hi, i have a little problem that just started out of nowhere.

i decided to create a homeless sim all of a sudden, to follow the homeless challenge. however, when i clicked on "new game", the neighborhood was completely red and black. i thought it had something to do with the lighting, so i just went with it.

i created the sim - the icons took ages to load.. it never did that before. when i went to move the sim into an empty lot, everything was black with red details -- the sim was entirely black, with only the glasses being red (that wasn't the color i made the glasses at all...). the grass was red and all the houses and neighbourhood were either completely black or red...

i deleted the save file, closed the game, cleared every cache file i know of (5 of them), reopened the game to play my old save file and it seemed fine..... until i zoomed out.
now the only thing that looks normal is inside the house and the sims themselves (with some exceptions). everything around the house - inside and outside the lot, but outside the house, is black (with very tiny red details), as if the house was floating in outerspace.

i'm on windows seven, playing the base game only... i haven't gotten around to getting the expansion pack yet.

so in short, my game always ran fine. then all of a sudden everything is red and i can't fix it, even after clearing every type of cache i know of (including the neighborhood cache, sims cache, objects cache, etc)
the newest package file i have installed is from mid last year, so it's not custom content. the last time i played was 2 days ago.

if someone could help me with this, i would REALLY appreciate it...... i'm stuck with playing spore for the zillionth time!

thanks in advance
x

PS: is there a reason why i can't subscribe to this topic? notification types are "do not subscribe" and "no email notification"... i want email notification!

In order to better solve your problem, please go through the following as listed below:

• General - Post System Specs
  We need more information before we can help with your issue. Please post your system specs - instructions on finding them are here: Game Help:System Specs^wiki.
  
  If it is not specifically asked, please provide the Quick summary only.
  

What patch version are you on?
And what changed from the last time you played? Add more CC? Patch?

It is either a corrupted framework or an outdated drivers for most of the cases listed here The Sims 3 Red Neighborhood Glitch.

When was the last time drivers were updated?
Is the OS pre-installed with the computer or you upgraded from an older OS?

And, urm..email notifications have been disabled for years (or many, many months, at least). :)
You can go directly to your subscribed threads from the user link in the upper right, once you're logged on.

On occasion you might be asked to do a long FAQ - please make sure you do all the steps and don't just skip over them. You'll often find that these long FAQs have all the details you need. If nothing in the above FAQs fixes your problem you may post again detailing exactly which you have done and which steps failed.

thanks ella, i'll gather all the information you asked for.
my laptop's network port isn't working, and there's no wi-fi network where i am, currently.

as for the email notifs, i didn't know ^^;; i haven't come to the site in ages xD (or installed anything extra to the game, for that matter)

i'll try that link you gave me to see if that helps, tho i didnt install any new CC, patch, or EP for ages.
the game used to work perfectly well without any lag, then suddenly it didn't..

regardless, please wait for the system specs and thanks again for the quick reply ^^

back with the system specs... dunno if i should edit the first post or just make a new one, so here they are.
i'm surprised by some of the results i got from this... in specific, the driver dates and disk space!

i hope this helps someone help me...

==System==
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_rtm.090713-1255)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
System Model: Vostro 1500
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A00
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T5470 @ 1.60GHz (2 CPUs), ~1.6GHz
Memory: 2048MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 2046MB RAM
Page File: 840MB used, 3252MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 11

==Display==
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 8400M GS
Display Memory: 880 MB
Dedicated Memory: 113 MB
Shared Memory: 767 MB
Driver Name: nvd3dum.dll,nvwgf2um.dll
Driver File Version: 7.15.0011.0126 (English)
Driver Version: 7.15.11.126
DDI Version: 10
Driver Model: WDDM 1.0
Driver Date/Size: 5/16/2007 02:35:36, 4763648 bytes

==Sound==
Description: Speakers (High Definition Audio Device)
Driver Name: HdAudio.sys
Driver Version: 6.01.7600.16385 (English)
Date and Size: 7/13/2009 20:51:47, 304128 bytes

==Disk & DVD/CD-ROM Drives==
Drive: C:
Free Space: 14.1 GB
Total Space: 139.7 GB
File System: NTFS
Model: ST9160821AS ATA Device

Drive: D:
Free Space: 0.3 GB
Total Space: 10.2 GB
File System: NTFS
Model: ST9160821AS ATA Device

Drive: J:
Free Space: 9.4 GB
Total Space: 152.6 GB
File System: NTFS
Model: SAMSUNG HM160HI USB Device

Drive: F:
Model: WJ4969S VKY222R SCSI CdRom Device
Driver: d:\windows\system32\drivers\cdrom.sys, 6.01.7600.16385 (English), 7/13/2009 20:11:26, 108544 bytes

Drive: E:
Model: HL-DT-ST DVD+-RW GSA-T11N ATA Device
Driver: d:\windows\system32\drivers\cdrom.sys, 6.01.7600.16385 (English), 7/13/2009 20:11:26, 108544 bytes

OK, this is why we need to throw EA's system requirements out the window. Even as a minimum requirement, it is too low and it is not doing anybody any good when players keep insisting their computer meets the required specs and is beyond the minimum requirements as stipulated by EA. They just want to hook you in to cater to the lowest common denominator and then tells you - "you don't meet the specs" and make you go and upgrade or buy a newer machine. False advertising, IMO.

Yes, it has worked before, but performance degrades over time and in the meantime, the lifespan of the computer is shorten due to all the overheating and frequent crashing that occurs. Is EA going to replace a computer whose motherboard has melted or compensate a player who has has lost hours of productivity due to recovering data from a crashed HDD instead of working (yeah, freelancer here, why do you ask?)? Uh, no, I don't think so...

Before you exclaim "But it has worked before!", read this wiki which explains things better than I could, with my favorite analogy Game_Help:Your_Computer_is_Like_a_Car^wiki

Sorry for my off-topic rant there, but the above would explain when I list the specifics below on why your game is giving you fits.
-----------------------------------
Back to the regularly-scheduled programming:

Game_Help:TS3_System_Requirements^wiki According to staff recommendation, we need at least
- a CPU with Core2 Duo 2.0GHz (yours is 1.6GHz)
- RAM of 2.5GB for Vista/Win7 (yours is 2GB)
- a discrete GPU (you have a mobile version that is known to be defective 8400M - see the ! remarks in the wiki)

Bottom-line: this laptop is too weak to play the game, especially with a known defective graphics card that is prone to overheating.

This laptop model had Vista 32-bit as its original OS, did you download Windows 7-specific drivers for all the devices when you installed Windows 7?

We can try to update graphics drivers: notebook_winvista_win7_197.16_whql and I see that you already have DirectX11 when you upgraded to Windows 7.
eta: Forgotten to mention that the media buttons may be disabled or not work correctly when using a genereic graphics drivers not from the laptop manufacturer.

Regarding the lag: is Drive C the drive where the game is installed to? And this is also the drive that houses the Documents for the Operating System?

How big is your save game?
Was the HDD reformated before installing Windows 7? When was the last time the HDD was defragged?
And what do you mean by "neighborhood cache"? What is the actual filename of this file?
Finally, what is your game version? It was never explicitly mentioned and I'd rather not make assumptions as I always end up being wrong
You "didn't install any (CC,) patch (or EP) for ages" means you never did install a patch and are on retail version 1.0.631? or only one of the first few - 1.2? 1.3? 1.4?

(ps: you could have edited your post#3 to avoid double-posting(against site rules), but the point is moot now.)

yikes. loads of answers, with more questions than not XD
ok so basically... "get a new machine".
... i was truthfully hoping you wouldn't suggest that... (i quit my job just recently in order to move out of state xD)

i will, however, do my best to answer your questions regardless of the fact that, in short retrospect, my laptop sucks.

its quite alright about the rant. i understand you might get this same problem over and over again (the redness.. THE REDNESS!!! D; and the "your pc's sucky." thing too.) ^^;; but i did have very high hopes my problem was, at the very worst of possibilities, rare... (which i see now it isn't.)

last CC i put in the game was, if im not mistaken and if my memory does not fail me (which it quite often does...), i believe, around august LAST year. tho i could be wrong... i remember talks and chatterings about a new expansion pack were around the same time. so it was shortly before EP1's grand entrance..

i bought the EP by the way... (it isn't installing.. says my game can't be updated. -.- im downloading the update as we speak.. i hope its the right file -.- question: what's the version of the newest patch/update for the base game?) but thats besides the point.

i'll get back to you on my game version, but im pretty sure its the retail version. i'll also get back to you on the neighborhood cache file name, but the name itself was something similar to neighborhood cache xD - i found it by accident some time ago but never took note of where it was -.-

"is Drive C the drive where the game is installed to? And this is also the drive that houses the Documents for the Operating System?"
the game was installed on drive C. windows seven is on D, taking up the WHOOOoole space i put for it -.-;; i knew i shouldn't have listened to my cousin about installing win7 in the 10gb partition instead of formatting the laptop (, which answers your other question about not formatting the thing - also roughly and previously known as "laptop" - for win7, i should hope).
the documents are saved in the same drive as win7. alas, i do not know how to change the destination, and i keep forgetting to search for it. i shall do that once i finish posting this.

... last time i defragged it was about 2 months ago. ^^;; i should probably do that right now.

i had already downloaded and installed hwmonitor, but given the irritation the game has brought, and the fact that i didn't want to ruin anything else whilst playing the "red" game (reminds me of silent hill for some reason ¬¬;; ), i dared not to do what callista had said in that post. (i did search before posting by the way, but my problem seemed... slightly different from the ones i found. not so much anymore....... T__T)

"did you download Windows 7-specific drivers for all the devices when you installed Windows 7?"
short answer: yes.

"especially with a known defective graphics card that is prone to overheating."
i was not aware of this... i am quite suddenly glad i didn't spend a cent on it then xD (it was a sort of going-away present-type... thing. long story. i shan't bore you with it.)

i'll try updating the drivers (yet again. the 200mb one i downloaded when i saw the 2007 date did not install, although the installation finished. i suppose the thing decided not to consider it within existence.)

PS: thanks ^^;; i figured i should have done that. im glad the site didn't let me post again after that, when i tried asking if anyone was around xD;

EDIT::
i decided to actually try a couple of the fixes other people tried.. ended up being that file the game reads in order to know where the CC's are saved. i just replaced it with the backup i made back when i decided to mod the game.
go figure...

i tried updating, but it gave me an error before the installation. i'll get back with the error name in a different post - i suppose THIS post is dead, given it's been, at least for now, fixed..

thank you ella!

next up: installing EP1. XD

So, it's a framework failure, after all and with a new framework install, the red & black effects are now gone?

Drive D is now the primary drive the laptop boots from? Does Drive C still have an OS?

I would suggest using the temp monitoring tool if you decide to patch up and install WA (but really advise against, just play on base game), maybe also monitor framerates ("fps on" in the cheat console) and use the 3booter & fps_limiter from maty if it spikes to above 60fps.

We have a patching guide: Game_Help:TS3_Patching^wiki that addresses most of the common issues during patching.

ps: and you're welcome. Good luck with the move and new job, etc...