More Awesome Than You!

I've been playing my family just fine for weeks, no new hacks or downloads at all... in fact I took the whole downloads folder out and its still happening. I click on anything and the menu pops up for a few seconds and dissapears. Its happening on every lot, even the ones I haven't been on before. How can I find out why this suddenly started happening and how can I fix it??? Short of completely uninstalling and reinstalling.. I don't know what else to do! I have all the eps through AL and most of the stuff packs. It takes forever...

Do you have debug on? If not then you should turn it on and see if you get an error, then post the error log here.

no errors are popping up on screen. This seems to be all I can find...
ERROR TSAudio: Segment at %DataDirectory%Res\Sound\Locale\%Language%\Sfx\Samples\Karaoke\ has no extensions defined in section DBSegmentDirectoryFiles
.\source\TSAudioResourceManager.cpp(944)
ERROR TSAudio: Segment at %DataDirectory%Res\Sound\Locale\%Language%\Sfx\Tracks\Karaoke\ has no extensions defined in section DBSegmentDirectoryFiles
.\source\TSAudioResourceManager.cpp(944)
ERROR TSAudio: Segment at %DataDirectory%Res\Sound\Locale\%Language%\Sfx\Samples\DJBooth\ has no extensions defined in section DBSegmentDirectoryFiles
.\source\TSAudioResourceManager.cpp(944)
ERROR TSAudio: Segment at %DataDirectory%Res\Sound\Locale\%Language%\Sfx\Tracks\DJBooth\ has no extensions defined in section DBSegmentDirectoryFiles
.\source\TSAudioResourceManager.cpp(944)
ERROR TSAudioMusic     : Music category (Buy) listed twice in category property set.
.\source\TSAudioMusicManager.cpp(1667)
ERROR TSAudioMusic     : Music category (Build) listed twice in category property set.
.\source\TSAudioMusicManager.cpp(1667)
ERROR TSAudioMusic     : Music category (CAS) listed twice in category property set.
.\source\TSAudioMusicManager.cpp(1667)
ERROR TSAudioMusic     : Music category (NHood) listed twice in category property set.
.\source\TSAudioMusicManager.cpp(1667)
ERROR TSAudioMusic     : Music category (CAS) listed twice in category property set.
.\source\TSAudioMusicManager.cpp(1667)
ERROR TSAudioMusic     : Music category (Buy) listed twice in category property set.
.\source\TSAudioMusicManager.cpp(1667)
ERROR TSAudioMusic     : Music category (Build) listed twice in category property set.
.\source\TSAudioMusicManager.cpp(1667)
ERROR TSAudioMusic     : Music category (NHood) listed twice in category property set.
.\source\TSAudioMusicManager.cpp(1667)
ERROR TSAudioMusic     : Music category (NHood) listed twice in category property set.
.\source\TSAudioMusicManager.cpp(1667)
ERROR TSAudioMusic     : Music category (Buy) listed twice in category property set.
.\source\TSAudioMusicManager.cpp(1667)
ERROR TSAudioMusic     : Music category (Build) listed twice in category property set.
.\source\TSAudioMusicManager.cpp(1667)
ERROR TSAudioMusic     : Music category (CAS) listed twice in category property set.
.\source\TSAudioMusicManager.cpp(1667)
ERROR TSAudio: Failed to cache resource. 0b9eb87e:0da1f2ca:ff99e0de
.\source\TSAudioResourceManager.cpp(1220)
ERROR TSAudio: Failed to cache resource. 0b9eb87e:eb8ab356:ff8bceb2
.\source\TSAudioResourceManager.cpp(1220)

Before you resort to the drastic (and until someone more Awesome than I takes a look at that error log) check your mouse. Dirty mice tend to do that as well.

Those are just normal audio errors and mean nothing. There is no really helpful evidence here.

Try playing a different neighbourhood, or create a new custom hood (a throw-away hood), build one family, and move them into a house.  See if it works properly.  If it works, that would suggest that your game is likely fine, but your old hood would seem to be borked.

my mouse is clean... checked it and I'm not having a problem on anything else with it. I tried to play another neighborhood and its the same problem. Every lot I've tried, every neighborhood, same deal. The ONLY thing I can think of that has been different is one of my children aged to a teen and I aged a townie girl at the same time... could that be borking something? grrrrrr!

Is there somewhere to look for an error log other that I maybe don't know about? I'm not really "awesome" enough to know a lot of technical crap like that... more to the point I've just been to lazy to look too hard ha ha! But I did look in the logs folder and all I found was the same error log I posted here...

Have you generated a new The Sims 2 folder in Program Files/EA Games? Rename the "The Sims 2" folder to something else and then start the game. A new TS2 folder will be created to reset your game back to the factory original state.

You have tried playing in debug mode (boolprop testingcheatsenable true)?

Where did you find the errors you listed above?

Well I said I looked in the logs files, tried every neighborhood, other lots, checked my mouse, etc etc... yes, I have tried everything I can think of or I wouldn't be here opening myself to ridicule.

Yes I played in debug mode, no errors pop up and the only ones I can find at all are the ones I listed here... they showed up in the input window when I typed in help to see what was there, and I also looked in the logs folder for error logs. I will try the regenerating thing, thanks!

Yeah, don't try that here. This is a board run by Is. TALKING to PEOPLE should be a move of last resort and desperation, never something you to do AVOID work, because actually DOING THE WORK is far less unpleasant than the entire "ACTUALLY TALKING TO PEOPLE" thing. Ugh. People. Bleck.

And that's why I love you

---

Ok I renamed the folder and it gives me this message:

The Sims 2 is not installed on the system, or some required files have been deleted. This expansion pack requires The Sims 2 in order to run. Please install The Sims 2 before attempting to run this application.

I have the base game, uni, NL and OFB installed with the disks, everything else is the downloaded versions... I have everything except teen style, kitchen and bath and ikea...


Moderator edit: double posting fixed.

well MY point was I'm fairly intellegent when it comes to figuring things out, but not when its a bunch of techy stuff... ie digging into the guts of the game or game files when I don't even know what I'm looking for. I don't have the time or the brain power after work to think that hard to figure it out on my own... plus, my game is borked enough already. With my luck I'll go messing it up worse... sigh. I'm about ready just reinstall it all. ANY other suggestions?

---

ok I figured out the regen thing, its the folder in my documents that regens, not program files... but it didn't help. Same problem in the new one... what the hell? grrrrr. And I did try left clicking with the keypad on my laptop, so I know its not my mouse, I don't appear to have any stuck keys or anything of that nature... just random borkedness I guess. I so don't want to reinstall everything :(


Edit by Moderator: double posting fixed: please cut it out!

And OUR point is that if you won't do it for yourself, we don't want to do it for you. If you have exhausted all reasonable options, that's another matter. If you're going to come here and go "boo hoo, I'm dumb and lazy! Here, fix it!" ....um no.

OMG people I'm not not crying boo hoo saying I'm dumb and I made the mistake of saying "lazy" shoot me. Its not being lazy, I just mean when it comes to guts of the game and getting into files and stuff like that I'm LOST... ok? Does that make sense? You guys really like to tear people up... sometimes funny... but some of us are actually mature intellegent adults with jobs and families who don't have HOURS to pour through hundreds of posts trying to find a solution, and actually admire those of you, like J.M. who are very smart and knowledgeable about these kinds of things... that's why we COME HERE. Go pick on the idiots who can't form a complete sentance, I'm giving you all a compliment by saying you're smarter than me about certain things... obviously only CERTAIN things. Forget it, I'll just redo the whole damn thing.  Thanks anyway to those of you who actually did try to help.
And by the way... I exhausted everything I could think of, find, had tried before etc etc or BELIEVE ME... I WOULDN'T have come on here.

Ok, going back to being a lurker now, its much safer that way. And since I'm sure I won't be posting for awhile, thank you J.M. for this site, I have found many useful solutions on here in the posts and wouldn't play the game without your hacks. You also crack me up.

Souping so early?

Make sure your laptop mouse pad is clean. Sometimes, if you get something stuck on the edges, it will go wonky. Oh, and get over yourself.

Someone on another forum had this issue and it was solved by discharging the laptop. To do this, disconnect from mains, remove battery and then press and hold the 'on' button for a few seconds. Not sure if it will work in your case, but it is worth a try.