I so desperately want my Sims 2 back

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Ever since I upgraded my laptop to Windows 10 (which was months ago) I haven't been able to play my Sims 2 game without it crashing and terminating, every time I go into ''create a family'' mode.

I have EVERY expansion pack of Sims 2, but now they are good for nothing because I can't play my Sims game properly on my laptop any more.

Before I had Windows 10, I had Windows 7, and it worked fine then. I love the Sims 2, as I had built my own virtual life on there.

I'm not interested in Sims 3 or 4. I have got the Sims 3 but I don't like the format. I much prefer the Sims 2, and I want it back. Oh, and yes I have tried changing the compatibility in properties, to XP or other earlier versions of Windows, but it does not make any difference at all, it still crashes when I load create a family.

Surely there's a way. I have tried to recover the laptop, so that it could go back to Windows 7, but I'm not sure if that's the right thing really.

I also can't play Rollercoaster Tycoon 1 on the laptop since I upgraded to Windows 10. It won't download at all, says it is incompatible. I know Rollercoaster Tycoon 1 is from the 1990's, but a small game like that I thought it wouldn't take much for a newer version to be able to load it.

It's not fair, I understand new games not working on old computers, but the other way around I thought that it would load, except faster.

I used to be obsessed with Sims 2! But mine won't even install on Windows 8.1.

Windows 10 is not compatible with the copy protection (SecuROM) used by these games.

How to Play Games with SafeDisc or SecureRom DRM on Windows 10

I've never tried RollerCoaster Tycoon on Windows 10, but I can say that it does work on Windows 7. However, on every computer I've tried to install it on, it would exit back to the main menu when starting a game, unless this patch was installed, so you will likely need it to get the game to work. http://www.rctstationarchive.com/downlo ... ches.shtml Since this game was meant for Windows 95 and 98, it expects to have write permissions on the installation directory to save games and such, so if your user account doesn't have administrator priveleges, you'll need to grant everyone access to the "C:\Program Files (x86)\Hasbro Interactive\RollerCoaster Tycoon" directory.

I don't own a copy of Sims 2, but I'll recommend installing a patch for this also, and you can see if that fixes it. http://simsvip.com/sims-games/patches/

If nothing else works, you can try virtualization as a solution. There's a free program called VirtualBox, which is a hypervisor (basically a PC emulator) where you can install Windows 2000 or XP and run it in a virtual environment inside of Windows 10. However, I'm hesitant to recommend this as it's not very convenient when you want to get your game up and running quickly.

I've recently set up a Windows 98 machine in my room whose sole purpose is to run games like this.

My advice is to pick up a used laptop that will run XP natively and use it for Sims 2 only. The specs for the game are so incredibly modest you should be able to pick one up locally for nothing or next to nothing, or on eBay for little more than shipping:
Processor: 800 MHz processor or equivalent
RAM: 256mb
Video Memory: 32mb
Hard Drive Space: 3.5gb
Operating System: Windows 98/2000/ME/XP

XP went end-of-support in 2014; systems were still sold with it as recently as 2006 that I'm aware of. Max I'd go with to avoid trouble would be a Core 2 Single (ie not a dual-core) with XP x32, 4GB ram (not all of which will be utilized, that's okay).

I bought an Eee PC in late 2008 that came with XP preinstalled, almost two years after Vista had been out. Also, pretty much all hardware up until about 2013 still can run Windows XP with full driver support, so you don't need an old computer to run XP. You'll need to use nLite to slipstream SATA drivers, or else the installer won't be able to detect your hard disk. In the past 3 years, that has been steadily decreasing, though. My 2012 HP laptop happily runs Windows XP Professional x64 Edition and Linux Mint 17. The x64 edition can use up to 128 GB of RAM, while the normal 32-bit Windows XP can only use up to 4 GB.

However, I'd first try to get the game running on Windows 10 before buying another computer.

I so, sooooo miss good old XP. I might just do some of these tips in order to play my Sims and experience plain old XP again.

I would seriously just install virtual box and run it in an emulator. You must remember to enable 3D acceleration http://www.howtogeek.com/124479/how-to- ... irtualbox/

The main question is do you have access to installation media for an older version of windows? (XP would do and has less requirements)

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