I wanted to install the Sims 1 Deluxe Edition and The Sims 1 vacation EP on my D drive. It's a separate drive put in for me after I had my computer reformatted. It's fairly empty only having Sims 2 (All Ep's and SP's) installed on there. It says there are 653GB free space. The Deluxe Edition Installed and I Installed Vacation but then it wouldn't run. I assumed it also installed to D as I didn't see any option it just popped up with the registration code, so I assumed it would install where Deluxe already was. I Uninstalled it and tried to reinstall and can't get it to do anything. When I open and shut the drive the Run Start Exe pops up, it thinks a few seconds and just does nothing.

I can see Deluxe in D/Program Files (x86) Deluxe. Although in there I only see a file called Deluxe.far I really don't have any idea what I should be seeing.

I'm on Windows 7 64 bit.

Edit: I just tried to run Delux and that won't play either.

I don't have The Sims 1, but try this:

1. Uninstall all the things. \o
2. Reinstall the base game as administrator by right clicking on the launcher program on the disc and selecting "Run as Administrator". Install the game to your D:\ drive in a place other than Program Files. "D:\The Sims\" works.
3.Once the base game is installed, find the shortcut on your desktop. If there isn't one, make one and point it to the game executable.
4. Right click on your desktop shortcut, select compatibility and tick the "Run in compatibility mode" box and choose Windows XP (Service Pack 2) from the drop down menu.
5. Attempt to launch the game with the desktop shortcut.

Let us know if that works or not.

What do you mean by "a separate drive"?
- a physical drive? Internal or external?
or
- a drive that has been partition separate from the C:Windows one, but still one physical drive?

Did you select the Custom Install option during the installation of The Sims Deluxe, and you specifically specified the install location of D:\Program Files (x86) ? The addons would always prompt to be installed where the base game is located, this is correct.

I would add on to ajaxsirius instructions above, just after step (1) - to run CCleaner to ensure it is a clean Uninstall, before you do a reinstall. Just like when you do a Full Manual Uninstall of Sims 2 & 3. And to go the extra mile, you can also check that the leftover folders are cleared up. Look for anything under Maxis.

Well since then I have uninstalled and reinstalled a few times. I thought the first install didn't work as I didn't use Maxis as part of the file destination. After I installed it to
D/Program Files (x86) /Maxis I thought I had solved it as the Deluxe pack loaded up and played the tutorial. I then again tried installing the vacation ep but after telling me it successfully installed instead of having a play button it still says install. I can't find any way to get it to run and The Sims Vacation does not appear inside the Maxis folder. Since doing that the Deluxe addition refuses to start up as well. It seems every time I install vacations it does something to the Deluxe installation as well. I'm wondering if it's putting itself to C drive or some other destination, but I can't see any option to tell it to go to D drive. I open and shut the DVD drive to make the auto run come up and I'm wondering is there another way to circumvent that thing as it doesn’t give me the option with Vacations to send it to D drive. I just assumed it would.

ajaxsirius, I've tried running as administrator. Same result. Nothing.
No it did not make a desk top icon. But vacation isn't installing on D drive to give me the option.
I was just going to ask what do I click to run it in compatibility mode. I can try to do that with Deluxe and see if that makes any difference to Vacation running.

ellacharm3d, the tech who set it up at our house said he was adding a separate D drive to my computer so Sims 2 would run better. It's an internal physical drive next to C drive. D drive only has the Sims 2 installed on it and my attempts at Sims 1. C drive has all my other programs and Sims 2 cc on it. I wouldn't mind shifting some things over from C drive (quite full) to D drive (fairly empty) but I'm not sure how to do that. If I could make room I would try installing the Sims 1 straight to C drive.

I told Deluxe to install to D:\Program Files (x86)\Maxis and my last install of Deluxe to their worked fine until I tried to install Vacations. The whole installation of vacations runs smoothly, it just doesn't seem to actually install. If it’s installing someplace else I can’t find it. Only Deluxe shows up under programs. Is there some other way of installing vacations where I can tell it to go to D drive?

I did check and deleted some extra folders manually after each uninstall and rebooted as well.

I don't have CCleaner, Is it this? http://www.piriform.com/CCLEANER

Thank you for the help.

Last edited by joandsarah77 : 11th Jul 2012 at 12:29 PM.

Which Sims 1 Deluxe edition, exactly? The one containing Livin' Large? Or some other edition of the Deluxe compilation?
The Vacation installer has no screen for a custom install to select a custom install path?

When did you purchase the discs? Way back then or recently? If recently, I think the patches are inclusive, if not you may want to check http://www.simprograms.com to see if you need to patch the base game before Vacation can run or something...

Yes, that's the CCleaner I meant.

In terms of transferring installed applications from one drive to another, best method is to cleanly uninstall from old and reinstall to new. There are ways to move and edit Registry (via 3rd-party apps or manually), but if there are mistakes, that one mistake would render your system unbootable because the Registry is messed up.

In any case, you should still make a backup of the Registry with all this uninstalling and reinstalling. CCleaner can help with this, you'll be prompted to backup before making any changes to the Registry.

It has 'The Sims Creator’ and I think it was 'Livin Large'. It doesn't say on the cover, the back is just an advertisement for Sims Online. I still have the booklet and even that doesn’t say, nor does it say anything about installing. They are all old disks, purchased way back when, but kept carefully. I don't believe I ever patched, but that may have been because I didn't know about it. I'll check that out.

The Vacation disk pops up run and then asks for my code.

Okay that all sounds a bit tricky for me. I think I will leave that for when we get the tech guy back.

I have 111GB free on C drive, would that be enough to try installing it on there?

111GB free is plenty for a primary OS system drive, on Windows 7. Windows XP used to have a specific requirement of 15%-25% free space to run well without system lockups. Windows 7 handles it better.

Having said that, it is still better to have data and non-Windows-related stuff on a secondary drive so that when you need to reformat c:\Windows, your data is intact and at least there's a record of apps you need to reinstall.

OK, if it's confirmed as the edition that contains Livin' Large, it is fine. I just wanted to confirm it is not the edition that has the Vacation EP in the compilation.

I have a Windows 7 laptop and have all of The Sims 1 expansions working perfectly on it. I have The Sims Complete Collection, which comes with The Sims Deluxe/Triple Deluxe, I know is different and has all patches but this is what I did to get them all to install, hopefully this might help you. I tried Windows XP Compatability Mode previously but this did not work at all. I'm not very good at explaining but here goes!

Make sure you have the CD in the disk drive (the expansion pack you wish to install ie The Sims Deluxe). Go to My Computer > DVD Drive > right click on The Sims disk icon and click 'Open'. There should be a folder in there called 'Setup', open it then find 'Setup.exe', which you should right click and 'Run as Admin'. This is how I installed all of the expansions otherwise they simply wouldn't run (they would install, but wouldn't actually run they just gave a black screen). I was testing each expansion by starting the game up and playing a bit, they all worked fine.

HOWEVER, I got past hot date and I could no longer find The Sims games in Start > All Programs > Maxis, BUT they were actually installed, I just needed to run the game from the disk each time. I run from the most currently installed expansion disk by going in My Computer > DVD Drive > right clicking on The Sims disk icon, clicking 'Open' > then click 'Start' (which you need to run as admin). This might be what has happened to you.

By the way, for The Sims House Party, Hot Date and Vacation I had to run them from The Sims Deluxe Disk in order to play. Hope this helps!

ellacharm3d, No, vacations is definitely not included in the Deluxe addition I have. Oh good, I didn't realize Windows 7 didn't need free space. I’ll also keep that in mind about moving Windows related stuff. Not sure when we will be able to get the guy back but I'll ask him to move those things for me.

pinkfireflyx, thank you! I thought there must be another way to install other than just opening and shutting the disk drive. I have Unleashed and Hot Date as well, but really need vacations to run as I recently agreed to recreating the Sims 1 snow hotel in Sims 2 for a group project. Which is why I dragged these out from the dust in the first place. But having them all on might be fun.

Wait! What? You misunderstood me in both those points.

Windows 7 do need free space, just not as much as XP did or as strict as to the amount available.
And, my advice was to Not Move apps, but Uninstall and Reinstall.

Sorry I missed out 'much' space. I understood it needs some. And I meant when the tech guys comes which may not be for ages I will have him check and see what things from C drive he can move over to D drive. I have no plan to move apps I am going to uninstall Deluxe and reinstall it again with the above posters advice.

Edit: Deluxe uninstalled just fine and Vacations showed up under it but when I click on uninstall, it looks like it's preparing to install and pops up an error saying it can't install. I've never seen anything like it. I'm going to get this CCleaner. It won't hurt my Sims 2 game set up will it?

Last edited by joandsarah77 : 13th Jul 2012 at 11:18 PM.