TS2 startup video freezes - Solved

[Breadpazoid]

Hi all,

Once Upon A Time I asked this question on the sims 2 EA forum and it disappeared into the mist, so...

Whenever I start up TS2 (I have Pets and Seasons, in that order - nothing else), I will get the 2-second EA logo, then it will go into the Sims 2 ad/startup video. You know, click on it, it stops and then you switch to the Sims 2 loading screen. Right? Wrong!

I click on it, it freezes. For 10-20 minutes before it decides to change to the loading screen. I let the video finish playing by itself, it still freezes. Reinstalls were no help. It did this before the expacks and it does it after. Right now I have a nocd patch and that didn't change it either.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

[gynarchy]

Have you tried removing any CC you have to see if that speeds things up?

[Breadpazoid]

I tried, but nothing. It was doing this before the custom content, too.

[Assmitten]

Okay, this is a shot in the dark without knowing boodums about your system, but...you running Vista? Sometimes Vista throws the brakes on stuff I'm running because it may be OMG malware. Like, other MS software. 

You getting any little security popups or anything?

[Breadpazoid]

Oh, I didn't even put my operating system...LOL. I'm running XP SP2. Not getting any popups, though I do tell my firewall not to let the sims connect to the internet. Could that have anything to do with it?

I've run all these programs on XP SP1 before, and had no problems (though it was a totally different computer - Intel based, the one I'm on is Athlon based, self built).

Could that do it?

[witch]

Just a shot in the dark - maybe it's something to do with your video? Do ingame videos play OK? An upgrade of video drivers often helps although NVidia folks sometimes find older driver versions are better for the sims.

ETA: Sorry, I skim read, I see the movie does play.

Also, there's a wee app round somewhere to optimise for AMD dual core. Though I don't think Athlons are dual core? Not sure.

There is a switch you can append to the command string in your shortcut to starting the game. The switch will prevent the intro movie from playing. Well, there used to be, I haven't heard mention of it in some time.

[Breadpazoid]

I was looking for that switch, but no luck. If anyone remembers what it is, I'll...well, I'll just be very grateful. LOL

My Athlon is old but not ancient, AMD 1500+ I think - definitely not dual core. This system has run conflict free (minus the motherboard, which interestingly has a conflict with its own onboard audio card - I have a PCI to fix that) and nearly seamlessly since I got it running ~5 years ago. I wish I could say the same for my Intels. LOL

[KLGFCG]

Personally, the EA Logo and the intro movie annoy the hell out of me. I get rid of them completely by adding "disabled" to the end of the file names (located in Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 2\TSData\Res\Movies and in each of the EP's Res\Movies files) so, for example, the intro file becomes "intro_eng_audiodisabled". No more annoying intro, just straight to the loading screen. I don't know if it'll help your problem at all but it won't hurt anything. 

[gynarchy]

If you navigate to Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 2\TSData\Res\Movies you can rename the intro movies so they don't play when you start up the game. You may need to switch your folder settings so you can view the file extensions. I just changed the extensions on mine from .movie to .movie_disabled and don't ever see the intros anymore. I don't know if that helps with what you're after, but there ya go.

ETA: Almost word for word there, KLGFCG. 

[Assmitten]

I should really do this. Thanks for the reminder that this is possible, you two.

[Breadpazoid]

I got that to work - thanks you guys!

However...it still freezes for 10-15 minutes at startup. *headdesk*

So I guess it's not the video after all. Any ideas, folks? (PS: Thanks for all your help so far!)

[bowrain]

Are you running the game in full screen? I play in full screen, and sometimes mine freezes like yours, but not for 10-15 minutes, more like 3-5 minutes, however, if I switch to desktop and then switch back to the game, it'll go to the loading screen almost immediately. I have no idea what causing it but it works for me

[SaraMK]

Switching from full screen to windowed might be a good idea. When the freeze happens you could check Task Manager to see what's up, like if the program has stopped responding or if CPU is chugging at 100%.

It could be a RAM issue.

Are you shutting everything down, including unneeded stuff in Task Manager, before playing?

[Breadpazoid]

I did run the game in fullscreen, but switched to windowed when I first installed it and had this problem, and have been playing in windowed ever since. The problem continues. Yes, I do close out unneeded stuff in Task Manager. Once the game gets going, I have little to no problem playing it - very few if any laggy moments, no frame rate problems, nothing.

I know for sure that the CPU only rarely hits 100% when I'm trying to get the game to run. I wonder if it is a RAM issue then, because when I close the game, it does the same thing, only doesn't freeze as long. The game will disappear but the .exe will show in the Task Manager still taking up a couple hundred thousand K or so. It takes maybe 5 minutes for the exe to disappear from the roster, and in that time, my whole computer is pretty much immobile.

As I am not good at troubleshooting RAM issues, how would I check this out?

Thanks for your continuing help!

[witch]

How much RAM do you have?

Try a programme like Ram test, I think it's called. leave it running overnight.

ETA: Or memtest? I don't remember. Google-fu.

[SnootCB]

I know for sure that the CPU only rarely hits 100% when I'm trying to get the game to run. I wonder if it is a RAM issue then, because when I close the game, it does the same thing, only doesn't freeze as long. The game will disappear but the .exe will show in the Task Manager still taking up a couple hundred thousand K or so. It takes maybe 5 minutes for the exe to disappear from the roster, and in that time, my whole computer is pretty much immobile.

Mine does that too, so I suspect it is just s matter of the game being slow to shut down properly.  I've never had a problem with the intro video freezing, though.

[Breadpazoid]

Sorry to let this drop off the face of the earth.

I have 1GB of RAM (PC 3200).

The game seems to be running slightly better since I tweak the process to High Priority in Task Manager once it starts. I can't upgrade the RAM anymore due to motherboard limitations, and I am a po' Breadpazoid so adding more really isn't an option either.

I guess there seems to be not much to do about it software wise, but I am getting a Mac in a few months, so I guess my problems will be solved then. Does TS2 and its add ons run directly under Leopard or would I need to do Bootcamp and use XP?

Thanks you guys.

[Breadpazoid]

Problem SOLVED. (Yee!)

Uninstalled the game and all EPs, removed Securom. Went to reinstall and realized that the base TS2 .mdf/.mds files I was using for install were the 4 CD multilanguage version (Yarr! ), and all EPs after that were US version - not sure but I think that had a large chunk to do with it.

Got Sims 2 Deluxe DVD, installed it, and poof. It works perfectly. There is still a slight lag at loading but it is very much within the "expected" range, seems to be <1-2 min instead of 15+. There is no screeching halt to my system's responsiveness when I close the game either.

Thanks to all of you for your help and advice! I am not yet awesome, but I am less non-awesome than I was before. Much appreciated.