Okay, thanks. I thought it was something that would happen everytime, and I'm glad it's not. Now I can install it again. yay :-)

Me too, but I have turned off the UAC: probably this is the difference...
If you have the UAC turned on, then please try this:
- right click on the AnyGame1 icons, choose Properties -> Compatibility and check the option "Run as administrator";
- in the AppFiles folder, right-click on the Sleep.exe file and do the same;
- just to be sure, do the same with the file RestoreDocs.bat, still in the AppFiles;
- run the AnyGame1 by double-clicking on its icon, as usual.

Ah, except that I have it turned off as well, lol.

Then, for the life of me, I can't understand why the Sleep command can't be executed (considering that it's a Microsoft command!).

Anyways, I've prepared a workaround that might allow you to play correctly the mini-games. Extract the files in your AppFiles folder, overwriting the existing ones, and try again.

If they work, remember to keep a copy of the rar somewhere, because you will need to reinstall the modified files whenever you run the AGS installer again.

Nope, still doesn't work..

No?? Oh, my... Maybe an exorcist might help
Please, will you post the AppFiles again?

Lol, maybe!
Okay, I've uploaded them..
Thanks for all the help by the way, I really appreciate it

This goes beyond human comprehension...
Just to let you understand why I'm so puzzled:
- the original 'RestoreDocuments' only contains several "Sleep.exe" command; but your Vista said it "can't execute Sleep.exe";
- then I modified the 'RestoreDocs' for you: if the Sleep.exe caused an error, a secondary alternative command (Ping) should be executed. And your Vista still can't execute the Sleep, but it doesn't consider this an error, and therefore doesn't execute the secondary command.

Now I'm attaching a 'RestoreDocs' where there are only the secondary commands (Ping) and all the "Sleep.exe" have been stripped off.
If still it doesn't work, please post again your Appfiles, and then go find useful info HERE

It works!!
Thank you for all your help!!
Guess we won't be needing that exorcist after all!

No, we still need it: the reason why the standard versions of the RestoreDocs don't work in your game is still obscure to me. I suspect a poltergeist
Jokes apart, I'm glad it works now; maybe I should implement in the AGS an option to install the "alternate version" of the RestoreDocs in case the standard one doesn't work...

Hi, I installed and then uninstalled an AnyGame with the University expansion last night. After I uninstalled it, I went back to my full game and found that all my custom houses and sim families are gone. The default Maxis families are still there, but the family bin is empty. The neighborhoods I checked were Belladonna Cove, Desiderata Valley, and Bluewater (a custom neighborhood I use just to build stuff).

Also, it acted like a fresh install. When the game started, it had the disable custom content option checked. And when I entered Desiderata Valley, it asked if I wanted Game Tips on.

The Traveler family (from Bon Voyage) was still in the family bin in Belladonna Cove, but other than that, it was empty. All the custom families and lots in Belladonna Cove and Desiderata Valley are gone, but the lot catalog shows up fine. My custom neighborhood appears to be fine, all the lots and families are still there.

I tried playing the Bell family in Desiderata Valley and they have no memories of any of the sims I made, although they had memories and relationships with sims they met while on my custom families' lots. All my downloads show up in the Buy catalog.

I didn't make backups of my neighborhoods, so I don't know if any files are missing. There are still a lot of files in the neighborhood folders.

I don't know, but could AGS have uninstalled the non-default things from the neighborhoods in my full game when it uninstalled the AnyGame?

Let me write it in bold: your 'full' game is SAFE; it was not deleted.
DON'T reinstalll anything, DON'T manually delete anything.

Just run the AnyGame installer once more (create a random game, it's irrelevant), then RESTART WINDOWS (if you want to be safe, you can restart windows twice...).

Then try again your full game: it should work fine. If not, post here your AppFiles folder (the one created when you installed the random game, as explained above).

I installed AnyGame1 with the AL expansion, restarted, and started my full game. It didn't work, and then I remembered that before making an AnyGame with the UNI expansion, I made one with no expansions. So I installed AnyGame2 with no expansions checked, restarted, and checked the full game. My sims/lots were still missing.

I started SimPE and used the Sim Browser to find my sims in the neighborhood. But they were in the Default family, as though they've been deleted. I haven't tried to change anything yet.

Here are my appfiles.

Sorry if this has been answered already, on page 20 or something- but how do game patches affect AGS? I started a theme game when apartment life came out, and I'm wondering if when I install the AL patches, will it patch AGS too? Or do I need to patch the main game and then re-install AGS?

LERSIM - The patches only affect the program files (i.e. the ones installed in C:\Program Files); anything stored in the documents folder, including your full game and all the AnyGames are not influenced in any way by the patches. Therefore, the AGS games will still work like before, after applying the patches.


BLUEMOON - Please answer to these questions:
1) Using the "My Computer" icon (and NOT the Documents icon), go to C:\Documents and Settings\L.......\My Documents (I've hidden your user name for privacy): can you see the "EA Games" folder?

2-a) If you SEE the EA Games folder, open it, and then open the folder "The Sims 2": can you see a file named "FullGame.id"?

2-b) If you DON'T SEE the EA Games folder (or anyway you can't find the file "FullGame.id"), perform a full search over the entire C: drive for the file "FullGame.id". Can you find it? If yes, tell me the path of that file; if not, extend the search over the entire computer (it will take a while, but it worth the wait...).

Yes, I see the FullGame.id in the EA Games folder. (C:\Documents and Settings\L.......\My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2)

Then the folder containing the FullGame.id should be your 'full game': you should find, among the other things:
- your "Downloads" folder, filled with all the stuff you have installed;
- a LotCatalog folder containing your lots bin (there should be numerous files in there);
- a Neighborhood folder, containing your neighborhoods (it should be quite a big folder, about 1.5 ~ 2 Gb)

However, it's very strange that the log file I have found in your AppFiles folder doesn't mention at all this FullGame.id located it your Documents\EA Games folder; you see, the AGS scans the entire Documents folder in search of these .id files, and it only could find the AnyGame1.id and the AnyGame2.id... Is there a chance that the EA Games folder has been manually set to "hidden" or something?

Run another test for me, please: right-click on the Documents icon found on your desktop, select "Properties"; read the path displayed there: it should be C:\Documents and Settings\L......\Documents. Is it correct?
If it's correct, please restart Windows once more (some users had to restart Windows several times before the path to the Documents could be correctly "understood" by Windows...).

The path for the Documents' desktop shortcut is "C:\Documents and Settings\L......\Documents". I've restarted Windows three times and tried the game, but the things are still missing.

The Documents, EA Games, and The Sims 2 folders are not hidden.

I think I'm just going to reinstall the game. The only things I'm missing are my saved game and the default Maxis families in the family bin. While I would like to be able to get my sim families back the way I had them, I only played them for a couple weeks.

Since nobody else has this problem, I doubt it's going to happen again. Thanks for all the help Numenor, and other than this one time, the AGS has worked great for me.

But your custom neighborhoods can't have disappeared... It would be a pity to lose everything, while they probably are simply hidden somewhere.
Rest assured that the AGS can't possibly delete a game NOT created by the AGS itself; therefore, unless you have done something else than installing/running an AGS game, your full game should still be somewhere on your disc.

Are you really sure that the EA Games folder located in the Documents is not the full game one? If you, for example, have ever made a snapshot, or a custom painting, then you should find custom pictures in the filder Neighborhoods\XXXX\Storytelling; can't you find them?

However, if you are going to reinstall the game, I strongly suggest to keep a copy of the entire folder C:\Documents and Settings\L......\Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2.
And uninstall the AnyGameStarter before reinstalling the game.

The snapshots are in the folders and everything, but the families are gone. From what I read in the SimPE faq and what I see through SimPE, it appears that everything missing was deleted.

Since I know I didn't go through my neighborhoods bulldozing all my custom lots, and deleting all my created families, including the default Maxis families in the family bin, I don't know what's going on.

I'm uninstalling my game right now.

If the snapshots are there, but not the families, it's obvious that something corrupted your saved game. While I'm sorry for you (for losing your game and the annoyance of reinstalling everything), at least this proves that it's not the AGS to blame: it's technically impossible that the AGS could modify your game, removing some parts without deleting the entire folder.

I hope that your troubles will convince more and more people of the importance of keeping an up-to-date backup of the save-game. Personally, I have an automated backup of the entire EA Games folder that runs every night; though in 4 years I used the backup only once, nothing would stop me backupping the game every night...

Just a thank you - I now use the AGS more than I use the standard set up!

This is awesome! I have a question- how do I add downloaded lots to the mini-game? I want to add the mini-lots to the game..but I dont know where to download them to. I'm sorry if this has already been answered!

Adding mini-lots to the mini-game It's definitely appropriate
Jokes apart, the instructions are in the main post: scroll down to the explanations for Version 1.2.

Another question: I started playing the Legacy challenge with AGS, and all of a sudden my Uni sims are loosing their extra want slots, and their LTWs are randomly changing to something unrelated to their Aspirations. Example: Popularity/romance sim who graduated from college now has 4 slots, and his LTW is Max 7 skills. (Previously "become celebrity chef") AGS is installed with all expansion packs, plus Celebration stuff. I found some other sites with threads regarding this problem, so maybe it's an AL glitch that hasnt yet been fixed, but I didn't ever have this problem with my main game. Any suggestions? I know I can use hacks to fix the problem, but since it's the Legacy challenge I'd rather not, if possible. Thanks!