Hello everyone:

I recently tried installing GunMod's Radiance Lighting Sytem to my game even though he only updated it through Nightlife. I figured I'd give it a shot anyway and see if it worked. Unfortunately, I did not back up my game files first (shame on me) and chose his installer instead of manually installing the download myself. His package was supposed to install to C:Program Files/EA Games and override the lighting data in there. BUT, the installer installed to F:My Files/EA Games instead, and overwrote my Sims 2 Game data.
I downloaded a file recovery program to try and salvage what I could of my game files and I've been able to get a good chunk of them back, but the problems is I have no idea what goes where. The files didn't get recovered in the order/layout/whatever that they would be in if they were in their correct folders and I can't even begin to figure out what goes where. So basically, what I need is a patient & dedicated individual who will go click-by-click through every single folder they have in their game files and tell me what folders go where, and what files go where. Text or pictures will work. Since it was only the My Files folder that was affected the game itself still runs, but as if it was just installed. I don't want to run it excessively at this time because every new folder the game creates for me could end up overriding older data that I've yet to extract.

I have: The Sims 2, The Sims 2 University, The Sims 2 Nightlife, The Sims 2 Pets, The Sims 2 Seasons, & The Sims 2 Teen Style Stuff Pack.

I know most of the game files will all be the same (i.e. The subfolders in the University folder will be almost the same as the subfolders in Nightlife) so you don't need to re-list stuff that's already been mentioned (just make sure to tell me if the folder goes in other EP folders, too).

Here's my system info, even though I don't think one really needs it for this situation:

==System==

* Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600)
* Processor: Mobile AMD Sempron(tm) Processor 3100+, MMX, 3DNow, ~1.8GHz
* Memory: 446MB RAM
* Page File: 338MB used, 1065MB available
* DirectX Version: Direct X 9.0c (4.09.000.904)

==Display==

* Name: ATI RAEDON EXPRESS 200M SERIES
* Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Incorperated
* Chip Type: ATI RAEDON EXPRESS 200M SERIES (0X5955)
* Approx. Total Memory: 64.0MB
* Main Driver: ati2dvag.ll
* Version: 6.14.0010.6354

==Sound==

* Name: Conexant AMC Audio

I looked through the help files here & the Wiki but I couldn't really find anything pertaining to my problem, and a Google search for "Sims 2 file tree" only really gave me links to Christmas tree downloads & the like. I apologize in advance of there is a file tree/map out there that I missed in my travels.

For now I'm going to keep going through and extract any and all game data files I can while I wait for some awesome person to respond. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me

I think with where you are now, your best bet, honestly, is to back up your user data from My Documents and to do a full uninstall/reinstall. You will likely have to manually remove the registry entries to do so as your game files are all caterwampus.

I... really don't think that Gunmod's installer would have done what you think it did, as it changes only 3 txt files in 2 game folders and would have overwritten only those 3 files and nothing else... and his thread contains the original files so you can restore them if you so choose.

There are files for each EP/SP which are named the same thing and look essentially identical to one another except for the individual contents, and it's going to be pretty impossible for you to sort out which is which - and your game won't work unless you do it exactly right. I'm afraid that even if you do have a list of the file tree, you're not going to be able to sort out the huge mess of files you have at this point into the right folders.

If it were me (or any of the other help moderators) facing what you're facing... we'd uninstall/reinstall. That way you can be sure you get the files back in the right place and even though it's a bit of a pain, I think it'd still be faster than trying to sort out the mess you have now (and then find out, most likely, that it won't work anyway if you have one or more files sorted into the wrong place - which is quite likely to happen).

Even having the file tree, everything's named pretty much the same for each EP/SP, and even file sizes aren't going to help that much as those depend on whether you (and the person telling you where to put stuff) has patched or not - and then in some cases, whether you had the DVD or CD version, or whether it's the EA Digital Download too - just too complex to be able to do right that way, though I understand why you would think that would work. In this case, knowing what I (and the other help moderators) know of game files... uninstall/reinstall is your best bet.

Game Help:Uninstall^wiki
Game Help:Back Ups^wiki

HP I appreciate your input unfortunately my original disc for the base game was destroyed in a move and I really don't want to have to buy a new one just to reinstall. Like I said, the game itself runs fine---the data affecting the actual program wasn't touched, and anything involving my personal username, the game will generate (i.e. when you open a neighborhood for the first time & it "creates" weather & pets). I'm mostly concerned with replacing my lost sims & lots. I just figured I'd paste the recovered files into the folders they originally belonged in. I don't care if I lose thumbnails or things like that. Most of it's disposabe, you know? I really won't die if I can't get everything restored, I just think it'd be nice if I could...

So, the files in your MyDocs/Sims2 folder got borked and not from Program Files?

Yes.

I gave up on this anyway and decided to just start anew. There were loads of families I didn't play anyway. Now I just gotta go re-fill my downloads folder with all the great stuff I lost...

Sorry to hear you lost your neighborhoods and such but look at it this way, you can start fresh with your downloads better organized and create new families. If you need help finding some of the content that you lost, we can help in WCIF at S2C. Good luck.