More Awesome Than You!

Okay, this started about a day ago, and I have looked through the Google results and the results here on MATY and I am still at a loss.

The issue is this: My game won't start up. I have tried from my desktop shortcut, and from inside the TSBin folder. I even tried starting it with the installer. The hourglass comes up, flips once or twice and then vanishes. When I use the Task Manager, it tells me that Sims 2 is running as a process, but under applications there is nothing.

The only thing that I can think of that I have done to change things as far as my system or game is concerned is I cleaned up my DL folder, I deleted groups.cache and I ran the SimWardrobe's Hack Conflict detector. I clean my DL folder out fairly often (from the Clean Installer, is this a no-no I didn't know about?), I have deleted groups.cache a couple times before, and I have never run the HCD before (and I didn't find any conflicts anyways). Oh, and I also ran Jfade's Wardrobe Wrangler one time, but I didn't change anything and have since deleted it from my hard-drive.

I really hope I don't have to re-install  because I find it to be a pain (who doesn't, am I right?), not to mention that since I use backed up versions and I have kind of forgotten how to do that it will be worse than usual.

Anythign else I should try before I resort to that?

If your latest EP/SP was anything released since H&M, and if you're playing with the game disk, then the most likely culprit is SecuRom. Check out the SecuRom thread stickied in the Podium for instructions on how to remove it.

I've been seeing this crop up in my game too, and I've done some googling and found a few other cases. There are two strange things about it:

- It didn't happen before I put my only custom content (Twojeff's college adjuster) in the folder
- It'll freeze exactly like you experience, and have to kill the stalled program about 2 or 3 times and then it'll load.
- Ever since it first happened, I no longer get the Intro Video besides the EA one.*

By my experience, this doesn't feel like a copy protection issue. It's like the game just stops loading once it's being loaded.


* I think I might have figured it out, or something similar. Ever since this error, I've not gotten the intro video. Now, it always took my computer a couple minutes after I cancel out of that video to get to the next loading screen. Maybe, because of this error, the "freezing" is actually loading the game in the background, and just not using the HD at all? It's a stretch, but it does seem like more than a coincidence.

I have been using no-cd cracks since about... BV I think, maybe Seasons. But I'll go look in the Securom thread anyways, maybe it got on there somehow. In fact, now that I think about it Securom may be more likely, since I got the Spore Creature Creator a couple weeks ago, and it uses a disc. I will have to go check that out.

<rant>
I hate how Securom seems to be able to linger on your computer, not causing problems. Then BAM issues crop up like mad. Grr.</rant>

Yup, that's your problem -- the Spore thing comes with suckrot.

Not starting up happened a lot to me until someone told me to delete the cache files have you tried that?  You find them in mydoc/ea/sims2  they are at the bottom of the list: accessory and groups cache files. 

I hate when something really simple works. It's so much more satisfying to fix a big problem, that whole "sense of accomplishment" thing. Thanks Zaleth, deleting accessory.cache worked.

I really gotta wonder how you people bork those files, because I've never, ever, had to delete those files for any reason that you normal people would.

I wish I knew too, because then I could avoid it.

Once when my game wouldn't start, I figured out that it was a new Internet Security/anti-virus software I started using.  You have to add the game exec to the firewall allow or exceptions list.  That might not be your case, but I thought I'd say something just in case it might be.  There can be a number of reasons why a game will suddenly not start up.  You might try totally removing the downloads folder and see if that makes any difference.  That way you can eliminate the possibility that it's anything in there that's causing it.

No! Do NOT add the game to your firewall exceptions. TS2 should NEVER be using the Internets on its own. If it is, something is WRONG.

TS2 has obtained the BANHAMMER OF DOOM from my firewall.

Your welcome glad I could help...I wish I knew as well how those files get messed up. 

I'm clueless too. I have two computers with the exact same game config/hacks/content. On the one I am currently using, I have to delete the groups.cache file about every third or fourth time I play. One the other one, I have never had to delete that file. This has been going on for years. :/  The computers do have different components. Maybe something's up with the hardware?

The thing that sprang to my non-awesome mind was to ask if it's about HD space or available memory.  Apart from the disk space, new programs sometimes put themselves in 'start up', so it's easy to run out of space for the Sims2 without realising - especially if the files the game is loading are huge and it's paging to disk all the time.  Are big cache files a problem during loading if your available memory isn't that high? 

Hmmm. C drive has 28GB free and D drive (mydocs) has 118 GB free. I have 4G RAM and an ATI  x1950 card.

The borken cache file is usually around 600KB, although the last one I deleted was over 3000KB. I had been cleaning out my downloads and installing new things before the latest corruption. I assumed that it would probably barf after all those massive deletions and additions.

But, as a rule, if I haven't been doing any major spring cleaning, the groups.cache file is at or around that 600KB size. I have never had to delete any of the other .cache files..just groups.cache. Puzzling.

The groups.cache file will cease working after it gets to be a megabyte. This is a consistent issue on my setup, at least, and has been tested many, many times. This means one has lots and lots of CC.

Thanks for that info - useful to know.  Mine is about 256kb at the moment, but I delete it pretty regularly on principle.  Also I had a clearout of old clothes.  I've dumped a lot of downloads from my Base+OFB only days.  If I haven't used them by now, I'm not going to and  anyway all the clothes from the EPs give my sims plenty of choice.

How about that accessory cache?    Does that suffer from the same problems as groups.cache?  Mine's 6,254kb.

Well that would explain why I never have to delete mine either.  I have a fair bit of CC clothing, but have not used cc furniture or objects that much.

Wow. I don't use anything but cc furniture. Maybe an EAxis counter will sneak in, and I do generally use their toilets, but that's about it.

Sorry, in Matysdoorp, you might get a nice recolour of a lamp, or perhaps the odd dining chair or two, but generally, you sit on the zebra-sofa-of-maxoid-sadorandom-procreation and you like it (Except for simZazazu, of course.  All she owns is one lawn chair and a tent). ;D

Frankly, I just got too interested in playing.  Furniture was "background" and I'm not really a decorator in any case.  The result of the Play nao! vs. Download moar! contest always resulted in play, and after a while I forgot about hunting for couches, beds, closets, terlets, etc.  The up-side is, I never have to worry about game borkage due to cc objects when a new EP comes out.  That's gotta be worth something, I figure (not much, perhaps, but something, for a given value of "thing").

My game starts fine.
*smug Jolreis are smug.

The only time I had trouble with game borkage due to a cc object was with someone's no-water flowers (this is before I had hacks, so no Perfect Plants) stopping lots from loading after Pets installed.

I actually am more prone to installing bits of object sets anymore. I tend to mix and match pieces that complement each other. If I really like how two pieces look next to each other structurally, but they clash horribly, I just smush together a quick recolor. I do need to hack my cc bookcases and the two old fridges I have to be compatible with FreeTime. Still. I suck. I'm busy avoiding updating my easels.

The good thing about preferring smaller houses is that there's less space to decorate. My rooms look lovely (in the new 'hood I'm playing while denying that I'm dropping my past ones), but that's because there are so few of them and they are so small that it didn't take long. So what if four people and a dog have to share one bathroom? Builds character.