More Awesome Than You!

My game did that thing where it randomly kills its own .exe file.  This is not my problem, thouugh. I reinstalled, ran the game twice (once without custom content and once with the custom content back in), happy.  The third time I tried I could nto get it to load.  This is what happens: After I hit play, the hard drive reads for a bit, then settles downwith only the same kind of background behavior it always has.  Task Manager never shows any Sims 2 processes during this time (in the past when I had a game that crashed during loading there was usually a Sims2 process going on for a while at least).  Searching reveals the existence of the Sims2EP9.exe file right where it's supposed to be, and also a Sims2EP9.exe prefetch file which I gather is supposed to be there.

I did a search-and-destroy operation for securom using the directions  found here but there was nothing to destroy (how is that? I thought there was securom on all of the EP9 disks.  Could it have been thwarted by the extra fancy trusted platform module my compuiter guy put in?  or is securom now sneakier and hiding out as something else?).  The computer is two months old and built to SIms2 specs.  I don't know how to get an error log when nothing happens at all.

I thought it might be a hardware problem so I first checked all the connections and also tried other things in the drive, all of which loaded and played fine. I tried taking out recently added custom content, and then all custom content, and it still happens like that.  I've run several scans and my computer appears to be clean.

The only unusual thing on my computer is bit torrent, and it isn't always doing anything because the only thing I seed is Krtek videos  (it's the only thing I've downloaded from bit torrent too, and it was because until I go to Czech Republic myself I can't see them otherwise).  But could the presence of sometimes-active torrent be alarming the Sims security stuff, making it think I'm participating in warez behavior,and causing it to refuse to play?

No. ButtTorrent cannot do this to your exe file. If game is stalling without loading, you are probably having problems with SecuROM, and need to follow the de-SecuROM instructions.

It claims to have done that already and found nothing. I suspect it merely failed, since it also claims to have bought and used the EAxian disc as-is. It also claims to have had some spyware installed by some "compuiter guy", whatever a compuiter is. I, naturally, suggest reformatting.

Reading comprehension.  I had no spyware installed. 

I followed the directions really carefully, and found nothing, nothing, in any of the places where securom is supposed to be.  I'm not an idiot: I can read.  The instructions are lengthy, but clear, and I found nothing.  I ran each step, one after the other, in order.  I'll do more hunting if anybody knows any more places to look. 


I currently think it was something in the saved games, because when I pulled out the whole sims2 folder and reinstalled, it loaded.  I think I have to start over from scratch.  Again.  I'd love to get to a second generation someday.

eta: I don't mind a neutral pronoun, but I also don't mind people knowing I am of the XY persuasion.  So you can use "she" if you like it better than "it." I only use the username I do for sentimental reasons.

This sounds like spyware to me.

If you have been using noncracked EPs, then you have Securom. Look harder.

Also, you are an it until I decide to call you she. Or, if I feel like it, a Clitaxis.

Did you try deleting groups.cache?  Clicking on the icon and getting nothing is a syptom of a corrupted groups.cache file, isn't it?

Groups.cache always crashes the game after the process is showing.

ritaxis, have you tried replacing your .exe with a no-cd version? If so, does the .exe disappear yet again?

I always delete groups.cache whenever I have a problem, or sometimes just because it looks at me funny.

The .exe didn't disappear a second time, though everything else was the same. 

I'll look harder for securom if anybody can think of different places to look.  Looking in the same places over and over and getting the same result is boring. I know I should put in the no-cd crack, but I keep getting sidetracked by the desire to stop massaging my computer and just go build something.
I'll do it next time: I'm late to bed now, after having in fact been sidetracked in that way.  I love what I built, though.

Has anybody heard of securom files being in other places, or having other names? It seems to load okay now.  I will run through the securom removal instructions again  but if I can't find any securom files following those instructions, I won't know what to do.

Clitaxis is almost clever, because it refers kind of to my gender, but it would be more clever if it had more levels of wit to it.  I don't have a real suggestion, though.

One last observation.  During the last, successful, loading, task manager showed no sims2 processes running until the game was well into the scrolling-captions part of the opening sequence.  That's different from how I remember things being.

Every time you run the game from the original exe or from the launcher you are reinstalling SecuROM on your machine.  This is the purpose of the No-CD crack, so that you can run your game without adding malware like SecuROM.

Every time you run the game from the original exe or from the launcher you are reinstalling SecuROM on your machine. 

Yes, I have read this.  Every time I play my game I kick myself and I go to the securom instructions and do a search-and-wtf,there's nothing here to destroy!

Point of information:


The appropriate personal pronoun for the "XY" genotype is he. I suggest a more thoroughly developed educational background before taking your butthurt into the realms of junior high-school science before brandishing it around here. The impersonal pronoun is not an insult. Remember that offence is always taken, never given.

And yet you seem to miss the part in the instructions about getting the no-cd crack.

The XY was a simple brain fart.  because I'm an old fart, I guess.  Not because I don't know those things.  And proper reading comprehension will reward you with the information that I did indeed take no offence to the neutral pronoun or even the nickname: I specifically took no offense, and only offered the information as to my own sex out of a peculiar sense of courtesy.  The remark I made wasn't "Clitaxis is so insulting, boohoo," but "it could have been cleverer if it was cleverer." Which is a literary critique, not a butthurt.  It's not like I didn't know where I was coming for advice: I've been lurking here forever.  If I wasn't up to enduring a silly nickname I wouldn't have asked a question here.

Okay, I've been working on this most of the day and I've found a serious related problem, but not the solution.  It's apparently a rather common serious xp pro problem which receives a lot of bullshit advice and some reasonable sounding advice, much of which I have followed today to no avail.  This is the problem: I'm not just not seeing securom files, I'm not seeing most hidden files.  I wasn't seeing any before I diddled around all day but not I see a few uninteresting hidden files here and there.

Several helpful replies to other people with this problem -- none of which mention securom, so I don't know if they're in the same boat as me or in a different boat -- suggest malware and suggest various ways of extending the search for it.  I've scanned my computer now more times than I can count with a number of programs (one at a time, not at once), and found a boring treacking cookie.  One boring tracking cookie from a boring legitimate site that does nothing else obnoxious.  It's removed and irrelevant to begin with.

One suggestion was to go into safe mode and run my AV program from there.  That was a pain in the ass, took forever, and found nothing interesting except a list of locked files that look completely vanilla to me.  Should I post that?  It's probably about as long as this post will be.

One person actually got their hidden files to show by reversing their folder options view tab selections from what they "ought" to be, but that didn't work for me. 

One person suggests that security software may be interfering, but I don't know what to do with that suggestion.

edit: Skadi: I thought you were supposed to apply the crack after your system was guaranteed clean?  And my understanding is that the consensus is that even if I don't see it, it's there until I remove it.  I have the crack, ready to install when I think I'm done with this.  If somebody tells me confidently that I should install it now, even though you all are sure that securom is still there, I might essay it. 

I finally found it.

Something I did today made the securom keys visible in regedit, where they weren't before.  I don't know which of the things I did cleared up the visibility issue.  Probably something about going into safe mode, though, because it was the only thing I had never done before.

I'm really relieved.  I was thinking I was going to have to have a professional do this for me.