The Sims - Installation & Troubleshooting FAQ The Sims and Expansions - Install FAQ Created By: Matt - a.k.a Croft237 - INTRO - The one thing people have trouble with The Sims most, is installing items, EPs, etc. Into the game. So hopefully this new guide will help you through some of that process.
It's really not that difficult. It can just eat up a lot of your time. EPs (EXPANSION PACKS) - As you may or may not know, you can buy what's called an 'expansion pack' for the original Sims game that allows you to add more exciting features like, pets (unleashed), downtown lots (hot date), and have parties like it's 1999 (house party). I'm sure a lot of you have heard or seen these 'expansion packs' in stores. The newest being Makin' Magic Since you HAVE to have the original Sims game for the EPs to function, you also really need to buy them IN ORDER if you're going to get the expansions. If not, installing them out of order may cause damage to your game (check the manual about it for more information).
Now it's alright to buy whichever you want, just make sure you install them in the order that they came out. Here's the complete list. The Sims - I think we all know what this ones about. The Sims: Living Large (Living it Up) - Adds new functions, objects, interactions with The Sims, more jobs and plenty of new action to the game. The Sims: House Party - Adds mostly objects and skins with some new interactions to host a party theme at your Sims home. The Sims: Hot Date - Adds and entirely new section to The Sims.Downtown! Why stay at home when you can go out?
The Sims: Vacation (On Holiday) - Want to get away from work? Then just go on vacation, this one mostly brings objects and interactions for going on a vacation. You can visit an assortment of different types of places (mountains, camps, beaches, etc.) The Sims: Unleashed - Adds a surprising new addition to the game. Also adds some new interactions and objects to the game, like working a garden. There's also a completely new neighborhood/downtown setup to your neighborhoods. The Sims: Superstar - You can be come a famous superstar!
This expansion lets you actually have a 'job' that you can go and work. Go to the new studio town and build up your status by taking up singing, or telling jokes in a comedy club. Then go home and practice your lines for being a sitcom actor on the side. The Sims: Makin' Magic - Why watch Harry Potter when you can join in on the fun? With this expansion it's all about becoming the neighborhood witch or wizard. This adds many new interactions, and fun situations to The Sims game.
Here's an example of what to do if you bought living large, and Makin' Magic only. Since you already have the original game installed (if not, reinstall it FIRST). Then you need to install living large next.
Living Large was the first expansion in the series to come out. If you were to install it out of order, than some of the interactions and objects from a later expansion might cause your game to have severe problems. Afterwards since Makin' Magic is the last expansion to come out, you need to install it LAST. If you decided to buy the House Party expansion pack later, then you would have to uninstall ALL the games and reinstall them in order so that they run properly. So then you would install them in this order. The Sims, The Sims: LL, The Sims: HP, The Sims: VC, The Sims: UL, and lastly The Sims: MM.
If you plan to get them all eventually anyway, it's better to buy them in order than to pick favorites. It'll save you the pain of having to reinstall them all every time you buy an older expansion first. (If you're having problems installing the game or any of its expansions, see the troubleshooting section of this guide.) - DOWNLOADING FROM THE NET - This aspect of the game is by far the best. You can download just about anything for your game, whether it being a skin, wall, floor, house, or object.
If you're getting bored with the game, then this is the way to go. You can find some of the most interesting objects on the net for your game, including ones that do new things. Here are some sites to get your started.
What to look for - Every site you come to, you'll always want to look for one thing, the requirements For instance, at www.7deadlysims.com, every time you click an object a popup will show up for you to download. When it's finished loading, a picture of the object, along with some stats will show. In the middle is a box. If the box is empty then it means that particular object only requires The Sims to run.
If the box has an expansion logo in it that means that particular object requires that expansion to run. Not all sites uses logos, but most will have some sort of text or notification telling you which objects require what expansions. If you see no logos or text, that just means that every object on that site, UNLESS NOTED can work with the original Sims game. Now that you know what to look for, let's get down to the ACTUAL downloading and installing. You'll need a program called WinZip to extract all the Sims files you download, please head over to.
Www.winzip.com and download the program. Once you've downloaded WinZip and installed the software, all you have to do is click the zip files you downloaded. When you get the zip open make sure you read the 'read me' file that looks like a little notepad first. The read-me file is very important, as it'll explain where to put the files you need to use in the game.
Once you've found out where to put the files, simply highlight, and right click the file and press the 'extract to' button. Find the folder the read-me file told you to install it to, and press the 'extract' button.
Easy, isn't it? Now close WinZip and delete the zip file you downloaded, don't worry, you don't need it anymore. Here's a list of folders to put the type of downloads into. FOR OBJECTS - C: Program Files Maxis The Sims Gamedata Objects - OR - C: Program Files Maxis The Sims Gamedata UserObjects.NOTE. There are two differences between the USER objects folder and the regular objects folder. Regular Objects Folder - If you put your objects here you can organize your downloads into different folders. After downloading a few hundred objects you'll really want to do this when you have to find a particular something in the game.
Instead of doing it by what TYPE of object they are, I organize them by site. That way I can always remember where I got them from if I need to ask any questions, or I have problems with downloads. User Objects Folder - For some odd reason you're not allowed to make sub folders in here.
So you can't organize your objects. That's the bad side. The good side is, is that this folder is SAFER download wise. Since objects are 'cloned' from original objects that maxis made, some ID numbers might have accidentally been set as the same as a number already in your game, either by maxis or another fan-site. Somehow this folder prevents that object from causing any mix-ups if there is a problem with the ID number. Although the User objects folder may be safer, I've used the regular folder ever since I bought my game when it first came out. I've never had any problems with them.
Although, since I've only downloaded a total of around 1500 objects if you plan to go any higher then it might be safer to actually use the other. The more objects you have, the higher the chance you'll get of an ID number being the same as another one on a site you downloaded. FOR SKINS - C: Program Files Maxis The Sims Gamedata Skins FOR WALLS - C: Program Files Maxis The Sims Gamedata Walls FOR FLOORS - C: Program Files Maxis The Sims Gamedata Floors - TROUBLESHOOTING DOWNLOADS - If your game or expansion(s) aren't installing at all, they might need what's called a 'patch.' Patches are simply fixes for your game to fix corrupt or bad files. To fix the problem you can head over to www.thesims.com and find some of the patches for the separate expansions in the 'get cool section' of the site.
How To Install Sims Disc
Please take your time, and read carefully. From time to time, you may encounter a problem with your game, which is caused by a bad skin, object, wall, floor or other texture file. This can cause your game to crash, or make some of the elements in the game appear odd. This program can simply be addressed by heading over to www.thesims.com and downloading a program called 'Sims File Cop' in the get cool stuff section. This program will find all your bad files a.k.a textures and quarantine them to a folder for you.NOTE. File Cop DOES NOT find or remove bad object files (although it may pickup bad object textures), downtown lots or house files.
If you've downloaded a recent object or house file that's causing trouble, simply go back to the last one you've downloaded and delete it from one of your maxis folders. If the game continues to crash even after you've run file cop and deleted the last few things you've downloaded, simply just reinstall your game(s). If you're still having problems you can check the maxis support page here - - INSTALLING MUSIC INTO THE GAME - If you're getting tired of frequently listening to that awful lounge music, or you just want something new other than the in game stereo then maybe it's time for a change. First find the MP3 music file on your computer, once you've gathered a song or two just right click and copy, or create a shortcut. Now simply go into your maxis folder where I've directed (see below), and paste your copy or shortcut into the different types of radio station folders.NOTE.
it's really not a good idea to put more than 3 or 4 songs into the game. If you put too many it can cause your game to crash or run REALLY slow. C: Program Files Maxis The Sims Music Stations.
Now just load up your game, and have a Sim turn on the station where you put your music in, and voila! You're all done.
Now you can listen to your favorite music on your stereo. FINIS - Now that you've installed your new expansion, added some new objects/skins/walls/floors and put your favorite music in the game, it's time to actually STOP reading the FAQ and play your game.
Have some fun and don't forget to stop playing for awhile and visit the boards too.:) This game is TOO addicting, it's like crack but worse.
I had the game given as a present i have the case the serial number everything i kept trying to install it and nothing was happening since christmas then i realized the disk said disk 2 i toke it to the shop and told them it didnt have the disk 1 they said they didnt have it. I have been trying to call ea games but. I had the game given as a present i have the case the serial number everything i kept trying to install it and nothing was happening since christmas then i realized the disk said disk 2 i toke it to the shop and told them it didnt have the disk 1 they said they didnt have it. I have been trying to call ea games but there is never a answer. Is there anywhere i can download the disk 1 data or can anyone lend it to me and ill post it back to them. I dont see why i should have to buy the game again and the shop said they can only offer a credit note which is useless to me. Also if anyone can help me i have sims 1 house party unleashed on holiday and i have been told that superstar has to be last one i install due to order or something.
I know if someone lent me a disk or if u can recommend where i can download it where its the last game i download it would want me to use disk one to play the whole game so would it matter if i unistall say holiday then install superstar. Best Answer: WARNING: This requires a CD/DVD Burner. This is not illegal as long as you use YOUR OWN serial key. I had a game (Diablo) and lost disc 1, and so, just type in Google 'Sims Superstar ISO' and find a website and a disc one file that you can download the ISO for free. Then next download a program called Alcohol 120% and mount the ISO (CD image file) onto a blank CD, there you go, you have CD 1.
If you need any help goto the Alcohol 120% instructions. Its pretty easy to use. The file will be something like 'The Sims Superstar.iso' Hope that helps. Tell us some more. Upload in progress.
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Good: An item that has been used but is good condition. May have minor damage to jewel case or item cover, including scuffs, cracks, or scratches. The cover art and liner notes are included for a CD. VHS or DVD box is included. Video game instructions are included.
No skipping on the CD or DVD, when played. No fuzzy or snowy frames on VHS tape, when played. See the seller’s listing for full details and description of any imperfections. Platform: Sony PSP Region Code: PAL Publisher: SEGA Genre: Sports Rating: 3+ MPN: 66002 Sports Sub-Genre: Tennis Manufacturer warranty: None Features: Multiplayer Country/Region of Manufacture: Unknown Release Year: 2005 EAN: 029.
Sims Without Disc
Does anyone have any ideas about problems with The Sims. I have a friend who's daughter wants to play Sims but everytime she tries to play it it starts to load and then goes back to the desktop. If she uninstalls it and then reloads it it will play OK but when she restarts the machine it will not start again. She is trying to play the Superstar expansion pack.
None of the fixes (and there seem tp be many) on the Sims site seem to adress the problem. When she uninstalls the game it also removes the games that are part of windows which is weird. The rest of the programs on this machine seem to run OK. It is a Packard Bell running windows XP home. I have reloaded windows XP and also ran a diagnostics check and everything seems to be OK, I know of other people who are also having problems with Sims, is there something peculiar about this game or are they all unlucky? Lots of probs with The Sims There seems to be alot of problems with the Sims. First off you have to correctly install the expansion packs in order the them to work properly.
Other problems occur after you update XP, since before the update XP did not use key areas of the systems memory. After you update XP, XP then uses memory that The Sims uses.
This is becuase The sims uses dynamic memory, you can see this when the game loads up. So when you try run the game after updating XP(YOU MUST UPDATE XP UNLESS YOU WANT WORMS and HACKERS TO INFRINGE UPON your Computer!!) XP will shut it down since The SIms is trying to use memory the XP is using. This is very bad design and a feel EA and MAXIS should refund our money with out shipping back the disk. This could be prevented if the developers did a little more work. Download the update at or some other website found from googe or yahoo.
But this might not work. Still more problems. Your CD ROM can't find the correct CD ROM. This could be from several reasons.
Check out the list from. Still more problems. Unable to fully uninstall THE SIMS. There is a program called ClearReg. (I think.) On the CD Rom that will clear the program the your REGISTRY., but even if you do this the program will not be completly deleted from you PC. SO you have to manually delete it yourself. Try this completly uninstall The SIms from the PC.
Reinstall, download the fix. Stop all non critical programs from the running and hope for the best. The major problem seems to be from the UPDATES XP recieves. This could have been prevented, MAXIS and EA seem to like bad products. I would call EA and MAXIS and demand them to fix it or refund your money.
I have the Sims aas well(everything but House Party) and I had it all installed onto my old computer. And that computer was really bad, only 64mb of memory and 300 RAM(wooow really bad haha) but it all worked fine. I'm going to try to install Sims 2 onto a different computer(not the one I'm currently on) and it says I have to update the DirectX from 8.0 to 9.0 but that computer doesn't have internet. We're going to try to just get the internet on it just for me to install but yeah.
I just felt like sharing.