Re: The Sims 2 ultimate collection origin keeps crashing (Windows 10) FEB 2018

Thanks XD 🙂 also I tried the compatibility mode and its still crashing, this time it crashed as soon as it brought up the neighborhood menu

And I try to go on the control panel and click on the list of games and it seems to list all types of sims 2 apart from EP9 XD lol, See image attached XD, any other suggestions?

Glad to read that, @TarixSim! You could try to 'play' a bit with the settings until you find the best ones for you.

Enjoy the game! 🙂

@Jozo7O :D The pack is hiding! Luckily, we can fix that easily - see that button just to the right where it says 'Add'? Use it and NVIDIA will show you a list of the recently used programs.

If sims2ep9.exe doesn't even show in that list, use 'Browse...' option below that list to find it yourself. Remember by default it's inside C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection\Fun with Pets\SP9\TSBin

Please, let us know if that helps 🙂
-Mai

Ok, so I loaded it in the list of applications but I cant see anywhere where i can try switch graphics cards, what option do i change?

I got my sims2 finally working by using this program

[Edited by EA_Mai: links to third party software not allowed, for security reasons]

basically open the program and select  'Location of your sims 2'\The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection\Fun with Pets\SP9\TSBin Sims2EP9.exe

I am still having some issues for example flashing pink textures but at least it works now.

Hello. Im having the same problem as described. I attempted to fix it as you previously mentioned, however, Im still not able to play Sims 2 normally.

The closest I am able to get to having the game run properly is if I run the program as Admin through Windows Vista (Service Pack 2) while using my Integrated Graphics. However, when doing this my graphics are terrible and the gameplay screen flickers no matter what graphics settings I choose.

Do you have any other suggestions on how to resolve this? It's strange that I was able to run it fine before, and then suddenly its just started crashing... I would really hate to never be able to play this game normally again.

Hi @EA_Mai thank you for your reply! I know this is an old thread, so I appreciate you taking the time to revisit the topic.

Attached is my DxDiag file that you requested. I ran the game as Admin, using Windows Vista (Service Pack 2), and NON integrate graphics (which is what I would preferably like to play with so my game doesn't look like mashed potatoes haha).

The game crashed before I was able to select a neighborhood. It may be worth noting that I am sometimes able to move further into the game, however, it will still usually crash while trying to access CAS or the neighborhood, or when clicking the Main Menu icon.

Hello mai!

i've tried to do what you said on previous comments but my CAS still doesnt work, do you have any idea what i could do?

My pc is kinda crappy but it Works fine with ts3 and ts4 ( used to work fine with CD ts2, but i have never tried that on Windows 10)

ps: i have very recently rebooted all my pc back to the default settings and erased everything.

Hello!  I'm also having some issues getting Ultimate Collection to work on my laptop.

After lowering the graphics options in the game and changing the game to play in XP service pack 2, I can now start creating a sim, but it doesn't last and will crash before I can complete the sim.  And cannot create in Body Shop, it opens but crashes when I click to create a sim.  I tried to lower the color mode to 8-bit and this did not work.  I can build houses but not create sims.

My laptop has an Intel(R) HD Graphics 3000 card and is Windows 10 Pro.

Here is my dxdiag:

@EA_Mai did you have an opportunity to look at my DxDiag? I am still unable to play the game. I have even reimaged/ reset my computer without any luck.

@EA_Mai

Could you PLEASE assist me with the same issue? I am on Windows 10 Pro & have run the game compatibility in Windows XP, 7, 8, & Vista (with reduced color) and I already play in windowed as well. I can play mostly fine with the exception of CAS. I have only been able to make it through once without a crash! I NEED TO PLAY THIS AGAIN please advise!

@EA_Mai are you able to help us with this issue? You last posted here in June and this problem is still unresolved for myself, and many other players.

It's unfortunate that this game just stopped working after I've put so many hours, and money into playing it.

Hello @EA_Mai are you still helping people with this issue? I have been playing Sims2 for many years and bought all of the expansions and extra content packs when they were new.

In the last month is has just started crashing a few times an hour.  This is a real shame after putting so much money into it.

(I tried Sims3 but just did not like it)

Please can you help? Thanks!

Hi, I can play the game with premade families, but it crashes when I try to change appearance or go to CAS. I tried everything you recomended before. 

@EA_Mai  did you check the link before you deleted it?

It would be great if EA provided a fix so people did not have to resort to third parties to fix their game.

Sims 2 crashes ALL the time on Win 10

Sims 3 has major lags and crashes after Island Paradise EP was installed. This is well known that the world has major routing problems. Does EA fix it? NO -- so people resort to third parties to mod fixes.

I would rather play the games I purchased (yes I purchased all of the EPS for TS2 & TS3) than use a mod that may or may not fix the game.

So EA_MAI, please reach out to your superiors, bubble up the problems and work to have a fix.

Turns out with TS2 it is maxing out at 2GB ram -- Well I have 32GB ram on my system so it should not have a problem with virtual memory etc.

I am not entirely comfortable using fix on the Pleasant Sims website as it is not an official game patch and it is not a simple mod, it actually rewrites the executable.  -- so what is the solution?

Note: I did not attach the full DxDiag because it contains information about my machine that a hacker may find interesting and it doesn't seem like EA_MAI has responded on the forum to anyone who has posted them.

I have recently started to play the Sims 2 UC again, and I got so far that I had made my family and was in the process of completing my house. This after a bunch of fixes, everything that was recommended here and then it starts to crash again. This is not the first time and I am just about done. I have the NVIDIA 1070 card and Windows 10 on my computer....so I guess I'm just about sc*w*d when it ocmes to the game. EA will never do anything to fix this...

@TheTinkeress , you can also check Leefish's forum for fixes to get the game to run on Windows 10.

I have managed to get SIMS 2 on Origin to work.

Literally I followed this tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BRX0JlN8lM

only difference is that you don't move over dxgi.dll.

at first the game wouldn't even launch but after i restarted my computer It then worked fine, remember to backup your files first though Just in case, hope this helped lol as I posted the original problem almost 2 years ago XD

Yes!!! I also followed the steps in the youtube vid by xurbansims and it worked. No more crashing! :D Thanks @Jozo7O for posting it. 

Necroing, because the solution hasn't been documented here. 

I have GTX 1070 as well, and I could get to the point of loading the world, but if I try to link any other maps (i.e., shopping, nightlife, whatever) it crashes. Initially, the client wouldn't even launch, but I started playing around with settings and was able to get through world selection, but doing anything beyond that point would crash the client. After looking at the exception files the client was generating, I was able to isolate the issue. 

Dug through dozens of troubleshooting threads, but only found one that worked. 

Troubleshooting steps I took with little/no success

1. Started by setting the game to run in windowed mode. In the Origin UI, right click on TS2, select game properties, click on advanced launch options, type -w in command line arguments. Made launching faster. 

2. As per this thread, I changed the compatibility settings and ran as administrator, which made the game crash before launching - basically making the issue worse. 

3. I dug into the exception files and saw I was getting the ACCESS_VIOLATION error (you can check this in Documents\EA Games\The Sims™ 2 Ultimate Collection\Logs in text file named Sims2Exception with the date and time of the exception). According to the amazing celebkiriedhel of Leefish, "An Access Violation occurs when the game tries to write something where it shouldn't. Rather than overwriting a piece of code it gives the violation and stops." Part of that seems to be because the game was last updated before a lot of modern cards were released, and it can't recognize the cards without changing the graphics card texture fix to graphics rules.sgr and updating the video card on the video cards.sgr. 

What ACTUALLY worked for me: 

I decided to run Graphic Rules Maker (GRM) by Sims Network, which was updated for 2020, as it autodetects the installed graphics card and modifies settings automatically without needing to manually adjust the .sgr files (which is what I had to do with TS3 to get it to run..). Kiri mentions that sometimes GRM misses certain details, so I decided to apply GRM, then double-check the files with the Leefish guide to ensure everything was updated properly (thread titled "Sims 2 - UC Access_Violation Error after Windows 10 updated"). 

If that gets censored out, the issue is that the game is old and doesn't recognize new cards, and that's why powerful systems are crashing when running what should be a super low-resource game. Superficially low memory limitations can create an endless loop that winds up eating all of your memory, and crashing the game. You have to repair the graphics rules.sgr and video cards.sgr in order for the game to recognize your cards - there is a program that does it automatically, which should be easy to track down just by searching "Sims Network Graphics Rules Maker" or "Sims 2 Ultimate windows 10 not recognizing graphics card." The program is a direct executable file, and did not cause any issues or flag my malware - it's reputable within the community. If you'd still prefer not to run it, Leefish has a guide to manually update the files, but it can be quite confusing if you're not used to modifying files that are severely outdated. 

As always, backup your game before making any modifications to the game files. 

EA isn't going to provide an update on this, and as the title is so old, these steps will be necessary to run the client without crashing on newer machines.