newbie ? about sims & its expansions

[tngoy]

I installed a cracked version of the sims and have been playing it for a while. This weekend, I got a copy of sims hot date and installed it. It appears that the hot date overwrites the sims. Currently I have to install the sims on one computer and hot date on another computer. Is there any way that I could install both games and play them on ONE computer? Any idea or suggestion is really appreciated. Thank you very much

[GLH]

To install "Hot Date" you have to install The Sims before.
Hot Date is not a separate game - only an expansion for The Sims.

Hot Date updates the basic game - overwrite some file of the basic game.

[tngoy]

GLH,
That was what I did. I installed The Sims first, played it for a while, got the Hot Date, installed Hot Date. My problem now is that I could not play The Sims any more, only the Hot Date. Each time, I put in The Sims CD and click play, the red Hot Date screen comes up with wrong CD error message. If I put the Hot Date CD in then I could play Hot Date.
In order to play the Sims, I have to install the Sims on another computer.