Uninstalling and then Reinstalling my Sims2 HELP PLEASE!

Hi!
So I've been having some issues with my Sims 2 game, like it not saving the photos I take, the game crashing on me when I tried to create a new neighborhood and crashing then some more for going to community lots and basically just crashing, which is, ironically, crushing me cause one of the main reason I love the Sims2 so much is because it doesn't crash as much as the Sims3 did for me(I don't have a very gaming friendly laptop, so I now understand that it might not have been the game's fault, but I digress). 
Anyways, what I want to do is to:
- Save all my sims and families and if possible some of my neighborhoods, but I'm not sure how to do this  
- Next I want to uninstall it. I got the Sims2 Complete Collection from this website, is there any special way I should go about this? 
- Finally, I want to install it all again and I was wondering if there was a way I could do this that doesn't include having to download it all again?
Any help is much appreciated!

Hello @AiHaibara,

If you haven't tried so yet, I would try a few more things before resorting to uninstalling/reinstalling. Check out this thread here and try doing the DEP fix first. Yes, this was written for TS4, but the step is applicable for basically any other application as well. If it doesn't at least reduce your crashing problem, then try something else.

Go under Documents\EA GAMES, and find a folder "The Sims 2". See my own example screenshot:




For me it's named "TS2 Ultimate Collection", but if you have the older Sims 2 version, I guess it will be named "The Sims 2". So either way, rename that folder temporarily, and start up the game. You will notice that initially it will take longer to load a bit, but then you can start a new savefile, and take it from there. Maybe your issues are caused by neighborhood or sim corruption, hence the suggestion of renaming your existing "savefile(s)", if you wish.


If that still does not fix your crashing issues, then the reason might be your computer, or...indeed you could try re-installing:
http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Uninstall

Make sure that after the initial un-install, to re-boot the computer before re-installing.

Keep us posted if you like!

The_gh0stm4n wrote:Hello @AiHaibara,

If you haven't tried so yet, I would try a few more things before resorting to uninstalling/reinstalling. Check out this thread here and try doing the DEP fix first. Yes, this was written for TS4, but the step is applicable for basically any other application as well. If it doesn't at least reduce your crashing problem, then try something else.

Go under Documents\EA GAMES, and find a folder "The Sims 2". See my own example screenshot:




For me it's named "TS2 Ultimate Collection", but if you have the older Sims 2 version, I guess it will be named "The Sims 2". So either way, rename that folder temporarily, and start up the game. You will notice that initially it will take longer to load a bit, but then you can start a new savefile, and take it from there. Maybe your issues are caused by neighborhood or sim corruption, hence the suggestion of renaming your existing "savefile(s)", if you wish.


If that still does not fix your crashing issues, then the reason might be your computer, or...indeed you could try re-installing:
http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Uninstall

Make sure that after the initial un-install, to re-boot the computer before re-installing.

Keep us posted if you like!

Hi! I'm pretty sure its some corruption going on from what I explained once on another forum some time ago and the answers I got. To be honest I felt sad that the only option I was seeing that would work would be to uninstall so I've sitting all this time pondering my options and finally decided to take the leap and uninstall. Its been months since I explained with any kind of detail what exactly happened and I can't even remember where I posted it(yeah, it was that long ago).
So I'm just going to go with the uninstall option and hope for the best. A fresh start is always nice, though I would like to be able to save my sims and neighborhoods, but with all the corruption, would this be a good idea?
Also! Something I forgot to mention. I've also been having issues with my pets sinking to the floor and getting stuck there for hours and sometimes till death and I saw somebody mention that it was caused by some mod, but I was never able to figure out which one. If somebody could help me with that? I don't want my dogs and cats to die again

AiHaibara wrote:(...)

Also! Something I forgot to mention. I've also been having issues with my pets sinking to the floor and getting stuck there for hours and sometimes till death and I saw somebody mention that it was caused by some mod, but I was never able to figure out which one. If somebody could help me with that? I don't want my dogs and cats to die again

Yes, there are some troubleshooting steps regarding neighborhood corruption, though I myself am not familiar enough with what can be done in terms of damage mitigation. But generally...if you are able to pinpoint the issue to neighborhood corruption then no, it's not recommended to keep on playing with that savefile. But if someone has a better idea than me, then I'm listening. I found this here to be interesting, but maybe there is more stuff:
http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Avoiding_Hood_Corruption

Also, how many mods did you install? Did you even install any mods at all? Because if you only installed a small(-ish) number of mods, you'd probably remember what you put in, and take it from there. Which does not seem to be the case with you.

Mods are located under Documents\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\Downloads. If you have lots of stuff in that subfolder I'm afraid you'll have to try to filter them out manually. You can take the slow route, which is basically putting only one mod in at a time, starting up the game, seeing if it works, then if yes, putting the next mod in, etc.

Or you can take a quicker route which is dividing all your mods into half, seeing if the game works, then depending on the outcome splitting your 'active' mods in another half or proceeding with the other half of your mods, etc. Managing custom content can be tedious, but then I would not recommend using too many mods anyway, and in any Sims game.

Edit: I'm not really able to comment on details regarding certain mods; I barely play Sims games nowadays. Occasionally I fire up Sims 2 or Sims 3, but not very often. I used to be "good" especially with TS3, but you know...times change, with all side-effects that come along. Either way, I am only able to give certain general guidelines regarding troubleshooting, but for details you'll have to consult other sources or people than me I'm afraid.