Sims 2 Complete Collection horrible performance (laptop, Windows 10)

Hello. I downloaded the complete edition from Origin and it runs horrible. Max settings, 1920x1080 (had to edit a file to get that res). 

Here is what i wrote on another forum hopefully you guys can help me. 

i downloaded The Sims 2 Complete Collection from Origin and i am having a really bad performance. It should work flawlessly and it doesn't. I get drops to 15 fps, when zooming in/out, when i use the game speed button it stutters, really bad. I heard this is because the game is too old, but is there any way to make it run better?

max settings 1920x1080 except for shadow details (at medium to avoid a black square bug) 

When in build mode or in Create a Sim, when i click a category it freezes to load the objects and then continues. 

Just wondering if you had any idea. Already trid High Performance mode, choose TS2 to run at max performance, tried disabling the cpu cores except for one as suggested by someone and nothing helps. 


Laptop specs

i7 6700HQ
960M 4GB GDDR5
8GB DDR4
1TB HDD 5400RPM

Windows 10 64bits




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I even tried using your guide to use the Removal Tool, i did that and used the CD key you guys provided but still the performance is bad.

Hello, and welcome to the forum, 
The Sims 2 Complete Collection runs poorly even on good hardware, because game is so old that it can recongise new hardware. This could be improved simply by editing GraphicsRules.SGR. Here's link how to do it. You can't just copy paste what's written, you'll have to do a bit of customization to fit your hardware. If you think that you'll mess up, feel free to contact me through PM.

A one more tip is to set compatibility to older versions of Windows like XP or Vista.

Very good thing for older games and even newer is to check it on PC Gaming Wikia. It will tell if game has bugs that haven't been patched and how to fix them and even more informations. Here's The Sims 2 one.

Try suggestions above and keep us posted!

Thanks for answering.  Yes i may need some help with the first option, i tried before using that without editing it and it had the same performance. I tried running compatibility mode windows 7/xp/8 but the game was not launching. I was receiving an error message. Something like the app had to close, microsoft ++ something. 

I also tried that thing about CPU set to 1 or 2 but i got this error:

Direct3D has given this error: E_INVALIDARG! the app will close

xterno50 wrote:Thanks for answering.  Yes i may need some help with the first option, i tried before using that without editing it and it had the same performance. I tried running compatibility mode windows 7/xp/8 but the game was not launching. I was receiving an error message. Something like the app had to close, microsoft ++ something. 

I also tried that thing about CPU set to 1 or 2 but i got this error:

Direct3D has given this error: E_INVALIDARG! the app will close

There was a post from @Admin earlier here about that issue. Does the situation described there apply to you ?
https://games4theworld.forumotion.com/t21947-the-sims-life-stories-direct3d-returned-an-error-e_invalidarg-error-fix

The_gh0stm4n wrote:

xterno50 wrote:Thanks for answering.  Yes i may need some help with the first option, i tried before using that without editing it and it had the same performance. I tried running compatibility mode windows 7/xp/8 but the game was not launching. I was receiving an error message. Something like the app had to close, microsoft ++ something. 

I also tried that thing about CPU set to 1 or 2 but i got this error:

Direct3D has given this error: E_INVALIDARG! the app will close

There was a post from @Admin earlier here about that issue. Does the situation described there apply to you ?
https://games4theworld.forumotion.com/t21947-the-sims-life-stories-direct3d-returned-an-error-e_invalidarg-error-fix

Yes i did that and it worked but still, it would make the game run with the Integrated Card and not the Dedicated. And still laggy and choppy.

xterno50 wrote:Yes i did that and it worked but still, it would make the game run with the Integrated Card and not the Dedicated. And still laggy and choppy.

At that point I'm not sure what else to suggest, I'm sorry. Are you sure though you clicked on "apply" in the NVIDIA Control Panel, after changing the graphics setting?

The_gh0stm4n wrote:

xterno50 wrote:Yes i did that and it worked but still, it would make the game run with the Integrated Card and not the Dedicated. And still laggy and choppy.

At that point I'm not sure what else to suggest, I'm sorry. Are you sure though you clicked on "apply" in the NVIDIA Control Panel, after changing the graphics setting?

Yes.

xterno50 wrote:Yes.

OK, not good...

I dimly recall another user having a similar problem and he eventually mentioned an automated tool to help recognizing the graphics card. Ah yes, I found it again here:
http://www.simsnetwork.com/simpedia/the-sims-2/editions/the-sims-2/specials/graphics-rules-maker-improve-compatibility-with


Note that I myself haven't used this tool, but it does look interesting. Maybe you want to give it a try.