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Sims 2 and Graphics Cards - the fixes.
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GRAPHICS RULES MAKER
A new program is out to help you with graphics rules
Click here to download
#1071
28-05-2015
So I wanted to play the Sims 2 again and installed the Base Game and almost all expansions. Before I started it for the first time, I used the Graphics Rules Maker and now whenever I try to run Garden and Mansion stuff (latest installed expansion) it tells me that there is no Directx 9.0c compatible graphic adapter found and that the application will now quit.
I’m not much of a technic nerd but I do know, that my specs and especially my graphics card are not build for the Sims 2 or any game, or at least I really can’t expect much from that set up. Games that have low requirements will work. This laptop isn’t necessarily made for gaming. Period. One way or another, I have to get another PC especially made for gaming. Anyway: I’ve seen people playing the game with a Intel HD Graphics 4000 and it was also all fine the last time I had it installed on the same Laptop! It worked relatively well if you focus on the fact that my graphic chip is rumored to be not supported. I could start the game and I could also play it well, after having a few issues with the compatibility under Windows 8 of course – installation was a pain in the ass. No crashes or freezes and as far as I remember the CPU did also not overheat keeping in mind that I never played it for hours every day – I would have tested it with CoreTemp this time but oh well…it won’t start now. Of course it didn’t look that good, Graphics weren’t that crystal clear and I’ve had everything set to low, but as said: I know I can’t expect much with integrated graphics. I had the blocky water and hay grass issues in the neighborhood view but that didn’t really bother me that much because it was playable! So this caught me a little of guard that there’s suddenly a problem with my graphic card. I mean…if it wouldn’t be a ‘not supported’ issue, why did it start the first time I’ve had it installed? was I just lucky to get it working at all?
What also surprises me is that Sims 4 runs well on my Laptop, as well as Sims 3. You can’t expect crystal clear graphics but both games work good – the loading screens in Sims 3 are terribly annoying but once I’ve played, it was all quite fluid – minding that the CPU was working hardcore in Sims 3 with the open Neighborhood. I was a little scared of damage or strain on my laptop so I deinstalled both games. The CPU was working a lot when I played Sims 4 but I used Core Temp and it never got to the point of getting into a critical state and eventually it just got a little warmer when I attached it to power to load it, loading screens were tolerable. Still…I don’t want to risk things and I know I will risk damage the longer I keep playing. I just wonder why I can play a pretty new game and can’t seem to get the much older Sims 2 Collection running. System Requirements aren’t that much far apart judging from the graphics? Of course having almost all expansions installed, there’s a huge strain on the whole Laptop probably but I expected it to not running at all, if my laptop didn’t meet the minimum requirements. And it did work before so I don’t know if this was just luck or if I did something wrong this time. As said: I did use the Graphics Rules maker and then got the error message written above, which I never got before.
You know I’d like to have good graphics but I know there are limits with my set up. But I would like to play the game every once in a while for a few hours. Not excessively (don’t have that much time anymore.) but yeah…until I can scrape enough money together to buy another PC it would be nice to just be able to play the game. I don’t really mind if it looks a little crappy or if it takes a few minutes of loading screens as long as it runs relatively smooth – which it did in the past. Actually the switching from Neighborhood into Downtown etc was never an issue – took 2 Minutes maximum. Up to 10 Minutes to load the game once I started it but well…Coffee Break
I also heard it’s better to play it in windowed mode?
Oh and my Laptop is still pretty new and also still works without any issues. Haven’t noticed any changes with the graphics. No flickering, no suspicions that my integrated graphics card will die on me soon. I’ve had issues with dying hardware in the past so I’m extra careful and paranoid with this one lol.
So is there any chance I can get it running again or do you suggest to forget all about it? I’m just interested. If there would be too much strain on my whole Laptop, I’ll forget about it until I can get my hands on a new one.
Windows 8.1
Intel ® Core i3 – 3217U CPU @ 1.80 GHZ
RAM: 6 GB
Graphics Card: Intel ® HD Graphics 4000
I’m not much of a technic nerd but I do know, that my specs and especially my graphics card are not build for the Sims 2 or any game, or at least I really can’t expect much from that set up. Games that have low requirements will work. This laptop isn’t necessarily made for gaming. Period. One way or another, I have to get another PC especially made for gaming. Anyway: I’ve seen people playing the game with a Intel HD Graphics 4000 and it was also all fine the last time I had it installed on the same Laptop! It worked relatively well if you focus on the fact that my graphic chip is rumored to be not supported. I could start the game and I could also play it well, after having a few issues with the compatibility under Windows 8 of course – installation was a pain in the ass. No crashes or freezes and as far as I remember the CPU did also not overheat keeping in mind that I never played it for hours every day – I would have tested it with CoreTemp this time but oh well…it won’t start now. Of course it didn’t look that good, Graphics weren’t that crystal clear and I’ve had everything set to low, but as said: I know I can’t expect much with integrated graphics. I had the blocky water and hay grass issues in the neighborhood view but that didn’t really bother me that much because it was playable! So this caught me a little of guard that there’s suddenly a problem with my graphic card. I mean…if it wouldn’t be a ‘not supported’ issue, why did it start the first time I’ve had it installed? was I just lucky to get it working at all?
What also surprises me is that Sims 4 runs well on my Laptop, as well as Sims 3. You can’t expect crystal clear graphics but both games work good – the loading screens in Sims 3 are terribly annoying but once I’ve played, it was all quite fluid – minding that the CPU was working hardcore in Sims 3 with the open Neighborhood. I was a little scared of damage or strain on my laptop so I deinstalled both games. The CPU was working a lot when I played Sims 4 but I used Core Temp and it never got to the point of getting into a critical state and eventually it just got a little warmer when I attached it to power to load it, loading screens were tolerable. Still…I don’t want to risk things and I know I will risk damage the longer I keep playing. I just wonder why I can play a pretty new game and can’t seem to get the much older Sims 2 Collection running. System Requirements aren’t that much far apart judging from the graphics? Of course having almost all expansions installed, there’s a huge strain on the whole Laptop probably but I expected it to not running at all, if my laptop didn’t meet the minimum requirements. And it did work before so I don’t know if this was just luck or if I did something wrong this time. As said: I did use the Graphics Rules maker and then got the error message written above, which I never got before.
You know I’d like to have good graphics but I know there are limits with my set up. But I would like to play the game every once in a while for a few hours. Not excessively (don’t have that much time anymore.) but yeah…until I can scrape enough money together to buy another PC it would be nice to just be able to play the game. I don’t really mind if it looks a little crappy or if it takes a few minutes of loading screens as long as it runs relatively smooth – which it did in the past. Actually the switching from Neighborhood into Downtown etc was never an issue – took 2 Minutes maximum. Up to 10 Minutes to load the game once I started it but well…Coffee Break
I also heard it’s better to play it in windowed mode?
Oh and my Laptop is still pretty new and also still works without any issues. Haven’t noticed any changes with the graphics. No flickering, no suspicions that my integrated graphics card will die on me soon. I’ve had issues with dying hardware in the past so I’m extra careful and paranoid with this one lol.
So is there any chance I can get it running again or do you suggest to forget all about it? I’m just interested. If there would be too much strain on my whole Laptop, I’ll forget about it until I can get my hands on a new one.
Windows 8.1
Intel ® Core i3 – 3217U CPU @ 1.80 GHZ
RAM: 6 GB
Graphics Card: Intel ® HD Graphics 4000
#1072
09-06-2015
[attachment=2309][attachment=2309]
NOTE-LOVERS-config-log.txt (Size: 9.48 KB / Downloads: 431)
[attachment=2309][attachment=2304][attachment=2304]Hello Kiri! I recently installed The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection in my laptop and the Smooth Edges is greyed out. I'm trying for months to solve this problem before asking you for help, and today I gave up. I've literally done everything you described and more, and nothing works.
Here's something I think I might have done wrong: I chose to open GraphicsRules.sgr with notepad, and it's now with the notepad icon. I'm not sure if that is a problem.
Here are my laptop specs:
Windows 8.1
Intel ® Core i3 – M 370 @ 2.40 GHZ
8 GB RAM
Intel ® HD Graphics (it says 128 mb / shared: 1760 mb)
Graphics Card ID: 0046
Can you please help me? Thank you so much in advance!
EDIT: I was searching through my folders today and noticed I had different GraphicsRules.sgr and VideoCards files in Config and CsConfig folders. So what I did is, I went to the CsConfig folder and grabbed the files from there which were the newest ones, edited few days ago (can I possibly have forgotten the Config folder? duh...) and I also put them in every expansion pack Config and CsConfig folders. Now my hood water looks like the glitchy one in the first page of this topic....and it used to look normal. And Smooth Edges is still greyed out! Oh my God it's driving me nuts... can someone tell me if these problems will solve if I put Windows XP in my laptop or not? Or at least Windows 7... I'll put my files here too.
QUICK UPDATE: (Sorry it's becoming a long post) I formated my laptop last night and now it has Windows 7. I reinstalled the game and followed step by step carefully again, and now my hood looks amazing even the water is reflective. But Smooth Edges is still greyed. I'll upload the new config log here. (JUHYDESO-PC-config-log.txt)
NOTE-LOVERS-config-log.txt (Size: 9.48 KB / Downloads: 431)
[attachment=2309][attachment=2304][attachment=2304]Hello Kiri! I recently installed The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection in my laptop and the Smooth Edges is greyed out. I'm trying for months to solve this problem before asking you for help, and today I gave up. I've literally done everything you described and more, and nothing works.Here's something I think I might have done wrong: I chose to open GraphicsRules.sgr with notepad, and it's now with the notepad icon. I'm not sure if that is a problem.
Here are my laptop specs:
Windows 8.1
Intel ® Core i3 – M 370 @ 2.40 GHZ
8 GB RAM
Intel ® HD Graphics (it says 128 mb / shared: 1760 mb)
Graphics Card ID: 0046
Can you please help me? Thank you so much in advance!
EDIT: I was searching through my folders today and noticed I had different GraphicsRules.sgr and VideoCards files in Config and CsConfig folders. So what I did is, I went to the CsConfig folder and grabbed the files from there which were the newest ones, edited few days ago (can I possibly have forgotten the Config folder? duh...) and I also put them in every expansion pack Config and CsConfig folders. Now my hood water looks like the glitchy one in the first page of this topic....and it used to look normal. And Smooth Edges is still greyed out! Oh my God it's driving me nuts... can someone tell me if these problems will solve if I put Windows XP in my laptop or not? Or at least Windows 7... I'll put my files here too.
QUICK UPDATE: (Sorry it's becoming a long post) I formated my laptop last night and now it has Windows 7. I reinstalled the game and followed step by step carefully again, and now my hood looks amazing even the water is reflective. But Smooth Edges is still greyed. I'll upload the new config log here. (JUHYDESO-PC-config-log.txt)
(This post was last modified: 12-06-2015 06:10 PM by JuNunes.)
#1073
13-06-2015
Hello! So I've tried installing TS2 last year and now I decided to test it again. I was hoping if I could fix the CAS error which terminates the program. I did everything you put in the 1st page but unfortunately the CAS error still remains. This is my last hope, if someone will help me here.
#1074
18-06-2015
I have tried to do what was said, but I'm not sure if it was done right, so i downloaded the tool that would do it for you and a message popped up there was things missing and the masion & graden pack would terminate. I'm so confused 
I've tried everything.
I've tried everything.
#1075
30-06-2015
I am running a problem on a faster Graphics card. I was able to run it on Intel HD 4000 but it was slower. I want to use the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M, but It won't let me to because of an error called, "Direct3d returned an error E_INVALIDARG! The application will now terminate.". Is there someone here to help me? I am on Windows 8.1 with the latest version of the graphics card and have the Ultimate Collection on Orgin. It does not have an Compatibility tab on the .exe. I tried to used the Compatibility troubleshoot and I could still not get it to work. It happens on both full screen and window, and tried to run as an administrator.
(This post was last modified: 30-06-2015 03:47 AM by Zeromoon95.)
#1076
09-07-2015
I've recently been unable to play The Sims Ultimate Collection (from Origin) without it crashing within about 10 minutes. I'm running Windows 7 64-bit. The graphics would flicker, and a few minutes later my whole computer would crash. It hasn't been happening with any other games and I even tried re-installing the game, but it still happens.
So I finally found your post and tried the graphics fix, and have just been playing the game for about an hour with no problems - I was so hopeful the problem was gone. However, the graphics just started spazzing out big time (although the game was still technically running, I could still move around etc). So... progress with it not crashing after 10 minutes, but still seems to be a problem.
I'll attach the config log and a screenshot of the glitch.
So I finally found your post and tried the graphics fix, and have just been playing the game for about an hour with no problems - I was so hopeful the problem was gone. However, the graphics just started spazzing out big time (although the game was still technically running, I could still move around etc). So... progress with it not crashing after 10 minutes, but still seems to be a problem.
I'll attach the config log and a screenshot of the glitch.
#1077
12-07-2015
I don't know why my Sims 2 UC is doing this, but when I go into CAS (it is at random times, not at the same point every time), it will close out saying "Sims 2 EP9 has stopped working" and it terminates the program. I can move the premade families into lots, and it seems as if I can play them. The only problem is in CAS. I tried following the steps, but couldn't find some of the folders, even after I tried deleting "TM". I'm running Windows 8, and I know Windows 8 has a lot of problems running Sims 2, but I don't know what to do if the files aren't there for me to go to, even after I deleted the "TM" like you said. Any ideas?
#1078
15-07-2015
I started a thread on here but the person redirected me to here. Basically, my water is still showing up solid blue despite the changes that I read on the first page and applied. I installed the intel graphics file, but nothing has changed. Windows 8.1 Processor: Intel® Pentium® CPU N3540 @ 2.16GHz 2.16 GHz 64 bit operating system, x64-based processor. Here is my config information.
#1080
15-07-2015
(15-07-2015 09:41 AM)poisson Wrote: Hi beystan, be sure to replace the files both in Config and CSConfig folders. (and save a copy of both of the already existing files in those folders, in case) It really should work.
Hi poisson I did and my game still has the water issue. What else should I do? I recieved a reply on the other thread saying that there are ways. However at the same time I don't want to have to spend a bunch of money on this game.
Before you post requesting help
Information we need
- The
-config-log.txt from the Logs folder in the My Documents\EA\The Sims2\ Click "full editor" below to attach a text file. - Your operating System.
- What the problem actually is - that will be a picture to show the problem (optional), and accompanying text files that turn up (optional), and a detailed description of what happened, and what you expected to happen.
