Re: Sims 2 won't play

Hey! So I'm receiving assistance from someone else on the thread. I'm sorry you can't get your game to run, but maybe he can help you too.

To everyone, I haven't been able to read all of the messages but from skimming them i get the idea you are having issues with the directx9 error, and also a 800 × 600 resolution.

I don't rely on the graphic rule maker as I feel it never quite works for me but I did use it briefly.

To get around the "blocked by admin" issue - this doesn't happen with all dlc, and I think it chooses random ones to block. make a note of which ones get blocked.

1) open task manager and find the option to start a new task

2) click browse and find "autorun.exe" on the disk in your disk drive.

3) tick "run with admin privileges" then click run.

It should bypass the blocking thing. Make note of which games cause this. I have to boot my game through this method because it blocks M&G Stuff and that is what the game launches through

Note: make a backup of any file I ask you to edit

To sort the directx 9 error, in my experience -

1) open graphics rules maker and go to Device Info. There may be two device options. For example, mine shows "Intel graphics" but also "NVIDIA GeForce etc". Pick whichever one brings more power. For me, its the geforce one.

2) take note of what it says next to Device ID for that card. For example 0x34b1. Also take note of what it says in Device

3) You need to get to the video card file in TSData for the version of sims that launches your game. Mine is mansion and garden stuff

Program files 86x > EA games > The sims 2 mansion and garden stuff > TSData > Res > Config > Video cards. Please make a backup of this file

4) Open in notepad and find the family of cards that your graphics card comes from. E.g geforce. At the bottom of that group, add a new entry.

for example  "card 0x34b1 "Geforce Rtx 1050"

5) Windows won't allow you to save the file directly back in that location. So save it to your desktop and then move it in and replace it with admin privileges. Also replace the video cards file in CSConfig with this.

I'm going to make multiple posts because my phone is glitching whilst I type this

Continuation

6) find the graphics rules file in Res > Config and make a backup of it.
7) open it in notepad and through the edit function, choose "Find" and type texturememory. There should be a part which says "seti textureMemory 32"
8) Bring up the "Run" program and type "dxdiag". Go to the 'Render" tab and take note of the number next to "Approx. Total Memory". You need to replace the 32 in the graphics rules file with that number.
9) Much like the video card file, windows won't allow you to save it directly, so save it to your desktop and then replace the file in Config and CSConfig with that new graphics rules file.
This should allow your game to recognise your graphics card and should fix the directx error.

To get more than 800 x 600
1) In the graphic rules file, search for "option screenmoderesolution"
2) from low setting to high, replace the numbers with those of your display resolution. E.g. my display resolution is 1920 x 1080. So I replaced all of the "800"s with 1920 and all of the "600"s with 1080.
After this, all you need to do is save this and replace the file in Config and CSConfig with this.

But if you want extra "quality of life" settings, you can do these extra steps.
3) search "enumeratemultisamplelevels" . Whenever there is a result which says "false" after it, change it to "true"
In game, this will allow you to edit the smooth edges setting in graphics ingame and putting it to more will stop screen-tearing/graphical glitches if you receive them.

Let me know if this helps any of you.

There are some really good videos on YouTube that give very detailed instructions on how to edit your Graphics Rule Maker.sgr file and to also add the necessary code to increase the size of your screen resolution. Forum rules prevent me from posting links, but if either Google search or search YouTube. You will definitely have to stop and restart the videos in places, but those step by step videos are really good tutorials.