Did the patch really kill my BV, or was it something I did?

[Blueblood]

I'm not awesome, so I'm not sure what all you might need to know or what it all means. I do know that it translates to my computer  being quite crappy, so feel free to laugh.




I have all EPs and SPs except Teen stuff. I use awesome hacks as well as some non-awesome hacks, no puppy or kitten killers, but I don't think that's really relevant since this isn't about an in-game issue.

The problem started about a month or so ago. I read here that there was a new BV no-CD crack compatible with patch, so I thought I'd patch my game despite it not being recommended. I had gotten sick of the music stutter and lag that often occurred when I entered Buy or Build mode. The patch did its thing; nothing seemed out of the ordinary. However, when I had set up the new crack and tried to run the game, it would not start up. I risked getting SecuROM and tried the original exe. In both cases I received an error that I can't remember now. It wasn't like a "This application has crashed and will now terminate" error. I really should have asked about this when it happened, but after I sorted everything out and got my game running again I had decided it might have just been a fluke and left it at that. But if any of the error messages I encountered make a difference I'm pretty sure I can get them to come up again. -_-

After I finished panicking I tried searching around here and Google to see if I could find any information related to the error message. I couldn't find anything, so I decided to uninstall and reinstall BV and hope for the best. When I went to uninstall it though Add or Remove Programs, I got an error. I don't remember that one either (which is sad because it happened again today).

Anyway, I Googled up how to do a manual uninstall and that worked out okay. I went to install again and got "Electronic Arts AutoRun has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience." *looking at that error again right now* I did some more Googling and found a thread at InSim where someone had the same problem. Thread here. I was able to install BV again from the new account with admin privileges. I decided to forgo the patch and put the old no-CD crack in. My game ran again and seemed normal, so I went ahead and threw in my backup and lived happily ever after until today.

At first I was just happy my game was working again and ignored it, but after a while I had become annoyed with the laggy stuttering junk again. I thought I'd give patching a go again. But this time it was different. I read that patching out of order seemed to be safe, so yesterday I thought I'd download and install every patch I had never used before. (I'm on dial-up so I never wanted to take the time to download them all before.) I patched the base game fine, but then when I went to patch Uni it said there was an error. I think it may have been because I forgot to restore the original college templates, but I didn't think of that at the time. So then I decided to do a full uninstall and reinstall of everything today. I didn't get to it right away. I was playing some game on that Pogo website for my mom on her computer and got the idea to have her uninstall my games for me in exchange. So then she gets to BV and says there's an error. I manually uninstall it and the base game, start reinstalling everything, get to BV and get the autorun error again. I'm thinking about just not installing it again.

I can't help but wonder what caused all of this to happen. Even if I don't trust EAxis all that much I find it more likely that I did something wrong. I just don't know what. I've always been running an admin account, and BV installed without any problems the very first time. I don't think I had changed anything about my computer between the first installation of the game and the patch fiasco. I did run the original exe before I knew of the whole SecuROM thing and removed it, but maybe I did something wrong in the process. Could that have caused this? That's all I can think of really, but the two on InSim didn't mention anything like that. All of my other EPs and SPs install and uninstall without any problems. The whole thing puzzles me.

[J. M. Pescado]

The first thing that is apparent is that your computer does not have a graphics card and cannot run games. Get one, then try again.

[Blueblood]

Haha, I expected something like that. I can't afford a real graphics card at the moment, so it's out of the question. Either way, I don't think a shiny graphics card will help fix my BV installation/uninstallation issues. I'm not sure anything can un-implode my BV. xD

[Zazazu]

Am I going cross-eyed, or do you really only have 510 (512) MB RAM? If so, how the hell did you get it to run up to this point?

[Jelenedra]

I had only 512 MB RAM for awhile, when one of my sticks went asplodey. It ran the game okay, a bit of lag, but nothing that broke the game, and I still have my graphics turned up.

[ShortyBoo]

Haha, I expected something like that. I can't afford a real graphics card at the moment, so it's out of the question. Either way, I don't think a shiny graphics card will help fix my BV installation/uninstallation issues. I'm not sure anything can un-implode my BV. xD

Video cards aren't that expensive. The card I currently have was like $600 when I first got it, but now it costs under $200 and it's still considered to be a good card. More RAM would probably help since BV requires at least 1 GB to run and that's without any other EPs installed. Of course, your processor needs help as well, but those are kind of pricey. I think I spent around $600 last summer to buy my new ASUS motherboard/AMD dual core processor combo. Getting all three of those things would help a lot, but at least if nothing else, you do need a video card and some more RAM.

[Dea]

I have almost the same exact computer.  Your sound card is probably incompatible and thats why music stutters and also why you game probably lags too.  Despite the other crappy specs, if I disable the sound drivers I dont have any lag.  I have even left my game on for 3 days and it played fine.  Many people with better computers cant even do that.

Unfortunately mine is a slim case tower so its completely not upgradeable anymore, except RAM which when I get my other computer working more RAM is going into it.  Right now its getting another videocard.


eta:  when I first got TS2 I only had 256MB of RAM 

[Blueblood]

Am I going cross-eyed, or do you really only have 510 (512) MB RAM? If so, how the hell did you get it to run up to this point?

Like Jelenedra, I've been running everything pretty okay with only 512 MB. Hotel lots are really the only thing too unbearable to play. I had a level ten restaurant business going for a while there. It was laggy but still faired better than the smallest hotel lot. o.O

Video cards aren't that expensive. The card I currently have was like $600 when I first got it, but now it costs under $200 and it's still considered to be a good card. More RAM would probably help since BV requires at least 1 GB to run and that's without any other EPs installed. Of course, your processor needs help as well, but those are kind of pricey. I think I spent around $600 last summer to buy my new ASUS motherboard/AMD dual core processor combo. Getting all three of those things would help a lot, but at least if nothing else, you do need a video card and some more RAM.

I don't really want to bring up my personal life, but pretty much everything is not affordable right now. And before anyone asks or wonders why I have a computer and internet if I'm so poor, my computer was bought four years ago when things were a bit different in my life, and my mom has an online store. It's all we have to keep us going and, well, it hasn't quite worked out.

I have almost the same exact computer.  Your sound card is probably incompatible and thats why music stutters and also why you game probably lags too.  Despite the other crappy specs, if I disable the sound drivers I dont have any lag.  I have even left my game on for 3 days and it played fine.  Many people with better computers cant even do that.

Unfortunately mine is a slim case tower so its completely not upgradeable anymore, except RAM which when I get my other computer working more RAM is going into it.  Right now its getting another videocard.


eta:  when I first got TS2 I only had 256MB of RAM 

Ah, I probably should have been clearer about the music stutter and lag bit. Normally everything runs pretty smoothly, all crappy specs beside. It's just that since BV sometimes (or more like a lot of times) when I enter buy or build mode the music freaks out and sounds like a broken record. Then it gets all laggy and just trying to place one item or whatever becomes quite difficult. The music stutter and lag hasn't occurred during regular gameplay though.

I thought I had seen someone post here with a similar issue and someone recommended they download the patch. That's how the whole patch fiasco came about. I thought it'd fix my problem, but it really made everything worse. xD

Also, when I first got the TS2 I had 52 MB of RAM. I could play a very small house with one Sim in it for maybe an hour or so before it crashed. xD

[Kyna]

I don't really want to bring up my personal life, but pretty much everything is not affordable right now. And before anyone asks or wonders why I have a computer and internet if I'm so poor, my computer was bought four years ago when things were a bit different in my life, and my mom has an online store. It's all we have to keep us going and, well, it hasn't quite worked out.

I bought my computer with my long service leave payout around 4 years ago, when I gave up my job due to health reasons.  I am now on a disability pension - yet I managed to put in a video card, a second hard drive, more RAM and replace my monitor this year.

My local computer store is a one-man store, not part of a chain.  He often sells second hand parts that he acquires when he upgrades computers for customers.  My other source of computer parts is from friends and family when they upgrade or as birthday gifts.  My daughter upgraded her monitor (to a second hand one from the same computer store), and I purchased her old one.  She also gave me the second hard drive for my birthday.

Check out your local computer stores and see if they have any second hand parts that would work in your computer.  Check the classifieds in your local newspapers, often you can find cheap parts being sold by people who upgraded their computers.  And it wouldn't hurt to ask around among your friends to see if any of them have old parts they no longer need and make them an offer.  Make sure before your buy that any parts you buy second-hand are compatible with your motherboard and power supply.

[pixiejuice]

Hey, I didn't think anybody in the world besides me was still on that computer

I was on 640 MB RAM up until a few months ago, with all EPs.  This computer is maxed out at a gig though, which I have now, and honestly, that little upgrade hardly made any difference at all.

Ah, I probably should have been clearer about the music stutter and lag bit. Normally everything runs pretty smoothly, all crappy specs beside. It's just that since BV sometimes (or more like a lot of times) when I enter buy or build mode the music freaks out and sounds like a broken record. Then it gets all laggy and just trying to place one item or whatever becomes quite difficult. The music stutter and lag hasn't occurred during regular gameplay though.

My game does the stuttering thing too and it is not patched.  Mine is usually during gameplay though.

I also get the "application has crashed and will now terminate" crash pretty rarely, and always have rarely since the beginning.  Maybe you've just been lucky not to see it so far?  I don't know.  Speaking for myself, my computer is 5 years old now and I'm grateful the thing even boots up, let alone runs a game as demanding as Sims 2.  Sorry I don't have any more insight for you.   

[Invisigoth]

Ah, I probably should have been clearer about the music stutter and lag bit. Normally everything runs pretty smoothly, all crappy specs beside. It's just that since BV sometimes (or more like a lot of times) when I enter buy or build mode the music freaks out and sounds like a broken record. Then it gets all laggy and just trying to place one item or whatever becomes quite difficult. The music stutter and lag hasn't occurred during regular gameplay though.

Why don't you just disable the buy and build mode music using the ingame audio options? You have to go into the buy menu song list and then unclick the button next to each song name. It's really easy.

[Blueblood]

Thanks for all the upgrading tips, all. ^^ I'll definitely keep them in mind for when/if things around here stabilize.

I also get the "application has crashed and will now terminate" crash pretty rarely, and always have rarely since the beginning.  Maybe you've just been lucky not to see it so far?  I don't know.  Speaking for myself, my computer is 5 years old now and I'm grateful the thing even boots up, let alone runs a game as demanding as Sims 2.  Sorry I don't have any more insight for you.   

Until today, the last time my game crashed was due to Pets. Every time I tried to adopt an animal via the phone my game would crash unless that was the very first thing I did. I just sorta gave up on adopting Pets. Not sure if it would work even now. And before that, the only crashes I experienced were when I was running base game on 52 MB of RAM, so I guess I have been pretty lucky. o.O

Why don't you just disable the buy and build mode music using the ingame audio options? You have to go into the buy menu song list and then unclick the button next to each song name. It's really easy.

I'm not certain if the music is what causes the lag, but that sounds like a great idea. I may not try it out though, since I think I'm going to permanently uninstall BV.

I was feeling confident so I added BV back in the other day and even patched. Surprisingly enough, it actually ran. I played vanilla for a bit and everything seemed fine. The broken record and lagginess seemed to be gone. I threw in my downloads a little later and played around for a bit and still didn't see the evil lag and stutter. Yesterday I started up an asylum and played for a little while. Then today I try and start my game and instantly get the "The application has crashed. The application will now terminate." error. Deleting groups.cache didn't fix it, nor did moving my Downloads folder or whole The Sims 2 folder. I'm going to blame BV because I swear it hates me. xD

[J. M. Pescado]

I don't really want to bring up my personal life, but pretty much everything is not affordable right now.

Sell your ass.

[Ellatrue]

I've been having some similar problems with BV. I think it's just a crappy EP. When I installed Seasons, everything actually worked FASTER. Not the case, here.

The annoying stuttering is just the lag from switching from play to buy/build. I sometimes get it, too. More ram?

[Tigerlilley]

I don't really want to bring up my personal life, but pretty much everything is not affordable right now.

Sell your ass.

Thats your answer to everything!

[kewian]

Like everyone else said  MOAR ram and better graphics card will probably fix the problem.  512 ram is awfully low to run those many eps with the game.  Its going to go kaboom eventually which is what it just did.  Save up for them.  Go back to where it ran ok with eps and reinstall BV later when you have MOAR ram. 

[Blueblood]

Sell your ass.

Nah.

I've been having some similar problems with BV. I think it's just a crappy EP. When I installed Seasons, everything actually worked FASTER. Not the case, here.

The annoying stuttering is just the lag from switching from play to buy/build. I sometimes get it, too. More ram?

Ah, so BV might just be all-around suckified then. I can't imagine how awful the next EP will be...

Does the lag eventually go away for you? The lag instantly stops when I exit Build or Buy but not before then. However, if I get the laggy Build or Buy, switch to Live mode and then switch back to Build/Buy it usually lags again.

I don't know why it happens. I could have one Sim sitting quietly sitting on a couch and get the lag if I switch modes, but I could also have eight Sims all running around and not get the lag when I enter either mode. It seems so random.

Like everyone else said  MOAR ram and better graphics card will probably fix the problem.  512 ram is awfully low to run those many eps with the game.  Its going to go kaboom eventually which is what it just did.  Save up for them.  Go back to where it ran ok with eps and reinstall BV later when you have MOAR ram. 

Yes, I think I will put BV away for now. It just hasn't been worth the trouble. Maybe I'll ask my boyfriend if one of his friends can help me out. They built their own gaming rigs so maybe they have some spare stuff around. Although, I don't actually live in the same state as all of them anymore. If something happens to work out maybe I can give BV another chance. It is currently at the top of my inanimate enemies list, though. xP