Matt,
I am not sure if more people are having the same problem, but Windows 7 security patch KB3086255 makes old games like Black & White and the Sims unable to run.
Please look into this issue and see if has any effect on your installation guide.
Hello Burgald,
I recently had this problem too and didn't get a lot of help, but I did solve the problem eventually.
Please look at the post I made for instructions.
http://www.bwfiles.com/forum/index.php?topic=7903.0
So the reason it wasn't starting was because of windows update screwing things up, again.
Thanks to beatlesblondie over at the Mod The Sims forums for finding the solution.
(This worked for sims 1, black and white had the exact same problem, and it required the same fix.)
The solution is as...
So I have played black and white a lot, I got it to work with compatibility mode, which apparently isn't needed. The game worked fine, apart from the crashes on the last map but those were always there. Last time I played was around July or august 2015, the game started completely normal...