2006 holiday mini-pack problem

[HelloKit]

Since I had already purchased the 2005 holiday stuff pack, a couple of weeks ago I purchased the 2006 mini-pack which only adds the items that are new this year. I purchased the downloadable version (I'm not sure if there is a physical CD version of the mini-pack?). I downloaded and installed it via the EA Link downloader, and it appeared to install just fine. But I can't find the new objects in my game, EA Link still shows it as "ready to install" rather than "ready to play", and when I try to install it again it says it's already installed.

What files should I look for to know if it really installed or not, and if the files are there, is there any other reason the objects would not be showing up in my game? Does anyone know where the registry entry or flag is that tells it the mini-pack is installed, so that I might be able to "unflag" it and try installing it again?

[BlueSoup]

I had the same thing, it still shows ready to install on the Downloader, but it is installed.  I just took a look at the official site and the objects list, and then double-checked that the objects were there.  They are, so I am not worried about it.

[dizzy]

Quoting my own readme:

The Holiday packs are not full-fledged Expansions, but simply provide a number of holiday-themed objects and sims clothing. To find their contents on your system, look in the following directory:

\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 2\TSData\Res\Catalog\Bins\

There, look for a file named "H05.bundle.package" or "H06.bundle.package". They contain the holiday data.

[HelloKit]

Okay, well there's my problem. The H06 package is not there. So for whatever reason, it thinks it installed, but never wrote the package file. Anyone know how to make it stop thinking it's installed so I can install it again?

[dizzy]

I've never used the EA Link/EA Downloader, so I can only surmise that either you have made an error or their server became confused during the process. It may be possible that they only use the registry to track that, but I highly doubt it. It may be possible to contact EA tech support and fix it that way.

[jrd]

Sorry, I don't use DRM-infested Crippleware so I can't give advise here. Contact EA "support".

[Giggy]

There, look for a file named "H05.bundle.package" or "H06.bundle.package". They contain the holiday data.

[jrd]

H05 (Holiday '05) is the old stuff, H06 (Holiday '06) is the new stuff.
Clothes are not in there but are patched into objects.package, as are the new party types.
As of Pets these new parties appear in a separate "throw party" menu because EAMaxis has opted to change the phones, and has added an "override" (=mod) to "fix" the H05 stuff.

[HelloKit]

Well, I finally fixed it, but it wasn't easy. EA support was no help at all. After going around in circles with them for 3 days because they didn't seem to be capable of actually reading my messages, they finally told me that there is no way to uninstall or reinstall the Holiday Mini-Pack without completely uninstalling the entire game and starting over again. IMNSHO, when you're dealing with a game with multiple expansion packs that all have to be installed again, that's completely unacceptable. What on earth were they thinking, not including a way to reset the Mini-Pack installation in case of installation failure?

So, what I ended up doing is this. I installed the base game, '05 HPP, and '06 Mini-Pack on my fiance's PC, using a program called Total Uninstall to monitor the Mini-Pack installation and log all file changes. Then, I copied all of the changed files back to my own PC. And now, finally, as far as I can tell, all of the new holiday content is showing up in my game.

One unrelated oddity I noticed while doing this, is that even with nothing but the base game (unpatched) installed, the objects.package on my fiance's PC had a more recent modified date (10/25/2005) than the one on mine (1/22/2005). How is this even possible, when the base game was released long before Oct. 2005? I didn't copy the file over, just left it alone for now... I don't even know if the base objects.package matters since I have all the EPs.

[dizzy]

10/25/05 was the patched objects.package. It has been shipped patched in the box for quite some time.

[HelloKit]

Hmm... I installed his from the very same DVD I used on mine, though, way back when. And I wonder why my PC doesn't have the patched one. Should I copy the one from his PC over to mine, or does it even matter now that I have the EPs?

[dizzy]

That's kind of strange. I would say that you should download the patch from the official site and apply that:

http://thesims2.ea.com/update/?pid=Help_patches