Game crashes when sims change appearance.

[Bluebottle]

I like lurking, but this is really starting to piss me off.

Firstly, my sims appearances started messing up a little - all my sims hair turned black, and the skin of their faces wasn't matching the rest of the body. I directed them to a mirror to fix the problem, which crashed the game - I got a 'The application has crashed. The application will now terminate."

Tried removing all the downloads, then renaming my user files, but the problem's still occuring whenever a sim tries to change appearance, even out of my custom neighbourhood and in brand new ones. The game also crashes on trying to create a sim in CAS, and Bodyshop is screwed too.

I really don't want to re-install, as I don't own half the expansions any more, so I'd appreciate any suggestions.

[eenaleor]

Did you by any chance recently install the AnyGameStarter? I am having the same problem you are describing since I installed it. I am not sure it is the cause, but since I didn't change anything else, it is suspicious.

ETA: Apparently other people have this problem too, I found this in the feedback thread:

I also noticed that Darren Dreamer has his usual dark skinned head, but a light skinned body. This is definitely not usual.

I am totally unawesome but maybe this has to do with a modified C:\programs:\EAgames folder, like when you prevent your game from goopyfying every new hood by renaming the thingy? Oh and uninstalling the AGS left my main game still borken.

[NothingToSee]

I also installed that AnyGameStarter. I sure wish I hadn't.

When I went into my main game, it asked me if I wanted to make vacation destinations for Strangetown when they already existed. (I told it no.)

Then on trying to play a family on vacation it gave me the application error and died.

I've only tried to load a couple of lots since, but so far it always crashes on loading.

ATM I'm uninstalling and reinstalling BV to see if it makes a difference. Good job I keep backups of my game. (not that I've played any other hood but strangetown so far - I wanted to make sure that the Vacation Townies actually stay in vacationland before playing my main hood.)

[Emma]

This is why you should create a new 'Sims 2' folder before installing the anygame starter. That way your regular hoods aren't even affected by the basegame/anygame starters. Just your dummy folder that has nothing in it. You can always add stuff after it is installed such as hacks, objects etc.

[NothingToSee]

Well, I imported the backup neighbourhood and it still crashed - then I imported the whole backup and it still crashed on lot entry. I uninstalled BV and ran under Seasons (with no savegame and totally reset neighbourhoods.) Vicund has the wrong hair colour and on sending him to a mirror the game crashed.

If the game crashes with a totally clean Sims 2 folder, will uninstalling the whole game and reinstalling fix it (something I'm NOT looking forward to,) or could there be something left behind from the any game starter which is borking the whole thing?

I guess I'll try reinstalling BV first on the off chance that it will fix it, but I'm not optimistic.

*Atom acknowledges that she is totally non-awesome for borking the game like this and should really have known better.*

[Bluebottle]

I did, actually, exact same story as Atom_Bunny. I did backup all my games folders before doing so, and restored the backups after un-installing, but it obviously didn't do any good.

[NothingToSee]

Numenor found the problem. I'll copy/paste the text here:

   1. Open the folder where you have installed your game: I mean the PROGRAM folder, not the Documents!

   2. Browse to: EA Games\The Sims 2\TSData\Res\Catalog\Skins

   3. If you see a small file named Skins.package, with size 1Kb only, delete it.

   4. RENAME the file Skins.disabledpackage to Skins.package.
      (If you DON'T see the .disabledpackage file or the Skins.package is NOT only 1Kb, then this solution is NOT for you: don't delete anything!)


That's all. All the crashes in the CAS, or changing appearance, or entering the lots should immediately stop; the unexpected hair colour or skin tones over your sims should also revert to normal.

NOTE: if you HAVE SAVED a lot while the sims were showing unexpected hair or skin colour, I'm not 100% sure that the hair or the skin in that lot will automatically revert to the right tones.

Of course I'd already gone down the road of uninstall/reinstall before he came up with this, but it may be of help to someone who still has the problem.