Serious Problems with: Sims Hot Date and Black & White

[Phillyslimm]

Ok so after tons and tons of tries working around my problem with the Sims Hot Date I have come to the conclusion I need you guys for some help. I hope you can provide it because I'm going nutts over here trying to fix this.

Ok the first problem is with Hot Date. I am trying to use every option besides downloading Installshield 7 on edonkey (since I have a dialup itll take too long for my liking). The problem is my setup.inx file is corrupted on my backup disk. It has worked in the past a few times if i recall but for the last 6 months it just gives me an error when running setup.exe with:

<b> An Installation Support File 'D:\Temp\{017 i wont write all the code}\setup.inx' could not be installed.

The parameter is incorrect.</b>

I've tried changing temp dirs anything you can think of including the ending all processes that arent vital besides explorer etc (which EA tech support sees as the answer to everything I've noticed)
I cant even copy the file off the CD-R so i know theres something whacky with it. The only way I have gotten it off the CD is with making a Clone CD image and making a new CD and copying it, but then i get an error when trying to install from the new copy:

<b>CATASTROPHIC FAILURE</B>
Again resulting from the setup.inx obviously
I started thinking that I could use i6comp to install it manually by extracting the data.cab cabinets and copying stuff over to my sims dir, is there a way I could go about doing this? Is there some way I can work around the setup.inx file? From what I know it is pretty much a guideline for installshield to start. This problem has been frustrating me for months. If I still had cable id just get another copy but I dont want to go through that if there is a solution, plus this solution would be a help for other problems down to road i'm sure. so I tried the cmd line:
<b>C:\i6comp.exe e data1.cab</b>

and alls i get is a few useless files from DATA1.cab and it stops at _ Cant Extract or something like that it doesnt include the meat of data2.cab which is 500+ megs. I rarely have used this tool so I don't know any variables that can help me get everything extracted and even if i did wtf to do with em!

With Black and white im figuring my runblack.exe is corrupted since I install the game and it just pops up the black and white logo on my desktop then it crashes. I got a no cd 1.0 that works fine but i lose some sound effects (ie the music during the game people dancing around worshipping effects like that etc.) but I can't install the patch and there isn't much reason in playing without the patch.BTW i have a retail copy of B&W no backup or anything like that, its retail and it has worked for more then 2 years so far with no problem and pretty much the same config except Windows XP but it happens on 2k and .NET Server so i know somethin is up
I get an error when installing the patch (1.10 and 1.2 both same result with all versions of runblack.exe on gamefix and the original from the B&W retail CD always the same message, so I dunno what the deal with runblack.exe or the patch is because it has worked before):

<b>Neither Command Line Paramter specified is an exisiting directory</b> Then after clicking ok I get the infamous error associated with a non-retail copy trying to be patched:

<b> You Do Not Have the Correct version of Black & White to install this patch</b>

I know you people know this frustration. You resort to Contacting EA telling them your problem and so they give you an answer you tell them that you have done what they always tell you (HIT ALT+TAB END ALL NON VITAL PROCCESES) and you get a reply several weeks later:

HIT ALT+TAB AND END ALL NON VITAL PROCCESSES
DELETE FILES IN TEMP DIRECTORY
No Virus Scanners running
DirectX DXDIAG crap etc etc etc

This is so damn frustrating. You goto these other boards and u get posts like : -I seem to have lost my S/N can I have yours? or
- Where do I get the patch for this game?
rE:Here is the link
re re: is that it?
re re re: yah thats it
and it just goes on and on nothing that helps me
This is the best board for help I know of, I usually don't post I just read because usually my questions are answered real fast and without any problems. This is something I really would appreciate help with. I know its a long post, but I need to get some help with this stuff ASAP and want to show you what I have done and thought of. If you have a Hot Date setup.inx send it over if you can its only 500 k, thatd be great too. Thanks again guys for the help over the years on Gamecopyworld and on this board for the great help!!!

[JoyBoy]

Cant be bothered to read all that. But u will find those files u after on the original CDS of the games in quesiton. Of course u own the games dont u?

[gh0sth@cker]

You can either try asking Maxis for a replacement or you can try the toothpaste trick. If you search the forums for "toothpaste" you'll find a thread relating to it.

Basically you gently rub toothpaste onto the surface of the cd to repair scratches. Just mite work.

for hot date try running this: i6comp e data1.cab setup.inx

[dcbrs]

If you will contact me I will see what I can do to help you as I have the same type of prob with my hotdate disk (Real Copy For those who want to know)..Mine is the data2.cab file...even thought it is brand new it has no scratches..wal-mart or ea will not give me a replacement...owned this game for 2 days now and cant use it...

[DABhand]

errr this thread is just under 4 years old. I dont think they care now :P

[JoyBoy]

Of course we care!