Sims 2 FAQ

This is just a little topic that details common problems with the game and how to fix them.

1. I can't build anything in the build mode.

This is either due to corruption of some of the games files or your using a no CD crack which is actually illegal as it circumvents copyright protection. To fix this try uninstalling and reinstalling the game with no crack.

2. Game freezes on EA logo or blue screens with message "IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL".

This is more than likely due to an out of date graphics card driver, update the driver from the manufacturers website. This can also be caused by out of date hardware make sure that your PC at least meets the minimum requirements.

3. Game displays error message when starting such as:

"Cannot locate the DVD-ROM"
"Please insert the correct DVD-ROM, select OK and restart application"
"Cannot locate the CD-ROM"
"Please insert correct CD' error message"

This can be caused by a few things, but first things to try would be to make sure your logged in as an administrator, make sure that compatiblity mode is disabled, close all unncessary background tasks, empty your temp file folders and install the latest patch which is available from EA's website or various gaming related sites around the internet.

Check this EA support article for details on background tasks.

If the game still doesn't work try putting the CD/DVD into another drive if you have one, disable or uninstall CD/DVD emulation software such as Alcohol 120%, Daemon Tools, Clone CD etc.

I've also had some success with changing the transfer mode of the drive to PIO only, this can be done through Device Manager and updating the firmware of the drive which is available from the manufacturers website.
See question 13 for details on how to change the transfer mode to PIO only mode.

4. Game displays errors when starting such as "Failed to find a Direct X 9.0c compatible graphics adapter" or "Graphic Adapter failure".

This is normally caused by one of two things. Number one would be that the graphics card being used is way out of date and not capable of running the game. Number two would be that the graphics card driver being used is out of date, in this case installing the latest driver should work and as always drivers are available from the manufacturers website.

The supported video cards are:

ATI Radeon™ series (7000 or better)
VE series (see note below)
7000, 7200, 7500
8500, All-In-Wonder 8500
9000, 9200, 9500, 9600, 9700, 9800
X300, X600, X800

NVIDIA® Quadro™ series
Quadro, Quadro2, Quadro4

NVIDIA GeForce series (GeForce2 and better)
GeForce 2
GeForce 3, 3 Ti
GeForce 4, 4 Ti, MX 420, 440
GeForce FX 5200, 5600, 5700, 5800, 5900, 5950
GeForce 6600, 6800

Intel® Extreme Graphics
82845, 82865, 82915

The expansion pack system requirements have changed, check the box for up to date system requirements.


5. The game crashes at startup with error message:

AppName: sims2.exe AppVer: 1.0.0.994 ModName: ~df394b.tmp
ModVer: 0.0.0.0 Offset: 0008e86b

This is due to the CD/DVD drive having problems reading the disk. First of all try another drive if you have one. I've had some success updating the firmware of the drive, firmware updates are available from the manufacturer. If it still doesn't work or there are no firmware updates buy another drive.

6. The game crashes or the PC restarts when saving.

This can be caused by corrupt saves and/or corrupt custom content downloaded from various sites.
Make sure the latest patch is installed, try removing custom content and try deleting your saves.

EA Content Manager

Sims 2 clean installer

7. The installation freezes or you get an installation error.

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.

8. The game is really slow/really bad performance.

This could be due to a lot of things. Make sure you at least meet the minimum requirements although a better system will run better. Try closing all backgrounds tasks, defragment your hard drive, update your hardware drivers, install the latest patch, do a spyware/virus scan to make sure your clean, cleanup your hard drive etc etc..
If all of the above don't work then you more than likely need to upgrade.

9. I installed the game and now when I try and install it again it won't install!

Try using a registry cleaner such as CCleaner to clean up any errors in your registry.

10. How can I manage my custom content?

There are various custom content managers available, check out the two hyperlinks.

EA Content Manager

Sims 2 clean installer

11. Where do I find the updates/patches for the game?

The patches can be downloaded from various gaming related websites and the official EA Sims 2 site.

official EA Sims 2 website

12. How do I manually uninstall the Sims 2?

The manual uninstall procedure includes editing the Windows registry. Incorrectly editing the windows registry can cause Windows to stop working!

1 - Go into My Computer.
2 - Go into your My Documents folder.
3 - Go into the EA Games folder.
4 - Right click on The Sims 2 folder and click Delete.
5 - Click yes when the delete confirmation window appears.
6 - Close the window when it has finished deleting.
7 - Go back into My Computer.
8 - Open drive C.
9 - Go into the Program Files folder and then into the EA Games folder.
10 - Right click on The Sims 2 folder and click Delete.
11 - Click yes when the delete confirmation window appears.
12 - Close the window when it has finished deleting.
13 - Right click on your Recycle Bin and click Empty Recycle Bin.

Now for the Windows registry part.

1 - Click on Start and then click on Run...
2 - Type in regedit and click OK.
3 - Click on the + next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
4 - Click on the + next to SOFTWARE
5 - Click on the + next to EA GAMES
6 - Right-click on The Sims 2 folder and click Delete.
7 - Click yes when the delete confirmation window appears.
8 - Click on the + next to Electronic Arts
9 - Click on the + next to EA GAMES
10 - Right-click on The Sims 2 and choose Delete.
11 - Click yes when the delete confirmation window appears.
12 - Click on the + next to Microsoft.
13 - Click on the + next to Windows.
14 - Click on the + next to Current Version.
15 - Click on the + next to Uninstall.
16 - If you have the CD edition, right-click on the the Key named {8AB8D458-939E-403F-0097-9BA1C1F013D5} and click Delete; if you have the DVD edition, right-click on the Key named {40C03514-89C3-41BA-0090-3B440256DB87} and click Delete; If you have the UK/European CD edition right-click on the Key named {6E7DD182-9FC6-4651-0095-2E666CC6AF35} and click Delete.
17 - Click yes when the delete confirmation window appears.

13. How do I change my CD/DVD drives mode to PIO only mode?

It's not easy explaining this on a forum or any electronic medium for that matter by i'll try it.

Go back into device manager > click the + sign to expand the tree on DVD/CD-ROM drives > double click your DVD drive and it should give you the location. See picture 1.

Picture 1:



The Location for the device will either be 0 or 1.

Close that window > double click Primary IDE Channel > change the transfer mode of the corresponding device.

Location 0 = device 0 and location 1 = device 1. See picture 2.

Picture 2:



If the corresponding device is greyed out check the Secondary IDE Channel.

14. How do I manually install the Sims 2

CD version.

1 - Go into My Computer.
2 - Open drive C.
3 - Right-click inside the window and select New, and then Folder.
4 - Name the folder as Disk Images (it is important that the name has a space in it).
5 - Open the disk images folder.
6 - Right-click inside the window and select New, and then Folder.
7 - Name this folder Disk1.
8 - 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.
9 - Insert Disk 1 of The Sims 2 into your CD-Rom drive and if the autoplay starts, cancel it.
10 - Go into My Computer.
11 - Right-click on your CD-ROM drive and choose Open.
12 - When you see the contents of the disk in the Window, click on Edit at the top of the window and choose Select All.
13 - All the contents of the disk should now be highlighted, click on Edit at the top of the window again and choose Copy.
14 - 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.
15 - Repeat steps 9 through 14 for the remaining disks until you have copied each disk into its appropriate folder.
16 - Once all the disks have been copied, remove ALL CDs from any drives.
17 - Open the Disk1 folder under Disk Images and double-click on autorun.exe to start the installation.
18 - To save disk space, you can delete the Disk Images folders after the installation is complete.

DVD version.

1 - Insert the DVD into the DVD-rom drive.
2 - Exit the startup menu when it comes up.
3 - Double click My Computer, then right click on the DVD-rom drive with the game DVD in it and select Explore.
4 - Hold the CTRL key and then hit A. That should select all the folders and files.
5 - Then hold CTRL and hit C. This will not look like it does much, but it's preparing to copy the files.
6 - 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.
7 - Then double-click that folder, and hit CTRL and V. This will begin copying the files from the DVD.
8 - Once the files are copied, remove the disc from the drive.
9 - Double-click on the Setup icon in the folder.
10 - You may delete the Sims2 DVD folder once the installation is complete.

15. How do I disable the intro video.

Browse to c:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 2\TSData\Res\Movies\
rename the intro_eng_audio.movie file to something else, then create a text file and save it as intro_eng_audio.movie in the same folder.

16. I can't uninstall the game because the uninstaller displays an error message.

Download CCleaner - http://www.ccleaner.com/download and install it.
Browse to the Sims 2 folder and delete it. Then use CCleaner to remove all invalid registry entries and to clean up temp files.

FAQ last updated 26th November 2007.

More to come!