I'm having issues with TSS content not showing up. I installed up to IKEA and all previous EPs & SPs show but not TSS. I've uninstalled and re-installed twice and have completely removed the BGS file and downloaded it again to retry...still no luck.

Just so everyone knows: Numenor seems to be on vacation. Last post: 16th Jul 2008.

I hope he is back soon I need help! I cannot get the BGS or AGS to work. It starts to load and tells me to insert the stupid Free Time CD. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling both apps numerous times to no avail. When you get back Numenor, please take a look at my files.

FYI if you need the info, I am running on Windows XP with all EPs up to Free Time (I don't have AL yet) and SPs Celebration, Family Fun Stuff, and Glamor Life. At one point in time I did have the Store Edition and the on line EA downloader installed, but none of my currently installed stuff came from there and they are both uninstalled.

Thanks in advance!!!

Charisa

He's back and working on it.

Charisa, I'm sorry for your problem with Store Edition; I confess I misunderstood its purpose and functions, at first. But Store Ed. is actually treated as a SP, and therefore all the SE users just lose it as soon as they install the AGS or the BGS.

Now the new AGS 1.6 is out, and it should correctly manage the SE (the BGS is still NOT updated). Please run the AGS installer once, so to fix your Registry, and you should have back your Store object. And stop using the BGS until I update it.

Please let me know (on the AGS thread) if the AGS solved both the Store Ed. problem and the "wrong disk" one. If the problem(s) still persist, please post a new AppFiles in the AGS thread.


GreyDragonfly, thanks for the AppFiles; I see that there is a bug in the installer that excludes TTS even when it's supposed to be included.
I'll include this bugfix in the next update (due soon).

• Version 2.5
  
  • New Feature: Apartment Life - The BGS is now compatible with the Apartment Life EP and can create the "OnlyAL" and "Up2AL" mini-games.
    
  • Improvement: Store Edition - The BGS is now compatible with The Sims 2 Store Edition (beta); for anyone curious about this, SE is seen as a Stuff Pack by the game; it doesn't add anything to the game (you have to buy/download stuff online). In all the BGS games, the Store Ed. is always deactivated (if you really need it, use the AnyGameStarter, instead).Therefore, the AGS now gives the ability to include SE in the minigame.
    
  • Bug Fix: Up to IKEA games - There was a bug, affecting just the Up2Ikea game, that caused it to ignore Teen Style; now the bug is fixed.
    
  • Improvement: Faster loading and cleaner catalog - When using the "No Maxis content" option, all the pre-made Dorms, Hotel and Apartments have been stripped from the Lot Bin.

Thanks a lot Numenor!! I'm so happy it was a simple, easy fix. You got the Apartment Life update up fast too! Thanks so much for that!!

I could discover it thanks to your AppFiles: there are so many alternative mini-games, by now, that I just can't check them all one by one

As for having updated the BGS to AL quickly, I confess that I already included in the previous version the code for this EP (guessing the Registry values, because AL wasn't released yet ). This time I included the code (again, trying to guess the values) for Mansion & Garden, but of course I have to wait until the pack comes out, before announcing that the BGS is compatible with that, too.

Yay! New version!
Thanks for the Update Numenor! (But I doubt I will be able to use it as always! )

I am having the same problem with BGS now as I stated in the AGS forum. The base game gives me the blank error. And OFB only gives me the wrong CD error. I did not try the other EP only or up to. I have attached my app files for BGS here.

The problem seems to have the same causes as the one you are having with the AGS; let's discuss this at the AGS thread.

Thanks for the update Numenor! I really appreciate the effort you've put into this, even if I probably can't comprehend it Thank you!

Well, I hate to post back so quickly, but it's still failing to run. It gets nearly through the loading screen and the application crashes. Could this be because I do have the holiday edition of the base game? Thanks

I'm probably just stupid.

MartaS - First off, I noticed a bug (my fault) in the "Up to FT" game: please don't use it until I update the BGS.

I'm not sure what's happening. In order to discover what's going on, I've prepared two modified BGS files for you, that create a more complete log.
Download the rar from THIS LINK, and unpack the two files to your BGS AppFiles folder.
Then run one or more mini-games (NOT the Up2FT!) and report here the results, along with your AppFiles.
Thanks for helping

PS - IMPORTANT: every time you use the BGS installer, you must then copy again my files into the AppFiles. Therefore, keep a copy of them in a safe place for future tests.

I've only been trying to run the "Start OnlyNL" game. It, again, nearly got through the loading screen and crashed (froze--I had to end the program through the task manager). I tried a second time, and got actually the "this application has crashed" message almost as soon as the loading screen opened.

Thanks

MartaS, I can't find anything in your Appfiles that can shed a light on this mistery.

You said you already tried deleting the (almost empty) Downloads folder.
Please check into the mini-game's "Config" folder, too, and delete any ".package" files that you may find there.
In order to have a perfectly "clean" game (full game or mini-game) you should also uninstall the CEP and the Scriptorium (deleting the files may not be enough), and delete any possible mod/hack - if any - that you have installed into the game PROGRAM folders (some default replacement or other mods are installed in the "latest EP" program folder...).

Once you have perfectly cleaned everything, try again and report here the results.

Well, I expect that's the problem then. I'm working on cleaning my game, but I don't think I remember all the hacks that might be installed in the program files. I know I have before, and I think I've removed them, but as it's still not working, I'm not sure. I'm trying to avoid a complete reinstall, but I might just have to. It'd probably be a good idea anyway. I'll keep working on it. Thanks.

I downloaded the latest (v2.5, AL-compatible) BGS (on 9/21), and installed it, telling it to create everything (and wipe out the old installation). It looked like it installed OK, but when I tried to use it, nothing would start. I looked at what the shortcuts were doing, and it turns out that somehow, none of the Only_ or UpTo_ batch files were actually created. This was consistently repeatable, regardless of whether I told it to uninstall as a separate execution of the BGS installer or combined the operations.

If you could post an explanation of what those batch files SHOULD contain, I can manually create them and fix my BGS installation.

Freetrav - This is very odd. For some reasons, the installer can't create the files.
I need an installation log from you, if you want me to understand.
Follow the directions explained in this post

Log attached, file bgslog.txt inside bgslog.zip (oddly, couldn't attach it as pure text; too big). Same results.

Numenor: Not intending to be a pest, but...

Is there anything you can tell me about my problem? Or that I can use to 'patch' the installation and get it working, even if the installer won't?

Unfortunately, the log doesn't tell me anything useful; the installer does two things:
first, it copies some files (that are compressed into the installer) to the AppFiles folder; and this task is correctly done; then the installer should create on the fly the .bat files, according to your personal game configuration, documents path etc, but it can't do it. The log only displays info about the first task, but tells me nothing about the second, so I'm clueless...

Do you have at least the .reg files, in your AppFiles? The .reg are created on the fly too...

PS: sorry, I missed your previous post; you did well to bump the thread -


EDIT: have you tried the AnyGameStarter? Do you have the same problem?

Yes, the .reg files seem to have been created - 32 of them. If you can show me what the batch files SHOULD look like, I can manually create them. I used the default options when I installed TS2 and the EPs/SPs.



Have not tried AGS; will do so, probably this weekend. Before I do, I need to figure out sets I'll need for the construction projects I'm wanting to work on.

(I understand your reasoning in not having done so up to now, but I still think you should fold BGS and AGS together, and/or not limit AGS to three game configs. Less code maintenance for you; no reduction in functionality for your users.)

Just tried installing AGS to create a no-EP/no-SP game; this appears to have worked - it created an icon on my desktop, which, when clicked, displayed the TS2 splash (with no EPs/SPs named on it), and prompted me to insert the TS2 base game CD that I hadn't inserted.

After I acknowledged the prompt, the program (as expected) exited. I then tried to start my "regular" game (all EPs/SPs, the EA/Maxis default installation), got the AL startup screen with its indication of which packs I had installed (all of them), and clicked PLAY, at which point it properly told me to insert the AL DVD. I clicked cancel, it exited. All seems well - so I do not appear to have the same problem with AGS as with BGS.

This is even odder! The AGS uses the very same methods to create the .bat files as the BGS...

However, you asked me how to create "by hand" the missing .bat files; frankly, it's easy to mess up the game if the .bat files are not properly done; therefore, I strongly suggest you to use the AGS instead.