Kristalrose - The sims are still alive.  Using the lot debugger caused the problem.  I just wondered if there was any way to fix it. 

Someone needs to find out where the info for in game photos and paintings is stored, and how to recover it.

miramis - That's a great tip.  As you said, it doesn't recreate the original.  But it is fun.  And a little surprising.  How these photos work is a real mystery to me. 

I had some weird problems with nannies.  I ended up with two in a house that simply wouldn't leave.  They couldn't be dismissed, and no one could say goodbye to them.

Then I had a sim "shoo" one out of the bed.  Suddenly the screen came up asking "now that I'm off work, do you want to hang out?"  I said no, and she started to leave, then stopped.  She sulked in a corner for a while (really), then decided to eat.

Oddly, something set her gender preference, and she started spouting hearts for her employer.  The only interaction they had was "shoo" so I'm really stumped by that.

I clicked on her and found that the goodbye option was available.  I clicked "say goodbye to everyone" and she left.  The other nanny stayed.

A day later the whole process was repeated with the other nanny.  Again, oddly enough, the nanny's gender preference got set.  (She spouted hearts with x's for her employer.)

My sims were not charged for the many days they nannies were "working."

Getting back to the actual subject, this was with OFB patch 1, not patch 2.

I'm not offended that you're asking questions.  Sadly, I don't know that answer.  This is just one of those things that's been recommended so many times that I tried it, and it worked.

Until someone comes along with real answers, try this.  Move Groups.cache onto out of that folder and onto your desktop.  Then if you have problems you can put it back.

You'll feel safer once you do this and see that the game really does generate a new copy.

Good luck!

I decided to post this after reading someone having a similiar problem here (6th post):

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,5351.new/boardseen.html#new

I forced errors with the lot debugger, and my photobooth pic is now flashing blue.  Is this a fixable issue, or is it inevitable?  I needed the lot debugger, it fixed a serious problem.  But I'd like to know if there's a way around losing pics and paintings.

Try deleting the Groups.cache file in My Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2.

This file can be safely deleted, the game will generate a new, clean copy when it starts.

I have this problem sometimes.  The splash screen comes up, disappears, then nothing happens.  Deleting that file fixes it.  I hope it works for you.

If it does, then it's not a Family Fun Stuff problem.  This is a weird issue that has been around from the base game.

The hack is here:

http://www.insimenator.net/showthread.php?t=7049

With it you can experience fun things like this:





He hasn't had a nervous breakdown...yet.

Eating is an especially barbaric practice with my sloppy sims, who fling food everywhere when they eat.  I described one of them once as a "syrup fountain" when he was eating pancakes.

You'd think they would need to mop constantly.  Now there would be a drawback to sloppy sims, having food puddles on the floor.  Or course, that brings up the old issue of why sloppy sims care.

It can be a challenge with some sims, if you let them run wild.  I let mine cook and eat whatever they want.  One sims always makes lobster or pancakes.  I just let him stay fat, since he was in the culinary career track.  He ended up as a fat celebrity chef, which worked for me.

One reason a typical sim doesn't get fat is because their career track requires body points.  Even if you let them run pretty wild, you'll direct them to work out so they get a promotion.

Well, it could be a different spelling of Louise, which is a female name.  Or she could be a woman named Louis (pronounced Lewis).  Supposedly Anne Rice's birth name is George.

Or it could just be a made up username that makes sense to her.

I hope this is your problem.  I opened Simpe and had the same problem you described.  Then I clicked on an item and the scroll bar worked.

Could that be your problem?  If it is, don't be embarassed.  You should have seen my face a minute ago, when I thought my Simpe was broken, too!

I have the same problem.  The dust cloud makes it hard to take pictures.  I've downloaded the hack.  Thanks liegenschonheit!  I can put this in the game when I want to take photos, but leave it out other times.

All right, I see the potential problems.  Would it be possible to raise the limit of items they keep?  I imagine the answer is no, but want to be sure.

At least I learned something.  I didn't know the NPCs could run out of money.  Do they keep everything they buy?

Probably no one else wants this.  I was planning to let townies buy household items before moving them in.  I thought it would be fun to let them "pick" their own styles.

My game is one of the rare ones where townies only keep the last three items bought.  That put a crimp in my plans.  Would anyone consider making a hack?  Or is this a BAAAAAAD idea?

If I accomplish nothing else in my life, I have helped one Sims express her fanatical love of the Italian team.

+2000 aspirations points for me.

(I'm glad the file worked, by the way.  I was worried I'd done something stupid.)

Tell me exactly what is happening.  Are you able to download the file at all?  It should be a file named d3fd7e87_italy.package

Are you getting the file and it's not working in the game?

Ok, here is the facepaint:

http://nocommente.googlepages.com/moive

Let me know if it's all right.

This site has sport shirts.  On page 8 and 16 are shirts for Italy.  I don't know if they're what you're looking for, since I don't know anything about sports / sports uniforms.

http://www.freakschedownloads.ch.vu/

I didn't look through all the pages, so they may have more.  If you can't find the makeup anywhere, I can make that.  I'm not good enough to make clothes, but a simple face paint like that would be easy.

Edited to add - FIFA wold cup here:

http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=164855&c=1

Again, not sure if this is what you're looking for, totally ignorant about sports.

Ok, one more link:

http://www.sims2cri.com/eng_abbigliamento_uadult_gym.php

As Regina pointed out, you can work around this.  You can invite sims over, or teleport them in with a hacked object.

Then you can see if they will shop on their own, or sell them things.

Mortimer was running into your houses because the other sims were spying on him with the telescope.  When they use it during the day, they spy on a neighbor.

When you deleted him, they started spying on someone else.

As for the bad luck sim, that sounds like real life to me, not special programming!

The cow thing is a common glitch.  It's happened to me, and I've read other people complaining about it.

You sim can have never met the cow, and will end up with a memory that the cow cheated on them.  It makes things confusing, to say the least.

Obviously, that's what pedals are for!

You can strangle them, too.

* Sigh *

There's no need to be like that.  If you'll use an online translator, you'll find that "Babystrampler"  means "Baby more strampler."

It's just a way to add more strample to your baby.  Nothing werid at all.

And if that doesn't satisfy you, the helpful online translator tells us the "strample" means pedal.  So you can finally add more pedals to your baby.  You shouldn't laugh.  You should be grateful.

(How I love online translators.)

I'd love a hack to let us control this both ways.  Some households wouldn't get calls to go downtown, some would.

I have a new household of two singles.  One got invited downtown, the other didn't.  I'd like the other to at least have a chance!

Of course, the whole outing thing works weirdly anyway.  My teen was invited downtown by his friend.  The outing consisted of two teens and a lot of adults.  Are they attracted to him?  Will they be attracted to him when he grows up?  If so, is that a little creepy, or really creepy?

Anyway, I'd love an object we could plop on each lot to ban/generate the calls, as wished.

Try looking at it this way:

"Your honor, I expected the product to do what is described on the package."

I've read that in Europe, the law says software that does not work properly can be returned for a full refund.  It seems that many people returned University because of the bugs.

You have to consider all the people who buy a program and don't have internet access.  They can't download a patch, and they don't even know a patch is available.  If the program doesn't work out of the box, many people are stuck with a faulty product.

Thanks for the help!  I've downloaded Squinge's mod, and I'll se how it works.