The troubles continue...

[strangetomato]

So things continued to work just fine with adding the EPs and SPs back in, until I arrived at Bon Voyage. This would be where SecuROM first made an appearance, so wanting to avoid that whole mess, I have switched to running the game with a no-cd crack. And here seems to be where my problems lie. It won't run. I get the same message as seen in this post. I tried running it with FT, AL, and M&G Stuff as the most recent EP, all with the same result. This seems to somehow be the issue, but what exactly is going wrong?

I have updated my graphics card drivers, made sure I have the latest full DirectX9.0c Redistributable installed, as directed by several tech support forums for this exact issue (DirectX9 incompatibility), but none of those things seemed to help. I am also running Sims 3 with a no-cd crack with no issues. I'm even using the same cracks I had on my old computer, which worked just fine then. *sigh*

If anyone has any ideas on what's going wrong here, I'd love to hear them. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

Comments

[sullivansims.blogspot.com (from livejournal.com)]

Well, when I had that issue with Windows 7 and TS2, I panicked. I updated drivers, I reinstalled DirectX - all the things you tried.

I ended up reinstalling but half way through the (very long) process, I realised I had placed the NoCD in the wrong folder. I don't know why that would cause that particular pop-up to show up but once I finished the installation and put the NoCD in the right folder, all was well. I haven't had any issues booting up since.

I hope it's a simple fix like that for you!

[untidyfan.livejournal.com]

I had the same problem, and like Sullivan, I discovered I had put the crack in the wrong folder. I thought I had found the correct folder, but apparently not.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

What was the location of the correct folder for you? Are you using Windows 7?

I currently have it in C:\Program Files (x86)\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Bon Voyage.

The (x86) part throws me, but that's seems to be the only location of the EA GAMES folder.

[sullivansims.blogspot.com (from livejournal.com)]

Yes, I'm using Windows 7. To me, it does look like you've got the NoCD in the wrong place. I have mine in EA Games/The Sims 2/The Sims 2 Mansion and Garden Stuff/TSBin. The NoCD needs to replace the game exe and there is no game exe in the M&G folder (or the BV folder)/ The exes are all in the TSBin folders.

Make sure you've got the NoCD in the TSBin folder for your latest expansion too. I notice you told me you had it in the BV folder but mentioned in your post that you had also installed FT, AL and M&G. Not sure if that's still the case, but that would be screwing you up too, if so.

[sullivansims.blogspot.com (from livejournal.com)]

Duh, just noticed you tried this and it worked! I'm so glad you have your game running again. :D

I'm relieved to hear I'm not the only one who has ever made this mistake!

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your help! :) I really appreciate it.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I've considered that it might be in the wrong location, but this is where I used to place the no-cd .exe file. Is there something about Windows 7 that makes it different?

Where did you end up placing it? I currently have it in C:\Program Files (x86)\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Bon Voyage. The (x86) part is different from my previous computer. I also have a folder called simply Program Files, but EA GAMES isn't in there.

[samethana.livejournal.com]

You have to place it in TS Bin. I've had this happen too when I reinstalled a while ago. Kept getting DirectX errors while I just placed the no CD thingie in the wrong spot.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Yes! That's it. It worked. :D

As soon as I read that about the TS Bin, I knew it sounded familiar. I even checked back to my written instructions for placing the no-cd crck and those exact directions were there. How did I miss that? Duh doy!

I'm glad I'm not the only one who made this mistake. XD

[samethana.livejournal.com]

It's easy to overlook it I think. Once you see the .exe thingie in the game folder you think it must be that one and replace it :)
Anyway, I'm glad I could help you with it.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that makes sense. I saw it and was like, "Oh there it is," and instantly forget the rest of the instructions.

Thank you so much for your help. :)

(Editd because my smiley didn't have eyes. XD)