Just recently, when playing sims 2 and doing anything other than sitting there stationary, the whole screen flickers, and sections disappear when buying/moving items (nothing goes black or red, neither does it run slower or jerk. No freezing or crashing either).

I tried uninstalling everything, and have re installed only the base game - the digital double delux version, downloaded via origin (comes with nightlife & the celebration stuff pack which are also installed). I also tried: lowering all graphics settings, rolling back to the driver i had before the problem began, and a clean boot. None made a difference. Previously running with all expansions (bar pets) and several stuff packs, with no problems.

Tried using boolprop testingCheatsEnabled true to discover my game edition, but it was not displayed in the top right hand corner so i still cannot confirm what it is.

Basic specs:
CPU 2.4 running windows 7 64bit
Graphics card: Nvidia geforce GTX 660m 2GB
12 G Ram

Thank you.

• General - Check Temps
  In some cases, game bugs/crashes/general computer issues can be caused by your computer overheating. To ascertain whether or not overheating is a cause of your problem, please follow these steps:
  
  Firstly, download and install HWMonitor. Run the program - you should see lots of numbers; if you don't know what any of them mean, don't worry - you don't have to. :)
  
  With HWMonitor running, use your computer normally for twenty or thirty minutes - no games, just browsing the web, using IM, playing minesweeper etc - and at the end of the twenty or thirty minutes, take a screenshot of the HWMonitor window and save it.
  
  Then do the same again, keeping HWMonitor open, while you play Sims for twenty to thirty minutes. If your game is crashing before the thirty minutes is up, just play until it crashes. If your computer is freezing, shutting down, or restarting itself, play for as long as you think you can before the freeze/shutdown/reboot, then quit the game. Take another screenshot of the HWMonitor window.
  
  Finally, attach both screenshots to a post in this thread - you can upload them to photobucket or tinypic etc, or you can hit "Go Advanced" in the Quick Reply box and use manage attachments to upload them to MTS.
  
  
• General - Integrated Graphics
  The reason for your issue is that your computer doesn't meet the minimum requirements to play TS2/TS3.
  In particular, you don't actually have a graphics card - you have integrated graphics, which is just a chip on your motherboard or processor. Most laptops come with integrated graphics, as do some desktops; and while salesmen often claim that integrated graphics chips are just as good as real graphics cards, they're not.
  
  Integrated graphics chips are designed for people who just use their computers to read email, type up documents, and play minesweeper - they are not suitable for high stress games like TS2/TS3. At the very least, playing TS2/TS3 with integrated graphics will mean the game looks terrible; at the worst, you could permanently damage your computer.
  If you have integrated graphics, the other requirements - particularly minimum processor speed - go up to compensate. You can see the increases here, under "If you have a non-T&L capable video card...".
  
  This FAQ contains tips on things you can do to improve your gameplay, and prolong the life of the integrated chip: Game Help:Onboard Graphics^wiki
  This is MTS's recommended minimum system specs
  • for each EP/SP in The Sims 2: Game Help:System Requirements/MTS2 Recommendations^wiki
    
  • for The Sims 3: Game_Help:TS3_System_Requirements^wiki
  Be aware that, even if you follow all the tips in the above articles (which are targeted for Desktop models only), you will probably have to upgrade or replace your computer to alleviate all problems.
  
  

Even though you have a graphics card, the model number indicates that you have a laptop. If that's the case and based on the symptoms your computer is probably overheating. You've already done some of the steps outlined in the Integrated Graphics faq but there are more that might help.

Thanks for your help! Have attached the screenshots taken after 30 or so mins of use & play.

Yes, you are correct, my computer is a laptop. I am pretty sure the nvidia card I have is a dedicated graphics card however (for eg. geforce experience suggests i can run sims3 on high with it).

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA...0M.71859.0.html

Hello, was there something else I need to do? I know it's the holiday season so people are probably not as active in reading & replying, I am just concerned about this thread getting locked before someone is able to help me figure out what is going on with my game. Thanks again!

Those are very reasonable temps! I know you say you've tried messing with the graphics options, but have you tried turning Smooth Edges (aka anti-aliasing) down or off?

Huh, that option is greyed out actually (none of the others are).

Changing the settings doesn't seem to make a lick of difference. Trying to explain the problem better: it's like the background overtakes the foreground in the flickers, moving the camera around with sims present & part of the screen over the top of them turns to grass & sky (sometimes in big blocks, sometimes in a horizontal line pattern). On the loading screen this happens to the water, some of the water becomes the colour of the sky (the edges are not blocky btw). (Took some videos, not sure how to upload them).

It's so puzzling because my system can play sims3 - with settings on high, although i tend to turn them down to avoid overheating, so why not sims2? Backwards compatibility issue? I know my CPU could be a little faster too, but it should be good enough for min specs right? Although, before this problem it was working fine.

Okay, that's the problem. Have a look at Game Help:Getting new graphics cards recognized by the game^wiki - that should help you get the smooth edges option re-enabled. Once that's done, change it, and you should find that the glitches are gone.

I think that's it! I can see it doesn't recognize the card.

Struggling to implement the solution (never gone near a config file before in my life) - I assume it works the same for sims 2 as sims 3? Everything looks the same when I open up the files, even if they are in different places. I feel so silly for not realising this earlier.

Thanks for your help!

Oh, sorry - that's not the one I meant to link to. I can't find a step-by-step tutorial right now, but this thread covers the same issue: http://www.leefish.nl/mybb/showthread.php?tid=4564