Video on TV not working I recently installed Sims 2 again (just the main game, no expansions). Started playing and noticed that there is no video or audio coming out of the TV set. All I see is a blue screen flashing. Changed the channels, bought a different kind of TV, and still the same thing. Flashing blue screen and no audio. It wasn't like this when I had this installed last year. The radio stations are fine. So are PC screens and games like SSX. I looked inside the My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Movies folder and noticed that there was no Broadcast folder. So what I did was I copied the Broadcast folder from the game directory, which I checked and saw that it had the .movie files, and I put it in the first folder I mentioned. Still, no effect. Next, I figured maybe there is a settings file inside each channel folder, just like the radio station folders did. Thing is, there are no settings files in the My Docs\EA Games\The Sims2\Movies\Games\(whatever game) folders. In fact there is nothing in there are at all, yet PC screens and audio were working. I realized then that the game was running the .movie files which were in the actual game directory. So now, I figured I should erase everything inside the broadcast channel folders, just like it is in the Movies\Games \nameofgame folders of My Docs. Again, nothing still comes out of the TV. Next, I remember I used to put my own videos in the channel folders. So I got a short video clip I have (M&M star wars commercial) converted it to .avi, made it really small, 15 frames per second, and then placed it in one of the channel folders in My Docs\....Movies\Broadcast\. Ran Sim 2, changed channels... but still, nothing coming out of the TV except the blue flashing screen and no audio. Can anyone help me? How do I get the TV working again? Thanks for any help in advance!
Ooh, how odd. Can you post up your system, specs? (See the FAQ's for advice on what we need.) You might have a registry or display problem ... we need to eliminate the display problems first. FAQs is link 2 lines down \|/
Processor: AMD Athlon64 3000+, MMX, 3DNow, ~1.8Ghz System Memory: 1024MB Windows Version: XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Free Hard Disk Space: 20GB Total Hard Disk Space: 80GB DirectX Version: 9.0c Display Adapter: ATI RADEON X700 Series Display Driver Name and Version Number & date: ati2dvag.dll, 6.14.0010.6660 (English) 12/17/2006 10:50:46 Approximate Total Video Memory: 256MB Game Detail: Sims 2 DVD Version You mentioned registry problem... Before installing the game, I ran CCleaner, and it has some sort of registry cleaner feature. Maybe it deleted something important? Thanks!
Registry cleaners should only remove redundant registry keys not actual software. However there is a chance you have a missing or corrupted dll needed to encode the video for sending to the ingame TV. Odd that the computer monitors work, but maybe (proably, knowing Maxis) use a different method. Unless it is possible to discover which file is corrupt the quickest solution is to uninstall and reinstall again. (Make sure to perform the full manual uninstall as described in the FAQ's. http://forums.worldsims.net/showpost.php?p=96563&postcount=6 ) Your system looks fine to me. Maybe the display driver is updatable but you have RAM and video mem in spades.
Here's something I forgot to mention... I have simPE. I haven't really done much with it... just cloned an object, backed up my neighborhood, and changed a relationship status between two sims. That's it. Actually, I don't think that would be it. I was kind of hoping not to have to install the whole thing all over again, but oh well. Thanks!