Game crashes when trying to load new neighbourhoods

[thehanban]

When I make a new neighbourhood, I can select the landscape and name it but when I click to play it goes to the loading screen with the neighbourhood name, then it skips to Pets, then Magic, it loads one bar on Magic and crashes with this error message:
"The application has crashed. The application will now terminate."
I press Ok and it goes to the Desktop. When reloading the game, the neighbourhood is there but when I press play it does the same thing!
I followed the Game Help (backing up, removing custom content, patches etc.) and still it crashes.
The normal neighbourhoods, e.g Veronaville, still work and even a neighbourhood I made a while ago, it's just new ones I've tried to make these past couple weeks!

I'm at a loss! Please help.
I have University, Nightlife, Pets, Apartment Life and the Glamour Life Stuff.

==System==

Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600)
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 1270MB RAM
Page File: 1041MB used, 836MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Dell Model Number: Dell Dimension 3100

==Display==

Name: Intel(R) 82915G/GV/910GL Express Chipset Family
Manufacturer: Intel Corporation
Chip Type: Intel(R) 82915G/GV/910GL Express Chipset
Approx. Total Memory: 128.0 MB

Main Driver: ialmrnt5.dll
Version: 6.14.0010.4363

Hope all that is right...I haven't got a clue what any of it means! :lol:

Thank you,
thehanban

[Mootilda]

I don't suppose that you've installed clean or empty templates recently?

[thehanban]

I don't suppose that you've installed clean or empty templates recently?

...What are they?...

[Mootilda]

You would know if you had installed them.

Your computer isn't really up to playing the game, but it makes no sense that you could play existing neighborhoods, but not new empty neighborhoods. My initial guess was that you had a bad stealth subhood (probably the Apartment Life stealth subhood named Magic).

It's possible that your installation files have somehow been corrupted. My suggestion is that you do the Game_Help:Game_Problem FAQ. The final step is to uninstall and reinstall your game, which will resolve any corrupt installation files.

Another option would be to restore your neighborhood templates, especially the stealth subhoods. However, if you aren't familiar with replacing neighborhood templates, it might be simpler to just uninstall and reinstall.

[thehanban]

My suggestion is that you do the Game_Help:Game_Problem FAQ. The final step is to uninstall and reinstall your game, which will resolve any corrupt installation files.

I was afraid you'd say that! :lol:
I did have problems when I installed the Original game, mainly because computers really aren't my thing, and I was 13 or something! I've become very wary about uninstalling/reinstalling, but I'll give it a go.

Thank you :up:

[thehanban]

Thinking about it, can I just uninstall/reinstall Apartment Life?

[Mootilda]

If the problem is with the Apartment Life stealth subhood, then that should solve the problem. Seems very reasonable to me; I should have suggested that, since the problem appears to be with Magic.

We usually try to avoid suggesting that people uninstall and reinstall. For one thing, it doesn't solve most people's problems. But, more importantly, there is always a risk when you uninstall that you will have problems reinstalling because your disk has a scratch or other problem. So, I understand your hesitancy.

Be sure to backup your save game before you uninstall, since EA may decide to delete your save game (including Downloads) during the uninstall process. After reinstalling, you should be able to restore your save game and you'll be back where you were, except with the ability to create new neighborhoods.

If you are really reluctant to uninstall and reinstall Apartment Life, I can try to write up some instructions for restoring your neighborhood templates from your DVD. Just let me know.

[thehanban]

I backed it up a few nights ago so hopefully *fingers crossed* it will be nice to me...I haven't got a clue how to put the backed up file into the game but I think there's a FAQ for that.
I'll have to try it tomorrow, this computer gets slower as the day goes on!

Thank you so much! :-)

[Mootilda]

Perhaps this will help:
http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Back_Ups

[thehanban]

If I've already backed up to the desktop, do I need to do the Zip/RAR techniques as well?

[Ghost sdoj]

The zip/rar techniques are for keeping the backup around for a while. You don't need it taking up as much space as it does when it is not archived. You probably don't want to archive it just before you plan to restore it, (Since you need it uncompressed in order to do the restoring) but it is a wonderful idea to archive it and keep it around for a while just in case something like a power surge or a really bad piece of CC corrupts your game later.

Seriously. I would keep that backup now that you have made it. It's occasionally surprising at how handy it is to have made one.

[thehanban]

Resolved!

I uninstalled/reinstalled Apartment Life, and found (to my horror) that the Sims 2 Original folder had been deleted or replaced by the new Apartment Life folder! So so so so so very glad I backed it up!
Everything is back to normal, new neighbourhoods are loading, still struggled a little bit on 'Magic' but it got there in the end.

Thank you so much for all your help! :D