn't help.

I'd appreciate some advice on the problem - I looked on the Sim Wardrobe support forum but it doesn't appear to be very active.

For those of you who might have a similar problem, this was resolved by upgrading my ATI video driver.

My game crashed this afternoon while trying to open a Pleasantview lot.  I deleted groups.cache with no results.  I renamed The Sims 2 folder to start a "clean" game.  The game froze.  I removed, then reinstalled, the last stuff pack (kitchen & bath) and the game appeared to be fine.  I added back custom content (including hacks from here and TwoJeffs).  I was able to open all the lots without problem. 

I then added a new neighborhood with a university to create YA.  The CAS process seemed fine until I closed and went back to University NH view.  There was no picture in the family bin - just a swatch of plaid color.  I was able to move the toon into a dorm but again no family picture when looking at the lot from NH view.  I checked the family bin of the base NH and all the families were there except for Critturs and Roseland - the bins for those 2 families were empty (though I could move them into a lot by clicking the empty slot).  I went through the same process a couple of times (after removing recently added hacks) but had the same problem with empty family bins for Roseland and Critturs (and any newly created Sim).

I have all expansions and most of the recent stuff packs.

I hate to reinstall everything, but that's my next step unless someone here can give some advice. 


Kitte

LOL, yes, it spawned 3 of each "service" NPC - not really an antiredundancy move on my part.  

I think I saved a copy of that neighborhood before I spawned them all though.  I can switch back to that one if the updated files have solved the problem.

Thanks, I believe that was the problem.  I didn't have the most current version of antiredundancy.  I'm not sure if I had the latest for PetService Fix (time stamp was an hour later than the one I had). 

Before seeing your post, I realized I had no newspaper delivery and used boolprop cheats to generate NPCs.  This allowed drivers to spawn and cars/buses showed up as expected once I had done that.  Hopefully I didn't cause another problem by doing that.

All lots in the neighborhood are affected by this.  I bulldozed the lot where I did the accidental deletion but it made no difference - all of the others still give the error.

I made a big mistake and hit delete rather than reset or cancel when I was running the game temporarily in cheats mode and an error popped up.  I apparently deleted something called Scheduler 2 and now vehicles don't show up to take Sims to work or school in this particular neighborhood.  The other neighborhoods continue to work fine.  Is there a way to recover and use this neighborhood again or do I just need to delete and start over?

This is the beginning portion of the error log:

Build: 1.6.0.259
at Sep  8 2006,23:27:16

Object id: 11
name: Scheduler 2
Stack size: 8
Error: Invalid species.
Iterations: 109
  Frame 7:
    Stack Object id: 55
    Stack Object name: Controller - NPC Pool
    Node: 12
    Tree: id 4112 name 'NPC - Make New Character - Specific' version -32745
    from Controller_NPC_Pool
    Prim state: 0
    Params: 22 -1 -1 55    Locals: 4 -1 -1 0 0 0 -23553 -5058 12843 27841 1 55
  Frame 6:
    Stack Object id: 55
    Stack Object name: Controller - NPC Pool
    Node: 0
    Tree: id 4100 name 'NPC - Make New Character' version -32735
    from Controller_NPC_Pool
    Prim state: 0
    Params: 22 55    Locals:
  Frame 5:
    Stack Object id: 55
    Stack Object name: Controller - NPC Pool
    Node: 17
    Tree: id 4121 name 'NPC - Create Out Of World - ID in T[0]' version -32737
    from Controller_NPC_Pool
    Prim state: 0
    Params: 22 1 1    Locals: 0 0 55 0 0 0 0 0
  Frame 4:
    Stack Object id: 55
    Stack Object name: Controller - NPC Pool
    Node: 1
    Tree: id 4104 name 'CT - Generate NPC From Pool' version -32759
    from Controller_NPC_Pool
    Prim state: 0
    Params: 22 1 1    Locals:
  Frame 3:
    Stack Object id: 55
    Stack Object name: Controller - NPC Pool
    Node: 4
    Tree: id 389 name 'NPC - Create OOW - ID in T[0]' version -32759
    from global
    Prim state: 1
    Params: 22 1    Locals: 1
  Frame 2:
    Stack Object id: 0
    Node: 24
    Tree: id 4104 name 'Generate - NPC - For Job' version -32730
    from Scheduler2
    Prim state: 0
    Params:    Locals: 0 0 0
  Frame 1:
    Stack Object id: 0
    Node: 2
    Tree: id 4101 name 'Main - Generate Sim' version 49
    from Scheduler2
    Prim state: 0
    Params:    Locals: 0 0
  Frame 0:
    Stack Object id: 0
    Node: 6
    Tree: id 4096 name 'Function - Main' version 24
    from Scheduler2
    Prim state: 0
    Params:    Locals:

Sorry I posted in the wrong forum...meant to go in Oops You Broke it.

Nevermind - I deleted groups.cache and life is good again.

After I disabled some custom content (facial make-up, etc.) using Clean Installer, my game won't start.  The splash screen for Pets pops up and then shuts down.  I enabled all the files I disabled...no change.  I removed the neighborhood where I had the last game crash (last night)...no change.  Removed Hacks directory from downloads...no change.

I renamed The Sims 2 folder and the game started as a "clean" game.

Is there something I can do to salvage the neighborhoods in the game version that won't start?

I have had a problem with the gravestones disappearing when I try to move them to another community lot.  This has only happened since installing Petz, but it might be related to the rather large number of gravestones I've moved.  I've been recreating a book series (Wheel of Time) and by the time I got to book 9, there were many, many deaths.  At this point the gravestones began disappearing.  The toon still shows up if I try to call Grim Reaper and can be resurrected, but the gravestone disappears from the current lot and doesn't show up on the destination lot.  However, I still get the message that the toon has died on another lot as the ghost fades away. 

BTW, I have the nounlinkondelete hack.

Thanks, that's a great thread!

Despite cleaning out dust and furballs, my PC still shuts down - so much for blaming my cats.

I found a (somewhat irritating) work around by tabbing out and letting the processor cool down periodically.

I also read about a known issue with bad power supplies with this particular Alienware model -- So it looks like resolution will be replacing power supply vs liquid nitrogen.

Yes, I've tried it with ATI overdrive on and off - no difference that I can tell.  I'm still blaming my cats.  

I've looked through this forum for help on this, but haven't been able to resolve my issue.  I have all SIMS 2 expansions up through Glamour Life (haven't installed Pet expansion).  I have an Alienware PC with 2 gigs of RAM, ATI Radeon X800 XT series video card and Creative Audigy sound card.

My system shuts down (requiring turning off and on at the switch on the back of the PC case to restart) whie playing Sims 2 and also Civ IV.  It doesn't shut down with other applications or graphics-intense online games regardless of the number of applications running.  The crash in Sims 2 occurs primarily when I'm changing lot appearance in build mode - every once in a while during CAS.  It doesn't usually happen while playing a Sim.

NOTE: Roommate has identical PC and doesn't experience these problems, though he doesn't play Sims 2.  He plays Quake, MS Flight Simulator and other games without issue however.

What I've tried:
1. Clean install with no custom content or hacks.  Crashed when tried to edit lot in NL Downtown - the vampire house with the weird lighting.
2. Uninstalled old and installed updated video and sound drivers. No change in crash frequency.
3. Ran in windowed mode with no sound (as per EA tech support).  No change in crash frequency.
4. Turned off VPU recover. No change in crash frequency.
5. Temperature on video card using overdrive is 47 (Normal, I'm told).
6. Ran defrag overnight. No change in crash frequency.
7. Ran virus scan (no viruses). Shut down virus real time scan during gameplay. No change in crash frequency.
8. Changed config to decrease number of processes with start up. No change in crash frequency.

All my computer geek friends are telling me this is most likely temperature related and that the power supply is being affected.  I plan to open the case later today and "blow out" dust and debris (3 cats probably shed enough hair to clog up the fans).

I would appreciate any other suggestions to help resolve my problem.

Thanks,
Kitte

I had the eyeshadow one...not sure when I got it but very long ago.  When I removed it (based on suggestions from you guys), my pork chop meals returned.

That's correct and I'll post something to SimPE.  Thanks for your interest and help.

No, it's the only one that didn't show the duplicate file.  I thought it might be the objects.package from TS2 (not UNI), because of the way you explained it.  If the UNI objects.package is supposed to replace the TS2 one, then maybe they are supposed to have the same GUID.

I'm using SimPE and the Scan Folders function with GUID Scanner recursive selected.  It gives the first found path as the UNI directory file: c:\program files\ea games\the sims 2 university\tsdata\res\objects\objects.package.

Type is object and it does have a numbered file name: ee01cc2ff0dafac3c86fad0448906987_001

I guess I'll try a search for that file name and see what I can find.

Thanks, most were from recolors I downloaded early on and rarely use, so I just deleted them.  The only duplicate GUID I left in is the objects.pkg (the UNI one)...is that supposed to be a duplicate?  It was also the only one that didn't show the duplicate in the next line when sorting by GUID.