The Sims 2 is my favorite game and it worked perfectly on my former desktop computers:

AMD Athlon 2500+, 512 MB RAM, 80 GB hard disk, 128 MB video card (bought in 2004) and Pentium Dualcore 2800 Mhz, 2 GB RAM (later 4 GB), nVidia 9500GT 512 MB video card, 500 GB hard disk (bought in 2009), both using Windows XP. Although I installed Windows 7 and 8 for testing purposes as second OS, I never tried to play The Sims 2 on it.

In 2016 I bought a new desktop computer, Intel i5 6500 3.20 GHz, 16 GB RAM, 2 TB hard disk + 250 GB SSD, IntelHD on-board graphics card. I installed Windows 10 on it and this leaded to a major disappointment when I tried to play The Sims 2:

1. First problem noticed is that water is not textured. As far I read on various forums, this issue is common along on-board graphic cards. I bought later a NVidia GeForce GTX 1050 and solved this problem but not the other problems. I edited Graphics Rules.sgr to be able to play in higher resolution.

2. I was able to create families and build houses, but when I tried to add Sims2Pack files (housing lots built by me, no custom content), only the ones requiring base game only could be installed, any one that required expansion packs failed, despite that I had all expansion packs installed. PackageInstaller window also display strange numbers.



3. When tried to load a large neighborhood (example http://www.teoalida.com/thesims/starlingsprings/), game crashed with no error message. I built this huge city on my old Windows XP computer without problems.

4. When I installed AnyGameStarter , it messed up Documents folder path, all other games saves didn't worked and when I tried to play them (for example GTA San Andreas), it created new saves C:\Users\Teoalida\Documents\AnyGameStarter\AnyGame1\Documents\GTA San Andreas User Files (or something like, can't remember exactly because I reinstalled Windows after this, uninstalling AnyGameStarter did not fixed the problem). This did not happened on Windows XP.

5. When I tried to create a The Sims 2 base game only via AnyGameStarter, it says that CD/DVD is not inserted into drive, despite that it is inserted. Same thing happened when I tried to install only base game. I love creating base game content.

6. I installed VMWare virtual machine with Windows XP and tried to install The Sims 2 + AnyGameStarter, I was able to start base game with the DVD in drive, also I was able to open large neighborhoods like StarlingSprings without crashing, I was also able to install Sims2Pack files that require expansion packs (quite obvious that the problem lies in an incompatibility with Windows 10). But the virtual machine runs so slow making game unplayable, and also with graphical bugs: in neighborhood view the ground is flashing purple, in lot view the walls are flashing red.



7. I tried to make another virtual machine with Windows 7 and tried to install The Sims 2, but not able to run it, it give "Runtime Error! R6025 pure virtual function call". I do not know if the virtual machine cause this error and if the game may be theoretically playable on Windows 7 like on XP.

In the end: every time I want to play The Sims 2 I need to plug in my old computer, but doing this so makes me impossible to do anything else, if a customer call me to do some professional work I need to leave game, turn off the old computer, plug in the new computer, realize that customer tired of waiting and is no longer interested in my services, turn off new computer, plug in old computer and return in game, etc... waste of time! Last 2 years I played it very little and really miss it.

I know that The Sims 2 is a 14-year old game, but some people still play it, and with increasing popularity of Windows 10, may I ask if anyone managed to find a solution for all the above problems?

I am asking people who have original base game and expansion packs CD/DVD or at least ISO images of the discs, NOT people who downloaded The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection via Origin, it may solve some issues, but it do not allow me installing AnyGameStarter to create content compatible with base game or specific expansion packs only.

On both Windows 10 computer and Windows 7 virtual machine I get messages that this application has known compatibility issues. I tried to run in compatibility mode withe every possible OS, but no success.

As side information, The Sims 3 works fine on my 2016 computer even with on-board graphics card.

If there is no solution to make The Sims 2 running properly on Windows 10, I am thinking to buy an used laptop with Windows XP or 7 just to play The Sims 2 while doing my professional work on desktop computer. I will have any guarantee that will work properly?

Hmmm, ok I've already had many problems with my sims 2 games but I'll try to help you even though I've never seen anything like the issues you're having. I don't have any experience with the anygamestarter so if you're having issues with that I'm afraid I can't help you. :/
To be honest, it took me many hours in installing all my games and setting everything to work correctly, for some reason the game keeps trying to find ways to not work properly but anyways, let's start.
I'm just trying to find where the problem lies because I don't know much so we'll do this step by step.
First of all, when you've installed your games, have you installed them in 'program files' and not in 'program files (x86)'?
Have you tried to run your game in compatibility mode? You can enable it by clicking on the game icon and then choose 'properties'. Then you go to compatibility and then choose which system works best for you, for me windows XP (service pack 3) works best and you should also click on 'run as administrator'. As soon as you've done this the game should start properly. (in normal situations , at least)
If this goes fine then there is some sort of beginning. I'm sorry if I can't immediately tell you what went wrong but reinstalling the sims 2 on newer computers can be a huge pain in the ass. (I can speak from experience)

Do you have the 4GBT patch and graphic rules? Do you have a Radeon graphics card and applied the AMD Adrenaline driver update to it?

You may need to reinstall directX9

You may need to remove all traces of sims 2 in registry keys and start fresh.

I do know you should not be using the game installer (first picture) always use Clean Installer.

Also can you outline things with less text? Sorry, it's too much to read. What is the main problem? Lets work on that since you seem to have multiple ones. Getting a new card isn't enough, you must do the graphic rules. http://www.leefish.nl/mybb/showthread.php?tid=5446

Yes, attempting to run the game in VMware will look like that. The VM doesn't report your real graphics card to the operating system, but a virtualised version of it instead. The game, not unnaturally, doesn't have that virtual card in its database of known graphics cards so you get flashing pink grass and red walls.

The DVD version of the game does work fine with Windows 7. For any Windows version beyond XP you need to watch out for it trying to restore files back to their original state (which may not be how you want them, if you've just customised your game and tweaked any of the game files). I generally install to C:\Games instead of C:\Program Files (x86) for that reason, though you can disable Windows File Protection instead if it turns out that's the cause of your problems with AnyGameStarter.

I dual booted my machine with Win7 to run the game without the problems Win10 can create. I've decided now to go back to Win7 permanently for the time being. Virtual machines theoretically should work but in practice there seems to be so much to struggle with. I gave up on that idea.

Some people though have battled with Win10 and have won a victory (of sorts). There are already several threads on the board talking about it.

@joandsarah77, I am sorry for long message, but I wanted to provide ALL possible information so I can get SOLUTIONS and not too many additional questions. I edited message now to add few things.

The main problems are the #2 to #5, the #6 and #7 were added just to show you that my computer and DVD are good and the problem lies in Windows 10 and avoid being accused to have DVD pirated or other non-sense stuff.

I don't need to remove all traces and start fresh, because I installed The Sims 2 shortly after I reinstalled Windows. I installed game on D:\Games because space on C:\ is limited due to SSD size. I tried running in all compatibility mode possible without success. I know that virtual machines are not made to play games on them, I used VMware just to test functionality on other OS.

@maxon, so are you saying that on Windows 7 the game works fine so probably the easiest solution is to install Windows 7 in dual boot? I can do this if there is no other solution, BUT is there anyone who does play The Sims 2 on Windows 10 without problems?

Do you have the game on disc? I contacted EA support because I was having problems with The Sims 2, and they asked me to show them a photo of the discs and the code, and then they let me download Ultimate Collection for free

#2 As I said, stop using the installer with the game, use Clean Installer.

#5 before fixing AGS you need to fix the pink flashing

Problem #6 right now is your major issue which you need to fix first.

#7 this game is very runnable on 7, many of us here use it, but also many run it on 10 and even 8.

NVidia GeForce GTX 1050 Should work well, is it the TI? There are two 1050, both will work only the TI is better. it's what I bought after the Radeon card driver update debacle. I would post a screenshot of what yours graphic rules looks like.

If you have not done the 4GBT patch you still need to. http://modthesims.info/t/610641 And possible memory allocation while you are at it.

Go to Documents> The Sims 2> Logs. In there check the config-log.txt You want it to say 4069 on both memory and free memory not lower and you want it to show your 1050 card in there as well.

Have you changed the compatibility mode to XP?

Trying XP on my computer didn't help, made everything kind of large. Not to say it might not work for someone else, only that sims 2 does not need XP to run well.

I use Windows 7 with UC and do not connect to Origin. Works fine. If you have the choice, it seems to be a lot easier.

They are on disks not the UC, so no connection to anything is needed. Changing over to the UC is no guarantee of a change, plus they can't use AGS yet can they? Or was the fix out for that?

AGS does not work with the UC - Numenor's new one is out for the UC, but it includes M&G because it is the only engine the UC uses.

Thanks for idea of Clean Installer, I tried it for first time and is useful utility, it solve problem #2, but the game wasn't designed to work without any third-party utilities?

In addition of problems mentioned in original post, trying to play game on my desktop with Windows 10 showed that putting a lot from house bin on map, create a family, move family into a lot, saving a lot after being played for some time, have about 25% chances to crash the game. Sometimes it give message "The Sims 2 has crashed" and other times game simply close with no message. Is dangerous to play game on this desktop!

Tired of problems on Windows 10, I started looking on used market to buy a laptop of an older generation that does support Windows XP but a high-end one that comes with 1920x1080 screen to make nice screenshots in game. I bought a HP EliteBook 8540w made in 2010 (EliteBook was one of the latest laptops with support for Windows XP until xx70 series in 2012). I installed Windows 7 on laptop and ran into same problems #2, #3, #5 like on my desktop with Windows 10. I installed Windows XP and The Sims 2 works PERFECTLY! I played a lot over last month building several new houses that I will post soon on my personal website and maybe I will start posting on ModTheSims for first time.

I still like to see solutions to make The Sims 2 discs version (NOT Ultimate Collection) to work properly on Windows 10.

While laptop screen of 1920x1080 is enough, I also tried to plug my DELL U2718Q monitor into laptop and set it as primary monitor and disabled desktop extension on laptop screen. NVIDIA Quadro FX 880M (if have any importance) allowed me to choose resolution 3840x2160 in Windows XP but when I go in game the maximum available resolution is 2560x1440 despite that I set 3840x2160 in GraphicRules.scr according https://simsvip.com/2014/07/20/the-...solution-guide/. On desktop computer I can play The Sims 2 in 3840x2160, but on laptop no. Any solution? I like taking screenshots in highest resolution possible.

Can you tell me how you avoid Origin, I've tried a number of things but they seem to always be bugging me, most effective but a nusience is to disconnect from internet every time I want to play. Be specific if possible, I'm getting pretty old and very dense !!!

I run TS2 on windows 10 just fine, and have since it came out in 2015. What I did was more or less what TheJessaChannel wrote, http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=610641.