I assume I need new drivers? My sims' clothing is fusing to their bodies lately, losing all details. Everything else looks fine (furniture, faces, etc.), and it doesn't matter if the clothing is from the game or downloaded. It's driving me crazy, short trip I know, but still ... Is this a CEP problem? Has there been a new release? Or is this a driver thing? Last time I tried to upgrade my drivers they killed my video player. I can only hope they've fixed that problem since then. Anyone got any advice?
CEP is for objects not Body Shop items like clothes etc. LOL about the short trip but check your display card is fully functional (run dxdiag). Mine went on a work-to-rule a while back and I was forced to restart Windows several times (frustrating) as the only way to reboot the display card's full set of functions. Since then, it was a few weeks ago, things have been OK ... fingers crossed. Hope you sort it out.
Before installing new drivers...Did you check your Display Properties lately? Right-click your Desktop,go to Properties, Settings and check if "Color Quality" ist still set to what it used to be. (Some poorly programmed Stuff, old games as well as some Windows-Themes are known to change it to a lower setting). Next step would be to check the in-game graphics settings Perhaps something was changed here by accident? Drivers usually don't suddenly stop working...they either work ..or they don't (i.e. beeing buggy right from the start, getting corrupted by some harddisc failure/computer crash etc) -le
They don't get outdated and blurry? I checked the colors, they're fine, and the settings in the game are at max (yes, my machine can handle it). I'm really disgusted that my game looks so bad! Here's a sample picture. See how blurry his undershirt is? It blends into his skin. The longer I play a lot the worse it gets, and then suddenly it will snap back to somewhat better, but still very few details ... I got a nice machine so I could play the game the way it was meant to be played! I love taking pictures, but not of blurry sims. Grrr ... I forget how to do a diaxdiog or whatever it's called. I did one once and promptly forgot how. Can someone remind me?
Hint ... FAQ's. Have you tried rebooting Windows (restart)? Or do you turn the machine on and off every day?
Constantly! In fact I rebooted today because Malcolm Landgraab's house was slow as molasses. Still is, unfortunately. I think my computer needs some updaties. And I should have guessed about the FAQs. Sorry. Such a newbie question.
All of a sudden, it started working just fine. I'm not saying I don't need a new fan or anything, but ... I rebooted and then left the game on pause for a long time today because of RL things, and when I came back the game was running smoothly and the picture couldn't have been crisper. Here's a sample. Notice how clear his tattoo is ... soooo ... weird, huh? Do you know why this might be happening? I will see if I can fit a better fan into my case, just in case that's the problem. Couldn't hurt, right? But these graphics were after the computer had been idling for hours with the game loaded. So do you still think it's overheating?
To be honest, I don't know. I would think that if the gpu was overheating then the display would either crash or pixellate ... not just go fuzzy. Since all the functions are processed through the same chip it seems silly to imagine that it can half-breakdown. It's worth looking into the cooling situation and make sure the power supply is up to speed. I know you upgraded your PC ... was the old power supply powerful enough, just, or did it have wattage to spare? I'm clutching at straws here.
The last time I went into my game it slowed down so much I thought it had locked up. I was considering a ctrl-alt-delete to bring up the task manager when it started to work again, all on its own. I've been worrying about overheating, too, and have minimized a lot of the graphics settings, including neighborhood view. *sniff* When I need a picture, I reset the graphics for it, then take it backwards again. I've had no trouble with the image, or fuzzy clothes, though. The Seasons EP may be a little more of a load than my computer can handle. :(
And the answer is ... DUST!!! At least, I'm pretty sure. Last night after playing I checked my core temp using Speedfan and it was in the red (44-46 C). This morning it was in the green, but at 43C. So I went out and bought some compressed air and cleaned the *** out of my graphics card (it wasn't pretty, folks) and the entire innards of my 'puter. After a brief scare with monitor not working--it had come unplugged--we were in business. Starting temp? 36C. I can definitely deal. Thanks to my new, "smart" chip I can't play with the gorram door off, so I'm going to run a fan on my desktop. As in a real, floor fan on the top of my desk. Husband--got to think of a code name for him--thinks it's hilarious. I just think it's smart. Big, huge hugs to Mirelly for sticking with me through all this. Hoping this was the problem, but if it wasn't at least my computer is now super clean.
WitchHubby And thanks for reminding me that I need to do this! I've got the can of air...just need to learn how to shut off this dang computer first...it's been so long!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! Problem definitely not solved. Images still blurry, Speedfan shows my dust free machine running Sims Seasons in the fiery red zone. Shut down game immediately. Temp went back to the green. I ran a dxdiag, every page said, "no problems found." I did not run the certificate check. Should I? I do not have an Intel Machine so I thought it was pointless, since Windows will of course tell me it's not kosher to run their product on "gasp" an AMD. Could it be the sheer size of PDL is finally too much? I could try a different 'hood just to see. Do I need that new fan? I've got two in my case that are now working just fine ... one for the case, one for the vid card. Drivers again? Argh. So frustrated. I bought this machine just to play sims and now sims is cooking it. I even turned down my graphics effects, reluctantly. What fun is that? This machine should be able to handle it. (See attached dxdiag, darnit.) I'm going to bed. Guess checking to see if it worked at 11 p.m., not such a hot idea. Shall try not to toss and turn. Growl.
Driver Date/Size: 1/9/2005 19:32:00 !! Start with upgrading the driver. Do you have a digital camera? Can you post a shot of your PCs innards, if not don't worry.) Is there sufficient space around your graphics card? High performance cards generate heat (LOL but you know that) and the fan needs access to "clear blue water" air to suck at plus a good amount of space to discharge the hot air into so it doesn't have to suck on its own exhaust causing a positive feedback of heat build-up. If you can, move the nearest PCI expansion card away from the AGP/PCIe card. Also what has changed in the last few weeks? Spring is sprunging and temps are risings and I bet your heating is still on. Have you rearranged any furniture since last year so that your puter is sucking on air from nearer a heat source than before? Final thought. Your current screen resolution is set at 1280 x 1024 at 32 bit color which equates to 5MB per screenful of pixels You could try reducing the screen res to 1024 x 768 and reduce that by 40% to 3 meg per screenful (and compensate by whacking up the game setting to max) If you have a very large screen this may be undesirable but health and safety guidelines recommend that a 15" is the ideal size for most application where the user is sitting close to the screen. Screens above 17" are more for CAD/CAM and graphic design artistic use in the PC field and for multiplayer use where the players typically sit further from the screen in the PC gaming role. The trouble is that big sells and computer retailers like to disguise the inadequacies of the hardware they are pushing by trumpetting about the massive 21" screen they've chucked in (as if those extra inches are (a) worth the money and (b) even worth having. In the long run your problem might be solvable just by investing a nice cheap 15.1" LCD screen
My brother downloaded drivers for me that I'm going to pick up later this week. I just won't play until then. (Gasping for air ...) I tried to update them previously and they killed my video player, hence the creaky drivers ... my geek friend at work assures me they've fixed that particular snag. I will reduce the size. From inside the game, right? I have a 17" LCD monitor but I don't sit that close to it. It's at the other side of my desk, a good 2 feet away. Inside my machine there is a lot of space between the graphics card and the next thing on one side, but the modem card is right next to it on the other, near the fan now that I think about it ... can I put that card in any slot? If I moved it farther away, that would help? And no, it's not that close to a heat source. There's a space heater on the other side of the room, about five or six feet away. Is that too close? It's a moot point now that it's almost spring, and we do plan to move the puter upstairs this year ... fingers crossed. Thank you for taking the time to look at my specs, Mirelly.
Ooh yes, defintiely get that modem away from the fan side of the grpahcis card. Give it air LOL As for the screen resolution issue ... leave that option as a last resort. The option to change is the base Windows desktop settings (right click on the desktop and choose properties). On a 17" monitor you will definitely notice a slighty grainier appearance with less pixels per inch of screen although distance from screen is a factor. Sadly, like most things in life, it's all a big balancing act. However, I'm still puzzled by the problems you're having and frankly there's something like a gremlin at work here that we have failed to spot ... I hate mysteries like this :(
Not exactly what I wanted to hear ... I'm really hoping the new drivers, and moving the card, will do the trick. If not I'll buy my geek friends a pizza in exchange for having a look at it. I'm running it at 1168 x something or other and it doesn't look much different. I have a very square screen and the in-between sizes looked very strange. I have to just believe that somehow this will be fixed. I don't want to think about what will happen if not. Could it have anything at all to do with the more than 750 sims in PDL? Is the 'hood just reaching the end of its life? My friends didn't seem to think so but I thought I'd just put that out there ...
750! I don't know. I remember Pescado bandying around a figure a year or two ago. If I'd been asked to bet I would have said it was 800 ... but since we've had 2 or 3 EPs all with oodles of new sims (all those pets! oi!!!) I assumed that the Maxoids had beefed up the system. I'm sure 750 isn't too many.
756, to be exact. Yep, learned my lesson ... three universities, Bluewater village and a downtown really add a lot of characters. My new hoods I've started since then have one homegrown university apiece and no shopping district at all. I "only" have just over 150 player sims in PDL and that includes all of my ghosts. I don't include binned sims I never play, though, like the Jacquets for example. So there's no reason a town with a reasonable number of NPCs couldn't go on for quite a while.
