Now before I get started describing my problem I just want to make something clear, I know the first piece of advice I get is going to be to use the Master Control mod but I can't use that/ I have tried installing it a half dozen times and two of those times I reinstalled the game and got rid of all other mods, but for some reason every time I try using that mod my game just refuses to launch. I am sorry I am sure it is a great mod but it just doesn't seem to work with my system so any solution to this problem has to be done without that mod.

Okay I had three sims die in a fire two sim days ago in the game and now the game is not frozen because my remaining sims are doing things and life is going on in the town but the Grim reaper just will not show up to take the dead sims so the game will not let me save, build, buy stuff, and it will not let me edit the town or move because it says my sims are dying. I have tried using overwatch three times to cleanse the dead but that will not do anything. The dead sims are still taking up slots in my household and the game will not let me do anything until the reaper takes them.

Has anyone else had this problem and if so is there a way to fix it without the master control mod? Is there maybe a mod out there that will just let sims die without the reaper so I don't have to wait for him to come around?

I have checked the rest of the town as best as I can and it doesn't seem like any other sims are dying and stopping him from showing up, it's almost like he has been deleted from the game but it is still waiting for him to do his job and it has brought my game to a complete halt.

Thank you for your time.

Okay now all of the sudden the dead sims are running all over my home lot in nonghost form acting just like they are alive. They are doing everything like they used to including going to work but the game will not let me control them and it still says they are in the middle of dying. I guess I am just going to have to trash this file because it is broken beyond repair and I can't control anything in it. I really didn't want to do that because starting a new game means sitting through a loading screen that at the least takes forty five munites and at the most can take seven hours. That is not a joke. If I want to start I new game I have to start it loading and then go to bed for the night, so I hate starting new games but in this case I have no choice because the Grim Reaper is just gone and I can't find a fix for this problem online.

Thank you for your time.

There are other mods beside MC that can help with game play problems and I've never heard of MC interfering with a game launch unless the version of MC installed was not in line with the patch being used. Putting that aside, the the first piece of advice would be to see what's happening in your game that makes you have to sit through a loading screen for forty five minutes or 7 hours. It sounds like your game might be corrupted or you have mod conflicts. What Patch are you on? What mods do you have installed? Are you on a laptop/Pc/Mac? Have you tried loading another game or world to see if loading is faster?

It would also help if you provided some system specs .. How much RAM do you have, graphics card etc.

Well I gave up on that game and am now waiting for a new game to load. I have the latest patch and the version of Master Control I tried was the version for my pc.

My system is a windows 7 64 bit PC with 8 gigs of DDR3 ram, 4.3 gig quad core processor and a one gig Geforce 9500 graphics card. I can't afford to up grade my computer right now so that is the best I can run it on. The first thing I try every time I have a problem is getting rid of all mods. I have done this before and even with just the core game, no add on packs, and no mods the game still takes several hours to start a new game. Old games load in about ten minutes, and once a game has started it runs smoothly, it's just starting new games that is the problem and that is why I hate starting new games instead of playing old ones.

Thanks for your help.

Ok .. I'm sure others will be along with some useful suggestions for you but in the meantime you might want to take a look at Tips For Better Game Performance . There are some steps and suggestions that will help you along with some game clean up and steps to hopefully prevent further issues.

Okay, thanks a bunch. I will give that thread a lot.

I just reread my post and I noticed I came off as a little bit rude, sorry about that, I didn't mean to. I am just really stressed out today and was trying to play the game to relax and I guess it got on my last nerve, sorry.

You have been very helpful, thanks a bunch.

No problem at all and I totally understand but thank you. When you have the time and feel a little more relaxed please do go through some of the suggestions on the page I linked to. I think some of those suggestions will help you out.

Have you tried using the command " resetsim * " (asterisk included)? You need to enter testingcheatsenabled true in the console, and it doesn't involve any mods. It will reset all the Sims in your town (stuck ghosts included, hopefully).