You can try another thing. Back up your hoods and delete them from the The Sims 2 folder. Than start the game. If it won't crash again, the game should start creating the hoods again. Then you can overwrite the files with your backup.

Sorry to hear you're having problems. I know how it feels, I always had problems with The Sims 1. I mean always - with every single EP. Not sure if what I told you helps, but you can always give it a try.