cherylflamm, I have read quite a few posts that state whenever you are installing a patch, your best bet is to backup and remove anything of importance: Mods folder, Save games and the like. At this point, no one knows if a patch will fugg something up or change the way the game deals with certain files. Some may say they know a patch "WILL" cause those problems. LOL
Try moving your mods to a safe directory to see if they are breaking the way the game plays. If your game plays fine or better without the mods, it probably means EA changed something and now the Mod maker has to compensate for the changes in order for it to run properly.
Thanks to this board, I now have a habit of testing the game bare, or at least with minimal mods, after a patch or EP installs.
Oh Chilltown NJ, I really flubbered up, it was because I had automatic updates checked on my download manager, I believe, and I guess, I just let it happen. Well, now I gotta fix it. Do I reinstall from the beginning, and should I completely avoid EA, or is there away I can update to 2.3 only? Thanks for any and all help! And yes, I will read up, once again, on how to remove that stuff(Mods folder, Saved games) beforehand if I do decide to do the udate thing again. thanks chilltownnj