sims deluxe edition

[Guest]

my daughter ran sims as a limited user and we now have quirks in the game that we can't get rid of
get error message:"error encountered when saving game" so she cant save any of her creation
new families that are created have negative funds balance so can't buy house
we have uninstalled and installed per instructions from ea.com, also deleted the maxis and sims folders and deleted registry entries prior to reinstalling
ea.com hints xp is the problem but the game worked fine for a day or two until we created user accounts (brand new computer). how can i recreate the original system settings. tried system restore but it failed for the restore point just prior to installing sims. help, help

 

[Jimmy S.]

Hi Terrence,

Try creating an Administrator account for gaming only, install the
game using that account, and then whenever your daughter wants
to play the game, she can right click it's shortcut, and select Run As...
in order to enter the name of that Administrator account / password.

This should allow you to easily overcome those issues permanently.

--
Cheers, Windows XP MVP Shell / User
Jimmy S. http://mvp.support.microsoft.com


Game FAQs: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=FH;[LN];gms
Visit my Zone.com / Gaming Helpsite: http://nibblesnbits.tk or Call / Contact
MS Support at: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=sz;en-us;top
My advice is donated "AS IS" without warranty; nor do I confer any rights.
_________________________________________________________

| my daughter ran sims as a limited user and we now have quirks in the game that we can't get rid of:
| get error message:"error encountered when saving game" so she cant save any of her creations
| new families that are created have negative funds balance so can't buy houses
| we have uninstalled and installed per instructions from ea.com, also deleted the maxis and sims folders and deleted registry
entries prior to reinstalling.
| ea.com hints xp is the problem but the game worked fine for a day or two until we created user accounts (brand new computer). how
can i recreate the original system settings. tried system restore but it failed for the restore point just prior to installing sims.
help, help

 

[Guest]

we tried that already, even deleted other users so we now only have one. tried running as 98 with copatability wizard. no change. bought another copy of the game. waste of money. i've read all the other threads here and didn't see anything like our problem. it's as if the "ghost" of our deleted user account is still lurking somewhere

haven't tried the shortcut edits you suggested elsewhere, but am willing to try anything at this point if you think it will fix the problem. help !

 

[Jimmy S.]

Hi Terrence,

Maybe you should completely reinstall the game from scratch..
Here's how to properly install or reinstall a game (and patch):

Step A: Temporarily disable Startup programs one at a time, starting with
Firewall, Antivirus & AdBlockers using this method:
http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=331796 or this utility:
http://new.jtsoft2001.com/windows/startup.php Reboot, go to Step B.

Step B: In Control Panel / Add-Remove Programs, delete the game and then
the game's folder especially if you previously experienced problems
with a patch, or if you installed the Trial, Mods, NO CD patches, etc.

Note: Click Start to Search or Find your game. Many times there are two installs
of the same game on a system and the patch installs to the wrong one. Also if you
installed a Trial version of the game, this could be causing a conflict.. Uninstall it
and delete the folder.

Step C: Install and Run Regcleaner and if it finds any stray registry keys for the
game, delete them. Reboot your computer, and then re-install the game.
Regcleaner Download: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download460.html

Step D: Play a single player game, using an administrators account if necessary.

Step E: Download new game patches or mods in case the old ones are corrupt.
Double click the patch/mod to install it. If it's a .zip file, unzip it into the
game's folder and follow the instruction in it's readme.txt file.

Step F: Reboot your computer, verify that your game is working properly, and
re-enable any programs that you disabled using the method in Step A.

Cheers,
Jimmy S.

Microsoft MVP Windows XP Shell/User: http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
Additional Support Resources: My Zone.com Helpsite: http://nibblesnbits.tk
Game FAQ's: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=FH;[LN];gms
My advice is donated "AS IS" without warranty; nor do I confer any rights.
_________________________________________________________


| we tried that already, even deleted other users so we now only have one. tried running as 98 with copatability wizard. no change.
bought another copy of the game. waste of money. i've read all the other threads here and didn't see anything like our problem. it's
as if the "ghost" of our deleted user account is still lurking somewhere!
|
| haven't tried the shortcut edits you suggested elsewhere, but am willing to try anything at this point if you think it will fix
the problem. help !

 

[Just mee]

The Sims is a "very particular" application, which is very fussy about
how it is installed/reinstalled..

Whenever you delete/uninstall "the sims" and **before** you reinstall
the game, you need to use "sims eraser" to remove the remaining traces
of your old installation from your registry.. You should be able to
find "sims eraser" on your Game CD, if you cannot find it, it is also
available for download from the official Maxis website.

http://thesims.ea.com/us/index.html

Also, if you have expansion packs, they must to be installed in the
order that they were created by Maxis (otherwise, your game may not be
installed correctly)

The correct order for installation:

1.) The Sims
2.) Livin Large
3.) House Party
4.) Hot Date
5.) Vacation
6.) Unleashed
7.) SuperStar
8.) Makin Magic

hth,

JM