Sims 2 Seasons : pnl;i in 800x600 mode ???

[hug]

Hi gang,

After hearing the first reviews about Sims 2 Ep.5 Seasons, i couldn;t wait to install it ... I have always played Sims 2 (from the original untill Pets) in 1024x768 display mode. But after installing Seasons today, the only mode i can play in is 800x600 !. There are no other options for the display mode !.
Furthermore, the graphics all look blocky and it looks like a game from the good old days (Windows 95 and back).:sad4:

Although all my computer specifications are more than enough according to the official website (Pentium 4 3,2Gh, Geforce 6200 with latest Vista driver, Vista Home Premiium Ed. Soundblaster 24 Live, etc.); Seasons offers no options to make the game look better.:blob6:

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ... Now EA Games is REALLY pissing me off !.
Anyone else having the same problems ?.
is tehre anyone who has a solution ?

Thanks !

Robert

[Loserkid]

I've always played on 800x600. I'm into performance more than graphics especially in my big mansions. When it's a small house i go to max graphics. As for seasons. I think (i hope) i'll be able to help you out tommorow if the store has got it. I can't wait to get it

[straycat]

It's the NVIDIA GeForce 6200 card. Try this possible solution:

Look for the Graphics Rules.sgr file in C:/Program Files/EA GAMES/The Sims 2/Seasons/TSData/Res/Config/Graphics Rules.sgr

Open "Graphics Rules.sgr" in notepad.

Look for "option ScreenModeResolution" and you will see settings for Low, Medium, and High. Copy the medium settings and paste them over the low settings or simply set all the resolution settings to the highest possible for your monitor.

This solution works for some people. It didn't work for me, however, and I resorted to re-installing my older 5200 card. The game runs fine now, at higher resolutions. =)

[whatlahyalah]

Hi gang,

After hearing the first reviews about Sims 2 Ep.5 Seasons, i couldn;t wait to install it ... I have always played Sims 2 (from the original untill Pets) in 1024x768 display mode. But after installing Seasons today, the only mode i can play in is 800x600 !. There are no other options for the display mode !.
Furthermore, the graphics all look blocky and it looks like a game from the good old days (Windows 95 and back).:sad4:

Although all my computer specifications are more than enough according to the official website (Pentium 4 3,2Gh, Geforce 6200 with latest Vista driver, Vista Home Premiium Ed. Soundblaster 24 Live, etc.); Seasons offers no options to make the game look better.:blob6:

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ... Now EA Games is REALLY pissing me off !.
Anyone else having the same problems ?.
is tehre anyone who has a solution ?

Thanks !

Robert

zzzz
yeah im having the same exact problem as  u
my graphic card is GeForce FX 5200
and i have all the system requirements, no problem with installing
but.. dunknow why ive only got 800x600
pissing me off too
lol

[whatlahyalah]

It's the NVIDIA GeForce 6200 card. Try this possible solution:

Look for the Graphics Rules.sgr file in C:/Program Files/EA GAMES/The Sims 2/Seasons/TSData/Res/Config/Graphics Rules.sgr

Open "Graphics Rules.sgr" in notepad.

Look for "option ScreenModeResolution" and you will see settings for Low, Medium, and High. Copy the medium settings and paste them over the low settings or simply set all the resolution settings to the highest possible for your monitor.

This solution works for some people. It didn't work for me, however, and I resorted to re-installing my older 5200 card. The game runs fine now, at higher resolutions. =)

WOOOPEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!juz tried out what uve said and it worked for me!!!yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!thanks!!!!!:angel: :angel: :angel: :angel:

[Loserkid]

The store does not have it yet! WHYYYYY

[Cidanta]

I have the same problem, and not yet I give with a solution, my card is a 6200 geforce 256 DDR2, and the whole other requirements are on the minimum specifications, it will be that somebody has some other solution or some idea that it is what can be happening  
 
pardon for my English, because it is not very good

[BeosBoxBoy]

there are 2 known problems with the 6200 cards in Vista, both driver related.  That being said, we all know that some video cards are just not the same no matter what the model number.


You can try using the item recommended in this post from the nvidia forums:

Came across this yesterday and was also annoyed to find that bump mapping wouldn't work with my 6600GT (getting somewhat annoyed with this sort of thing which seems all to common of late with Nvidia and their "The way it's meant to be played" slogan often being anything but true).

Anyway after fiddling with the files and not getting anywhere I was about to give up when I decided to try one last thing, cripple my card

Ok, ok, it's not as bad as it sounds, here's what I did;

1. Download Rivatuner from http://www.guru3d.com/rivatuner, install and run it.
2. Under 'Driver Settings' on the main page click on the little 'Customize...' button.
3. Select the 'Directdraw and Direct3D settings' icon (second one from left).
4. Select the 'Shaders' tab.
5. For both Pixel and Vertex shaders, select 'force 2.0'.
6. Press ok and select yes to reboot.

You should now have working bump mapping in Sims 2 (You may or may not still need to modify the 'Graphics Rules.sgr' file, I had already done this and haven't tried putting it back to defaults to see if it still works).

I'm guessing EA are defaulting to the highest shader version supported and assuming backwards compatibility since I'm quite certain they could select the specific version in code to achieve these same results. Anyway, for the time being I don't think there's much impact to other games except maybe with a few of the very latest like Half Life 2...

Hope this works for you all, enjoy!

This seems to have originated on MTS2 (possibly most of this originates from information provided by callum91 and Semloh) and made it to the nVidia forums.

Also see this post by Semloh from late 2005: http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=43273

And this thread by HystericalParoxysm from early 2006: http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?t=147242

Several other forums I visited on this matter recommended contacting EA or Aspyr tech support for a new Graphics Rules.sgr files since this file seems to be particularly prone to corruption (or user man-handling) - so BEFORE you edit it, make a copy of the file and save it in a SAFE location.

[Lady Rayven]

Thanks, Straycat, that worked for me.  I'm so glad someone knew what they were doing because the 800x600 screen was killing my eyes, thanks again