have you tried grabing the window and moving it?

i sometimes get what you do, when my privacy window is facing the wrong way (i can never tell if its in or out)
my window is fine on one side, but like yours on the other.
usually, for me, at least, grabbing the window and ttying to make it face the other side usually works....

wow ^^ i wish my boss could do that
(contact ATI/Nvidia whenever someones game grouses up)



*smile* is all i can say to that.

Still, if you *do* still have the old copy of winXP......
*points you towards the nearest external bootable HDD and sugests installin XP on that to help give you much gaming pleasure and satisfaction till Vista is out of the SickHouse and Microsoft has done all the OS teraforming and BadAiding they usually forget to do in their rush to get their latest OS out the door 12-18 months befor it should leave home*

if your stuck, theres a lifetime wants mod, ether here or mod the sims 2 that reduces the amounts.
from 20 to 10 puppies/kittens

(it also reduces it from 20 to 10 sims in love for the romance sims, and 10 from 20 dream dates for romance/pleasure sims)
(( if its not here or mts2, i will looksie and see where i got it from...hope its not 3 CD's ago, though hehe))

ok, first off...its not your card..its your VISTA

vista is buggy, with any game that isnt tagged Vista and Games fot Windows.
(that means, unless its bloody shadowrun, the new tomb raider or halo2 ect, its gona have lots of problems)

its still gona be buggy for a while, since...
1 Mr Gates *spits in the general direction of his house* does not realy care about people and users, especialy if they like to play with what he considers OLD stuff. (anything that is generaly not made to cater to his latest OS, in other words)

2....they (at microsoft) also do not realy care, so long as they have goten your cash, its all good...like your service provider, even when you purchace your internet to play games only, if you can connecto to the net, but not to a game thats online only, they dont care, you are getting the net, so who cares?

sure, you can get yourself a better card, but damnit, a 8600 GT isnt that bad a card.
if you had say, a geforce4 Ti, like me, then i could say get a better one, since theres no way in tarterus that an ancient card like that would get vista drivers made

i guess...did you just go to nvidia site and get it(driver) from them, in which case, did you get the vista version or the win2k/xp version?

have you tried running the games in emulation mode (run as say, winxp rather than as winVista)

also.....is the new machine a build, or a store off the shelf build? something like a dell ect?

last resort......*cries* what we have had to do with at least 5 laptops only this year....take Vista off and replace with WinXP
if you still have your own copy of XP, the sticker (dont forget, you can only have it installed on ONE pc, so if your still using the old one, you will have to get a newer one) and hopefully the old machine sitting in your garage, you can take both towers down to your local indy computer builder and get it re-installed there for a fee...or buy a new copy of XP and do the same, or whipe your vista, re-install yourself and then start the Loooong >.< task of trolling the net for the drivers (non vista version)

although, the BEST way, is to whipe, partition the hard drive into two, and have one half vista, one half XP for about 18months or so, in the hope they actually get some decent fixes for non vista made stuff
afaik, as long as you own BOTH versions of the os, you can run them on the same machine, but i WOULD check the readme and licensing agreement for vista FIRST if poss....
(he can be such a slipery little..hm...i bet he is a Slytherin ^^)

*Edit* also, check these stikied pages....

http://www.insimenator.org/showthread.php?t=35434
(runing the sims2 with Vista *updated*)

http://www.insimenator.org/showthread.php?t=52772
(nvidia BETA driver is out)

this might help, though the top one is more about have i got the stuff to run, which you HAVE...but there mgith be sometihng further down to help

ok, so, im at work, and i have a problem....

a customer came in, with his laptop and his copy of the game and he had just been given both family fun and celebration stuff pack....

he has the dreaded magenta flashies walls >.<
now, i suspected, when he mensioned it that it was the graphics drivers, and well, i have the driver updates for all the Nvidia and ATI cards, but.....
not for a crappy little VIA/S3G Unichrome Pro IGP.

he says he has already had to take back his birthday version of Seasons (thankfully, it was still sealed, becasue of the flashies he has been having.)

so....is he as fecked as i think he is?
(probly means no add ons or stuff packs, since i beleave his Sims2 works, but he is wanting stuff and he isnt online.....i will check to see if the magenta flashy walls are in just basegame)

well i loved MM.....

another reason i downloaded the entire magic / occult shop theme from retail sims ^^
(there was wands (crystal ones to sell that your sim just looked at) altercloths, crystal display boxes of tumbled stones, chalaces ect....)
i grabbed most of the stuff at Mts2 by the harry potter project (no careers, my sims dont need to be a gryff or slytherin lol)
casue there were magic skills, potions caldron ect....
(if you had nightlife, you had extra pots....just waiting for them to add the anti-ware and anti plant, and hopefully an make-me-ware and make-me-plant pots too)

and the medievil stuff by Lethe  i mean, witchy bookshelf, witchy parlor, magical studies names bookself (gives you more magical sounding names for cooking, mecha and cleaning skill, and 'write in book of shadows' rather than in diary  heh eheh)

i would like some castable spells, if they ever did it....

a spell to make a sim's higene go down (usefull to get rid of the damn cheerleeders and cows in uni)
a temp firends spell (stops working once they leave your lot..to stop nina and another sim fighting EVERY TIME they come as visitors to my simsies lots >.<)

still....if they dont make it..WHO CARES ^^ i have most of the stuff allready for free

well yeah, i think all you need is t make the cookies, leave them out and go to bed..thats the WHOLE family....
i had a trailer park family use the cookies first, and it was funny to see mom and dad as well as the kiddies come runing inot the living area to see santa.

word to the wise, though, make sure there is space around the tree..he dropped off a bloody racecar and for some insane reason (this was with last years version, which it traded in for a few quid of THIS years version heeh) the car made the sound forever, even after i deleated/sold it....hope that dosent happen with this years.....

also, he stayed for a few sim hours, used the loo, ate some of the cookies then left....i think it was between 12 and 1 when he arrived....
if you leave the cookies out for more than one night, he will come again, too (again, this was with last years one...it might be still working, and also i have a food mod that makes sure the food is fress longer)

also..they HAVE to be on a counter, table ect..he dosent show if you have them in the for buisness chiller food selling cabinates (so thats a quick handy trick for keeping him away if you want a santa free night, but like them eating the cookies)

are the packs worth it? hmmmm......to me, yeah, but im a sucker for xmas and themed stuff...i dl halloween, xmas, valentines, St Patricks..i cant get enough of hollidays, since i get so little of a chance to celibrate them *properly* in the real world...*mutter, grumble*

for me, it was worht getting the 06 xmas pack, since not only was there some neat japaneese items for decoration, but a fantastic male kimono style one peice....you know the one, its black on the outer coat, with thos gorgeous wooden block sandals, it has varying shades of grey underneath....kinda like the stuff you see in the anime's where theres old temple grandpas
the maxis kimono is of (womens i mean) but the Rose's sims and the other one i dl are actually better in all but the wooden shoes...its that folded material at the back that lets the maxis one down...their isnt actually folded so you can see the edges of the material, its like its just a bag of cloth thats attached to the waist part....

*is a kimono addict* lol

fun stuff....hmm well the dresses for the little girls are usefull, casue the maxis party dresses are god auful >.> and i do like the castle items and walls eheh.
glam, well once you grab a few recols from sims2day, their not bad....

all i can say is, compared to the 20 you spend on an add on ep, i guess it does seem expensive.....
and there is definately fantastic tallent in the mods and mod makers (who, if you ask me, are the ones that *ahem* inspire *snigger* the Maxis lot to make better items, i mean, the weather....*cough* i remember someone did a weather obelisk ages ago at mts2 i think....

still....if you have no cd-rw drive and no access to the net, or even a friend to dl for you.....its all good, i guess....

(just remembered that maxis got the boot and EA has all the rights now....i expect that means they will be getting *cough* Inspired *cough* by the modding comunity a heluva lot more now.....)

well they are right..if they make sims 3 it will most likely be vista only *rolls eyes*

true, sims2 is still being made with even old win98 capable, thank the server gods!
but im sure our friend billy boy (mr gates to the rest of the populace that dosent have an imaginary bullet with his name etched into it) will whine and grumble till even EA gives in and makes their new versions only work with vista....

which means EVERYONE will need new vid cards...and memeory, since vista needs 512 to run alone, and im hearing that it needs a vid card thats about 100quid or higher and that they have only made 4 versions of the card so far (i mean types of crad, not the brands)
and everyone is gona throw a tantrum, since the vista basic is totaly ahem, basic.....no media outlay whatsoever..if you even want to be able to use media player, you have to get the better version, vista permium or similarly named >.> (i thikn he is not going to allow you to dl a version of media player for your vista unless you bought the version he states you can *have* a media player on)

so.....heres hopeing EA also make a linux version of sims3
*BRING ON THE PENGUINS!*

hmmm...the only way to make sims3 take a leap in quality, the same way they did from sims1 would be...

use an engine like doom or unreal to make them frelling realistic.....
then again, they could also be setting it up for when windows vista actually gets out into the *mass* market lol, and have done a few months worth of patching

i cant see them making it adult rated, unless they want to bring out a 'singles' style version *server gods forbid*

they might actualy include some realistic genetics, rather than just doing a simple code for it, for example, a pair of sims that mate now, if both of them have custom genetics, daughters get their moms, sons get theri dads (so i have seen so far)

i think sims3 is a wee bit too far, in that they know they are gona have a large percentage of the game playing populace buying add ons for a good number of years, and that excludes the fun packs ect....i mean we had about 7 add on packs, so counting.....we have at least another 2 packs to go.....probably their sims2 version of superstar and making magic....(i mean, pets and unleashed were both number 5 cd....uni was the equiveltn of house party, and nightlife was hot date....)

knowing them, they will drag it out till 2010 lol

hm...well when i can connect up, world of warcraft....used to play maple too hehe, i recomend it a lot at work to peeps with 8 to teen and no cash to pay for mmo games hehe

i like morrowind, and used to play neverwinter, but i kept getting into verbal scraps with RP snobs....not people that are snobish becaue they rp, but the type that p@#s on you from a great heigh, just becasue you play a human with a human style name, like Anita or Arleena whatever your surname is, or simply becasue you play a human full stop....(to qote them, you cant be a real ROLEPLAYER  if you play a human...what a bunch of {the rest has been removed to save the readers from bleeding eyeballs})

console, hm, i like the res evils, and also Animal Crossing....i realy am looking forwatd to twilight princess ehhe, that new link is Oooohhhh *gooey puddle, grab a bucket quick) but i also like ff10 and 10-2 but meh, actualy, i like all the FF games but the online (never aforded the fees)

what i have been replaying lately is Startopia
i like the one liners that Arona Daal the trader comes out with.....Phalapatorus Rex, planet of wholesale opertunites, indeed ^^

hm..well there is TONES of harry potter stuff at mts2......(yeah, ok, your saying ya want the OWNER of the game tomake stuff but, i cant see them managing that specifically,..magic, sure but not HP stuff, since they would get into an argument with JK lol)

i would like to see kids be able to make breakfast and dinner from the fridge without hacks...(yeah, ok, not cooking, but come ON, peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches with a blunt knife are safe for kidies....as is cerial..i know real kids spill and squish stuff but...)

enable those that *choose* to be um, more mature ect, to have their game more adult..i dont mean totaly graphic, but hey, people make out and more on the couch, in the bath, in showers ect, its not just cars/beds/hotubs and lifts....just ask when installing the game...'Do you want to install the family-friendly edition, or the Adults Enabled Package?'

family friendly being..no dead pets/kids/no nekkid, no fights, no jelousy maybe..lol
Adult being, you choose what you want..if you just want teens to be able to live alone, elders and child/teen to be able to live together without havign to make a set of pearants in game and offing em, then you just tick the box that says, Tenn/child do not need a pearant, only a relative in the house.

also, to be able to select stuff like...
no townies.....no jelousy....sims need only to get to friend, then flirt to acept whoo-who....(i want that for my romance sims, they can be too much work lol)i would like em to be able to select or toggle on/off stuff like that, and whetehr or not you bring friends home from work/school, since some folks (me included sometimes) have trouble with large lots and more than 4 sims on them, and them both grups bring home workmates >.<

ooh, and a special tool for story makers, so that, instead of making a whole load of sims and then having to go in game to kill them off, you can generate them, then hit the storytellr mode and have them be ex-sims from the start....perhaps a whole dofferent create-a-sim section, called Create-a-StorySim, and you creat them, write their info or even events n their lives and then choose to ether make them a dead sim or a dead-with-ghost sims lol....
(i need that for my gothy and horror hoods, i just have trouble killing sims, i cant even drown a ruddy kowalsky (stargate reference) lol)

isnt that an old chestnut that someone was bandying about befor nightlife came out?
(i seem to remember someone had posted a link to some dodgy website that looked reasonably ok, but wasnt actualy connected to maxis or EA)

then again, it might have been a miss-reported copy of Sims2 for PS3

hm..gona come in handy for the pink poodle (though, i dont think i can make it a poodle..whatever, sim snobs can have pink strange dogies now)

hm..wonder HOW pink.....well you can allways add a layer of white over the top to make the shade ya want.....

Oooh, i remember the old pets for sims one version of this i had it saved me tones of cash

on the down side, i found that if i used the old motive-booster pet bowl, my cats used to get addicted to it 0.o
she would nibble it...walk a few paces, turn right round and eat again, and repeat that behaviour.....was the only thing that didnt work lol...the personality and skills and tricks bowl worked fine though....

i KNEW i would need a bottomless bowl for my tightwad sims ehhe...i didnt expect it THIS fast though
(many MANY pets thanks you, since otherwise, they would be eating my simmies leftovers lol)

whooty ^^ no more filling up the bloody thing each day for Jack
(i mean, he IS a gadget-head, so this would be one of those nice items that DON'T end up in his safe heeh..his cockatiel Billy thanks you.....)