I've finally had it. My hood is corrupted.
I have know this for awhile, but the hood was playable and the corruption minimal. But yesterday, babies started floating, windows started glowing, Sims started floating on the pool, teleporting... So I'm going to ask, what do I need to install to make sure it never happens again? Mods, programs...
By the way, corruption finally gave me a reason to clean my CC and start organising it. Can I simply delete the Downloads folder, with CC active on houses, or should I first remove it from lots?

The bad news is, if your hood is that badly corrupted, removing your cc is not going to fix it -- you'll have to start over from scratch. On the bright side, that means you can pull your Downloads folder (the whole thing) with impunity.

To answer your other question, start here: http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title...Hood_Corruption Read it carefully. Follow the recommended links. Take notes. And get creaturefixes from MATY, which is not on the list of recommened hacks for some reason, even though it prevents Mrs. Crumplebottom from being turned into a vampire, which is a game-killer.

Good luck!

Well, clearing CC is not going to help the corruption in your hood.

edit: where'd that ninja come from.
ooo that was fast esme.

Data entry professional here! Typing skillz, I haz them!

I know that removing CC won't help, but it's just an excuse for me to stop being lazy and organize the downloads folder. So if I remove it now nothing bad will happen?

LOL .. that's what I"m goin through right now Pan, organizin my downloads. I sooo want to jump into the game and play, and I do let myself play in a throw away hood when the urge and needed break gets to bad.

However, after years of downloads without organization and then a 5 year hiatus, my folders are.. were a mess. They are slowly showing signs of declutterization.

Look at this as a mixed blessing - organized downloads and a totally fresh new start, new that maybe ya even want to try a new/ different hood

@CaliBrat
Did you simply remove the Downloads folder (I don't want to corrupt it even further)?

My situation is different from yours. I am just coming back playin again after not playin for 'bout 5 years. I had reformated my computer a few times, but I had an old backed up cd of downloaded stuff. I mean stuff downloaded from sites not the downloads folder itself. I'm sure I"m not the only one who goes on download sprees without thought as to who made it, where you got it from, and the like. Well that's what my folder looked like and seein as how alot of the past sites are now defunct, the only way I'll get their stuff is goin to the graveyard, doin wcif (which only works if you know what you're lookin for ... lol), or doin the monsterous task of sortin my downloads to see what all it is I have.

As to your problem, I don't know that it matters if you corrupt it any further.. no? The hood is a goner is it not? Or you do you have multiple hoods going that use the downloads folder and only 1 hood is corrupt?

Okay. So it's that badly corrupted? Wowza. Take it easy, you will get through this. That 'hood probably isn't salvageable, sadly. You will probably have to start a new 'hood or play a pre-made. But yes, this is what you should do (in order):
1) Delete your current 'hoods (unless it's only one that's corrupted).
2) Organize and go through your Downloads folder. It's never truly the best idea in the world to get NPCs, as it is a pain in the butt to remove them (as you cannot under most circumstances). To help loading times, rename files so they have no spaces or special characters. Example-
Bad: [Skysims] selenaq13 retextured: hair 210: blond
Good: selenaq13_Skysims_210-Blond
3) Download & install these mods, these will help stop future corruption: http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=532696

You should be good to go Sim now. Even though I was ninja'd, read this thoroughly-
http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title...Hood_Corruption

That can tell you 90% of the ways your game can corrupt, and even the smallest things (like saving while on a phone) can corrupt the whole game if you are not careful. But if you are careful, Sims 2 can still be very fun and playable.

I only use CC on that hood (I only PLAY that hood), so I guess it wouldn't hurt..

Since that hood is toast it doesn't matter what you will be doing to it because you will be deleting it.

You may be able to save some sims by opening SimPE and extracting their likeness. You then clone them in Body Shop, delete the extracted sim and you are ready to go with fresh clean sims. You can set them up with skills, relationships etc so long as you have it all written down.
If you placed copies of lots into your lot bin you can also put those down and save them to file. This is if you want to try and recreate the hood.

Or you might want to start from scratch with new sims and new houses.

The hood is shared with my (conservative) sister (it's Pleasantview), so I don't know if it is such a good idea to delete the hood. I've warned her about corruption, but she doesn't care. She prefers to play with corrupted hoods than create new ones or revert to a backup and lose progress made since December 2014. If I am able to convince her, I might clone the Sims, and play with clean templates.

You can always just leave the hood to her and you just start a new clean hood. That way when it goes totally unplayable for her, at least you'll have moved on already and have a nice new playable hood and won't be rippin out your hair in frustration like she might do :D

*eye twitch* Shared 'hoods are the worst. While it is nice to play with someone else, you don't really have full control of the 'hood anymore, and this also means you can't delete it without telling the other person first. A real pain in the neck.

If your hood is that badly corrupted, then eventually -- probably very soon, if things are already going bad -- it won't be playable anyway, and/or it might not load at all. There's really nothing you can do about it except try to save Sims if you want to, like Jo described. Just tell your sister that the neighborhood is toast, do a CC housecleaning (if you want to), and start again. And if your sister doesn't care about corruption and you do....Well, don't share a neighborhood with her again because that's just asking for this to happen again. Do you really want that sort of aggravation? So, either you agree on the terms and come to a compromise, or you don't share.

If you clean out your CC first, and then make the new hood, then nothing you do can affect the hood (since it's not created yet any way). The only risk I can think of if you do it that way, is deleting default replacements in-game since that borks installation files rather than hood, but other than that, you should be good to go.

You might want to look at gettin AGS (any game starter) that way ya'll both have your separate games to log into (when hers goes completely belly up that is). It'll also allow ya both can have different cc.

You can have two accounts on your computer and have your own separate games. That's what I do for my kids. Anything that goes in My Documents can be different, but if you want to put content in game files on the c drive (stairs for example) you'll both have to have them.

I would leave the shared hood to her and start over yourself.
Because you do care about corruption and she doesn't. Keep sharing with her and you will keep having problems in your hood.
I do not even share my whole installation with anyone else. If anything goes wrong I know whereto point the finger. Myself and or bad luck.
At least it will make it easier to figure out where it went bust.
In your case it might be easier to start over from scratch.
New clean hood and starting over with downloads. Might even be fun if you consider downloading for the Sims 2 as a hobby and I definitely consider that a hobby.
Make a new separate account for yourself on the pc if you have to share the pc and then you have your own version of the Sims 2. There you're completely the boss and can prevend future corruption as much as is possible and available.

I'm currently cleaning out my CC too (we should form a support group XD). The amount of stuff I'm keeping is getting disturbingly large, but at least it's all filed properly and I know I have all the meshes etc.