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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 23rd Oct 2017 at 12:11 AM

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 2, University, Nightlife, Open for Business, Pets, Seasons, Bon Voyage, Free Time, Apartment Life
Default Issue with My Documents Folder on Win7
Hello all. I've been playing and modding the SIms 2 since it first came out. I thought it might be nice to run it on my newer PC, which is Win7. I installed the game, put in all my downloads then ran the game, for some reason the game made a new EA Games folder in My Documents, it copied the Sims 2 files into this new folder. Now my game is running from one folder or the other, there's stuff missing and I cant stop it doing this.
Things I've tired already
Uninstall and reinstall
Take out all my mods
Put all my mods into both folders
Deleting one or other of the folders, the game want run unless both folders are there or it runs with many mods missing.

Iam at my wits end here. Sometimes the game loads and my neighborhoods are missing and sometimes my saved sims are missing even though both folders have copies of all my mods. I cant stop the game making this 2nd EA Games folders as it does it without asking me.
Im really, really hoping someone here can help or has some idea's. Thank you for reading through this
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Mad Poster
#2 Old 23rd Oct 2017 at 12:24 AM Last edited by simmer22 : 23rd Oct 2017 at 1:58 AM.
If one of the folders is empty, ignore it. Win 7 does make an extra, empty folder (I've got one with the date stamp from when I installed the game - the folder just sits there doing nothing), but it shouldn't affect your game as long as you leave it empty. If you start putting files into the empty one, you may confuse the game.

If the other folder creates problems, move out both of the "The Sims 2" folders from the "EA Games" folders, and run the game so it regenerates new folders. Leave the empty one alone (if one is generated), delete everything in the folder with files/folders in it, and replace with the ones you moved out (don't overwrite anything). Your game will hopefully work after this.

Also make sure you've properly enabled CC.
Mad Poster
#3 Old 23rd Oct 2017 at 1:49 AM
I've been using Windows 7 to run Sims 2 since I bought my game 5 years ago with no problems. The reason you see two Sims 2 folders is the "Libraries" feature which Microsoft introduced in Windows 7. One of the Sims 2 folders you see is in
My Documents\EA Games\
The other one is in
Public Documents\EA Games\

The latter one can be used by some programs (mainly Microsoft ones) to store documents that are shared between users, but The Sims 2 cannot make use of this feature, so you can completely ignore the Sims 2 folder in Public Documents. Your game never uses it.

The only Sims 2 folder you need bother with is
My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2
Put all you neighbourhoods, downloads, SavedSims etc. in it and forget about the other one.

As far as The Sins 2 is concerned the whole Libraries feature is waste of time and is best ignored. Apart from Libraries, Windows 7 is a good reliable operating system. Basically it's Windows Vista with the bugs fixed!

All Sims are beautiful -- even the ugly ones.
My Simblr ~~ My LJ
Sims' lives matter!
The Veronaville kids are alright.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#4 Old 23rd Oct 2017 at 10:03 AM
I did ignore it at first, the problem was the game kept running from that folder. So sometimes I would start the game and all my custom stuff was there, sometimes when I ran the game all my custom was gone and it was like I'd never played the game before. That's when I put my mods into both folders.
Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
If one of the folders is empty, ignore it. Win 7 does make an extra, empty folder (I've got one with the date stamp from when I installed the game - the folder just sits there doing nothing), but it shouldn't affect your game as long as you leave it empty. If you start putting files into the empty one, you may confuse the game.

If the other folder creates problems, move out both of the "The Sims 2" folders from the "EA Games" folders, and run the game so it regenerates new folders. Leave the empty one alone (if one is generated), delete everything in the folder with files/folders in it, and replace with the ones you moved out (don't overwrite anything). Your game will hopefully work after this.

Also make sure you've properly enabled CC.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#5 Old 23rd Oct 2017 at 10:06 AM
That's what I did at first but the game seemed to run from the 2nd folder sometimes. I'd load up the game and all my custom would be there, then other times the game would act like I'd never played before.
Quote: Originally posted by AndrewGloria
I've been using Windows 7 to run Sims 2 since I bought my game 5 years ago with no problems. The reason you see two Sims 2 folders is the "Libraries" feature which Microsoft introduced in Windows 7. One of the Sims 2 folders you see is in
My Documents\EA Games\
The other one is in
Public Documents\EA Games\

The latter one can be used by some programs (mainly Microsoft ones) to store documents that are shared between users, but The Sims 2 cannot make use of this feature, so you can completely ignore the Sims 2 folder in Public Documents. Your game never uses it.

The only Sims 2 folder you need bother with is
My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2
Put all you neighbourhoods, downloads, SavedSims etc. in it and forget about the other one.

As far as The Sins 2 is concerned the whole Libraries feature is waste of time and is best ignored. Apart from Libraries, Windows 7 is a good reliable operating system. Basically it's Windows Vista with the bugs fixed!
Née whiterider
retired moderator
#6 Old 23rd Oct 2017 at 2:15 PM
TS2 can't access that folder, so that's not the cause of the problems you've been having. Do you ever run the game as an administrator or using compatibility mode?

What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact.
Mad Poster
#7 Old 23rd Oct 2017 at 5:04 PM
And do you run it with an anti-virus program running in the background? Sometimes new anti-viruses will randomly quarantine files they don't recognize from older software. If that's what's happening, turn your anti-virus off (and obviously don't do anything that puts your computer at risk for getting viruses!) while the game is running and it won't be a problem anymore.

Beginning with Windows 8, Windows also started marking data files "read only" in an apparently random fashion, making it impossible to save anything. Some reports we've had indicate that some Windows 7 update might have also instituted this, ahem, "feature." This has yet to be proved one way or another. So if running as administrator, in compatibility mode, and without an anti-virus doesn't work, you might check that.

Good luck!

Ugly is in the heart of the beholder.
(My simblr isSim Media Res . Widespot,Widespot RFD: The Subhood, and Land Grant University are all available here. In case you care.)
e3 d3 Ne2 Nd2 Nb3 Ng3
retired moderator
#8 Old 23rd Oct 2017 at 5:08 PM
I wouldn't deactivate the antivirus software- most of them have a gaming mode, and you can add your Documents/ EA Games folder to the scanning exceptions.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#9 Old 23rd Oct 2017 at 5:54 PM
I re-installed the game and now its not working at all. I crashes or dosent start at all. What a mess, Im starting to think this game want run on Win 7 :-( I have tried running it as admin and tried all the compatibility setting.
Mad Poster
#10 Old 23rd Oct 2017 at 6:31 PM
Deep breaths, honey. It does work on Windows 7 - that's what I'm running it on, and there's people here who've run it for years. You can do this, but you need to stay calm.

Uninstalling/reinstalling is seldom the answer, as it only helps if the problem is in the installation files, and uninstalling sometimes leaves registry files behind that confuse the machine. The Game Help FAQ should have instructions for cleaning those out. It does involve fiddling with your registry files, which is potentially dangerous; but so is using a chain saw to cut that dead limb off a tree before it falls and crushes your bedroom. If you exercise due caution you'll be fine.

Okay, this should help orient you, though I notice it hasn't been updated in a long time, so what's on your computer won't exactly match the screenshots.
http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title...ninstall_Sims_2
If you grasp the principles, however, you can probably figure out how to find everything; and if you don't grasp the principles, come back here and ask and different people will explain till we find the wording that works for you. Not everybody processes information the same way, but somebody here processes it the same way you do.

Also, the very first thing you should do any time you have problems loading your game is delete your cache files. This is so automatic for most of us that we forget to mention it. Cache files can be found in your MyDocuments/Sims2 folder. Usually deleting the one that says "Groups.cache" is enough. The Accessory.cache goes wonky much less often. If you've used BodyShop since the last time you've played, there'll also be some files with names like CiGen and ContentRegistry that the game doesn't necessarily like to have hanging around when playing, so delete those, too. They'll regenerate when needed.

(If you already know what a cache file is, skip next paragraph.)
A cache file is like a sticky note the computer uses for frequently-accessed information, and it usually helps the game run faster; but just like the sticky note on the edge of your computer monitor at work, eventually it gets overwritten so much that it's not readable anymore and a fresh one needs to go up. How often this happens varies from computer to computer and user to user. Some people have to delete their cache files every time they load the game; some people only have to do it once every few months.

You can do this. Have some chocolate or something to steady your nerves and clear some time and mental space to focus on it.

Ugly is in the heart of the beholder.
(My simblr isSim Media Res . Widespot,Widespot RFD: The Subhood, and Land Grant University are all available here. In case you care.)
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