Closed Sims 2, Graphics and Windows 10

Thanks for the reply @celebkiriedhel

I have heard that tabbing out of the game and going back in works but unfortunately I can't do that in windowed mode. I guess that solution only works when you're having the black screen issue in full screen mode.

I've attached my -config-log.txt file to maybe give you an idea of what's going on.

Attached File(s)

  SORICA-config-log.txt (Size: 9.44 KB / Downloads: 406)

Miasim, I am somewhat confused. You say you want to play in windowed mode. Why? I'm guessing that you want to easily reach other programs, while playing TS2?
Tabbing out of TS2 (or any program that is in full screen mode), especially on the latest machines and with any version of windows newer than - say - XP, is just as fast and easy, and gives you the same ability to reach the other programs.

And now you say you unfortunately can't tab out while in windowed mode... But you said your game only plays in full screen mode, not in windowed mode! So you should be able to tab out. Left-Alt & Tab keys together should get you out of the game that is in full screen mode, and you can get back into it by simply selecting its button on the taskbar. So that should be a temporary solution until Kiri has figured out how to fix your problem. Because, still, I agree that you should be able to play in windowed mode. I wish I knew how to help you do that.

@Miasim Fair enough. You've got enough oomph for full-screen mode so I'd go for that.


@BoilingOil There's lots of reasons for wanting to do windowed mode BO. From a creating point of view it's very nice to have the game windowed at 1024x768 so I can look at my notes while I'm working, or pictures when I'm making the sims 1 houses. I agree that for Playing, full mode is the go. But there is lots of reasons to go windowed, and its not necessarily obvious to us unless we're doing something particular.

Hi!
I have some problems with playing the Sims 2. On my last computer (windows 7), it worked great, but when I eventually had to buy a new computer (windows 8, later updated to 8.1) it didn't anymore :-( Now I have updated to windows 10, but I still have the same problems.
I mainly have two problems. The first one is that I am stuck in 800x600 resolution. I have tried altering Graphics Rules.sgr, both manually and using Graphics Rules maker, but I'm still stuck with 800x600 (and I also don't have any other options than that when I look at my game settings), although the 800x600 isn't even in my Graphics Rules.sgr file anymore after I edited it.
My second problem is that the graphics of my game looks bad. I can see the pixels really well, which is annoying, because I remember how good the graphics looked on my windows 7 computer. I have tried adding my video card in Video Cards.sgr (again both manually and using Graphics Rules maker), and now the trees looks good when I'm in neighbourhood view, but houses and everything else than trees still look bad, and when I load a family, everything is pixely, especially the sims themselves.

I love this game, and I would really like to keep playing it for as long as possible despite new computers and windows versions, so I really hope someone is able to help me :-)
  GUINEVERE-config-log.txt (Size: 10.22 KB / Downloads: 436)

(08-11-2015 09:47 AM)celebkiriedhel Wrote:  @BoilingOil There's lots of reasons for wanting to do windowed mode BO. From a creating point of view it's very nice to have the game windowed at 1024x768 so I can look at my notes while I'm working, or pictures when I'm making the sims 1 houses. I agree that for Playing, full mode is the go. But there is lots of reasons to go windowed, and its not necessarily obvious to us unless we're doing something particular.

I can see that, @celebkiriedhel, and I agree. But Miasim first says that she (point 1) can't get the game to play in windowed mode, and then later that (point 2) in windowed mode the tabbing out isn't available. If point 1 is her problem, then she can NOT be playing in windowed mode, and thus point 2 is NOT a problem (yet). She should have the tab-out available. That is all that I hoped to point out.

Ofcourse, it is not good that is now *forced* into full screen mode, and a solution for that must be found. If I knew how, I would gladly volunteer that solution. Alas I don't!

@Guinevere
In the first post, there is a download the attached file called: GraphicsRules-RADEON.rar
Use that one at put it in the config and csconfig folder where you put your changes for the Video Cards
You have the Texture Memory error and it's forcing your resolution to low.

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@Miasim
Please do the following for me.
1. Open your game in full screen - and set your screen resolution to 800x600. Close your game
2. Open your game in windowed mode - it should only take up part of your screen.
3. Is the whole screen black, or only the sims2 window?

@BoilingOil I know you can tab out of the game in full screen mode and have tried that before but for some reason that doesn't work on my laptop and I'm not sure why. When I tab out of full screen mode my desktop is just black and I am unable to access any other programs except for just going back into the game. I would love to have access to other programs so I don't have to quit the game to do anything else since load times are so long but I am not able to do that. That's the main reason I'm trying to use windowed mode but am still having issues with that. I basically have no access to my desktop when the game is full screen. I am able to open other programs as I can still see my task bar and open programs locked to the task bar but I can't actually see any of them once they open because my desktop is completely black. I'm not really sure why this happens or how to fix it.

@celebkiriedhel That's what I figured I would have to do since no one really knows how to fix my windowed mode issue. Do you know why my desktop screen would be completely black as I stated above? ^

Thanks for all the help.

@Miasim Ahh! That makes more sense with what you're talking about. It wasn't clear from what you said before that it was full screen blackness.

Lets try something -
Install this videocards.sgr in the folders:

\EA\The Sims 2 - Mansion and Gardens\TSData\Res\Config\
\EA\The Sims 2 - Mansion and Gardens\TSData\Res\CSConfig\

and then try the windowed version. Let me know if it's still black. (My suspicion is that it would be, but it's worth a try).

(09-11-2015 02:23 AM)Miasim Wrote:  @BoilingOil I know you can tab out of the game in full screen mode and have tried that before but for some reason that doesn't work on my laptop and I'm not sure why.

Ah, *that* was something that I didn't get from your previous posts, sorry. Might be that I just failed to see it. I hope that a solution will soon be found for you.

@celebkiriedhel I tried that file and put it exactly where you said but it still didn't work. I even tried updating my graphics card drivers (I hadn't done this already because my drivers haven't been updated for Windows 10) and that didn't work either. I even tried removing my entire Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2 folder to the desktop and I still had the same problem. I tried taking a screen cap to try to show you the exact issue, but since the game is still running in the background it didn't show the black screen, it showed the windowed mode game as if it was working even though it wasn't. I'm getting so frustrated as I've been working at this all night and it seems like nothing I try fixes the problem!

Do you think maybe a complete reinstall might fix this? I'm really trying to avoid this because it's such a pain to do, but I'm running out of ideas.

Thanks for your help again, you're the first person who's really tried this hard to fix this for me.