Sorry my description isn't clear. If I knew how to post pictures, I would. No, there's no flashing blue. The object FLICKERS ON and OFF. That means, one second you see it, the next second you don't, then you see it again, and on and on.  NO, their skin tones don't disappear, their OUTFITS do. The head will show but the thing they're wearing DOESN'T. Okay? If this doesn't convey what I'm trying to say, then learn some English.

I know this is maty, but do you have to get so riled? It's obvious no one has a clue as to what the problem is, so settle down and move on to some other post. Jesus. That's what's so great about playing the sims. There are constant problems, and you try to find out the answers to the problems, and you get nothing but motherfucking bullshit responses from some asshole that needs to spew anger.

What is the advantage of doing this? I'm really surprised that there is no ready answer for what's going on. This seems like so many of the other problems I've had over the past year and a half of playing this game, and it always seemed there was an answer or solution to whatever the problem was. Not this time, apparently. Also, if this is caused by the graphics card, why did it take over a month to manifest itself?

Not sure what you mean by "windowed" mode. I have been playing the game on this computer for about a month, so would it take that long for the problem to present itself? I tried so hard to find a laptop with an ATI graphics card because I didn't want to have to deal with nvidia problems, so if it's the card, that's depressing. I did update the driver just today, after this problem started. I haven't played the game since updating.

No, the mouse pointer doesn't seem to affect what happens. I haven't changed anything on my computer. I guess something got corrupted.

have a new problem in the game and am hoping someone can tell me if it means there's a problem with my graphics card or if FT is somehow causing it. Suddenly yesterday I noticed that some objects in the house I was playing were flickering or pulsing. I'd had a fire on the lot that seemed similar to another series of fires on another lot that had destroyed an entire family, and then the flickering started.

I played a different lot, a new one that I have not played much at all, and after about an hour into the game, the sims started flickering. Their bodies will disappear and then come back, or parts of their costumes will show but not the whole thing.

What does this mean? Should I uninstall and reinstall FT, or is my (new) graphics card messed up? My computer is only a few months old and has 3 GB of RAM. The graphics card is ATI HD 2600 .

Thanks for this cathybb. I do think it's related to FT, because I had a similar situation on another lot after I posted here. The father was outside and suddenly a fire started (I'm not even sure if there were trees where he was). I tried to make him come in the house, but he couldn't. I  made his wife call the fire department and they came and put out the fire. He walked back in the house and seemed okay. But then some odd things started happening with some of the objects on the lot - they started blinking or flickering. I'm just glad the entire famly didn't burn to death, like the other one did. I left the lot shortly after all that, so I don't know if these were just isolated issues or if something is wrong with the lot. I'm glad to hear that this seems to be related to FT so I don't have to worry that it's something specifically wrong with my game.

I used to download the patches until the Pets one, which caused my game to crash. Since then I haven't done it. From what I've read on this board and BBS, it seems that sometimes patches cause problems that weren't there before. My games (so far) have not been buggy in general, so I figure, why ask for trouble?

Hmmm... Guess it's a Seasons glitch. I never download the patches anymore, so my game isn't patched. My solution for this issue is to save my game often, so if I do get another family wiped out by fire, I can quit without saving and still have most of my recent game. I'm crossing my fingers it was just that one borked lot and not a game-wide glitch.

Thank you for the information. I did have the Lot Debugger at one time but once I realized I had no clue how to use it, I uninstalled it. Now that you both have elucidated some of its features, I will give it a try.  I did think that it would have been a very different situation if I had actually wanted to keep the family in the game. 

Just as an epilogue, I went back to the house with the intention of moving out the one remaining family member, the grandmother. I clicked on the computer so she could find another place to live. While I was doing that, she caught fire and died. Then the Grim Reaper sat down to watch tv for a while, while the cat ran around the house. Eventually someone from Pet Adoption Services came over to take the cat away, since there were no sims left to care for it.

Thanks for the link. From what I read on that thread, it sounds like the lot is corrupted. I don't have any non-awesome hacks, so that can't be the explanation. I don't know how to use the lot debugger, so that's ruled out. I'll just have to let the lot go.

Agree. When I quit I saved the game because I was half glad they were gone. I had lost interest in the family anyway so now I am rid of them. I will spare grandma a horrible death and move her into my Home for Unwanted Sims, then bulldoze the lot.

I'm going  to assume that this is somehow connected with Free Time, because of what I read in the link above, and because I've never had this problem before. Maybe the combination of something in Free Time and a buggy lot causes random fires.

No comment about the child dying? If the lot is borked, would that override anything Maxis put in the game to keep children from dying?

I have been playing Free Time for about 3 weeks, and today played a family I haven't played for a long time. Something seemed funny with the lot back when I played them with BV. Their sleep needs seemed never to decay, so they never went to sleep. I got tired of waiting for the next day to come so I stopped playing them.

Today I played them for about an hour, and by the end of that time, four of them, including a child, had burned to death. The first death came when the father went of his own volition outside to play an electric guitar in the rain. I don't think there was any lightning. Suddenly the guitar amp caught fire and the Sim burned to death  before I could get someone out there to extinguish the fire.

Then while they (grandfather, grandmother, wife and son) were mourning him at the site where he died, the grandfather caught fire and died. I deleted the guitar, thinking that would be the end, but then the son, about 8 years old, caught fire and died. The fire just appeared, and consumed him. Then the same thing happened with the wife. Most likely the grandmother would have been next, but I quit the game so she didn't have a chance to catch fire.

I thought that no children would die in the game. Does anyone have any idea how this could happen? Also, why would fire just spontaneously appear, with no object catching fire? It was night, and no one was overheated when this all started.  I was wondering if it's possible this lot is corrupted.

I posted this on BBS but no one had any worthwhile suggestions. One person said there was a tree in BV that was catching fire, but the trees on this family's lawn were just the trees that had always been in the game, so I don't think the fires were caused by the BV tree.

If anyone has any thoughts about this, I'd appreciate hearing them.

So is anybody going to recount the tale so that it remains alive in peoples' memories? Somehow,

Bluesoup noisy bitch.
Bluesoup top bitch.
Bluesoup big bitch.
Bluesoup moaning bitch.
Bluesoup souped bitch.

isn't quite enough, except for those who already know the story. We get that you hate her enough to want to immolate her, but WHY? There were some examples above, but how about the entire story?

I had trouble downloading that tool so I did a search for Norton removal tool (or whatever the tool is called on 4shared) on google and got the tool on Norton's site. I downloaded and ran it (because I had just removed Norton from my brand new laptop yesterday and wanted to be sure that everything was removed from the system) and when I rebooted, I couldn't access the internet. The diagnostics tool said that there was another firewall blocking my access. I had to do a system restore because tech support didn't know how to find the rogue firewall and disable it, or whatever would have had to be done. I guess I should have left well enough alone.

Ok, thanks, I hadn't realized that I'd need to run it from a cracked .exe as well as remove securom from my system. I'll screw up my courage and make the attempt.

So if I don't know how to get a no-CD crack, then the next best thing would be to follow the instructions on this site about removing securom entirely? I figured that the thing I got on BBS was  not as thorough as removing it altogether, but since I am barely functional in terms of understanding how computers work, I was intimidated by the instructions and thought I'd be better off with the thing on the BBS.

Since my account seems not to be recognized as an admin account, I guess I'm fooling the exe.

I agree, and although I still do not fully understand what I can do with administrator rights, running into this third and worst problem is enough to make me do something about it.

Since removing securom I have opened the game twice so far and no problem. I thought it was only if you re-installed the game that you got securom again.

I asked them to come to the house because we had a couple of computer issues I couldn't handle and also because our laptops had been networked yet we weren't able to print to the desktop pc. The guy came and spent about 2 hours trying to figure out why we couldn't print, and since they were charging me $100 an hour, after 2 hours I told him to stop. The company agreed to have someone access the computers remotely to see if they could find the problem. They installed something that allowed them to access the computers. The problem turned out to be a setting in Windows Live Onecare or whatever it's called, that did not allow the laptops to print to the desktop. Probably something I should have been able to figure out but it never occurred to me that it could be a setting of some kind. So after that, I could no longer get automatic updates because I was not the administrator (even though I am), and the other thing I described, about uploading content from tivo to the computer - I can do it if I turn off the firewall, though. I wrote to the company and spoke to a couple of people about what happened, but they never followed up. Back then I didn't realize the effect this was going to have. I guess I'm going to have to re-install the OS in them if I want to get back to normal

BTW, it was securom that caused the problem with the game. I went to the BBS and saw that they have a tool to remove it from your game. I downloaded the tool and removed securom, and then my game opened on the first attempt.

My video card is ATI x1800. I did put the shortcut on my desktop but still had problems opening the game. I had some weird thing happen with all my computers last year when a tech support service accessed my computers remotely to fix a problem,and ever since then, all three computers behave as though I am not the administrator, even though I am logged in as administrator. Maybe if that is an issue with Securom, I will have to remove securom. I have not been able to do things like set up automatic updates or upload tv shows from tivo because of this problem, so maybe this is why I can't open the game. But if the problem is because of securom, why was it working fine for two weeks, and also a few months ago,when I first installed it?

So, I guess I can't believe that it's BV, but some issue specific to my computer. Thank you for your help.

I have been playing BV on a daily basis for about 2 weeks, and a few days ago a problem started which I think might be BV-related. I insert the disk and open the launcher, and click Play. The screen goes black, as it always does, but then freezes instead of turning blue and then opening the Sims 2 game. If I open the task manager I can't click on anything, so I have to force the system to shut down. I've had to do this 3 or 4 times before the game finally opens.

I thought it was something wrong with my computer, but I searched on google and found a thread on Mod the Sims2 where people are talking about the same problem I'm having, and saying it started with BV. I posted on BBS but the only response I got is that there's something wrong with a driver. It's true that I'd rather believe that it's BV than my computer, but can anyone confirm whether the game freezing before it's open is somehow caused by BV?

On Mod the Sims 2 they suggest bypassing the launcher, but I tried that and still had the problem.

Thanks! I don't like to make a fool of myself anywhere, but especially not here!

Okay, I will publicly humiiiate myself by admitting that while I thought there were no other households with the names I used, there actually were. They were living in Bluewater and I never play them, so had completely forgotten about them. Yes, I know I am an idiot. I only found out about them when I installed Sim PE, since I thought that was now my only way to increase the funds. I saw their names in the list of Sim Families. The other two households in Bluewater got the money that I tried to give the ones in Pleasantview.

I've never had to type + before, although I did try that when the usual method didn't work. I thought the plus sign added money, the minus took it away, and just the amount without a symbol in front changed the amount the household has to whatever amount you enter. In other words, I don't think you have to have a plus sign to get the money.

I have BV installed and have recently used the Family Funds cheat successfully, but all of a sudden since yesterday it doesn't work. I tried it in the neighborhood view, and have tried to use it on different families. Each family name is unique, so it's not a question of there being more than one household with that name. Does anyone know what I can do to get the cheat to work again? i'm using motherlode now, but it would be a lot easier to just use family funds.