Sims 2 driver issues

[RiverDaughter]

I am an avid Sims 2 gamer. In fact, I held off on upgrading to Windows 7 because of all the issues I heard, but, after a year or so, I figured that things would have been fixed (by official means or none), and I would be able to move on in the operating system world without too much of an adjustment.

But I was wrong.

The game keeps telling me that I do not have the proper DirectX 9.0c drivers to run the game. I checked my drivers (I had forgotten to upgrade my video card drivers), downloaded everything, patched everything, and Microsoft informed me that I had the most recent version of Direct X. I uninstalled Sims 2, and then installed it again after a reboot. Once again the computer informed me that I did not have the most recent DirectX 9.0c drivers.

This was getting annoying at this point, and so I searched online for the issue. Some sites said that a non upgraded sound card driver might be triggering the issue. Except, outside of onboard sound, I don't use sound at all (my hearing isn't that great, a soundcard would do nothing for me at all), so I checked the motherboard drivers and upgraded those, and checked the video card (which apparently was also a sound card), and made sure everything was up to date.

Once again, I did not have the proper DirectX 9.0c drivers. Microsoft said I had everything available for Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit, but apparently it's not fully backwards compatible for some older games, like Sims 2.

Is there any way of getting Sims 2 to work on my system? To be honest, if I can't get it to work, I'm just going to have to go back down to Win XP SP3, because Windows 7 offers nothing for me if I can't game on it.

 

[SledgeDG]

There's got to be a way,,,Microsofts compatibility page claims Compatible...no action required

Windows 7 Compatibility for The Sims 2: EA. Drivers, Updates, Downloads

If you click on Answers you'll see what Microsoft told other users with problems

 

[Orbital Shark]

Hi RiverDaughter, welcome to the forums

I've installed Sims 2 for the Mrs (only yesterday) and after installation I was directed to TheSims2.com - Updates to download the latest patch which would get Sims 2 working under Windows 7. Once installed, the game works perfectly.

Have you downloaded the latest DirectX runtime files from Microsoft? Microsoft DirectX

Another option is to disable driver enforcement. When booting, tap F8 to bring up the boot menu and select Disable Driver Enforcement


OS

 

[RiverDaughter]

There's got to be a way,,,Microsofts compatibility page claims Compatible...no action required

Windows 7 Compatibility for The Sims 2: EA. Drivers, Updates, Downloads

If you click on Answers you'll see what Microsoft told other users with problems

None of those worked. In fact, nothing has worked, not disabling driver enforcement in BIOS, not wiping the hard drive and installing Windows 7 a second time, nothing.

I even called Microsoft, but they claimed it was a known issue with EA. EA claimed it was a known issue with Windows 7 and to call Microsoft. The bureaucratic run around. Neither company seems to be taking responsibility for their programs.

 

[Orbital Shark]

Have you tried running the game in http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/316-compatibility-mode.html for Vista? Might be worth a try

 

[RiverDaughter]

Have you tried running the game in http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/316-compatibility-mode.html for Vista? Might be worth a try

Compatibility mode for Vista never worked for Vista (Sims2 apparently never worked in Vista properly for many users in the first place), and it did not work for XP SP3 or SP2. I tried XP SP3 first because Sims2 worked just fine when that was my OS originally, but compatibility mode just didn't cut it, I guess.

 

[Orbital Shark]

Try downloading the DirectX redistributable package to see if that installes some missing DX libraries

Download details: DirectX End-User Runtimes (February 2010)


OS

 

[RiverDaughter]

Try downloading the DirectX redistributable package to see if that installes some missing DX libraries

Download details: DirectX End-User Runtimes (February 2010)


OS

Did that ages ago. Didn't help. I've been trying on this problem since June, there's not a lot I haven't done. I was hoping someone had user patched this issue.

 

[sygnus21]

Have a look at this.... http://www.sevenforums.com/gaming/5424-sims-2-a-2.html#post821820

You also might go to EA's forums and see what users there have to say about getting the game to work with 7.

Good luck

 

[SledgeDG]

Right the Sims2 DVD Patch That's what I had to run when the game wouldn't work under Vista.
With games like that it"s always recommended to patch it up as much you can.
(I didn't play Sims 2 but my "better half" did...I only had to debug the quirks

Just checked a major Sims2/3 board where it was suggested, to install the game directly into the root folder of the drive (i.e. C:\) and to turn off UAC completely. No idea if that helps (I left UAC on under Vista), but it's worth a shot I think.

All in all I'm pretty much fed up with EA games...not wasting anymore money on those guys
-DG

 

[RiverDaughter]

Have a look at this.... http://www.sevenforums.com/gaming/5424-sims-2-a-2.html#post821820

You also might go to EA's forums and see what users there have to say about getting the game to work with 7.

Good luck

Checked that already, and have already been on the phone with customer support with EA to boot. Their stance on the matter is that it is Microsoft's problem, and they can do nothing to fix it.

Right the Sims2 DVD Patch That's what I had to run when the game wouldn't work under Vista.
With games like that it"s always recommended to patch it up as much you can.
(I didn't play Sims 2 but my "better half" did...I only had to debug the quirks

Just checked a major Sims2/3 board where it was suggested, to install the game directly into the root folder of the drive (i.e. C:\) and to turn off UAC completely. No idea if that helps (I left UAC on under Vista), but it's worth a shot I think.

All in all I'm pretty much fed up with EA games...not wasting anymore money on those guys
-DG

Already tried all that months ago, none of it worked. I had to check to make sure the EA patch was safe to begin with (they have released patches that have disabled the game before), but nothing.

The error message remains the same, DirectX 9.0c cannot be found on my system. I must install it first. Even though, according to Microsoft, I already have it. The only solution I found online was to manually strip DirectX from my system (not a simple task, and usually ends badly no matter how experienced the person doing it is), and start installing DirectX manually from version 9 onward.

 

[Orbital Shark]

This really is a strange issue and I think it's singularly related to your (or any) 64bit architecture. I have both x86 & x64 versions of Ultimate but can't get to installing it just yet.

I'm running x86 Windows 7 and the game runs fine. I'll try and do some more digging to see what turns up but the only thing I could find related to the DVD Patch & missing DX libraries.

 

[sygnus21]

Have a look at this.... http://www.sevenforums.com/gaming/5424-sims-2-a-2.html#post821820

You also might go to EA's forums and see what users there have to say about getting the game to work with 7.

Good luck.

Checked that already, and have already been on the phone with customer support with EA to boot. Their stance on the matter is that it is Microsoft's problem, and they can do nothing to fix it.

Calling EA's tech support is not the same as visiting a user forum that that specializes in the game.

As for EA telling you it's a Microsoft problem... I'm shocked I tell you, shocked they're blaming Mcirosoft :sarc: .... Who else are they going to blame?

Again, Google, vistit Simms forums and see if anyone has got the game running, and how they did it.

 

[Orbital Shark]

What is the exact make & model of your GFX card?

 

[Orbital Shark]

Everywhere I look for results the Sims 2 Windows 7 x64 all seem to point to either updating your GFX card with the latest drivers or installing the latest DirectX version.

Try downloading Revo Uninstaller and using that to uninstall the Sims 2. Update your GFX drivers then install the game and see if that has any effect.

 

[sygnus21]

Try downloading the DirectX redistributable package to see if that installes some missing DX libraries

Download details: DirectX End-User Runtimes (February 2010)
OS

Those are Old,

These are new(er).... Download details: DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer (published Jun 8, 2010)

Or.... Download details: DirectX End-User Runtimes (June 2010)

Anyways the OP keeps mentioning a DX problem, yet says he updated the DX file???

Once again the computer informed me that I did not have the most recent DirectX 9.0c drivers.

Try downloading the DirectX redistributable package to see if that installes some missing DX libraries

Download details: DirectX End-User Runtimes (February 2010)
OS

Did that ages ago. Didn't help. I've been trying on this problem since June, there's not a lot I haven't done. I was hoping someone had user patched this issue.

I dont know....

 

[SledgeDG]

I wonder if that's a conflict between DirectX 11 and 9c.
in the form that the TS checked on the latest DX but the Computer always checked DX11.
If you blast DX9c over I expect all games that require DX10 and higher will complain.
I think the ball is in EAs court to tell their stupid game that DX11 is newer/better than 9c.

What I don't understand are the many users that ran Sims 2 right out of the box without any hickups

-DG

 

[sygnus21]

No, its not a DX11/DX9 conflict. And DX11 is backwards compatible as well....

5 - Update your Direct X files - Contrary to popular belief, just because Windows 7 is DX11 capable doesn’t mean it has the latest DX9 files!!! Most game issues can be fixed by simply updating the DX files.

BTW - Windows 7 is fully compatible with games and hardware that use older versions of DirectX

From my Tips on Troubleshooting Game Issues

Also take note of item#6 in that guide, it explains the relationship between DX11, games, and hardware.

 

[RiverDaughter]

Everywhere I look for results the Sims 2 Windows 7 x64 all seem to point to either updating your GFX card with the latest drivers or installing the latest DirectX version.

Try downloading Revo Uninstaller and using that to uninstall the Sims 2. Update your GFX drivers then install the game and see if that has any effect.

Because this started out on a fresh install, I thought I had installed Win7 incorrectly, reformatted, updated all drivers, and then attempted to install Sims2 again. So it's not a issue with my drivers (Radeon HD 5670), and after checking Sims forums (specifically for Sims2, Sims3 issues aren't something I care about), a lot of people having this issue saw it coming from the game misidentifying a sound card driver with a video card driver.

But, as I had never upgraded my sound card, and I had upgraded all the drivers with Win7, this wasn't my issue. Or, if it was, it was not an issue I could solve without a company manually updating drivers for me to install myself.

I attempted to force Win7 to install an old version of DirectX in hopes that then I could install the newer versions over it (I honestly don't use my computer for gaming all that much, and I very much doubt OOo would have complained), but you simply can't do that.

I have read that it is an issue with DirectX11 not having all the proper dll libraries that DirectX 9.0c had, but the only way to get that fixed is fine tuning at a level I simply am not capable of on my own, and the nearest friend that I know who is capable of such programming feats is a three day drive away.

My computer is a home bandwidth mixer, with parts scrounged and donated from all over. And Intel motherboard and CPU, a Radeon card, a spare power unit, fans from a computer that went to a liquid cooled system, and the such. It could be that, somewhere in all of this, Windows has just looked at this and said screw it, it doesn't want to support something and not done an install of drivers properly.

I have had Windows delete fan drivers from a laptop for being the incorrect drivers, and then fail to replace them with the correct version before. It ended with fire, and a Linux upgrade at that point sadly, as that was my original Sims2 computer.

 

[sygnus21]

I attempted to force Win7 to install an old version of DirectX in hopes that then I could install the newer versions over it (I honestly don't use my computer for gaming all that much, and I very much doubt OOo would have complained), but you simply can't do that.

I have read that it is an issue with DirectX11 not having all the proper dll libraries that DirectX 9.0c had, but the only way to get that fixed is fine tuning at a level I simply am not capable of on my own, and the nearest friend that I know who is capable of such programming feats is a three day drive away.

I don't know who told you you had to force a DirectX update, or fine tune it, but they are wrong.

You have been given to link to the DirectX updates a few times. All you have to do is download the files, click and install.

If you're uncomfortable with that, than Windows will do it for you by scanning your system (web installer) and installing the appropiate/updated files for you... automatically.

Again, here's the link for the web installer.... Download details: DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer.

Just click on the link, click download, save the file to your desktop. Find the file on your desktop, click it, accept the agreement, click next, let it do its thing. That's it. After that, it's not required, but I'd restart the computer and try the game.

If the game still doesn't work, there may be an issue elsewhere. Let us know.