Hey everyone. I've gone without the Sims 2 for a while now and I just went out and spent $50 for another copy of it. Well I uninstalled my other copy since I cracked the first disk of it and I couldn't get a no-cd patch to work. Then I installed my new copy and when I put the first disk in, it starts up but after that nothing happens and the Sims 2 white screen that pops up disapears. And when I open up Task Manager, Sims2.exe just drops off the list, and when I press the Sims 2 icon on my desktop, the white screen comes up again and after that the infamous, "The Sims 2 has encountered a problem and needs to close" box. So I figured uninstalling it and installing it again would fix my problem, but sadly it didn't. I would REALLY appreciate any help here from anyone since I'd really like to play this game. Any ideas? Thanks a million.

PC Specs:
OS: Windows XP, SP2, Adminstrator Account
CPU:? commit charge maximum is 1996M, that's all I know.
RAM:1.43GB
Harddrive:145GB internal, 160GB external
Video:DirectX 9.0 installed
Sound:DirectX 9.0 installed
32MB videocard

This post has been edited by BuffaloHELP: Sep 12 2006, 09:22 AM

So let me understand this:

Your first copy of the Sims 2 is a pirated version while the 2nd one is an original? From what it seems, your computer is more than capable of playing Sims 2, my computer is far worse than yours and yet it can play Sims 2 without any problems and glitches. I think if you had installed a pirated version, uninstall it and reinstall it with an original version, it could have caused some problem but that is what I think though

They're both original versions, not pirated, and what happened was I cracked the Disk 1 to the first copy of the game. Well then I went and got another version. The Disk 1 that came with the 2nd copy wouldn't work with the first version, so I uninstalled it and tried again with the 2nd version, and I get the same thing: The Sims 2 has encountered a problem and needs to close. Nothing opens, and I've uninstalled and reinstalled the game many times. I even ran ccleaner to delete any other files the game left behind, and installed again; no luck. The sad thing is that the game ran on this computer before.

Uninstall the old copy of the Sims 2. Delete the folder and all of the contents remaining. Then open up regedit by going to start -> run -> regedit. Perform a search for sims or the maker of sims and delete any keys that come up that are legit. I would backup the registry before you do anything just incase something happens. Then try to reinstall the software using the new cd. If this doesnt work, i would suggest going to the SIms 2 website and find the manual uninstall instructions and do them but it shouldnt really be anything different than what i said.

So if the games you got aren't pirated version then it should not be a compatibility issue. So the 2 games you got have different serial numbers and probably you can't install disc 1 of the first game and disc 2, 3, 4 of the second game. I think you should contact Sims 2 and see what they can do for you. But what fffanatics said is right, you must make sure the registry of your installed Sims 2 with the first disc has been cleared and you should then install the game using your 2nd bought game.

PS: I feel that whenever you get any game, make an image of the CD and store in your computer. That way, you won't have any problems about having a cracked disc or whatever. When you want to play the game, just mount that image and everything would be fine

do you have direct x 9.0c and new graphic card?

This post has been edited by ROL: Sep 12 2006, 09:38 PM

I believe it is not a software or hardware problem our friend is facing at the moment. The game has worked before, but due to his minor glitch, the first disc was broken. So he went to buy a new copy and tried installing, it doesn't even work now and his system is showing some irregularities when the application is run.

Well there was no registry keys to be found relating to the Sims 2 at all. Any more suggestions?

Perhaps you could try calling up EAGames Customer Support, tell them your situation and maybe they can provide you information as to how you can fix it?