I know this doesn't go here but a while back I asked a question about why my computer would be running this game slow and the thread got moved somewhere but I don't know where and when I tried to search for it when I searched for all the threads I've made I couldn't find it.

Does anyone have any idea what forum it would have been in or what could have happened to it?

I'm trying to figure out what I need to do to be able to run the game faster plus I just got an expansion pack and so I figured I would just get more memory but then I looked at the system requirements for Sims 2 and expansion packs and it said 256 Mb which is what I have so I'm not sure if that's why it's running slow but then I remembered the thread I made on here and I think they gave me some good answers but I can't remember what it said and now I can't find it.

Any help will be appreciated.

I've looked at all the system requirements and I can't seem to figure out what would be wrong, everything looks great but it would be great if I could find that thread.

I don't see any thread from you about your game being slow - you can find your previous threads by going to your own profile (click on your name where it says "Hi, DrewCat" at the top right) and then clicking the "Find all threads started by DrewCat" link in the left column.

Sims 2 system requirements are here: http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php...em_Requirements

That is, however, the -minimum- requirements just to get the game up and running... not the requirements to run enjoyably, playably well. There are recommended system specs listed on that page, based on what we've seen over the years. I had 512 mb of RAM when I first started playing TS2 with just the base game and it was abysmally slow, almost unplayable - especially if you have integrated graphics, additional RAM is a -big- help.

If you can post up your system specs to let us know what you've got, we can recommend whether upgrading would be a good idea or not... generally, putting more money into an old PC is... sort of iffy. You can often get a much better result just saving up for a while and getting an inexpensive new PC - and not spend that much more money - than you can putting money into expensive upgrades on an old PC that will never be able to run things really well.

I think I may have figured out what is wrong. I just looked at the system requirements that are posted on here and I apparently wasn't looking at the video card part on the other website...

Anyway, I think the problem is my video card. I have a Dell Dimension 2400 and the video card only has 64mb of memory which is way less than I apparently need. Now that I think about it, I believe that is what they told me on my other thread which I guess has been deleted since then. Everything else does look good though.

Is there anything I can do about this? I've been looking around a little and it doesn't look like it is very possible to replace a video card on this kind of computer.


==System==

* Operating System: Windows XP
* System Manufacturer: Dell
* System Model: Dimension 2400
* Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.20 GHz, ~2.2GHz
* Memory: 254 MB RAM
* Page File: 366 MB Used, 258 MB available
* DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c

==Display==

* Name: Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller
* Manufacturer: Intel
* Chip Type: Intel(R) 82845G Graphics Controller
* Approx. Total Memory: 64.0 MB

* Main Driver: ialmrnt5.dll
* Version: 6.14.0010.3889 (English)
* Driver Date: 8/20/2004


==Sound==

* Description: SoundMAX Digital Audio
* Driver Name: smwdm.sys
* Driver Version: 5.12.0001.5243 (English)
* Date: 10/29/2004


==Disk & DVD/CD-ROM Drives==

* Drive:
* Free Space:
* Total Space:
* File System:
* Model:


I don't know where to find the info on the Disk & DVD/CD-ROM Drives so if someone could let me know I will put it there. I ran the dxdiag but I couldn't seem to find that on there.

I'm not sure why it says 254 MB RAM because I think it is supposed to have 256 MB.

Anyway, I'm hoping there is someway to just buy one thing for this computer to make it work better which I thought was going to be memory but now I see that it may be the video card that may be the problem. Of course I will buy both if that is possible. I just need to find out if it is even possible to get a new video card for this computer because I don't want to buy RAM and then have it still not work.

Thanks for any help really.

Yeah pretty much everything there is weak. You don't have an actual video card but an integrated chip which shares your RAM - of which you have very little to share. Adding RAM would probably improve your performance, as would upgrading a graphics card (assuming it's a desktop it's possible) but you'll likely have to get a new power supply to power the graphics card, and then you're looking at say at least $50 for RAM plus $50-100 for power supply plus another $50-100 for a graphics card... none of which will give you -vastly- improved performance (though it would be some improvement, for sure).

Ya might be better off just saving up for a new PC and playing TS2 on absolute lowest settings - lowest resolution and graphics settings, small lots... watch for weird graphics stuff happening and shut down and let your PC rest if you notice weirdness.

Thanks

How much would the cheapest new computer that would run well cost? I really have no idea. Is it just a few hundred dollars? I don't need a new monitor or anything like that.

Oh and I'm a little concerned Seasons won't even run since it already runs slow without it but I haven't installed it yet since I don't have it yet.

I thought everything else with the computer was actually fine though. What other parts are you talking about that are 'weak'? I mean I know it's kind of old but what else about it would need to be upgraded?

I feel like if I can just get some new RAM and video card then that would be great. That is of course if it's even possible to do that. If anyone knows anything else about it would be great. Otherwise I'm just going to have to keep researching which I've had enough of for today. Plus I knew a little bit about ram but video cards I have no idea so that will be a whole other thing.

Well, the processor isn't great either - and generally when you're talking that old a processor, that low of RAM, and no graphics card and such, this is probably an older motherboard that doesn't have the ability to use a lot of the newer, better hardware - so you're stuck paying extra for older stuff that isn't going to run as well, because it's all that will fit and work, even though there's better stuff at just as low or a lower price that you can't use because it won't work in your machine.

I'm looking and... the RAM you'd be looking for looks like it'd be DDR SDRAM - going to be hard to find now as most of it is DDR2/DDR3. You can go up to 2 gigs max of RAM in there, though so you -could- add RAM - though that's about all you can really do here, and that RAM would only really be usable in this PC - if you got another one later on you couldn't pull it out of your old PC and reuse it to save money.

One of the reviews I'm finding for the Dimension 2400 says there's not even an AGP slot for a graphics card (let alone a PCI-E, the one that's widely used now) so that's out too.

Unfortunately what you have just isn't built for gaming - it's meant as a surfing the internet, writing emails, doing spreadsheets and word processing kind of thing, and no amount of upgrades will really fix that. Sorry.

Who woulda thought playing the sims could be so complicated...lol

Yeah that's pretty much what I read about the graphics card too. Well as far as I got with reading about it. I thought I read that you could maybe do the PCI thing but I don't know like I said I didn't get very far. So complicated. My brain can't process(lol) any more computer information tonight. Will be back later.

HP is right, even if you spend hundreds of dollars doing as much as that computer can support, it would still be very weak and not ideal. The technology is just too old.

If you decide you would like to buy or build a new machine, have a read through the stickies.