Strange performance issue

[UltimateSephiroth]

Hi everybody.

I've been playing The Sims 2 for quite a long time. I, however, had a decent break of some three months. Now when I began playing again, this happens every time I launch TS2 or TS2 Body Shop:
* Before the window of the game/BS appears, it steals a MASSIVE amount of memory. Task Manager reports that the memory usage jumps to 100% and page file size rises a lot as well.
* For some time, this high memory state stays in effect, effectively paralyzing the whole system. Even moving the cursor is difficult at times.
* After this (once it took 15 minutes), the game/BS slowly frees this memory. Then it starts up normally.

This situation is weird due to that this didn't happen before and this doesn't happen with any other game. I tried to check everything that had changed during the break, but with no luck - it wasn't my external HD or the new graphic card drivers.

Is there a solution to this problem?

Technical details
* OS: Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 32-bit, Finnish
* Processor: AMD Turion 64 x2 TL-56 (1.8GHz)
* Memory: 2GB
* Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce 7000M

The Sims 2 expansions installed:
* University
* Family Fun Stuff
* Open for Business
* Seasons
* FreeTime
I also have a load of downloads, but I haven't installed anything new since the last time, so it'd be quite illogical if it was because of that.

[callistra]

To rule out game problems you need to complete our help guide: http://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game%20Help:Game%20Problem Having lots of downloads and lots of expansions installed does use a lot of RAM. 2GB in Vista, while meeting minimum requirements, really isn't enough for what you have installed.

You should also be aware that your computer does not meet minimum requirements to run even the base game. You have integrated graphics. With integrated graphics a minimum of 2.0ghz processor is required at minimum. For expansions past uni, a 2.4ghz processor is required.
http://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Onboard_Graphics
http://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:System_Requirements/MTS2_Recommendations

[UltimateSephiroth]

To rule out game problems you need to complete our help guide: http://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game%20Help:Game%20Problem Having lots of downloads and lots of expansions installed does use a lot of RAM. 2GB in Vista, while meeting minimum requirements, really isn't enough for what you have installed.

You should also be aware that your computer does not meet minimum requirements to run even the base game. You have integrated graphics. With integrated graphics a minimum of 2.0ghz processor is required at minimum. For expansions past uni, a 2.4ghz processor is required.
http://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Onboard_Graphics
http://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:System_Requirements/MTS2_Recommendations
Duh, thank you. Didn't know my GPU was that crappy.

However, if you read my post carefully, the problem is NOT with the gameplay - I can play the game decently and use the Body Shop as usual. The problems are ONLY before loading the game.

I'll check if it is the number of downloads that causes this, though there were no problems with them back then.

E: Removing the downloads didn't change a thing. I added an image to explain better the flow of the problem.

[callistra]

The game uses a lot of RAM at first startup. I'm saying that with your lack of available RAM is not surprising that you'd have a slow down. Your game might not have changed but something else might have. If your computer is using more RAM overall then the additional from the game could make a difference. If your hard drive isn't running as fast as it once was, the page filing could also be increasingly slow. Or if the game is using more RAM without you changing something then it's possible something got messed up and that's why I linked to the game help guide. If it's not a game problem then it's a computer problem. If it's a computer problem, I really don't have anything else to add except for what I linked to above. Sorry. Don't want to approach it as a computer problem until we rule it out as a game problem.

[whiterider]

It could still be an issue with user files, so the FAQ still applies. :)

[UltimateSephiroth]

Seems that my edit was a little bit late :p I'm now quite positive that the problem is, after all, related to some changes on the computer, since I tried also with brand new user files with no change in the result.

On a side note, this might be related to the problem. I just reran the Vista's "performance index value" test or whatever it is called in English. Even though the hardware hasn't changed, the Windows Aero part dropped from 3.2 to 3.1 and the 3D graphics performance dropped from 3.0 to 2.5. That change doesn't look very good.