I really don't know what is wrong with my game

[rome_raven]

Pets won't run    I hit the icon to make the game go, the splash screen shows up...and then nothing.  I made the task manager box open up and it says it's going but I could litterally leave my computer running for an hour, and nothing will happen.  The game was running fine less than a week ago.  I haven't downloaded anything other than a couple pieces of clothing.

I thought the problem might be with the CD itself (that was a problem before with the FFS pack which I fixed by buying the Glamour which ran perfectly fine).  I went back to the store and exchanged the game (so happy I got that warrenty now) and now, it still won't work.  Anyone know what in the world is going on?

[jsalemi]

The executable may have become corrupted, or you may have picked up a virus somewhere.  Do a virus scan first, and if that comes up clean, you can try reinstalling it.

[aussieone]

I haven't downloaded anything other than a couple pieces of clothing.

If it was happening to me, I'd take the clothing out that you downloaded and see if that makes a difference.

[moonluck]

I had this before with I think uni and the only thing that I could do was reinstall. That worked but it was a pain.

[rome_raven]

If you re-install, will it get rid of the downloads. saved sims etc?  And do you have to reinstall all the expansion packs, or just Pets?

[twojeffs]

Try just reinstalling Petz first. If it doesn't fix it then do a complete reinstall. No, you won't lose your downloads unless you delete those folders manually.

[RainbowTigress]

Have you tried deleting your groups.cache file?  Some people on another board were having this problem, and that seemed to have fixed it for them.  It's in \My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\.

[miros]

Once you have a working groups.cache, make a backup of it!  I have one hood that never corrupts the groups.cache and another that corrupts it every time I play.

[jsalemi]

Once you have a working groups.cache, make a backup of it!  I have one hood that never corrupts the groups.cache and another that corrupts it every time I play.

Why bother?  It changes every time you play, and the game will just build a new one.  Corruption seems to be a random thing.

[miros]

It takes for-effing-ever for the game to load the first 'hood and house without that file.

[J. M. Pescado]

That's just Old Car Effect. Mash the icon a few dozen times, it will run.

[nekonoai]

I had this happen!!!

delete the icon you have on your desktop or whatever, and create a new shortcut icon from the actual EXE in C:/program files/ea games/sims 2 pets/ts bin

It loaded after I did that. Weirdest thing. If that doesn't work. Try turning off/snoozing your virus protection.