There's a big thread on MATY, N99 and a few other sites regarding the new patch for Bon Voyage.

Maxis has been using securom since April of 2007 to curb piracy, not that it helps.  Supposedly the new patch for Bon Voyage uses the newest version of Securom and supposedly the newest version is a bit more spyware like.  I've never had an issue with securom in the past, but times change.  So I for one am not installing the patch.  The patch does not resolve the nvidia issue, it only supposedly fixes the random spawning of tour guides, but the hacks on MATY already covered that.  The patch instructions also claim that it may not fix issues with a lot/family and the player may need to create a new family/lot in order to take advantage of the patch.  

There is no nocd crack for the new patch as of yet.  So if you install the patch and you're using a nocd crack, it'll just screw things up, so don't do it.  There may not be a nocd crack for the patch.  Maxis doesn't number their patches, ie: they don't call it 1.1.  So the scene kids who create nocd cracks often times have no idea the game has been patched.  On top of that, the patches take so long to be done, the kids who do the nocd cracks have already moved on to bigger and better games.  

I heard the patch also does not resolve the audio clipping.  As I've stated in another thread, what fixes that is going with internal sound rather than a creative soundcard.  I have a feeling maxis just said "screw testing with soundcards.. lets just test with onboard sound".  

Anywho..

Securom is known to cause certain dvd burning software to have issues..

Here's the list..

--Fantom CD Emulator
--Alcohol 120%
--Nero Image Drive
--Phantom CD
--Clone CD
--Ark Virtual Drive
--Veritas DLA
--Daemon Tools

If the date is 2.12.08 on Ebgames that means Febuary the 12th 08..

Us yanks go.. month.. day.. year.. I believe some other countries go day.. month.. year.  And the Bon Voyage patch is done, as I'm sure you're aware of by now.  But supposedly the patch causes more issues because it uses the newest version of securom.  I for one am not installing it, doesn't seem to solve the biggest issue, which is the nvidia one.  All it supposedly fixes is the random spawning of tour guides and the hack on maty already does that and better.

Haha.. thanks..

Cool sim.. very china doll like..

Anyone know what page the hair mesh is on?  Peggy's site has 175 pages of hair.. which is like whoah..

I was browsing on EBGames when I saw this..

http://www.ebgames.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=647228

Maxis really has a big set of @#$#s.  They haven't even patched up Bon Voyage yet and the other one is already in production?

Wikipedia has it listed as "The Sims 2: Hobbies" but EBgames has it listed as "Free Time".  So I imagine they'll be able to sew and build race cars or something?  

Then we'll all install it.. it'll cause crashes for those using nvidia cards.. and Maxis will place the blame on Nvidia again.

This is a confusing thread haha..

Custom content works fine in Bon Voyage, just certain hacks cause issues.  Inteeniator doesn't work properly in the game at the moment and a few other hacks cause random issues.  But most of crammyboys mods work and quite a few other hacks at maty work totally fine with the game.

Sometimes after you load a new expansion, enable custom content.. stuff still will not show.  There's an easy fix to this.. you just need to delete a few files..

accessory.cache
groups.cache
contentregistry
cigen.package

All four files should be located under..

c:\my documents\yourname\ea games\the sims 2\

The files will re-spawn after you play the game again but they'll be updated with the custom content.

I agree with Netza.  

A member of this board shouldn't freely admit they download the games, but if they accidentally slip, it doesn't mean its time for the inquisition.

Besides, before anyone judges someone who may or may not have downloaded an expansion.. they better check and make sure they don't have a few mp3's they didn't pay for on their drive.. or perhaps a few pictures they snagged from a website.

I decided to test Bon Voyage on the new pc..

The differences between the two pc's are quite extreme..

The first pc had a Creative Audigy 4 soundcard, nvidia 7600, ata 40 gig drive, 1 gig of ram, and a pentium 4 2.53..

The second pc has internal sound, Nvidia 8600, 2 gigs of ram, sata 350 gig drive, and a 2.4 dual core processor.

The first issue that vanished was the sound clipping, random freezing.  That was most likely caused by the Audigy 4 not working right with Bon Voyage.  I'm not sure what Maxis did different this time out, the other expansions didn't have that issue.  With the removal of that issue things seemed better, was able to max out the graphic settings again.

The issue that remained..

Sometimes when a sim walks to a community lot, if the sim interacts with another sim or an object, a pop up will hit the screen saying the application encountered an error and will close.  If the sim drives to the lot, the issue doesn't seem to be there.  I haven't tried that with the taxi, just the sims own car.  It could be hack related because even when I removed most of the cc content to test it, I left the anti redundancy hack and the vampwere fix.

All in all, I think Maxis misrepresented the necessary recommended requirements the expansion needs to run with everything set to high.  

It would be nice if Maxis decided to one day release a Sims game with everything already included.  This expansion pack thing they do seems to just open a door to new issues each time, of course it also opens the door for to make a lot more money.  And judging by the top ten chart I'm looking at right now, Maxis will be rollin' in the money for quite awhile.

I backed up everything to fast.  I won't have the new pc ready till the weekend or monday.  But now that I have the EA Games folder from My documents on a disc, I can just back up the neighborhoods folder on my flash drive and overwrite the one I backed up on the dvdr.  I just have to avoid downloading CC until monday.. heh.

As for ATI Vs. Nvidia.. it comes down to small things.  I never liked how ATI handled lighting, that may have changed since 03 but I have my doubts.  If I only played SIms 2.. not a problem.  But I play to many other games..

But on Monday I'll test things.. see what I can figure out.

I do think they may have beefed up things a bit to much on BV which may be causing issues in a big way if people were used to getting by on the requirements from Pets or Seasons.  A 512 hop is kind of significant..

So basically..

Sims + Nightlife + Pets + Seasons = Save game
Sims + Nightlife + OFB + Pets + Seasons = Save Game
Sims + Nightlife + OFB + Pets - Seasons = No Go..

I probably won't even add OFB.. it's just a thought..

Now on to the fun part.. backing everything up..

Sims stuff is only a few gigs.. but music.. eeesh.. It's a good thing I'm not the sentimental type and save email.

I'm about to build a new pc, it'll be using a 250 gig sata drive, currently I'm using an ata.

In other words.. I'm going to have to re-install the Sims stuff..

So this is what I need to know..

How do I back up my families, lots and stuff.

I know the downloads folder and saved sims folder need to be saved to a cd.  But do I just take the EA Games folder from within "my documents" and burn that to a cd?  Is that how it's done?  Now let us say that is exactly what I do, I have a question within that one.

Lets say I have the following installed..

Sims 2
Nightlife
Pets
Seasons
Bon Voyage

So I back up the EA Games folder...

Install the new drive.. put on XP..

Then install..

Sims 2
Nightlife
Open for Business
Pets
Seasons
Bon Voyage..

Will that cause an issue with backing up the data I saved from the previous install since the previous didn't include OFB.  Or do I install OFB after I install Bon Voyage. I usually go in release date order.

Speaking of the game..

I always use..

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest

To check to see if I can a run game.

The optimal system requirements for Bon Voyage are quite a bit different than what EA had listed last I checked.  This may explain some of the crashing and lag..

Processor
Recommended: 2.4 G

Ram
Recommended: 1 GB

Seasons had slightly different requirements..

Processor
Recommended: 2.4 GHz

Ram
Recommended: 512 MB

So it hopped by 512.. accorded to srtest.

You always want to have 512 more than recommended.. so when I get the new system built.. it'll have 2 gigs.. see if that helps.  I'm also going onboard sound rather than my audigy 4.  The guys at the shop said they even are having issues with creative's soundcards and clipping with other games.  Supposedly Creative is making half ass products now..

Then again.. I heard a few complain about lag using 2gigs of ram.. while running a dual core machine.  However, I forgot to check to see what graphics card they're using.  I notice a lot of good dual core machines are being sold with geforce 8400's which are crap cards.  I mean you can get them for 40 bucks on Ebay.

EA doesn't seem to want take responsibility for that annoying black screen error some are getting.  They seem to want to blame Nvidia on that one.  I guess they forgot they're the ones who are supposed to test their software on what is currently out there.. not what may come later.  Although, I installed the beta drivers Nvidia has on their website.  I get a few more hangups while the sims are doing they're thing, but the black screen sometimes happens less.  It still happens.. but less.. I think.  But the warning is still there.. when the game goes to that darker blue screen with the sims hourglass.. that's usually a warning to save and get the hell out.  The second time it happens.. the black screen usually hits.. It also happens a lot less if you only have a small house with one or two sims on the lot.  The bigger the lot/home.. the more sims.. the more prone it is to go boom.  

Oh well..

:blob6:

I had that happen once..

I also had a sim walk to a community lot and instead of loading the community lot with the sim there.. it brought me to the build screen of the lot i wanted to visit.. hah.

Buggy ass game.. haha..

Is this with a default sim or one of the custom sims you found here?  If it's with one of the ones from here you have to make sure you have all of the proper meshes to make it showerproof.  But I can't really help unless you give us more specifics..

I'm not sure if I'm following you.  I just toss CC in the downloads folder.  I never get any message that says "successfully installed".  Are you using some kind of sims program that installs custom content for you?  I think Sims2pack clean installer does that, doesn't it?

Anywho.. if you want to get the stuff to work..

Go here..

C:\Documents and Settings\yourname\My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2

Delete groups.cache and accessory.cache..

Restart the game..

Statues and stuff should show after that.  Sometimes after an expansion install even if you have custom content enabled.. stuff still doesn't show.  It just because it didn't get cached the first time.

As for XP.. it's only being phased out OEM wise.  IE: it won't be an option when buying a computer at the store anymore.  Dell of course will fight this, but I doubt that'll help.  XP still will probably be supported for another few years, maybe 2.  A lot of people are threatning to go to Linux if MS forces Vista too much.  I don't think MS is stupid enough to push that, they're already getting really close to losing the browser war.. don't think they also want to lose the OS war.

Vista is clean.. it looks good.. I just don't like how if a game requires a gig of ram to run on xp.. its a gig and a half on Vista.  That means the OS is to resource hungry and that just isn't cool.  An OS should run light.. kinda like one of the Olsen twins.. it shouldn't have the appetite of Britney Spears.. I don't need a resource heavy fat ass OS bloating things down.

Heh.. I like that analogy.. sorta.. kinda..

When the Sims 2 first came out, it was all over the net.  But at the time whoever released the pirated version created the crack prior to actually really investing time in the game.  So the crack would bypass the security but the player wouldn't be able to use the build option.. they were only able to buy objects.  I thought it was kind of amusing.

But most of them are going to have to reinstall Bon Voyage if a patch is released.  Most no cd cracks are version specific.. so the patch won't install over them so the original exe would have to be put back in place.  If they're smart, they backed it up.  But even after they install the patch, they then have to wait for a new no cd crack to come out that works with the patch.  So those who pirate games, they may be saving 30 dollars.. but they get inconvenienced quite a bit.. so it's kinda karma like..

As for your TRL...

Your issue is Maxis related..

Bon Voyage is causing some video cards to break the signal to the monitor which causes it to think the computer is off.  It's basically an out of sync error which has been a problem with the Sims 2 since Seasons.  They patched Seasons and it seemed to be stable after that but so far there's no word on a Bon Voyage patch.

Been a week now to....

But it isn't a bug that's affect every one so Maxis probably realizes this and isn't as stressed about it having to much of a negative impact on sales.  Either that or they're just slooooow.  I mean they should have known about the bugs over a month ago.  Publishers generally send out games to reviewers weeks before the games hit the market.  You'd think a few of the reviewers would have noticed the bugs and let EA know..

Anywho.. maybe next week we'll have a patch.. hopefully..