That's what happens to me like every other time I try to play the game! The cd autoplays and the little sims 2 icon appears but the game never launches, and it ends up freezing, and I have to restart the computer. I never would have guessed that that little file could've caused it. I'll see if deleting that file will help.

Thank you so much! This was incredibly helpfulMaxoidTom. I've always wondered what the groups.cache did and how deleting i helped game performance...

I deleted the groups.cache file and tried launching the game...but then a blank error box pops up and when I return to the c:\program files\eagames folder I find that the groups.cache has been automatically restored after deletion.....what can I do with that blank error box?????????

I re-installed sims 2 3 times now to try deleting the groups.cache file but the same problem persists....how can I stop that blank error box that has sims 2 at the top and a red X in the box without error message

snowflake_2236, please, take a look at the FAQs , and if you don't find a solution there, then make a post in the Help forum.

Sorry.. other one in wrong place..
Anyway I'm confused.. how does it actually help? Does it delete any downloads or lots ect? Thanks

Ok, my game seems to stop loading at a certain point, and i was wondering if that file could be the problem? I dont want to do anything until i know for sure. Would deleting that file help? Or could more problems accur? What are the risks?

Well my game stopped loading after the expansion pack logo came up, it sounded like my computer powered up and then gave up.

I didn't read this before finding out that it was this particular file that was causing the problem as i went through the files individually to see which one was causing the problem with a view to narrowing it down bit by bit. I came across this thread purely for googling the file name, just to make sure it wasn't anything important.

Squidly - It would appear (if you haven't tried already since your post was a coupla months ago) that the game doesn't need this file to run anyway so deleting it shouldn't cause a problem, but it could fix one. Sounds to me like there's nothing to lose by deleting it.

my groups.cache file 468KB, but i'm not having any issues with my game at the moment. i have roughly about 7,000 downloads currently with 2.8GB. since i am not having any problems, can i still delete it and still see improvement?

im kind of worried about deleting the groups.cache file. Are you sure it's safe to delete and wont really affect anything in my game?

I purge my groups.cache file as a matter of routine.
More info on the mystery file LOL
http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?t=75565
http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?...ete_Cache_Files

I wonder sometimes what this file can do to my work???
I'm so tired of slow loading for the body shop and the game.
I have 3 expansion packs, OFB,UNi and nightlife.
I've had a lot of errors and game crashes.
I had a game crash in the bodyshop for tha first time.
Can anyone help me wit this group.Cache stuff???
I'm a little nervous of deleting this file, My group.cache file is 238KB

DELETE it!

If it makes some people nervous to delete, it's not really a big deal, since it can be fixed. I followed canoodle's link and deleted all the temp files they listed... but as I did so, I noted that the deleting files (accessories.cache, group.cache, etc.) were all deleted to the Recycle Bin. In the unlikely event that SOMETHING negative happens, just go into the Bin and restore them back into the EA Games\Sims 2 directory.

Thank you, I luv you!!!! I wish I had known this before I reinstalled my game though.
GRRRS on the Group.cache file!!!!
I reinstalled the Seasons expansion after it wouldn't start-lost many, many, MANY hours of downloads. The game started again so I went off and downloaded some more stuff and guess what? It wouldn't start again. But then I read this beautiful post and as I write my game is loading.
Yay!!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! :lovestruc

Ooooooh, and I could kiss your little faces again and again! Not only did the stuff I recently upload but my OLD STUFF TOO!!!! Yay!!! Many, many, MANY hours of downloading NOT wasted.
You guys are the bomb! Thank you so very much. I'm very happy! :lovestruc :lovestruc :lovestruc

I have a question. I play the game and save and then I exit the game but then when I restart the game-usually after I've rebooted my computer-none of my saved files are there. It's happened to me twice. Is this from deleting the group.cache file or is this something else?

What's the difference between the groups.cache and the Accessory.cache?

This fixed everything for me, thanks ^.^