This has been going on for a while, I don't even know if it's possible that the game can corrupt my drivers, so here goes the story.  Before I got this pc (hubby built me this one about a yr ago or so) I noticed the same issues so we thought it was the pc's fault and I got a whole new one (yaaay!).  After I play the Sims, images on any websites I visit will be distorted or the color faded.  Video, also, chooses to either not play at all or will only partially load.  This is IF I can get past Firefox's "Message Authentication Code" error or "Content Encoding Error".  If I get that, I have to just keep reloading the page until it's workable.  Sometimes that works or sometimes all the text will be either jumbles or I'll see some sort of code sprinkled about the page or the page will only partially load.

So I contact EA and they say, basically, "The Sims 2 will not corrupt your graphics card."..... OK then!  It only happens after I start up and play the game.  I never have any in game issues though.  No problem with the graphics at all!  So EA says it's not them and to go to NVIDIA for help.  I do and the guy tells me:

"Hello Amanda, go to WWW.NVIDIA.COM download and install the updated drivers. When installing the drivers make sure you do not have any anti-virus programs running. Make sure before you install the latest video card drivers you uninstall the old one. To remove the old drivers you right click my computer, manage, and then go into device manager. Click on the + sign next to display adapters, right click on the Geforce card and choose uninstall. Do not restart the computer yet, instead go into your C drive and if you see a NVIDIA folder right click on it and delete it (make sure you empty the recycle bin). Now restart the computer and install the latest drivers. If still having issues boot into you BIOS (setup utility) usually it is F1, F2, or delete and make sure the primary video adapter or initial display first is set to PCI-E."

So of course, I follow this to the exact, but alas  I am still having this issue.  I uninstalled and reinstalled and have NO custom content of any sort at the moment, thinking that maybe that could be the issue.  Maybe it was custom hair or something because I didn't have many mods except Inteen (which was updated to Free Time and I removed after I got AL) an maybe 2-3 others.  I ran a Hack Conflict scan and it came back A-OK!  But, tonight, I just reinstalled everything minus anything other than the games.

Same issue no matter what.  Now, all this time, being the simmy addict that I am, I would simply play anyway and afterward I'd reinstall my drivers and that would be fine... of course until the next time I played.  It was just a tedious cycle and I know there just HAS to be an answer (well at least I'm hoping lol)  Any ideas at all?  I apologize for the length of the post, just wanted to make sure I didn't leave anything out.

Here are my specs:

-Windows XP Home Edition Version 2002 Service Pack 3
-Intel(R) Celeron(R) D CPU 3.33GHz
2.0GB RAM
-Graphics Card: NVIDIA e-GEFORCE 9600GT (512 MB DDR3, PCI-E 1.0/2.0, DX10
-MSI mainboard

-DirectX diagnostic says it found no problems there as well. All features (Direct Draw Accel, Direct 3D Accel, and AGP Texture Acceleration) are enabled if that means anything lol

Any help is GREATLY appreciated!!!

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Everytime I try to click on the car in buy mode my game crashes.  I can't even get to the selection of cars, it just terminates once I click on the car icon.  I've run the hack conflict thingy and nada.  I turned off my inteen and any recent CC I added but still nada.  Everything else runs fine.  The game runs great so far.  I haven't had any other issues only that I can't buy cars lol  Any ideas?  I'm going to test other goodies out as well but so far all of my CC shows up and is working with the tinkering and whatnot so I'm not sure what it can be!  I haven't downloaded any patches either. Except for BV.  I have the updated version of Inteen and the Aspiration fix that was recommended (highly) along with it.  Any help is greatly appreciated  Thanks!:blob6:

I'm scared to get Free Time, but if it solved your BV problems, maybe I should give it a try haha.  I think because when I put Seasons on my pc it kept doing something weird to my graphics card.  It like, resets it or turns it off or something and every time I re-downloaded the drivers for my card, it'd be fine.

 I have to do that every time I play sims now!  BV was being so weird too, that unsavory guy kept showing up in my neighborhoods outside of vacation and walking right into the house annoying ppl lol  I wasn't sure if he was supposed to or not, and I couldn't click on him or anything.

 So I assumed that seasons and BV may have been conflicting off of each other.  I'm still not sure, but I know I don't want to get rid of my BV lol  Now that Free Time is out, I should probably dl the BV patches.  I haven't touched it in months because I was afraid of it haha  But I would give BV a second chance!  It seems to be more fun than trouble for me so haha.  Ok sorry for all that typing!

Has anyone else noticed that when they installed any of the sims games (I have all minus the stuff packs) that their computer acts up a little.  For example.  Without the games, I didn't have many issues with videos or pictures.  When I downloaded it again, I noticed these problems popped up again.  If I go to a website like YouTube, the videos never load properly.  If I got to something like Myspace, some of the pictures show up distorted and discolored if that makes sense.  Anyone else witness anything similar.  I don't have any hack conflicts...the game runs fine when I play, but when it's not running and I'm just surfing the net or something, I come across these problems.  Also, websites start to give me "error codes" like Message Authentication Code etc. etc.


Any help?  Greatly appreciated

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I had a question lol  What mesh is the Warlokk one exactly?  I put me in the game and (fabulous job once again!!!) I'm fine until shower time lol  I have just a  head...no body hehe

Stunning!

Have you tried running your game without any hacks or Insim?  Disable your custom content and see if thats the problem, if so you need to start taking things out one by one to find the problem or run Hack Conflict to see if something is not working well together.  Also, a word of caution, you won't get very far on your mother's advice about Insimenator.net paying for your new computer lol.  It's your choice to download it, not Insimenator.net's.  If you are having problems with it, it's best to just remove it.

Also, a little more information.  What EPs do you have on your pc?  Are you sure all of them are compatible with Insim?  Are you sure you have the right Insim for your EPs?    Hope you figure it out

That sounds like a lot of work hehe  I just have them use a phone in their suites to call and check out, and then it just transitions them back home pretty much.  Sucks that it happens at all really!

lol Hmmm haven't met the ninja yet, I just made it to Three Lakes with another Sim family.  Decided to give The Island a little break to avoid frustration haha.  The only thing I've found here is that once you find a secret map from digging treasure and get led to the secret location, you have a task to complete, yet, nobody asks me to do anything!!  I won't say too much, bc I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't gotten to that part yet lol, but it's pretty cool.  I was going to try the Takemizu Village next, now I'm scared!  I'll have to test it out nonetheless though, gotta make sure my "end your vacation" strategy holds out for each vacation spot!

I may have discovered a solution lol  I tried one more thing before doing the Insim option that you tried.  I luckily had phones in the suites and had one of my Simmies call and end their vacation.  They checked out and the shuttle came, and even though they couldn't go downstairs, the game automatically just switches back to their home when they end their vacation without the long drawn out walk to the shuttle with their bags and all.  Now they've returned home, and the hotel was free when I tried to put a new family in.

Oh dear, sounds like it's going to be a tough fight getting my family back lol  It sucks because I don't want to lose them  This is the 3rd time I've had to remake them bc I got a new self sim made and wanted to include her in the family.  Hmm, I'll try what you did just to see if I can get them back.  Is there a particular Insim I should download or anything?  I haven't used Insim before so I'm not sure if there are different versions and whatnot  Thanks for replying!

It's weird, my sims were doing fine on their vacation, and we move to a new hotel, and after they came back from the parasailing trip, they're all stuck on the 2nd floor.  They can go up to the 3rd floor, but no one can go down to the first floor!  They keep whining like there is something in the way, but the stairs are clear.  I don't have any mods in and they were working just fine when I installed and started playing.  Any ideas or anybody else witness anything similar?  Thanks guys

I did but she kept dying.  I thought maybe I had done something wrong because I worked on it for an hr lol  But it's ok, I reinstalled all my games and I've done the SimPE instruction thingies all over again and I"m actually seeing EXACTLY what the directions are displaying, so I"m thinking I may have just messed up something by fiddling around and whatnot.  I didn't see that stuff for the I AM DEAD token I think bc I had used the tombstone to bring her to the family first.  I'll see if it works now.  Thanks  

Ok gave up all hope after I went to ST and got the "other" Bella to move in with the Specters.  When I moved her out she was in the bin.  So I went to SimPE thinking I could maybe manuever her from there to the Goth family in PV.  But that Bella kept getting like memories from the other Bella that keeps dying in PV for some reason?  It's weird, if anyone else has any ideas I'm open for anything lol  But I think my last resort is upon me...re-re-re-re-reloading my games and starting from scratch!

Yaaay I got my Bella back.  At first she wouldn't show up in SimPE at all, then I remember she was "dead on another lot" or whatever.  So I went back into game, re summoned her with the tombstone of l&D and paused right when she showed up and the thingy said she had died on another lot.  I closed out, went back into SimPE and there she was!  Everything else worked fine *woot*  Luckily she was there long enough before that dying thing that I had already established her marriage and stuff with Mort....though I am debating on whether or not she was happy there at all *evil, maniacal grin forming uncontrollably* hehe  Thanks again ya'll!!

WELL I thought she was back and all was well, but now she keeps disappearing again  I went back and she was there, then she just disappeared.  I'm at a loss at the moment lol