Fresh neighborhood, fresh install, fresh new bug.

[OpiumGirl]

I just got around to reinstalling my sims and expansions, including freetime with the patch update...
Set up a completely fresh neighborhood using deleteallcharacters on desiderata valley (sp?) and then created all my own custom families.
Everything was working fine for a couple of days.
Today I fired up my game to find all of my families missing from their respective lots on the neighborhood screen.....strange. So, poking around here, I've seen that there were a couple of people who had this issue, but they all seemed to be able to fix it by using a backup.
I went back to a previous version of my hood, from a few days back and the same thing happened.
This leads me to the conclusion that something is being changed when I start up the game.  My old game was definitely working when I backed it up since I was able to use it for a couple of days....
What could be changing when the neighborhood loads?  It's so strange to me.....I've gone through and deleted caches, cigen...blah.  Anything that I've found can get corrupt, but I still can't get my families to show on the neighborhood screen.  The lots are there, but they show as empty and only allow me to load them via build menu.

Has anyone ever heard of this weirdness? What could be changing during loading the neighborhood that my families disappear from the neighborhood screen?
I would be exceedingly appreciative for any suggestions....I'm at my wits end with this....I've been at it for hours trying to figure it out.
Thanks!

[Simsample]

The first question I want to ask is, are there character files in the characters folder?

[OpiumGirl]

I've checked and there are characters in the folder....same amount as my backup.
I tried using simwardrobe's teleporter object to see if I could find any of my sims, but no sims came up under the "playable" tab.
I was thinking of using Inge's as well, but at this point, all that would happen is my lots would be deleted all over again, lol.

[jolrei]

There are known issues with the deleteallcharacters cheat (since OFB, I believe) where use of this cheat can harm the neighbourhood.

Actually, DAC doesn't corrupt a hood, but it also doesn't fully clean out the files and you will need to do pass in SimPE to nuke dangling data and reset the creation index.

Depending on whether you have already started trying to populate your 'hood, you may need to zorch it and start over.  The best way to get a clean neighbourhood is to use empty templates.  See this thread:
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,10798.msg300725.html#msg300725

[OpiumGirl]

I have no problem starting a new neighborhood if it comes to that.  It's completely new and there were only about 6 families.
My only worry about doing that is that the same thing will happen.  Something is being altered only upon starting up the game and loading the hood.
I'm just hoping to get a basic idea on what exactly is happening when I start up my game.  I actually will take your advice and start a new hood with a template, but I fear that may not be the immediate problem with my game.  it seems more like the actual game is having a problem more than my neighborhood at this point.
I'm no pro, though. :/

[talysman]

Try removing the NoCD patch.

[OpiumGirl]

  ha!
Hmmm, okay....what exactly happens with that?  I thought it was okay to use instead of having the cd in the drive.
Should I reinstall everything before reverting back to the original unpatched version?   I made a backup of the original but I don't know if I should just reinstall everything without the no-cd patch.

[talysman]

It may not be the correct NoCD patch, is what I'm getting at. You're running patched Freetime. If you are using a NoCD crack for Freetime without the patch, it probably will have issues.

For that matter, EA withdrew the Freetime patch because it's buggy. I just checked, there is no patch on their site currently. So your other option is uninstall just Freetime, reinstall but don't patch, then run the game with the NoCD, to avoid SecuROM.

[OpiumGirl]

I see....Well, I think I'm going to forgo the no-cd patch this time around and just use the cd...
I'll try it out before reinstalling my entire game.
Thank you for the advice.  I'll update you on my findings (for future retards like myself).

[jolrei]

Hmmm, okay....what exactly happens with that?  I thought it was okay to use instead of having the cd in the drive.
Should I reinstall everything before reverting back to the original unpatched version?   I made a backup of the original but I don't know if I should just reinstall everything without the no-cd patch.

I play an unpatched FT game with a no-cd crack - no problems.  I do not think reverting to running from the original disks is the answer.  For one, this will install Securom on your computer, which is to be avoided.  You may wish to try redownloading a no-cd crack.  I understand that the Gamecopyworld version is good (I think that's the one I have).  Also, patched game with a non-patched no-cd crack is likely a bad idea.  If you have the patched game, get a no-cd crack for the patched game.

That being said, you may want to run a test on a new hood (you can delete it after the test).  Just create a hood (don't worry about clean templates for this).  Take a Maxoid house out of the lot bin and place it anywhere.  Place a sim or a family in the house (if there's a family in the sim bin, use that, or create your own in CAS).  Try to play it.  If it plays, at least you'll know your game install is fine.

[OpiumGirl]

Hmmm, I probably already had the dreaded Securom disease since ran the game without the no-cd at first.  I should probably head over to the thread here and figure out how to know if I have it, and how to remove it.
Pure evil.
I actually owned one of the expansions on d2d....Evil incarnate, truly.
I ended up bitching so loud and for so long that EA decided to send me a physical copy of the game to shut me up.
Downloadable games are, in themselves, viruses.

[Zazazu]

I had three of the EPs from D2D. The dratted thing makes you be online so that it can verify each time, then it gives you SecuROM as well. Pure evil.


Anyways. Correct no-CD + NO DELETEALLCHARACTERS + empty templates = win. Remove the deleteallcharacters cheat from your memory. It doesn't exist.

[OpiumGirl]

This is really messed up.
Upon trying to uninstall my Freetime so I could do a fresh install, the uninstaller won't open. I popped the cd in, tried uninstalling from the cd....uninstaller does not open.
Then I proceeded to just try uninstalling sims 2 base game to get rid of everything...
Nope, nothing.
Something got really screwed up.
Here's some rather strange info....
The sims crashed my firewall today....I realized my firewall had crashed when I had already opened the sims game.
Suddenly my hood went missing.  I did not directly attribute either of these to one another until just a moment ago.
Does EA phone home to check for no-cd patches or the like?  This is bizarre that I can no longer uninstall the game, even with the original cds.
I just did a virus scan (a few minutes ago) and my system came up clean.

Aside from the whole sneaky connecting out, I just want to uninstall and reinstall the game.
I feel violated. 

[jolrei]

Huh.  Well, now you will need to do a manual uninstall.  With the uninstaller not working, you will need to clear out your registry as well.

Look here:
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,11418.0.html

When you reinstall, patch all EPs except FT.  Use non-patch no-cd crack.  Do not run the game until your FT no-cd crack is installed.  This way you will avoid Securom.

[talysman]

The firewall crash may be unrelated, ignore that for now and follow Jolrei's advice. It's possible the crash was caused by the game, but unless things have changed, the game doesn't phone home about NoCD. Using the in-game content browser or autopatch might do something like that, though. Also, if you have debug mode enabled in your cheats file, the game will try to connect over the LAN to a testing computer. Since you don't work for Maxis and aren't connected to their LAN, this will fail. Should be harmless, but maybe your firewall is a sensitive, caring soul that runs away crying at the slightest provocation.

[OpiumGirl]

Haha, yes my firewall is very sensitive...and I think she has very good reason to be afraid of EAGames. 
Thanks for all of the great advice.  I'm starting up my fresh install now that I've gone and removed the registry entries and all other EA related things.
I really appreciate all of the help.

[jolrei]

You might also disable all non-essential services and background processes, and disable your modem/internet connection while playing, to prevent the game from trying to phone home.   Just to be safe, y'know.

[cwykes]

If you've been installing and un-installing, you might just check that you have enough HD space available where the game is trying to read/write files (total HD or space in the right partition).  I became aware of that one after I lost new sims & lots when my PC crashed during a save for lack of space.