The Sims 2 Windows 7-10 Fixes
It's not uncommon to have problems with The Sims 2 on Windows 7, 8, 8.5, and 10. I've had all of these versions of windows and had trouble running The Sims 2 on all of them. The Sims 2 is my favorite Sims game so naturally I searched the internet for fixes and Troubleshoot Forums. Here's what I found: Black Flickering This is caused by your graphics card not agreeing with the game. Turn Shadows to Medium or turn them off completely. That's the simplest fix. If you're also having any of these: Screen flickering, Black screen, graphical errors, pie menus won't load, gameplay errors, shadows still flickering, mods won't show up. First, before doing any more fixes, remove your mods folder and all mods if you have any, just to be safe. Second, download Graphics Rule Maker from SimsNetwork: http://www.simsnetwork.com/simpedia/the-sims-2/editions/the-sims-2/specials/graphics-rules-maker-improve-compatibility-with This program, (Virus free, I checked) is made to fix all the problems listed above except for the mod issue. Let it find your Sims 2 game, add your graphics card to its database, set your screen resolution, and apply the fixes. (But try to avoid using all the fixes if possible) I personally used this and it fixed my Sims 2 game 110%. Looks better than it did before. Now for the mods, check the in game options, there's a section to toggle the mods on and off. Check on and that should fix it, if it doesn't then its a deeper problem. So there ya go! Enjoy The Sims 2!
UPDATE 9-2-20 Has your Sims 3 game been affected by the recent pixilation issues?
UPDATE: 3/8/2021 Cororon has been affected now and is determined to figure this out, yaaay! Please go to her thread on Nvidia and support her efforts to have Nvidia take a look at what's going on. https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/game-ready-drivers/13/438312/sims-3-colour-banding-and-artefacts-with-nvidia-dr/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- UPDATE: 9/2/2020: Naus has narrowed down the issue (see page 17 of this thread) and Infragreen has some possible fixes and has started a thread at Nvidia to get some attention. Please post there if you're having this issues. Let's be loud and get this solved!!! https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/geforce-graphics-cards/5/395894/horrible-color-banding-texture-handling-and-dither/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- UPDATE 6/19/20: I'm updating this thread to reflect the REAL issues in the game that was caused by the early December Windows update. Some of the issues I showed pictures of were already in the game and always an issue. I just didn't noticed until I went looking for them. The real issues are worse color banding and the pixilation of sims' skins and faces. The pixilation issue especially affects sims with darker skin color or who are out at night time. Installing Reshade and editing the color banding option does help with this issue and Archivist provided instructions for that on this thread. The other issue is horses used to look like horses and now don't completely render. The cheap fridge issue was evidently always in the game and even happens on Linux systems. This poll is not accurate as some who said they were not affected have now been affected. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A recent Windows update (yes, it has been narrowed down to that) has caused all kinds of crazy pixilation issues in a lot of our games. Have you been affected? I'll put pictures of the issues in the second post. ETA: One of the reasons for this post is I recently saw someone who was complaining about their graphics on FB get jumped on by a lot of players saying how awesome Sims 3 graphics are. I think they thought it was an old 'sims 3 graphics are horrible' rant but it wasn't. Just want everyone to be aware that this is happening so we can be supportive to those who are affected and let them know what's going on. Yes, sims 3 graphics are the best! But not when they're borked. ETA2: For those who don't hang out in the techie section, these are the things I've tried: First thing was Nvidia, had long chats with them 2 nights in a row. No help. Finally told me to go back to the developer. Tried reporting to Windows. No comment. Tried rolling back graphics driver. No help. Tried a total reset thinking Windows would be restored to the original condition when I purchased the computer. That doesn't work anymore. Windows now restores the updates along with your system restore. No way I can find around that. Puzzlezaddict did some testing here if you want to look at that thread in the techie section. Posted over at NRaas. The techies over there think it is definitely a Windows update, and also that it is affecting more recent games than Sims 3, even some of their Xbox games. Because of this they think Windows will eventually fix it. That's where we are now.
Error loading save
I had just started Dragon Age the Veilguard and was experiencing some lag at the ritual site. I changed a couple graphics settings and restated the game and when I tried to load my save I encountered this problem. Restarting my PC did not solve the issue. The graphics settings were changing: lighting quality to medium, the terrain quality setting to medium and the terrain decoration setting to medium from high. What is your EA ID or Console ID (PSN ID/Gamertag)? lilllilly123 What platform are you playing on? PC, Windows 11, Steam What is happening? (and what do you expect to happen instead?) Expecting a save to load, it is not. Does this happen in a specific area of the game? hard to say, none of the saves are loading before that area but before changing the graphics settings there was no reason to load a previous save. I made a new character, all the same settings, and when I tried to load one of those saves from the main menu I found that that save would load, however the character loaded without hair even after the train textures had generated. Please share any steps you've tried so far to resolve the issue: Restarted the game, restarted steam, tried to load a different save, restarted PC, tried loading from a different character If possible, share a Screenshot or Clip... As a note this is the least helpful error message I have ever seen. If on PC, please share aDxDiagfile and an EA app Error ID Number The error does not give me access to either of these.
