BODYSHOP can someone please tell me what's wrong with mine?

[ilovecigs]

are you opening it from the right location? like if you downloaded a new EP or something. i know when i downloaded teen stuff pack i wasn't, and my sims weren't quite looking right,.. not quite what yours look like. but its just a thought..

yup. yes i am. newest one is freetime.

[ilovecigs]

Not saying that your video card is a bad one or anything, but it's possible something could be faulty with it, despite it being in a new computer.  Have you tried either updating or rolling back your video drivers?  And if you have any other 3D rendering games/programs, have you tried them out to see if the same thing happens to them?  Just a wild guess to see if it's the card or not... :dontknow:

And I also checked the minimum requirements listing for Sims 2 for your video card.  It doesn't really say that it's supported, but then again lots of other people are able to run the game without such mentioned graphics cards on that list.  :scratch:

i have just sims 2 installed here. the thing is.. the game works just fine.. bodyshop works... the only thing.. is that everything in bodyshop (not in game) shows up like that.. sometimes for like half a second it blinks showing the way things supposed to look like.

it cant be anything wrong with the card.. i always check for updates. the computer is like...1 month old

[ilovecigs]

I notice that it's only custom sims (with the star icon) that shows up like that on the screenshots. does maxis sims/clothes show up like that, too?

yes. all content not just the custom stuff. maxis stuff shows up the same way. just in bodyshop. everything works fine in game and CAS.

[ilovecigs]

Vista just plain "S" If your going to put your money into a new PC or laptop  with that type of OS you might as well spend a couple hundred more and get a MAC. Much better graphics, and better data management. Leave behind the blob that is Windows.

i wish i could afford a mac. its not just a couple hundred dollars more. + i'm from Brazil. you don't wanna know how much a mac costs here.

[jeditechyrosemary]

You could try boosting the virtual memory that Vista can use and see if that helps at all.  Sometimes it's not a lack of RAM, but a lack of paging file size/virtual memory.

[ilovecigs]

I'm thinking the problem is with the hardware.  I'm guessing your computer has 2 GB of RAM.  Vista will take up a good chunk of 1 GB to run.  As I don't run Vista I can't say how much of it though.  I'm showing around 463 MB of memory for TS2. Start tossing in background processes for services and any other programs you may have running and you are quickly approaching the upper limits of your RAM.

Your video card has only 128 MB of dedicated video memory.  While it may be possible to configure it to share the RAM, there may not be that much RAM for it to share.  Although I ran across an article that states the reviewer's opinion that this configuration should be fine for video intensive computer games, things you've done to this point rule out everything but hardware.

If you have the XP installation disks, or can get a copy on EBay, replacing Vista with XP may be the best start to fixing the problem.  XP uses roughly 1/2 the RAM that Vista does from what I've heard.

Another option is to increase the amount of RAM you have available, provided your notebook computer can take more RAM.

The last thing I can recommend is looking into whether the video "card" itself can be replaced or have the memory increased to 256 or 512 MB.

The bad thing about the last two options is cost.  Because of the proprietary nature of notebook computers, the manufacturer can charge an arm and a leg for upgrades.  Hopefully you can get XP installed and it fixes the problem for you.

i dont get how the problem could be with any parts of the pc because the game and CAS run fine. just bodyshop is looking funny.

[ilovecigs]

You can also try deleting the Cigen.cache file. Then reloading. Usually when BS acts up, that's the first thing I do. That's right in the main folder. But I also try to delete all thumbs and cache files once a month.

i don't really know which ones i should get rid of, so I'm sort of scared of deleting that kind of stuff and end up deleting the wrong files and messing up my game

edit:
the cigen file i have here is cigen.DBPF package. and where are the cache files i have to delete? and what thumbs?

edit 2:
oh yea we're getting there.. it flashed long enough for me to print screen it.. and some of the sims are showing up in the bin. that happened after the second time i deleted the cigen and 3 other cache files that were next to it.

[ilovecigs]

You could try boosting the virtual memory that Vista can use and see if that helps at all.  Sometimes it's not a lack of RAM, but a lack of paging file size/virtual memory.

sometimes i feel like a total computer retard hahah

i have no clue how to do that.

ps: and im sorry for the mess i never really used forums so i'm trying to learn how to use it :oops:

[jeditechyrosemary]

sometimes i feel like a total computer retard hahah

i have no clue how to do that.

Don't feel bad, I'm a computer geek (it's my major in college).  I'm not sure how to do it in Vista, but I think it's like XP.  Here's how to check it in XP (if this doesn't work you can call your tech support # to have them step you through it):  

1) Right click on your My Computer icon and click the properties option.

2) Click on the advanced tab (across the top it's the last tab on the bottom row).

3) Find the Performance area and click the settings button (on XP it's the top area under that tab).

4) Click on the Tab marked Advanced.

5) Find the box/area marked Virtual Memory and click the button marked Change.

6) Select the radio button Custom (or if you are unsure what size to make the file, you can select System Managed Size, but I don't recommend it) and change the Initial size (MB) to at least 512 (I recommend 1024 or higher if you can spare it -- this is room reserved on your hard drive that acts just like RAM so the higher Initial value the better!  1024 MB = 1 GB )
and change the Maximum Size (MB) to at least 1024 (or if you have 1056 + as your initial/minimum, you can use 2048 (2GB) or higher if you have the system resources. )

This change will help your entire computer run more smoothly, and your computer will tell you how much space you have and how much it recommends (always try to go above the recommended for your minimum amount).  You may have to reboot after making these changes and you MUST be logged in as an administrator.

Good Luck!!

[ilovecigs]

Don't feel bad, I'm a computer geek (it's my major in college).  I'm not sure how to do it in Vista, but I think it's like XP.  Here's how to check it in XP (if this doesn't work you can call your tech support # to have them step you through it):  

1) Right click on your My Computer icon and click the properties option.

2) Click on the advanced tab (across the top it's the last tab on the bottom row).

3) Find the Performance area and click the settings button (on XP it's the top area under that tab).

4) Click on the Tab marked Advanced.

5) Find the box/area marked Virtual Memory and click the button marked Change.

6) Select the radio button Custom (or if you are unsure what size to make the file, you can select System Managed Size, but I don't recommend it) and change the Initial size (MB) to at least 512 (I recommend 1024 or higher if you can spare it -- this is room reserved on your hard drive that acts just like RAM so the higher Initial value the better!  1024 MB = 1 GB )
and change the Maximum Size (MB) to at least 1024 (or if you have 1056 + as your initial/minimum, you can use 2048 (2GB) or higher if you have the system resources. )

This change will help your entire computer run more smoothly, and your computer will tell you how much space you have and how much it recommends (always try to go above the recommended for your minimum amount).  You may have to reboot after making these changes and you MUST be logged in as an administrator.

Good Luck!!

im scared of changing all this stuff haha

here's a pic of what's showing here for me. i know it's set for the automatic but i wrote the new values on the custom options. are those correct? and if it doesn't work, can i change it back just setting the automatic again? omg this is so confusing hahaha i'm sorry for my lack of abilities with the advanced options on windows. i really appreciate your effort on trying to help me thanks a lot

[jeditechyrosemary]

im scared of changing all this stuff haha

here's a pic of what's showing here for me. i know it's set for the automatic but i wrote the new values on the custom options. are those correct? and if it doesn't work, can i change it back just setting the automatic again? omg this is so confusing hahaha i'm sorry for my lack of abilities with the advanced options on windows. i really appreciate your effort on trying to help me thanks a lot

 

Looks fine.   I hope that helps!  (And yes you can change it all back if you need to.   The bigger the maximum paging file, however, the faster your computer will run.)  And you are quite welcome!!

[ilovecigs]

Looks fine.   I hope that helps!  (And yes you can change it all back if you need to.   The bigger the maximum paging file, however, the faster your computer will run.)  And you are quite welcome!!

didn't work :crybaby:

[PegasusDiana]

Go directly into the sims game in my documents.
C:\Documents and Settings\My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2
Delete the accessory.cache The groups.cach and the cigen.cache
Then go to C:\Documents and Settings\My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Thumbnails
Just delete the whole bunch
That will rebuild all your stuff.

But a lot of it also looks like your missing some meshes. That blue there in the first pic of this last SS means you don't have the mesh to that scarf. I can't see what else she's wearing because they're all ghosts. lol

[ilovecigs]

Go directly into the sims game in my documents.
C:\Documents and Settings\My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2
Delete the accessory.cache The groups.cach and the cigen.cache
Then go to C:\Documents and Settings\My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Thumbnails
Just delete the whole bunch
That will rebuild all your stuff.

But a lot of it also looks like your missing some meshes. That blue there in the first pic of this last SS means you don't have the mesh to that scarf. I can't see what else she's wearing because they're all ghosts. lol

i really am missing some meshes.... i'm trying to do some cleaning on my downloads folder because if that. but thats not the thing. :sad4:

and last time i tried to delet the files in teh thumbnail folder the game wouldnt run. this is the first time i have problems in my game in YEARS. it's so frustrating :smt120

thanks for the help! i'll try that again

[Theraven]

if you delete all those files including the thumbnails files at the same time you delete the cache files, then it should run. the game recreates all those files when you start up the game again.

you should try the delphy *something* organizer for the mesh/clothes problem

i might also be that you've downloaded things that were made with an unpatched pets game. they appearantly caused troubles for those who didn't have pets, and maybe for others too.