Until now my game has run fine on Origin. Today it told me there were updates to install, so I let it. Now my game won't run. It makes out it's going to start but I just get into the loading screen but then nothing happens. it completely freezes, and the only way to get out of it is to crash my computer and restart. Anyone else had this issue? How can I undo the Origin update?

Did you delete the cache files?

I'm going to assume that with the help of folks here, you will be able to solve the current problem. Just thought I'd add for the future that you can totally avoid having it again by not running your UC game through Origin at all. EA has discontinued support for Sims 2 (ETA: but marka has corrected me helpfully below to share that it's different for the UC), so it's not like you're going to miss any game updates, and if you stop starting it through Origin, you'll never have to deal with this sort of thing again!

Here's the link to the Wiki FAQ that explains how to make a desktop shortcut for the UC that bypasses Origin. I've started my game that way almost since I first got the UC (last fall) and have never had a single problem or pesky update demand that way.

Good luck with it all!

@natboopsie EA has discontinued support for all but the UC, UC is still supported by EA.

No kidding, @marka93. I guess that is why they still give it out. That's great to know...I guess. I still think they give me no useful reasons to run it through Origin, and I can't see them being useful if I actually have any problems.

Do you think there are any good reasons to run it through Origin? ETA: And am I wrong about whether they're likely to be helpful?

No, you are right about not running it through Origin but they are fixing major bugs with it and giving out updates as needed.

You certainly don't need to run the game through Origin; and you do need the updates. The game saves in the cloud even if you use a desktop shortcut, which means that it is actually always backed up.
I do have to delete the cache files a lot more than before, so now I simply do it every time before I start the game.

My game will only run through Origin! I can't remember why now, it's been nearly a year that I've been doing it that way. I think it kept crashing when I did it the good old fashioned way?? So my brother suggested i try it through Origin and it's been working like a dream.

The Cache files thing, do I delete these folders:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\
C:\Users\ <username> \AppData\Roaming\

Or are there some special files i need to single out within those folders?

Ah, so this is like the game as it as downloaded and plays through Origin, but without using Origin itself? I shouldn't have the problems I was having with my CD version then?

No, the one you need to delete are in My Doc folder of Sims 2.

Here is my path for the CD/DVD game setup and it is very close to what UC has. C:\Users\(your computer name)\Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2

Oh, so the SIMS cache files, not Origin ones? I'm such a technophobe I just don't understand all this computer stuff

.Anyway I created the shortcut and the game's working through that, but for some reason I only have about half the neighborhood maps I should? It's missing the only one I ever really use, I can't remember what its called but it's a lovely big flat map surrounded by hills. Can I get it back? And does custom content work with the shortcut version?

Your first sentence there, Pickles89, is the way I understand use of the create-your-own shortcut as well. I can't (and probably shouldn't try) to answer the second part though---I just don't know. Hopefully someone else will.



@Justpetro Wait, you've said something really interesting there---are you saying that even using the direct shortcut, one still needs to run Origin occasionally and allow it to update? And even more important, where are these auto-backups that you say the game is making? Can we get to them easily? I'm thinking of everyone who's ever lamented that they didn't back up their game before something happened; if the UC has auto-backups, are you saying they all actually can access backups of their games?

Yes, why shouldn't it?

i don't know but it's not! I just checked! So no CC and missing neighbourhoods. Can this be fixed?

@naboopsie - I never run the game through Origin (except if I need to repair it, which has only happened once) - but Origin notifies me when there is an update. I have Sims 4 as well and most of the updates are actually for Sims 4. Sometimes Origin just updates itself as well. So, yes, I allow all the updates.

I only use the shortcut and never sign into Origin. I have Windows 10 though! A few months ago my pc crashed due to a hardware error. I had to download all apps again (nicely listed for me by Windows 10), including the UC. Windows 10 also listed the other things I had to download for the UC - it was basically the CEP and the Scriptorum, and I had to install the graphic rules and my camera mod. Everything else, when I started my game for the first time, was intact - all my cc was still there too! (I am not sure if this is only due to Windows 10 or to Origin, but I have a feeling that my game also survived a Windows 7 crash once).

And cc works, yes

That is impressive. And you're saying your neighborhoods were all just as you left them too? Still, though there was no obvious way that you saw to know where that backup is stored? I suppose I was hoping we could retrieve it at will; I would think so many players would be excited about that, especially those who unfortunately have no regular habit of backing up.

Did you enable CC at the start up screen?

Yes, natboopsie, everything was exactly as it was before the crash, @naboopsie. I have not lost a single file in Word, Outlook, Publisher - nowhere, I believe (although Outlook was a pain) - and I also had to download Office 365 again, yet it was all there after all the downloading. If you have UC and not Windows 10, I am not quite sure, I honestly cannot remember but I might have saved my game in Origin once in a while when still using Windows 7.

It's not asking me! I suppose my downloads folder just hasn't been copied across. Not sure what to do about that. Or the missing neighbourhoods.

@Justpetro - I too would like to know more about the game being stored in the cloud. If I don't have Origin turned on and am not even connected to the internet when I play, how can it be saved in the cloud?

@hedgekat - I am always connected to the Internet (have to keep my e-mail open for work). As I said, maybe it is just because I have Windows 10 and it is Windows 10 that saved it. I really expected my game to be gone after the computer crash and it was not. I should actually try to find out more.