Sudden decrease in graphics quality *Sorry in advance if this thread is misplaced. I wasn't sure if this qualified as a technical/system problem or a game problem.* Hello. I currently have TS2+Nightlife and the game runs fine. However, yesterday I noticed that everything appeared more pixelated than usual - sims, objects, and all. Of course I tried playing with game options and the option "use square pixels" is turned off - I tried turning it on and off to see if that would help but there's no change whatsoever when I do. I've messed with the other settings but that doesn't help either. My graphics card is up to date (ATI Mobility Radeon x300), and like I said, I haven't had any problems with it before now. I haven't been able to find anything online specifying a similar issue either, so hopefully someone here can help. Thank you.
Yeah, I know, and it's a pain, isn't it. NL adds a bigger strain to the video cards. It's happened to everyone. Go into your graphic settings and lower them a little, and start saving for a new video card is all I can tell you.
Further to Kristal's advice. You're playing on a laptop. The sudden pixellation is probably due to the laptop getting too warm. Hot chips don't work as well as cooler ones (heat increases electrical resistance whcih results in the whole shebang slowing down) Laptop cooling is difficult due to the lack of space and power to put in big enough fans and heatsinks (radiators). If you can't manage to cool things down (keep it off your lap, use it only on a hard cool surface (not on a bed's comforter ) you should be able to get a laptop cooling pad from your local electrical geek store (eg Radio Shack or Maplins) ... it's a sort of tea-tray with a couple of fans in it they're in the $20-$25 price range.
