Hacks may be causing weird side-effects

[baratron]

Ok, so your game is currently unpatched. You MUST run the patch from the official site, else we can't help you. Too much else depends on having that patch.

If you're getting errors in installation of the patch, check that you have the right version. If your game came on CDs, you need the CD version; if it came on DVDs, you need the DVD version. If you definitely have the right version of the patch but still can't run it, I'm not sure what to do then.

[nectere]

regarding patch installation:

Try moving your downloads folder to your desktop (so that it is out of the way) and rerunning the patch. It is also possible that you have a corrupted download of the patch, I also have dialup and this happens quite often with large files. The solution I have found is to use a download manager, the one I am currently using, which works quite well is flashget, I used to have getright but I have found that I much prefer the former. Flashget will allow you to schedule, start, pause, cancel, redownload from a memory etc your downloads and will also help reduce corrupt or incomplete downloads. (as well as allow you to configure a myriad of other settings such as using proxies for certain sites etc)

You must be certain however that you did not change any of the original settings for the game, there are floors and walls as well as cameras that you can download that require you to change config settings.

[resmc]

Thank you, Nectere, I think I will just wait on downloading the patch until Tue, when I get fios (fiber-optic high speed internet). Doesn't dial-up suck?

[Motoki]

Another possibility is that it's not just the exe the patch will complain about, it's pretty much any file modified in the Program Files/EA Games/The Sims 2/ directories. Some people changed one of the files there to up the max sims they can invite to a party and that will make the patch complain. As will changing the graphics ruls.sgr which I changed a while back in my game.

Try to think if you've modified any files there in any way or have installed anything that did. Modified files in My Documents/EA Games/... is fine but if you mess with stuff in Program Files/EA Games/... the patch will complain.

If you changed any files there in any way and made a backup of the original then restore your original. Otherwise you will have to backup all your neighborhoods and reinstall the game and then patch. That should work because all the install files will definitely be at their original state.

Good luck, oh and love the avatar.

[resmc]

Okay, i will look, but I don't think I have messed with any files there, and I know I haven't downloaded the partyguest hack.

Good luck, oh and love the avatar.

-Thanx .I got a new one b/c my other one was kinda dull.

[Zeljka]

1) I have InSimenator (UV) 2[1].1 (that's what the file name says anyway)
2)I don't have any other patches.

Call me crazy, but would UV indicate that this is a University version of the InSiminator?
I am currently also EPless, but have the InSiminator 1.6Sim which has been fine.

Many of the mods you've mentioned are designed to be used with the EP and do ugly things to an EPless game, I say this because I tested them (without other hacks) and found it to be so. Off the top of my head:

The skillinator doesn't work 100%, you can macro-encourage, but you don't get to choose the skill you are encouraging, I still have it, in case it picks the skill I want, which it sometimes does.
Baby control and baby harassment did weird things and I removed them, as mentioned, ltw is unnecessary, as is buskers, gizmo, resurrect and piano fix. I believe the sleep clock is also EP only.
I never did patch my game, but don't see the point as I have the EPs, just haven't installed them yet.
Good luck.

[Venusy]

1) I have InSimenator (UV) 2[1].1 (that's what the file name says anyway)
2)I don't have any other patches.

Call me crazy, but would UV indicate that this is a University version of the InSiminator?
I am currently also EPless, but have the InSiminator 1.6Sim which has been fine.

UV stands for Universal. It works with any version of TS2, but certain options are disabled without EPs installed.

[Zeljka]

ahh, guess I could have checked.
The Insiminator is very cool, but I've had problems with certain versions so once I found one that doesn't seem to interfere with anything else, I stuck with it.

Nice signature, we had Monday mornings designated to catch up on Strongbad's latest e-mail and whatever else we needed to see there to establish the proper mood for the week. It was so effective that they actually started scheduling staff meetings directly afterwards (because everyone was voluntarily in one spot)

[resmc]

I know the problem is not caused by a bad reaction with the InSimenator, b/c removing it doesn't help. Using boolProp makes the game almost completey un-play-able. I really need the patch, which I will download tomorrow.

[resmc]

Okay, I have downloaded the patch (it took less than a minute!), and installed it sucessfully!
Will upate as to if this solves the problem.

[resmc]

Update: Unfortunately this hasn't helped. Still lacking wants, having frequent jumps (this is interfering with gameplay), and unable to throw a party.

[Zeljka]

I guess the best thing to do would be to remove all hacks and try them one at a time to figure out which is fubaring your game.

Don't know if this helps at all to narrow things down, but EPless, I have the following and no problems in my game:

abort bedmaking
"anti-baby" lecture     
asprechargetweak   
captain hero           
coffee cup hack
daily gardener         
doorbell quieter   
faster buy clothes 
front door hack
hugging hack
-manual navigation
no age discrimination
no cheering hack
-no corrupted death
-no drop tired baby
no reunionmemory
-no shock for outgoing
-no smart milk drag
-no telepathy
-no "teleport puddle"
-novel progress
-no what's this
-pay at box
-phone hack
-save the trees

You could try them as a group to see if they work for you, and add the others singly, or just start out trying them all one at a time.

Either way, good luck

[resmc]

Thank you Zeljka, I will try weeding out all of my hacks. Will update...

[resmc]

Wait, does that mean I shouldn't use the Authorized Personel Only?! I love that!
awww...

[Zeljka]

Doesn't mean anything except that I don't have it.
I'm just saying this is what I have that works for me, there will be a lot that also work, but I just don't have. There could be some that work for me, and not for you. I just posted this in case the same group of hacks that work in my game works for yours.

It could work beautifully for you, just try the game with it, if it works - great! If it doesn't work, try the game without it.

[resmc]

Oh, okay. Thanks. Anyway, this has helped some, as I now have wants back, (where as before I had blank spaces), but I still have the jumping, and can't fufil my Popularity sim's new want of "Throw a Party." Any more suggestions?

[Motoki]

I'm still not certain about the jumping. If it was the infamous jump bug (aka chat bug) then the patch should have fixed it.

The part about not being about to throw a party may be an old Maxis bug that happens when there are a lot of characters in the neighborhood. If it's the one I'm thinking of, it's nothing to do with hacks, but Pescado has a couple of hacks that can fix it:

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/ffs/uni/hacks/housepartyfix.zip for regular parties

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/ffs/uni/hacks/weddingpartyfix.zip for wedding parties

You'll probably want them both.

[resmc]

Are they compatable with just the base game (no EPs)?

[Motoki]

Yep. He made them a long time ago before University came out.

[resmc]

Great! Thanks for the link, Motoki. Will update...

[resmc]

Update: No go. Still unable to throw parties, and still very frquent jumps. 

[Motoki]

The only other things I can suggest is try going into debug mode (boolprop testingcheatsenabled true) and then post the error log here and see if anyone can make heads or tails of it.

The other thing you can do, which is a bit of a pain but probably what I would be doing right about now if I were in your shoes is the process of elimination.

First I would say temporarily move ALL your downloads, the whole downloads directory and any subdirectories and also savedsims to your desktop or somewhere else, try running the game and look for the jumping and not being able to throw parties. Don't save, just do this to check and make sure it's not a corrupt install or glitched up lot.

If everything runs okay then it's got to be one of your downloads. Try putting half your hacks back in and running the game. If it works fine, move those ones somewhere else and mark them as okay and try the other half. Every time you don't get the problem move those files out as fine and every time you do, take another half out and move them somewhere where you now they still may need to be tested and try again until you narrow down the culprit.

Also keep in mind in some rare instances objects can cause issues too so it's possible it might not be the hacks. You could try running the game with just the hacks and no other downloads to try and eliminate this possibility.

Again, all this is a pain to do, but I've had to do it before.

[resmc]

I supose I have no choice but to go through that tedious process.     This will take a while, since I have a LOT of downloaded files. Will update....

[Hegelian]

My own experience was that inadvertently installing the wrong version of the phonehack (Uni version in original, patched game) broke the game. The phones no longer worked--Sims could not use them even though they rang--and Sims developed a tendency to jump from place to place. Removing the hack did not fix the problems.

Reinstalling the game and the patch fixed the problem. Fortunately, I was able to determine the cause early in the process, because simply uninstalling and reinstalling the game took much less time than going through all my custom content one batch at a time would have done. I just moved the entire The Sims 2 folder in My Documents to a safe place so the new installation wouldn't overwrite my existing neighborhoods and other saved-game files.

I'm thinking that in your case it may be faster and less frustrating to simply reinstall the game rather than trying to hunt down a hack or object that is messing up your current installation. If my experience is any guide, it may be that even if you find the problem hack, removing may not solve your problem. Just be sure to copy your gameplay folders to another directory before the reinstall, and copy them back after--Neighborhoods, SavedSims, Storytelling (if you have any screen captures), LotCatalog.

Most at risk are the three neighborhoods and the playable Sims that come with the game. The installation program will probably overwrite the lot files in the neighborhoods, which would erase any families you have there (at least those in Maxis houses) and whatever histories you have for the playable Sims--but it won't erase files that are not part of the installation, such as screen captures you have made, or Sims you've created. It wouldn't empty out your Downloads folder, for example, or delete .WAV files you've added to the Music folder. But it is always better to be safe, so back up any folder that might have custom or saved-game content.

It is probably best to uninstall the game before reinstalling it, which might erase the EA GAmes Folder in My Documents if you move your Downloads folder rather than copying it (most uninstall routines will not delete a folder created by the installation program if there are subfolders in it which were not part of the original installation), so it's safest to backup the files there. It's easy enough to copy the entire The Sims 2 folder to a TEMP folder until after the reinstall.

[Motoki]

My own experience was that inadvertently installing the wrong version of the phonehack (Uni version in original, patched game) broke the game. The phones no longer worked--Sims could not use them even though they rang--and Sims developed a tendency to jump from place to place. Removing the hack did not fix the problems.

Did you try selling and rebuying all the phones? Also did you check and make sure no rogue copies of the phone hack snuck in with a house download. It's been known to happen and the file name gets scrambled up, so you'll have to use Sims2pack Clean Installer and look for any red highlighted entries that say "Phone Line Controller".