The Sims 2 graphics issues while run on Windows 7 I recently purchased a new laptop that runs Windows 7 and after installing sims 2 I notices that the graphics have been flickering so to speak. When I am in BUY or BUILD mode whenever I place a new object or make a change to the house or yard everything disapears for a second and then reapears after i move the mouse. Only the house, furniture, garbage can outside, mailbox and trees flicker like this. they do it also during gameplay, although not as bad as in buy or build mode. the grass and floor tiles stay intact when this happens. i just want to know if there is a compatibility patch or something i need to download for this? maybe my graphics card or driver is not the correct one? im not sure but reply asap if you know what would fix this. the game is definitely playable its just really annoying whenever i scroll over with the mouse the constant flickering hurts my eyes a bit. thank ya!!:rambo:
Okay here it is: Computer name: PC Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) Language: English System Manufacturer: Acer System Model: Aspire 5740 BIOS: Ver 1.00PARTTBL Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 CPU M 330 @ 2.13GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.1GHz Memory: 4096MB RAM Page File: 1000MB used, 6526MB available DirectX Version: DirectX 11 New Information below...yes i know some is repeated. I hope i did this right this time i just read the "help us help you" post, sorry i didnt comply before i've never done this prior. 1) CPU (MHz/GHz Intel(R) Core (TM) i3 CPU 2.13 GHz 2) RAM/Memory - 4.00 GB (3.68 GB usable) 3) 4) Total Hard Disk Space: 220 GB 5) Graphic/Video Card: Intel(R) Graphics Media Accelerator HD 6) Graphic/Video Card Driver Version: 8.15.10.1995 7) DirectX Version: 11 8) Operating System: Windows 7 9) Sims 2 CD 10) Sims 2 Nightlife, Sims 2 Seasons, Sims 2 Pets, and 3 stuff packs. 11) No hacks, mods or custom objects 11) Okay here goes again. While playing any lot in the sims 2, all objects except for the floor tiles and grass flicker instantly when i scroll over or zoom in. When I try to place furniture in buy mode parts of the house will completely disappear and all i can see is the floor tiles. this happens a lot worse in build mode. when trying to delete walls or fences, parts of them will disappear along with the wall/fence tool. Also when I tried to change my sims appearance in the mirror, her hair changed just fine, but her face rendering was white with black hair-like wisps all over it. Her eyes were black too. It changed back to normal after I altered the make-up she was wearing. This has happened when i was trying to plan outfits as well. The body would be rendered very strangely will random wisps of black and brown all over the sold body shape. Once when my sim was on the computer her outifit randomly changed from normally a white dress to a shirt and pants and her skin changed to a darker tan. i zoomed in and out several times and it went back to normal. I've been playing a lot the passed few days and sometimes when i zoom into my sim, the surrounding area outside of the house turns completely black. It will return to normal when i switch to live, buy, and build mode and zoom in and out several times. I have even experienced odd quilt-like patterns around my sims house and reaching out to the surrounding lots. Each patch looked sort of like a morphed sandlot with a weird brown rectangle on the left side of each. it went away after again, switching modes and zooming in and out. once when my sim was out on a date i recieved an odd error message. i cant remember what it said, it was mostly symbols and numbers. it did have my sims name in it though. i was trying to make her interact with her date from across the table; it popped up and gave me three choices: i could retry, reset, or delete. i had no clue what it was referring to so i tried retry. it wouldnt work and the notice kept reappearing. i clicked the reset button and both sims suddenly appeared standing up. the game ran ok after that. It did shut down randomly one time. there was a notice from windows saying that they were trying to find out what created the issue. but other than that nothing else happened. i restarted my computer and ran the game and it worked...just with the regular flickering and disappearing of things. Prior to purchasing my new laptop...the one listed above...i had been playing the sims 2 on my old laptop. It runs Windows XP, Mobile Intel(R) Pentium (R) 4-M CPU 1.8GHz, 512 MB of RAM, Display Adapter: Mobility Radeon 7500. It played way better than on the faster computer...it was slower when loading and saving but there was no flickering or other weird grapic issues at all. Anyways....comment please.
If I had to make a guess I'd say the Intel graphics chip can't handle all the shaders that Season's and Pets is throwing at it. The shaders that these two expansion packs utilize are murder on integrated chipsets. Then again the chipset may not be supported by the game either. Has it always done this even with just the base game? Try using this cheat code in game and see if it helps boolprop useshaders true If the chipset you have doesn't support shaders then it may be why you're seeing so many graphic errors.
Yes, ever since I installed the base game it's been acting up. I tried the cheat and nothing changed. It's so frustrating because I spent a lot on this stupid laptop and my main use for it is to play my Sims! I actually like to build the houses more than play the actual game and its near impossible with everything disappearing. What if I were to get a different graphics card? I was doing some research and the Geforce 8500 GT seemed to be the best match to handle the demand of the sims + expansions. Let me know what you think.
Sorry but most laptop graphics can't be changed out because the graphics chip is soldered onto the motherboard. If you could or could find another motherboard to swap it out with a better graphics option on it expect to pay quite a bit more. Actually the 8500 Gt isn't a very good gaming card if you had a desktop I would recommend an 8600 GT or the 9600 GT over the 8500 GT. Pricewise the 8500 GT isn't all that bad but it's meant more for business apps and networked systems. If you consider another laptop expect to pay more money for a laptop that's "designed for gaming" I have heard rumors of an external video card for laptop's being developed which I think in some people's case where they're stuck with crappy integrated chipsets it would probably help in gaming .
Windows 7 I have this same problem except that the terrain sometimes goes black so that the house/s look they're spotlighted or it looks like weird tile instead of grass/sand/etc. I waiting for customer support to ask them about this and the simple answer was: The Sims does not support the 64 bit platform of Windows 7 and there is no way around it.
