Help with Sims 2 Installation

ZEUS_GB · Joined: Jan 14, 2003 Posts: 5061 Location: UK

melloyello wrote:

Okay, well first of all, sorry if this has been asked before. I've read this thread and I don't think I saw anyone with a smiliar problem...
I got TS2 ages ago and the first time I installed it, it worked fine, no problems at all. I haven't played it since November and wanted to play it today. But I kept getting the "Insert correct disk" error. So I uninstalled it, but now I can't install it again. It doesn't even recognise the disk. The computer makes noises when I put the disk in, so it sounds like it knows there's a disk, but it just doesn't recognise it at all. I click on the shortcut and I get the error message again. It's really annoying me! Evil or Very Mad

Anyways, thanks in advance. Very Happy

Hello melloyello nd welcome to Lockergnome!

Try changing the drive transfer mode to PIO only mode, try using a different CD/DVD drive, update the firmware.

melloyello · Joined: Jun 21, 2007 Posts: 2

Thanks- I've changed the drive transfer mode to PIO only... How do I update the firmware? Sorry if that's a really dumb question!

Thanks for your reply Zeus!

ZEUS_GB · Joined: Jan 14, 2003 Posts: 5061 Location: UK

You can get the latest firmware from the drive manufacturers website, if it's Dell or a HP PC you've got sometimes they offer the updates.

juiceboxx · Joined: Jul 08, 2007 Posts: 2

ZEUS_GB, i seriously need your help.
i've literally been trying to install this game for TWO hours now.
i've tried everything.
i manually installed it, i've cleaned the disks, i've changed the installsheild name to "installsheildold".
first off, it wouldn't work the very first time even before i did all that.
i put in disk2 when i asked and my computer saw it.
but the installation stopped.
then i took out all the disks and restarted the computer.
i manually installed it, and when it asked for disk2, i put it in, and it didn't work.
right now, i'm going bananas, please help me!

ZEUS_GB · Joined: Jan 14, 2003 Posts: 5061 Location: UK

juiceboxx · Joined: Jul 08, 2007 Posts: 2

i just tried installing it on safe-mode but the same issue keeps happening.
it doesn't freeze and the disk is fine.
it's just that my computer sees it, just not the installer.
either way, i've completely given up right now.
:/

TB91 · Joined: Jul 23, 2007 Posts: 5

Hi, im knew to this site. Ive read through the other pages and tried to get enough infmoration as I can, but no luck. Im pretty much ahving the same problem as some of teh people from before: the tsdata error comes up once the download for the sims 2 reaches 15%. ive tried it on three differnt computers, once which has already had the sims on it before. so i know theres a problem with the cd. so i tried to do the maual installation. but only problem is, after i copied teh contents from the sim disc, i cant get it into the 'disk1' folder, because of teh compressed folder. while its copying, it gets to the compressed file, and an error that says 'data error (cylic redundancy check'. At this point, I can try to figure out the problem w/ the cd (manual installation), or something else..but I have no idea! any suggestions?

ZEUS_GB · Joined: Jan 14, 2003 Posts: 5061 Location: UK

TB91 · Joined: Jul 23, 2007 Posts: 5

Your right, it is the disk. I was actually searching how to clean a disc, and I found one of those glasses wipes. Coincedentally, I looked at the disc in the light, and found a huge smugde of who knows what. Once that was cleaned off, it FINALLY worked. Youve helped so many people! Thanks and keep up the good work!

ZEUS_GB · Joined: Jan 14, 2003 Posts: 5061 Location: UK

Glad I could help, enjoy the game.

TB91 · Joined: Jul 23, 2007 Posts: 5

I do have another question though. The game performance is really slow, is there anything I can do to improve this?

ZEUS_GB · Joined: Jan 14, 2003 Posts: 5061 Location: UK

What are the specs of your PC?
If you don't know then please download and run SysSpec. Run the file > click on the system button > click edit > click copy to clipboard and then paste it with your reply.

TB91 · Joined: Jul 23, 2007 Posts: 5

Windows: Windows XP5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 2
Internet Explorer: 6.0.2900.2180
Memory (RAM): 256 MB
CPU: x86 Family 6 Model 8 Stepping 6
CPU Speed: 864.4 MHz
Sound card: Intel(r) Integrated Audio
Display Adapters: NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 Model 64/Model 64 Pro (Microsoft Corporation) | NetMeeting driver | RDPDD Chained DD
Screen Resolution: 1024 X 768 - 32 bit
:
Network Adapters: 802.11g USB Wireless LAN Card - Packet Scheduler Miniport | 3Com 3C920 Integrated Fast Ethernet Controller (3C905C-TX Compatible) - Packet Scheduler Miniport
CD / DVD Drives: D: TSSTcorpCDW/DVD TS-H492A
:
COM Ports: COM3 | COM2 | COM1
LPT Ports: LPT1
Mouse: 3 Button Wheel Mouse Present
Hard Disks: C: 18.6GB
Hard Disks - Free: C: 4.9GB
USB Controllers: 1 host controllers.
Firewire (1394): Not Detected
:
Manufacturer: Dell Computer Corporation
Product Make: OptiPlex GX200
:
AC Power Status: OnLine
BIOS Info: ATAT COMPATIBLE 072800 DELL 8
Time Zone: Eastern Standard Time
Battery: No Battery
Motherboard: Dell Computer Corporation OptiPlex GX200
Modem: SoftV92 Data Fax Modem

ZEUS_GB · Joined: Jan 14, 2003 Posts: 5061 Location: UK

Your TNT2 graphics card isn't supported by the game and it's a miracle it runs at all. Your PC is also just barely meets the absolute minimum specification for the game.

Upgrading your graphics card, adding some RAM, closing all unnecessary background tasks and running disk defragmenter should help increase the speed. However in my opinion the PC is so old it isn't really worth spending money on it, it would be much better to get a new PC.

TB91 · Joined: Jul 23, 2007 Posts: 5

Ok, thanks much!

Dillsta · Joined: Nov 21, 2007 Posts: 3

I Resently got sims 2 and i was wondering if you could help me, when i put the disc into the computer it starts loding and the game comes up in my computer but it doesnt auto run. i tryed going into it and clicking on auto run and it start loading then........nothing.i click on it a few times but nothing. so i tryed it on my dads laptop and it worked fine, i know the drive works because i just installed the first sims then bought the second one.

nVidia 7800 gs.
Windows Xp Sp2 (Build 2600)
200gb hard drive
1 gig of ram
Pentium 4 3.00ghz

ZEUS_GB · Joined: Jan 14, 2003 Posts: 5061 Location: UK

Hello Dillsta and welcome to Lockergnome!

First thing to try obviously is to check the CD/DVD for scratches or marks and clean.

Try renaming the InstallShield folder.

Double-click on the My Computer icon.
Double-Click on the C:
Double-Click on Program Files then on Common Files.
Right-Click on the InstallShield folder.
Select Rename.
Rename it to InstallShieldOld.
Start the installation again to reinstall the InstallShield components with the newest version.

Try installing the game in Windows safe mode.

If that doesn't work try a copying the files to your hard drive and installing from there.

FOR CD:

Go into My Computer.
Open drive C.
Right-click inside the window and select New, and then Folder.
Name the folder as Disk Images (it is important that the name has a space in it).
Open the disk images folder.
Right-click inside the window and select New, and then Folder.
Name this folder Disk1.
Repeat steps 6 and 7 while substituting Disk1 for Disk2 and so on until there are 4 'Disk' folders followed by a number 1 through 4. it is important to note there must not be a space between "Disk" and the number.
Insert Disk 1 of The Sims 2 into your CD-Rom drive and if the autoplay starts, cancel it.
Go into My Computer.
Right-click on your CD-ROM drive and choose Open.
When you see the contents of the disk in the Window, click on Edit at the top of the window and choose Select All.
All the contents of the disk should now be highlighted, click on Edit at the top of the window again and choose Copy.
Open the Disk1 folder you created under C:\Disk Images; click on Edit at the top of the window and choose Paste. This will copy the contents of the CD into the Disk1 folder.
Repeat steps 9 through 14 for the remaining disks until you have copied each disk into its appropriate folder.
Once all the disks have been copied, remove ALL CDs from any drives.
Open the Disk1 folder under Disk Images and double-click on autorun.exe to start the installation.
To save disk space, you can delete the Disk Images folders after the installation is complete.

FOR DVD:

Insert the DVD into the DVD-rom drive. Exit the startup menu when it comes up.
Double click My Computer, then right click on the DVD-rom drive with the game DVD in it and select Explore.
Hold the CTRL key and then hit A. That should select all the folders and files.
Then hold CTRL and hit C. This will not look like it does much, but it's preparing to copy the files.
Close that folder and go to your desktop. Right click anywhere BUT on an icon, and Select New, then Folder. Name the folder Sims2 DVD.
Then double-click that folder, and hit CTRL and V. This will begin copying the files from the DVD.
Once the files are copied, remove the disc from the drive.
Double-click on the Setup icon in the folder.
You may delete the Sims2 DVD folder once the installation is complete.

Dillsta · Joined: Nov 21, 2007 Posts: 3

I found out what to do and this might help a lot of people press ctrl+alt+del then go to processes look for a program called autorun.exe then end it that process. There might by 1 from the acctual sims 2 game so there might be more than 1 autorun.exe so just end them all. then try the sims2 cd again, if that doesnt work go through the processes and end some of the programes that wont cause the computer to crash its self. dont worry if you accidentally end explorer.exe just click on the "applications" tab then "new task" and type in explorer.exe then run.

Hope this helps some people,
Cheers Dillsta

jobbnas · Joined: Dec 02, 2007 Posts: 1

HI, I have my the sims 2 on my hardrive and i'm just wondering. How do i "change cd" when i have it on "C/"?

maleficentv · Joined: Dec 02, 2007 Posts: 1

Hello
I'm also having trouble with installing the game.sorry if this has been said before i didnt read all the pages.

See I only have a dvd drive but the cd-rom version.twice actually.
The problem is, the installation freezes at 22% and a message with something like 'the file ... could not be transfered from the media.retry or quit' pops up.I remember having the same problem months ago when i tried to install the game but i'd solved it somehow.

by the way, i tried what suggested about the cd and dvd nothing worked.you think it's impossible to install the cd-rom?