Pictures of my sims don't appear!

[themoderndiva]

Hi.

Various places in the game where images of Sims would appear - like thought bubbles when other sims think/dream of them, the loading screen where it should show the family, and the character icon things on the left side of the screen while you play that you can use to switch between sims - the pictures of the Sims I have created do not appear. Its just a blank thought bubble, or a blank box, they don't show up at all. This doesn't happen with the Sims that came with the game, only the ones that I make.

Every once in a while, with images of objects in Build mode, the picture will be streaked, like it didn't load properly.

When I first installed the game, this didn't happen. When I first moved my sim family from one house to another is when I first noticed it (starting with the house itself appearing with that same streaked, not properly loaded...thing...I don't really know how to explain it). And now it affects all of the houses I use and Sims I create.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? Any help would be greatly appreciated! It doesn't disrupt gameplay too much, but it would be more convienient if I could see the characters icons. Thanks!

[Mirelly]

The problem you have is a bug. Many bugs are fixed by patches released by the game's makers, Maxis. See the links in the FAQ's in my signature (or go to your Simpage and click the help button) to get the latest patch.

If that doesn't fix the problem then post again and tell us what expansion packs (if any: for example University or Nightlife) you are playing with. It will also help speed up a response to post your basic system specs (again how to get this info is found in the FAQs)

Look forward to hearing back from you. :)

[themoderndiva]

I installed the most recent patch, but it didn't help : (

Here are my specs:

Processor: AMD Athelon XP 2500+, MMX, 3DNow, ~1.8 GHz
1024 MB RAM
Windows XP Professional (5.1, build 2600)
486 MB used, 1977 MB available
DirectX 9.0c
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT
Driver: nv4_disp.dll, version 6.14, 11/17/2004
Approximate Total Video Memory: 128 MB

Oh, and I'm not using any expansion packs. It's just Sims 2.

I went back and checked on the first family I created, the one I was using before this problem started, and *their* visuals show up just fine! So I suppose the problem started when I started making more families

...now I have no idea what could be causing it, because its not affecting the entire game the same way! Please help : (

[Mirelly]

It's annoying isn't it? The answer is gonna be elusive but we'll do it step by step.

Can you answer yes to any of the following?

Have you downloaded any readymade sims?
Have you downloaded any houses with or without sims lving in them (say which)?
Are you using any hacked objects or game hacks?I just ran a search (with my custom SimSearch engine (http://rollyo.com/mirelly/sim_search/)) and surprised myself by coming up with this:

http://forums.worldsims.net/showthread.php?p=81227#post81227

and this:

http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?p=538698

[themoderndiva]

I am not using any downloaded sims or houses, and nothing in my game is hacked or using game hacks.

I tried the "dragging thumbnail folder to desktop" idea and it did not work. And sadly, the sims tech guide link found in one of the threads you posted is gone! I'll try the other guide, but I'm a little wary...it seems kindof complicated...

[themoderndiva]

Ehh...okay...I tried the thesims2.ea.com solution (link found in one of your threads above) and was following it fine until it got to the actual file objects.package itself. It's not there! Of course, that guide was written for Sims University, so that might be it. But...yeah. Any ideas?

Thank you so much!

[Mirelly]

LOL The objects.package for TS2 is on Disc 4 of the CD version, it is in

E:\compressed.zip\TSData/Res/Objects/

you can try copying it over to:

C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\TSData\Res\Objects\

Be careful though. Any mistakes may be difficult to undo. Make sure that you make a back up copy of your families before you mess around.

Copy the folder: \My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\ to your desktop before any further actions ...

We'll get there :)

[themoderndiva]

I tried it, and it didn't work : (

I'm not a computer whiz, heh. Is there anything else I can do/try?

Should I just try reinstalling? But if I do that, will I lose all of the characters I made and the games I have?