These are so wonderful! Thanks!!!

These are so pretty :-) well wishes to you

Thanks for the tips, I will watch for that, I normally monitor that kind of thing pretty close but that is showing very low in the log file :-)

They are wonderful! Thank you, I thought that the others were a bit to harsh... but these are just what I wanted.

No problem I used to be a computer tech... I know how it goes.
File is included, I am a bit confused about it because the date is long before I started having issues. Or even before the major upgrade, back before I had any issues, at least that I knew about.
I have all EP's and stuff packs.... Yep totally addicted.

As an update to the issue, I got rid of Securom following the steps I found here I believe, and got the no CD crack for Free Time as a note to everyone the one I got worked with the new patch for Free Time. Does not ask for the cd or prevent me from copying things. When I loaded the game after this it was a little bit better but still locked up and crashed when saving.

The next thing I did was the AMD dual core patch? I guess it is? I know it stops me from overclocking, but since I used to support video cards I don't like to overclock anyway. (Nothing against anyone who does, I have just seen the things that can go wrong.) I had already removed the GeForce 6600 to send it back, so all I had to test it with was on-board video (GeForce 6100).

Launched my game, played for a couple of hours, went to Downtown lots and back, saved used my inSimenator repeatedly... made some sims, just generally tested everything. It worked with no crashing, no errors... YAAAY.
I left the graphic settings on low, because I know the on-board can't handle anything more than that. So I think when I put in the new GeForce 8600 I should be ok... I hope.  I still want thoughts and ideas though, so I am prepared for whatever fresh h@@@ the card will bring ;-)
Thanks for your time!

Happened to be looking at my past order at tigerdirect ;-)

Motherboard
PCChips A13G+ v3.0 Motherboard - NVIDIA GeForce 6100 (this wasn't being used since I had the Nvidia 6600), Socket AM2, MicroATX, Audio, Video, PCI Express, 10/100 Ethernet LAN, USB 2.0, Serial ATA, CNR

Memory
Crucial 1024MB PC4200 DDR2 533MHz Memory
 
CPU
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ 2.0GHz, 2 x 256KB Cache, 1000MHz (2000 MT/s) FSB, Windsor, Dual Core, OEM, Socket AM2

Hi all,
I recently got an Nvidia GeForce 6600 with 512mb. First I went through the blue screen crashes happening in the nvidia drivers. I got that cleared up, now when I try to save or leave a lot It does not crash the whole system but the game crashes with the error:  
Direct3D returned an error: D3DERR_NOTAVAILABLE! The application will now terminate.
I have been through driver updates, directx steps... really everything I could find. Now the card shows signs of corruption (glitchy lines and such) so I am sending it back before the protection plan is up. A couple of questions...
1. Has anyone else been through this and what did you do to resolve it?
2. Time for a new card... looking at the nvidia 8600 GTS (I guess I like pain). Is anyone using this card without issue?
3. Suggestions on other cards?
Thanks all!
:sad1: