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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 30th Jun 2020 at 9:54 PM

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 2, University, Nightlife, Open for Business, Pets, Seasons, Bon Voyage, Free Time, Apartment Life
Default What causes game corruption?
What causes game corruption? I know fairly well about neighbourhood corruption but not that much on GAME corruption, what does cause game corruption? Is there anything that can cause it asides from messing with universal NPC's?
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Mad Poster
#2 Old 30th Jun 2020 at 11:03 PM Last edited by simmer22 : 1st Jul 2020 at 1:32 PM.
https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Game_g...ding_corruption
(List of various types of corruption, what it does, how to avoid and/or fix)

Game corruption - messing with "untouchables" like Mrs Crumplebottom, is one way (which corrupts the Objects.package file). Corrupting other files in the Install location is another way. It's rare, but can happen. One example is deleting default replacements that show with custom stars because they're improperly made and/or placed in the wrong place so the delete function gets enabled (easily avoided by always deleting items from the Downloads folder and not from ingame, or putting the files in the correct place, which often isn't Downloads).
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#3 Old 1st Jul 2020 at 3:24 AM
Possibly messing with the install files could cause game corruption as well. It's not common so long as you don't touch universals and keep backups of any installation files that you are tampering with. This is why reinstalling to fix issues is a pointless exercise. Most times any corruption will be in the folders under Documents.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Test Subject
Original Poster
#4 Old 1st Jul 2020 at 11:56 AM
Does deleting Maxis stuff that ended up with a CC star also cause corruption?
Mad Poster
#5 Old 1st Jul 2020 at 1:45 PM Last edited by simmer22 : 1st Jul 2020 at 1:55 PM.
Yep. Absolutely safest way to delete files (any CC files!) is to delete them from your Downloads folder. If you keep the folder neat, you can be reasonably sure you wipe up any repo'd meshes or recolors that no longer works, so you don't end up with blue-flashing items or files the game reads but can't use for anything, and if you're a heavy user of default replacements you also avoid accidentally deleting something that for some reason has a custom star or the delete function ingame or in Bodyshop when it shouldn't have any of those.

"Messing with the install files" is the way you cause game-wide corruption. Delete or tamper with the install files in all the wrong ways, and you suddenly get a game that throws strange errors at you that can't be fixed with a neighborhood folder reset. Have an antivirus program that for whatever reason figures out it doesn't like your game and decides to quarantine random files? You're in for a treat. Go a bit crazy with deleting files from ingame and accidentally delete the default mailbox because you thought it was a recolor and that particular mailbox enabling file had enabled the trash bin icon? Oopsie, now your lots are stuck in limbo. Game corruption tends to be rare, but if you really want to do it, there's a lot of damage to be done in a short amount of time.

Some people have even managed to corrupt their games by reinstalling the game a few too many times... I don't know how they did it, but somehow they've managed to go from a somewhat buggy game to a completely unplayable game via one (or ten) uninstalls and a lot of frustration. Maybe they mucked up the registry or some such (I managed that once... but somehow fixed it - still don't know how, though ).

As for editing install files safely, sometimes it's perfectly fine to edit install files, and if you know what you're doing or are being guided by people and/or tutorials made by people who know what they're doing, it's usually perfectly fine (and yes, make backups of those files before editing! Absolutely! Otherwise you may have to reinstall or find those files somehow).
Mad Poster
#6 Old 1st Jul 2020 at 5:34 PM
I've got my entire Origin games program directory backed up on an external hard drive which would give you a way of repairing the install files if you somehow managed o mess them up after making your back ups on that external hard drive.I've even accidentlay booted my game up from that back up install directory insted of the internal one and it loaded up like normal excpt for that I couldn't disconnect my external hard drive as long as the game was running.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#7 Old 1st Jul 2020 at 6:35 PM
Speaking of game corruption, this happened so coincidentally after I just made this thread yesterday, BUT, I let my 5-year-old son play Sims 2 on my computer and he went downtown, faced the wrath of the purse - and decided to add Mrs Crumplebottom to the family because she annoyed him and he wanted to kill her. My objects.package is now corrupt.
Mad Poster
#8 Old 1st Jul 2020 at 7:20 PM Last edited by simmer22 : 1st Jul 2020 at 8:07 PM.
If you have CDs, find the corrupt Objects.package file in the install files, then see if you can find it in the corresponding CD, and replace it.

If you have the UC, backup ALL FILES in DOCUMENTS (and any player-edited files you may want from the Install location you sincerely don't want to have to edit again), then fix the game via Origin, then replace your files (don't overwrite folders, but cut/remove and then copy and paste in the new one.

When your game is running fine again and all files are working, write-protect the objects.package files, possibly the other files as well. This should in theory protect the game from game-corruption. Could be exceptions, but at least it's an extra safety.

Basically, how to not ever have to reinstall even if you do get game corruption... Anyway, reinstalls are rarely if ever needed unless you switch computers or do a complete computer reinstall. If you don't consider some troubles I had on my first laptop (cache files rookie mistake ) and some issues with the UC on the current one ("try everything to get that thing to run"), I've only had to install my laptop three times in about 13 years on 3 computers (not counting in all the times up until figuring out that beginner mistake, that is). The UC took a few tries on the 4th computers, but I don't think all those tries were necessary, I just had to fight my way through a lot of obstacles called Origin, Win10 and Nvidia, and accidentally caused a slight mess with the registry at some point...
Test Subject
Original Poster
#9 Old 1st Jul 2020 at 7:41 PM
Yes - I'll do that, should I also talk to my son about it?
Mad Poster
#10 Old 1st Jul 2020 at 8:12 PM
Probably, yes.

And if you have game files you really don't want anyone to mess with, make sure you keep a recent backup (or a few of them with different time stamps). You never know when a curious child or someone else, or a computer crash or game corruption or neighborhood corruption can cause your game to fail. Getting the files from a disc may save your game from having to be reinstalled, but may not save your game from corruption of the kind that needs a complete neighborhood reset, and you could end up losing a lot of progress. May not be a problem if you're a casual player, but if you're the type who gets attached to neighborhoods and sims you may not want to lose them.

You may also want to kid-proof the game by pulling out easy-to-reach mods. Some mods can be a bit more corruption-prone than others... In a vanilla game you need Testingcheats enabled and shift-clicking the mailbox to be able to do anything with the bad NPCs, and the right item from that mailbox (it's been ages since I went that route, I can't remember).
Test Subject
Original Poster
#11 Old 1st Jul 2020 at 10:04 PM
How early were people aware of corruption? According to my son's search history, he looked up how to kill Mrs Crumplebottom and ended up finding a forum post from 2006.
Mad Poster
#12 Old 1st Jul 2020 at 10:46 PM
I think from quite early on, but there was a lot of misinformation too in the early days. It also depends which sites he's visited, and how far back he's managed to go, and who posted the info (random poster who has played for a month may not be particularly trustworthy, but someone who constantly keeps up to date and has played the game for a long time may be more trustworthy). A lot of new information on the game has been found lately, even some potential game corruption we weren't aware of even back around the release of AL/M&G. I don't think I'd fully trust a lot of the pre-2008 information due to it being rather old and with risk of it being outdated.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#13 Old 1st Jul 2020 at 10:57 PM
All object.packages should be set to read-only.
Even corrupt game files does not automatically mean a reinstall. If you are on disks you can sometimes copy and paste files off the disk to install.
If you are on the UC you can go into Origin, right-click and fix.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Test Subject
#14 Old 2nd Jul 2020 at 3:30 AM
What are some signs of corruption someone should be looking for? In my game I just noticed a child with adult animations (which makes it look messed up) and I'm worried
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#15 Old 2nd Jul 2020 at 4:04 AM
Corruption is misread or misplaced data, the signs of corruption can take awhile to show up and will be different depending on what data is being misread.

I would check that your virus protector does not access to sims 2 files.

If you have deleted any sims at all you may have adult data attached to that child.

This is all hood corruption, not game corupotion.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Test Subject
#16 Old 2nd Jul 2020 at 4:14 AM
Quote: Originally posted by joandsarah77
Corruption is misread or misplaced data, the signs of corruption can take awhile to show up and will be different depending on what data is being misread.

I would check that your virus protector does not access to sims 2 files.

If you have deleted any sims at all you may have adult data attached to that child.

This is all hood corruption, not game corupotion.


Thanks for your answer!
While I've never deleted a sim before, once I was playing with the Broke household and a sim starved to death there. I left that urn in the lot and moved her with Darren Dreamer. Could that cause the problem? Is there anyway to fix it?
Sorry if I ask too many questions, I'm pretty new to this.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#17 Old 2nd Jul 2020 at 4:59 AM
Quote: Originally posted by LucyRuby
Thanks for your answer!
While I've never deleted a sim before, once I was playing with the Broke household and a sim starved to death there. I left that urn in the lot and moved her with Darren Dreamer. Could that cause the problem? Is there anyway to fix it?
Sorry if I ask too many questions, I'm pretty new to this.


If the grave is still there and the lot is still in the hood, that is fine.
Corruption from graves is a real risk because the game can randomly decide to delete them.
You need 2 mods by Pescado to prevent this form of corruption.
No Unlink on delete http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/s...hp?topic=2083.0
No Corrupt death. http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/s...hp?topic=2368.0

This should stop all corruption from graves but its good policy to never delete graves or bin houses with graves. Binning a house with a grave is the same as binning an occupied lot. Some of the pre-made houses come with graves or urns. Also, the pre-made hoods as shipped come already corrupted which is why many of us use clean templates. You keep them running longest by good play practices and using Hood checker on them.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Test Subject
Original Poster
#18 Old 2nd Jul 2020 at 9:45 AM
I spent all night extracting appearances in SimPE, replacing the corrupted files, actually locking the corrupted files, installing mods, childproofing the game even more than my house is, and remaking all my son's Sims. Is there anything further I could do now?

I did not install clean templates or anything because my son never actually cared about the Maxis neighbourhoods and this is mostly his game now, I actually deleted the Maxis neighbourhoods. (Is it bad to delete them?)
Mad Poster
#19 Old 2nd Jul 2020 at 1:54 PM
You can delete entire neighborhood folders safely, and it's not bad to do so as it won't affect the other neighborhoods (but it does wipe all the info in them, so you better be sure you want to do it). The Maxis hoods do have a tendency to respawn, though (it's an automated process when the game can't detect the folders). They'll usually be reset to their "factory state". If you want to, you can find cleaned and/or empty versions without the original sims, and replace the folders with these. You don't have to replace the templates even if that's a possible step, too.

You should not delete just a sub-neighborhood in a neighborhood folder, or meddle with the other files if you don't know what you're doing, though.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#20 Old 3rd Jul 2020 at 8:05 PM
I had a friend who got his game corrupted then uninstalled and reinstalled it, but the game ended up being corrupted again when he reinstalled it due to registry stuff. I guess a corrupted version was still left behind slightly in the registry?
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#21 Old 3rd Jul 2020 at 11:19 PM
Quote: Originally posted by SloveneBanana87
I had a friend who got his game corrupted then uninstalled and reinstalled it, but the game ended up being corrupted again when he reinstalled it due to registry stuff. I guess a corrupted version was still left behind slightly in the registry?


Unless he was trying to make Crumplebutt or some other universal playable I highly doubt his game was corrupted. Game corruption is very difficult to do, Hood corruption is common and you don't uninstall for that.

And yes uninstalling and reinstalling is not how you fix corruption under Documents, it can cause issues.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Test Subject
Original Poster
#22 Old 4th Jul 2020 at 12:50 PM
It should be added to the article that deleting Maxis stuff or default replacements that ended up deletable with a CC star can cause game corruption.
Forum Resident
#23 Old 4th Jul 2020 at 2:56 PM
I never delete EA lots in the lot bin, But I don't use them anyway since I build my own. Nor do I delete ant premade sims in bodyshop since I don't use them but create my own.
Same with the Maxis clothing. I don't delete those because my game went corrupt before when removing those items and had to uninstall/reinstall. Now I keep those things in for fear of corruption, I just don't use them. So Maxis lots, sims, and default clothing stay in the game as I think these might be basic templates for creating custom content.
But that's just me.
Mad Poster
#24 Old 4th Jul 2020 at 7:25 PM
Quote: Originally posted by SloveneBanana87
How early were people aware of corruption? According to my son's search history, he looked up how to kill Mrs Crumplebottom and ended up finding a forum post from 2006.


Given your son's reading ability and his age, consider disabling internet on the computer when he uses it. I have six kids, 5-17. The likelihood of him finding stuff you really don't want him finding is quite high. My younger ones are never allowed to use internet capable devices without an adult close enough to see what they are doing, but that's not an option for everyone all the time. I've taken the router with me before, as a way to disable internet with no adults around.

At that age, they're simply lacking judgement and experience to make uniformly good internet usage choices, and there are Sims sites where I wouldn't want a five-year-old.

Pics from my game: Sunbee's Simblr Sunbee's Livejournal
"English is a marvelous edged weapon if you know how to wield it." C.J. Cherryh
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#25 Old 4th Jul 2020 at 11:25 PM
Quote: Originally posted by pianogrinder
I never delete EA lots in the lot bin, But I don't use them anyway since I build my own. Nor do I delete ant premade sims in bodyshop since I don't use them but create my own.
Same with the Maxis clothing. I don't delete those because my game went corrupt before when removing those items and had to uninstall/reinstall. Now I keep those things in for fear of corruption, I just don't use them. So Maxis lots, sims, and default clothing stay in the game as I think these might be basic templates for creating custom content.
But that's just me.


You can delte Maxis lots
You can delete sims in Bodyshop, they are not live.
Never delete Maxis files-that is messing with install files. But it may still be possible to fix without uninstalling and reinstalling. The files are on the disk and may be able to be copied and pasted back in. Origin, of course, has its own fix game files option.
Never delete a sim, Maxis made, self made, downloaded, alive or dead.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
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