It looks like good ol' EA/Maxis has done it to us again. *sigh* Yet another bug allegedly associated with The Sims 2™ Bon Voyage & possibly other expansions has reared its ugly head. This bug appears to be related to the Body Shop program installed with later expansions.

It seems that when a Sim is packaged in Body Shop (put into a .Sims2pak file), there is a possibility that a base game file, Sims06.package, is packaged with the Sim. Unfortunately, some files get re-named when packaged in Body Shop to some weird alpha-numeric file name, i.e., "df18a45986b4e33fb0b4a7f7e2805f75.package", & this base game file is one of them. The problem is that this file can get placed in someone's game numerous times because it can be given a unique alpha-numeric file name every time it is packaged up with a Sim & having numerous copies of files in your game can make your game run poorly.

I always use the user-made Sims 2 Clean Installer (S2CI) program to get rid of any unnecessary files & then I re-package my Sims. By doing it this way, I can say with confidence that my .Sims2Pak files are clean & bug-free. I highly recommend that anyone who downloads Sims and/or houses & lots, use S2CI to install them into your game.

For more info. on the BV Body Shop Bug, u can visit the InSIMenator forum...specifically this thread: ATTENTION! New Body Shop Bug! A very big Thank U to beosboxboy for not only finding this latest PIA but for also diligently helping the rest of us to sort things out & phervers for the creation of S2CI!

Now, for a rant. My father always said "Stand up for something or you'll fall for anything." Personally, I have had just about enough of buggy Sims games so I do not intend to spend one more dime of my money on anything EA/Maxis puts out until they fix what I have already paid for. I just read an article in the November issue of Games for Windows magazine that discussed the phenomenon that is The Sims™ & why it seems to have had such popularity & staying power. One of the reasons given is how attuned EA/Maxis is to the fans & the Sims Community. To that I say bullcrap.

In my opinion, the only thing it appears that they are attuned to is our wallets. When a company:

• a) releases a game expansion that breaks things that weren't previously broken

• b) releases a patch that re-breaks things that were previously fixed

• c) revises game programs so now unnecessary files can be added to your game over & over rendering it dang near impossible to even play

• d) offers this as a solution to u not being able to play a neighborhood that u have worked on & developed for years..."If you have an existing lot, Sim, object or neighborhood that does not seem to be improved by this patch, we recommend that you replace the affected object, or create either a new family, lot or neighborhood, depending on what is affected by the bug."

• e) deals with the aforementioned BV Body Shop Bug by suggesting that u "install the patch" (??!!)

• f) forces u to have to use user-made content/programs to fix what they can’t seem to

• g) has people who paid for the game resort to using No-CD cracks just so they can use the game without fear of some anti-piracy software (that they didn't even know was being installed) potentially screwing up their computers

• h) has representatives of the Official Forum (BBS) who respond to players who are angry & complaining about game quality, by deleting their posts & posing the question..."If the game is so bad, then why do you all play?" &

• i) (as in "insult") discusses Sims 3 & releases yet another stuff pack while MANY of us are still trying to deal with the issues & problems surrounding the latest expansion & the game in general...

Will I still play? Of course. I my Sims. I have invested a lot of time & effort into them. But until I see some improvement to EA/Maxis quality control & more respect for the community in dealing with problems & issues, I am not going anywhere near Sims 3 & my current Sims will have to be satisfied with 10 expansions & stuff packs. I think they'll survive.

U know crow ain't so bad when u put a little salt on it. LOL I was told that the FreeTime expansion actually fixed a lot of the problems that Bon Voyage created so for my b-day, I bought it for myself. It took me until about two weeks ago to install it though! I have to admit that I am actually enjoying playing again. I never got a chance to enjoy BV because I was too afraid to go on vacation for fear my game would get screwed up so it's been a really long time since I played. I missed my Simmies. It even inspired me to download the latest SimPE & recolor a few things. With all that being said, I am still not excited about Sims 3, I still think EA quality control sucks but I do still love the game. So now my Sims will have to be satisfied with 12 expansions & stuff packs (yeah I broke down & bought Kitchen & Bath too {bleggh, big dissapointment}) until...*cough*...Apartment Life comes out. (What can I say? I am a sucker for witches!)

-B