Sims 2 graphic problems

[Antneedshelp!]

hi, i recently got sims 2 for my girlfriend as a christmas present so i need to know wether i can fix this problem or to send it back, fast!

its installed sucessfully and meets the system requirements but theres a large amount of like shapes on the screen when its in the game, the menus are fine but the game's display goes awry when in game wether the 'camera' is still or youre moving around the choppy shapes appear randomly and quite alot. ive tried to take a screen shot, but it was hard catching it, theres only a bit but its an example

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...06/simspic.jpg

its a 1.8ghz fujitsu amilo laptop
60gb HD
512mb RAM
64mb ATI IGP 320 mobility graphics card

[which i have special drivers that someone posted on another forum to work with my dvd drive i dont think it does overlay because i had to turn it off for the player to play dvds. the drivers are all too old to take dvd's so i went with these ones posted on a forum]

http://www.driverheaven.net/showpost...&postcount=188

any help would be brilliant

thank you x

[Fr4665]

looks like artifacts to me. have you tried downloading the latest drivers for your video card ? www.ati.com should have them or directly from the laptop manufacturer.

[Indoril Nerevar]

I agree - looks like artifacts. Do you have any problems with other games on that system? As Fr4665 said, get the latest drivers for the video card. Also download and install the latest DirectX. There are links for both in my signature.

Post back with results and info.

[Antneedshelp!]

hi which bit is for the ati IGP 320M i couldnt seem to find it?

on here;

http://www.techsupportforum.com/hard...i-drivers.html


thanks

[Antneedshelp!]

also i havent played any other games to know if its crap with them aswell!

pretty sure its a driver issue though

i need to find fully working IGP 320m drivers that support dvd playing, think thats the key

[Fr4665]

download the latest catalyst drivers from ATI and download this: http://www.driverheaven.net/modtool/
follow the instructions on the website let me know if u need help

[Antneedshelp!]

hi, it said its detected older catalyst drivers so it cant do it

im not sure what to do, after reading the instructions aswell

theyre not very clear towards the end, it might just be im inexperienced!

sorry if this seems like your pointin out easy things but i promise im not being lazy and stupid i really cant seem to get it working

i downloaded radeon catalyst drivers from ATI

ive got it unpacked and stuff but it says that message

ive clicked on c:\ati\support\6-11-pre-r300_xp-2k_dd_ccc_wdm_38185

then pressed go mobile

and its said "an older set of catalyst drivers has been detectedin the ATI\support folder, please remove the ATI folder abd start over again"

any ideas? thanks x

[Done_Fishin]

try removing / uninstalling the old drivers and starting again!

[Antneedshelp!]

hi, uninstalled the drivers and it said the same message.

not sure whats going on! haha

[Indoril Nerevar]

Try using this to fully remove the old drivers:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Securit...-Cleaner.shtml

Then try installing the new drivers again.

[Antneedshelp!]

hi, the drivers had no impact, once i actually got them installed!

any other ideas?

[Indoril Nerevar]

Artifacts usually indicate damage to the video card.

Run through all the steps under "Common Game Issues" in my signature. If nothing in there helps, I'd say your GPU is damaged, and you'll need to get the laptop repaired (given that it's an onboard GPU, that would mean they'd have to replace the motherboard).

[Antneedshelp!]

yay.


ill send the sims 2 back...hopefully the first sims'll work for her!

thanks for all your help

[Antneedshelp!]

hi, i tried to think outside the box


so i downloaded everest and went on the direct x bit and it says at the bottom where it has problems

-does not support hardware transform and lighting, this may be required in many modern games.

could this be the problem? and if so, any way to fix it!

[Tiber Septim]

Ah, after checking the minimum specs for Sims 2 It states you need at least a ATI 7500 or Geforce 2 or greater.

I'm not sure of the exact specs of that GPU, as there is no info for it on the AMD.ATI site, aside from marketing buzzwords like Pixel Tapestry and Hyper Digital Vision etc.
However, if DirectX says it does not support T&L (Transform and Lighting) the only way to be able to run the game is to get a better Graphics processor.

It can be a bit more expensive to upgrade laptops (if you can at all) so there is not really much you can do other than get another game or get a better laptop unfortunately.

Edit: You can run the original Sims though!

[Antneedshelp!]

haha, thanks for that! that was my alternative

buy the original and some add ons

cheers for all your help x

[Tiber Septim]

No problem, hope she enjoys her present. You can pick up the full pack pretty cheap nowadays too, so it's a win-win situation.

Happy Gaming!!!