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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 1st Nov 2016 at 12:26 AM

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 2, University, Nightlife, Open for Business, Seasons, Bon Voyage, Free Time, Apartment Life
Default Buy Mode Not Showing Recolors Suddenly
I am just about at the end of my rope with Sims 2. For the first time in over a decade I am seriously considering quitting playing this game which is a heartbreaking thought.

I have an awesome computer running Windows 7. I have 8 G of RAM & a really awesome graphics card. I built the machine specifically to run Sims 2 & nothing else is installed on this machine; I don't even browse the internet with it.

I have about 7 G of CC which I have never before had a problem with until this past week.

I was in the middle of decorating a Sim State University lot when all of a sudden, when I would click on an item in the buy catalog, no recolors were showing up. It was an object that showed as if it had no recolors at all. It would place just fine in the lot and looked fine, it just didn't have any recolors when I know I have recolors.

I immediately checked all my other objects in the catalog and it was the same - no recolors for anything. So, I decided to restart my game. I quit the game and restarted my computer then restarted my game.

When the game reloaded, I went back into the Sim State University lot that was having the problem. And the lot wouldn't load. At all. I ended up adding Academie Le Tour to that neighborhood so that I could delete Sim State University. But I didn't want Academie Le Tour attached to that lot; I wanted Sim State, so I added a new Sim State to that neighborhood and then deleted Academie Le Tour. The lot now loads fine & my recolors are back but I was kind of frustrated since I had to delete all the decorating I had done there when I encountered the problem so I decided to work on a different lot for now.

So, I loaded up Bluewater Village to play a lot there. Again, while I am going through the buy catalog, the recolors suddenly disappear again and now this lot won't load again after exiting either.

Does anyone have any clue? Have I done a VERY BAD THING that I am unaware of? Do I need more RAM? Should I try removing Securerom even though I'm not sure I even have it? All of my games are on disc; not downloaded and they are all the original discs; not Ultimate Collection.

The only thing I can think of that might have triggered this, is that not long ago, I download a crystal ball and stand from this site, and, after inserting it into my downloads folder, and loading up the game, and going into the catalog, I noticed that when I tried selecting the crystal ball or stand from the catalog, there was a major lag. So, I deleted it from my game. The lag is gone but now I have this new problem. I'm not saying that this piece of CC is the problem, it may just be coincidence.

Any ideas appreciated. I really really hate to reinstall this game for the millionth time but I really don't want to quit playing either.

Thank you.
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Forum Resident
#2 Old 1st Nov 2016 at 3:38 AM
Did you delete your cache files after removing the crystal ball CC?
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#3 Old 1st Nov 2016 at 3:53 AM
Your computer sounds fine. Some newer cards have issues and need the Graphic Rules applied.

Have you run Any Game Starter at all? I had an issue with base game AGS making a lot of my cc not show up in my regular game.

Have you done any hood corrupting things?

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#4 Old 1st Nov 2016 at 4:57 AM
What happened when you worked through the FAQ?

Yes, you do have SecureROM. It comes on the disks post-BV.

But you'll need to put your head down and troubleshoot systematically. Maybe you need graphic rules, maybe you don't have the right CEP installed, maybe a file corrupted on download or when being copied from your old computer.

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.)
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#5 Old 1st Nov 2016 at 11:31 PM
Quote: Originally posted by SIMposiast
Did you delete your cache files after removing the crystal ball CC?


Thanks for the response! I did delete them.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#6 Old 1st Nov 2016 at 11:37 PM
Quote: Originally posted by joandsarah77
Your computer sounds fine. Some newer cards have issues and need the Graphic Rules applied.

Have you run Any Game Starter at all? I had an issue with base game AGS making a lot of my cc not show up in my regular game.

Have you done any hood corrupting things?


Hi joandsarah77! Thanks for the response! I don't have Any Game Starter. I don't think. I've never used that.

I know I have not deleted any lots while sims were present on it. I have not saved the game while a sim was on the phone. I have not deleted any lots with gravestones. The only thing I can think of is that I did delete some of the duplicate sims from Bluewater Village. I have a Bluewater Village attached to all 6 of my neighborhoods. Florence Delarosa lives in the one attached to Belladonna Cove but I deleted her from the other Bluewater Villages. The Ramirezes live in the Bluewater Village attached to Desiderata Valley but I deleted them from the other Bluewater Villages and so on. I still have all of those characters; I just only have 1 iteration of each. Does that make sense? I have done this on every installation of sims 2 that I have ever had and it has never seemed to cause a problem before. I think it should be ok that they still have character files because they are still characters in my game. Do you think this could be a Very Bad Thing?
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#7 Old 1st Nov 2016 at 11:42 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Peni Griffin
What happened when you worked through the FAQ?

Yes, you do have SecureROM. It comes on the disks post-BV.

But you'll need to put your head down and troubleshoot systematically. Maybe you need graphic rules, maybe you don't have the right CEP installed, maybe a file corrupted on download or when being copied from your old computer.


Hi Peni! Long time fan! Thanks for the response! I have never seen a problem like this or heard of anyone else having it.

Maybe I should try the instructions for removing the SecureROM...I'm nervous to download anything on my sims machine from the internet; even a utility....

I have tried using the graphics rules to the best of my knowledge and ability. Also, I don't use CEPs. I have never knowingly downloaded a CEP. If the item doesn't have an add-on, I just don't download the recolor. However, I have noticed something weird about that. It seems to me that with every expansion from FreeTime on, you don't need the CEP! Might this be an oversight by Maxis? I swear it's true! There were some cute FreeTime poster recolors that I really wanted but I don't use CEPs, so I just thought, "What the hell", and downloaded them anyway, and the recolors show up! I have tested that on other items from FreeTime and Apt Life and it works!
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#8 Old 1st Nov 2016 at 11:49 PM
Deleting sims is a VBT. The only way to 'safely' delete sims is via SimPE and the bat box and even then I would not feel secure in doing so. If you don't want sims you should either kill them and make yourself a graveyard or put them all on one lot in some far flug corner and add a prisoner token from Simlogical to their inventories and you will never see them again, it basically places them in prison on that lot. You corrupted each hood the moment you deleted them, just because you didn't see anything does not mean that data is not being misread/moved around to where it shouldn't be. Some people play on for years while others find the hood suddenly vanishes within a week. It all depends where that floating data ends up attaching itself to. The floating data comes from the deleted sims because the game can not properly delete them it only appears to delete them.

If you don't have CEP then many recolours won't show. For example the little red potty. CEP both allows more objects to be recoloured as well as fixing a few bugs. One glaring bug is the OFB windows recolours by Maxis were broken at some stage and never fixed, CEP fixes that. You want CEP, it only does good things.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#9 Old 1st Nov 2016 at 11:53 PM
So, I have an update: I have now removed the last folder of CC that I placed in my game (which did not include the crystal ball - I had downloaded that before). Now, the game seems to be working fine. I played around on a lot for quite a while last night after doing this and my recolors did not disappear! Thank goodness. When it did happen before, it was after I had the lot loaded for awhile. I had been decorating so it was up for a couple hours when this happened. It was like my game just got tired or something. But now, since it SEEMS to be better after removing that folder, I'm thinking one of two things are possible: 1. I've downloaded some bad CC or some that is conflicting with some other. 2. I have reached my CC limit. If this is the case, the old rule of thumb that you can have about double the GBs of CC as you have RAM is false. i.e. If I have 8 GB of RAM, my computer SHOULD be able to handle about 16 GB of CC. Also, if this is the case, the only other thing I'm going to download is Crisps & Kerosene's recreation of the Sims 1 diving tank when it's finished and then I'm done!
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#10 Old 1st Nov 2016 at 11:56 PM
Are you on a Mac? Macs have a hard cc limit. PC's can take as much as you throw at it, slowing down loading, maybe causing crashes but vanishing would be rare. Someone on here has 70gb of cc.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#11 Old 1st Nov 2016 at 11:56 PM
Quote: Originally posted by joandsarah77
Deleting sims is a VBT. The only way to 'safely' delete sims is via SimPE and the bat box and even then I would not feel secure in doing so. If you don't want sims you should either kill them and make yourself a graveyard or put them all on one lot in some far flug corner and add a prisoner token from Simlogical to their inventories and you will never see them again, it basically places them in prison on that lot. You corrupted each hood the moment you deleted them, just because you didn't see anything does not mean that data is not being misread/moved around to where it shouldn't be. Some people play on for years while others find the hood suddenly vanishes within a week. It all depends where that floating data ends up attaching itself to. The floating data comes from the deleted sims because the game can not properly delete them it only appears to delete them.

If you don't have CEP then many recolours won't show. For example the little red potty. CEP both allows more objects to be recoloured as well as fixing a few bugs. One glaring bug is the OFB windows recolours by Maxis were broken at some stage and never fixed, CEP fixes that. You want CEP, it only does good things.


Thank you! I'm sure you're right! I probably do need to get the CEP! I really really appreciate your (and everyone else's) input! I will persevere! Quitting sims would be like breaking up with my best friend! :-)
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#12 Old 1st Nov 2016 at 11:57 PM
Quote: Originally posted by joandsarah77
Are you on a Mac? Macs have a hard cc limit. PC's can take as much as you throw at it, slowing down loading, maybe causing crashes but vanishing would be rare.


Nope! I'm a PC! LOL
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#13 Old 2nd Nov 2016 at 12:32 AM
Quote: Originally posted by sashagillis
I know I have not deleted any lots while sims were present on it. I have not saved the game while a sim was on the phone. I have not deleted any lots with gravestones. The only thing I can think of is that I did delete some of the duplicate sims from Bluewater Village. I have a Bluewater Village attached to all 6 of my neighborhoods. Florence Delarosa lives in the one attached to Belladonna Cove but I deleted her from the other Bluewater Villages. The Ramirezes live in the Bluewater Village attached to Desiderata Valley but I deleted them from the other Bluewater Villages and so on. I still have all of those characters; I just only have 1 iteration of each. Does that make sense? I have done this on every installation of sims 2 that I have ever had and it has never seemed to cause a problem before. I think it should be ok that they still have character files because they are still characters in my game. Do you think this could be a Very Bad Thing?

Nope sorry - that's corrupted those hoods though that shouldn't affect recolours not showing up.

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#14 Old 3rd Nov 2016 at 11:57 PM
Quote: Originally posted by maxon
Nope sorry - that's corrupted those hoods though that shouldn't affect recolours not showing up.


Thank you for your input! That's what I was afraid of...
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#15 Old 4th Nov 2016 at 12:43 AM
All sims except for the universal sims, are unique to each hood they live in. It doesn't matter that you used the template to create sims for, say, Bluewater. When the sub-hood is added, the game copies the sims and the ones in each hood are different from each other and have different sim character files. That's why deleting one is just like deleting any other sim.

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
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