I'm beginning to think that T$R is run by a staff of twelves akin to the Oompa Loompas in Willy Wonka. Emerald-haired, tangerine-skinned, pirate-chanting twelves. With mullets. Bad mullets.

Thank you rosses...the screen-saver was the issue. Fixed!

I have a crap-load of cc. Basically, when I found the booty-site I went on a bit of a spree. Not looking forward to sifting through and deleting, but I know it's inevitable. And yes, I do ctrl+alt+esc and shut down everything sucking up RAM before I start my game. If I had the money for a new comp I would absolutely buy one, but for now this has to do. 

Lol, SuSim. It's been up there for awhile, but will try. 

Zazazu: That was nifty. Here's what I ended up with:

   Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.070227-2254)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: INTELR
       System Model: AWRDACPI
               BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
          Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.60GHz (2 CPUs)
             Memory: 1536MB RAM
          Page File: 393MB used, 1763MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
    DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
     DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode

I actually have three hard drives:
C:\ 38.2 GB
F:\ 72.5 GB
G:\ 2.99 GB

So I lied...I have more space than I thought. In fact, I realize there is no info actually STORED on the F drive at the moment. Presumably there's a way to change that?

I updated my graphics card drivers within the past two weeks.

So does my system pass inspection or suck? :b

*dragonballz* <----------comp tard

Hee-hee.

My system's not that bad, really. Pentium 4, Nvidia GeForce 7800, 60 GB, hand-built by someone who actually knows what they're doing, unlike myself...I dunno. It's not the newest thing, but it's not a callback from Neanderthal days either. There are peeps on other forums who complain about their hour-long load times, so I honestly didn't think 20 min. was horrible. 

BrokenRobot: Thank you, that is my next plan of attack.

rosess: I will try that, as it is the best solution I have heard so far and something I would have never thought of. The screen-saver part anyway. I'm not quite ready to gut my game. Nobody likes a quitter. 

I realize that. Didn't mean to be rude.

This has been up my ass for some time now.

Loading my game....somewhere before the scrolling string text it stops loading and I get a black screen with a white box that says something to the effect of "Could not load the Direct3D Object". My game WILL load after this, but it's a total drag because:

1. I have about a 20 minute load time to begin with.
2. If I sit and dink with the mouse and invisibly write my name on the screen for 10 minutes the error message is bypassed, but this means I literally have to babysit my comp for half and hour when I could be folding clothes or peeing or some other task only slightly less mundane.
3. The error pops up again during the "Bugs and Birds" portion of the string text.

It seems like this began happening after downloading the FT patch, but I can't be sure.

Any ideas?

Rofl. Gay is gay no matter how you look at it. Unless you're Ricky Martin.

I truly am a rather large douche or some form of bottom-feeder retard, and thank you Jelendra for reminding me of my shortcomings.  You are not "the new gay" in my book. Think I have it now. Will let you know.

All I did was extract everything and replace the TSBin files with the cracked ones. That entire file is in My Documents where the rest of the EA crap is. At this point I'm not even sure whether I'm installed or not installed. *quietly sucks thumb and wets pants in corner*

Hi Alex,

Yeah, I mounted it to "Drive H". Went to that drive and double-clicked. Same goddamn problem, same error. *lights another ciggarette* Wondering if I need to mount to a different drive. I'm running out of ideas now. Perhaps I should have mounted the image before I overwrote the TSBin files. I did the opposite. Would that have screwed this up?

Yup, tried it to no avail. Now wondering if I need a different crack.

Huh.

My Target Icon is "C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Store Edition\TSBin\Sims2Launcher.exe". I replaced "Sims 2 Store Edition" with "Downloads" (the file within EA GAMES to which I saved/extracted the torrent files), and Sims2Launcher.exe" with "Sims2EP8.exe" as you said.

I get an error message telling me the path and file name are not correct. I checked the common file list text document which tells me I should have an .exe file by that name, but the AL icon in the TSBin folder doesn't seem to be an .exe file (even though I suppose it is). In the crack folder I have an icon and a key generator. That is what I used to overwrite. In the TSBin folder I have:

ijl15.dll
Sims2EP8 icon/application (which is what I tried to shortcut to)
Sims2Launcher (regular icon...no EP)
Two Update Launchers

Do I need to change the "Start In" field as well, or is it the "Downloads" folder wcich is fucking me up?

Jelendra, I will try that next, thank you.

Mmmmm....no.

My comp knowledge only goes so far. Excellent problem solver that I am (I stumbled and floundered my way through the SecuROM removal tutorial and came out victorious!), directions about "changing shortcuts" still stump me. *blushes*

Please explain, and Thank you Kyna.

I downloaded it. I unzipped it. I overwrote the TSData files with the new crack files. When I double-click on the AL icon my comp thinks for a second and then pops me a window titled "The Sims 2" with a giant crimson "x" circle. *gutteral sighs* Hate to even ask this, but what the fuck am I doing wrong? Assuming that I've skipped a step somewhere/installed in the wrong folder/etc. I HAVE removed SecuROM via the kickass tutorial, so that's not the prob. All previous EPs were purchased by myself the legal way (NL, BV and FT), so this is my first experience with *ehem* other methods.

Help. Please. Grovel.

Thank you.

I bow to you and do pennance your feet. I grovel. Thank you for this info. Now to see if my Apt. Life crack will finally work as every time I try to load and install I get a big red x in a window titled "Sims 2".