Bon Voyage: New Patch.. New Issues

[Deviancy]

There's a big thread on MATY, N99 and a few other sites regarding the new patch for Bon Voyage.

Maxis has been using securom since April of 2007 to curb piracy, not that it helps.  Supposedly the new patch for Bon Voyage uses the newest version of Securom and supposedly the newest version is a bit more spyware like.  I've never had an issue with securom in the past, but times change.  So I for one am not installing the patch.  The patch does not resolve the nvidia issue, it only supposedly fixes the random spawning of tour guides, but the hacks on MATY already covered that.  The patch instructions also claim that it may not fix issues with a lot/family and the player may need to create a new family/lot in order to take advantage of the patch.  

There is no nocd crack for the new patch as of yet.  So if you install the patch and you're using a nocd crack, it'll just screw things up, so don't do it.  There may not be a nocd crack for the patch.  Maxis doesn't number their patches, ie: they don't call it 1.1.  So the scene kids who create nocd cracks often times have no idea the game has been patched.  On top of that, the patches take so long to be done, the kids who do the nocd cracks have already moved on to bigger and better games.  

I heard the patch also does not resolve the audio clipping.  As I've stated in another thread, what fixes that is going with internal sound rather than a creative soundcard.  I have a feeling maxis just said "screw testing with soundcards.. lets just test with onboard sound".  

Anywho..

Securom is known to cause certain dvd burning software to have issues..

Here's the list..

--Fantom CD Emulator
--Alcohol 120%
--Nero Image Drive
--Phantom CD
--Clone CD
--Ark Virtual Drive
--Veritas DLA
--Daemon Tools

[Sam the T-man]

So that's what the audio clipping was. Sheesh. If all the patch "does" is fix the no spawning bug, time to think how to re-install the bugger methinks... I'm hoping my messed up sim (in one lot) and showers/baths (in another lot) won't be so bad - I read that one person's issue was that jump bugs already experienced were worsened with this patch.

It's like Seasons all over again - issue patch too quick then find themselves needing to revise it :roll:

[Deviancy]

I haven't used the patch yet, I built a new pc that uses onboard sound so the clipping went away.  But from what I heard on the board, the clipping is still there with the patch and there's new lag but removed lag if that makes sense.  They fixed one minor lag issue, created a new one.  

I understand that the Sims is a complex lil game, so resolving minor issues that only affect certain users, that's hard.  But when a game has an issue with a creative soundcard, that isn't minor.  Most gamers who build their own pc's use creatives products since onboard sound has limitations.  I no longer do because a lot of other game developers also stopped testing their products on the soundcards, or so it seemed.  

Here's another tidbit.. securom is known to eat up ram.  I don't mean it ruins ram but it pulls a lot of memory and has a habit of not letting it go again when you quit the game.  So every time you restart the game it eats up a lil more.  Eventually the system will run out of ram and that's what can cause the pc to freeze or even possibly cause that out of sync error some were getting and blaming on nvidia.  

MATY has a thread on removing securom, this may seem like the thing to do..

One big warning though...

In order to run the sims without securom you need a nocd crack.  There is no proper nocd crack for the new patch yet, if you apply the old nocd crack to the patched version, it may work but it may also override some of what the patch fixed.  So I do not recommend it.  I also do not recommend removing securom if you're a normal gamer and have other games on your pc.  A lot of games use securom these days.  So then you'll need no cd cracks for all of those games as well.

[chriskay]

I've installed the patch, do I still need to install the Anti-Redundancy hack from MATY too?

[Cleo999]

I have installed the patch and Nvidia new drivers - this helped a little bit, but did not resolve the blue screen issue ... I mean, sometimes I can play for a couple of hours with no problem at all and sometimes I get 3 or 4 blue screens in 10 minutes! Once it even went blue while loading the game ...

[Deviancy]

When the screen goes blue does it freeze the entire system, or can you ctrl, alt, del back to the desktop?  Securom is known to suck up ram fast, that can cause lockups like what you're experiencing.  But I'm not sure on your video card, how much ram you have or if you're using a creative soundcard.

As for the anti redundancy hack..

Most are leaving it in from what I've read so far.

Unless the next expansion has something really, really neat.. I'm avoiding it as if it was the plague.

[babyblue1387]

Unfortunately, EA has put us in a really sticky situation. I have the patch (although I wasn't experiencing any serious bugs), and I still have the anti-redundancy installed. Chriskay, I'd still get anti-redundancy to be on the safe side. I seriously hope EA does things different next time around. You know it's bad when the sheeple are getting angry and calling each other sheeple.

[Bev in NY]

Hi guys...i installed the patch, but i don't have a seperate hack for the tour guide thing...the only thing i noticed after the patch was when it is time to go to work the que shows up to go and they change to the appropriate clothes, but if anything gets in their path to go to the car the que disappears and i have to click on the car to get them to go to work...i'll keep playing and see if anything else occurs...

[Cleo999]

When the screen goes blue does it freeze the entire system, or can you ctrl, alt, del back to the desktop?  Securom is known to suck up ram fast, that can cause lockups like what you're experiencing.  But I'm not sure on your video card, how much ram you have or if you're using a creative soundcard.

Well, the screen goes blue and I can do nothing at all for - say - a couple of minutes, then the image returns and I can do whatever I wish. I usually save the game and go on playing, but if I get it twice I exit and reset. This is very annoying.
As I'm not using a creative soundcard and I've just added extra ram (and experienced no improvement), the blame must fall either on the Nvidia viedo card (but this is the only game with problems) or on Securom. Is there any safe way to remove and/or disable Securom?

[Deviancy]

There's a way to remove securom but if you do so, you can't use the new patch for the game.  If you remove securom you have to use a nocd crack on Boy Voyage to play the game.  The new patch installs the new version of Securom which is worse than the version of securom Bon Voyage currently uses.  And there's no legit nocd crack for the new patch, the old nocd crack supposely works but hrmm.. it's really confusing..

A nocd crack is written to overwrite the executable file..

A patch generally overwrites the exectable file with fixed data..

Using the old nocd crack overwrites the patch and any fixed data on the patched exe will be taken out..

Does that make sense?

I've been discussing this on MATY all day so I'm kind of burnt out..

But here.. read this..

http://www.deviancy.ookiespookie.com/doom/

I included every little detail of how this works and then there's a link to the instructions on how to remove securom.  But make sure to read every little thing..

The instructions were made for Bioshock players but they work exactly the same with the Sims..

[Cleo999]

Wow ... thank you so much for all the details! :love4:
I think I won't remove securom for now ... I know Maxis will come out with another pacth and I hope it'll fix all problems - yes I know I'm asking for a miracle ... a very big miracle ...

[trl]

I am suddenly finding that I am having trouble with clean installer packaging lots, could this be related to all this BV BS?

[rtexasgirl]

I'm glad to hear that.  I downloaded the patch to my desktop.  I was hesitant to install it since I am not having any problems with my game.  Now I will delte it.  Thanks for the advice.

[dreamcatchermwh]

I installed the patch and i'm not getting the blue screen and i can finally play the game for hours and this is great.I haven't noticed any glitches but then i probably don't know what to look for.

[tylersada]

I didn't patch because I haven't had any problems.  I have the anti-redundancy hack from maty.  I'm not going to fix what's not broken with my game.