FAQ Thread

[Mirelly]

Index of Frequently Asked Questions

Click on a question to find the answer

1. What are the Minimum System Requirements for The Sims 2?
2. I NEED HELP FAST!!!! HOW DO I GET IT?
3. How do I find out about my computer's specifications?
4. How do I get the Official Maxis Patches? (links to the EA Update Page)
5. How do I update my Graphics drivers?
6. Where can I get DirectX?
7. What is dxdiag? How do I 'run' dxdiag?
8. My installation stopped!!! (Or similar ) HELPPPP?
9. I uninstalled the game and now I can't reinstall it.
10. I Want/Need To Reinstall. How Do I Make Sure The Game Is Totally Removed First?
11. Twins, Triplets & Quads - Everything answered
12. How can I search for answers at World Sims
13. How do I make furniture/new objects for The Sims 2?
14. Where can I find the pictures that I take in the game?
15. How do I post pictures on The World Sims Forums?
16. Why is there a transfer or disk error during installation or it hangs/freezes between disc changes?
17. Replacements for lost serial number/disc/manual
18. How do I run the game in a Window?
19. All about:- boolprop, deugging mode and UserStartUp cheats
    
20. The Definitive Download Tutorial
21. Downloading problems? See this
22. All you need -- game hints and cheats

[Mirelly]

Help Us To Help You
In order to assist us, and to help us solve your problem with the utmost accuracy, and urgency, please have the following information ready and have it posted along with your issue:

1. Processor: Name and speed (MHz/GHz)
2. System Memory RAM (MB/GB)
3. Windows Version (98/XP etc.)
4. Free Hard Disk Space
5. Total Hard Disk Space
6. DirectX Version
7. Display Adapter (Graphic/Video Card) Name & Model Number
8. Display Driver Name and Version Number & date
9. Approximate Total Video Memory
10. Game Detail (eg: Sims 2 CD or DVD Version, expansion packs owned)
11. Nature of problem (more details the better)

Much of the information above can be (and if you're in any doubt should be) gotten by running dxdiag

dxdiag can be run on any Windows XP by following these instructions:

• Click the Start button
• Click Run (bottom of the right-hand half of Start Menu)
• In the pop-up box, type in dxdiag
• Click the OK button and wait for the 'puter to chug through its business. (May take a few minutes)

For Windows Vista

• There is no button marked "Run" unless you are using the Classic Start Menu.
• Instead type in dxdiag in the white box at the very bottom left of the Start menu - where it says: "Start Search"
• The program dxdiag.exe will be displayed in the space above
• Click it to get it running.

Once you have run dxdiag you can extract the information we need to help you:

• Items 1, 2, 3 & 6 in the list above are to be found on the dxdiag report's main tab that is labelled System (see pic)
• 
• Items 7 thru 9 will be answered on the Display tab (see pic)
• 
• Items 4 & 5 (The Hard Disc Free Space Information) can be found by opening My Computer and right-click the drive you have installed the Sims on and choose properties (see pic)
• 

Supply the right information and get great answers quickly. Failing that post a message that goes: Plz Help and watch us ignore you

[Mirelly]

The Minimum System Requirements are intended to be a guide only. If you have only the minumum the game is always going to perform very poorly.

Maxis Minimum Hardware (System) Requirements:

If you have a T&L capable video card with at least 32 MB of video RAM then you need at least:

* 800 MHz processor or better
* 256 MB RAM if Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows 98 or Windows 2000
* At least 3.5 GB of hard drive space

If you have a non-T&L capable video card (an Intel Extreme Graphics or a Radeon 7000/VE Series) then you need at least:

* 2.0 GHz processor or better
* 256 MB RAM if Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows 98, or Windows 2000
* At least 3.5 GB of hard drive space

Get the most current driver for your video card. The manufacturers usually have the video drivers on their sites for you to download. Visit the nVidia site, the ATI site or the support site for your computer's manufacturer for the latest drivers for those video cards.

Supported video cards (and the more video memory the better):

* ATI RadeonTM series (7000 or better)
o Radeon 7000/VE series (non-T&L; requires 2.0 GHz processor)
o 7200, 7500
o 8500, All-In-Wonder 8500
o 9000, 9200, 9500, 9600, 9700, 9800
o X300, X600, X800

* Nvidia® QuadroTM series
o Quadro, Quadro2, Quadro4

* Nvidia® Geforce series (GeForce2 and better)
o GeForce2
o GeForce3, 3 Ti
o GeForce4, 4Ti, MX 420, 440
o GeForce FX 5200, 5600, 5700, 5800, 5900, 5950
o GeForce 6600, 6800

* Intel® Extreme Graphics (non-T&L; requires 2.0 GHz processor)
o 82845, 82865, 82915

_________________________________

Most players who have problems with the game have computers that do not meet the above minimums expecially in regard to the video card (also known as the display adapter or graphics).

NOTE For most purposes the words video, display & graphics are interchangable as are the words card, device & adapter. So you might hear about video adapter and grpahics cards ... they're all the same thing, as are on-board graphics such as: Intel® Extreme Graphics.

In general on board graphics are much less effective than dedicated graphics devices that are independent of the main computer processor.

VERY FEW QUESTIONS CAN BE ANSWERED WITHOUT KNOWING WHAT YOUR SYTEM SPECS ARE. SO IF YOU WANT SPEEDY HELP TELL US WHAT YOU HAVE.

[Mirelly]

Before you can obtain an updated graphics driver you will need to know the following information:

• Operating System (Windows version - 98/XP etc.)
• Graphics Display Device - Name, Model Number, Version

dxdiag will give you above information if you are not sure - write it down before you continue

For Intel Graphics click here

You will need to click on the Graphics link in the Download Center menu on the left hand side. After that you must follow the path dictated by what your system needs

For NVIDIA (GeForce) Graphics click here

Possibly the simplest upgrade. NVIDIA makes a single all-purpose driver. You only need to follow the chain to obtain the right version for your operating system

For ATI Graphics click here

ATI's download is fairly straightforward. Just follow carefully the path dictated by your operating system and display device type to reach the correct download

Once you have downloaded your new driver it must be installed. Just double click the downloaded file. Windows will warn that you are opening an executable file that may cause trouble. If you have followed the instructions properly you should have the correct file and no damage will occur. It is up to you to be careful!

You will have to restart your computer after installing the new driver

Run dxdiag again to verify that the new driver is correctly installed.

[Mirelly]

DirectX is a Microsoft software utility that improves the handling and security of 3-D graphics.

The Sims 2 requires DirectX Version 9.0c

To get the latest version, go to:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/default.aspx

[Mirelly]

WARNING
THIS TASK IS NOT TO BE ATTEMPTED UNLESS YOU ARE CONFIDENT YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE DOING!

INCORRECTLY FOLLOWING THE INSTRUCTIONS MAY CAUSE WINDOWS TO CRASH PERMANENTLY CAUSING A COMPLETE LOSS OF ALL DATA AND FILES STORED ON YOUR COMPUTER!


I UNDERSTAND THE RISK AND I ACCEPT FULL RESPONSIBILITY - SHOW ME HOW TO MANUALLY UNINSTALL THE SIMS SIMS 2 - (CLICK)


If you do NOT want to proceed please CLOSE THIS WINDOW

[Mirelly]

Many of the commonest problems that occur during installation of the game are answered at the official ea.com support zone: http://support.ea.com

For example see the answers there under the heading: Installation error click here

NOTE that there are a lot of possible problems and it is up to you to go through them in a calm and logical manner eliminating possible problems one at a time until you find the one that is causing you the trouble.

Remember that if you ask for help we will assume that you have already tried and checked all available advices and also we will ask for your system specification so you'll need to run dxdiag before asking anything

[Mirelly]

How Do I Download Stuff?

1. First find your file .... for example on SimStuff.com ...


2. Next click the download link or button (this varies from site to site) If you use Internet Explorer you will get a dialog box appear asking what to do:


Click the Save Button and you get a new dialog box asking where to put it:



Click the big Desktop button on the left hand side to open the Desktop folder and Windows will drop the file on your desktop

3. So now it is downloaded. What you want to know is what do you do with it? Let's have a look at it ...



That's my desktop with that Marines strappy top sitting on it. Unless you're very untidy like me your desktop won't look as bad as this ....

Note the file has a little zip on it. That means it is a zip file. Most downloads are zip files. Zip files are compressed to make them smaller and quicker to download. There are other forms of compression, eg RAR. If you have a file that you cannot open then go to http://www.7-zip.org/ and download 7-zip, a free utility which open most formats.

One sort of file to watch out for it a Sims2Pack file. These are self installing and just need to be double-clicked. Here's a pick of Sims2Pack files I got from The Sims 2 exchange



Remember what that looks like. Some site have mixtures of zip files and Sims2Pack files! Very messy but you need to pay attention ... OK?

4. Right we're ready to install ... almost. First up

• Open My Documents
• EA Games
• The Sims 2

Long list of folders. They'll be in alphabetical order. Look for the one called:

Downloads

It might not be there if you haven't ever downloaded anything before. Don't panic. Make a new one: File > New > Folder.

Make sure you spell it properly. Capital D and an s on the end

OK? Double click the Downloads folder to open it. Move the window so you can see your new download on the desktop and double-click that, too ... It'll look a little like this:

I added the helpful instructions to drag the package of downloaded goodness out of zip folder and drop it in the Dwonloads folder.

That's it. Start the game and your new custom content will be available for your sims to use ... though you'll have to buy the stuff for them.

NOTE There are programs that will do the job for you but frankly few of them are actually any good. I won't mention any favorites here. If you feel adventurous go searching and try some out for yourself.

NOTE ALSO that some items will need a mesh before they show up. Be sure to check the instructions and descriptions for each download before you move on. It's a lot harder to find a mesh a week after you downloaded the skin recolor and only just realised what you did and now can't remember where you got the darn thing from ... we've all done it