What worked for you? I feel like a sim when someone removes the pool ladder! I just don't understand computer stuff at all, which really isn't helping, but I've been trying to follow advice with no success. I was just wondering if anyone else on here has had this issue and successfully solved it? For me it comes up when trying to load an occupied lot. I've tried windowed mode, turning shadows off and running in compatibility mode (I selected Windows 7 as my game ran fine back in those days, but should I have chosen something else?)). It's a brand new laptop so drivers (?) should be up to date. It's my old Ultimate Collection I'm trying to run. Would buying the game from Steam be the way forward? I hear there are hoops to jump through if you do that to get IKEA stuff and various music tracks working again, and I resent having to pay for the game all over again when I bought all the packs as they come out. I will if that's the answer though! Please do let me know what was the breakthrough for you!

Don't know personally, but I found another thread on the subject. https://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=541543

Thanks Charity! Yes, deleting the userprops.xml file was one of the first things I tried. No good unfortunately.