More Awesome Than You!

Seeing how many wonderfully technically knowledgable people there are at MATY, I thought I would ask this here. I hope I have posted in the right section.

The night before last while playing the Broke family, my entire computer froze up and I had to do a hard reboot. Everything ran smoothly after that. Just to be safe, I ran a virus and spyware scan, both found nothing.

 Then last night, just after loading the game, while I was mousing over the neighborhood, trying to decide which lot to play, my computer rebooted. After it finished reloading, a box popped up saying "Windows has recovered from a serious error" yada yada yada. I looked at the error message but it was of course a code of numbers and letters that meant nothing to me. I loaded the game and played for a couple of hours after that.

The only things I have added to my game in the last few days are updates from MATY (macrotastics, BYU, etc.,) and a userstartup file. In the userstartup file I have the useshaders (I think that's how it goes...I'm not sure, I copy and pasted it from a post here.) and I have been noticing some graphic glitches.

So my question is, is it possible that the useshaders is causing the graphic glitches and/or a system reboot? I just bought this computer last year after having my old computer constantly reboot and get the BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH (turned out to be an over-heating issue), so I'm hyper-paranoid about having this happen again.

I have 1 gb of RAM, AMD Athlon 2.0 processor and nVidea GeForce 5200 video card. I'd give more specs but I'm at work and can't remember the rest.

I'd say that may be your problem right there -- OFB, especially since the patch, has a problem with nvidea cards with the latest drivers.  Have you updated the drivers lately?  If not, then I'd say turn off the usershaders thing.

Also, the spontaneous reboot could be a power supply issue. If you added the card yourself, the power supply that came with your machine might not have enough juice for it.

No, I didn't install the card myself (wouldn't have the first clue), it came with the machine.

Jsalemi, I haven't updated the drivers for awhile...do you think that could make the computer reboot?

If your system ran fine until you added the MATY gizmos, then why not move them out temporarily and see if the problem crops up again. 

That seems a logical start to the sleuthing.

Probably the combination of the drivers and adding the usershaders command to your startup. I'd take the usershaders out first and see if that solves the problem.

The exact same thing happened to me, but when I checked with the windows troubleshooter option, I was immediately given a link to Nvidia to update my drivers, and everything has been fine since (apart from the missing fish issue, that is!)

Yeah, the missing fishies is why I put it in. I actually hadn't even noticed they were gone until I saw a thread about it here. I will update the drivers tonight when I get home, take the useshaders out and see what happens.

I appreciate all the responses I have gotten.

Well, My NVidia is a GEForce FX 5200, so it sounds as if they are similar, but when you install the new driver, you may find that for some wierd reason, instead of uninstalling the old one, which it didn't, it uninstalls your DirectX.  However, when I went to reinstall DirectX, I had far more Hard Drive space than before, so the loss of the old one was probably a good thing as Windows was presumably just adding more and more files each time I upgraded my DirectX!

hmmm, yes that's the same video card I have. I will have to keep that in mind. How did you know that it uninstalled the DirectX?
I'm always nervous uninstalling and installing drivers, I'm terrified I'll remove the wrong thing or go about it the wrong way and totally muck things up.


edited because "nervous" only needs one "e".

Well, before I installed the new drivers, my directX was working fine, after I'd installed them I went to play the game - and the game told me they it wasn't there!  In fact, I think there were files there, thousands of them, but obviously not the important ones that the game could use, so I just got rid of everything that was left and installed the most up to date version from Windows.  My Hard Drive had about 3 more GBs of space afterwards.

The drivers solved it, and my RAM should be OK, but I shall be thinking about upgrading it soon, anyway.  Besides, it was the infor I got from Microsoft, and it was pretty definite, and took me directly to the page at NVidia I needed, so it must be a common problem.

So I updated my drivers Friday night and removed the useshaders from the startup file but I didn't have an opportunity to play until Saturday night. So far, my computer hasn't rebooted (crossing my fingers) but now my game is running soooooooo slow. Could this be due to the new drivers?
Driver version is: 8.4.2.1 for the Nvidia GeForce FX 5200.

Have you checked to see if the game settings are as they were before updating? Also, try running the game WITH useshaders this time. If you still get random reboots, I'd say forget the useshaders cheat and roll back to your previous drivers.

My game actually runs better now, although I still have a problem with level 10 businesses, I don't think my PC can handle at least 10 customers, 4 staff plus my sim all at once, so I spend half the time click the debugger to unfreeze visitor motives!  I may need to check out my paging file and make it a tad bigger!

I checked the settings when I noticed how slow the game was running and everything is the same as it was before. I thought perhaps it was because I was playing a large lot (the Goth house, the ghosts really can slow my game down sometimes) but even playing a smaller lot, it was extremely slow. If the game had played like this when I first bought it, I would have been so turned off by the lag I would have never continued playing.
I'll have to try your suggestions sometime this evening after I get home *stupid work*. :D

Kelly, go to simWardrobe and read the article "Windows Game Optimization Tips".  You may not want to try everything suggested there, but there could be one or two things which would help, and it's very easy to understand!  (If I can understand it, anyone can!)

Been there, dealt with this.  Look at the size of your graphics card and then check the wattage of your power supply.  If it's 200 or 250, you will need to replace it with a larger one to handle a bigger graphics card.

Pamysue, KellyQ has only updated her drivers, she has the same graphics card.  You may well be right that there is a problem with the power supply, but if so, she's had it a while.  I remember having a problem with mine, but it wasn't just the power supply, it was the motherboard and the CPU as well, and it starts to get expensive if all those need to be replaced.

In case all the other stuff doesn't work, you might want to monitor your video card's temperature. nVidia cards have a neat "feature" that causes them to shut down if they overheat to prevent total frying, especially as they get older. I've been dealing with what you describe for about a year and a half now due to poor ventilation in my laptop which is exasperated by living in dusty hills with three longhaired cats.

There's standard PC maintenance type stuff you can do to help if that is the problem, and you should do even if it's not. Clean the case out regularly with pressurized hair, keep pets out of the room, vacuum the room frequently, don't place towers on surfaces that readily conduct heat or in areas with direct sunlight, don't leave your computer running for prolonged periods, and keep an airfilter near by. There are other less standard stuff like replacing fans, applying thermal paste to the CPU, and installing heatsinks.

True.  Not saying to run out and buy anything.  Just look at your graphics card and check the minimum wattage required to run it.  The majority of people look at neccasary RAM, OS, but never give a thought to power.  If her card requires a bigger power supply, she needs to take care of that.

True, but what she has sounds similar to mine.  I think the biggest problem is having too small a paging file.

So last night I rolled the drivers back on my graphics card (back to version 6 something, sorry I'm at work and can't remember exactly) and that cleared up the lag tremendously. I only had time to play for about an hour so hard to say if the rebooting will reoccur or not, but so far, so good. I really think it was probably the useshaders cheat that caused it to reboot but I could be wrong. (And I'm really sorry to not be able to use it because not only did I get my fishies back when using it, I noticed a lot more detail to some objects such as the swimming pool, then I had before  :'()

I have two more quick questions (especially for ZZ or anyone who has the same type of graphics card): has anyone else's ghosts disappeared? I've been noticing that I have a decided lack of ghosts on the Goth lot despite having all the headstones.

Second question: how much tweaking should one do with the refresh rate for the game? It is defaulted on my computer at 60 but I have my computer refresh rate set at 75 and it runs just fine at that setting.

Mine's always been at 60 in game, I think I tried it higher but it didn't help any.

I haven't noticed a lack of ghosts, but I don't visit the Goths very often.  I think I saw Darleen once or twice, but that may have been before the new drivers.

Sometimes if you change something (usually a patch or new EP/SP, or even sometimes a major hack), the ghost timer gets reset.  Normally, ghosts don't show up until 2-3 days after they died. If the timer gets reset, all the ghosts again wait for the 2-3 sim-day period to start haunting again.

I've definitely noticed that one - when you first go to the Dreamer house, Darleen doesn't show up till friday night, after which, she becomes a regular visitor!  Darren wet himself the first time he saw her!

Depends on your monitor type. If you have a CRT (the good old box-type screens), you'll want a refresh rate of at least 75Hz. Anything below that number and you'll notice your screen flickering. TFT/LCD screens (the crappy new slim thingies) are impervious to that effect.

Hey, I have one of those and I love it - it doesn't give me migraine!  Plus I can move it without dropping it!

I have a 17 inch LCD screen that I adore with the refresh rate set at 75 but the game is set at 60. Basically I just wondered if the settings should "match" and if that would make any difference is how well the game runs? (Anything to make the game run a little quicker would be great. :D)

LCD displays don't refresh. The pixels remain in their current state until changed by the display controller. There is no advantage to setting the "refresh" rate higher than the default, which is usually 60 Hz. I don't know if you can actually damage the display by forcing a higher rate, but there's no reason to take the risk.


If in the past you were using a CRT set to a refresh rate of 60 Hz, it's no surprise it gave you headaches. 75 Hz is the minimum for an apparently flicker-free display; 85 Hz is better. Above 85 Hz, you start running into issues of reduced image sharpness.

Of course, some people are more susceptable to display flicker than are others. In extreme cases, a CRT set to a too-low refresh rate can trigger seizures in some folks.

Keep in mind that the role of thermal paste is to fill in the tiny airspaces between the surfaces of the CPU heat spreader and the heat sink. Ideally, these two surfaces are perfectly smooth, but the reality is that there are irregularities in both surfaces that create air pockets which can reduce the amount of heat transfer/dissipation. Thermal paste does not increase heat transfer; it actually reduces it. Hence, the idea is to use the least amount of paste possible and still fill in those tiny air spaces. Too much thermal paste will cause the CPU (or GPU) to run hotter rather than cooler.

This all sounds rather bizarre, but I'm thinking perhaps the driver installation installed an older version of DX over the current one, or at least some older DX files (although I think DX has a check that prevents this.); and on further consideration, I remember that most driver installation packages don't include DX, although many games do. In any case, it is my understanding that once installed, DX cannot be uninstalled:

DirectX 9.0 is a system component and cannot be uninstalled. If there is a problem with the DirectX installation, it can normally be resolved by shutting down all running applications and reinstalling. As mentioned previously, DirectX 9.0 is fully backward-compatible with titles written for previous versions of DirectX. If you are having other problems after installing DirectX 9.0, these can often be resolved by installing updated drivers for your display card, audio card, or input device.
http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/directx/productinfo/faq/default.mspx

It seems more likely that for whatever reason the DirectX files for that particular graphics board or driver set were not correctly installed.

BTW, it is almost always a bad idea to directly delete program files in general and system files in particular instead of using the Add or Remove Programs utility (in Control Panel).

Oh okay. I had tinkered around with the nVidia settings after installing the new drivers and it had a "refresh" rate option, so I set it to the highest rate (and okay, I openly admit not knowing what I'm doing).

Well, the FX 5200 graphics board is a low-power budget part that, comparatively, doesn't draw much power. It doesn't require its own power connector, and most versions don't even have a fan on the heat sink. Frankly, in the nVidia line, this is about as far down the performance ladder you can go and still have hardware support for DX 9.

You don't say what the model designation of the CPU is:  is 2.0 the clock speed or the model number? This makes a difference, because the model numbers of AMD processors are substantially higher than their actual clock speed (hence the "+" at the end of the model number, indicating performance comparable to an Intel processor running at that clock speed). Is it a plain Athlon? An Althon XP? Athlon 64? This is significant, because if its an older model, the power supply probably isn't the issue unless it is grossly underpowered (i.e., 250W), unusually cheap (it only delivers 50% of its rated power at normal operating temperatures), or is failing. OTOH, if you have an Athlon XP running at a clock speed of 2.0 GHz, then you might have a 2600+ or 2800+, which could present a challenge to a cheap or low-power power supply. If 2.0 is the clock speed, you probably don't have an Athlon 64, since the clock speeds for those processors are 1.8 GHz, 2.2 GHz, or 2.4 GHz.


To be honest, I don't see how this is possible. With 1 GB RAM, a Paging File set to 100 MB initial and 800 MB max should be plenty; most PCs ship with Paging Files that are much too large (i.e., 50% of free drive space). In any case, I've never heard of a case of a too-small Paging File causing a spontaneous reboot. This doesn't mean it can't happen, of course, but it seems highly unlikely, unless all the hard-drive activity is overstressing an inadequate or failing power supply.

As others have mentioned, the 8-series nVidia drivers have been causing a lot of problems with TS2, especially with OFB.

For whatever reason, Windows requires a refresh-rate setting, even for monitors that don't refresh.   :P

Say, Hegelian, what do you make of the problem I've been having here?

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=4536.0

It's the intermittent part that's really driving me buggy (it's better than having it be totally broken, but it makes it mighty hard to figure out what's going on).

Maybe that's part of why even though I understand a fair amount about computers there are so many things that make me go, "WTF?"
Btw, maybe EA employees Microsoft's castoff programmers and that's why we have some of the brillant "not a bug, it's a feature" issues.

I scarcely played TS2 with the old monitor, as I had a hard drive crash which involved a complete rebuild and upgrade, and I included the LCD monitor at the same time.  Which is why I would never have known anything about refresh rates in general, but left anything like that to the friend who builds my computers for me to sort out.  I don't even remember having the option to set the refresh rate when I was playing Sims 1.  I did play around with it when I first got Sims2, before the crash, but probably didn't choose the right setting as I didn't stop getting migraines until I got the new monitor (still get them, but not that I can directly link to being on the PC, and far less frequent.)

And as to the DirectX, the folder was enormous, and seemed to have copies of itself all over the place, probably caused by the Windows automatic downloads, as it wasn't me, and yes, I did remove them all with the uninstall option in control panel, and then downloaded the latest version, and since everything has been working fine for at least a month since I did that, maybe longer, I wouldn't think I'd done anything terrible!

Hard to say, really. It could just be a case of buggy software.   :P

One of the first things I have to do when installing Windows or new graphics drivers or anything that resets the refresh rate on the monitor is to raise it to at least 75 Hz.  I can't stand 60 Hz, it really does make my head hurt.  When I worked in a call center for AT&T a few years ago, some of the monitors flickered really bad, at least to me.  I tried to find a way to adjust it, but of course, they had the PCs locked down tight.  I'm not sure how they did it, but when you logged into the PC, you couldn't access anything except the programs we used to do our job.  They had a custom toolbar type thingy that had buttons for the programs and a configuration menu, but it was very, very basic.  Nothing in there to let you change the refresh rate, and only very basic mouse configuration, like to change to a left-hand mouse or change the double-click speed.  I can understand why because the tech guys didn't want to have to fix the PCs all the time after people screwed them up.  But when I tried to explain the problem, no one seemed to understand what I was talking about.  So I tried to live with it or move to a different PC when possible. 

That's what bugged me.  I'd try to explain a problem I was having with the PC and they'd look at me like I was talking Greek.  I could fix a lot of stuff myself if I had the access to do it because I knew from fixing stuff on my own computer.  They didn't even want us to plug a mouse back in that had come unplugged.  Unlike most people, though, I knew what I was doing.  And when you plugged the mouse back in, it was so draggy, and the only way there seemed to be to fix it was to reboot the PC.  But they didn't want us to reboot the PCs.  They said that you could adjust the speed of the mouse in the control bar, but as I said, you could control the double-click speed, but that was useless.  It frustrated me that they didn't even know how the things were configured.  People would pull on the mice all the time until the mouse came loose. ::)  So what I did if that happened to me and I couldn't stand how slow the mouse was (and I'm on the phone trying to help customers, you know!) I'd reboot the machine and if anyone asked me, I was going to tell them, gee, I don't know, it just rebooted all by itself.  ;)  Sorry for going off topic, but I just had to vent a little there.  The nice thing about working for yourself is that you get to have total control over how your PCs operate.  :)

Something tells me that all those tech guys were - GUYS!  Since you are just a little, feeble-brained WOMAN, obviously, you couldn't know half as much as THEY KNOW!  (I'm venting now!)

Yes, they were guys, mostly older ones.  There were some women supervisors, but any technical stuff was referred to the tech guys, though, so they weren't really much help either.  I remember one time calling the supervisor desk and saying that my screen was flickering pretty bad, and one of the women came over and looked at it, and she said she couldn't see anything wrong with it.   >:(  At the time, I had just gotten contacts, so I thought maybe that had something to do with it.   We always sat at different computers, and no one else who had sat there seemed to have a problem, so it must have just been me.  :P  Now I know better.

In fairness, you can fry your motherboard if you plug in a PS/2 mouse without powering down the system. Of course, this is not a problem with USB devices, and perhaps not with serial mice, either (although I'm not recommending you try!).   8)

Well, what do you do then if the mouse has come loose and you're not ALLOWED to power down your system!

And years ago, I had a similar experience.  when I was teaching back in the early days of computers in schools, our head asked us to apply for any courses we wanted to go on.  The normal procedure if you went on a course was that other staff would cover for you.  I applied for a computer course (I'd worked in offices and was a competent typist before I went in for teaching, so computers and theri applications in education were of interest to me.)  The head reluctantly allowed me to go on this course, one afternoon a week, and although my lessons were covered by other members of staff, in my case I had to "return the favour" and take lessons for them!  Then, when he decided to create an IT post, he appointed a MAN who typed with one finger and half a thumb - and had never been on any kind of IT course at all!

Well, if it was MY PC, I would have powered it off first.  I could understand if they wanted to come upstairs and power down the PC themselves and plug in the mouse.  But after witnessing them several times crawl under the desk and plug in the mouse WITHOUT powering down the PC, it made me upset that I had to sit and wait for them to do what I could have done myself!  But someone did point out that if anything went wrong, at least it would be on them and not us.  I think they said that if something happened because someone did something and messed up the PC, it would be on them.  I can understand that, but it doesn't make it any less annoying!

 :'( Or, you,ve been working with computers since the days of the Commodore 64, you've trained kids who have turned into IT professionals, and they won't even look at you for a job involving computers because you're over 40 (50!) ???

That's awful.  Wish there was something you could have done about it, but I assume there was no recourse?

Well, in those days, the late 70's, early 80's, people were very reluctant to believe that kind of thing went on.  In the school I was in, every man who had been thre for more than a year or so was on a senior (head of department) post, the only woman in that position had it from before the school was formed when the town changed it's school system structure, and since she would have had to be paid at that level, he had really to employ her in that capacity, and the only other woman in a senior position was the senior mistress, which since it was a mixed 9-13 middle school, he had no choice but to have!  But since those two women were in senior positions, to an outsider it would have looked as though he was being fair!  But it was in his day to day attitude towards the female staff that he was worst, and in days when jobs were scarce, and schools were having to lose staff, everyone just kept their heads down!

Like me, since the TI-99/4A, programmer, used C64's and have been on IBM clones for 20 years, Macs at work for 14 years, but can't even be allowed to update Norton on our internet Mac at work.  Have to leave that to the Vice President who doesn't know a Mac from... oh, well. 

He came in the other day and moved the mouse on the internet Mac so the desktop showed up, and started to walk out.  I asked him if there was a problem, and he said that Norton was updated the week before and wanted to make sure the computer was working.

Sure, move the mouse, see the desktop.  Everything's just fine.  Except that e-mail isn't working and the internet hook-up is sporadic.

ROFL.  Well, yeah.  Everyone knows that if there was a problem, the desktop wouldn't have shown up, there would have been a huge sign saying THE COMPUTER IS SCREWED UP! or something.

LOL!

"You screwed up this computer totally.  Please keep your idiot hands off my mouse."

And I'll bet your vice-president know-all has a yes-woman for a wife!  Sounds the sort of man who, when going out in his wife or girlfriend's car because his is in for service, automatically assumes he has the driving seat!

Not sure.  Unfortunately, his wife has that disease that makes her muscles gradually harden, like stone.  I can't think what it's called off hand.  She doesn't drive much, but she also won't let him go to the doctor with her, so she must still be able to drive some.  He's pretty much in his own little world when it comes to work right now.

But he's the kind of guy who doesn't take suggestions well when it comes to work.  We have the "old boy network" kind of business when it comes to the top positions.  If you're a man, your input means a lot.  If you're a woman, you're there to make the company look good on paper whether in a management position or just one of the peons.  You can suggest anything you want, it just gets ignored.  Your job is to just do your job and be quiet about it.

Oh, and he's the son of the owner.  So that says a lot right there.

Well, yes, it would, wouldn't it!  I hope you're looking around for something more challenging elsewhere, where your input would be appreciated!

That's a disease? I thought that was called "exercise"?

I think in the wife;s case it's called Scleroderma.

Yes, I think that's it.  We were told about it over a year ago, and though I knew it I just couldn't think of it.  I just remember them talking about it being called the "statue" disease, because eventually the muscles calcify(?) to the point where the person can't move.

That's very sad, I hope they find a cure for the disease before it's too late for her.  And I suppose, in a way, it explains her husband being insensitive to the feelings of his office staff.

Yeah, it's sad but she's a real trooper about it.  I've only met her once or twice, but she's a real nice person.

And you can tell when she's had a bad night or day because he doesn't talk much the next day.  I can usually get him in some kind of conversation about nothing in particular when things are okay, but he kind of stays to himself when things are rough for her.  I've gotten to know when it's okay to chat and when it's not.

According to my information, this condition is genetic, and as such, there is no cure but death. In order to defeat it, everyone who has it must be prevented from reproducing.

Well, if they can't cure it, maybe they will find a way of slowing its progress down. 

As I understand it, it's a long, slow process and difficult to diagnose because some of the early signs could be symptoms of other things.  I think they determined that she'd had the actual disease 8 years before they figured out what it was.  A lot of doctors later!

And they have 3 sons, all nearly grown now.  Unfortunate to think that they'll pass this along.  And who knows if any of her family before her had it.  They may not have even known!

I doubt things like that will remain such a problem for many more generations though!  Genetics has come a long way in a very short time and most of these kind of diseases and conditions will become a thing of the past.