The Sims 2 W7 64-bit

Yusifer · 08 May 2010

So I have all of the Sims 2 expansion packs, and I installed them all perfectly - no issues at all. When I launch the game, though, it gets past the Sims 2 opening video, but freezes on the Mansion & Garden Stuff title screen. It won't even load and CTRL+AT+DEL shows that the game has become completely unresponsive.

I've tried looking for answers on Google to no avail. Nothing seems to work.

Here's my specs:

Intel Core 2 Duo P7350 (2GHZ; 1080MB FSB; 3MB cache)
4.00GB SDRAM
256MB Mobility Radeon HD 4550 (Almost Tier 2)
Windows 7 64-bit (x86)

The Sims 3 works perfectly on my computer, but the Sims 2 refuses to start correctly and always ends up not responding.

I really love the Sims 2 and the Sims 3 doesn't have enough expansions to make it interesting. Please. How do I fix this problem?

Oh, I forgot to mention. I installed in W7; I tried to run in XP, XP SP3, Vista, and Vista SP2 compatibility mode. Didn't work. I used "Run as Administrator" every time, but it still didn't work. I've also tried uninstalling and reinstalling the expansions and it still didn't work.

My problem is similar to this guy's problem, but I don't know if the registry thing solved his problem. I'm also afraid to touch it because I have the Sims 3 and I don't want it that it messes up because I deleted something in the registry that I shouldn't have.

husky · 08 May 2010

Did your game work before you installed the expansion packs?

Yusifer · 08 May 2010

I never tried. I just installed all of 'em one-shot.

I tried uninstalling the last expansion and launching Apartment Life, but it still didn't work.

Not sure what to do. If I put a new partition with XP 64-bit, will I need to find all the drivers again? I don't know if they're available on XP :s

severedsolo · 08 May 2010

not familiar with your graphics card, is it an integrated graphics? Sims 2 has known issues in this regard that were never fixed, if its a hardware issue then installing a different OS won't solve it.

on a side note... you'd seriously rather play Sims 2 rather than 3? ok it doesnt have many expansions... but it's alot better (IMO anyway)

edit: Just googled your Graphics card/PC seems its a laptop so therefore, integrated graphics, Sims 2 doesn't like alot of laptops either. My gf had a similar issue, sims 2 hated her laptop, but sims 3 works fine, again this would point to Sims 2 not liking your hardware, so a OS change won't solve it

as stupid as this sounds, I would guess that Sims 2 is looking at your Mobility graphics, doesn't know what it is, and assumes it can't play. that was the issue with my girlfriend's laptop

Yusifer · 08 May 2010

But it's odd. My graphics card is kinda old - not really, really old, but around two years (around the time the last Sims 2 expansion came out.)

It worked great on a desktop I used to have with a graphics card around the same age (but Nvidia).

I'm'a try to see if it works when I install XP 64-bit on another partition. I don't have a desktop anymore, and Sims 2 > Sims 3 because of the expansions. Sims 3 has a lot of awesome features just in the base game, but I'm having issues with the download content (WA erased my ability to use custom content, including Riverview. No idea how to fix.)

I might reconsider Sims 3 if I can somehow fix that issue :| but since I can't, I'm going to try and play Sims 2 on XP.

If you have any other suggestions, I'd love to hear'em.

severedsolo · 09 May 2010

iv just reread your initial post.... did you try installing the expansions in the order they came out? so apartment life would have bveen last (i think)

also, normally when it freezes on the loading screen, that suggests a mod conflict, do you have any mods on your game?

Yusifer · 09 May 2010

I installed in order, yes. I started with University and worked my way until Mansion & Garden Stuff.

I don't have any mods either - no custom content or anything. I haven't even gotten to play it yet so I didn't bother downloading anything custom :s

darja121 · 10 May 2010

severedsolo said:

not familiar with your graphics card, is it an integrated graphics? Sims 2 has known issues in this regard that were never fixed, if its a hardware issue then installing a different OS won't solve it.

on a side note... you'd seriously rather play Sims 2 rather than 3? ok it doesnt have many expansions... but it's alot better (IMO anyway)

edit: Just googled your Graphics card/PC seems its a laptop so therefore, integrated graphics, Sims 2 doesn't like alot of laptops either. My gf had a similar issue, sims 2 hated her laptop, but sims 3 works fine, again this would point to Sims 2 not liking your hardware, so a OS change won't solve it

as stupid as this sounds, I would guess that Sims 2 is looking at your Mobility graphics, doesn't know what it is, and assumes it can't play. that was the issue with my girlfriend's laptop

I have laptop too and Sims 2 plus E.P.'s run great under Windows 7 64 bit. I have strong, new I5 Processor and Nvidia Graphic card 1 GB. True I don't have Apartment Life and Mansion Garden - I read somewhere, that this two E.P.'s couses troubles, but I don't remember anymore what are this problems ...

And I like playing Sims 2 a lot, I don't like Sims 3 anymore, I have only the base game and patch 1.2.7. because of all those crashes (which I had too, now I don't, but I'm not playing TS3 at all). Go to Sims 3 forums and you'll see - people are desperate, they are using many ugly words for EA games ...

severedsolo · 10 May 2010

darja... i wasn't saying that it doesn't work on ANY laptop, i was just saying that there are alot of laptops it doesn't like, specifically ones with an Intel Chipset.

Yusifer · 10 May 2010

The Sims 3 has a lot of ridiculous bugs :| Like the speed bug; it's been there how long now? And it's still not fixed.

I reformatted my PC yesterday; I'm not in the process of reinstalling the Sims 2. I'll be checking for every expansion which works and which doesn't.

Thanks for telling me it works for you, darja. There may be hope now xD (and no dual-partition'ing!)