Sims 2 Slow Catalog - Windows 10

by Guest Fri 11 Sep 2015, 05:56

So I've had Windows 10 for a little bit now, However before I had Windows 8.1. I was lucky enough to obtain a copy of The Sims 2 UC because I had previously purchased the game and registered it to my origin. So the game was installed when I was running Windows 8.1. I recently decided to play The Sims 2 and check out how the game was running with my new OS. The game starts perfectly fine, runs very well...except when I get to the build/buy catalog. When I first go to the flooring the game pauses for a bit...I know this happens the very first time running the game on a new install because it's caching all the thumbnail images, but every time I'm getting the pausing. The same exact floor tile or wall tile will constantly give me a pause as it's loading.
I thought maybe something was wrong with my caches so I cleared all the Sims 2 cache files as instructed on another website. Restarted the game but still the pauses persists. I've also tried a couple other things but still it hasn't fixed the issue.
Hoping maybe someone knows my problem and maybe has a fix or is this something I am going to have to constantly deal with as I'm building houses in The Sims 2.

Thanks for reading and if you need anymore information just ask.

by Guest Fri 11 Sep 2015, 11:40

Yeah, your problem is running the game on an unsupported OS, and a pretty bad one too. Upgrade back to Windows 8 or 7, problem solved.

by Guest Fri 11 Sep 2015, 15:59

Ya I can't do that. I really love Windows 10. Microsoft stated that games will run better on Windows 10 than 8.1 and The Sims was in the list of supported games. I'm just thinking there has to be some kind of fix maybe. Going to wait and see. Maybe I'll try running in compatibility mode of Windows 7.
Was even thinking that because I originally had it installed on Windows 8.1 then upgraded maybe I should try uninstalling and reinstalling it. Thoughts?

by Guest Fri 11 Sep 2015, 17:05

Summerbear5 wrote:Ya I can't do that. I really love Windows 10. Microsoft stated that games will run better on Windows 10 than 8.1 and The Sims was in the list of supported games.

The Sims 4, not The Sims 2. The Sims 2 doesn't even support Windows 8. It works out of sheer dumb luck.

Anyway, Microsoft is lying through their teeth, and lately they've been contradicting themselves a lot. I've tried several different games on Windows 10. Payday 2, The Sims 4, Terraria, GTA V and Minecraft all run notably worse. The Sims 2 wouldn't run at all for some reason. Not to mention the countless pirated games that you probably won't be able to install at all, since Windows Defender can't be disabled and it seems to have a hard-on for repacks.

Microsoft has also stated that games that use old DRM like SecuROM won't work at all after a security update (by "security" they mean more ways to spy on us). Again, they could be lying, but if not, I'm willing to bet at least one of your favorite games won't work on Windows 10 anymore.

I'm also willing to bet you only love Windows 10 because Microsoft says you do.

Was even thinking that because I originally had it installed on Windows 8.1 then upgraded maybe I should try uninstalling and reinstalling it. Thoughts?

Wait, you didn't reformat your hard drive before installing a new OS? Not sure if that's the source of the problem, but it may very well be.

EDIT: Fixed typo, Sims 2* not Sims 3.

by Guest Sat 12 Sep 2015, 01:01

I play The Sims 2 on Windows 10. All I did was
1. Download the games
2. After downloading a certain game. Did the update. But don't do University it doesn't update and ruins the objects.package file
3. Run Graphics Rules Maker after doing all the setups.
4. Copied the Graphics Rules Maker files from M&GS to Life, Pet and Castaway Stories. I play those also, and GRM doesn't recognize them.

Just make sure you ran all updates (except University)
And download Graphics Rules Maker and fix the Intel issue.

Graphics Rules Maker has an issue where you need to run the setup each time you want to edit. Then make sure after the setup is over check Run Graphics Rules Maker (each time).

links
GRM is at Sim Network (not allowed to post links)

by Guest Sat 12 Sep 2015, 04:21

Ok, I don't have to install disc by disc with updates because it's one download and install threw Origin. It's The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection. I'll take a look at GRM but I manually fixed some graphic file already to support my screen resolution and black boxes under the Sims feet.

Edit: How can I set Forced Texture Memory?

by Guest Sat 12 Sep 2015, 04:49

Anarchy wrote:I'm also willing to bet you only love Windows 10 because Microsoft says you do.

No, I personally love Windows 10. I never followed anything Microsoft said about Windows 10. I just signed up from the icon on the taskbar thinking if I didn't like it I'd rollback to Windows 8.1. However I've really been enjoying it over Windows 8.1 and haven't rolled back yet.

Anarchy wrote:Wait, you didn't reformat your hard drive before installing a new OS? Not sure if that's the source of the problem, but it may very well be.

I was told several times I didn't need reformat the hard drive especially if I wanted to rollback to Windows 8.1. Would uninstalling and reinstalling be a good thing to try?

For the Graphic Rule Marker program it says something in there about Forced Texture Memory. Can I set this up manually and how? Also where do I go to look at the Device Info Tab for Texture Memory Value? Because I've already manually changed things in my Graphics Rule File I don't mind manually changing Forced Texture Memory. Especially if it might help.

by **The_gh0stm4n** Sat 12 Sep 2015, 05:02

Anarchy wrote:
Was even thinking that because I originally had it installed on Windows 8.1 then upgraded maybe I should try uninstalling and reinstalling it. Thoughts?

Wait, you didn't reformat your hard drive before installing a new OS? Not sure if that's the source of the problem, but it may very well be.

I recently did a fresh install of "Windows 10 (Enterprise)", and not an upgrade. I got an .ISO of that Windows 10 (from TPB), installed it as usual, and then installed TS2 + all expansions, TS3 + all expansions and TS4 + all updates.

To my surprise, everything seems to be working relatively well thus far, almost as in my other (main) system which is running on Windows 7. I did notice some glitches in the file explorer of Windows 10, but that is off-topic. I did apply the 4GB patch on TS2 and TS3 though; maybe that made a small difference too ? Note that if you use Origin's Ultimate Collection of TS2 (or a pirated compilation with all EP's + SP's), make sure to apply that 4GB patch to the .exe of the last release (Mansion and Garden stuff). The file location of that should be

C:\Program files(x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection\Fun with Pets\SP9\TSBin\Sims2EP9.exe

So try applying that 4GB patch to the Sims2EP9.exe and see if it makes any difference in-game. I myself used a pirated compilation of TS2 + expansions on this Windows 10 system, but I'll assume for now it could work on Origin's Ultimate Collection too. That's all I can offer for now @Summerbear5. Good luck !

//EDIT

I still need to test more games though, so I can't make a definite statement about Windows 10, yet.

by Guest Sat 12 Sep 2015, 08:03

Summerbear5 wrote:
Anarchy wrote:I'm also willing to bet you only love Windows 10 because Microsoft says you do.

No, I personally love Windows 10. I never followed anything Microsoft said about Windows 10. I just signed up from the icon on the taskbar thinking if I didn't like it I'd rollback to Windows 8.1. However I've really been enjoying it over Windows 8.1 and haven't rolled back yet.

Anarchy wrote:Wait, you didn't reformat your hard drive before installing a new OS? Not sure if that's the source of the problem, but it may very well be.

I was told several times I didn't need reformat the hard drive especially if I wanted to rollback to Windows 8.1. Would uninstalling and reinstalling be a good thing to try?

Why? It makes no sense. It's just Windows 8.1 with more DRM and spyware.

You don't "need" to reformat the hard drive when installing the OS. But if you don't, you have problems. So no, uninstalling and reinstalling probably wouldn't do anything. Uninstalling, reformatting the hard drive and reinstalling might.

Also how do you split quotes up in this mother?

by Guest Sun 13 Sep 2015, 00:03

Carlos wrote:
Anarchy wrote:
Was even thinking that because I originally had it installed on Windows 8.1 then upgraded maybe I should try uninstalling and reinstalling it. Thoughts?

Wait, you didn't reformat your hard drive before installing a new OS? Not sure if that's the source of the problem, but it may very well be.

I recently did a fresh install of "Windows 10 (Enterprise)", and not an upgrade. I got an .ISO of that Windows 10 (from TPB), installed it as usual, and then installed TS2 + all expansions, TS3 + all expansions and TS4 + all updates.

To my surprise, everything seems to be working relatively well thus far, almost as in my other (main) system which is running on Windows 7. I did notice some glitches in the file explorer of Windows 10, but that is off-topic. I did apply the 4GB patch on TS2 and TS3 though; maybe that made a small difference too ? Note that if you use Origin's Ultimate Collection of TS2 (or a pirated compilation with all EP's + SP's), make sure to apply that 4GB patch to the .exe of the last release (Mansion and Garden stuff). The file location of that should be

C:\Program files(x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection\Fun with Pets\SP9\TSBin\Sims2EP9.exe

So try applying that 4GB patch to the Sims2EP9.exe and see if it makes any difference in-game. I myself used a pirated compilation of TS2 + expansions on this Windows 10 system, but I'll assume for now it could work on Origin's Ultimate Collection too. That's all I can offer for now @Summerbear5. Good luck !

//EDIT

I still need to test more games though, so I can't make a definite statement about Windows 10, yet.

I already manually changed the virtual memory in the Graphics Rules files and also turned on Anisotropic filter to 4x. Should I still use the 4GB patch when I've already manually changed the virtual memory?

by Guest Sun 13 Sep 2015, 00:05

Anarchy wrote:Why? It makes no sense. It's just Windows 8.1 with more DRM and spyware.

I like that the side bar doesn't annoyingly pop out when I'm working on other things. I like that when I accidentally hit the windows key on the keyboard I don't loose the whole scene to a bunch of live tiles. I like having the start menu back. To me it almost feels like Windows 7 and Windows 8 had a baby and called it Windows 10. I like it for those reasons.

by Guest Sun 13 Sep 2015, 01:14

Summerbear5 wrote:
Anarchy wrote:Why? It makes no sense. It's just Windows 8.1 with more DRM and spyware.

I like that the side bar doesn't annoyingly pop out when I'm working on other things. I like that when I accidentally hit the windows key on the keyboard I don't loose the whole scene to a bunch of live tiles. I like having the start menu back. To me it almost feels like Windows 7 and Windows 8 had a baby and called it Windows 10. I like it for those reasons.

I heard the side bar was a problem, never noticed it though since I've never really felt the need to drag my cursor along the borders of my screen. Start menu is the same, it just doesn't take up the whole screen anymore, which I guess is a good thing if you really use it. For me it became obsolete since Vista...

They are improvements, I guess. Are they really worth the performance decrease, the spyware, DRM, intrusive anti-virus and UAC, and the inability to play SecuROM games though?

Anyway beyond these it really is just Windows 8. It even has the same bugs, whenever a game froze I still couldn't close it. I still had to hit the Windows key and sign out or restart the PC...

by **The_gh0stm4n** Sun 13 Sep 2015, 06:01

Summerbear5 wrote:
I already manually changed the virtual memory in the Graphics Rules files and also turned on Anisotropic filter to 4x. Should I still use the 4GB patch when I've already manually changed the virtual memory?

Virtual memory is a different issue; the 4GB patch enables programs to access more of your actual RAM (without going into details), but that will only work or be useful if you have a 64-bit Windows and more than 4GB of RAM in your computer.

Sure, give it a try. Smile

@Anarchy, if you meant to ask how to quote multiple posts, click on "Multi-quote" next to each post you want to quote (so that the buttons show "marked for quote"). After that click on "post reply" at the bottom.

by Guest Sun 13 Sep 2015, 06:17

I have a 64-bit system with 12gb ram. I went ahead and applied the 4gb patch. Still problem when loading the thumbnails in build/buy mode. I found another thread where someone else on Windows 10 had the same exact issue but rolled back to Windows 7 and everything was fine. I would really like to keep Windows 10 and find a fix.

I read a couple website about removing the Securom from The Sims 2 but I really couldn't find exact instructions that were easy for me to follow and I was confused if I remove Origin and the Securom can I still play The Sims 2?

Other than the slow Build/Buy mode thumbnails however the game runs perfectly fine Securom and all.

by Guest Sun 13 Sep 2015, 08:55

Carlos wrote:@Anarchy, if you meant to ask how to quote multiple posts, click on "Multi-quote" next to each post you want to quote (so that the buttons show "marked for quote"). After that click on "post reply" at the bottom.

Thanks dawg.

by Guest Fri 18 Sep 2015, 15:07

I am now dual booting Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 haven't played Sims 2 yet on 8.1, but going to try it out and hopefully it will run perfectly fine.

EDIT: It's much better on Windows 8.1. Kinda sucks switching back and forth on the OS but I rather do that then not play my favorite game at all. Maybe one day they will put out an update threw Origin to fix The Sims 2 UC for Windows 10 or Windows 10 will undo whatever it is they did to break The Sims 2.

by Guest Wed 23 Sep 2015, 01:52

@Anarchy You were right about the Securom. I used a couple programs to completely remove the Securom from my system and I'm using a No-CD .exe file and the game runs PERFECTLY! I'm so excited!!!

by Guest Sun 25 Oct 2015, 10:47

I don't know what's going on with your PC, but I am running The Sims 2+all the SPs and EPs (without H&M and mansion & garden)+all the store content avaiable on the g4tw downloads page (also a scissor from the wiki) and everything Works just fine, even better than Windows 8...

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