More Awesome Than You!

When I tried to install M&G it would install, check for updates to SIms2 and then AL.  It would then announce that it could not complete the update of AL and remove the installation.

After 3 tries I called tech support and was told by the rather nice young man that:

THERE IS A BUG. M&G IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH AL!   THERE WILL BE A PATCH SOON!

The frigging IDIOTS at EA forgot about an entire EP!!!  The latest EP!!!

Does this happen if you have an unpatched AL? What if you reinstall AL only afterwards?

So, if you can't install the stuff pack, how are you supposed to patch it?

They don't even care anymore, do they?  The next SP is going to turn out to be a coaster instead of a CD.

My copy has patch 1 and 2.  According to the tech support guy, MG just doesn't recognize AL.

rufio:  I have no idea. This should be interesting.

OH, and it looks like I get to spend the night doing a complete reinstall.

signed

Unhappy Camper

No... this cannot be.  It cannot be oh... my...  /me shakes head slowly

But have you got the no-CD crack for AL?  Did you put back the original exe first?

I don't use the no-CD crack yet.  I don't feel like futzing with having to update it every time EAXIS puts out something new, and since the End is Near, I decided to just wait.

Hopefully this means AL p3 soon, as that is the only way to fix this problem. Maybe they can finally fix the unlevel Apt glitch.

But they are idiots, so who knows.

If you use the nocd, does it work better?

 :D

Just to add confusion to this whole mess, I'm seeing reports on the official BBS and N99 that other people have had no trouble running MG with AL.  However, I am really reporting what the tech support guy told me, and what happened when I tried to install it.

The problem may, indeed, be with the patch(es). 

It looks like I don't have to reinstall and I'm trying to decide if reinstalling 8 EPs and Iforgethowmany stuff packs is worth it just now.

I wouldn't trust the tech support... probably a low-paid person in another country who has no access to the developers and doesn't really know the answer.


Surely, uninstalling Mansion & Garden or Apartment Life should be enough.  I can't believe that you need to uninstall and reinstall the base game, plus all the EPs and SPs.

OK, I called tech support again, and got told first that they had a "work around" but he needed to find out what it was.  I suggested a manual install for reasons I'll explain in a minute and he said I could do that but he wanted to check about the workaround since I was the first person he'd spoken to with the problem.    He came back and said his supervisor had said they weren't using the workaround explained that it's a problem with some systems and not others and had me give him some of the specs on my machine--processor, graphics card, RAM, gc ram.   He also said there should be a patch next week.

I posted on the board and received this reply from IAmMAMAINRED:

Make sure all your games are patched.
Then re-boot the PC & manually install it.
It is not the game keeping it from installing, it is
a SecuROM issue for most.
http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=10875&p_created=1127328997&p_s
It also needs a gig is RAM, so if your specs are at min level, it will not install.

I'm not sure I want to try a manual install at this point, but I know as soon as this gets straightend out and there's a no-CD patch for MG Secure ROm goes bye-bye.


Edited for spelling and a wetware memory error.

Ok, installed now. First I got an "install not succeeded" message. Thing is, I had the same problem when I tried to patch AL so I never installed the patch - now I reinstalled, patched and the M&G installed fine. So I guess you need a patched AL game to be able to install this one. Doesn't explain lerfs problems though?

But SecuROM doesn't cause any problems! It's clearly something else, like maybe you have a pirated version. EA said SecuROM was perfectly safe, and EA wouldn't lie to us would they? ::)

At least there's a workaround, but there shouldn't need to be a workaround. Stupid EAxis.

My game is patched.  Both patches, in fact.  NOw BV wouldn't patch the first time, but did the last time I reinstalled.

That's very strange, since I have installed MG and am playing it, on top of AL.  And everything appears to be functional.  Are you sure the tech support people knew what they were talking about, Lerf?

I've run M&G all day with AL.
I don't have the patches for BV, FT, nor AL. I use the Awesome fixes plus a few others. Kept most in after installing. I don't have the no CD, not awesomely Arg enough.

Back to lurking

The second tech support guy asked for the name of the first one, which I didn't remember though I had the reference number.  Apparently the first guy was wrong when he stated that Al was not compatible with M&G.  What he should have said is that some people were having issues with AL and MG.  BTW the EA tech support center is on PST and both of them sounded like they were from the US.  THe only part of the process where English was an issue was the stupid "voice recognition" thing at the beginning.

Tip:  If you want to reach an actual person instead of being given a tech support recording speak gibberish when it asks you the name of the game you are having issues with.  After the third time the 'bot will apologize and send you to live tech support.  If you say something it understands--like Sims 2-- it will give you some options and then send you to ea.com.  Mansion and Gardens was apparently not a term it was programmed to understand.  Neither was Sims2 Mansions and Gardens or THE Sims2 Mansions and Gardens.  I figure if I'd answered "snerflerf" too it it would have had the same result.  Of course the first time I tried Sims 2 on it tried to tell me I'd just said Carl Madden Something or Other Sports Game....

Another trick is to repeatedly say "Customer Service".

I prefer to argue with it.   ;)

Calling technical support is for noobs. I just mash buttons until it works.

I don't trust my button mashing skills.  Besides I'm paying for the tech support, I figure I'll use it.  I'm going to try the manual reinstall as soon as I've aborbed the proper amount of caffeine to jumpstart my three or four remaining braincells.

However, I'm in recovery having had to reinstall AL last night, and of course forgot to take out my DOwnloads folder.  I was able to stop it from deleting the entire folder, but everything in folders down to the middle of the H's is kaput.  Including all my Build Sets....

Death to EAxis.  ::)

on my fateful try to install MGS, I had the same problem. It seems that somehow, a few files from AL can encounter modification, which has the patch fail. restoring from the AL disc helps.

The New No CD EXE is out for MG!

http://gamecopyworld.com/

HarleyBarbie;]

It's a mini-image, not a cracked exe.  It will not stop Securom.  Not safe.

OK, I got it to install.  It took only the sacrifice of a couple of goats and sticking pins in a Mr. Humble Doll.

Actually the problem was on my end, and probably could have been solved without bloodshed if, on both of my phone calls, EAXIS had actually gotten details about my system and not pretended it knew the answer to the problem.  And I also admit that I'm probably the only person in the world who would have done this.

Shortly before AL came out we installed a second hard drive (F:) on my system and I reinstalled the Sims2, EPs and the Stuff packs to it.  I've been using computers since the long-ago era when putting a space in a file or folder name could cause problems, so I often leave the space out when naming them.  Consequently I had the Sims2 and all the EPs installed to F:My Documents\EAGames.  However, when I installed AL I apparently specified F:My DOcuments\EA Games and AL was installed there.  THe game found it with no problems, and I don't recall having any problems with patching it originally, though I'm not entirely sure.   (I know it wouldn't patch BV even though that was before the installation of the F: drive, so I may have decided it was just some sort of glitch I'd worry about later.)

I reinstalled it to the EAGames directory after I realized that it wasn't in the right folder.  This time it ran the patch and installed M&G with no problems at all.

So now I have mansard roofs, and three exciting kinds of pond scum. 

OK, the new roof slope tool is actually almost worth the trouble, and I'm looking forward to experimenting with the quarter space cheat.

There it is.  My mistake compounded by itiots at EA tech support.

No, there's also a No DVD .exe now. I'm using it. Oh, and I was able to install the game with no problem and I didn't even take out my AL No CD crack because I forgot about it. AL did patch (I'd been avoiding the second patch) and everything went normally.

You have likely overestimated your problem.
Reinstalling the game is the automated equivalent of restoring the files from the disk, fixing the issue that FatD brought up.

This is strange, I have just installed M &G and I have Apartment Life installed and so far haven't had any problems with any of my games being uninstalled.  I didn't use the patch at EA for AL though I used the ones here for my game and haven't had any problems at all.
 ???

Even stranger, I reinstalled all the packs from start to finish (this only takes around 3 hours....).  MG installs Ok, it just won't run.  The error text vaguely points to directX components, assuming that the error text is related to the actual error.

I can uninstall MG and AL will run again, no problems.

I  installed the latest video card driver and DX9, no change; still will install, but not run.

I hadn't thought to check the installation path, though.   Not that I'm expecting that to work either.

You may want to read more of the thread. Lerf isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, and took the word of a low-paid, barely-informed, CSR drone (not knocking CSR drones...you are only as good as the info you are given).

The uninstall error is a bug. It can be caused by leaving your no-CD in during install (if you overwrote the original), but also can happen on a Sunday when it's raining.

Also, please to find your SHIFT key. We like our grammar here.

Are you using a no cd patch? I got that error the first time I used one because I had put the patch in the wrong place. Make sure it is in the TSBin, not just the M&G program folder.