More Awesome Than You!

Hello,
I have an Inspiron E1505 with an Nvidia GO GeForce 7300 graphics card and two gigs of memory.  I also have Vista.  When i first got this computer in March I installed all the expansion packs and the Sims original game with no problem whatsoever.  I have heard scary things about Vista, but my experience up until now has been that if you have the machine for it, vista isn't so bad. 

Earlier this week I installed and played Neverwinter Nights II.  Previously I've played Oblivion on this computer but all the rest of my games were on the small side.  Yesterday I tried to start up Bon Voyage and got the little "game is crashing, you suck" box.  I immediately removed all downloads, but my game still crashed.  I then completely uninstalled all Sims games and Neverwinter Nights, and reinstalled the Sims stuff, but my game still crashes.  I've read a little online about similar problems, but when I go into the Nvidia control panel I only have two options, to rotate the screen and to use multiple screens. 

I will fully understand if you all point and laugh, especially those of you who despise Vista, but i'm at my wits end and hope that one of you can please help me.

Where's the problem then?  It sounds like it's crashing just fine.

More seriously, there have been issues reported regarding Nvidia cards, including the 7300.  You may want to download updated drivers from your card's manufacturer and see if they help.

In addition, do a search here using keywords:  nvidia 7300 drivers

There have been a number of posts and discussion on this which you might find helpful.

I've heard several stories about NWN2 and securom 7.2

Some say that the first CD's have it, but the newer releases don't. Some say that that is a lot of hooey and that all releases still have it. The best option would be to go to the Bioware site and see. Some sites, such as daemon have lists of games and their associated protective devices.

Same goes for Oblivion. I have that game and no SecuRom 7.2 or otherwise.

Bioware had a lot of headaches and problems with players who didn't appreciate that they got saddled with SecuRom 7.2
Apparently EAxis doesn't believe in research, or they would have found out that SecuRom 7.2 gave a lot of game developers a lot of headaches and bitchy and angry customers.

Here's another one for ya veilchen ;)

I have NWN2 (base only) and I have SecuRom 7.01.  We got the game within 2 months of release and have kept up with the updates on it.  No sign of 7.02 anywhere on my system.  So if it was there and they replaced it with 7.01, then I was never the wiser because I've never had any problems playing NWN2 and my computer hasn't gone 'spodie on me. 

:)
Ivy

LOL ('coz I did) Ivy, a fine friend you are.

But seriously, the screaming started right after the initial release of NWN2. The Bioware forums and boards were cluttered with pissed off people, and their posts came so fast and furious that the moderators couldn't keep up with deletions. (Hmm, maybe EAxis did research, after all).

I did a lot of research after finding out about NWN2 and BV, and it seems that SecuRom 7.2 and higher is the real culprit in all issues. It seems that anything before 7.2 is comparable to SafeDisc, and even SecuRom 7.2+ is considered benign compared to StarForce.

Maybe they did listen at Bioware. I hope so. I want NWN2, dammit.

Thanks guys. I did update my Nvidia and sound drivers, and now the game starts, but when it gets to "faceting precious gems" it freezes. I am v. curious about this Securom stuff, I had no clue that NWN2 had it as well...i was complaining to a friend that it was too pricey and he just gave me his, lucky me.  Only now i can't play the sims. I guess you really don't get anything for free.  :P

I keep doing the tweakguides recommended system search for Securom and I can't find it anywhere on my system, so is it not there, or is it just hiding?

I also tried setting up a new user account on my computer, but on that account the game freezes right away.

SecuROM is a hidden folder, so you would have to specify to search hidden files and folders before searching, under advanced search options.

I wish I could help you more, Amy. My dead computer had an ATI radeon 9700, and it played TS2 beautifully.

My replacement is a laptop with a Nvidia ( Mobility 512MB NVIDIA GeForce GO 8600GT PCI-Express 3D Video). Laptop and Nvidia - a double sin from the EAxis point of view. It's bound to arrive at my house next week. Who knows, I might join you soon in the "what the hell is going on" department.

My understanding was that NWN2 had securom, but stopped using it by way of one of their patches because they were getting so many complaints.

:D  Always happy to help you veilchen!

I missed out on the initial furor on NWN2.  Sometimes I suppose it's best not to know these things until way after the fact, eh?  lol

I'm dying to get the MOTB expansion pack though, though I'm not sure if I can squeeze it onto my hard drive.  Between both NWN games, Sims2 (+EP's up to Seasons), Stronghold 2, ZooTycoon 2 (+EP's), and Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 (+EP's), I'm running out of room!  Maybe I should ask Santa for a new hard drive too while I'm at it. 

Oh yes...the crashing...I'm sorry, I can't help much with that :( .  Since you've uninstalled and reinstalled so much, you might want to run a defrag on your computer and see if that helps.  That's about all I can think of.

:)
Ivy

Thanks again. I was sort of afraid of even posting, but I've been pleasantly surprised, you are all very helpful and not at all scary.

I updated my drivers, deleted securom (stupid awful thing, that), and made sure my disk was clean.  I even made a different account on this computer to see if that worked, and I've deleted the little Sims folder in hopes that regeneration would clear up this thing.  Maybe I'm just not destined to play The Sims again. :p

I know its not my cd drive as the thing starts to load, it just stalls at "faceting precious gems."  At least it doesn't exactly crash anymore since i updated my drivers, but I wish i knew what was happening when the gems were faceted.  That way i could find out what was screwing the whole thing up.

Is there anyway to know what is going on when the loading screen comes up?

There really shouldn't be more going on than the files being loaded up to get ready for play. I wish Phyllis was around, she knows a lot about computer hardware. She's more often at the Sporum though. It's too bad you don't have another computer handy to see if the game loads on that one.

Phyllis is a member here too. I'm not sure whether she's just Phyllis or PhyllisP here, but you could try to PM her.

Oh Ivy... Did you know that Zoo Tycoon has another expansion out? It's got Dodo birds and stuffs like that.

Nooooooooo!!!*headdesk!*  That's it, Santa *has* to bring me a new hard drive now!  *Imusthaveit!*  lol

:)
Ivy

All right.  I really didn't want to jump in, but I have a very similar problem.  My game also freezes during load at "Faceting Precious Gems". 

I have been running all of the EPs and all but the last two stuff packs (H&M and Teen Style) just fine for about a month.  Two days ago, it just stopped loading.  I have many downloads, but I have tried removing them with no result.  I have also tried: deleting groups.cache, running HCDU, restarting my computer, virus/spyware scans, and various other ineffectual desperation moves, all to no avail.

It's not just a Vista problem, since I am running XP Media Center (on a duo core Intel with 2G RAM).  I suppose it could be related to the NVIDIA GeForce 7300 LE, since I am also using that (with freshly checked drivers).  I have not done anything unusual or played other games since the last time I successfully loaded/played BV, so I doubt there is interference from that arena.

CountessAmy, I'm selfishly glad it's not just me...  Thanks for any advice. 

Have you changed any of the catalog scripts for fireplaces, modular stairs etc? If you have made a mistake when modifying these scripts this can cause the crashing when the words are scrolling along the screen.

Really?  Good Lord, we're doin' it wrong again guys.

@Emma:  hadn't heard about the catalogue scripts thing, myself, but then again, my knowledge of catalogue scripts is slightly worse at present than my knowledge of particle physics.

I'm still wondering whether, since there now seem to be two cases of this, both with the Nvidia 7300, if the drivers are the culprit in some way.  I seem to recall someone suggesting that the latest drivers were not playing nicely with TS2, and that an older version worked better.  If it was me, I would be collecting different drivers for the card at this point and trying them out until I found a set that worked.  But then again, I seem to need to spend time with my rig swearing loudly at it, just to make my life worthwhile, you understand.

Of course, if you don't swear at your computer, then it will never work.  ;D

If you don't kick the tires, how will you actually know if it's a good enough car for you to buy?

I forgot to mention that crucial bit, so thanks!  Yes, I had changed a couple of catalog scripts related to fireplaces. I read your advice about this in another thread and changed them back.  No effect. 

Also, I've checked out the forums on the NVIDIA/EA clash.  While there are a lot of problems, they don't seem to be quite the same as the one that CountessAmy and I are experiencing.  I'm also confused as to why, after running fine for a while, BV would suddenly develop problems.

That is what is confusing me, too.  Also, i haven't changed any scripts.  I wonder if securom uploaded something onto our computers that conflicts with our video cards.  Perhaps i'm just being paranoid.

While that's always possible, checking out different drivers can't really hurt. Unless you've already tried that. Then it would be redundant. A friend of mine actually needed an older driver for her game to run properly. It's not always the newest that is best.

 :D @ Emma and Jolrei.

Of course. You are both so right. Sound advice to live by.

Amy, as long as you don't ask questions that are covered in the FAQ, overlook the 'search' function, type in leetl/net and/or demand help RITE NOW111, we usually don't bite. Or we don't bite that hard.

I think leet/net is the worst though. It draws fire right off the bat, no matter what you ask. Because leet/net is a VBT.

I don't think I can actually type in leet.  Major hole in my edjumacation, I know.

To the nice new problem people: Do you run with your computers online?  Try running with intarwebz disabled (modems off, or pull the cable) so the game and securom can't phone home.  I'm just grasping at straws here. 

Otherwise, check out very nice super lucky extra long thread on "how to get rid of securom now" - in the stickies in Podium.

It's always possible that it's a corrupt core file.

Well, mine is working again.  Emma, after your mentioning fireplaces/stairs again, I decided to go through and delete all CC versions from my downloads.  Since I don't know a lot about editing script things, it is probable that I did not properly change things back.  While I was at it, I got rid of a few other object downloads that I will never use and a mod or two.  One of those things was the culprit, but I do not know which one caused the problem.  It's strange, too, since I had already attempted opening BV after removing everything from the downloads folder. 

Anyway, thanks for all the help.  CountessAmy, I hope yours turns out as easy.

Replace Objects.package?

I don't think I've ever had the objects file cause crashing. All manner of oddities in game. Missing maxis textures or meshes, meshes that look like they went through a blender, blinking blue things, so forth so on. Haven't had crashing but it could be possible. I had recent attempted to help out someone on LJ. We had her remove the downloads, the neighborhoods, groups.cashe ....didn't think of the scrpts, it finally took reinstalling.  Anyway, I find that telling people how to replace their core files without reinstalling seems to get the reaction that they feel that it is beyond them. How hard is dragging them from the cd and just unzipping? Hmm? honestly?

I can sympathize, Morriganrant. I recently saw a player on another forum begging someone to put up a file for download. It was seemingly impossible to make it clear to him that he already HAD the file. On his game cd. It ended up with him stalking out the door (in a manner of speaking) being very displeased with us.

But the sim-files, downloaded or not, are quite messy. Not a surprise, them being EAxis and all. But I just recently, when I still had my old computer to play on, had a recolor that caused all kinds of problems with the phones. All sims suddenly jumped out of action when they were instructed to place a call. They could receive them just fine, they just couldn't call.

I had to go through my whole download folder to isolate the file. Needless to say, I left the recolors till last. Needless to say, the culprit was a recolor. A recolor! Who'd have thought that. So it usually is best to suspect everything.

Hey, a new EAxis slogan: Suspect everything!

Funny, that reminds me of the time when I was told "ohno, meshes for clothing cannot cause a problem ever!"  lol  I think we all remember how that one turned out *nightmare*!

It's amazing how the little things can cause the game to go all wonky.

Ivy

Ahhh, I remember those days. I never believed them. Lucky for me, because the first time I ever had a crashing problem, that was exactly what I narrowed it down to and three other people on LJ had the same file and the crashing.

You both are talking about the dress as a top mod, right? That was indeed a mess.

I still can't believe how people who warned against that mod were treated. It's definitely a great example for making people aware that even mods that are 'featured' on otherwise good sites can have major issues, and can cause major problems.

Nope, never had that one. I had this clothing file that I couldn't even remember downloading, it had Romance in the name. I do know that it was from MTS2 it may have been around NL.

Yup, that's the one.  And thank you Veilchen, yes it was horrible for everyone who tried to point out the flaw. That is why I take such great care at testing anything new in my "test" neighborhood now before it goes into my real 'hoods.  The less headaches the better!


This makes me so happy.  Not that you were having problems, but the fact that all that fuss we kicked up actually got attention to the problem and you were able to fix it.  Thank you!

:)
Ivy

then you'll probably be very pleased to know that I was able to help others who had the same problem with that file, all because of 'the fuss you kicked up'. That 'fuss' made me remember it even though I never used that file :)   That file still pops up every so often causing trouble for people.

It is wonderful to know that Sleepycat.  I can only hope one day it'll finally work its way out of the system and there won't be any more problems.

:)
Ivy

I don't recall being mistreated over reporting the issue, but that is probably because I have sufficient clout to make such a declaration and be listened to.

Well, I fixed that problem.  I ended up wiping my harddrive. I am pretty sure it all had something to do with Securom 7.2 that was included in NWN2, which i would never had known had one of you not mentioned it.  Thanks again for your helpful suggestions.