Problem with pop-up bubbles on Sims2

[selina723]

When I am on live mode, and I click on an item to make my sim do something, the pop-up bubble just appears for a second and then disappears again - so I dont have time to choose an option....(like for example, I click on the phone to make a call, but before I can choose an option of who to call, the bubble disapears)
I have Windows Vista, and am not sure if it is a vista problem...I have checked my mouse setting and everything is fine there...and I have tried a different mouse...
The mouse works fine in build & buy mode...

Has anyone experienced this, or does anyone know how to fix it? It is impossible to play the game until it's fixed:(

[Cygmark]

I'm going through the same thing, well, my girlfriend is. She has a Dell Inspiron Laptop with Vista and an ATI Radeon video card. She has the same issue where the pop-up bubbles just crap out on her and I've tried adjusting the GPU but it doesn't seem to help. Weird thing is, the game ran fine when she first installed it and recently, after updating the video card and Vista itself, issues began to occur. I'm also having problems with the console on one of my FPS games which hasn't occured until recently as well. :( If I figure anything out I'll be sure to post my solution for you.

[esjessi]

I don't think it's a VISTA problem, 'cause I have XP and am having the same issues. It was running fine, and then the problem just popped up once. I putzed around with my mouse settings for a while, and that fixed it. But now, no amount of putzing will help.

I did recently install the awful Windows updates and am wondering if something with that is the problem. :(

[nic.ola]

im having the exact same problem and came here looking for the answer lol. strangely enough i also have a dell inspiron but not vista...so maybe its just our dell's :confused:

[muffin-tacos]

Have you guys tried patching your games?

[jabba]

same problem on my inspiron 1501... hideously annoying. patching the game or updating drivers, direct x or windows doesnt work.. anyone sorted this one out??? fiddled with mouse settings for ages, no luck. weird that this problem only comes up on dell inspirons wherever i search on the net.. hope someone sorts it out. later

[jabba]

the same prob still unsolved:
http://forums.thesimsworkshop.com/showthread.php?t=347471
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080101190234AAM6ksp

this is tearing me up!!!

[nic.ola]

what is really annoying, is that i actually fixed it...but i dont know how!
i use PowerDVD to play my films on (this problem also effects this program and how long the options stay on the screen which pisses me off) and when i played my Lee Evans DVD, i think i may have fiddled with the volume but it was fixed all of a sudden :S
so i played The Sims successfully for a few weeks but then i played another dvd and the problem came back again...and i cant figure out what on earth i did that fixed it!
maybe the sims just liked lee evans lol

[jwheel90]

(this problem also effects this program and how long the options stay on the screen which pisses me off)

Could a PowerDVD patch possibly fix this? We'll just have to find out...

[nic.ola]

possibly...but atleast ive figured out its definitely our computers and not the game.
im clueless when it comes to this "patching" stuff, so if anyone could try it out that'd be cool.
i remember clicking the volume icon on my toolbar as well so it might possibly be that?
what a mystery lol

[jwheel90]

Do you have a Dell Inspiron 1501?

[nic.ola]

yeah i do

[jabba]

what is really annoying, is that i actually fixed it...but i dont know how!
i use PowerDVD to play my films on (this problem also effects this program and how long the options stay on the screen which pisses me off) and when i played my Lee Evans DVD, i think i may have fiddled with the volume but it was fixed all of a sudden :S
so i played The Sims successfully for a few weeks but then i played another dvd and the problem came back again...and i cant figure out what on earth i did that fixed it!


i downloaded a trial of PowerDVD and all the menus seemed to be working fine... so didnt really know what to fiddle with. what do you mean by 'how long the options stay on the screen' on powerdvd.. whereabouts?

wierd that it seems to be dell inspiron 1501s... maybe some mouse setting. i'll keep trying.

[wilburyan]

Have the same problem as you folks.

Inspiron 1501 with the ati 1150 xpress video card.

What I've tried so far:

tried the latest video driver from the dell website
tried the latest video driver from the ati website (newer than dell, but problem remains)
switched from vista to windows xp and used the driver from dell, the problem remains
updated the bios of the laptop
patched the game
installed the driver for the touchpad.. (Synaptics pointing device)

I'm kinda at my wit's end here... has anyone tried calling dell tech support... perhaps they are aware of the issue. One thing I noticed is it's not just Sims 2 that is giving me grief with "disappearing". When I go into hotmail and click on the drop down arrow for attachments, the menu that pops up disappears before I can click on any of the options in it... I have a feeling it's related.

[bel.18]

I have a Dell Inspiron 1501, I have finally figured out a solution to this problem. If you have Vista or XP with the Vista appearance you need to do the following:
Click on the 'settings' option (image of 2 cogs)
Click on 'behaviour'
Tick the box next to 'pop up on mouse over' (mine is set to 350 ms)
My Sims works perfect now, hope this helps as I bought this lap top a couple of weeks ago and I was so frustrated that I could not play the Sims.
(The 'settings' option on the desktop (that's where mine is) not the settings option in the actual Sims game.)

[bel.18]

The 'settings' option on the desktop (that's where mine is) not the settings option in the actual Sims game.

[wilburyan]

so this isn't a setting in the game... but a setting of windows?

I don't suppose you could screenshot it (press the PrtScreen button on your keyboard, open up paint, go to the edit menu and select paste)

Save the picture, then you can upload it to somewhere like imageshack.us and post the link in this here forum.

[wilburyan]

Can anyone else get it going following these instructions?

I'm not sure which initial settings the poster was referring to... it's not the settings in game. What does it say in the title bar at the top of the window that you change the settings in?

[nic.ola]

i downloaded a trial of PowerDVD and all the menus seemed to be working fine... so didnt really know what to fiddle with. what do you mean by 'how long the options stay on the screen' on powerdvd.. whereabouts?

wierd that it seems to be dell inspiron 1501s... maybe some mouse setting. i'll keep trying.


i mean like when it goes full screen, if you move the mouse a toolbar at the bottom should appear to let you pause, play, fastforward etc. but because of this problem it doesn't even appear for one second. it is vey annoying

[nic.ola]

I have a Dell Inspiron 1501, I have finally figured out a solution to this problem. If you have Vista or XP with the Vista appearance you need to do the following:
Click on the 'settings' option (image of 2 cogs)
Click on 'behaviour'
Tick the box next to 'pop up on mouse over' (mine is set to 350 ms)
My Sims works perfect now, hope this helps as I bought this lap top a couple of weeks ago and I was so frustrated that I could not play the Sims.
(The 'settings' option on the desktop (that's where mine is) not the settings option in the actual Sims game.)

do you know how on XP?

[wilburyan]

bump... please help me :(

[Avalon119]

I think I may have a solution to your problem, but it may come at a price.
The problem is definately with a windows update, and that update is probably from before March, this year.

To fix the problem: (I'll do the instructions for XP, but there is a way to do the same thing with Vista, I just don't know how).

- If possible, disconnect from the internet (you don't want Windows updating itself again as soon as you reset)

- Get to the System Restore Menu for either operating system. To do this with XP, open up the Start menu, find the Help and Support Center (white "?" with a blue circle around it) and open it up. On the right side, there will be the heading "Pick a Task". The third option down should take you to this menu.

- Pick the first option, "Restore my computer to an earlier time"

- A calendar image should pop up, and the bolded dates are ones you can reset to. Find one you think is before the problem update (mine was March 1st, but i cant connect to the internet often, so you may have to choose an earlier date).

- Before you reset, make sure you create a restore point for your "today", just so you can return to this point in case anything goes wrong.

- Click "next" twice, and your computer should reset to the date you picked. NOTE: This will reset EVERYTHING, except Word documents, etc. and emails, and that means programs. Anything you installed between your date and now will be GONE. However, you can reset to the point you just created.

- Try now.

This should fix the problem if you did it right. Hope it helped!

[purplemer3]

Here is a solution that works:

1. On the Dell Support website, choose your operating system from the drop-down menu.
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&ServiceTag=&SystemID=INS_PNT_1501&os=WW1&osl=en&catid=&impid=

2. Download the recommended Bios update(s) and allow it to install and restart the computer.

3. Return to the Dell Support website and again choose your operating system from the drop-down menu.

4. Download the recommended Input Device Drivers update(s) and allow it to install and restart the computer.

5. After this, The Sims 2 pop-up menu problems should be resolved.

[wilburyan]

Resolved... but it was not Windows update or BIOS related... here is everything I did, and what fixed it.

After months of being drove up the wall with this problem and trying almost everything... it is now finially fixed. I too have Dell Inspiron 1501. Something to note, the problem also occured in MSN (that cream colored window that comes up when you mouse over anyone in your list... would disappear all the time, just like Sims) and the problem occured in hotmail... whenever I tried to click on the drop down to attach a file... a menu comes up and asks you if you want to upload a file or photo... and just like sims, the menu is there for a brief second... then gone.

Things I tried that didn't work:
Updating the sims 2 game
updating the video driver from the dell website
updating the video driver with a newer one direct from AMD(ATI)
updating the bios with the latest from dell
updating the touchpad driver with the latest from dell (Synaptics driver)
updating the touchpad with the latest driver from the Synaptics website
reinstalling windows vista with the Dell disk
reinstalling windows vista with my own copy of vista
removing vista and trying windows xp

What did work??? I sent it away to Dell for warranty on a different issue, but made mention of this as well... the keyboard was replaced, and now it works like a charm!

[Cygmark]

http://uoem.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15663