no neighborhood objects, no neighbors, nothing when zooming out... help!

[djchrisblue]

Hello everyone--

I just bought Seasons... (yay!) So far it's just been a big headache.

When I first started it up, I found I was locked into 600x800 mode which is ridiculous considering my graphics card. SO I found this link (http://www.simonhampel.com/the-sims-2-resolution-problems-solved/) which let me improve my resolution.

Now my problem is that I can't see my neighbors when playing, or neighborhood objects (such as trees, buildings, forests, the like). That's one of the best parts IMHO and I didn't back up my neighborhoods so uninstalling and going back to nightlife is something I really don't want to do.

What's really odd, is in my options it looks like I can choose view neighborhood objects, but it is stuck on "off". When I click on "on" it does nothing. Same if I try to choose the other options (like the one that lets you change how far you can see, or click into other people's homes, for example.)

Can I get a witness? Anyone have any ideas before I uninstall everything and go back to when I had a neighborhood and a good resolution?

peace

[ancienthighway]

Actually it's the changes recommended to let you change your resolution that are hiding neighbors, view distance, etc.

You don't say what your graphics card is.  But if it doesn't have 256 mb or more on it, Seasons will push it real hard.  This may be why you are stuck at 800x600 pre-changes and unable to change settings after changes.

[djchrisblue]

Thanks for your response! Actually, I have a 512mb NVIDIA GeForce graphics card so I really don't understand why any of this is happening. (I can run the Sims in anything from 800x600 to 1280x1040 without so much as a hiccup.)

I guess my question is, how can I manually override the default settings, since I know my computer can handle it? Similar to how I had to manually override the resolution, even though my computer is running it fine.

Okay, so now I'm trying to install the patch and it says "Error during update installation. You may need to uninstall and reinstall the Sims 2: Seasons. Please back up yadada". HELP!

Edit: This is what I came up with. I went into the C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Seasons\TSData\Res\Config\Graphics Rules.sgr file and changed all lines that were "setb forceLowResolution true" to "setb forceLowResolution false". I got the idea from this post: http://thesims2.eagames.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=717825#717825
which told me to change one of the lines. I had to change them all. Now I have all the resolutions, and I have neighborhood viewing options as well.

Now to rake all these leaves.

peace