Sims 2 keeps crashing/freezing

@Julli2727 Have you used Graphics Rule Marker?

@Julli2727 Let's tackle the issues one by one.

What you have described is a potential symptom of a crashed patch, which has almost certainly happened if you installed the game from a disk on Windows 10. The game cannot load any lot because one of the core game files (objects.package) gets corrupt during the patch.

To fix this, you will need to download and install patches for every pack you have, if they are available. According to your pack list, you will need to patch:

• The Sims 2 Base Game
• The Sims 2 University
• The Sims 2 Nightlife
• The Sims 2 Open for Business
• The Sims 2 Pets
• The Sims 2 Bon Voyage

All Sims 2 patches are available on Mod the Sims, and a quick Google search should lead you to the right page. Alternatively, SimsVIP also hosts the patches. If you're unable to download any of the patches, right-click on the download link, copy it and paste it in a new browser tab.

To actually install the patches, you will need a tool called GrumpyLoader, which is available on Mod the Sims on a thread titled A word of warning about Windows 8 (post 193). It will let you ignore errors while patching so updates can complete successfully. To do this, just open GrumpyLoader and load each patch through it, then ignore the errors if it asks you to. Once you've run each patch through GrumpyLoader, run them normally without it, so that you can check for The Sims 2 is already up to date message, which indicates a successful patch installation.

After you have finished installing the patches and confirming that they have all been successfully installed, move on to Graphics Rules Maker (available on SimsNetwork). Once you install it, it is important that you run it as Administrator (right-click on the icon and Run as Administrator); this is the only way it will let you save the changes. The Auto-detect option should pick the optimal settings, but do not let it disable Sim shadows, as there is a mod by Nopke that fixes them instead (it removes black boxes under Sims and gives them actual shadows). Save the changes and test the game.

One final thing; since your laptop has both integrated (Intel) and dedicated (NVIDIA) graphics, I would recommend checking that The Sims 2 actually runs on GTX 1050. To do this, go to Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Logs and open a file [DESKTOP name]-config-log.txt. Under Graphics Device Info, check which graphics card is listed.

If you need any further help, let me know.

@mate54I have patched the packs while I installed them. I will definitely try patching them again and then I will probably download graphics rule maker. I’m just wondering, since I start the sims 2 from my Bon voyage shortcut, do I direct graphics rule maker there or to my latest SP, teen style stuff? I won’t be able to test anything since I’m travelling without my laptop for 9 days.

Edit: I’d like to add that I have checked the logs before and it appears that it does use the GTX 1050. I also don’t have the 4gb patch since I’m afraid that something might go wrong, if I have to I will most likely also download that one.

@Julli2727 Although disks include some patches, you should certainly try patching everything again using GrumpyLoader, because when the game is installing, the patch will probably crash and still let you install another pack. When it comes to Graphics Rules Maker, I believe Bon Voyage overrides Teen Style Stuff, so if you see the BV logo on the loading screen, direct GRM to it. Just make sure you do it after (re)installing the patches because they might restore the original files when they install.

As for the 4GB Patch, although it is recommended, you don't really need it unless your game starts crashing because it runs out of memory. Of course, whenever you modify anything, back up the original files so you can restore them easily if something goes wrong.