Another game crashing situation.... Tried everything I could, please help! Hello, I'm new around here! I'm having some problems with my Sims 2 game... In fact, I've always had this problem since I first bought it, and I never got a solution for this. Years later, tired of struggling with my computer, I'm here finally asking for help! When I install my Sims 2 game + expansions I can play it normally, but after a few days it starts crashing with no reason whatsoever and the game quits. The sound get a little choppy and everything stops. Then, this message pops up in my screen: "This application has found an error. It will now be closed" (I don't know if it's the right message, because my Sims 2 game and Windows are both in portuguese, so I kinda tried to translate it to English... But in essence, that's it) I tried every driver for my video card I could possibly find, tried changing my Hard Disks, tried adding more memory, but every attemp was unsuccessful... :( My system specs at the moment of writing are: Windows XP SP2 Pentium 3 1.1Ghz 512MB RAM Video: nVidia GeForce MX 440 - 64 Mb Free Space on Sims 2 drive: about 20 Gb I've looked for answers in portuguese-speaking forums and they had no idea. EA Support won't help either. I've seen some people here with the same problem but with no solution... If needed, I'll post a DxDiag.txt file here (My computer is currently with no internet connection, so I'm not on it right now) Also, I have NO downloaded content installed. Only the expansions with the official patches. The game crashes on every kind of situation: Saving, Exiting, Creating Neighborhood, even with the game PAUSED it once crashed! Any suggestions? Thanks for your support!
Those specs of your computer are pretty low to run the game, and adding expansions won't help it either. If you want to keep your PC, then you'll want to pick up a better video card - perferrably 128MB or more. But it looks like it is time for a new PC. Oh...and I'm just guessing here, how is your sound/soundcard? It might play an issue.
I know, I know, but I'm 18 and I'm in university from 7:00 to 18:00 all day in a small town here in Brazil, so I don't have time for a job, so a new PC is out of bounds right now... But my computer does a few miracles, it runs Sims 2 + expansions at 20~25 FPS (max of 30, not 60). A bit choppy sometimes, but still playable. But even without the expansions (just Sims 2 and nothing else) the game crashes... Also, the FPS doesn't change very much with the installed expansions, so I'd rather give a few gigs to fully enjoy the game! My soundcard is onboard... My motherboard is ASUS CUPLE-VM and the soundcard driver is VIA AC'97 AUDIO CONTROLLER, if it helps. I'm considering buying an offboard soundcard (this I can afford ), so if you have a suggestion, I'd be glad to take it into consideration! I've been playing the game since morning today (it's almost 22:00 here in Brazil now) and it decided not to crash today. It's been running smoothly than ever, for some weird reason. Also, Windows is doing a great job with its pagefile thing that I set to a fixed size of 900 Mb in my second HD! But yesterday was a disaster, crashes all over the place, game unplayable... Maybe, for the game to run, it depends on my computer's mood? But seriously, I really want to think that a solution for this problem exists... I've seen REALLY good computers run this game at constant 60 FPS but still crashing just like mine does... Thanks so much for your help Judhudson!
There are so many possibilities on what we can do to try to solve your problem. Let's try to start off with the basics which don't cost a thing: 1. Make sure all game settings are set to low and run the game to see what you experience. 2. Only run the game and nothing else. See if you get any crashes from trying those two. I cannot really comment on what you should go out and purchase, as usually it could be any hardware giving you trouble. I'd hate to tell you to buy a sound card when that isn't the solution. I know how tight money can be, but if you want to keep your rig, I would recommend upgrading these components: *Sound Card (so you won't use the onboard) *128MB (or 256MB) Graphics Card *Another stick of 512MB, so you will have 1 gig of memory. That should have you running a little decent, and with a low budget.
Sorry to have stepped in late, but I didn't see any way into this. The ASUS CUPLE-VM motherboard is a budget product. It has no dedicated graphics ports (AGP/PCI-e) and while PCI graphics cards are available they would be horribly expensive for what is, at best, a crude compromise. You do not tell us what your graphics adapter is, but is likely to be some form of Intel Extreme graphics ... which is a non-T&L device, and so you would need a minimum 2.0 GHz CPU In short there is nothing I can suggest to you that would not be wasted effort and/or money. Your computer is as near to obsolete, for gaming purposes, as it is possible for a computer to be. I am sorry. But you need a new puter ....
@Mirelly: My video card is a nVidia GeForce MX 440 with 64 Mb. It's T&L capable so my Pentium 3 1.1Ghz meets the requirements. I had another video card of 64Mb non-T&L capable before this one (I don't remember which was) and the game was unplayable, like 3~5 FPS, so I'm sure that my video card now is T&L capable. I know I need to get a new computer, but first I need to get a decent nighttime job (because, as explained before, I'm in university from 7:00 till 18:00 every weekday) @Judhudson: Next thing I'll buy will probably be a sound card with 5.1 support, because I'm buying a 5.1 Home Theater for my computer tomorrow, so a sound card is a must if I want to fully enjoy the Home Theather potential! After that I'll head for a new video card, instead of memory. I'm not choosing the memory because I already have 2 sticks of 256Mb each, so if I want 1Gb of memory I would actually need to buy TWO sticks of 512Mb! Not to mention that it wouldn't be a DDR memory, but Dimm... So when I get the money I'll just save enough to buy a whole new motherboard, that supports a better and faster processor and memory. The thing is, Brazil is a 3rd World Country, so where in the U.S. a 512Mb memory stick would cost something like US$ 20, transfering to Reais (Brazil currency) it would be 20 * 1,7 = R$ 34. HOWEVER, as this country economy kinda sucks, it costs around R$ 80, which is a really high price to pay... :( But we're not here to discuss about Brazil's economy. About the game... I tried what you said Judhudson, lowering the game settings and closing every single other application and the game went fine. So I decided to set the settings to High quality (because I like to see my Sims with all their fingers instead of just two or three ) and my computer miraculously handled fine, without the game crashing. Next thing, I restarted the computer and tried to run the game on High quality with all my standard applications running in the system tray and it also went fine, without crashes. Did we fixed it somehow? I hope we did, although I don't clearly see what changes were made. Thanks so much for your help, Judhudson and Mirelly!
Ah that's good news. Brazil eh? Is it very hot at the moment? Your GeForce MX 440 is probably air cooled and if it gets too hot it'll refuse to play. Sorry your cash situation is so sucky. But if heat is the root of the problem a cheap system fan could well reduce crashing. Also if the problem re-occurs try powering down and leaving the machine to cool down to room temperature before restarting. If the game starts without trouble then heat would seem the likeliest culprit.
Now that you said it, it really can be overheating... It's normally hot here, as we're in summer now. I'll try to leave one side of the computer case open and see if the game runs well... This is my video card: It also needs it's own power source, so I needed to give up on one of my CD drivers to use this little baby of mine. What I think it's strange it that this error only happens on The Sims 2 game... Even playing GTA: San Andreas with every setting on High Detail it does not crash. (I told you my video card does a few miracles ) First thing to do when I get home is to open the computer case and run the game. I'll probably get a decent internet connection today or tomorrow (I'm currently using dial-up in my computer), so I'll be able to post here more regularly and provide some news. (I hope that they're good news ) I'm in class right now, I shouldn't even be here posting in the forum, I was supposed to pay attention to what my teacher is saying...
Glad it's working now Hmmm, I didn't think heat is a factor but then again, it is cold where I am so heat wasn't even on my mind lol. But yeah, fans are pretty cheap and not hard to install. Put some fans in there around your card and direct the heat out of the computer could possibly help a lot.
