Graphic card problem?

[ravencrow]

Hello everyone,

Oh boy where do I start. First of all please forgive me is I've posted in the wrong thread.
I had a mild stroke a few years ago, and the old synapsis' aren't firing the way they used to.
So pelt me with rocks if you must. I don't care as long as I find out what was happening.

I searched for similar problems on this site, actually anywhere I could, even ATI's support.
However, they gave me a list of troubleshooting tips to try, which yielded nothing.

I had bought a ATI Radeon x1900 256mb express video card almost a year ago.
It lasted approx. seven months, before I started experiencing strange graphical artifacts, etc..

I guess I should give you my specs. of my pc, since I just installed my old dinosaur of a video card, so the game doesn't play at all.

Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6000) (6000.vista_gdr.070828-1515)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc
System Model: Dimension E521
BIOS: )Phoenix - Award WorkstationBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+ (2 CPUs), ~2.0GHz
Memory: 3326MB RAM
Page File: 746MB used, 2985MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 10
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 6.00.6000.16386 32bit Unicode

Now some actual pics of what was going on.





The last pic was towards the end. The "newspaper look" started to show up
on the townies, but only the females were effected, weird huh?

With the townies, the hair and clothing were affected, which showed in bodyshop too.
It was also all the original sims 2 base game hair and clothing.

~I tried a few things per the directions of ATI's support.
~I bought a new 500 watt PSU, and another two gigs of memory, totalling four gig's.
~As I mentioned earlier, I installed the newest driver updates for alot of my hardware.
~I always defrag, turn off background programs like virus programs, etc..
~Did a clean uninstall and reinstall for my base game, and extensions.
~Started up the game after taking out my download folder, and it was still happening.

I thought it must be my craphics card so I got a refund, and purchased a "BFG Tech BFGE96512GTE GeForce 9600GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card" from Newegg, that should be here in about a week.
But something is nagging at me, and I wonder if it is just the graphics card.

Anyway, I thought to come here since you are all a bunch of brilliant folks. Though I knew you might just pelt me, lol.
If you have any other questions, or if I didn't make myself clear, please let me know. Thank you for any help you can lend.

Ravencrow/earth2luna

[Bruce Banner]

  Graphical Artefacts are often caused by the graphics card overheating or being pushed beyond it's limits by a high spec game or application , although a bad set of graphic drivers can account for it too . So hopefully the new card will clear the problem up for you although it's impossible to be certain . The ' newspaper look '  is often caused by a corrupt or missing texture though and should be unrelated to the artefact problem . A corrupt or conflicting default override possibly ( default replacement skintone etc ) ?  If it's one or more of the original game files that's corrupted though then you'd probably need to reinstall the game 

[ZiggyDoodle]

By chance did you read through your Dell manual before installing the ATI Radeon (presuming it did not come installed on your computer)?  I mention that only because on my rig, the manual stated I had to install a card fan if installing a new graphics card that used over 75 Watts. 

Since you're saddled with Vista, your system is much newer than mine, but I thought it worth mentioning given your problem may be heat related.  The reviews of the ATI Radeon 1900 card indicate that it runs hot.

[ravencrow]

Hi, Bruce, so I should take out all my defaut skins after reinstalling? Would the same thing happen if you used defaut eye's too?
Thank you for your reply.

Hi Ziggy, no, I didn't read it, of course. After all of this happened, I did read that the ATI X1900 ran hot.
It wasn't the original card that came with my pc, almost a year ago.

But because I needed to return the ATI, the orginal card I did reinstall is a Nvidia Getforce 7300 LE, which
played my game for about a week, and then wouldn't play my game any longer.

Do you know if my GeForce 9600GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express will need a card fan too? Do heat sinks help with cooling?
Thank you.

[Bruce Banner]

  I can't say for definite that taking out your custom defaults will fix the newspaper look because I'm not totally certain that's your problem , but a default override or a corrupt original game file/s would probably be the main suspects because that would explain large swathes of your townies being affected . Just a normal corrupt texture for a basic custom outfit would probably only affect a small number of sims  Once you get your new card up and working then take out your custom default overrides ( you didn't say eyes were affected by a problem so you should be ok to leave those in ) and see if it clears up your newspaper look . If it doesn't then you may have to do the dance of the discs again . If it does clear it up then slowly , but surely reintroduce your other default overrides until the problem happens again . Then if you find out what the problem is using that method ( if it is indeed a crapped out override ) then just jetison it and use either the games own version of whatever or a custom override that does the same thing by someone else 

[ravencrow]

Great Bruce, thanks for your help.

[ravencrow]

Ok, I installed my new video card; I love that thing, is that possible?
It took care of all of those long graphical artifacts, and holes in the clothing and skins, stc..
However it didn't help with the games clothing and hair. Custom hairs and clothing are all fine when worn, or pictured on body shop.




This is what I've done after installing my new graphics card and fan.

~Took out all of my default skintones, per Bruce's post..
~ I took out all of my downloads and saved them to my desk top, renaming it.
~ Did a clean install with the base game and all of my ep's and patches.

So with no custom items, I started up the game to have a look-see and sure enough I still saw them wearing textureless meshes!
It was only the females that are aflicted with this. And with further inspection, I notice it is only the base games clothing and hairs, and not the other ep's.
It looks like it affects all ages, as I've seen children to elders looking this way.

Just for slaps and tickles, I inspected my base game cd's for scratches or smudges... Nope, they were almost pristine.
Other than that incredibly annoying thing, the game is super fast, and I get a lot of eye-candy with the card.

I think this the strangest thing I've ever come across, considering there were no hacks or custom items in the game at the time.
I'm completely combobulated about this issue, sniff...

Again I would be very grateful for any and all replys you may have.

Thank you.


 

[Kyna]

I had this start happening once, with the paperboy.  It turned out to be a corrupted package file in the game's installation - I can't remember which one though.  My game had been fine, then suddenly it was corrupted for no reason that I could see.

You could try going to this folder: C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\TSData\Res (assuming you have your game installed on C drive).  Go into the various folders in that folder, and check the timestamp on the package files to see if any of the package files have changed recently.  Once you work out which package files have changed recently, then you can replace them from the compressed.zips on the base game CDs.

I know my instructions are a little vague, but it was a while ago that I had this problem, and I can't remember which package file it was that was corrupted.  If my instructions aren't clear enough then your other option is to back up your neighbourhoods & downloads and then uninstall/reinstall the game.

[ravencrow]

Thanks for replying Kyna.

When you say "time stamp" are you refering to the time that is listed in the folders "properties"?

If you did, they are all have the same time listed, which is when I re-installed the game on the 27th of this month.

Edit: Oh, thats right you said, "folders in the folder". I did check again, and there are three folders in the catalog folder.
They are dated 3/28 instead of 3/27. They are: Bins, CANHObjects and Patterns...

I will check the others now. But that "Patterns" one sounds fishy to me, since that is what is missing from the meshes, right?
Or are "Patterns" different than textures?

[Kyna]

Check the timestamp on the package files within the folders, not the folders themselves.  The package files should all have dates that are a couple of years old.

[ravencrow]

Gad! Excuse my denseness, I'm finding it challanging to understand your directons, my fault. 
How can I access the dates exactly? Apparently I can't figure it out...

Your saying its in the "properties" of the pkg files themselves? Or did you mean another way?
   

[jsalemi]

Easiest way to see the timestamps of the files is to go to the views icon at the top of the window, and set it to 'Details'. That'll show you the file names and timestamps by default.

[ravencrow]

Ok, I search all the files in the folders, I came to one that was different in date then the rest:

C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\TSData\Res\ EnabeColorOptionsMMat 12/31/2007 12:19 am.
The rest were, 8/18/04 and 3/27/07 that date I reinstalled it.

Other than that, I'll be awaiting any replies. Thank you.

[witch]

No, that file is the CEP file, that enables your recolours. Wouldn't hurt to make sure that's up to date while you wait for more expert help.

ETA: Apparently the December 07 file is fine for Freetime.

[Kyna]

None of the package files in your game installation (e.g. objects.package, skins.package, etc) should have a March 2008 date.

Since you can't find the file that is corrupt it's time to go to plan B, which I mentioned earlier in this thread.  Backup your neighbourhoods and downloads, then uninstall the game and reinstall it.

[ravencrow]

Weird. Ok so I'll reinstall the game and all the ep's?
After backing up.

I'll be back to let you know what happened. Looks up into the sky and shakes fist!

Thanks for your patience.

 

[ravencrow]

Hi, my latest update.

Ok, I saved my game, renamed it and put it on my desktop.
I uninstalled my base game and all of my ep's. This is a further account of what happened...

~Installed my base game, started the game and everything looked great.

~In stalled University, started the game and what pops up? Newspaper heads, bah!
So I uninstalled it, and reinstalled that ep. The second installation looked fine.

~Installed Nightlife, everything looked ok.

~Installed OFB, started up game, and I got "newpaper" head simmies.
So uninstalled it, and installed it once again. Everything looked fine.

~ I got "Seasons" from the EA store, so I have to use the game installer from there.
I keeped getting error notices, so I deleted the EZ store installer, re-downloaded it, installed "Seasons" again, and everything looked fine.

~ I installed BV, started game, and got "newspaper head"!
So I uninstalled it, reinstalled it and started up game, still the same. Again I uninstalled, reinstalled that ep, but got "newpaper head".
Once again I uninstalled, reinstalled it twice after that. And I've still got "Newspaper head".

This took my all day yesterday, yet I'm back where I was. It was so close...

And I'm still up to any other suggestions. Thank you.

EDIT: I also kept getting an error through the reinstall. "Windows host process Rundll32 has stopped working."

[jsalemi]

Try just replacing some of the BV files directly from the CD -- that usually clears up my problems with 'newspaper' whatevers (usually hair or clothes in my case). They're in the 'compressed.zip' archives on the CDs.  You want to replace objects.package, and pretty much the whole 3D and Catalog directories.  They're found under the \program files\ea games\the sims 2 bon voyage!\tsdata\res directory.


ETA: I'm sure someone mentioned this, but you have turned off your anti-virus while installing, right?  I've been completely unable to get a clean FT install with the anti-virus (avast! in my case) still active.  Even if it said the install was 'successful', some file would get corrupted and cause problems.

[ravencrow]

Hi jsalemi,

Do I replace all the ep's 3d pkg, and nothing else, because I was just told to do that, and it didn't help. But I only did the last ep, "Bon Voyage".
With that, I just reinstalled the "objects folder", but you're saying to just replace the 3d one, am I correct?

Thanks for helping, I almost think it's my pc, since i got that "Windows host process Rundll32 has stopped working" pop-up.

[jsalemi]

Yes, the whole 3D directory, and the Catalog directory just to be safe.  That's usually cleared that up for me.

Thanks for helping, I almost think it's my pc, since i got that "Windows host process Rundll32 has stopped working" pop-up.

I did a quick google search, and that seems to be a very common Vista problem.  I don't know if SP1 fixed it (no vista for me!), but I know getting rid of that mess and putting XP on your machine will fix it.

[ravencrow]

I never had a problem with Vista until about three months ago. I bought my pc approx. one year ago.

I've looked everwhere, of course pc techs don't know a thing about "The Sims 2"... So my only hope is here and on MTS2.

I would love to be able to download default clothing and hairs for the base game. I think that would might be a great.
Howver, I only have eye's and skintones that are defaults, and I looked via google, etc.. and that didn't turn up anything. I know Warlokk has some default clothing, but they are for his body shapes.

I just don't know what to do now. I'll keep this here, and just wait... Maybe someone will know what exactly my problem is.
BTW, J.M. had a link on another thread about installing xp, instead of Vista, but that makes me quake in my boots just thinking about doing that, by my lonesome.

Thank you.

[Simsbaby]

Here's a guide which show how to dual boot both XP and Vista. It's pretty easy. At least for me.
A good tip though, where it says how to shrink your Vista partition, don't do that. Instead open your start menu and right click on computer, then choose Manage. When that pops up pick Disk Management on the left. Find your C:/ drive (should be disk 0) and right click on the largest partition there. Choose shrink (as far as I know, only Vista has this) and free up at least 8GB. Then when installing XP you can use this space. The only problem with dual booting is it XP won't see its harddrive as C:/. This might confuse some programs. Don't forget to download your drivers first!

[eccentricgnat]

Hi,

I have had 2 strokes so know what you mean about getting things done that used to be easy...now try going to this site: 

http://www.annoyances.org/

On the left side of the home page is the site menu or site guide: Go down and click Vista

Do a search for the runrdll thing error you've been getting...See I told you my brain isn't on bright mode any longer...

This website saved my butt several times over the years. You may find the fix or leave a message and check back and see if you get an answer. Windows 2000 used to get that runrdll thing error....and there were sites where you could just download the replacement and put it on your pc...

I went to linux back in 2000 and now use linux and an Imac...so it's been along time since I've even used windows....but this site is still there and going strong. Also google the error and see what it gives you.

Just a suggestion. You will probably have to be administrator to install it. You might try installing the sims in "safe mode" if vista has such a mode...Safe mode doesn't have as many files to conflict with the installer of your program you are trying to install. Go on line again, google  start vista in safe mode and see what you get...I don't know if you can still do that but it just might work.

My son has to install some games in safe mode on his windows 2000 machine...Yup we stopped at windows 2000 sigh...

[ravencrow]

Hi eccentricgnat,

Thank you for that very nice post.

I stopped getting the the error messages, but it's still the same regarding the weird "Newspaper" look.
I'm thiinking I might just have to dress and change hairs on approx. 140 female townies...gad! Thank goodness for the insiminator...

I just really want to know what is causing this to happen so abruptly one day, and fix it. You know, it's either my pc, or I'm missing an important file/driver in Vista somehow.
You know, we did have a bad storm around that time. I went to boot up ,a nd it wanted me to use "Safe mode".

I am co-authoring a story with another writer, and I need to do my part... sigh.

Thank you eccentricgnat.