Insimenator.org

ok so heres my computer details (i basically copied exactly what it says on the sticker)...

Windows XP
2.6GHz     Intel Pentium 4 processor with Hyper-Threading technology
512MB     333MHz DDR SDRAM memory
160GB     Ultra DMA hard drive
NVIDIA GeForce4     MX440 3D AGP Graphics with TV-out port and 64MB DDR video memory
CD-RW/DVD     Combo drive 48x24x16x48 max speed

(I dont think that last one mattered but I decided to include it anyways)

So heres the story. I start up the game, everything looks normal. The houses/families look as they should. THEN I enter a household and when I go back to neighbourhood view it looks VERY odd. Also when I load a family (from CAS or entering a household) there is a strange picture on the loading screen.
Well I'll let you see for yourself.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff39/Kipsy-Koopa/untitled.jpg

So is ANYONE has ANY idea of how to get things back to normal (or if anyone has the same problem) please ANY help is better than none.

PS I have already tried removing my downloads, it doesnt make a difference.

It might be your video memory.

Have you tried updating your video drivers?

I thought the problem would have something to do with that but I didnt want to spend the money until i had a second opinion

Updating your video drivers is free.

Try doing that.

oh wow thanks for the info

Video memory is often the culprit. Until I went to a graphics card with 256 mg DDR I could barely run the game at all. With a new one with 512 mg DDR, it runs really sweet.

I went to he NVIDIA website and it gave me an update download so hopefully this one will work better.

I got a 256MB video card, and I can't even play Pets.

I could, but, I'm only just above the minimum requirements. So, I don't even try.

You may get the bug fixed using the suggestion Ekozski had but you may also want to make sure you have the current and latest drivers for direct x. The fact the picture of the house is misaligned with it's miniwindow looks more like an overlay problem. This might be a problem with the graphics card in that it's only 64MG or it could still be just the system using it wrong. If you can't resolve it with Nvidia drivers check if you have the last revision of direct x (9.0c i think is mine and the last release). There is also the tiny chance the card is corrupting the data due to a overheat so keep in mind if you were hammering at a 3d game and then loading sims 2 and getting this.. that could(though usually it produces random glitches, not the same one over and over) do it.

Im going to try and test the game now, im getting a bit sleepy so I will post the results in the morning. Thanks to everyone.

Unfortunately the video update didnt work. Can you tell me where to find the current and latest drivers for direct x?

If you Google DirectX 9.0c updates, you'll find exactly (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=2da43d38-db71-4c1b-bc6a-9b6652cd92a3&displaylang=en) what you're looking for.  :smile bi:

Though by looking at your video card and computer specs, both don't have nearly enough memory to run all the EPs/SPs you have properly.  Every time you install a new expansion, the minimum requirements for the game are upped a notch.  A 256MB video card is the new suggested minimum as of Seasons, along with at least 1GB of memory, though 2GB will do even better.  :angel:

You might want to be careful. The more demands you put on your video card with all those games loaded you have, the faster it will burn out.

Did you uninstall the old drivers before you installed the new ones?

Oh no wonder my game is running horribly, it looks like I will have to update alot about my computer. Basically could someone give me a summary of what the minimum reqirements for the game is. So far I know I need:
1. At leasr 1 GB of memory
2. 256MB video card
3. Direct x 9.0c (which I have downloaded)

anything else suggested?
Thanks everyone

oh dear I didnt do that what happens if i dont?

Try 1 more GIG of memory

and, a 512 MB video card like jamesbrown1 suggested.

What happens is, you still have the old drivers installed.

Contact NVIDIA, they can walk you through it.

I emailed them and was up and running in less than a day.

Thanks much. :) Everyone is such a great help here.

It appears to still not be working. Could it be that something has overheated (as evilkinggumby mentioned before)

Can't rule out a little heat damage... but I do think it may mean some hardware upgrades might be needed to fix the problem.  :?

And just wondering... does going into the lot, saving it, and exiting the lot change anything?  I know I've had some strange glitches in the past where my lots in neighborhood view "exploded", but once I went back into the lot, everything was in place as normal...  a simple save and return to Neighborhood View actually fixed any graphical errors with the messed up looking lots.  Just a long shot, but maybe that'll help, along with deleting your Groups.cache and Accessory.cache files beforehand.  :dontknow:

Unfortunately Going into the lot and saving it is what caused the problm to appear in the first place and it wont go away. This has been an ongoing problem since i bought the original sims2 game. I have tried deleting the groups and accessory cache files and nothing changed (good suggestions there so far).

I have downloaded video and graphics updates and again nothing changed (though I did not check what video driver I was downloading, I just filled out the questionare and it sent me to a page to download the new driver so I assumed it was most recent). Although I have not yet bought the larger amount of memory yet but now that I have money I will buy it asap. Was there anything else I was meant to upgrade?

Thanks to everyone for all your advise still. Everyone is so patient which I am thankful for.

I can't think of anything else, just the graphics card with 256 to 512 DDR memory on the card and 2 gigs of RAM memory. Good luck!

Because I already downloaded the updates for graphics and video, would it make a difference uninstalling, then re-installing the game?

If you uninstall, make sure you save all the stuff you want to keep.
Downloads and stuff like that.

So do you think that would be a possibilty to help my game though is to re-install it?

I've read here and there that reinstalling does help matters. It doesn't hurt to try.

Just remember to save the things you want to hang on to.

Ok thanks, I will try, I have nothing to lose here anyway as my game has barely been touched lately. I just want to try out everything that is free before I spend money on fixing things that didnt need  money being spent on... but I WILL be buying a better RAM memory, and later a new graphics card if all else fails.