Troubleshooting Problem with pop-up bubbles on Sims2

Problem with pop-up bubbles on Sims2

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:(

 

I feel your pain.

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.

 

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. :(

 

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

 

Have you guys tried patching your games?

 

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

 

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!!!

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Do you have a Dell Inspiron 1501?

 

yeah i do

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.)

 

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

 

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.

 

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?

 

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

 

do you know how on XP?