It worked first time for me - I installed everything, I copied and pasted my files from my old computer across, and it worked when I first hit play.

One note though - shadows dont work on "high" for me. They work when set to "medium" or off entirely, but not on high. I just get black rectangles under my sims, following them about. Go figure.

I'm super glad I found this, I'm getting Sims 2 along with a lot of expansions for my Windows 8 Asus in about 2 months. Thank you.

The shadow thing is a graphics driver issue which is affecting all OSes at the moment. You can rollback, or just use medium detail shadows.

Um, my sincerest apologies if this has actually already been covered, but I'm having trouble with my Sims 2 Double Deluxe Game. That's the only game I have installed on my computer right now, and I'm having trouble with it. I have Windows 8 on a Toshiba laptop, and that's all the information I can provide you on my computer, and I have finally managed to install it and get onto the game with all the helpful tips you guys have given me. When I try to load into a family though, it crashes saying that the Sims 2 SC is not working. How do I get it to work and get into a family?

Help I also do not have win XP service pack 2 listed under my compatibility change list just service pack 3 which you said not to use, funny thing is my game worked great until just recently and now I can't play with out crashing. I only have base game and seasons installed. I tried running in windows 7 and vista also. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Please help, I followed these directions and it worked perfectly for the original, university and night life, but when I downloaded the patch and games for open for business, family fun and glamour life it stopped working. it says "please ensure that the sims2 glamour life disc is in the drive" but it already is. If I try putting in the disc for night life it says "you are running the wrong program please insert the glamour life disc" but it still wont acknowledge that it is there. Was there something I did wrong? Should I uninstall them and try again?

This worked like a charm! Thankyouuuu sooo soo much and everyone else who helped!! <3

Sasha, it should be asking you for the OfB disk. Did you check that OfB was installed properly?

Thank you so very much! This worked fabulously. Am so appreciative of the effort that was put into to help out! I have struggled for months to find a solution anywhere on the web to get my favourite Sims 2 game playing on Windows 8.1. Thank you again for taking the time! I followed the instructions to the letter! *hugs* You are a star!!

Hello,
I am having an issue, I install the games they work great until I install Bon Voyage or Free time or Apartment life, then the game doesn't want to even attempt to load, I click the icon and nothing. I have uninstalled & re-installed several times now trying to get the games to work. I have followed the beginning post completely.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!

Usually if the game doesn't load, you need to delete the cache files in Documents/The Sims 2.

That is the weird thing I can't find a sims 2 or ea game folder in the documents folder. I know where it should be, I have this installed on my old desktop, it just isn't there.

But you were able to play the game before installing those EPs? Was the user data folder present then?

the only files I can find are in the programfile(x86). file. I have a userdata here : sims2\ tsdata\res\userdata. yes the game played before those eps. after installing any of those it doesn't even open anything. I just does nothing but shows my regular desk top.

I tried to follow this tutorial and use compatibility settings, and it was an awful mess-- screen blackouts (Vista, XP SP3), "please ensure disc is in drive" (XP SP2), and in some cases not even installing. Undoing everything and reinstalling from the base (Deluxe, in my case) on plain unaltered Windows 8.1 with no compatibility settings at all actually seems to be working... until I get to OFB. Then Create-A-Sim crashes.

I refuse to accept that I'm just plain hosed here, but I am seriously down about the possibility that I will have to play without my beloved Seasons, Free Time, and Apartment Life EPs. Anybody got any ideas?

* ETA: Forgot to add, Deluxe means that base, Uni, and Nightlife were patched from the start, and I did patch OFB before running.
* Son of ETA: Body Shop also crashes, though that's less of a big deal for me.
* Revenge of the Son of ETA: Setting compatibility to Vista for OFB alone made it work. I don't even know any more.
* The Return of ETA: Current settings are default for most things, Vista compatibility for OFB, Free Time, and Apartment Life, and Win 7 compatibility for M&G. Successfully made a sim with CC skin and moved him into a house. Crashed when I tried to give him sunglasses in the mirror. I think I might be willing to call this "good enough", for now at least.

Today I got all the games in up to bon voyage now I have my proper folders, everything worked fine. I installed bon voyage I deleted the cache and still it doesn't even attempt to open just stay on my desktop. I have installed it the way shown, I have updated it. Any suggestions.

My Sims 2 won't install now

I was able to install University and Nightlife, but I'm now stuck on Open for Business. I'm able to install it and it checks for updates. Then, it launches itself (before I can patch it) and says "please ensure Sims 2 Open for Business disc is in the drive, select OK and restart the application." After patching the game, I try to launch it (using AutoRun) and get the same error. I've also tried installing Family Fun Stuff and Pets but I get the same error on all of them. Am I doing something wrong?

Could someone help? I have a new computer with windows 8.1, and I have downloaded and installed my sims 2 game already. I'm just unsure how to download custom content into the game, such as new neighborhoods or stuff. What folder do they go in?

I have been installing everything, but every time it keeps on saying that I have to insert the CD ROM. I thought I would try installing the EP, so now I am up to Family Life, but it still doesn't work. Any idea how to fix this?

baida.mker, CC goes in the same places it always did - Downloads for most things, for other things, follow the creator's instructions.

I am trying to follow these instructions but can't get the Grumpy Loader to work. I can download and unzip it. When I try to open it, I get an error that says "Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access this item." And then Grumpy Loader just deletes itself! I have tried saving it various different places. I have tried running as an administrator. It just keeps doing the same thing.

For me, this freezes during the "loading" screen when entering the game. Help?

I recently upgraded to a new laptop with Windows 8. I've loved it so far...until yesterday when I tried installing Sims 2 on it after having the new laptop for a month or so. I've got Windows 8.1, and it's fully up to date. My laptop is an Asus N550 with Intel HD integrated graphics, as well as an nvidia GT750M graphics card. I know there have been issues with the Intel integrated graphics, so I've been trying to run it solely on the nvidia card.

I couldn't get it to install, and while searching for work-arounds, I found this thread. It still doesn't seem to be working for me. I have the Sims 2 Double Deluxe version, currently with no additional expansion packs. I tried following the directions as given, but I can't seem to follow them precisely.

I'm putting the disk in, and not clicking autorun. I'm going to my control panel, and clicking on the drive (you said left click, should it be right click?). I'm right clicking on the drive, and selecting open. That brings up the file pack. There are three choices with 'autorun.' Which one do I want? I have AutoRun.exe, autorun.inf, AutoRunGUI.dll. I want AutoRun.exe, correct?

I right clicked on AutoRun.exe, and I don't have a choice called settings. I have properties, which is where I went. That allowed me to select compatibility choices, so I chose the XP Service Pack 2, as recommended. I also set AutoRun.exe to run with the nvidia card.

So I installed it, and it's not working. I click on the desktop icon to open it up, and the game opens up, but I'm greeted with a message saying that the launcher isn't working correctly, and the Win8 can't find a solution to the problem. I've tried uninstalling it and reinstalling it like 4 different times now. Am I missing a patch or anything like that? Since I have the Double Deluxe version, I shouldn't need a patch, right? Does anyone have any advice? It would be greatly appreciated!!

I have Windows 8.1 64-bit, and all my Sims 2 games are Origin downloads. I don't have physical disks for them. If someone could please help me figure out the instructions for the workaround, I would greatly appreciate it. I would love to play my games.