Reinstalling

[mildlydisguised]

Since I last installed Sims 2 and all EPs on my laptop I've had an annoying black screen for about 3-5 minutes after the Maxis/EA logos but before the loading screen.  Although this has pissed me off for a while I am finally at the end of my tether with it so have decided to completely uninstall and reinstall everything.  I have already attempted to mount a mini image using daemon tools but this hasn't rectified the problem.  My Downloads folder has never exceeded around 1GB so I know this isn't the problem and no searches on any forum seem to have thrown up anyone else with the same irritant.  Therefore I have concluded something happened during my last installation a couple of months ago as I had never had the black screen of tedium before.

I am currently copying my download folder (now currently at 517KB), neighbourhood folder (as I can't bear to part with two custom neighbourhoods), SavedSims, SC4 terrains and my neighbourhoodcamera.txt file.  Is this all I need to copy or have I missed something important?  Also I assume all I need to do is overwrite the same folders with my recently saved folders after the un- and reinstall.  My main worry is about my neighbourhoods I don't want to lose.  As I have just copied the neighbourhood folder, will this restore them exactly as I left them when I overwrite the folder after the reinstall.  I realise that may sound like a stupid question but I want to make sure!

If anyone has any better ideas about how to solve my black screen problem, I would really appreciate it.  Or please let me know if I am forgetting anything important about restoring my precious neighbourhoods.

Thanks.

[Gwill]

Before you re-install, have you tried deleting the (ea-logo) video files?  They're in %program files%\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\TSData\Res\Movies and the EP folders, or something similar.
It's worth a shot.

[mildlydisguised]

No I haven't yet, I shall give that a go first.

Thanks.

Edit Gave it a go but unfortunately no luck.  Looks like a reinstall is in order!

[ZiggyDoodle]

Read this thread first.

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,2914.0.html

[mildlydisguised]

Thanks Ziggy, I think I will copy the whole Sims 2 folder in my documents before starting the reinstall.  I can't imagine it's anything in there that is causing the black screen of tedium.

I hadn't seem that thread before, thanks for pointing me in that direction. 

[ZiggyDoodle]

Out of curiosity, did you move your downloads folder out of your game folder and see if the same error popped up sans the downloads folder?

[mildlydisguised]

Yeah I played a vanilla game when OMGPETZ came out and I still had the black screen then.

I have now reinstalled everything and I can happily confirm that it has solved the problem - no more stupid black screen for 3-5 mins, my Sims 2 folder is back in place and my saved games are just as I left them.  Wish I'd done this a couple of months ago!

Thanks for your help.