[The Sims 2] SIMS 2 compaitability with windows 8

None of the packs work with my game. I am so sad, I love the sims 2 ☹️ I bought this computer to have a better gaming experience on it and my other PC games but this one by far was my favorite. 400$wasted stupid Windows 8... I think you can uninstall Windows 8 and download Windows 7. I have heard of people do it before but I'm not much of a techie so I'm clueless about it.

I have a problem alike to yours. Try running your game windowed, to do that right-click on the .exe icon then go to properties, there you should see a line that says "Target:" and there is the directory of the .exe for the game. Don't chane any of that, simply go to the end of it and add " -w" without the quote marks. Then your game will run windowed. When the screen goes black after loading the neighborhood, press Alt+Tab to change back to your desktop, wait a few seconds and the taskbar should appear, now just click on the sims icon and the screen should show up properly. Hope it helps 🙂

hi, i have tried adding -w and the pc was not having any of it. urgh this is annoying!

I am running Windows 7 and would love to upgrade to Windows 8 but I really don´t want to miss whole Sims 2 series. I really hope they will patch it so we can play on newer OS. I think it is something like their duty. Microsoft supports older OS (like Vista or XP) for a long time after they released newer versions so I don´t know why EA cannot support Sims 2.

I just received my new laptop today with Windows 8 and didn't realize there was a TS2 problem with it until I tried to install it. I had the same problem most everyone else was having.  Installed base game ok but when I tried to create a family or play an existing family, the game just hung.  When I tried to install Nightlife or any other expansion I got the error message and it didn't install.  I first tried to run in window mode (-w) and it didn't work.  I then ran with different compatibilities (Vista, since this worked on my husband's laptop and XP SP2) as advised here and neither worked.

I then followed the advice given here to copy the TSBin and TSData files from my desktop to the new laptop via flash drive.   I fired up the game and it still didn't work.  So, I figured maybe it needed to go through the process of installing the next expansion so I exited the game and installed University.  It installed with no problems so I started the game and finally it worked!

I just finished installing Nightlife with no problems, started up to make sure it still worked and it did so I'm going to continue on.  I'll post an update when I get done with the rest.  I know how frustrating it is to get this to work when it doesn't want to on whatever system you have.  If this way doesn't work for you keep trying different things and stay on EA to get a normal solution to this!  I'm glad to see so many people still playing TS2!  Hopefully EA will realize they need to continue some type of support.  Good luck!

Ok, I finished installing all expansions and stuff packs.  Had a couple problems that I just resolved.  Every time I started up the game in AL it would crash as soon as I'd like on a property.  Played around with a few things (compatibility, -w) and nothing worked.  I double checked it was running with the NVIDIA graphics and still nothing.  I finally, and I don't know why I didn't do this sooner, clicked "run as Administrator" and it finally worked!  

So, if you copied and pasted the TSBin and TSData files from one computer that runs the game ok to a Windows 8 computer, and the base game still crashes try installing University before giving up.  Good luck!

It is shame that more simple and complex games prior to the Sims 2 work on Windows 8 and the EA not get to work five minutes to fix the problem, as an alternative go online or leave different EA promise forever. :womanfrustrated:

i hav the sims 2 double deluxe....i did whatever u stated...but its still not working... ☹️ ........whenever i create a family, the game stops...a dialogue box appears nd it says..."The application will now terminate,,,,,????????? pls help 

I actually went on the live chat thingy with them and the man mentioned compatability mode , which I said didn't work , he then said the developers didn't do a test or something with windows 8 and they aren't/can't fix it. So I guess it's up to us to find a workaround , because we've already lost the support of EA .

I just got off the online chat with EA admins

1st chat round from this morning I was told

1) Uninstall Sims2 and its expansions from your PC, totally.
2)Reinstall Sims2 on your PC and patch it.
3)Play Sims2 on your PC for a while. (this would automatically update the game)
4) Then install the expansions on the PC>
PS- step 2 is really not necessary!

(if you feel the need to patch🙂
http://help.ea.com/article/RN182

when that didn't work I went back for chat 2 and was told

We recommend running your game in Windows XP Compatibility Mode, for this please follow the steps listed below: -
1. Right-click the game's shortcut available on your Desktop and choose Properties.
2. In the Properties Panel, click the Compatibility tab.
3. Place a check in the Compatibility Mode checkbox.
4. Select Windows XP (Service Pack 2/3) in the drop down list.
5. Click Apply and then Ok to save your changes.

I tried this with service pack 2 and then 3.. didn't work.

I asked why it seemed to work for some ppl and not for others and was told

"Yes, as the game is not tested and compatible with Windows 8 so it could work however we could not assure that the game will work or not."

"However you may try to disable the UAC of your system:
Navigate to the desktop.
Hold down the Windows key and press R. (This will open the Run dialogue.)
Type "msconfig" and press Enter.
In System Configuration, select the Tools tab.
Select "Change UAC Settings" and click the Launch button.
Pull the level to the down position "Never notify" and click the OK button.
Restart when prompted.
Provide the customer with this article and instruct them to reactivate UAC after troubleshooting is complete."

(I have not tried this yet!)

I asked at this point if he knew if EA would maybe try and fix this issue, I got this response:

"I'm afraid however there is no such information on as there would be something done for the games to get compatible with windows 8 as it is a pretty old game. However our developers would surely look into it and lets see what we could do in future."

I don't care if it's a "pretty old game" some games that are older I'd love to get my hands on! If its a good game why shouldn't it be looked at?!

I'm so sad and I miss my sims 2!

Good luck to everyone whos having issue!!