Thank you, I WILL ask a dumb question that I probably already know the answer to

[Assmitten]

Hello...I'm about to jump back into my game after being burned out for a few weeks. I got all psyched up by downloading some new hacks I have never messed with before, such as casual romance.

Anyway, I am asking about the special event movies, meaning special movies you get for the first kiss, etc. Does anyone know how to "trick" your system into showing it if it doesn't want to? Even after doing RAM upgrades last fall, I never have the option available on the menu.

Stats, if it helps...my computer is old and creakity. I'm guessing I'm just SOL.

Celeron 1.8 GHZ, 512 MBs video card: NVIDEA GEForce4 MX4000

Thanks!

[BlueSoup]

Wow, your computer sounds exactly like my old one - everything is the same except I had a bit more RAM.  Anyway, I entered the cheat to trick it before and it never did work for me.

[Assmitten]

Well, a cheat, eh? How on earth did I miss that one?

Yes, this is my elderly grad school compy. It plays the Sims (mostly) and acts like a word processor, so I'm happy for now. A new one's on the list, fer sure.

[SaraMK]

You could try boolprop chooseCameraSpecialEventEnabled [true/false], but chances are if they do show, they'll be messed up in some way. Crashes are also possible.

[KatEnigma]

I know it doesn't help much, but they really aren't worth it anyway. Take up way too much time and processing power and after the first 10 times you've seen them, you'd just want to turn them off again anyway.  Plus if you run with debug mode on (which I do, and haven't exploded my game yet, no one tell the sheep. LOL) this causes a legitimate way to freeze the game, because if a bug pops up in the middle of a cut scene, you're stuck.  Sometimes I miss seeing the wedding one, but I honestly prefer the swirling hearts for First Kiss over the movie, and the WooHoo and Birthday ones get old REAL fast.  But if you really miss them, you could pick up a GeForce 5200 or a Radeon 9200 for cheap.

[Assmitten]

Okay, thanks people. 

[jrd]

Plus if you run with debug mode on (which I do, and haven't exploded my game yet, no one tell the sheep. LOL) this causes a legitimate way to freeze the game, because if a bug pops up in the middle of a cut scene, you're stuck.

Actually you can still get to the buttons, but it's adventure-game-pixel-hunting. Move the mouse around until you see any button light up, and carefully move toward cancel or reset.
Why Maxis didn't allow for keyboard control of dialog boxes I don't know.

[SpaceDoll]

My computer was about the same as yours processor and RAM wise and I could never enable cinematics either.  I had a pitiful GeForce 2!!  I upgraded to a Radeon 9600 pro with 256 memory last week and now cinematics can be enabled, although I haven't had the chance to play enough to see one yet, but I'm hoping!  I got the card for about $60 at NewEgg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102410
My interface is AGP; with an old machine, yours probably is, too.  If you do have PCI-e, you can probably get one even cheaper!

[Assmitten]

I need to just push it off a cliff, or start using it as a stepstool or doorstop, methinks. I am starting to become embarrassed to tell people what I have. This video card was the tits two years ago. 

[SpaceDoll]

I know what you mean!  My GeForce 2 wasn't top of the line, but I know I paid more than $60 bucks for it! BLEH!!

[J. M. Pescado]

Heh. GeForce 2. I have better cards than that sitting in the spare parts dumpster.

[SpaceDoll]

I know, I know.  When I went back to the old behemoth out of desperation and checked out my list of specs., I couldn't believe that's what I had.     And I paid money for it!   

[J. M. Pescado]

Not RECENTLY, I hope.

[DrBeast]

Happens every couple of years after we've bought a new rig. It's inevitable.

[SpaceDoll]

No, no.  It was like the first month the Sims 2 came out, when my integrated graphics wouldn't run it and I didn't have money to get a good one.  Also, I wanted to play right then and the only place open was the 24 hour wal-mart.  I think I might have paid as much as $85 for it.  GRIMACE

[DrBeast]

My GeForce 2 was great when I bought it...back in 2001! For almost 150 Euros!

[SpaceDoll]

Wow, now I don't feel quite so ba5d55.  Pardon me, Baby typing.

[DrBeast]

Moral of the story: what's expensive and state-of-the-art today, will be cheap and ridiculously outdated tomorrow. That's the way it is in the computer hardware business. Sad but true (oh great, now that tune is spinning inside my head! What a riff!).

[Assmitten]

I love that story about running to 24-hour Walmart and being held up for all that money. When I first installed the base game, it took a full minute for a house to transition from night to day or from day to night. It would sit there and grind...WEEP. I got a new video card pretty fast!

[Gwill]

It's strange how the solution to most problems is:
Buy more RAM!

[DrBeast]

More RAM and a better PSU (power supply unit) usually do the trick, yes.

[Ness]

I'm sure I said this yesterday...  but I solved my computer problem with a smaller power supply - just gotta be different!

[DrBeast]

I'm sure I said this yesterday...  but I solved my computer problem with a smaller power supply - just gotta be different!

Stated Wattage quantity doesn't always matter. It's output quality that really matters and, as a rule of thumb, only the most expensive PSUs are able to deliver sufficient wattage under heavy load. To put the matter simply, you might have a 500W PSU you bought for $30 (figuratively speaking), but its real output under heavy load might be well under 400W! On the other hand, a quality 400W PSU costing $80-100 (again, figuratively speaking) will deliver most of that wattage under even the most extreme circumstances. And, of course, there's the matter of delivering sufficient Amperage output to all the rails, but I feel Hegelian will have more to say on that matter (and more accurate!)