I've Hit a Wall (Installing on Windows 7)

[YoungOldPrude]

For the past week I have been prepping to install The Sims 2 and all of the Stuff and Expansion Packs. On Thursday I managed to install everything up to Nightlife. It played fine, and then I told the computer to sleep. When I returned many hours later, I found the delightful message: "The Sims 2 is not installed on this system, or some of the 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."
WHAT?
Google searching tells me that I don't have to uninstall my expansion packs, I just need to reinstall the Base Game. Really, though? My computer feels differently and won't allow the base game to be uninstalled until everthing else is. So I uninstall. I go through the Program files directory and make sure everything is gone. I run CCleaner, I defragment, I used a couple of other programs to triple check, and I run a registry scan. I am ready to try again.
I find a few scattered Yahoo questions and someone's blog. This blog talks about Windows 7 and TS2. Groovy. Yet I don't have half the problems they mention, so I figure that I am special snowflake enough that I don't have install everything in Safe Mode.
I reinstall the Base Game. I patch the Base Game. I make a copy of both the Programs directory and the Documents directory. I tuck them away on my desktop.  I install and patch everything through Celebration Stuff (the last game before SecuROM implementation). I check the game. It runs lovely. I CClean, defragment and run my other clean up programs. I check the game. It still runs great. I bid the computer good night and ready myself for the next faze of the battle.
Everything I have yet to install has SecuROM. I ready the tools, print my paperwork, make a restore point that I really don't trust my computer to keep, and then check my arsenal of No-CD patches from GameCopyWorld. I am ready.
Enter H&M Stuff. Deep breath. Damn SecuROM.  What if I screw this up? No room for doubt, do it, weakling! Suddenly: "The Sims 2 is not installed on this system, or some of the 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."
Don't panic. You made a copy of both directories. Go forth without fear.  
I change the directories. No damn dice.
I'll spare you my many expressions of dismay and outrage. I need some assistance.

FYI: Windows 7 x64,  AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Processor X6 with 8.00Gbyte; AMD Radeon HD 6570

[Starler]

Oh hai guys. I totally have this problem with TS2. I Googled what to do, but instead of doing what I was told to do, I figured I'd come here and start a new thread. Unfortunately, someone beat me to it.

Also, there is a LOT of useless information in your post. Seriously, just tell us what you actually did to fix the problem, leave out all the extra bullshit, and maybe we can tell you what you didn't do.

As far as the problem goes, I recall this happened to me when I upgraded to Windoze 7. Have you tried putting in the TS2 disks to see if it will default to installation, even though you already installed it? If that doesn't work, I think you have to edit something, maybe the registry, though I don't recall, to remove the TS2 uninstaller from your program list. Again, my recollection is foggy, but I do recall that as long as the TS2 programs were stuck in my programs list, I could neither uninstall nor reinstall the games.

ETA: Actually, it occurs to me that this could be a complete PEBCAK. When you try to uninstall a TS2 expansion, it gives a warning that doing so could bork your saves. Is this the warning that you got? If not, what is the EXACT warning that you get when trying to uninstall the base game?

[YoungOldPrude]

Sorry, Starler. It's in my nature to be rather dramatic when I'm off on a tangent. However, I will try to curb it.

Updates:

Well, it let me uninstall Celebration Stuff without so much as a warning. Interesting.

I will now try to uninstall Seasons. Okay, this time I have been warned: "Do you want to uninstall The Sims 2 Seasons? Warning: your current saved games are incompatible with previous Sims 2 products. Uninstalling The Sims 2 Seasons will also delete your saved games. Do you wish to proceed?"

Now trying to uninstall the Base Game: "You currently have one or more expansion packs installed. You must uninstall all expansion packs before uninstalling The Sims 2."

Okay. I just popped The Sims 2 disk in. Clicked the setup button. "You are running the wrong version of The Sims 2. Please run The Sims 2 Seasons instead."

Clicked on the Seasons icon (which is using a previously serviceable NoCD patch). Result: "The Sims 2 is not installed on this system, or some of the 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."

Took out the NoCD patch and placed the original exe (and disk) in and the warning is the same.

[Starler]

Just to be sure, when you are installing, are you running the installer as an administrator? It sounds like Windoze may not be installing everything where it should, and the UAC in 7 can sometimes cause this, especially with older programs.

[YoungOldPrude]

Yep, I am on the administrator account. I can still right-click on certain programs and choose "Run as administrator", though. Would that make any difference? I could uninstall everything again and try clicking that when I go to install the base game. Should I give it a whirl?

[Starler]

Yes, using the "Run as Administrator" does sometimes make a difference.

[YoungOldPrude]

"Run as administrator" really does make a difference.
Firstly, Interactive Services Detection (a  Microsoft program) tried to abort the installation process each time I tried with the Base Game through Nightlife.
Secondly, all the games (except for the Base Game) refused to run if they were in Compatibility Mode (the last time, everything except Pets ran fine on Compatibility Mode).
A third curiosity was that Nightlife demanded Disk 2 for the patching process (previously it used Disk 1).
The installation process was also much slower this time. It took ages to make it back to Celebration Stuff, and then there was some sort of trouble so I ended up uninstalling that and Seasons to correct it.
When I went to reinstall Seasons, I was told that The Sims 2 was not installed on my computer. So I did a bit of exploring. I found that my computer has another registry clean-up program that runs when it senses danger. I combed through the files and found seven entires for The Sims 2 and its expansions. It says that they are all invalid application paths, and furthermore, that they are "High" on the severity scale.
I managed to restore the removed paths and told the program to ignore them infinitely. I have tested the game out for the past two days and have had no further problems.

So all is fixed! Thank you for being so patient with me, Starler.



I have one additional question, though. Since I am going to start installing the SecuROM-laden expansions, I thought I might as well go all out and install Castaway Stories as well.
I downloaded a NoCD patch by Vitality for it. But there is a hiccup. The readme that's included in the file states that another group who makes NoCD patches (Reloaded) still uses the SecuROM protection with their version. Since I have some patches by Reloaded for the remainder of my TS2 games, I am concerned. Can anyone confirm anything?


Late Update:

I decided not to risk loading the game after each installation and patching (until I got to Mansion and Garden Stuff). It works great. No SecuROM.
The only hiccup that exists is that Malwarebytes is convinced that "TS2UPD.EXE" is a Trojan.Radsom.ED. That's not the third-party NoCD that I use, so I don't know what its problem is.