The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection - CAS Eternal Loading Screen [ Edited ]

[max7345]

This is one issue I keep having.  Other than this, the game's run fine for me so far.

Basically, AFTER I've created a family and attempt to return to the neighborhood, I get stuck at an endless loading screen.  I've tried updating the graphics information that apparently fixes every other CAS crashing issue, in-game Origin is disabled and Origin is closed at the time as well, but none of that's working.  I play on Windows Vista with 1 GB of RAM and over 7 GB of free space.  The game runs smoothly and everything else is fine except for this one thing.  Any help in resolving this issue would be greatly appreciated.