More Awesome Than You!

This has been up my ass for some time now.

Loading my game....somewhere before the scrolling string text it stops loading and I get a black screen with a white box that says something to the effect of "Could not load the Direct3D Object". My game WILL load after this, but it's a total drag because:

1. I have about a 20 minute load time to begin with.
2. If I sit and dink with the mouse and invisibly write my name on the screen for 10 minutes the error message is bypassed, but this means I literally have to babysit my comp for half and hour when I could be folding clothes or peeing or some other task only slightly less mundane.
3. The error pops up again during the "Bugs and Birds" portion of the string text.

It seems like this began happening after downloading the FT patch, but I can't be sure.

Any ideas?

20 minute load time?  I suggest buying a computer that was made in this century.

Honestly, I would back up my neighborhoods and just completely reinstall the game.

Sounds like an argument between the game and a screen saver.  Possible solution:  Disable either the screen saver or the game.  Note that the latter, as an additional benefit, resolves all current and as-yet-undiscovered game issues.

Hee-hee.

My system's not that bad, really. Pentium 4, Nvidia GeForce 7800, 60 GB, hand-built by someone who actually knows what they're doing, unlike myself...I dunno. It's not the newest thing, but it's not a callback from Neanderthal days either. There are peeps on other forums who complain about their hour-long load times, so I honestly didn't think 20 min. was horrible. 

BrokenRobot: Thank you, that is my next plan of attack.

rosess: I will try that, as it is the best solution I have heard so far and something I would have never thought of. The screen-saver part anyway. ;) I'm not quite ready to gut my game. Nobody likes a quitter.  ;D

Twenty minutes!? Good lord. Get some RAM, why don't you? :D

Well, no wonder! Pull it out of your ass, computers need air circulation!!

Eh, I used to have 45 minutes with the laptop and just NL, only 130 mb of CC. Not so much anymore. Addison's test account (no cc) does less than a minute. 1.5 minutes from icon to household.

Couple things: you say Pentium 4, but not the speed. What GHz are on that sucker? Go to Start...Run...and type "dxdiag" and enter. Tell us what the central list portion says.

Disable screen saver. Make sure you update both DirectX as well as the drivers on your video card. Your hard drive is a bit small for modern systems, so just to be safe (as this should have nothing to do with the specific situation) run Disk Cleanup and Defragmenter. Both are found under Start...Programs...Accessories...System Tools. Might help with the load chug.

Lol, SuSim. It's been up there for awhile, but will try.  ;)

Zazazu: That was nifty. Here's what I ended up with:

   Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.070227-2254)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: INTELR
       System Model: AWRDACPI
               BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
          Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.60GHz (2 CPUs)
             Memory: 1536MB RAM
          Page File: 393MB used, 1763MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
    DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
     DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode

I actually have three hard drives:
C:\ 38.2 GB
F:\ 72.5 GB
G:\ 2.99 GB

So I lied...I have more space than I thought. In fact, I realize there is no info actually STORED on the F drive at the moment. Presumably there's a way to change that?

I updated my graphics card drivers within the past two weeks.

So does my system pass inspection or suck? :b

*dragonballz* <----------comp tard

I used to wait about 30 minutes in my old P IV 2.40 with 1 RAM ....

I'm assuming the Sims was worth the wait.

20 minute loading times on that system doesn't sound normal. How much CC do you have? Consider getting rid of a lot. Are you shutting down non essential programs before running the game such as anti virus and so on?

I had 15 minute load times, believe it was a P4 2.0GHz with 512 MB RAM (I know right?!) and a Intel chip. Then when I added zOMG PETZ!!!1!!! the lot loading time alone went to 45 minutes. I knew it was time for a new PC and I got one, now I can go from desktop to lot in about 7 minutes or less.

I have a crap-load of cc. Basically, when I found the booty-site I went on a bit of a spree. Not looking forward to sifting through and deleting, but I know it's inevitable. And yes, I do ctrl+alt+esc and shut down everything sucking up RAM before I start my game. If I had the money for a new comp I would absolutely buy one, but for now this has to do.  :-\

Thank you rosses...the screen-saver was the issue. Fixed!

Yay! I was going to say that I! just spotted this thread, screensaver was the answer for me too - damn WinXP built-in screenie. I had had this error since I put XP in months ago...

 :) Here's a little application that can give you a screensaver ..... without actually having a screensaver . Just drop the folder inside this zip into your program files and then make a shortcut to it on your desktop . Then when you want to spend a bit of time away from your computer without changing it's state or leaving your work then just double click on the shortcut you just made and voila , the screen goes all black and all you have to do is click the spacebar or whatever to bring your normal screen back . Being just a black screen this little application uses far less resources than a ' proper ' screensaver but does it's job equally as well ( ie saves the screen ) . Credits and permissions are in the zip with the app  :)

( Of course , it's just as easy to turn your monitor off while you're away from your computer  :D )