Stupid Freezing...AGAIN!

[SenkoTwiik]

I thought I was over this! I got mygame as updated as I could. Nothing seems to be conflicting, to the best of my knowledge, but my game still freezes. I load it up, and it will get all the way to the neighborhood before one of three things happen:

1. The game will just freeze, even if I don't touch the mouse, and I will have to turn off the whole computer for it to close down the game (ctrl-alt-delete doesn't work here).
2. A pop-up will say that there is an error and the program must terminate. Then I can usually ctrl-alt-delete and the program will shut down.
3. It says that Direct3D had an error and the system is aborting the program. Sometimes that works and it will all shut off fine, and other times it freezes and I have to turn the whole thing off.

I haven't downloaded any hacks or mods since I last fixed it, so I have no idea what could be wrong. Has anyone else had this happen?

[Simsample]

This sounds like it could be caused by a hardware error- or at least, a driver problem causing hardware error. I would advise to update your graphics drivers, and also to monitor your system temperatures. Driver fault is a common cause of the Directx error.

[freoninferno]

you might want to scale back your graphics demand to the simplest set up the game allows for, then play as long as you can just to see what the result is. you may find that your graphics driver needs to be updated -OR- rolled back to more stable previous version.

also, if there are any other games you play or any other hardware intensive apps you execute on your pc, then go ahead and fire up one or two of those just to see if the freeze happens there as well.

if it does, then it may not be a direct x or graphics driver issue at all, but rather a problem with your memory or memory controller (on the motherboard) or even an overheating issue or inadequate power supply.

these types of freezes, if replicated outside the game, are symptomatic of those specific hardware issues.

good luck.

[SenkoTwiik]

How do I go about checking/updating these things (the graphics drivers, directx, memory controller)? I'm sorry, I'm really dumb when it comes to the inside of computers. Do I take the whole thing in and have it checked out by someone that knows what they're doing or is it something I can do on my own.

I'm sure it has to be something wrong with the actual computer itself, because even if all of my downloads are out of the folder, it still does the same thing.

[Simsample]

Download HWMonitor and run it whilst you play to see the maximum temperatures.
http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php
Graphics card info and how to update DirectX and drivers here:
http://www.modthesims2.com/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Graphics_Cards
Links for diagnosing hardware faults here:
http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:System_Checkup

[SenkoTwiik]

Thank you all. I'll do all of these things and get back to you to see if they helped out.

[SenkoTwiik]

Okay, as far as I can guess, I think either my video card is bad, or there is something wrong with the motherboard itself. I'm leaning toward the first one.
I'm going to take it in for a second opinion before I buy a new card though.

[Simsample]

Do you have another computer with the same graphics slot that you can swap cards with? That way you can determine if it's the card or the mainboard.

[SenkoTwiik]

Nope, this is the only comp that I have. But tomorrow I am taking it into the town's computer guys. He's really reasonable with charging for his services, so I hope that will work. I checked out a new vid card, so if it is messed up, I know which to get. It's like $100 though


EDIT:

I was looking through some more diagnostic stuff, and it told me to take every single custom made thing out and then try the game again. I did it before with my downloads, but this time, I did it and everything worked fine. So it can't be my video card...at least that can't be the only problem. I still have something that is conflicting. I thought I was over this. Oh well, I just saved $100 on a new card. Thanks everyone that helped me.

[Simsample]

The DirectX error wouldn't be caused by custom content. It could be that by removing custom content you are reducing strain on your card, or perhaps that refreshing the config file forced the game to redetect your hardware. Custom content can cause the game to freeze, though.

[SenkoTwiik]

You may be right.
Taking out bad downloads might be helping my game, but maybe something else is wrong, causing the Direct3D problem. Well, first I need to get all this sorted out, and when I have some extra time, I'll get my card checked out and a whole PC checkup. Fixing my downloads will probably make my game last at least until my son's birthdaty is over. I wonder why this never happened before. It just started the Direct3D junk a couple months ago. I have been playing for years. Perhaps the card was fine until AL, and I just don't have a powerful enough card to handle this EP.