My daughter has been playing Sims 3 for some time and then it suddenly stopped working. I have uninstalled/installed again and keep getting the error message "The application failed to initialize properly Oxc0000135". I find this quite frustrating as she was playing it before, unless she has somehow deleted something that makes it work. Not having the best technical mind I would really appreciate help. i did follow some intructions from a previous thread and maybe this will help? this report: 5/8/2011, 10:56:05 Machine name: YOUR-8ABC512DA0 Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.100216-1441) Language: English (Regional Setting: English) System Manufacturer: Compaq Presario 061 System Model: PW582AA-ABG SR1420AN AN520 BIOS: Phoenix - Award BIOS v6.00PG Processor: AMD Sempron(tm) Processor 3100+, MMX, 3DNow, ~1.8GHz Memory: 1280MB RAM Page File: 656MB used, 2010MB available Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904) DX Setup Parameters: Not found DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode
i am not sure how to do that. When she first got the game I took it to a computer place and they installed a new one called G Force 6200
How old is this computer because as far as computer parts go that video card is prehistoric! I'm pretty sure it may not be up to snuff to play this game especially if she's installed any expansions in the game. When you copied the original text from the dxdiag report a little farther down should have been your video card information. Look for the paragraph that says: It will look something like this. --------------- Display Devices --------------- Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 Manufacturer: NVIDIA Chip type: GeForce GTX 570 DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1081&SUBSYS_15723842&REV_A1 Display Memory: 1280.0 MB Current Mode: 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (60Hz) Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200 Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll Driver Version: 6.14.0012.6658 (English)
while i was waiting I did a disc cleanup and defrag and re loaded the game and it now works. I did notice from what you said that the card is old yet this was only justput into the computer less than a year ago so maybe time to look for another computer company. I gather from you post that if she gets more expansion packs she may have a problem playing them? What video card would you suggest ? The computer is an oldie but it serves its purpose so far. thanks for you help by the way
Looking at all your stats, it looks like it may be time for a different computer if she wants to add any EPs. Having a CPU with only 1.8ghz and a video card less than something like a GTS 250 will really limit things. Compaqs are good machines, but yours might not have been good enough to put in a more powerful videocard than a 6200. It might not have had enough of a power supply (which unfortunately doesn't show up on a dxdiag) or it may only have had an AGP slot (rather than a PCI Express slot), both of which really limit what kind of graphics card you can put into a computer. If the computer is older than 1-2 years, it's most likely quite out of date. Computers go out of date (because of their CPUs or power supplies or what sort of slot it has for the video card.) Your best bet is to look at the requirements for the most recent EPs and then find something with a better CPU than that (since it will only show the minimums, which are really limiting in terms of how the game functions) and a graphics card in the mid to upper range of what they suggest. I'm glad you could at least get the game going, even if she wouldn't do well with EPs. It's amazing what updating graphics cards, doing a disc defrag and cleanup will do for getting a game to work!
I would suggest you go over to www.simprograms.com and look through his Sims 3 minimum game requirements and base your next computer off of it. You can then look for something with higher specs than that , that way you know you'll be ahead of the game so to speak. Adding expansions, stuff packs and custom content especially when you play them all on a large lot at high resolutions really takes a good video card. If all she is going to play is Sims a 9800gtx/gts250 (they're the same card only different identification) a 460 or 560 Nvidia card would be more than sufficient to play the game. If you go with a system with an Intel processor avoid getting a Celeron and if you go a system with an AMD processor avoid getting a Sempron like what you have in your system now. These are both very weak processors that are really only set up for business type installs or being networked together as they're not really set up for gaming.
Thankyou so much for your help. I have absolutely no idea when it comes to this sort of thing but at least now i am a bit more informed to make better choices. She is looking at adding the next sims that is being released soon and I think we may have to look at upgrading.
