flashing lots/graphic errors in neighborhood view
Xylune:
I'm having some problems since installing Seasons, and I didn't find another topic like this so I assume it isn't common. When in neighborhood view, sometimes some of my lots will flash red. When they start doing that, I end up getting white boxes all over the screen and can't see what I'm doing to take any action.
Things that I have done:
Updated graphics drivers
Updated InSIM (object version)
Removed all hacks not tested or updated for Seasons
Deleted the groups.cache file
I haven't checked for an updated version of Numenor's CEP yet.
I haven't tried reinstalling the game yet (that would be a last resort).
At first, I thought the flashing might only be occurring on lots with custom terrain, but one of my maxis lots did it too when I investigated more closely.
Everything is fine once I actually get into a lot, barring a couple of custom items having their colors damaged. This only seems to happen in neighborhood view, and it seems to occur when I click on the family or house bin to either place a family or house.
Any advise?
Xylune:
I forgot to mention, I'm using a Sapphire Radeon x300SE on Windows XP home edition.
Xylune:
Now I'm crashing as well. I was going through the neighborhood view, packaging lots I want to be sure and keep if I have to reinstall, when the computer restarted.
I never had any major issues like this until the g*damned seasons expansion came out, and I'm beginning to get very frustrated at the lack of feedback from Maxis on all of the errors people are having.
BeosBoxBoy:
Xylune - the x300 and x200 are notorious for misbehaviour. both are 2D chipsets with delusions of being a 3D chipset. They have only the most rudimentary support for 3D and cause havoc when playing all manner of 3D games. Seasons itself is part of the issue with it's high demands on video cards, but the majority of blame lays squarely on the crapware x200 and x300 chipsets. No amount of driver updating will make the chipsets have more features than they were built with.
Your options are : upgrade your video card (not an option on laptops and some desktop systems) or uninstall Seasons.
Other potential helps are delete all custom content trees and plants, all custom neighbourhood items, etc. Reduce you graphics settings to the very bottom, and you may see some improvement, but I wouldn't hope for much.
The x200 and x300 were designed at a time prior to most 3D games, slapped into laptops, and called pretty. No self-respecting manufacturer would ever use an x200 or x300 in a system they marketed as "game-friendly". IBM certainly wouldn't. the x200 and x300 are the rough parallels of the Intel 810 series, good enough for movies and multimedia, but suck at games. count yourself lucky that your system didn't come with a Intel 810 chipset, which won't even run BodyShop reliably after the base game, and may not even run University. Or maybe even worse are any of the VIA/S3 chipsets, which are complete junk.
the x200 and x300 will work fairly well up to OFB; but after that they fail to meet the base-line needs of the game.
Xylune:
I was afraid of that. :( Fortunately I have two hundred-fifty to spend, so I'v e ordered Hightech ATI Radeon X1650. I was hoping to spend the money on more shelving units (moved into a new place), but shelves aren't that expensive and I know my graphics card is getting into the age of the dinosaur.
Thanks for confirming what I was beginning to suspect. At least I know I'm not doing a knee-jerk reaction by upgrading the card. :) I guess I'm lucky that it took this long to run into any serious issues with it!
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