More Awesome Than You!

First off, just to warn you. I'm am completely techno stupid… so to describe anything that has anything to do with electronics, it'll probably end up being … the what-cha-call-it that's attached to that thingamajig….. ;D

Okay - here's what it's doing. Whenever I attempt to create a new neighborhood it will cause my computer to crash. A complete reboot. It doesn't matter if I'm trying to use a maxis new neighborhood or if I'm using one that I've downloaded. It doesn't give me one of those error report things when it does it either. So I have no idea how to get any kind of information for you to show you what I'm talking about. I've tried to reinstall the whole game, and just deleting the sims 2 folder in my documents. Doesn't help.

So, now that I've given you pretty much nothing to work with … any idea's on why this could be happening?

Thanks -
Strlght

Are you using windows?  Have you tried launching a new neighbourhood on a new user account?

Were you EVER able to create a new neighborhood, and the crashing just started now? Or is this the first time you ever tried to do it?

WHEN does the crash happen? When you click the "Create Custom Hood" button, or when the screen comes up to choose the terrain, or after you create it and the game tries to load it, or...?

Do you have both Uni and Nightlife EPs? And is your game the Mac version by any chance? I heard of custom neighborhood creation problems on Macs. If you do have a Mac, try using the "Viper Canyon" terrain.

Does your computer meet the basic requirements? If you don't know, and you have Windows and not a Mac, do this: Click the Start button, click on "Run . . ." and type dxdiag into the box that comes up. Wait until a new screen comes up. The first page will have basic computer info. Tell us what your Memory is (such as 512MB RAM), what your Processor is (such as 260MHz), and tell us the Operating System (such as XP Pro). Then click on the tab (at the top) that's called Display. On the top-left side it will have fields for Name, Manufacturer, Chip Type, and Approx. Total Memory, so just tell us those since that is your video card.

When I use pleasantview I have zero problems with the game. I have never been able to create a custom neihborhood though. It will work for awhile, and then I'll go to use it and it just crashes the system. I have uni and nightlife.
Here's the info you asked for ..
Memory is 1022MB Ram
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(P) 4CPU3.00GHz(2CPU's)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, build 2600)

Name: RADEON X700 Pro
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip type: RADEON X700 Pro (0x5E4B)
Aproxx. Total Memory: 256.0 MB

Thanks-- everybody else I've asked just tells me to take the case off and blow it out with canned air. I do that weekly, as instructed by my brother the computer guru who has no clue about the sims though. So, even if you can't help me thank you for trying!
Strlght

Have you tried defragmenting before you load your game?  A lot of PC gurus say it's unnecessary to do it more often than the Defrag screen prompts you to, but for the sims (1 or 2) this just isn't the case, an over-fragmented system just causes all kinds of problems.

The only other thing I can suggest is that you remove all your downloads and hacks etc. and see if that works.

When you say your computer crashes, what does that mean.  Does the computer reboot on it's own? Do you get a blue screen with a bunch of numbers and then the computer reboots?  Can you try to describe exactly step by step what you do and what happens ?

Your system certainly more than meets the minimum requirements to run the game and EPs.

Have your turned off your firewall and a.v. software before you start the game?  There is a definite conflict, but with what?

Are all your background tasks turned off as well? 

How about space on your hard drive?  Do you have plenty left?

I'm still trying to think if I've heard of someone being unable to create new neighborhoods... but I think the only two cases where I've heard of it have been the Mac version of the game and someone who didn't meet the minimum system requirements. Since neither one is the problem, I don't know what else it could be.


What exactly do you mean it will "work for a while?" Are you able to enter the new neighborhood and create families? What happens (or what do you do) just before it starts crashing?