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Lab Assistant
#51 Old 8th Feb 2005 at 11:18 AM
Ahh nuts. I suspected that my GeForce 4 Ti4600 wouldn't be capable of bump mapping in TS2, and now my fears have been confirmed. Oh well, guess it's time for a small upgrade.

I was thinking about getting this. What d'you guys think, is this a good deal?

"Y'know, you guys are so unhip it's a wonder your bums don't fall off." ~Zaphod Beeblebrox
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Test Subject
#52 Old 8th Feb 2005 at 12:02 PM
I'm in the same boat as dumbblonde - BFG GF6800Ultra OC, no bumps.

I've changed every setting in both .sgr's - EVERY one, under the assumption that I'll not be changing video cards before sims2 is obsolete anyway. That's why I bought a 6800 - so it would last a while.

Typically I run Sims 2 with graphics maxxed - but I tried dropping to 1280x1024, and 1024x768 - no diff.

Tried blatantly issuing 'boolprop' statements in crtl-shift-c.

no joy.

:confused:

Edit: 'every setting' being the aforementioned 'useShaders' and 'skipTangentsInVertexData' - didn't mess with anything else.
Lab Assistant
#53 Old 8th Feb 2005 at 12:46 PM
I have a GeForce FX5200, 256MB card.

Tried your test and bump mapping did not show.

Changed the settings in the two ".sgr" files as discussed and bump mapping NOW shows up in Body Shop and in game.

What a BIG DIFFERENCE! Thanks.....
Lab Assistant
#54 Old 8th Feb 2005 at 1:09 PM Last edited by micl2u : 8th Feb 2005 at 1:14 PM.
As previously stated, I have a FX5200 that has bumps because I put the 'boolProp useShaders true' cheat in a userStartup.cheat file in Config folder. This to me is much simpler than searching the GR.sgr files and making mulit changes to them.
Test Subject
#55 Old 8th Feb 2005 at 1:53 PM
i have a high end lap top with a radeon mobility 9000 no bump mapping somone said it worked on that how.
changed the lines in first post nothing

help me please
Lab Assistant
#56 Old 8th Feb 2005 at 7:27 PM
T113 -- I got my 6800 and system for the same reason

.. i am assured i will not have to upgrade anyithing for at least the next 4 years if not longer... Now that says alot
Test Subject
#57 Old 8th Feb 2005 at 9:19 PM
Thanks, Semloh, that worked!
No more fuzzy dress, but I still can't see the words on the shirt :argh: Oh well, all I really care about is if I can make clothes that look correct in the game.
Field Researcher
#58 Old 8th Feb 2005 at 9:34 PM
Quote: Originally posted by DumBblOndE
T113 -- I got my 6800 and system for the same reason

.. i am assured i will not have to upgrade anyithing for at least the next 4 years if not longer... Now that says alot



Who assured you of that? :argh: .....Go back and kick his shins, if it was a male,....and if it was a female, start a "Chick Fight"

Yeah well....what did you expect me to suggest, I am a male!

But seriously, that assurance is BS...sorry.
Test Subject
#59 Old 8th Feb 2005 at 10:05 PM
The "bump map" undies worked on mine, thank goodness. Last year I splurged on a Radeon 9800 Pro AIW, and I figured at the time I bought it, I might have at best a month before someone came out with a better one...LOL! Radeon just came out with another one...sigh. My PC guy says it's awesome. Oh well. Right now I'm saving for a 64 processor, so that new graphics card will have to take a back seat. The one I've got works fine for the moment. It's my processor that sucks.
Test Subject
#60 Old 8th Feb 2005 at 10:12 PM
Looks like The Sims 2 bump-mapping only runs on DX9 native video cards: GeForce FX (all models) or newer and ATI Radeon 9600 or newer!

That means NO ATi Radeon 8500/9000/9100/9200 or GeForce 3 or 4 (regardless of model)

I'm so sad because I use a 9200...
Lab Assistant
#61 Old 8th Feb 2005 at 11:48 PM
Hmm..all this technical talk has my head spinning!

But, I just got a new card 2 days ago since my NVidia GeForce 420 was NOT cutting it. I'm assuming that not being able to view "bumps" means your sims look fuzzy a lot? Cause that's what happened to mine.

Anyhoo, my new card is an ATI Raedon 9550 256 MB and it works great. I know it isn't the "highest" video card you can get, but I can see the "Bumps" undies, and my game has never run smoother. Thanks for the test!
Test Subject
#62 Old 9th Feb 2005 at 12:38 AM
Hey! I just tried to edit the files and I only checked on it in body shop, but still there was no bump mapping.
Test Subject
#63 Old 9th Feb 2005 at 12:52 AM
umm... am I missing something? my game has always had bump mapping on...

The floors, the clothes, the objects, everything is bump mapped on my game. Is my game a fluke?
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#64 Old 9th Feb 2005 at 12:54 AM
Quote: Originally posted by ShinyG
Looks like The Sims 2 bump-mapping only runs on DX9 native video cards: GeForce FX (all models) or newer and ATI Radeon 9600 or newer!

That means NO ATi Radeon 8500/9000/9100/9200 or GeForce 3 or 4 (regardless of model)(


I think that pretty much sums it up ShinyG with a few exceptions, such as the mystery of the GF6800.

When it comes to laptops things are still confused as the specs for laptop 3D graphics processors are often quite different from the desktop versions although I think the DX9 rule should still apply.

For those of you who have lower specification cards such as the nVidia FX5200 you should be aware that enabling bump mapping can have a fairly drastic impact on the speed at which your game runs, particularly while scrolling the screen. How much of an impact depends on the number and type of objects placed on your lot and whether they are visible or not. I did some testing with a bump map enabled copy of Sims2 on an FX5200 and saw frame rates drop as low as 1 or 2 frames per second while scrolling on some lots.

Just for the record, I normally use an ATI 9600 Pro graphics card with an AthlonXP 2.8+ CPU. This comination performs well with bumpmapping on, anti aliasing on, high detail textures and effects set to high in 1024x768x32 resolution.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#65 Old 9th Feb 2005 at 12:57 AM
Quote: Originally posted by kezz bentley
umm... am I missing something? my game has always had bump mapping on...

The floors, the clothes, the objects, everything is bump mapped on my game. Is my game a fluke?


No, your game isn't a fluke. Many people (myself included) are lucky enough to have had bump mapping enabled automatically. It just depends on what type of graphics card you have.
Lab Assistant
#66 Old 9th Feb 2005 at 2:24 AM
Darkmoon -
the system I had before lasted me 6 years..

I had Nividia tnt, 600 processor, old cd burner no rom.. I played from black and white 2 to the Sims 2 but it was a little choppy, So I felt it was time to upgrade..

My specs are what is considerd for Next Generation games and will be more than enough for any game that will come out for the next few years.. the only thing I will have to upgrade will be processor or mem.. maybe in about 2-3 years.. I bought what will be able to run the next Morrowind-Oblivion

http://www.elderscrolls.com/art/obl...eenshots_01.htm

So i am more than assured.. But I guess we will see huh?
Field Researcher
#67 Old 9th Feb 2005 at 2:29 AM
Yep, I'm familiar with the next Morrowind, since I have the current one still installed on one of my Computers.

..and yes we will see....but I still think you should kick them....just for the heck of it.
LMAO
Test Subject
#68 Old 9th Feb 2005 at 3:02 AM
Works fine for me.

ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#69 Old 9th Feb 2005 at 4:10 AM
Quote: Originally posted by DumBblOndE
the system I had before lasted me 6 years..


Me thinks back to the rig I had 6 years ago, ughh shudders at the thought of still having it

Mind you I have never actually replaced my PC over the last 6 years. Sure it's had three new cases, 2 power supply replacements, 4 different motherboards, 6 diferent CPU's, 4 changes of RAM, 7 different HDD's, 5 different graphics cards, 2 CD drive changes and 1 CD burner replacement but it's still the same PC, LOL!
Test Subject
#70 Old 9th Feb 2005 at 4:16 AM
How would I turn bump mapping on in my game? I have a Radeon 9800 or 9800 pro. I can't remember which one.
Test Subject
#71 Old 9th Feb 2005 at 4:26 AM
Sorry stupid question. I did not read the first post. I'm sorry.
Test Subject
#72 Old 9th Feb 2005 at 4:48 AM
Yay! I have bump mapping. Excuse me while I go bask in all that is bump mapping.
Lab Assistant
#73 Old 9th Feb 2005 at 7:58 PM
I have a GEFORCE 6600 GT and when I applied your method, the game was crashing when loading ( as mentionned on your first post ).

I even had to uninstall and install again the game because it wouldn't load anymore even when I came back to the original .sgr files I had backupped.

It looks like the most recent NVIDIA graphic cards ( 6600 and 6800 ) can't support the BumpMapping textures. It's a shame since all the previous ones do.

I have sent a message to Leadtek to ask about this issue and confirm if those cards could support bumpmapping or not.

If I get a response, I'll keep you posted about this issue...
Test Subject
#74 Old 10th Feb 2005 at 12:44 AM
The GF6xxx series uses a newer versions of shaders than the previous cards - bet THAT is probably part of the problem.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#75 Old 10th Feb 2005 at 3:41 AM
Quote: Originally posted by TotallyUnzipped
I've had a minor break through on this, I've installed a set of old nVidia drivers (v61.76) and suddenly I'm getting the bump mapping/pixel shading showing up. I'd still like to know why this needs a certain set of drivers to work.

:D


That's good news. Perhaps this is a workaround for the nVidia 6800 series owners out there. I hope DumBblonde sees this.

Perhaps the older drivers don't make use of the new shader features on the 6800 and so remain compatible with Sims2. I wonder how many other games might have pixel shader problems with the 6800 when using latest drivers? This actually sounds like it could possibly be a small problem with the new nVidia driver as you would expect it to retain some backward compatibility. Have you communicated with nVidia about this?

The quote you have from EA is interesting. I had wondered if this is the case as the 'Graphic Rules.sgr' changes actually enable "shaders", not specifically bump mapping. This also goes a long way to explain the problems with older cards such as GF2,3 and 4 which don't support pixel shaders.
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