PSA: nVidia ForceWare 162.18 for XP certified and released

[Khan of Wyrms]

For those poor souls suffering from BSOD crashes supposed to be related to nVidia graphics drivers, ForceWare version 162.18 for Windows XP has been officially released at the nVidia website.  Just to be clear, this is the WHQL signed full public release of the beta driver that was announced by MaxoidSam on the BBS and has been tested by many to good results. 

For myself, I have not had problems for several months, but the specter of the dread blue screen crash was always lingering in the background.  I have tried these new drivers and play-tested them with full, high graphics options, including viewable neighbors and full anti-aliasing (i.e. smooth edges), as well as wanton build and buy mode changes, on a large lot with no problems, so far.

Anyone still suffering from the ominous BSOD issues related to nVidia drivers ought to give these new drivers a try.  For those who are not so tech savvy, remember to fully disable your antivirus software before installing video drivers.  This includes making certain the AV software does not load during startup.

Good luck!     

 

[Lorelei]

If you use a laptop, this driver may not work for you. Just a heads up.

Typically new card maker driver releases work fine for desktops, but laptop graphics drivers usually have to be acquired from the laptop maker's website.

Your mileage may vary.

[Stitches]

Idk. How timely. I had totally ignored all mention of this bug since I ran an ATi system. The system I built this morning is has the GeForce 8800 though. Was it one of the affected cards?

[Velda]

Is it necessary to update this if you're still using the beta and not having any problems?  With my GeForce 6600, the game would freeze completely and not even go to the blue screen, but it only started doing that when I updated my drivers last time.  Everything's been fine with the beta driver, even with all the settings turned up like yours are, so I don't want to mess with it again unless I have to. 

[Madame Mim]

I don't notice any improvement moving from the beta to the full release. In fact I've actually noticed some game slowdowns on busy/large lots since upgrading. I say if it aint broke don't fix it.

[Khan of Wyrms]

I don't notice any improvement moving from the beta to the full release. In fact I've actually noticed some game slowdowns on busy/large lots since upgrading. I say if it aint broke don't fix it.

Yeah, I did not try the Beta for exactly the same reason, since I had not suffered the problem nearly as often after replacing the broken heat sink bracket for my CPU.  I had also altered my gameplay settings and habits around some perceived superstitions about why the game was failing, and combined I had gone for several months without an issue.

I too, notice a bit of lag that was not there previously, but it may be the fact that I have been running now with all graphics settings and features at the highest levels, including the 'smooth edges', which may be the biggest contributor to the problem.  I can't really recall ever trying to run the game that way before. 

Once I am satisfied that the new drivers have banished the issue, I may try to tweak the settings down to see if the lag can be reduced significantly, but not just yet.

Is it necessary to update this if you're still using the beta and not having any problems?  With my GeForce 6600, the game would freeze completely and not even go to the blue screen, but it only started doing that when I updated my drivers last time.  Everything's been fine with the beta driver, even with all the settings turned up like yours are, so I don't want to mess with it again unless I have to. 

Well, if it ain't broke...I don't personally see much reason to upgrade to the final release 'just because'.  My posting this here mostly for others, who like myself, were perhaps not having desperate problems and were waiting to see if the fix might be for real before tampering with the drivers, yet again.  The official release carries the same version number as the Beta, so I don't think there were significant changes made, if any.  I noticed some people having issues with other programs, though, and I suppose it is possible that some programs might barf on drivers not WHQL certified, I don't know.  If you have issues with not-TS2 programs you might want to upgrade.

[Khan of Wyrms]

*Sigh* Am I the only one still having issues with this driver? I have a Geforce 6200 which was usually fine until I installed Seasons then.....well I'm sure most of you know the rest.Sometimes I can't even get the neighborhood to load (or more like it will load but not fully all I see is the control panel and a flashing blue loading screen) however when I do actually get into a house it seems to work well even with shaders on, wtf? I guess for now I'll just go back to my old drivers and turn shaders off

I would say that issues of neighborhoods or lots not loading is probably not a graphics driver issue at all, but more likely a problem with some of the game files.  Have you tried the game with no custom content, or perhaps on a clean user account that has not been used?