More Awesome Than You!

A few days ago, I decided my sims need to colonize my always-ignored Bluewater, because Pleasantview is fucking ugly and my main digs, Downtown, are getting boring.

First, I made a back-up of my game with SimPE. That is, I thought I could just backup Bluewater, but SimPE called out my noob mistake and I just saved the whole game, as usual.

Next thing I know, THIS happens: http://bp3.blogger.com/_usV945r-K1c/R8imDEMJd3I/AAAAAAAAACQ/tXy9C5U3up0/s1600-h/weird2.JPG (http://bp3.blogger.com/_usV945r-K1c/R8imDEMJd3I/AAAAAAAAACQ/tXy9C5U3up0/s1600-h/weird1.JPG)

 http://bp0.blogger.com/_usV945r-K1c/R8il5UMJd2I/AAAAAAAAACI/ZO3fMwMkOGg/s1600-h/weird1.JPG (http://bp0.blogger.com/_usV945r-K1c/R8il5UMJd2I/AAAAAAAAACI/ZO3fMwMkOGg/s1600-h/weird2.JPG)

And... I'm scared. Hold me?

Notice that it only happens with Pleasantview; everything else is fine, probably because I never play them. As for the game itself, it plays fine, which is even weirder. I believe that it has to do something with the reia file. Notice also that this happens to both the little 'flyby' video in the neighborhood chooser and the thumbnail when you pick the neighborhood (in this case, it should've been the shot with Mortimer with crossed arms and other Maxis sims in the background.)

Any idea if this is a VTB or something to put up with and mostly harmless?

It just looks like you've lost your Neighborhood .png and .reia files somewhere. The .reia is the "fly-by" and the .png is the neighborhood pic with Mortimer, Don, and the rest of the Pleasantview gang. If there isn't a neighborhood pic in the folder the game uses that grid template instead. You might be able to dig copies of them out of C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 2\TSData\Res\UserData\Neighborhoods\N001 or PM me your e-mail address and I can send copies to you (the .reia file is too large to attach).

I thought someone mentioned that SimPE backups are not necessarily that good.  I never use them.  I just make backup copies of all in-play hoods in a backup directory.

Here's the thing... I did check and still have the proper thumbnail and the reia files. That is, the thumbnail never left, and I copypasted an old reia file from a previous backup and switched it with the probably-corrupt newer one. No dice.

Still, I'll PM. Maybe the reai has always been borked. (I DID notice one was bigger than the other, if that means anything to you.)

And still thinking about it, if you say your files are large, something has to be wonky with mine, because they're rather small.

Goddamn you, EAMaxis! Why must you suck so hard?

You can either try replacing the reia and png from the original templates in your original game directory, but it's not important. Nothing magically breaks if you don't have a neighborhood flyby.

I tried replacing the thumbnail and the reia files with the copies that gynarchy graciously provided me, but it didn't work. I'm guessing the problem requires knowledge in the dark arts that I don't posses.

Still, if it doesn't affect gameplay, I guess I should just grin and bear it. We'll know for sure if the game eventually goes belly-up or coughs up pea soup.

Further suggestions? If not, thanks anyway for the advice.