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Original Poster
#1 Old 23rd Mar 2017 at 7:18 AM
Default Leaving sims 2 running while not playing?
I am trying to upload a video to youtube which will require it to stay awake while I sleep and if I just leave it alone, it will sleep, but I need to figure out a way to keep it awake during the process, and one of the possible solutions was to leave sims running. but i also know this can be dangerous for the comp itself so I was wondering if someone can help find a good solution to this. I am very frustrated about this whole mess because I started the process at 2pm today but my internet has been abnormally slow and it's now 1am and only at 9%. I did a speed test a few times and the upload speed kept fluctuating, but never went above 0.07 mbps.
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Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#2 Old 23rd Mar 2017 at 8:04 AM
I would wait until your internet picks back up.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#3 Old 23rd Mar 2017 at 8:22 AM
I'm on Windows 7 and this is my path; yours may differ.

Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Power Options\Edit Plan Settings

It gives the option of how long until the screen dims and/or the computer sleeps and can be set to never. Which I was forced to do when games I downloaded and defragging made me keep the computer on overnight. DX Dim screen doesn't stop things loading if you don't want it really bright when you're trying to sleep.
Mad Poster
#4 Old 23rd Mar 2017 at 11:42 AM
I'm not entirely sure what you're trying to do here, but I think you're just trying to keep your computer from going to sleep during a long upload to YouTube. If so, you should do it through the computer's Control Panel, the way that Charity describes. I had to set my computer to never sleep soon after I got The Sims, because on my setup (also Windows 7 but on a low-spec netbook computer) I find my Sims game cannot recover if my computer goes to sleep while the game is running; the game just hangs, and cannot respond to any keystrokes or mouse clicks. Trying to keep your computer awake by leaving The Sims 2 running is not a good idea. Do it through Control Panel / Power Options the way Charity describes.

In any case, if you leave your game running in live mode (and not paused) while you sleep yourself, you will almost certainly wake up to find all the Sims in that family dead.

All Sims are beautiful -- even the ugly ones.
My Simblr ~~ My LJ
Sims' lives matter!
The Veronaville kids are alright.
Mad Poster
#5 Old 23rd Mar 2017 at 1:52 PM
She could just leave it on the neighborhood screen, but yeah, there are better ways to do this. Even if you're not on Windows 7, every computer should have a means of customizing things like when it goes to sleep, what screensaver it uses, what programs are prioritized, etc. If you can't find your manual (or it's so badly written you can't learn anything from it) you need to go poking around in the nuts-and-bolts software. If you tell us what OS you're using somebody here'll be familiar with the system and able to tell you the exact path.

Ugly is in the heart of the beholder.
(My simblr isSim Media Res . Widespot,Widespot RFD: The Subhood, and Land Grant University are all available here. In case you care.)
Mad Poster
#6 Old 23rd Mar 2017 at 2:05 PM Last edited by simmer22 : 24th Mar 2017 at 1:02 AM.
If I need to keep my computer running during night, I make sure sleep mode is turned off, pause the game and go to the tab with settings (not live or buy mode, because there are sims and objects to render in the panel), move the camera to a place witout too much stuff in it (ideally just a patch of road or grass) so the game doesn't have much to render in the screen itself, and turn off the screen (won't work for laptops, but works fine for a stationary).

I tend to leave the computer on whenever I'm in the middle of a photoshoot, because my game spends at least an hour loading on the stationary computer, plus setup time and all that, and it's time I'd rather spend simming. I've had it running for as long as 3 days, but by then there's a lot of memory clutter, so that's often when my game starts doing pink-flashing, and more or less demands a full restart of the computer if I want to play any more.

Leaving the computer on for a while can make clutter crop up in the background, mostly because the working memory isn't emptied out. This can make the computer run slower. A restart tends to fix that problem.

Many workplaces, schools and computer geeks often leave computers running during the night (either because of laziness, or because of programs that spend several hours or even days doing time-consuming tasks), and most of the time nothing bad happens - but leaving computers on it increases the risk of something happening to it (like electrical faults), and computer parts can tire out faster if left running for an extended time, particularly if they're doing heavy tasks that causes a lot of heat. It's often safer to turn the computer off when you can, particularly if you're not in the house or not using it for several hours or days. If you're in the middle of a thunderstorm, unplugging it will save you from buying a new computer in a worst-case scenario. Also, if you're not using the computer for an extended period, turning it off saves a lot on the electrical bill.
Scholar
#7 Old 23rd Mar 2017 at 5:17 PM
I used to leave my Sims running all day long on my desktop

"Oh look, my grandchild is now an elder. They grow up so fast. Gee, I wonder when I'll finally graduate college." Sims 2
Mad Poster
#8 Old 23rd Mar 2017 at 6:17 PM
I will add that no matter whose directions you choose to follow, make sure you click apply in the bottom right corner. Otherwise it won't be applied to your computer and your computer will go into sleep mode, anyway.
Mad Poster
#9 Old 23rd Mar 2017 at 8:15 PM
I often REALLY leave the game running, so that family I'm tired of can figure things out for themselves. With ACR & "no welfare workers" that can get interesting. Babies on the floor, fires, death by stupidity (I'm starving, so I'll stand in the snow and paint till I freeze & die).

Stand up, speak out. Just not to me..
Former Hamster
retired moderator
#10 Old 23rd Mar 2017 at 8:32 PM
I leave my game running for days on end when I'm on a building spree - the longest was just over a week. (At that point it was time to exit and restart my computer due to the memory and things slowing to a crawl.)

But it sounds like the only reason you want to do this is to keep your computer "awake" so you can upload a video. So I don't see any point in leaving your game running just for that. Is your upload/download speed usually that low? If not you'd likely benefit from exiting any/all programs that you don't need running before trying to upload a video. Having things running that are making your computer do things in the "background" (like the game - even if you're not playing there are still computer resources being used) can actually make other things you're trying to do go slower.

And if none of that makes sense, I blame this stupid head cold I can't seem to get rid of. Everything makes sense to me but when I try to say it out loud/write it down it just seems like a lot of blathering nonsense, lol.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#11 Old 23rd Mar 2017 at 10:54 PM
I'm surprised I am the only one who said wait for the internet speed to pick up. She said
Quote:
my internet has been abnormally slow
, meaning it's not normally like that. To me waiting until it picks back up is what they should do regardless, because with speed that slow they video may not upload properly, game on or not.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#12 Old 23rd Mar 2017 at 11:16 PM
I wish whoever clicked "Disagree" on my, Peni's, and simmer22's posts, as well as lunatails' original post, would post in the thread and tell us what we're all saying that's wrong. I hate the disagree button in these sort of factual matters, because I feel I must have got something wrong, but don't know what. I'll never learn from my mistakes if I don't know what they are. As a template for your post, I suggest:

"AndrewGloria is spouting nonsense when he says . . .

"The way it really works is . . ."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm not convinced that leaving The Sims 2 running will stop the computer from going to sleep. I know mine used to go to sleep when I left the game running unattended (never in live mode unless paused!!!) before I changed Power Options to tell it never to go to sleep. (In my case the computer sleeping was always fatal to my continuing the game, because The Sims 2 would not respond to keystrokes or mouse clicks when the computer re-awoke.) It is however more than likely that, although I had left the game running when the computer "went to sleep", I had probably used Alt-tab to switch to another application first. So I suppose it is possible leaving TS2 running may force the computer to stay awake, provided TS2 remains the active application. But that will undoubtedly slow the upload to YouTube down. As mustluvcatz says, to upload as fast as possible, you should close all programs apart from what's actually needed to run your upload (your browser I presume).

If this post is unintelligible, please reply and tell me, rather than just clicking the Disagree button!

P.S. I often find that, when my computer is abnormally slow, merely rebooting it, and then leaving it alone till everything has finished loading, speeds it up no end.

All Sims are beautiful -- even the ugly ones.
My Simblr ~~ My LJ
Sims' lives matter!
The Veronaville kids are alright.
Mad Poster
#13 Old 24th Mar 2017 at 12:32 AM
With Jo - wait until the internet returns to normal, because there are few things as frustrating as a slow internet.
With Andrew - the pc is not going to go to sleep if a game is running - it has to be more intelligent than that. It won't go to sleep if you are downloading during the night, why would it go to sleep if a game is running? The thing will only go to sleep as scheduled if nothing is happening on it.
As for those disagree button pressers - I have given up to understand how their minds work; and gained a lot of peace for my soul
Former Hamster
retired moderator
#14 Old 24th Mar 2017 at 2:51 AM
Er... um.. well.. I didn't even notice that the OP said their internet has been abnormally slow. Oops. I posted when I'd been awake all of half an hour at that point - and went back to bed almost right after that. (Ready to go back to bed now too, stupid cold. I've been sleeping more than I've been awake the past few days.) My point still stands though: when doing something like uploading a video or other large file, closing any unnecessary programs is a good idea.

Re your computer going to sleep/staying awake if your game is running: I did forget to say that my computer goes to sleep if my game is running, doesn't matter if I had alt-tabbed to something else first or not.
Mad Poster
#15 Old 24th Mar 2017 at 3:04 AM
I thought that they were in the middle of uploading at that moment, so they couldn't wait for faster internet.

Do sims always die if left to their own devices? Are there none intelligent enough to take care of themselves?
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#16 Old 24th Mar 2017 at 3:17 AM
I would cancel it then.

My computer normally stays awake if my game is on paused. But a couple of other programs have just randomly put it down, even when I am in the middle of playing. Very annoying. So if that happened it would end up going to sleep if left.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#17 Old 24th Mar 2017 at 5:45 AM
Quote: Originally posted by joandsarah77
I would cancel it then.


But if it's halfway through and has been going for hours and you don't want to lose the progress, then have to go through the frustration all over again. Why yes, my internet does suck.
Mad Poster
#18 Old 24th Mar 2017 at 3:04 PM
Just a phantom disagreeer probably, but Andrew, I disagree with the point that all the sims will die when left to their own devices This has happened to me, but usually as a result of having Real Sickness and many garbage-kickers in a hood! Or when the fridge is running low and no sim has a job. I find that generally, sims are very good at taking care of themselves given a chance.

I use the sims as a psychology simulator...
Mad Poster
#19 Old 24th Mar 2017 at 5:11 PM
Well...they will all eventually die of old age, unless you've turned aging off.
Mad Poster
#20 Old 24th Mar 2017 at 6:07 PM
@lunatails
Do you have Windows media Player? if you do..easy. Create yourself a playlist, have it play with Turn repeat On. let the WMP window open. here you go.
No need your sims running. Your computer won't go into sleep while it is playing.

Je mange des girafes et je parle aussi français !...surtout :0)

Find all my old MTS Uploads, on my SFS, And all new uploads Here . :)
Mad Poster
#21 Old 24th Mar 2017 at 6:12 PM
If your computer insists to go to sleep while you are playing a game, perhaps there is a setting that needs to be changed.
Née whiterider
retired moderator
#22 Old 24th Mar 2017 at 6:14 PM
It's incredible the lengths people will go to in order to avoid changing a setting that's not how they want it .

What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact.
Mad Poster
#23 Old 24th Mar 2017 at 6:18 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Nysha
It's incredible the lengths people will go to in order to avoid changing a setting that's not how they want it .

Well, nothing would work for me when I did try to change my own settings.
I found out about WMP after i realized..my computer did not go to sleep. lol
The reason i had was silly indeed, but still. I did not want to miss a message my lover would send...but just keeping my chatting program ON was not enough. So i know that trick works anyway. But maybe the OP could just set it as they want, like I said for me..there was like NO setting = forever, and this is what i wanted..back then.

Je mange des girafes et je parle aussi français !...surtout :0)

Find all my old MTS Uploads, on my SFS, And all new uploads Here . :)
Mad Poster
#24 Old 24th Mar 2017 at 11:13 PM
Go to Control Panel --> Power management. There should be a text to the side that says something about changing when the computer goes to sleep or turns itself off. You can also make a custom power management plan (probably a different name for it), where you can tell the computer exactly when to turn off the screen and when to put in sleep mode ("never" is an option).
Née whiterider
retired moderator
#25 Old 25th Mar 2017 at 12:58 AM
It will still turn off when it runs out of battery, of course. Make sure to plug it in!

What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact.
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