Sims 2, bad graphics? Help

back_on_track

Hi I have Sims 2 dvd version that I am trying to play on my pc, and although its starts great and loads fine, as soon as we are on to the gameplay, the graphics are terrible. There are black pixels all over it, and you can see the outlines of the squares along the ground. Not good at all.

Can anyone help me sort this out, or tell me what I will need to get Sims 2 to work on my pc. In nice and easy terms lol!
My comp is as follows:

1.8ghtz AMD Sempron 3100+
359.26 Gb of free Hard drive
574.65 mb of free RAM
Radeon x800 (256ram)
Windows XP home edition

danthemoneysavingman

do you have graphics problems with any other software? it is more likely a hardware / driver problem than due to the game software...

back_on_track

There doesn't seem to be any problems with other software that we use.

I found that site "canyourunit" that checks what games your system can play, and it said Sims 2 is fine on my PC. Yet the graphics aren't right on the game. Confused??
So does that mean there is a setting that's wrong or maybe something is faulty?

MarkBargain

I bought Command and Conquer Decade for my laptop recently and the graphics don't work properly either in the game (my laptop is an i3-350M, 3GB machine running Windows 7).

Toxteth_OGrady

@OP

Update driver for your Radeon x800.

Check hardware acceleration is enabled.

back_on_track

have enabled hardware acceleration to full.

I am trying to find the latest driver for radeon x800, but I'm not having much luck. Where do I look for it?

Toxteth_OGrady

http://support.amd.com/us/psearch/Pages/psearch.aspx?type=2.4.1&product=2.4.1.3.17&contentType=GPU+Download+Detail&ostype=Windows+XP+-+Professional%2fHome&keywords=&items=20

back_on_track

Ok I have downloaded the latest driver from the link you gave me, but it is still the same.

I have an lcd monitor, dont know if that matters at all? Its make is: Sharp LL-T15A4-B
My PSU is a 450W.

Do you think its a faulty graphic card? I dont want to replace anything unless im sure!

Also, have since found out it has done a similar thing in other RPG.

Any more ideas please?

Toxteth_OGrady

Download, install and run in turn each of the following. Only go on to the next if your card completes the benchmark of the previous:

3DMark03

3DMark05

3DMarl 06

Download here: http://www.futuremark.com/download/

The benchmarks will give your x800 and rest of your system a good workout for graphics. If it gets through all these OK then it's likely to be a Sims issue.

back_on_track

OK just ran the 3DMark 03 and got a score of 7297. I have no idea what they mean, but the details follow below. The test games all had the same graphic errors like the sims game I am trying to play. Its like the game is running fine in the background, but its like in front of the game is all pixelated or outlined. Hard to explain!
Shall I continue to the other 2 versions of 3DMark?

Detailed scores
3DMark Score
7927 3DMarks

GT1 - Wings of Fury
186 FPS

GT2 - Battle of Proxycon
62 FPS

GT3 - Troll's Lair
40 FPS

GT4 - Mother Nature
59 FPS

CPU Score
524 CPUMarks

CPU Test 1
58 FPS

CPU Test
9 FPS

Fill Rate (Single-Texturing)
2283 texels/s

Fill Rate (Multi-Texturing)
5500 texels/s

Vertex Shader
28 FPS

Pixel Shader 2.0
89 FPS

Ragtroll
41 FPS

No sounds
41 FPS

24 sounds
29 FPS

60 sounds
N/A

Toxteth_OGrady

It sounds from the latest description like your graphics card is overheating and creating artefacts. Is the fan clogged up with gunge?