The Sims 2 has stopped working

[kubomatoko]

Hi fellow Sims players!

I have recently gotten back into playing the Sims 2 game again, decided to install all of my expansions etc. and I received this message after the splash screen:

The Sims 2 EP9 has stopped working
A problem caused the program to stop working correctly.

So I searched the Internet thoroughly for an answer, including the FAQs on this website. I've deleted cache files etc., reinstalled the game several times, defragged my computer, deleted user files in the Sims folder in My Documents, and even just tried the game without expansion packs, but still came up with the same basic error message. There is no custom content installed either.

My specs:
Windows Vista
AMD Athlon Duel-core 2.0ghz
3gb RAM
NVidia GeForce 8200M G
DirectX 11

I've updated drivers for all my hardware. I know the specs of my computer is sufficient enough to play the game since I've played it before with all expansions. There is plenty of space on my hard drive and I have no viruses as I have a daily (updated) virus check.

The patches from the Sims official website have not made a difference, running the program under "administrator" has not worked, and running the game in compatibility mode has not resolved the issue.

The only thing that has worked is using a different Sims 2 CD without expansions, but after installing a few of them, the error then appeared. The CDs are not corrupt as my friend has recently used the discs on his laptop and they work fine. And YES I installed all the CDs in the correct order.

Sorry for the long message but I needed to make sure that you know all of the things that I've tried, and whether there is something missing that is hidden somewhere in these forums or around the net that I have not tried yet.

This is the message from Computer Management of the error:

Faulting application Sims2ep9.exe, version 1.17.0.66, time stamp 0x00000000, faulting module USER32.dll, version 6.0.6002.18005, time stamp 0x49e0380e, exception code 0xc0000005, fault offset 0x000156bd, process id 0x650, application start time 0x01cd23f85cfeccb7.

Thanks so much for your time, I hope you can help me with this.

Many regards,
Kubo

[Mootilda]

From: http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-8200M-G.11360.0.html
The performance of the 8200M G is quite good for a chipset graphic. The driver support of the graphic core is sufficient for games. However, the performance of the chip is hardly sufficient for very modest games with low details.So, it looks like your computer may not be up to playing the game. Specifically, you don't have a graphics card in your computer. Please read the following FAQ:
http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Onboard_Graphics

A possible explanation for why it used to work, but it doesn't now:
http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Your_Computer_is_Like_a_Car

[kubomatoko]

Thankyou for the quick reply, Mootilda.

I have not had a problem before with playing The Sim 2 expansion packs on this computer - I had only been playing this game just a few months ago, and have played a lot more graphics-demanding games in the mean time. The FAQ (http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title...nboard_Graphics) relates to graphics problems while actually playing the game, however the problem my computer has is actually loading the program. The error appears without even loading to full screen, just after pressing Play on the splash screen.

I am not familiar with faulting dll files, but the Computer Management error that I gave in my previous post said "faulting module USER32.dll, version 6.0.6002.18005"
Could this be causing the actual problem, or are there any solutions to be found in the rest of the error report? By the way, I am not prepared to spend money on a program that "fixes" dll files.

Let me know if you would like any more information about my computer to resolve the issue.

Thanks,
Kubo

[Peni Griffin]

It's possible, probable even, that playing all these graphic-demanding games has damaged your chip as it strained to keep up.

Look at it this way: If you attach a tow rig to the bumper of a Ferrari, you may be able to haul logs, trailers full of heavy equipment, and broken cars several times, only to finally tear the bumper off when you attach an empty horse trailer to go pick up a pony. If you want to do a lot of hauling, a Ferrari bumper is an inappropriate attachment point, and almost any old clunky pickup will do a better job.

[kubomatoko]

Thankyou for your insight, Peni, but my graphics card and its driver is working fine. When I stated that I had played more graphics-demanding games, I did not mean that I was playing such games that were too extensive for my laptop. The Sims requires relatively low graphics memory to operate compared to other games. If there was a problem with the graphics card, would I not see this problem with other games?