Insimenator.org

i did not know where to post this but here it goes:

my sims 2 has the day/night toggle while you are in the neighborhood view. daytime works fine however nighttime does not. when i switch to night time my roads and lots go dark but the neighbor hood remains in day light mode. can someone help me?

i have posted a picture of the problem i am having: (this is pleasant view in night time mode)

(http://www1.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/3c9791a12d342351351f42cba82b7c1e5g.jpg) (http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=uu9wsejwy0r&thumb=4)

Go to your video card's control panel -usually in control panel, display, settings, advanced and set antialiasing, trilinear etc to application controlled. this might help. Maybe it's an artifacting problem. If not you can always reset your card to their former settings.

Seem to recall there was a problem like this associated with Glamour Life and with Seasons.

For some people loading a clean, naked version of the game fixed it.

Move your Downloads folder (don't delete it!) to someplace else on your computer temporarily and then open up the game and after it has fully opened then Quit.

Return the Downloads folder back where it belongs and then open up the game and see if the clean load has kicked things back into gear.

i tried that it did the same thing.

Have you tried updating your graphics card driver?

yes i have the most recent  driver installed for this piece of junk.

Have you removed any sort of terrain/lighting replacement hack files from your game to see if that'll do the trick? (if any are in your game... there's a slight possibility if you've downloaded any lots from off the Sims 2 Exchange, stray hacks may have carried over into your downloads folder) And if possible, could you tell us what type of video card your machine has?  :angel:

i have no lightning hacks my computer has the Peice of Junk Intel 915 GM/GMS, 910 GML Chipset. My Computer is a Dell Inspiron 1300 notebook.

Eh... I can see that part of the problem is that your video card is an "integrated" one... most on-board integrated graphics chips aren't able to support certain types of image effects that high-end ones would.  Especially if the shared video memory is low.  (... it's been suggested that any card that has 256MB minimum or more is in good standing.  128MB is also good, but not as smooth in gameplay.)

And seeing as Dell rarely ever does updates for older laptops/computers anymore, I can see where updating Dell-compatible drivers can be quite difficult now days.    :?  If you've already tried updating your DirectX also, there might not be too much else to help fix that issue through non-physical updates... :(

the thing is it used to work when i had just nightlife installed, now i have the rest of the sims collection excluding ikea home stuff and aparment life..so i dont think its the graphics card. i think it may be one of the expansions that i installed. i just want to get it working again.

I see what you mean... I know as you add on to the base game by installing newer EPs/SPs, the demands on graphic card performance increases with the addition of new features and such.  I'm probably sure if you ever decide to uninstall any of those EPs you installed, it may just revert back into its working state.  Of course, it's not mandatory to do all of that since it's nothing that's deadly serious.  Depends on what you want to do in the end.  ;)

It's like Tenshii said. All the extra EP's put extra demand on your games graphics, especially Seasons, with the addition of weather. Now, here's the big thing with your graphics...your chipset is non T & L, which means it doesn't support Transform and Lighting calculations, which the Sims 2 needs. If you look at the system requirements for the EP you see the following:

NOTE: If you have a non-T&L capable video card, such as Intel Extreme Graphics, then you need at least a 2.4 GHz processor

If your Inspiron 1300 is typical, then it's got something like a 1.7 GHz processor right? Therein lies your problem.

my processor speed is a Intel celeron 1.60 GHz

so there is no way in fixing it without removing any expansions?

that was my screw up is buying this computer with intel products in it. the next computer i buy will have a amd processor and either a nvidila or ati graphics chip.

Nope, I'm afraid not. You could talk to Dell about upgrading your laptop, but I'm not sure how much that would cost.

so there is no hack i could download?

now i am FOR SURE i am never going back to intel products again!!!!!!
i am going to build me a new computer and it WILL have a amd processor and either a nivdila or ati graphics chip in it. now i can truely say
"INTEL SUCKS"!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's not possible to upgrade integrated graphics cards... :?  If you want a better video card, that requires purchasing a whole new laptop unfortunately.  :(

i forgot to say a desktop computer.

From the way it looks, Intel isn't your problem, it's the processor speed.

With all the EP's and SP's you added, you put way too much of a strain on your system. Your laptop doesn't have the power it needs to run all those games.

I'll give you an example of my desktop system:

I have an AMD chip. 1.8 Ghz. In Intel specs, it comes out to a 3.2Ghz. Chip
I have a NVidia Gforce Video Card integrated on my motherboard. 256MB
I have 512 MB of memory.
I have the base game, University, Nightlife, Open For Business.

Now, with those specs, I can't even play Pets. I could, but I'd have a memory problem and I'd end up having to use my hard drive for memory. (Virtural Memory)

That's why I look at the box and see what the requirements are. Plus, I've done enough reading to know that, the more EP's you add, the more of a strain you put on your system. EAxis doesn't tell you that.

The Sims 2 is one great big power hog.

It's a combination of a few things, in all honesty. Your processor, ram and video card all work together in a game. Your processor is like the highway for your computer, ram is the vehicle. In keeping with the car and transporation analogy, the video card is like the window.  A fast car is great, but not if the highway sucks, and not if you can't see out the widow because it's a crappy piece of glass. A crappy car moves better on a good highway and with a good window, but you still have a bit of a rough ride. Get a good car, with a great window and put it on a nice highway and you've got a great ride. Make sense?

First, ignore what the Sims 2 site says about minimum requirements for video cards. Seriously. Especially if your running all EP's. You'll find yourself happiest with nothing below 256mb for your video card, not the measly little 32 mb the site says. At 256 you'll get a clearer picture and be able to see more detail. The site says 1.3 GHz...but meh...imo that just doens't do it. If you got at least a 2.4 GHz processor, I think you'd be happy. You'll find things moving faster Last, we go to memory (RAM). The more you have the better. I recommend, if you want all eps, no less that 1 gb of RAM...2 is lovely and you'll find it moving a lot more smoothly.

If you can afford that...then that's what I would do. I have a 2.6 GHz AMD dual core processor (it's a like a two lane highway in comparison to one), 2 gb of RAM and a set of Radeon x1950 video cards (512 mb). It wasn't cheap, but cheaper than buying it ready made. I bought the parts and had it built for me (I have great friends).

I know I have to upgrade mine. BIG TIME!

My motherboard will hold 16 GIG's of memory. I'm only looking to get about 2 or 4 GIG's.

My video card, I can go PCI-Express. I'm looking at a higher end GForce card. I might go to 512MB one. If not, then a 256 MB.

Mine was built so I could upgrade instead of buying a brand new one.

True enough. Processing power is the key to games like Sims 2. Especially when it grows to behemoth proportions with SPs, EPs, and CC. The Intel DUO processors perform nicely, as do the AMD, in fact, AMD has now announced a quad processor - but that's a different story. I have the game on both a desktop and a laptop. The desktop has a 1.9G processor and the graphics has 256MB built in memory, the laptop has a DUO processor that yields 3+G of processing speed and the graphics card has 512M built on. Both systems have 2GB of RAM. I have both machines loaded to the gills with Sims 2 and CC, the only thing not yet installed is AL. The desktop has gotten a bit jerky in its play, but the laptop runs smoothly. I would recommend at least 1 GB of RAM in addition to the processor and graphics upgrades, but if you are running Windows VISTA, you really don't want less than 2 GB of RAM.

My dell specs

OS Windows Vista Home premium SP1 (Windows XP Home original)
RAM 1.2 GB (512 MB was the original)
HDD 120 GB Seagate (80 GB Hitachi travel star Original)
Chipset [i am embarrassed/mad at this chipset] Intel 915GM/GMS, 910GML
Processor Intel Celeron 1.60 GHz

for a dell inspiron 1300 notebook.

iam soooo not likeing sims2

wanturs, how come?

And what, exactly, does it have to do with this thread? Please, don't hijack threads with unrelated stuff. Thanks.

sorry if i broke the rules

Don't worry mrnapoleon, I wasn't talking to you :) I was asking wanturs what her statement had to do with your original question and asking her not to highjack your thread. I could have elaborted on that, my bad. :)