The Sims 3 is fail... or is it my computer?

[renesmee]

I recently bought a new graphics card (the Sapphire Radeon HD3650 512MB AGP Video Card) to make The Sims 3 able to run on my computer. Yet every time I load it up, it crashes. In the exact same place every single time!

I meet all the requirements - here's the results from the EA-endorsed "Can You RUN It?" site:

CPU Minimum: (XP) 2.0 GHz P4 processor or equivalent; (Vista) 2.4 GHz P4 processor or equivalent [If built-in graphics chipsets then 2.6 GHz Pentium D CPU, or 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo, or equivalent. You Have: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz

CPU Speed Minimum: 2 GHz You Have: 2.99 GHz

System RAM Minimum: (XP) 1 GB RAM; (Vista) 1.5 GB RAM [If built-in graphics then add 0.5 GB additional RAM] You Have: 1023 MB

Operating System Minimum: Windows XP (Service Pack 2) or Windows Vista (Service Pack 1) You Have: Microsoft Windows XP Professional (Build Service Pack 22600)

Video Card Minimum: 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0 (NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 or above / ATI Radeon 9500 or above / Intel GMA 3-series or above) You Have: ATI Radeon HD 3650 AGP (ATI display adapter AGP (0x9596))
Video Card Features - Minimum attributes of your Video Card
Video RAM: Required - 128 MB , You have - 512 MB
Video Card 3D Acceleration: Required - Yes , You have - Yes
Pixel Shader Ver.: Required - 2.0 , You have - 3.0
Video Card Driver Version (DirectX) Your driver version number is: 6.14.10.6764 FYI: Your video card driver version is provided for your information, but it is not part of this analysis. But proper video card driver versions are important to the proper operation of your product.

Sound Card Minimum: Yes You Have: SoundMAX Digital Audio PASS

Sound Card Driver Version Your driver version number is: 5.10 FYI: Your sound card driver version is provided for your information, but it is not part of this analysis. But proper sound card driver versions are important to the proper operation of your product.
Free Disk Space Minimum: 6.1 GB of hard drive space with at least 1 GB of additional space for custom content and saved games You Have: 29.7 GB PASS

Everything is up-to-date. Does anyone think they know what the problem is?
Someone suggested that I need to disable the onboard graphics (in fact, the manual for the new card said I should too) but even if that's the problem, I have no idea how to do that.

Please help with this? ^^'

[EXreaction]

Did you remove your old video drivers before you installed the new video drivers?

If you didn't install the drivers from the ATI website, use those (remove the old ones first).

[thephilosophizer]

First thing to try is for new graphics card drivers, you can find them at either ATi's website, or at the manufacturer's.
Something also, it might be worthwhile to upgrade to 2gb ram. RAM is pretty cheap and 2gb shouldn't run you more than $40.

[Aaron_8015]

Have you updated the drivers for the new card? First thing I would do.

EDIT:- Should update page more often.

It may be a bad instal so if drivers do not work would re-instal. (Also to note it is a new game and may have some bugs).

[vass0922]

and seeing as its an EA game it WILL have a LOT of bugs

dont worry their first expansion pack you have to pay for should have a few fixed in it!


big reason I stopped playing their games

However, I'd highly suggest reviewing the suggestions above its certainly worth a shot
also check the EA support site to see how many other people are complaining about similar issues.

Agreed to disable the onboard video card.
You'll have to go into the BIOS settings (its probably hit the DEL or F10 key after the POST on bootup) and find Onboard Devices, and disable it there.

[ShyguyXPC]

as others have said, update the video drivers, but not before disabling the onboard video.

add in another 1GB of RAM for a total of 2GB.

and also make sure you have updated to the latest version of DirectX 9.0c (what ever was the last month it came out with a newer updated version, usually every few months If I remember right.)

after that, the game should run nicely. don't expect it to run on max settings, the Radeon 3650 is bare minimum for any real gaming, but the game should run on lower to medium settings (with some extra's like AA and other eye candy options to minimum or turned off)

[renesmee]

So... remove the old drivers, disable the onboard video, and install the new drivers from ATI is the kind of census I'm getting here.

... How do I do those?

^^ I fail at computer things of this nature. Sorry!

[EXreaction]

Find the old video drivers in control panel->add/remove programs.

Disabling the onboard video should have no effect really...

[KarmaKiller]

Once the old drivers are uninstalled, Go here
Graphics Drivers & Software
Find you card/OS. Download those.
If the 3650 is working at all, you don't need to disable the onboard graphics. That's probably already done.

[renesmee]

Oh... it's already disabled?

Aaack, do you know how much time I spent trying to figure out how to do that? GRRRRRR

Oh well. Karma, I'm going to try that and report back - if that doesn't help, I will take a sledgehammer to the mobo. I don't even care. GAAAH!

[renesmee]

Well, surprise surprise, it crashed again.

WTF is wrong with my computer?

(I'm waiting on an email back from EA, in the meantime, anyone have any other suggestions?)

[ShyguyXPC]

Well, surprise surprise, it crashed again.

WTF is wrong with my computer?

(I'm waiting on an email back from EA, in the meantime, anyone have any other suggestions?)

as others have said, update the video drivers, but not before disabling the onboard video.

add in another 1GB of RAM for a total of 2GB.

and also make sure you have updated to the latest version of DirectX 9.0c (what ever was the last month it came out with a newer updated version, usually every few months If I remember right.)

after that, the game should run nicely. don't expect it to run on max settings, the Radeon 3650 is bare minimum for any real gaming, but the game should run on lower to medium settings (with some extra's like AA and other eye candy options to minimum or turned off)

after getting the video card drivers installed did you reboot the PC to let them take effect?

also did you check to make sure DirectX 9 is updated to latest version?

Download details: DirectX End-User Runtime

I had similar problems years ago with Battlefield 2, another EA game, and doing this fixed my problems some how, with in Windows XP.

same problem, game starts, then crashes with a black screen, even though EVERYTHING else in the system was updated with latest drivers and software, including a motherboard bios update.

and still did it, wasn't until DX was updated, would it run.

not saying it will cure the problem, but it couldn't hurt to check and update it if necessary, who knows it may just end up resolving it.

[ShyguyXPC]

damn, somehow I hit reply once and it submitted two...?

[renesmee]

waiting for install.... tum ti tum...

Oh, and it turns out I had all the necessary drivers, just needed to remove the old ones. So that wasn't it, because I tried it again and it FAILED.

Let's just see if DirectX has anything to offer... :P

Starting up game now, will report back

[renesmee]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

GIVE ME SOMETHING TO THROW AT A WALL

Nothing works, and I got the Blue Screen Of Death even earlier than it usually crashes.

WTF??

[ShyguyXPC]

oh... your getting a BSOD?


you left that little important piece of info out of your other posts...

thought it was a regular crash to the desktop type error.

can you copy down what the BSOD error is?

[renesmee]

The "steps I need to try if the error screen persists" (which it has) are different this time than every other time. Usually it just says, "be sure your hardware is installed properly if there has been new hardware, if the problem continues uninstall," etc. but I checked, DUR. This time it said:

Make sure you have adequate disk space. If a driver is in the STOP message, disable the driver or check for updates. Try changing video adaptors.

Check your hardware distributor for any BIOS updates. Disable BIOS settings such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, press F8 to select advanced startup options and select Safe Mode.

Technical Information:

*** STOP: 0x0000008x (0xC0000003, etc. etc.)

Beginning dump of physical memory (that mumbo jumbo, etc...)

[EXreaction]

Run memtest for a few hours to see if any errors come up.
Memtest86 - Download Page

[kittenkat1981]

I went to that willitrun or whatever it's called and I failed because I have 2.20 ghz dual core processor and I need 2.4. Can I still run it?

[Aaron_8015]

A 2.2ghz dual core should run it fine (as long as it not a Pentium D) the 2.4 is a guide line for single core CPU's.