Professors crash the game, OFB, anyone else?

[sonofajoiner]

Im having the same problem but I have a recent GEForce graphics card (6800 or thereabouts). Could it still be what's causing the problem? I had thought I'd narrowed it down to somethong amongst my huge number of downloads mucking things up. The only thing that seems common to every occasion of the blue screen of death is that I am playing at triple speed. And my supposed IT genius boyfriend didnt suggest the graphics drivers once.
I am beyond frustrated with this arsing game now. It's been one problem after another since installation. Typical that it should be the most interesting of the ex packs as well.

ETA - looking at the link danisja provided it would appear that its definitely a graphics card related issue as I was experiencing the neon pillow problem with Nightlife. Dammit dammit dammit.

[artchick]

I'm getting error messages when professors appear on lots with a home business, and I have an ATI card.  When the errors come up, if I hit the Reset button twice, the professor appears on the lot and then immediately leaves.  It's happened with both of my home businesses but never on my community lots.

[artchick]

Never mind - my issue is with the Visitor Controller hack.

[Regina]

ETA - looking at the link danisja provided it would appear that its definitely a graphics card related issue as I was experiencing the neon pillow problem with Nightlife. Dammit dammit dammit.

Oy!  Now that's a scary thought!  I have an NVidia 6800 Xtreme card in my new machine.  After installing the game with Uni and NL I had the neon pillow issue.  I downloaded an updated driver yesterday, then installed OFB.  The pillows are right now.  (The neon thing affects also the Medical career reward object and it seems to me the Elixir of Life--may actually be more than just those.)

I've only had one prof walk past a home-based business and there were no problems.  I did have one weird lock-up while these two sims were still at Uni, though.  I have no clue what caused it--just they were getting ready to go take a final when at first the screen froze and I could still move the mouse, then the mouse froze stiff.

Oh, another really weird thing happened later.  One of the Dormies went ghost-like in appearance.  He was still a Dormie but was transparent.  The next day he used the toidy and everything was set right again. 

[vilia]

I'm starting to freak out with all these mentions of nVidia 6600+ cards.  My machine, which is booked in to be fireballed & rebuilt from start on Wednesday only has a nVidia 5200.  If you're all experiencing problems with better quality video cards then mine then a migraine and heartache are probably on the cards.

Back when my computer wasn't crashing every couple of minutes - only once every hour and a bit - I was trying to play OFB and I got the black screen for a few moments before it was able to load the neighbourhoods.  The game crashed quite a bit but I think that was computer problems and not anything else [fingers crossed that a complete rebuild will save it].  Watching your little computer (btw mine is called Delia 'cause it's a dell) get sicker and sicker without being able to help it is just hard

Maybe nVidia will work on a fix as EA is a pretty big company and we can get back 'real' bugs 'cause goodness knows there are enough of them.  btw I checked out the BBS and there are no bugs with the game only minor 'glitches'

[jsalemi]

I've just come from a fascinating game session, which culminated in a bluescreen lockup and forced reboot. As I'm fairly certain RA and I are having the same problem, here are my observations:

1) I'm still not convinced that it's Professor-related. It might be Elder-related, though.
2) Contrary to what I initially believed, it happens on both home and business lots.

3) It may be resource related - it happens more as the number of people on the lots increases. However, my computer matches or exceeds every requirement on the back of the OFB box. Specifically:

OFB processor requirement: 1.0 GHz. I have a 2.67 GHz processor.
OFB RAM requirement: 256 MB. I have 1 GB.

My graphics card should also be above par - it's a GeForce 6600, though I can't remember the exact stats.

I know that running OFB, NL, Uni and the base game takes up more system resources than just running TS2 and OFB, but I can't believe it's that much more. I am forced to conclude that it's a bug, and possibly Elder-related.

I have pretty much the identical stats, including the same graphics card, and I've been having the blue screen problem too.  After the third or fourth blue screen, it usually crashes completely, forcing a reboot. And I'm only playing home and regular community lots right now. In my case, it also seems to happen either with rapid camera moves, or if two or more sims go into an animation at the same time (i.e., one changing to shower while another is changing for bed).   I got this nVidia card as a 'temp' replacement for my ATI X700 Pro that I had to send back for warranty repairs; I'm hoping the ATI card shows up soon so I can put it back in this machine and see if it solves this problem.  The game is pretty unplayable otherwise.

[Regina]

I'm starting to freak out with all these mentions of nVidia 6600+ cards.  My machine, which is booked in to be fireballed & rebuilt from start on Wednesday only has a nVidia 5200.  If you're all experiencing problems with better quality video cards then mine then a migraine and heartache are probably on the cards.

Back when my computer wasn't crashing every couple of minutes - only once every hour and a bit - I was trying to play OFB and I got the black screen for a few moments before it was able to load the neighbourhoods.  The game crashed quite a bit but I think that was computer problems and not anything else [fingers crossed that a complete rebuild will save it].  Watching your little computer (btw mine is called Delia 'cause it's a dell) get sicker and sicker without being able to help it is just hard

Maybe nVidia will work on a fix as EA is a pretty big company and we can get back 'real' bugs 'cause goodness knows there are enough of them.  btw I checked out the BBS and there are no bugs with the game only minor 'glitches'

Villia, it sure could be a problem with the 6600 card.  You don't have to get that card, though.  I have the 6800XT and with the exception of the aforementioned problem with my game just froze solid (not sure whether that was graphics related or not), the transparent Dormie and the neon pillows, haven't had any graphic issues.

One thing that struck me yesterday is the thought that maybe people are installing OFB then installing a new video driver.  It's been my experience in the past this absolutely will not work.  The driver needs to be installed BEFORE the game (or at least before the x-pack) for the game to pick up the changes.  I learned this shortly after TS2 came out.  I had issues that needed an updated driver for resolution.  Only after re-installing the game after installing the driver did it work.  It happened then again with this computer.  I installed the game, Uni and NL, then installed a new driver after I saw the neon pillows.  Again, the problem persisted.  Once I installed OFB, the graphic changes were picked up and everything was put right.

[jsalemi]

I took a chance and checked the BBS, and it seems this is a common problem with the latest nVidia drivers. The suggestion there was to back down to the 78.01 version -- I got that version off the nVidia website, installed it, and haven't had a blue screen since in over 2 hours of play. I've even put the Radiance mod back in to see if the older drivers also solve the 'triangles' problem. But so far so good with the older drivers.

[Charamei]

Ahhh, and suddenly it all makes sense...

I can definitely believe that it's graphics-related. I have neon pillows, neon newspapers, and Teens' faces sliding off their heads left, right and centre.

Grr... I really hope they fix it soon. I got NVidia for the simple reason that my old card (4400) was compatible with absolutely everything, except when it was lacking in some new-fangled feature. Now just about every game I have is acting out.

[Regina]

I took a chance and checked the BBS, and it seems this is a common problem with the latest nVidia drivers. The suggestion there was to back down to the 78.01 version -- I got that version off the nVidia website, installed it, and haven't had a blue screen since in over 2 hours of play. I've even put the Radiance mod back in to see if the older drivers also solve the 'triangles' problem. But so far so good with the older drivers.

That is so weird!  I guess I'd just best not let this machine know it's running the bad set of drivers or it may decide to quit working.  I'm glad you're able to play.  I know what a pain it is to have technical problems and not be able to sort them out.

[vilia]

Someone on  MTS2 tried the 84.20 and it seems to work but this version is only a beta

[jsalemi]

Yea, I played for hours last night on multiple lots with the Sept. 05 drivers (the 78.01), and not a single crash.  I even put Gunmod's Radiance mod back in, and no funky triangles, either.  There's definitely a problem with the latest nVidia drivers (81.98) and the 6600 cards at least -- with those drivers, I would get two or three blue screens and then a big-time crash to reboot within a half-hour or so.

[flowerchile]

No it's not Professors which crash my game but being on the Community lot for too long.  A BIG fan of testing cheats, I leave my Sim in her business for 3 days, and then without fail my game crashes and it don't come back without me reloading it.  I have tried it a few times with different Sims, and it is an ongoing thing, not just a one off.  God I hope this isn't normal and it's a Maxis bug and they'll fix it soon!

[RabidAngel]

Ah, well it seems like more people are having this problem than I had imagined.  Since there are so many people, I'm really hoping it'll be addressed for all us poor nvidia users.  I've been using the older drivers, and they're working much better, however it doesn't handle the graphics nearly as well as the newer driver.  The newer driver was much faster for me, whereas the version 7 driver stutters and staggers under the weight of the game.  It also crashes once in awhile, but not nearly as often as the version 8 drivers.  So, for now, I'll settle for slower frames so that it's possible to actually play the game for more than a few minutes.  I do think that, since there are so many users experiencing this problem, it should be addressed sooner than later.  I tried writing to nvidia, but I couldn't seem to find my registration number for the graphics card..Does anyone know if it is on the actual papers that come with the card, or is it something you get via email once you've registered? Once I find it, I'll write and make a formal request for a fix for this issue.
Maybe if anyone else has the means to contact them (ie, still has their registration number for the graphics card), we could all try try to gang up on them and beg for a solution.

[flowerchile]

My problem may not have anything to do with the game after all;  BUT.....my game is currently using over 560,000KB of memory.  Tell me, is that normal?  I have messages popping up annoyingly often now...

[Ellatrue]

Hey all,
I"m having a really bad issue right now, and it seems to be directly connected to professors....(i can't be positive)

BLEARGH!

Really?! Me too!

Professors crash my life! 

[jsalemi]

I tried writing to nvidia, but I couldn't seem to find my registration number for the graphics card..Does anyone know if it is on the actual papers that come with the card, or is it something you get via email once you've registered? Once I find it, I'll write and make a formal request for a fix for this issue.
Maybe if anyone else has the means to contact them (ie, still has their registration number for the graphics card), we could all try try to gang up on them and beg for a solution.

I think the registration # is the serial number, which is actually on the card itself, as well as on the box it came in.  So if you don't have the box, you can just pull the card out quick and write the numbers down.

[RabidAngel]

Just to let people know, I've tried the latest nvidia driver (version 84.21) and there's still no change....Still get the blue screen, however it doesn't seem to last as long as before....Now it only crashes for a minute or so, where it was nearly three minutes with version 81.98...
Still waiting on a fix.....

[trancejeremy]

Well, this Nvidia problem has existed since NL - it just seems to be worse with OFB (actually causing crashing, instead of glitchy graphcis).  Nvidia knows of it but they simply don't seem to be interested in fixing it.

It's convinced me to buy ATI the next time I buy a video card.

[MokeyHokey]

Maybe I'm just lucky? I have always had an nVidia card and I wouldn't switch for anything. ATM, I have the 6800 Ultra, never seen a blue screen, no artifacts and no crashing. I DO deliberately use ancient drivers--61.77.  I've never understood why the first advice in troubleshooting is to "update the drivers" when it seems like my old drivers are much more stable and shiny than the ones since 77.77. *shrug*

[RabidAngel]

MokeyHokey,
Have you tried any of the newer drivers before reverting back to the version 6 ones?  If so, did you notice any difference in the handle of large lots and such?
I'm very tempted to try out your "ancient" driver version , but if it brings the fps to a crawl on larger lots, I wonder if I should just wait until they hopefully update it.

[sonofajoiner]

Just to let people know, I've tried the latest nvidia driver (version 84.21) and there's still no change....Still get the blue screen, however it doesn't seem to last as long as before....Now it only crashes for a minute or so, where it was nearly three minutes with version 81.98...
Still waiting on a fix.....

Installing the new drivers has made the problem even worse for me! Tried to play again last night and within 15 minutes the blue screen of death appeared, the flashing began and the only way out was to reset the pc. Am seriously @!?*ed off with it now. Had a look at the read me file that came with OFB and it states that Maxis are aware of a graphics conflict with 6 series Nvidia cards.So they were aware of the problem before the game out came out then. So what exactly is being done about it?!

[RabidAngel]

Grrr, that really sucks!
I didn't know they had known about it previously....That definitely should have been addressed ahead of time since there are TONS of nvidia users....
I'm really surprised....

[vilia]

Installing the new drivers has made the problem even worse for me! Tried to play again last night and within 15 minutes the blue screen of death appeared, the flashing began and the only way out was to reset the pc. Am seriously @!?*ed off with it now. Had a look at the read me file that came with OFB and it states that Maxis are aware of a graphics conflict with 6 series Nvidia cards.So they were aware of the problem before the game out came out then. So what exactly is being done about it?!

One of the things maxis suggested in the readme was turning off hyperthreading - have you tried this? 

[sonofajoiner]

Installing the new drivers has made the problem even worse for me! Tried to play again last night and within 15 minutes the blue screen of death appeared, the flashing began and the only way out was to reset the pc. Am seriously @!?*ed off with it now. Had a look at the read me file that came with OFB and it states that Maxis are aware of a graphics conflict with 6 series Nvidia cards.So they were aware of the problem before the game out came out then. So what exactly is being done about it?!

One of the things maxis suggested in the readme was turning off hyperthreading - have you tried this? 

No. Mainly because I have no idea what/where/who it is. And although my other half claims he does know what/where/who hyperthreading is he's been singularly unable/unwilling to explain it to me and won't entertain the idea of turning whatever it is off. So I can't play the game until someone either at NVidia or Maxis fixes this. I'm amazed that this problem isnt all over the BBS but I really havent seen many folk complaining.