It won't start up :(

[Siren Silence]

I have The Sims 2, along with all the expansion packs (but not stuff packs) except Seasons.

The problem I've been having more and more often lately is my game not playing. It'll start, and then it will stop and I'll get the error message saying that the game stopped responding.

Any reason this might be happening?  

[Menaceman]

Because you say it seems to be happening more every time you play all I can think of is that there is too much information for your game to read? Do you have a lot of save files and custom content?  

[Siren Silence]

Yeah, I kinda do have a lot. Should I get rid of some stuff?  

[Menaceman]

Just as a test, remove your downloads folder the next time you play and see if your game runs any better or for any longer. The only downside to testing this way is that if a lot normally uses custom content then you can't save. Well, you can but if you do then it will still be without custom content when you put your downloads back.
So, run the game and check if it runs better but don't save on lots that use custom content or have Sims with custom content.