Hello,

I am have playing the same family/families for 10+ years and I'm hoping there is a solution to this problem. All of sudden when I try and go into my favorite Neighborhood, it crashes. It worked earlier in the week just fine (as fine as it can, I occasionally have issues with crashes) but now I can't even get into the hood. Also, my graphics have changed slightly (it looks more condensed on my screen than it used to) and 24 new error logs, some blank but I can share if necessary.

What I've Done Thus Far:
-I've tried running Mootilda's Hood Checker but the neighborhood says there are no valid sims.
-I've gone back an re-installed the 4gb patch
-I've applied the Graphics rule maker (updated)
-Tried going into the hood with no custom content, no change
-I noticed two files in LotCatalog with an X next to them (cx_00000084 and cx_00000083) but I'm pretty sure that's a onedrive uploading issue? It's been like that.
-Took out any custom content I'd made with the last 2 weeks
-I can load into other neighborhoods just fine


I play on intel core i5, intel iris xe, windows 11. The only thing I can think of is my computer updated twice this last week? That, or the crashing issues I occasionally have have caught up with me. My backup is from 5 months ago (I know) so I'm hoping not to bust that out.

First thing I'd do is to stop One Drive from synching your Sims 2 files; the thing is that the game cannot read/write to those files whilst One Drive has a lock on them. So you end up with missing data because upon saving (or exiting) the game, some files cannot be updated.

Thank you! I hadn't realized! I attempted to follow a tutorial to do this (unchecking folder in onedrive account in settings) but it removed all my sims folders on my computer and now is a totally free-of-anything sims 2 game. I'm going to have to figure out how to stick them back in and then figure out to properly not-sync the Documents folder.

If I get that done after work, I'll come back and let you know ha.

Edit: I've gotten the files downloaded back onto my computer, but the game isn't recognizing them. Oh boy, new problem

When you say it isn't recognising them, where are you putting them? Can you show the file path?

You want to either completely disable or remove OneDrive.
An Antivirus can also wreck havoc on your game but it's easy enough to white list your sims 2 files from it. OneDrive is far worse.

I sort of figured out what I did. I'm not totally tech-illiterate, however often times I figure things out by trial and error.

The base files were available (Onedrive still had all my saved sims & downloads) so I just copied them from there into EA Games on my local drive. This ended up being a whole thing because apparently I didn't have enough space (how were they there before then??), and I hoped that might be my Sims problem but no luck! On the plus side, the graphics look the way I remember them from the last time I actually played, so I'm thinking disc space might have been part of the issue.

All that said, I've quit Onedrive, and am still having the issue of it crashing whenever I try to load my favorite town, Delilah. This is one of the error messages I received.

I so appreciate your assistance, by the way. Tech issues are no fun!

Files: Program Files (x86)\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Fun with Pets Collection\EP99 and Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2

I haven't had troubles with my anti-virus before now (McAfee) so I didn't think that would be an issue? But I did end up quiting Onedrive. I had no idea it caused so many issues.

Can you create a new neighbourhood, or play another one? If you are just getting the crash on Delilah then it's likely that you've lost some data there, and that the neighbourhood is corrupted.


You should be able to check your antivirus program to make sure it isn't going to on-access scan your Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2 folder, or add an exception there. It wouldn't have previously been an issue, but may well be now you're storing your data locally, so worth a look I think.

You don't have to remove One Drive altogether if you don't want to- it's a valuable backup resource, after all. But you do need to set it so that it's not going to mirror your Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2 folder whilst the game is running (which can be fiddly to do, and also Microsoft has a habit of resetting things whenever there is an update). This is why most people who play Sims 2 just remove it and backup manually!

Being low on disc space, either on the computer as a whole, or because OneDrive has limits set for the synching that doesn't match what you'd need for the game, can cause issues with saving the game properly. You can end up with lost progress either way.

I'll just add a little update. I haven't made any progress. Mootilda's Hoodchecker can't check the main neighborhood I was using because it "doesn't have any valid sims" which feels like part of the problem or whatever is causing issues caused this. Also, I attempted to go and create a new neighborhood but I noticed Custom Content Missing. What I've noticed is custom eye colors, makeup, clothes etc. thus far. I know my Downloads haven't been removed or anything like that, but I find it odd.

Frankly, I'm not sure what else to do. I've stared at lots and sims files in SimPE from the neighborhood and have no idea what I'm looking at so I'm not certain if it can fixable in that way. I appreciate everyone whose offered help.

Where is the CC missing?

If it's missing from already made sims/houses in a neighborhood, it's likely you've at some point loaded the game without CC, or with CC turned off, and the game has been saved with EAxis default items or empty space instead. These missing items (in most cases) don't return, and have to be replaced.

If the items are missing from the catalogs, make sure the files are there, that the items haven't been moved around (too deep foldering, too long filenames/filepaths, etc.), and that CC hasn't been turned off.
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If you don't know what you're looking for in the lot/sim files, it's unlikely you'll find out what's wrong. Most likely something has been saved wrong or not saved at some point. OneDrive or low disc space (and similar) are likely culprits.

This is also why backups is a good thing. If neighborhoods get issues, that's usually the best way to reset them to a working state.