Game guide:Avoiding corruption

This tutorial is for The Sims 2 only.

Corruption in The Sims 2 is when some or all of the game data, whether it is in a neighborhood or in the core game files, become corrupted. Corrupted game data is a bad thing, and could make a neighborhood or the entire game unplayable, depending on what type of corruption occurred. This game guide will try to clear up the misconception between game corruption and neighborhood (shortened to 'hood') corruption, highlight known actions that guarantee corruption, and steps to fix existing corruption.

The Difference Between Game Corruption and Hood Corruption
It's common for players to mix up game corruption and hood corruption, and some think all corruption requires a full reinstall.

To clear this misconception up, it's important to know that the game stores information on your computer in TWO different locations, assuming that you installed the game in the default locations.

The C:\Program Files\EA Games location is where the files that make up the core and backbone of the game are housed. These include the objects.package file, the Sims3D files, audio files, movie files, default items in the game, user interface, graphics, and the game's programming. It also contains the character files for Universal NPCs, such as the Grim Reaper, Mrs. CrumpleBottom, and the Therapist. The files here are normally never modified, and shouldn't be modified. There are a few files here that can safely be modified should the player know exactly what they are doing. Corruption that occurs here is known as "Game Corruption".

The C:\My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\ location is where the player's saved game data, custom content, lot & houses bin, storytelling images, neighborhood stories, etc. are stored. Corruption normally occurs in a neighborhood's folder, located in the Neighborhoods folder. Each neighborhood gets a folder with a unique ID on it (E.g. 'N001') where data relating to the neighborhood, such as Sims, relationships, memories, and lots in the neighborhood are located. Corruption that occurs here is known as "Neighborhood Corruption", and fortunately, it is far less serious than game corruption, but it's also far more common.

Known Symptoms of Corruption
This is an incomplete list of possible symptoms that may indicate corruption. Not all symptoms listed here may be a sign of corruption, but may be indicators of other problems, such as bad custom content.

Symptoms include:
 * Children & toddlers with long-term wants other than Grow Up.
 * Wants that don't fit the age group (e.g. a toddler who suddenly wants to go on a date).
 * Memories & thought bubbles that contain squiggly lines.
 * Memories being lost or totally random.
 * Disappearing Sims.
 * Disappearing lots.
 * Sims losing family members in their family tree.
 * Sims becoming unplayable.
 * Lots becoming unplayable.

Avoiding Game Corruption
The following actions are known to CORRUPT YOUR GAME FILES. They should NEVER be attempted, unless you are just happy to have a broken game. ACTIONS TAKEN HERE WILL NOT ONLY CORRUPT YOUR GAME, BUT WILL ALSO CORRUPT ALL YOUR NEIGHBORHOODS, EXISTING AND FUTURE. In short: DO NOT TRY THIS AT ALL!


 * Interact with Universal NPCs, such as the Grim Reaper, Mrs. CrumpleBottom, Therapist, Pollination Technicians, ideal plantsim, etc. in ANY WAY OUTSIDE OF THEIR IN-GAME DESIGNATED PURPOSES.
 * These Sims do not have playable character data. Their character files are not located in the Neighborhoods.package file, but in the objects.package file in the C:\Program Files location. Modifying them in any way or form that involves hacks, cheats, or SimPE will corrupt that file.
 * Here is an incomplete list of known NPCs that are safe to play as, and those that aren't.


 * Modify ANY file in the C:\Program Files location in ANY WAY or form.
 * These files were not intended by Maxis/EA for you to tamper with them, and doing so could void your warranty and destroy your game. There are a FEW files that CAN be safely modified IF YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE DOING. The allmenus cheat is a perfect example.

Avoiding Neighborhood Corruption
The following actions will PERMANENTLY corrupt your neighborhood. There are methods of getting a corrupted neighborhood to keep running for a good while longer, but these are not permanent solutions. The best option is to never attempt these actions.


 * Delete a Sim in the family bin.
 * As crazy as it seems, but EAxis didn't code this part properly, and now it's costing a lot of people their beloved neighborhoods. The in-game delete button doesn't delete the Sim entirely. It shreds off a portion of the Sim's character file and their Sim Description (which is located in the Neighborhoods.package file), unlinks the character file, and leaves a 1KB character file in the "Characters" folder. The game does not properly clean out all references to the Sim, which means that memories, gossip, relationships, Sim Wants And Fears, etc. that involve the deleted Sim are now corrupted, as they point to non-existent data. Even if a Sim was created fresh out of Create-A-Sim, it doesn't mean that they are safe to delete via this method.
 * This thread shows you how to delete a Sim correctly. It's not perfect, and it still leaves some rubble behind, but it is nonetheless safer than the in-game delete button.


 * Delete Character Files from the C:\Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Neighborhoods\\Characters folder.
 * The neighborhood saves Sim data in two different locations - the Neighborhood.package file, and the character file itself. If you delete the character file without properly cleaning the Neighborhood.package file, your hood will be left with half-a-Sim, and will not function properly.


 * Delete Lot Files from the C:\Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Neighborhoods\\Lots folder.
 * The neighborhood saves lot data in two different locations - the Neighborhood.package file, and the lot file itself. If you delete the lot file without properly cleaning the Neighborhood.package file, your hood will be left with half-a-lot, and will not function properly.
 * To delete a lot, move all Sims, tombstones, and urns out of it, sell the lot if it is an owned business, use Cyjon's Lot Inspector to verify that it is safe to delete, and then bulldoze it from the neighborhood.


 * Move an occupied lot or an owned community lot to the lot bin.
 * The game transfers character data from the neighborhood to the lot bin, but does not completely erase all traces of the Sims from the neighborhood. Sims in the neighborhood may gossip about the missing Sims, spreading the corruption around the hood. Also, moving the lot back into the neighborhood will create new character files, instead of overwriting the existing ones. Moving the lot into another neighborhood will introduce the corruption to the hood it is moved into.
 * Use the "Easy Way" to move Sims from one neighborhood to another. That is the only known method that is 100% safe.


 * Install an occupied lot, including downloaded lots that ship with families.
 * If the sims had any relationships with any sims not living on the same lot in their original neighborhood, placing the lot in your neighborhood will create partial character files of all the sims that the lot's residents used to know. This will cause errors in the long run. You may find some occupied lots available for download which the creator has 'cleaned' to make them safe; the cleaning process is not 100% reliable, so you should exercise extreme caution and back up your neighborhoods before installing. The two occupied lots, Kat and Kim, that ship with Pets, are 100% safe.
 * If you want the Sims that come with the lot and not the lot itself, create a new neighborhood, move the occupied lot into the neighborhood, and then extract the appearances of the Sims using this method. Then re-create the Sims in CAS in the neighborhood you want to move them in. You can delete the corrupted neighborhood if you wish, as you no longer need it.


 * Use the DeleteAllCharacters cheat.
 * This cheat, like the family bin delete button, will destroy part of all the character files in the neighborhood and leaves lots of junk, orphaned information. New Sims created may acquire this corrupted data.
 * If you want to create a neighborhood with no Sims at all, follow these instructions.


 * Delete Tombstones/Urns
 * Tombstones and urns are treated as Sims by the game. Deleting a tombstone/urn is the same as deleting a Sim using the in-game delete button - the character file is damaged, the Sim unlinked, and the memories, gossip, and references left behind to corrupt the neighborhood.
 * Install Pescado's No Unlink on Delete mod now to avoid corruption caused by the deletion of urns/tombstones. The mod prevents the game from shredding character file data when urns/stones are deleted. As long as the character data is intact, and nothing is unlinked, the references to the Sim are valid and uncorrupted, because they are pointing to a Sim that exists.
 * Again, to delete Sims, follow this method.
 * If you wish to remove the urns/stones because of the annoying ghosts, create a lot designated as a cemetery lot, and move the graves over there. Graves there will appear by the pay phone.
 * Graves in apartment lots are extremely unstable. If the last Sim in an apartment slot dies, the grave will be moved to a random community lot, but it may also be deleted or moved to a non-existent lot. Use the Select Your Cemetery mod to force the game to give you the option to move the urns to a community lot.


 * Move lots that have graves to the lot bin.
 * Exactly like moving occupied lots in the lot bin. Graves are treated as Sims by the game, and moving them to the lot bin will leave corrupted references behind. Moving them back into the neighborhood or into another neighborhood will simply cause more corruption.


 * Allow a Sim to die with graves in their inventory.
 * When a Sim dies, all items in their inventory are deleted. Deleting graves, as mentioned previously, will damage the dead Sim's character data, and corruption will spread around the neighborhood.


 * Resurrect pre-made dead Sims that ship with the game.
 * Most of these Sims have incomplete character data, and will cause corruption if resurrected.


 * Put tombstones or urns on any of the Open for Business display cabinets or shelves.
 * When a tombstone or urn is placed on an OFB shelf, it will be duplicated. The duplicate tombstone will still be connected to the sim. This will corrupt the Sim.


 * Save with ghosts active on the lot.
 * If you load a lot with ghosts active, the game may, unexplainably, delete all the graves on the lot.
 * Pescado's No Unlink on Delete mod may prevent corruption from occurring if this happens.


 * Remove multi-pollination technician or multi-plantsim mods
 * Multi-PT and Multi-Plantsim mods consist of one controller package which tells the game to use the custom PTs/plantsims, and a number of packages which are the new pollination technicians or plantsims themselves. Whenever you play a neighborhood with a multi-PT/plantsim mod installed, the characters (namely the Sim Description) are added to that neighborhood even if none of your sims are abducted or turned into plantsims. If you delete the PT or plantsim files from your Downloads folder, you are basically deleting their character file without properly cleaning the Neighborhood.package file, which will corrupt your neighborhood.
 * If you want to change to a different multi-PT or plantsim mod, remove the controller package (usually the smallest one), but leave the character packages in your Downloads folder.
 * If you're starting a new neighborhood and don't want the PTs or plantsims to be added to that neighborhood, copy the PT and plantsim character files from your Downloads folder into the Documents\The Sims 2\Neighborhoods\Nxxx\Characters folder of each of your existing neighborhoods, then delete them from your Downloads folder.


 * Save with Sims on the telephone.
 * When Sims chat with other Sims on the phone, the other Sim is, technically, considered to be on the lot, even though they are nowhere in sight. These Sims are called "Off-World Loiterers". If you save the lot, and install a new hack, patch, expansion pack, or stuff pack, all the objects on the lot will be reset. This normally isn't a problem, except when there are off-world loiterers that aren't a member of the household. The Sim making the call will be reset and return to normal, but the Off-world Loiterer is not sent home properly, which will cause problems in the long run.
 * Pescado's FFS Lot Debugger has an option to remove off-world loiterers, but it only appears when they are present. Do NOT remove off-world loiterers while they are interacting with the Sim on the phone, as that will cause problems.


 * Move lots to the lot bin with off-world loiterers on them.
 * As previously mentioned, it is unsafe to move occupied lots into the lot bin. It is also unsafe to move a family out while one of its members are on the phone. The off-world loiterer is then left behind, and will remain even when another family moves in. Moving the lot to the lot bin will carry that Sim along with it, and will cause problems over time.
 * Pescado's FFS Lot Debugger has an option to remove off-world loiterers, but it only appears when they are present.
 * Cyjon's Lot Inspector can tell you whether it is safe to bin or delete the lot. It can also locate off-world loiterers on unoccupied lots.


 * Rezone a lot with Sims living or staying on it.
 * The game has different rules for different types of lots. Some lot types do not allow the lot to be saved, others could make the lot disappear from the neighborhood. Only perform such a task on empty, preferably new & unused lots.


 * Remove custom careers/majors while a Sim is employed or enrolled in them
 * This will corrupt the households of the sims who use them. Your household may not load, and could cause problems when the sim visits your other lots. Be sure to get all Sims employed/enrolled in that career/major to quit, and then remove it.

Avoiding Fixable Neighborhood Corruption
The corruption here is known to be fixable, but it still should not be attempted. It's always best to avoid corruption than to get corruption and struggle to repair it.


 * Delete custom or geneticized/townified skins or eyes
 * This will cause all sims who were using the deleted skin or eyes to have corrupt DNA. You will have to fix the DNA of all affected sims individually in SimPE.
 * Instructions on how to fix the genetics are listed here (login required).


 * Delete custom foods
 * This breaks want trees for Sims whose favourite food was the deleted food, and will corrupt the memories of sims who have a "Learned to make" memory for that food.
 * Use Pescado's Lot Debugger to reset all Sims whose favourite food was the deleted food.
 * Use SimPE to remove all memories, gossip, and references to the deleted food. This, however, is very time-consuming, and you will no doubt miss something.
 * It may be possible to avoid this problem by editing the food so that it is set to false for all mealtimes. This will hide the food in-game but will not cause memory corruption.


 * Let Samantha Ottomas and/or Sarah Crittur's pregnancies come to term.
 * A glitch exists in the game where pregnant Sims shipped in the family bin would carry babies with incomplete character data. Both Samantha Ottomas and Sarah Crittur suffer from this glitch. The Seasons patch fixed the debacle in Samantha, but it will only fix instances of the family in future neighborhoods, or neighborhoods that have not yet been loaded since Seasons was installed. Instances of the family in neighborhoods that were loaded before the patch was applied will have the corrupted family. It is unknown whether the Crittur Family was ever fixed.
 * If you have the unpatched Ottomas/Crittur family, and Samantha/Sarah has not yet given birth, use the InSIMentator or Sim Manipulator to terminate the pregnancy.
 * If Samantha/Sarah has already given birth to the babies, check their family tree with SimPE. If the babies recognize Peter/Danny as their father, you are safe. If they recognize someone else, such as a townie, another playable Sim, or a pet, change the family ties to the correct father. However, this is not a permanent solution, and your neighborhood is already corrupted.

Game Corruption
Fixing game corruption is actually quite simple, but it can be time consuming. It's easy to simply check whether a file is corrupted or not - simply mouse-over the files and check the date it was modified at. The files should've been last modified in 2008 and earlier. If they were modified after that, it's possible that they're corrupted.

The Easy Way
The easiest way to fix game corruption is to reinstall the entire game! Back up your saved games and custom content, then proceed to uninstall all expansion packs, stuff packs, and the base game. Then, install everything again. Copy your back up and move it back into the My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2 folder. Install all the patches and make your game files read-only, if you haven't already (instructions are listed further down the article).

The Hard Way
First, you'll need to locate the corrupted files. Commonly corrupted files include the objects.package file, the files in the Sims3D folder, and lights.package.

Fortunately, a clean, uncorrupted copy of the files are located on the game CDs. You can easily replace them without the hassle of reinstalling the game.

First, plop the game CD (the one you use to start the game with) into the CD drive of your computer. Then, go to "My Computer/Computer", right-click on the CD, and select "Explore". If autoplay starts up, close it.

There should be a file called "compressed.zip". Open it, and there should be a folder called "Res" in it. Open it, and you'll see it looks a lot like the C:\Program Files location. Find the file that you wish to replace, for example, the objects.package file. Right-click and Copy the file.

Now go to C:\Program Files\EA Games\\TSData\Res\. Right-click on the corrupted file, and hold Shift while clicking Delete. This will delete the file right on the spot, instead of sending it to the Recycle Bin. Now right-click and "Paste" the fresh file into the folder. Apply the patches again, and you're good to go!

Hood Corruption
The only way that will 100% remove hood corruption is to delete the entire neighborhood. You can either delete the hood in-game at the main menu, or by deleting the folder in My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Neighborhoods\.

If it was a pre-made hood, you can reset it to the default state using this method. Be sure to delete the old, corrupted neighborhood before placing the new one in, otherwise you'll just corrupt it further.

The methods listed below can help reduce the risk of corruption, as well as provide options to fix it. Remember that most corruption is permanent - your neighborhood is essentially living on borrowed time. If you've become attached to the Sims in your hood, Extract their appearances so you can re-create them in CAS in your new neighborhood once the old dies.

Suggested Methods to Reduce/Prevent/Fix Corruption
The best thing you can do to prevent corruption is to avoid doing the actions listed above, and follow the advice given. There are a number of mods and programs, created by skilled modders, that can help reduce corruption.


 * Pescado's No Unlink on Delete mod.
 * This mod prevents the game from destroying the character data of graves that are deleted for any reason. It will NOT fix instances of graves that are deleted before the mod was installed.


 * Pescado's FFS Lot Debugger.
 * This is a buyable object found in the Miscellaneous/Miscellaneous section in Buy mode. It provides a number of options to fix problems that can occur with lots, delete stuck objects/tiles, and remove gossip. It also has the options necessary to delete Sims the correct way.


 * Arek_91's Select Your Cemetery mod.
 * This mod allows you to select where you want to move graves from a lot to the community lot of your choice, instead of having the game strap a rocket to it and launch it into space. You can also choose to keep the graves on the lot like normal, if you wish. This is absolutely crucial for players with Apartment Life.


 * Mootilda's Hood Corruption Detector.
 * This nifty little program will scan your neighborhood for any unusual or corrupted references, and provides an option to remove/fix them. It can detect and fix Family Ties, Sim Relations (SREL), Sims Wants and Fears (SWAF), and Memories. It will also scan for missing character file data, misplaced graves, and other items of interest.


 * Mootilda's Sims2Pack Clean Installer.
 * This program is intended as a replacement to the game's default Bodyshop Installer. It allows players to properly install .sims2pack files, and allows to clean out any mods, hacks, or custom content that may have latched on during the packaging process. It can also show you whether the lot is occupied or not, so you can avoid corrupting your hood without knowing what happened until it was too late.


 * Cyjon's Lot Debugger.
 * This is designed to compliment Pescado's FFS Lot Debugger. It provides some options for fixing bugs, as well as report on some very useful information.


 * Cyjon's Lot Inspector.
 * This object is buyable from the Miscellaneous/Miscellaneous section of Buy mode, and will report on whether the lot is safe to bin or delete.
 * NOTE: Users who do not have Apartment Life or Mansion & Garden may find that the object doesn't work correctly for them. To make it work, press "Ctrl+Shift+C" to open the cheat box, type in boolProp testingcheatsenabled true, and click on the Lot Inspector. An object error dialog with "Bad gosub tree number" should pop up - click on "Cancel" to ignore the error. The inspector should then file a report.


 * Pescado's Anti-Redundancy mod.
 * This mod prevents the game from generating more NPCs than needed, such as preventing multiple Unsavory Charlatans or Tour Guides from spawning. Instead, the game will call upon existing NPCs, only creating more when those are unavailable. This can prevent character file overload caused by the game generating loads and loads of NPCs.


 * Tarlia's Fixed Templates.
 * It's worth noting that pre-made neighborhoods ship pre-corrupted. Strangetown is the worst of all. These templates have fixed most of the corruption in the hoods.


 * Download and install all the official patches.
 * EAxis has released patches for the game that fix many problems with the game. All players should install the patch, regardless of what expansion packs they have.


 * Make all game files read-only.
 * Making the game files read-only prevents the game from writing to those files, preventing game corruption from ever occurring. It will NOT fix existing corruption, however.

To make the game files read-only, go to C:\Program Files\EA Games\. Select ALL of the folders in there, right-click and select "Properties". Click on the "Read-only" box twice, so it's checked instead of just shaded. Select "OK". Your computer will then proceed to make all the files read-only. Remember to apply all the patches before doing this - if you need to install a patch after doing this method, you'll need to unset the read-only flag for all the files before you can install the patch. Also, if you hope to enable the allmenus cheat, you'll need to unset the read-only flag from the file you want to edit.

This method DOES NOT mean you can attempt to move in Universal NPCs or tamper with them in any way or form - it is only as a safeguard to prevent the game from possibly corrupting its own files.

Do NOT make the files in the C:\My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\ location read-only. The game needs to modify those files in order to save your game. If you make them read-only, your neighborhood may not function correctly. Certain files, such as custom content, extracted appearances of Sims, Camera.txt files can be made read-only safely, but there's no point in doing so.