Ping Engram!

Thanks maxon I'm off to download it and keep it safe until I install BV.
I still haven't bought it. Keep thinking about my 256MB graphics card and
the possible slowdown the new EP may cause. Then again, some have reported
smoother graphic performance once they had installed BV so you never know...
Maybe I can get my husband to buy me a new graphics card for our anniversary
tomorrow That's me - the romantic. Forget the hearts and flowers, just
make sure my sims look good! LOL

Engram

"Engram" <engram_au.TakeThisOut@yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
news:471ed804$0$1028$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...
> Thanks maxon I'm off to download it and keep it safe until I install
BV.
> I still haven't bought it. Keep thinking about my 256MB graphics card and
> the possible slowdown the new EP may cause. Then again, some have reported
> smoother graphic performance once they had installed BV so you never
know...
> Maybe I can get my husband to buy me a new graphics card for our
anniversary
> tomorrow That's me - the romantic. Forget the hearts and flowers, just
> make sure my sims look good! LOL

Some people have problems - me, as usual, has had none. I've not even
noticed any slow downs particularly. Occasional hiccups in the sound, yes,
but I think virtually everyone's had that. If you believed everything you
read on the web, my system shouldn't be able to run the game at all. It's
over 5 years old now, has a small processor and a Radeon card with 128MB. I
do have 1GB RAM and have fiddled about with various settings trying to
improve performance - like virtual memory. The game seems to like my
system, I don't know why. I have reflections on, fishes in my ponds, and
many of the graphics settings cranked up - the only thing that doesn't
appear is the invisible snow cursor thing. I'm not saying it's perfect and
it is laggy on very large lots with lots of sims on them but then I do have
a lot of the graphics options turned on, particularly the neighbourhood view
one which I have on maximum (this is usually helped by having a good look
all round when I first enter the lot with the game on pause). If I turn
down the graphics options, those problems nearly all disappear.

This is the reason why I've not replaced the system before now - though I DO
want to play Neverwinter Nights 2 BEFORE they release Neverwinter Nights 3
and to do that I need a better graphics card and this system won't wear it,
none of the better cards will fit. Overall though, this system has done
really well for me. I'd say worth every penny except I didn't pay for it.
It was given to me when I started my PhD as part of my disabled student
support package. I've played more games on it than done PhD (I actually use
my alphasmart for my PhD more than anything else - for anyone who knows what
that is) but then PhDs are stressful - yes they are - and I need to unwind -
yes I do. So there.

Anyway, whether the game works on not on your system seems to be a
combination of arcane and unknowable factors. I can't work out at all why
my system keeps playing the game without problems when people with MUCH
better systems than I have have such problems. So I'd say go for BV (get
him to buy you that - niiiiice present, niiiice husband - he won't regret
it) and then moan about it afterwards if it doesn't work - after all, Xmas
is not long off now.

Enjoy the lots - I'll post when I upload more. I'm off now to take poor
little first years in aural skills. They're just starting to realise that
they've come on to a music degree course and they have ears made of
cauliflower. Poor dears. For some reason, I really enjoy teaching this
class.

Best wishes
maxon

On Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:28:36 +1000, "Engram" <engram_au.DeleteThis@yahoo.com.au> wrote:

>Thanks maxon I'm off to download it and keep it safe until I install BV.
>I still haven't bought it. Keep thinking about my 256MB graphics card and
>the possible slowdown the new EP may cause. Then again, some have reported
>smoother graphic performance once they had installed BV so you never know...
>Maybe I can get my husband to buy me a new graphics card for our anniversary
>tomorrow That's me - the romantic. Forget the hearts and flowers, just
>make sure my sims look good! LOL

A 256MG graphics card is enough for the Sims 2, anything more doesn't seem to improve it
much - at least not when it comes to slowdowns.

Beyond a certain point there doesn't seem to be anything you can do to improve the game's
performance, not more memory, not a faster CPU or a better graphics card. I can't say the
game runs any better with the 8600GT 500MB card than it does on the 7300GT wuth only
256MB.

maxon wrote:
<a whole bunch of stuff>

Like you, I never seem to have problems with my game and I've never
experienced any of the bugs people keep reporting. I've had that weird arms
wrenching backrub while the sims stand well away from each other happen
once. That's it. The backrubs are back to normal now. That was a glitchy
lot, anyway, and kept throwing up errors whwnever a stray showed up. It is
long gone now.

My husband, being the lovely husband that he is and being a gamer himself
bought me a 512MB video card for our anniversary. He's getting a tripod for
his camera. And Command and Conquer 3 for his birthday next week. I've
decided to tag BV onto the online order for his game. So now I just have to
wait.

My Sims look great now. Picture quality has definitely improved. Between the
512MB video RAM and 1GB of RAM the system shouldn't have any problems with
it. I've been running all the EPs up to Seasons on 128MB of video RAM up til
now and only got slowdowns during rain and snow. Should run even more
smoothly now

Engram

"Engram" <engram_au.DeleteThis@yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
news:47204cc1$0$12728$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...
> Like you, I never seem to have problems with my game and I've never
> experienced any of the bugs people keep reporting. I've had that weird
arms
> wrenching backrub while the sims stand well away from each other happen
> once. That's it. The backrubs are back to normal now. That was a glitchy
> lot, anyway, and kept throwing up errors whwnever a stray showed up. It is
> long gone now.
>
> My husband, being the lovely husband that he is and being a gamer himself
> bought me a 512MB video card for our anniversary. He's getting a tripod
for
> his camera. And Command and Conquer 3 for his birthday next week. I've
> decided to tag BV onto the online order for his game. So now I just have
to
> wait.
>
> My Sims look great now. Picture quality has definitely improved. Between
the
> 512MB video RAM and 1GB of RAM the system shouldn't have any problems with
> it. I've been running all the EPs up to Seasons on 128MB of video RAM up
til
> now and only got slowdowns during rain and snow. Should run even more
> smoothly now

envy

maxon wrote:
<a whole bunch of stuff>

Like you, I never seem to have problems with my game and I've never
experienced any of the bugs people keep reporting. I've had that weird arms
wrenching backrub while the sims stand well away from each other happen
once. That's it. The backrubs are back to normal now. That was a glitchy
lot, anyway, and kept throwing up errors whwnever a stray showed up. It is
long gone now.

My husband, being the lovely husband that he is and being a gamer himself
bought me a 512MB video card for our anniversary. He's getting a tripod for
his camera. And Command and Conquer 3 for his birthday next week. I've
decided to tag BV onto the online order for his game. So now I just have to
wait.

My Sims look great now. Picture quality has definitely improved. Between the
512MB video RAM and 1GB of RAM the system shouldn't have any problems with
it. I've been running all the EPs up to Seasons on 128MB of video RAM up til
now and only got slowdowns during rain and snow. Should run even more
smoothly now

Engram


Just wondering what video card you got??

Congrats!!

deene

strider wrote:
On Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:28:36 +1000, "Engram" <engram_au.DeleteThis@yahoo.com.au> wrote:

>Thanks maxon I'm off to download it and keep it safe until I install BV.
>I still haven't bought it. Keep thinking about my 256MB graphics card and
>the possible slowdown the new EP may cause. Then again, some have reported
>smoother graphic performance once they had installed BV so you never
>know...
>Maybe I can get my husband to buy me a new graphics card for our
>anniversary
>tomorrow That's me - the romantic. Forget the hearts and flowers, just
>make sure my sims look good! LOL

A 256MG graphics card is enough for the Sims 2, anything more doesn't seem
to improve it
much - at least not when it comes to slowdowns.

Beyond a certain point there doesn't seem to be anything you can do to
improve the game's
performance, not more memory, not a faster CPU or a better graphics card. I
can't say the
game runs any better with the 8600GT 500MB card than it does on the 7300GT
wuth only
256MB.


deene hollers back:

Ya know strider, I agree with you. I just wonder what kind of computer would
actually play this game with ALL EP's, gobs of CC and so forth??? I'm
beginning to think it's turning into a 'rich man's hobby'. LOL...alot!!

deene

deene wrote:
> Just wondering what video card you got??
>
> Congrats!!
>
The new card is an NVIDIA GeForce 7600 series. So far, seems to be working
OK.

I've been away on a hell holiday to country South Australia over the weekend
so couldn't reply before. It all started with us missing the flight thanks
to overcrowded shuttles at the long term parking and people being able to
shove past a couple struggling with 2 kids aged 2 and under. The fun
continued with the kids going absolutely nuts when nap time came and went
(they were supposed to sleep on the flight) and we were waiting for the next
flight on standby. Not that we got on. My son is 2 and now pays for a seat
and we didn't end up being able to get 2 seats together. In the end I
declared that we were going home so the kids could sleep and we'd go back
for the flight they re-booked us for at 4:45pm. Wouldn't you know it, there
was an electrical storm over the airport when the time came for our flight.
Delayed by over an hour, we finally took off just after 6pm. The Boy threw
an absolute wobbly on the plane because he was tired and over-excited. At
least he settled down when we took out the portable DVD player and put on
Dora the Explorer. When we landed, it was time for the 3 hour drive to
Loxton. The kids slept most of the way, thank God. When we finally got to
the hotel at 11pm I was ready to collapse and murder anyone who got in
between me and the bed. The actual stay in Loxton wasn't too bad, but again
a case of over-excitement as on Saturday we attended my father in law's 80th
birthday party and there were so many new faces around the kids got
overwhelmed. The boy has curly hair so everyone was patting him on the head,
saying how beautiful his hair was. In the end I took the kids back to the
hotel room just to get away from all the head-patting and baby holding as
The Girl was getting overwhelmed with people saying how cute she was and
wanting to cuddle her. People just don't know when to stop. The trip back
wasn't too bad, though. The drive back to Adelaide was tiring but
straightforward and we got on the plane OK and took off on time. It was
pizza for dinner then off to bed for everyone. And we get toi do it all
again at Christmas. Yay...

Engram

Next time (oh, god, no - not a next time you say). Look up Megan
Swingler-Hill or Graham Swingler and give us a phone call. No matter what
the state of the house you're welcome to at least crash the kids and have
coffee or whatever as I'm at least inside Adelaide itself.

--
MM
"Not all fixes will take effect on existing The Sims 2 Bon Voyage saved
games. If you have an existing Lot, Sim, object, or neighborhood that does
not seem to be improved by this patch, we recommend that you replace the . .
.. family, Lot or neighborhood" MaxoidVanquish on the expected BV patch
http://bbs.thesims2.ea.com/community/bbs/messages.php?threadID=f4f3ae5...a6c367c

ie We don't even guarantee the patch will fix existing problems - maybe you
should just kill all your Sims and start again.
http://www.genensims2.com/guest/MadameMim/index.htm


"Engram" <engram_au RemoveThis @yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
news:47268028$0$12806$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...
> deene wrote:
>> Just wondering what video card you got??
>>
>> Congrats!!
>>
> The new card is an NVIDIA GeForce 7600 series. So far, seems to be working
> OK.
>
> I've been away on a hell holiday to country South Australia over the
> weekend so couldn't reply before. It all started with us missing the
> flight thanks to overcrowded shuttles at the long term parking and people
> being able to shove past a couple struggling with 2 kids aged 2 and under.
> The fun continued with the kids going absolutely nuts when nap time came
> and went (they were supposed to sleep on the flight) and we were waiting
> for the next flight on standby. Not that we got on. My son is 2 and now
> pays for a seat and we didn't end up being able to get 2 seats together.
> In the end I declared that we were going home so the kids could sleep and
> we'd go back for the flight they re-booked us for at 4:45pm. Wouldn't you
> know it, there was an electrical storm over the airport when the time came
> for our flight. Delayed by over an hour, we finally took off just after
> 6pm. The Boy threw an absolute wobbly on the plane because he was tired
> and over-excited. At least he settled down when we took out the portable
> DVD player and put on Dora the Explorer. When we landed, it was time for
> the 3 hour drive to Loxton. The kids slept most of the way, thank God.
> When we finally got to the hotel at 11pm I was ready to collapse and
> murder anyone who got in between me and the bed. The actual stay in Loxton
> wasn't too bad, but again a case of over-excitement as on Saturday we
> attended my father in law's 80th birthday party and there were so many new
> faces around the kids got overwhelmed. The boy has curly hair so everyone
> was patting him on the head, saying how beautiful his hair was. In the end
> I took the kids back to the hotel room just to get away from all the
> head-patting and baby holding as The Girl was getting overwhelmed with
> people saying how cute she was and wanting to cuddle her. People just
> don't know when to stop. The trip back wasn't too bad, though. The drive
> back to Adelaide was tiring but straightforward and we got on the plane OK
> and took off on time. It was pizza for dinner then off to bed for
> everyone. And we get toi do it all again at Christmas. Yay...
>
> Engram
>

Engram wrote:
deene wrote:
> Just wondering what video card you got??
>
> Congrats!!
>
The new card is an NVIDIA GeForce 7600 series. So far, seems to be working
OK.

I've been away on a hell holiday to country South Australia over the weekend
so couldn't reply before. It all started with us missing the flight thanks
to overcrowded shuttles at the long term parking and people being able to
shove past a couple struggling with 2 kids aged 2 and under. The fun
continued with the kids going absolutely nuts when nap time came and went
(they were supposed to sleep on the flight) and we were waiting for the next
flight on standby. Not that we got on. My son is 2 and now pays for a seat
and we didn't end up being able to get 2 seats together. In the end I
declared that we were going home so the kids could sleep and we'd go back
for the flight they re-booked us for at 4:45pm. Wouldn't you know it, there
was an electrical storm over the airport when the time came for our flight.
Delayed by over an hour, we finally took off just after 6pm. The Boy threw
an absolute wobbly on the plane because he was tired and over-excited. At
least he settled down when we took out the portable DVD player and put on
Dora the Explorer. When we landed, it was time for the 3 hour drive to
Loxton. The kids slept most of the way, thank God. When we finally got to
the hotel at 11pm I was ready to collapse and murder anyone who got in
between me and the bed. The actual stay in Loxton wasn't too bad, but again
a case of over-excitement as on Saturday we attended my father in law's 80th
birthday party and there were so many new faces around the kids got
overwhelmed. The boy has curly hair so everyone was patting him on the head,
saying how beautiful his hair was. In the end I took the kids back to the
hotel room just to get away from all the head-patting and baby holding as
The Girl was getting overwhelmed with people saying how cute she was and
wanting to cuddle her. People just don't know when to stop. The trip back
wasn't too bad, though. The drive back to Adelaide was tiring but
straightforward and we got on the plane OK and took off on time. It was
pizza for dinner then off to bed for everyone. And we get toi do it all
again at Christmas. Yay...

Engram

Wow Engram, most of that sounded terrible! Glad you all made it back home
okay.

I'm not too sure I wouldn't make up a good excuse to stay home Christmas!
LOL

deene

Madame Mim wrote:
> Next time (oh, god, no - not a next time you say). Look up Megan
> Swingler-Hill or Graham Swingler and give us a phone call. No matter
> what the state of the house you're welcome to at least crash the kids
> and have coffee or whatever as I'm at least inside Adelaide itself.

Thanks, MM

I think we'll stay around longer at Christmas. We'll probably spend
Christmas itself in Loxton as my father-in-law cannot travel so we'll have
to go to him. But we usually spend a few days in Adelaide, leading up to
NYE, so I might look you up then We just didn't get much time to stop
this time around. A bit of a whirlwind visit and we're all glad to be home.
It should all be slower next time around. I've been planning to look you up
but there just hasn't been the down time in all the travelling to allow for
that.

Engram

deene wrote:
> Wow Engram, most of that sounded terrible! Glad you all made it back
> home okay.
>
> I'm not too sure I wouldn't make up a good excuse to stay home
> Christmas! LOL

Can't make up an excuse to stay home, unfortunately...

1. My father-in-law just turned 80 and is in frail health. He may not see
another Christmas (but God willing will) so staying home is just not an
option. We want him to see the grandkids and for them to get to know him at
least a little bit.

2. I promised Madame Mim that I will visit her. We can sit there and moan
and groan about BV bugs - it arrived in the mail today!

Engram