Sims 2: Installation Issues?

Yes, that's right - There should be two installations and two sets of folders for the game. Trying to install OFB in the same place as the main game will get you precisely nowhere - it will not work, so do not do it. It specifically tells you this in the manual that comes with the expansion. The game is set up to work that way (and, yes, that does mean duplication of files in a useless way but tell Maxis about it, not me. It does mean you can uninstall the expansion without uninstalling the game though.)

Why it's running as a process and not as an application, I don't know, but are you giving it enough time to run? That may sound like a stupid question but if you have a lot of custom content, the game thinks for a while before it gets going. And it can think for quite a while too. What it's doing is going through all your custom content files before it boots the main programme.

If you've left it for 20 minutes (and 20 minutes is far, far longer than it should take) and it's still not playing, then it's definitely something else wrong. I'd guess something happened during installation. Trying uninstalling the expansion (you don't need to uninstall the main game remember) and reinstalling and see if that helps. If not clean the disk, if that fails try a manual installation of the EP and if that fails, it's probably the disk so take it back to the shop.

Instructions for manual installation are on the main EA Games site - look under the technical help section, then search for The Sims OFB. You should find a thread there.

That does not sound right at all, there should be only one folder. Uninstall everything and try again and when it ask for the path just make sure it is the rght one. Also before installing your ep install the patch that you download from the official site.