More Awesome Than You!

I have no screenies to show what I will try to explain.  I have weird graphic issues with my game.  Object thumbnails whiteout (object image only turns white or becomes invisible in the game) or completely black box along with any other game icons in the panel and or the panel will black box.  Occasionally lots will trun red or blue outside of the lot I am in. This will happen after under an hour of gameplay.  My game will refresh itself quite often, sometimes excessively then nearly freeze (I say nearly because the hourglass will hesitate then start again, repeat several times & the screen stays blue) It only happens after I have installed Seasons (downloaded replacement .exe in order for the game to run - my drive kept telling me the disk wasn't there).

These are my specs:
Windows XP MCE
Intel pentium D dual core processor, 3.2 ghz
ATI Radeon X1950 Pro, 512 MB
4GB RAM
160GB split HD - 120 main/40 back up
700w psu, newly installed thinking this may have been the issue (it was somewhat - solved many other probs I was having.)

Not sure if you need anything else - spec wise, but my computer should be able to handle anything Seasons (or any other EP) has.  For some reason it isn't.  I have all the EPs up to Seasons and no SPs.  Since I only recently reinstalled Seasons, I was playing up to pets just fine (never really tested it more than an hour, though).

I will appreciate if anyone has any advice to offer.  I have been dealing with this since I first installed Seasons - looking elsewhere for advice hasn't gotten me anywhere (aside from my former psu being too small).  I have a lot of CC, having culled it a few times already, I think I am to the point of beginning again - starting fresh.  It almost feels like it will be necessary to do this, but I hope not to.  Please help!

The best way to test and see if it's too much CC is to rename your current Sims 2 folder and let the game generate a new one. If everything runs fine in a vanilla game, no CC, no nothing, then it's most likely CC overload. Otherwise, I have no clue what would be causing such issues.

Have you run checks for duplicate files in your Downloads?  With a large Downloads folder, it's easy to miss the "included" mesh file in a recolour download, which you then file under, maybe, the website or the creator, so the mesh file then appears both in that folder and in it's original creator's folder. 

Another possibility is an outdated, obsolete hack, so it might be worth checking your hacks content too - I assume you have already checked for hack conflicts with the HCDU from Paladin - for anything which hasn't been updated since the base game or uni.

There does seem to me to be a problem with Seasons using all available RAM too - I have 2 GBs of it, but while my computer tells me I'm only using less than half that, it starts to overheat and the only solution is to close my game and reboot.

Thanks for your replies.  I did play vanilla for a little while - longer than I did with CC, on a winter lot just to test.  I am thinking it is a CC issue.  Having cleaned my folder a few times & knowing I have my folders OC organized, I don't think I have any dupes - I always sort what goes in.  The thing that keeps entering my mind is the fact that I compressed files using the Compressorizer program.  I am thinking it is something to do with that.  Not all my files are compressed & I don't know why it would be conflicting because Maxis compresses their own.  ???    I took my hacks out when I started having issues in the first place - I haven't readded them since.  If I do add any hacks, they will be fresh. ;)

A long road ahead, maybe - one that will be much more particular for my downloads.  Thanks!

I'm a downloadaholic too, and now I simply set up themed game downloads folders, so when I get fed up with my current sims and their environments, I can play a different set of sims in a different environment.  Thus my current downloads folder is a little over 1GB uncompressed, and loads in about 3 minutes.  The only graphics issues I really get with Seasons is in Neighbourhood View, when my Uni lots seem to flash until I move the cursor, and occasionally trees from one lot will appear in their neighbour's back garden!

An easier place to start is your saved sim folder files in there bork easily

I don't put saved sims in saved sims any more, they never seem to show up in CAS!  I just have a folder called Sims in my Downloads, and that works fine.  But I do keep walls, floors, terrain paints and roofs in their own folders.

I just wish there was a way of telling which files are in use in the game and which aren't, so you can delete stuff you don't use from outside the game!

actually I was referring to the folder that the game generates called saved sims it collects files without you being aware it is there until a file gets corrupted.

Well, the game has always generated a saved sims folder in my game, and as far as I can tell it's empty unless I put something in it.  If I use a downloaded sim and install it, I use Clean Installer and direct it to the Sims folder and I never get any files turning up in Saved Sims.

I do that as well however as you know maxis is famous for borking things quietly :o I had nothing in the folder or so I thought until the game crashed at uni the culprit one lone file that misdirected and then borked while there.

I thought it was bodyshop that put stuff in saved sims not the game.  I don't use bodyshop and my saved sims is empty apart from stuff I put there.

That's the point, isn't it - use any kind of installation device created by EAxis and you get files in all kinds of places you don't want them to be!  Which is why I use multi-installer for my walls, floors etc., and clean installer for everything else - I like to have control over where things are put, and if the file generated has that stupid long file name, I usually change it before I put it in the game, or at least put it in its own, named, folder.  But I did used to put all my skins in saved sims before you were able to put them in subfolders in downloads, after which I put tried just putting a downloaded sim in there, but as I said, it didn't show in CAS until I moved it into Downloads.  The Saved Sims folder is just a useless, empty folder making a nuisance of itself.

that's what I used to use saved sims for ZZ.  Now I can subfolder in Downloads, I put them there instead.  I assumed ny Saved sims folder was empty because I don't use bodyshop and the people who did use bodyshop would expect to find files in Saved Sims.  I do quite a bit of basic "help" stuff on another board, so I like to check basic stuff like that out when I get a chance.

I never use Bodyshop either.  I had difficulties getting it to load when it was first issued prior to the base game release, and I've never bothered with it since.  If it would have loaded back then, no doubt I'd have played around with it, but since I got the game, I can do whatever I want to do in CAS or by cloning in SimPE, so Bodyshop is just a waste of hard drive space!

Erm... and did the problems persist in a vanilla game? If they all went away, then I agree with your conclusion that it's custom content at fault - but if you were still experiencing problems, it's more likely a graphics driver issue. EA apparently are not able to test the game with every possible combination of hardware & drivers that people have in their real PCs, and it could well be the graphics driver making things look weird rather than any problem with your downloads.

Another possibility is that you have custom content that is incompatible with Seasons. I know that a lot of people have been experiencing flashing blue accessories (earrings etc - things that used to go in the glasses section of Create-a-Sim) when they installed Seasons. I'd root out that sort of thing first.

Shit, all my Urban Jungle sims have Aikea Guineas necklaces!  BV, no way, Jose!

Yes and no.  I generally create sims in CAS, but if I clone in SimPE, I will re-clone in bodyshop.  Bodyshop clones are less memory heavy than SimPE clones (which also have a reputed habit of behaving strangely - experience will show that some people have had problems and others have not, naturally, as with anything to do with TS2).  Then I delete the SimPE clone.  Final set up (personality, astrology, turn-ons/offs) done in CAS.  I'll also use Bodyshop if I want to build a sim with more "delicacy" than allowed by CAS (the sliders are more varied and subtle, I find), but usually I don't have the patience for all that.


Being "oldversioned" is a great way to suffer.  I generally find the latest versions of all hacks in my game and overwrite the mods folder with them.  Mind you, that's easier if you only have hacks from a few sources.

Basically, I meant that I (moi) can do what I (moi) want - not alluding here to the general simming population - in SimPE.  Truth is, I don't use it for cloning that much.  Sometimes if I want to recreate a sim, I just make a new version in CAS, and just make sure it has the same personality etc.  The resulting sim is similar, but not identical, making them more interesting to play.

I usually do the same as you with hacks, which is why I had problems loading comm lots in play mode - I hadn't checked carefully enough to see what was left in the folder that should have been removed.  Funny thing is, I still use Gnomon's flamingo of happiness (only the contentment version, though) and it still works perfectly, while his other flamingoes screwed my game up no end after Uni!  Actually, since so much Seasons coding is taken from the base game, they might work again now, but I've never bothered to try.