Can't play the Sims 2 off an external hard drive?

[Akarshi]

Okay, so I moved my Sims 2 program files and My Documents onto an external hard drive because I got a new laptop and the Sims 2 was formerly on my parents' computers.

However, when I try to run the game off the hard drive, I get an error message saying that "some needed files were corrupted in the installation." I had already moved the Sims 2 My Documents into my own My Documents folder so I don't think it's a problem with the My Docs.

Is there any way to fix this? I'm pretty worried because I lost one of my Sims 2 CDs so I can't really reinstall it (Disk 3, so all I have are Disks 1, 2, and 4)...and I really don't want to rebuy the game again. Thanks in advance!

[Mootilda]

You can't just move the files and expect them to work.

You must install the programs on the external drive so that the registry entries are set up correctly (which means that you need the CD/DVDs). My suggestion is that you move your Program Files back to their proper location. If you're lucky, you haven't completely destroyed your game installation. If the game still won't run, then you'll have to uninstall and reinstall.

You must also ask the operating system to properly move your entire Documents folder to your external drive if you want the game to find your save game:
http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Change_Location_of_Downloads_Folder