First off: If your build/buy modes don't work and you have a NoCD patch, that is not a bug, that is supposed to happen.

Also in this category, messages about DirectX 9.0c, it's adaptor or anything along those lines are not bugs in the game, it is an issue on your computer and usually means your system does not meet the minimum specifications, assuming DirectX installation is valid.

Messages about CD/DVD Emulation software: Also not a bug, this is supposed to happen. Affected applications include Alcohol 120, Nero and CloneCD. You need to disable the Virtual Drive in these applications, but an uninstallation shouldn't be needed.

New additions, August 20th, 2005:

• The game constantly reports that your sim is no longer best friends with a sim who's been dead for some time. Similar "its not too late to repair this relationship" messages also appear.
• A bug exists in University - the transition between two semesters can get screwed up. So when you enter the next one, the game thinks you're still in the previous semester's final exam but one minute into the new semester it then thinks you didn't go at all so drops your GPA and grade.
• Taxis can get stuck on campus lots. In severe cases you may have no alternative but to bulldoze it.
• Many NPCs occasionally decide to stay for longer than they should. Particular culprits: The nanny, the maid and the gardener.
• The maid's van has been known to drive itself away. It will usually turn up again later of its own accord after the maid leaves the lot manually.

Previously on this page:

• BODY SHOP: Create something with the first version of this utility in a software rendered video card, it will be blurry in the 3D environment of the game. Solution: Get rid of it and use the version of Body Shop installed with Sims 2.
• A usenet poster reports that if your female Sim gives birth while your groceries are delivered (and you then ignore the delivery person), you are unable to accept the delivery or do anything with the delivery guy. May also slow the game down beyond playability. Solution: move_objects cheat. Long-term solution: evict the family and bulldoze the lot.
• If you move into a house next to something (say, a big house on the corner), it won't show up when you pan around in lot view. However if you fiddle with the terrain modelling tools and then go to a neighbouring lot, your mods should appear.
• Bowls of food given to toddlers: They may not be cleaned up autonomously - ie, the maid and the nanny won't have anything to do with them. Solution: Direct a sim to clean them up manually.
• Coffee cups: If you buy the coffee maker and then sell it while there are cups floating about, they never get put away. Solution: Buy a coffee table.
• Affairs: if a sim is cheating and another sim is in the house at the same time, he runs to the bedroom and slaps and shouts at the cheating sim. But then the double bed begins to think it's a couch and bed specific options such as Make Bed are unavailable, as is the bed. Solution: move_objects cheat. Also happened with the dart board.
• Teddybear: Buggy. Reports on usenet that it costs careers, aspirations rewards and money. Also noted to start floating in midair when used. Solution: Get rid of the bear. (fixed in the Sims 2 patch and with University)
• Windows don't work at all in rooms for some floors, while they work in the rooms of other floors. Happens with the basement (for obvious reasons) but also on other levels too. Solution: none yet.
• According to usenet, the issue of "disappearing portals" may still be an issue - same symptoms as deleting the mailbox/trash in the original game.
• Lot has loads of "traffic noise" like it's next to a busy highway. Solution: Leave the lot and go back, or wait for another car to arrive. According to Maxis, it's tied to the gardener's van initially.
• Newborn babies can chat on the computer. One computer per family means everybody can be on at the same time, including seven babies and the mum.
• The dart board appears to attract so-called "invisible guests" which block a visible sim from using it. They have been seen to wait next to the board as they do when waiting for somebody else to throw.
• Inheritance: Either doesn't give anything, too much, or doesn't occur full stop. (less of a concern with University)
• When the social worker arrives to take your kids away, build and buy mode are both disabled and you can't save, return to neighbourhood or quit. However if she can't get away first time, the game gets stuck in this mode and the only way out is through Task Manager. Also affects the Grim Reaper. (fixed in the Sims 2 patch and with University)
• The headmaster has been known to just disappear into thin air.
• Stairs: In the original game if two sims wanted to go up/down a flight of stairs, one would go and the other would wait patiently. In Sims2, the first sim uses the stairs but the second refuses to wait and whatever was queued up on the other level is abandoned.
• Toddlers cannot wear anything other than the default clothing they appear in. (fixed in the Sims 2 patch and with University)
• A situation can occur when the schoolbus doesn't pull up to the mailbox and simkids/teens can't board it. It has been sighted to happen during Sneak Out but doesn't make itself known until the next schoolday.
• The repairperson often refuses to mend the trash compactor/dishwasher even when it's blindingly obvious that it needs mending.
• If somebody is told to "grow up" and somebody else gives birth, the one who was due to grow up may never do so as their age is reset.
• Apparently if you get too far down the line in a family in terms of generation and who don't shift out, strange things happen such as not enough money, not able to save/build/buy and general game slowness.
• The music stops playing if you change from build/buy to buy/build mode at the right moment, just when one tune finishes. Nothing more will play when in the first mode. (fixed with University)

• If you were close to maximizing cooking and you receive a bonus that puts you over the maximum of 10 points (i.e. you get a 3 point bonus when you have 8 points in Cooking) you will no longer be able to use your Cooking skill. This is a known issue and Maxis are working to resolve it.
• Doors get stuck in an open position if ceiling lights are directly next to them either side.
• "Help with Birthday" still doesn't work properly with babies, regardless of whether you have the original game, original game + patch or University installed. Babies just get picked up, stared at and dumped back in the crib. Use the birthday cake instead.
• The children's oven is rendered a permanent part of the lot if there's an item in it and all children have grown into teens.
• Toddlers can accumulate memories that put them as giving birth to other sims in other houses.
• Calling the nanny on a cellphone/mobile results in erratic behaviour. (University only)
• If you try to influence non-lovers in the bathroom, there's a bug where they can get stuck. (University only)
• If you have more than one sprinkler in a room, instead of them both going off, it seems the wrong one can go off.... and the fire can start on the floor somewhere else far away, and then people standing in the same room can catch fire...
• Sims can be unable to interact with objects in different rooms if the doorway to the room is on a diagonal. In fact Sims just don't like doors on diagonals full stop. (revised August 20th 2005)

In a nutshell, this bug occurs in Sims2 under certain situations and it's a known bug in the game which will hopefully be sorted in the patch. Its symptoms are that Sims are seen to "jump out" of interactions - mostly join actions and anything involving social activities - and also jumping away from the spot they were on previously. It basically makes the game unplayable as Sims won't do anything.

The bug can occur when you turn off aging with the cheat, extend their lives too long with the appropriate reward object or just build up too many memories for a sim throughout the cause of playing the game normally.

There seems to be a limit of around about 200 or so (can vary) memories for a Sim before this bug kicks in. This is apparently accelerated when somebody gets married - apparently they can end up with 24 memories for one party.

SOLUTION:
Short of not going mad with the Elixir of Life or turning aging back on if its off, there is no official solution. According to Usenet, you actually can still woohoo in the bed if you use the pause button right as they get properly relaxed and select try for a baby while the game is paused.

Maxis's official workaround as on their site is to basically export and then reimport the lot, a move which will also sever all links with other Sims in your neighbourhood.