game picture is flickering

[faiithx]

In my game the picture is going weird it looks like this:


As you can see there's meant to be a bookcase and a chair behind her but alot of the objects and sometimes the sims hair keeps kind of flickering and going see-through and stuff.. It used to happen sometimes when I came out of the game without actually coming out of it (like pressing the windows button so it goes to the desktop) and then if I left it like that for a while (like over 3 hours) it would go like that and I'd exit the game and then go in again and it would be fine. But I've tried that and it's still like that. I don't know if this makes a difference but I installed Apartment life. Anyone know how to fix it? (:

[Alasdair]

The only things I can think of are that its either a memory problem or a video card issue or one that is starting to fail.

[caffeinated.joy]

Well, not knowing what video you have, it could be that your vid card doesn't meet minumum the minimus requirements for AL. You could try updating your drivers.

What card do you have? And yes, it could be a memory issue too, so how much RAM do you have?

[faiithx]

It hasn't always been like this even after installing AL it was fine the first day and then I went out of the game etc.
My video card is NVIDIA GeForce Go 7400 and it says it has 64 mb which I think is what is required for AL. And I have about 435 MB free at the moment. I'm on a laptop I don't know if that makes a difference.. Thank you for your help both of you (:

[xsweetruinx]

Sometimes with laptops they can't take too many games.
That could be a reason as to why it's messing up.

Also if you have the walls half-way down it could be a reason
why the bookcase doesn't show.

[rwills]

Especially as it is a laptop (where heat is a MAJOR issue), it sure sounds as if you are seriously straining or exceeding the limits and capabilities of the graphics hardware.

You may also be doing incremental damage from strain and from excess heat to not only the graphics hardware but to the motherboard itself, which (there is no delicate way to put this) will eventually fry your laptop.

Each additional EP installed requires more and more work from the graphics hardware and from the computer's chip, over and above what previously installed EPs demand.

The requirements EA lists along with each EP can be interpreted to apply to the basic game plus just that EP (not totally so, but close enough to make scant difference). Having other EPs also installed ups even the minimal requirements, IMHO.

Would strongly sugggest uninstalling AL and using files backed up before installing it as in-game content.

[faiithx]

It's a pretty good laptop and still has a bunch of space left.. The only EPs I have are AL and Pets and I have teen style installed too.
I might uninstall teen style (because it really doesn't add anything to the game) and see if that makes a difference. If not then I might need to take your advice rwills (:
Thanks for your help.