Thank Plumbbob for AGS and laughs; because we have to have them, it stops us chucking the darn things out the window!

If I had done all of that I would be giving up at this point. I would keep the building cc for AGS and not use whatever it is that causes crashes in the main game. Sounds like anything is worth a try at this point Cat.

Wish I had more ideas, I'm not much help I'm afraid, I'm more the light relief.

Ya know, Jo - you're responsible for all this! I want YOUR game!
If I could just run the game with 12-15Gb of CC I would be in Heaven! ...an you've got even more than that

I don't even mind a long loading time. I just want it to work - with CC. I brought up this topic because I was curious as to what was going on - and if it was normal - during loading. I think the just-less-than-20 minutes of dead time (before the white bar comes up) probably is normal for my Vista machine. All totaled, the game loads in 20 - 25 minutes; and I can live with that

Thanks for thinking with me
...and for providing some comic relief here and there!

Nooo!!! *hides under her cc pile*
Not in my light game, you're getting those mixed up. I have AGS which just has stuff for my build projects and a few defaults because I couldn't help but start a small legacy in there, mostly because my main game was taking an hour to load. AGS takes about 3 minutes to load.

Then in my Sims 2 proper I have 3, Sims 2 folders. My old one going back to 2007 is the one with 20GB Download folder and an hour to load. It does crash sometimes. I only load that now and then, mostly when I am going out.
My medieval sims 2 folder has about 10GB and takes about 12 minutes to load.
My newest sims 2 folder with my modern beach hood has about 5GB and takes about 7 minutes to load.
having 3 separate Sims 2 folder means I can have separate defaults, very useful for my medieval hood.

You should try that Cat, rename your sims 2 folder to something like 'Sims 2 crashing Diva' Let the game make a new Sims 2 folder and start off with fresh cc.