Hello, I'm on The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection on my Windows 11 PC and all has been well for many months until yesterday, when strange things started happening and are continuing despite efforts I've made to stop it.

Firstly, I'll delete a file, folder or zip file from desktop or anywhere else and it will sometimes say 'Invalid File Handle' and will not delete until I try again a few times and will eventually delete. This is not just with .package files but zip folders, txt files, jpgs and pngs as well. But only sometimes.

Secondly, I loaded my game, and the neighbourhood photo was showing the green-grid/construction scene you get when you no longer have the png, for a few of my neighbourhoods. Scrolling past them and back again will cause them to reappear, but this happens again everytime I load the game.

Thirdly, I will edit a few community lots, then suddenly one will just vanish went saving and entering the hood. It'll be an empty lot. This is haphazard, it doesn't happen every time but will happen after a bit. No crashing, just gone. Going back into the lot shows it is empty.

Troubleshooting so far:

• I am running the game as administrator.

• I have made sure permissions are set for all for my programme game folders and documents game folders.

• I have added the folders above, plus .package file types, as exclusions from Windows Defender virus protection.

• I have tried playing with Windows Defender real-time protection completely off. Same problems.

• I do not have One Drive, and have triple checked this, it is not installed.

If there is any more information which might help then please let me know and I'll edit this post

Not sure about the problem deleting files, but have you tried going back to a backup for your neighbourhood and seeing if the problems persist? Something may have gotten corrupted.

I had a similar issue where some files I tried to delete wouldn't properly delete or go to the recycle bin. No idea why, and I still have a few files that refuse to delete (they read as 0 byte - there are some roundabout ways to delete them, I just haven't bothered...). I think it was back when the main harddrive was acting up (one of the times, anyway), possibly along with some corrupted system files, and both needed some repairing. Haven't seen the deleting issue more than the one time, though - but it lasted for a little while. Had to make a folder, put files I wanted to delete inside, and hope they would delete. Otherwise they would just clutter my desktop (or wherever else I'd put them).

You may want to check if there are any harddrive issues or corrupted system files causing trouble (run checks on the harddrive and system with the Command prompt tool, you can find a multitude of guides on how to do it - but I think I have some links if you need them). Corrupted system files or an unstable harddrive can cause trouble like this, especially if you're seeing issues with other files and not just the game. Most of the time the computer can fix the issues.

Corrupted system files can happen anytime, but is more likely after a computer crash/BSOD or a larger Windows update.

You've just reminded me that my toddler pressed the restart button like 10 times rapidly and caused my computer to freak out. I hit esc on the screen that loaded and just went on with my day please could I have links to those guides to try, as I do think this is a computer-wise issue and not just sims, but that this is perhaps why the sims problems have suddenly started too. As it's happening with files and folders all over the place, new and old.

* If you need more info, the tools are called DISM, SFC and CHKDSK

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...04-8fd86e0ef4ca

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...a3-966e85d4094e

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...7c-698450ceacfa (quick guide CHKDSK)
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/w...bs=event-viewer (full overview of commands)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ_BENGYyl4 (SFC/scannow) - If you need more of a visual, there are guides on Youtube, too. Just steer away from the ones with loud music throughout. This one starts with a bit of music, but the rest is talking (and a lot of skippable process/loading).

SFC showed no signs of corrupted files... I've just done a system restore to yesterday midday, and a disk cleanup. So will see what happens, so far the neighbourhood photos look normal so that's a positive currently but we'll see

Make sure to run a CHKDSK scan, too - it checks the disk for issues.

I've got a program/icon that shows the status for the disks on my computer, and this one has on occasion had issues showing up - if you have that one or something similar (depending on your CPU - mine is Intel, and the program is called "Intel Rapid Storage technology"), check this as well. Sometimes the warnings are silent, and just show as something else than a green V, depending on the issue and severity.

For issues with file deletion/saving/etc. it's more likely the issue is with the disk.

Thank you, I've just done that scan and it's come up clear. Touch wood, I've not had any of the problems above this evening since the system restore and disk cleanup!