New Beta Nvidia driver is out

[dachshundsr4me]

I found this thread on the Sims 2 website.

http://bbs.thesims2.ea.com/community/bbs/messages.php?threadID=06c442234ffa7adb4557aaac3804ab89&directoryID=21&startRow=1&openItemID=item.21,item.61,item.41,item.127,item.23

Hi all-
nVidia has a new beta driver for Windows XP and Windows 2000. "Beta" means they're still testing it, but it's stable enough to release to the public to try.

You can get it here:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_162.18.html

or here:

http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_downloads_rel70betadriver.html

Save it to your desktop and double-click on it and follow the prompts. It will know where to install itself on your machine.

Here's what I know about this driver:

In an attempt to re-create what's been happening, we purchased a brand new Dell computer, with 1 GB RAM and a GeForce 7300LE 512 MB card, one of the cards that was oft-reported as having trouble. After installing The Sims 2 and Sims 2 Pets, we were able to successfully reproduce the infamous "nVidia crash" after an hour or so of gameplay. Crash to a blue screen, unable to continue, have to reboot. That crash.

After seeing the error and the associated crash logs, we did a web search for "nv4_disp infinite loop", and found lots of people's horror stories with this issue. It appears that this is a 2-year old problem that has been affecting many other games, not just The Sims 2.

Now, after installing this driver, the crashing has seemingly stopped in The Sims 2 on our test machine!

To be clear, we have nothing installed on this computer other than The Sims 2, so we haven't tested this driver with any other games or programs. However, I would expect that nVidia has tested it extensively with many programs before making it available to the public, so it's likely safe for your system. Of course, if you notice it causes new problems, you can always revert back to the old driver. The 93.17 driver (the last known good driver) is still available at nvidia.com

So go try it out, and please post to this thread about what happens so we can share them with nVidia!

-sam

P.S. If you have one of the following video cards and you're running Windows XP or Windows 2000, this driver is for you:

GeForce FX 5100
GeForce FX 5200
GeForce FX 5200LE
GeForce FX 5200 Ultra
GeForce FX 5500
GeForce FX 5600
GeForce FX 5600 Ultra
GeForce FX 5600SE
GeForce FX 5600XT
GeForce FX 5700
GeForce FX 5700VE
GeForce FX 5700 Ultra
GeForce FX 5700LE
GeForce FX 5800
GeForce FX 5800 Ultra
GeForce FX 5900
GeForce FX 5900 Ultra
GeForce FX 5900XT
GeForce FX 5900ZT
GeForce FX 5950 Ultra
GeForce PCX 5300
GeForce PCX 5750
GeForce PCX 5900
GeForce 6150LE
GeForce 6100
GeForce 6100 nForce 400
GeForce 6100 nForce 405
GeForce 6100 nForce 420
GeForce 6150
GeForce 6150 LE
GeForce 6150SE nForce 430
GeForce 6200
GeForce 6200 A-LE
GeForce 6200 LE
GeForce 6200 TurboCache™
GeForce 6200SE TurboCache™
GeForce 6250
GeForce 6500
GeForce 6600
GeForce 6600 GT
GeForce 6600 LE
GeForce 6600 VE
GeForce 6610 XL
GeForce 6700 XL
GeForce 6800
GeForce 6800 GS
GeForce 6800 GS/XT
GeForce 6800 GT
GeForce 6800 LE
GeForce 6800 Series GPU
GeForce 6800 Ultra
GeForce 6800 XE
GeForce 6800 XT
GeForce 7025 / NVIDIA nForce 630a
GeForce 7050 PV / NVIDIA nForce 630a
GeForce 7100 GS
GeForce 7200 GS
GeForce 7300 GT
GeForce 7300 LE
GeForce 7300 SE
GeForce 7350 LE
GeForce 7500 LE
GeForce 7550 LE
GeForce 7600 GS
GeForce 7600 GT
GeForce 7600 LE
GeForce 7650 GS
GeForce 7800 GS
GeForce 7800 GTX
GeForce 7800 SLI
GeForce 7900 GS
GeForce 7900 GT/GTO
GeForce 7900 GTX
GeForce 7950 GT
GeForce 7950 GX2
GeForce 8300 GS
GeForce 8400 GS
GeForce 8500 GT
GeForce 8600 GT
GeForce 8600 GTS
GeForce 8800 GTS
GeForce 8800 GTX
GeForce 8800 Ultra

[jaccirocker]

Thanks as I'm one of those with blue screen issuses

[trl]

Thanks for posting this, I have the 94.24 NVidia driver and my game runs fine so far, although I don't have Seasons installed. Thanks again!

[hardwaretoad]

Thanks for this, dachsunds. I've seen more than my share of the BSoD! I'm running twin 7600GT's in SLI...:clap:

[Tomkat]

...just thought I might add here (Ive got a GeForce FX 5200, so I updated the with the new driver)

It doesn't fix the problem with invisible fish & non-transparent-when-moused-over snow, so if you were hoping for that...it 'ain't gonna happen (yes I know they didn't say anything about it being fixed in the first place)

[dachshundsr4me]

I just think this is suppose to fix the blue screen issue with the automatic reboot. Anyway just glad they have fixed that problem because you would play your game for a while and finally getting somewhere then bammm auto reboot and you would loose everything you had just done.

[shawnee]

I was having that auto reboot happen all the time. It was getting really frustrating, it has not happened since I upgraded the drivers with this beta driver. Thank you for sharing the link.

[carlena]

Will this help with flashing objects, like walls and water?

[dachshundsr4me]

Carlena,
Not sure but what harm could it be to try it.

[sithprincess]

I'm glad they came out with this.  I was really starting to get annoyed with those blue screens!

[dreamcatchermwh]

Yes! i installed it.And played for hours upon hours.Thank you for informing us.

[jaccirocker]

So far so good

[dachshundsr4me]

OK I played the game today for the first time in months. Sorry guys but the dogs (dachshunds) have me busy. Anyway I made a very cool house and am starting to furnish it now. This will take me a few days as it takes me a few days to make a really nice house. So far so good....no blue screen issues. Then hopefully I will be able to play the family and have no blue screen issues. If it keeps doing as it is more then likely I will get tired of the family before the game quits automatically on me.

[KagomeKagome]

My card is supported, but it didn't work for me.  Still infinite-loop-cycling/BSoDing after about 15 minutes or so.  Am I the only one having this problem still?

[trl]

I would suggest asking NVidea support techs if your card isn't on the list. I have gotten help in the past online as well as on the phone. I have Directx9c by the way. Good luck.

Also this appears to no longer be Beta, it was released July 26.