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Instructor
#76 Old 10th Feb 2005 at 2:24 PM
*sigh* no bumps for me. I have ATI Radeon 9200.

If I can convince my hubby to upgrade the card again(had an onboard, got this in Sept for $179 so S2 would work). Which one would be best to get?
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Lab Assistant
#77 Old 10th Feb 2005 at 5:56 PM
I have saved the NVIDIA 61.77 driver on my computer, so I'll try those and see if Bumpmapping works with those drivers on my 6600 GT.

Hope it works !
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#78 Old 10th Feb 2005 at 7:41 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Katt1367
*sigh* no bumps for me. I have ATI Radeon 9200.

If I can convince my hubby to upgrade the card again(had an onboard, got this in Sept for $179 so S2 would work). Which one would be best to get?


There is no clear answer to your question Katt. It all depends on how much you want to spend, what sort of games you play and what level of performance you want. There is such a huge choice of video cards available for such a wide range of prices it is unwise to recommend any particular card. My advice would be to decide first of all on how much you want to spend and then look for the best card you can find for that price. If you read all the posts in this thread you should get some idea which video cards work best for Sims2.
Guest
#79 Old 10th Feb 2005 at 8:02 PM
Here's a great site for all types of vid drivers and info about them. There are also a good number of hacked drivers which address certain issues.

http://www.guru3d.com/
Field Researcher
#80 Old 10th Feb 2005 at 11:58 PM
Saw what problems highend graphics cards linke GeForce 6600 and 6800 has using bump maps in sims 2.
Just had to check mine (Sapphire Radeon X800 Pro)...
Downloaded Semloh's bump-tester...
Pheew those bumps were showing loud and clear
Hope all who has problems will find a solution!
Lab Assistant
#81 Old 11th Feb 2005 at 1:08 PM
humnnn older drivers huh?? but then what will I have problems with??.. what other program maybe maya or World of warcaft..

DUM PUTERS!!!! I HATE THEM I say we boycott them all..

Now if you will excuse me .. I have some work to do on this damn infernal machine...
Field Researcher
#82 Old 11th Feb 2005 at 3:33 PM Last edited by lilsweetiecori : 11th Feb 2005 at 3:40 PM. Reason: forgot to add...
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!! You are my hero!!!

edit: I have a nVidia GeForce FX5200 (bump mapping didnt show up right away but followed your tut it worked wonders as you can see )

Now one prob, I wanted to get a new graphics card, I was thinking about a:
ATI RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB DDR AGP Graphics Card 100-435002 (just copied what it said on best buy site) will bump mapping work with that? (and is that a good card? $250 you know :nod: )
Screenshots

† mom, July 8, 2006 †
Lab Assistant
#83 Old 11th Feb 2005 at 3:43 PM
Bah.............. :fight:

I'm really desperate. Tried to use older drivers ( 6177 ).

Not only my other games ( HL2, DOOM3 ) wouldn't work properly anymore but TS2 would not start at all, probably because those older drivers didn't have the high end 6600 and 6800 included.

Anyway this really is a shame. I still have my GF 5200 though. I Might put it back in my computer if I don't find a solution with the 6600 GT.

Guys I need your help !!
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#84 Old 11th Feb 2005 at 11:01 PM
lilsweetiecori:

The ATI 9800 PRO should work just fine. I have an ATI 9600 PRO and there are no problems. I think someone else posted in this thread to say their ATI 9800 worked OK.

zarmor:

Sorry to hear about your problems. Maybe you just have to live without Sims2 bump maps - they aren't so great that it is worth messing up Doom3 and HL2
Test Subject
#85 Old 12th Feb 2005 at 9:58 AM
I have a Geforce 6800 and tried out the old NVIDIA driver (v61.76) as suggested by TotallyUnzipped. AND IT WORKED !!
You can download it from here
http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/GR...adro-6176.shtml
Guest
#86 Old 12th Feb 2005 at 12:05 PM
This is my first post, but wanted to drop a line as to my discoveries on this issue. I had previously a HERCULES 3D Prophet 4000XT 64M and i could not get bumpmapping to work no matter what i tried..... just seemed the card would not support it. It had only partial dx9 support, so i played with the drivers, and although it ran the game fine, i could not get hardware rendering to run without errors. In frustration, i picked up the lowest end 'Full 9.0 support' card i could still get a Best Buy, and low and behold, bumpmapping and full hardware rendering was enabled by default
My new card is XTASY ATI RADEON 9550 128.
Oh My God what an amazing differnece hardware rendering makes.... and bumpmapping, although subtle, is a hell of a visual improvement. May I strongly suggest this 99 dollar card for those that need a low cost upgrade.
Lab Assistant
#87 Old 12th Feb 2005 at 11:31 PM
I'll try the v61.76 I'm downloading right now. If it works, I'll consider it a miracle ( 61.77 didn't work ) ! Thanks for the link caeru !

As suggested byTotalyUnzipped, I'm going to complain on the nvidia forum also...

I croos my fingers...
Lab Assistant
#88 Old 13th Feb 2005 at 1:33 AM Last edited by wrolyat : 13th Feb 2005 at 2:05 AM.
Ugh!
I have a 2 year old dell with a pentium 4 processor with Windows XP and a
6 month old video card called "Nvidia Geforce2mx400" and I just downloaded the newest driver for it (the Sims 2 looks a lot better now ), I followed your tutorial, opened up bs, but no bump mapping, also, there was no astrek signaling that it was custom content, I don't no what is the matter. I gave you my video card name (oh yeah, I downloaded version 66.93, the newest driver) and everthing I did, I don't know what is the matter. I took a screen shot to show you what it looked like, I don't even think that your custom content is even on their, I checked my downloads folder and it was there. I don't no what is wrong :confused: . Also, I am letting you download my edited files described in the tutorial. Please help me!
Screenshots
Attached files:
File Type: rar  Graphics Rules for the game.rar (5.8 KB, 37 downloads) - View custom content
File Type: rar  Graphics Rules for BS.rar (5.8 KB, 28 downloads) - View custom content
Test Subject
#89 Old 13th Feb 2005 at 1:56 AM
This is the latest two systems I built and I see the bump mapping. There has not been a game I can't run with graphics and audio maxed out. I recommend ATI cards as I have used them for years with no problems. ATI keeps their drivers updated. My wife’s system is identical except for 1 gig ram. She has so much stuff running in the system tray and Sims 2 still runs fine. Anyway, maybe this will help someone decide on a hardware upgrade.

Antec Case - SL450 450 Watt ATX12V
ASUS P5P800 – 800 MHz FSB, RAID, Gigabyte network
Intel P4 HT 3.2
2gig DDR 400 RAM
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256
ATI TV Wonder (Remote)
Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy 2 Platinum eX
Creative 7.1 Surround Speakers (Remote)
Maxtor Ultra ATA Card
Maxtor Hard Drives (Internal): 2 – 300 gig, 1 – 200 gig, 1 – 160gig, 1 – 120 gig
(External): 1 - 200gig
2 Dual layer DVD Burners
2 CD Burners
Sony 19” Monitor
Windows XP Home

ThisDude
Test Subject
#90 Old 13th Feb 2005 at 4:38 AM Last edited by ArellaEliora : 13th Feb 2005 at 6:16 PM.
Does anyone know if the NVidia G-Force FX 5500 256MB DDR is a good card for The Sims 2? I just bought one on sale for $90.00. If it isn't, I can sell it to my husband since he wants to buy another one anyway - he likes the dual display setup it has. :nod:

In case someoe else might want it, this is where I got it:
http://www.pcclub.com/product_detai...itemno=A9602746
Instructor
#91 Old 13th Feb 2005 at 4:47 AM
Quote: Originally posted by wrolyat
...
6 month old video card called "Nvidia Geforce2mx400" ...


Its not six months old, you might got six months ago but that card is over 3 years old (I know because I owned one).

It does not support bump mapping.
Lab Assistant
#92 Old 13th Feb 2005 at 12:31 PM
I found some Nvidia drivers on the NVIDIA Forum that seem to improve the performances of the 6600 and 6800 cards. This forum is the one that TotallyUnzipped mentionned a few posts up.

Those drivers are the 71.80 ones ( beta drivers ). I have saved my configuration and I'm going to try those and see if Bumpmapping works with this one.

I'll keep you posted.
Test Subject
#93 Old 13th Feb 2005 at 12:43 PM
Ditto. Can also confirm GeForce 4 MX400 does not support bumps. Waiting for arrival of Radeon9700PRO. Received 9700non-PRO in the mail. NOT happy. Sending back. 9700PRO best bang for your bucks at the moment.
Lab Assistant
#94 Old 13th Feb 2005 at 6:06 PM
So I have the Nvidia 71.80 drivers now. I runned the 3DMark05 test and it looks like the performance is better than with the 67.66 drivers.

I have also printed the 3DMark05 analysis of my system. This includes the graphic card capabilities and it says the 6600 GT is Bumpmapping capable :confused:

So why can't I see any bumpmapped textures with TS2 ?

Totally Unzipped, did you make any progress on your side ?

I guess I'm going to go through Semloh's method all over again with this new driver.
Lab Assistant
#95 Old 13th Feb 2005 at 6:58 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Drakron
Its not six months old, you might got six months ago but that card is over 3 years old (I know because I owned one).

It does not support bump mapping.



Oh, thanx I guess :weep: .
Lab Assistant
#96 Old 13th Feb 2005 at 7:03 PM
I think that I should start saving up for a new video card now, what kind should I get and how much does it cost?
Guest
#97 Old 14th Feb 2005 at 6:46 AM
Default wrolyat, need more data
Quote: Originally posted by wrolyat
....I took a screen shot to show you what it looked like, I don't even think that your custom content is even on their, I checked my downloads folder and it was there. I don't no what is wrong :confused: . Also, I am letting you download my edited files described in the tutorial. Please help me!


To see if it can be improved, please check the following files:

My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Config\userProps.xml
for the lines:
<AnyBoolean key="activeDeviceUseSoftwareRasterizer" type="0xcba908e1">false</AnyBoolean>
<AnyBoolean key="allowCustomContent" type="0xcba908e1">true</AnyBoolean>


C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\TSData\Res\Config\globalProps.xml
for the lines
<AnyBoolean key="bumpMapping" type="0xcba908e1">true</AnyBoolean>


run the game once and then open the log file:
My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Logs\{username}-config-log.txt
and post a reply with the contents of your log file.

With this data, we can see what your maching is really doing
Test Subject
#98 Old 14th Feb 2005 at 4:50 PM
Simloh I'm so thankful for people like you and so many others at this forum. You guys figure out the techie stuff and then point us in the right direction (then coach us along as needed)

Unfortunately there are no bumps for me

I was surprised since I run the game with all settings on high and it runs very smoothly.

Simloh, Alta, and Bucks Glover: Thank you all for the posts earlier in the thread explaining the compatibility issue with older GeForce cards and newer versions of DX.

I have the GeForce TI 4600 which I have no complaints with. My husband is able to play his Military battle games with 3D graphics-no lag or lock-ups.
My water is blue and my colors are vibrant. I can live without bumps until I can save up $500-$600. We've decided no to upgrade until we can get the card we really want.

Thanks again!
Test Subject
#99 Old 15th Feb 2005 at 12:53 PM
I have the NVidia G-Force FX 5500 and It wouldn't show bumps until I edited the Graphics Rules.sgr file. Now I have the bumps.
Lab Assistant
#100 Old 15th Feb 2005 at 10:17 PM
Quote: Originally posted by m1dkn1ght
To see if it can be improved, please check the following files:

My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Config\userProps.xml
for the lines:
<AnyBoolean key="activeDeviceUseSoftwareRasterizer" type="0xcba908e1">false</AnyBoolean>
<AnyBoolean key="allowCustomContent" type="0xcba908e1">true</AnyBoolean>


C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\TSData\Res\Config\globalProps.xml
for the lines
<AnyBoolean key="bumpMapping" type="0xcba908e1">true</AnyBoolean>


run the game once and then open the log file:
My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Logs\{username}-config-log.txt
and post a reply with the contents of your log file.

With this data, we can see what your maching is really doing



In My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Config\userProps.xml it says <AnyBoolean key="activeDeviceUseSoftwareRasterizer" type="0xcba908e1">false</AnyBoolean>
and

<AnyBoolean key="allowCustomContent" type="0xcba908e1">true</AnyBoolean>

but in the C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\TSData\Res\Config\globalProps.xml it says that bump mapping is false.
I started up the game and then exited, but there is no info in the log, so I don't know what is a matter.
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