Sims2 Smooth Edges - Graphics

Here is (I think and hope) my original graphics rules files. I did make some changes earlier before reading this thread to see if I could get smooth edges and better looking hoods.

Attached File(s)

  Graphics Rules(Original - Question - Jon).rar (Size: 6.52 KB / Downloads: 498)

Rawmilk - it hasn't affected everyone, only some graphic cards - not sure why. If you're not getting the problem then you don't have to worry about it.

I'm not a fan of turning off Window updates or ignoring them, because (a) they are so often about plugging up security holes and (b) you just know that the update you don't have is going to be the one that some feature will rely on. (I am a pessimist).

Which is why I'm working on keeping the game working. It's a matter of life that as a game stops being developed it becomes obsolete. The trick is to keep that slope as shallow as possible so that you can keep playing for as long as possible.

Jon - I'm really tired at the moment, so I won't be able to do this for a while. Thanks for this card. If you're up for it, I'm wanting to change things on a 1 thing at a time basis to see what it is that causes it to fall over, and then take that bit out from there.

I found this via a Sims site I just found.
"hydentwin:

So yeah… I started my game today and everything was huge and weird and blurry. It was seriously horrifying. So I check the graphics options and for some reason the 800x600 screen resolution option was clicked in. And all the other options were gone.

They weren’t even there. It’s like they…
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Answer:

Yes. Yes I do know what is causing this problem. Or at least I think I might:

Yesterday lvstndhrt popped into the chat with an interesting warning to people who play TS2 on Windows 7: apparently the platform update that reached our shores sometime this week forces your game into 800x600 for whatever crazy Microsoft-logic-reason. Being a Win7 user myself I was concerned of course so I let my computer install the update to check if it was an isolated incident for lvstndhrt or if it was “global” - but it did not happen to me and my game is still fine. It might be a hardware-related problem, which seems likely because lvstndhrt says she uses AMD graphics and I have Nvidia… who knows. Like I said: Microsoft-logic.

All you have to do (or, at least all lvstndhrt had to do) to fix it is uninstall the platform update (here’s how) and your game should revert back to normal. Hopefully. Probably.

This post confirms that it’s not just a one-person-problem though, we should probably spread the word about this…"

Can you direct them here Xander? I don't understand tumblr enough to be able to share it.

I'll try, I barely understand tumblr myself lol

I have an AMD card. I thought I had automatic updates enabled but I remember now that I disabled them because of their frequency, and not wanting to write to my SSD too often. I am testing by running the update now and hoping there is no mess.

I am relieved to report that after installing nine recommended updates, there is no change to the display of The Sims 2 game on my system. Three optional updates were offered (one indeed did look to be this infamous "platform update") but in light of this issue being mentioned I opted out of them (except for a wireless card driver update) for the time being, as I don't want to press my luck. I'll wait until I need them for something or have some confirmation that they are not problematic.

Thank you, Kiri.

You're welcome. Rawmilk.

I'm posting it this thread only because it seems somewhat related. If need be I can delete this if it is too off topic. Though I have evaded TS2 issues by not installing the "platform update" I am having trouble with getting UFO Aftershock to work with a resolution mod and and I wonder if there is a similar fix. The game typically runs in 1024 x 768 and the mod consists of a gui replacement archive and a modified exe to run in my screen's native resolution of 1280x 1024. Somehow though, the resolution keeps changing to 1024 x 768 like it always did when the (modified) application loads, so I get the new gui cropped in the old resolution, unusable. The person who made the mod has confirmed that it works when he installs on a system that never had the game, patches it, and installs the mod in the same (Windows 7 Ultimate 64) OS I am using. On my system though, I was running the game at the old resolution previously and uninstalling and reinstalling following the same procedure did not work. Something is lingering somewhere that is switching the resolution back in spite of the modified exe. I could not find any mention of resolution integers in the registry entries. He said to check the compatibility mode settings but the only option I have there is to force 640 x 480. Somewhere there is a compatibility mode setting, registry entry, or leftover ini file switching the resolution. Any ideas or links to information about such things would be much appreciated.

I'm on Windows 7 with a Nvidia graphics card and have had no problems running Sims 2 after installing updates.
That's a handy link for undoing an update should any mess my game up at some point. Thanks Xander.

I've never played UFO Aftershock. The only things I can think of -

1. Can you force a screen resolution at the exe level? (i.e. similiar to adding the suffixes on the shortcut?)
2. When you are uninstalling/re-installing - before re-installing are you going into the program files folder and making sure all is deleted? Also checking that the game is removed from registry entirely.
3. If you have multiple disk drives, try installing it to a different disk drive than was used previously, to see if that makes any difference.

Often games leave artefacts behind to show that they've been there before and that can be a problem.