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Field Researcher
Original Poster
#1 Old 9th Jan 2011 at 8:10 AM

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 3, World Adventures, Ambitions, Late Night, Generations, Pets, Showtime, Supernatural, Seasons, University Life, Island Paradise, Into the Future
Game randomly "crashes" to desktop, but still is running and playable
I don't know if I fully described the issue in the title. I will go back to desktop view randomly while playing the game, and have to click the icon on my toolbar to return to it constantly. I don't even know if that makes sense, because it doesn't completely crash, just goes to the desktop as if I'd pressed Alt-Tab. This has happened with a couple other games as well (but not as much), so I'm not sure if I put this in the right place.
I've had other issues, but this is the only current one, as I got a new desktop a few months back. I chose a graphics card that was recommended by this site (but I did get the error message in-game that it was not supported by EA), and it has 8GB ram. I had a bad problem on my old computer, but it ended being a bad save file, and have since gotten rid of it. Since that nightmare I hadn't played TS3 much, and as such I'm on my laptop more often, which is why I have a lack of info on my specs. I have Windows 7 64-bit and wonder if that's a problem (it never happened on my Vista pc, but I had that other problem on there), or I'm thinking maybe it's the graphics. Oh yeah, I just patched the game before I noticed the problem - but as I said, i rarely am on my desktop these days, so it may have been a problem for a while. I have the base game, WA, and Ambitions installed. I own Late Night but have yet to install it because I started having issues during WA and got burned out, so I never really got to play Ambitions. So it's patched to the newest for Ambitions.

Sorry it was so lengthy, but I just really want this fixed so I can go back to really enjoying the game. Also, I have Norton 360 if you think that may be problematic.
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Née whiterider
retired moderator
#2 Old 9th Jan 2011 at 1:57 PM
Default MTS2 Staff Reply
  • General - Post System Specs
    We need more information before we can help with your issue. Please post your system specs - instructions on finding them are here: Game Help:System Specswiki.

    If it is not specifically asked, please provide the Quick summary only.

Have you tried playing in windowed mode? Switching in and out of fullscreen games can be very, very slow even on a pretty good computer.
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#3 Old 9th Jan 2011 at 8:45 PM Last edited by werismyki : 13th Jan 2011 at 11:57 AM. Reason: Merged posts: 3417961, 3418007
==System==
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.100618-1621)
System Manufacturer: Hewlett-Packard
System Model: HPE-350t
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU
Memory: 8192MB RAM
Page File: 3805MB used, 12494MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
==Display==
Name: NVIDIA GeForce 315
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip Type: GeForce 315
Approx. Total Memory: 4058 MB
Main Driver: nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
Version: 8.17.11.9793
Driver Date: 5/21/2010 5:27:10 PM

==Sound== (I have several sound tabs, but the first seemed the one I needed; the rest are for Tunebite)
Description: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Driver Name: RTKVHD64.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.6053 (English)
Date: 2/25/2010 4:14:46 AM

==Disk & DVD/CD-ROM Drives==
Drive: C: ; E:/F: (normally E: )
Free Space: 764.6 GB
Total Space: 941.9 GB
File System: NTFS
Model: WDC WD1001FAES-60Z2A0 ; hp DVD A DH16AAL/hp DVD D DH16D5S

I was supposed to include my DVD drives, correct? I hope this all made sense.

I will be trying windowed mode out now.

Okay, it seems to run perfectly fine in windowed mode, but when I went to save I got error code 16. I found a workaround, but it was still annoying. It seems fine in windowed, but I really would like to be able to play it fullscreen. I'll be awaiting your reply. And thank you so much for helping, I'd go to my tech-savvy bro, but to be honest I doubt he'd know - he stopped playing these games not too long after TS2 came out.

EDIT: I suppose I should add that I've done all the general issues instructions, but that was on my old pc with the old problem as stated in my first post. I practically started from scratch on the new one, and as it's only been so long that I'm not sure I need it - the game's not exactly crashing, after all. And as previously mentioned, this - well, similar things have happened with a couple other games.
Mad Poster
#4 Old 10th Jan 2011 at 8:42 PM
Is it possible that you have some program that is taking control of the desktop, causing the game to minimize to the taskbar? Do you have other programs running while you are playing the game? The issue you are describing is not a crash, but a minimizing of the game. This does not happen when you run in windowed mode? I ran full screen for the first 6 months or so when I bought the game, then due to some issues with a patch that prevented Alt+Tab switching, I started playing in Windowed mode. Personally, I prefer Windowed mode. What are your display settings set for and what size do you run the game in windowed mode?
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#5 Old 10th Jan 2011 at 8:57 PM
The only thing running in the background is Norton 360 - my anti-virus. Norton has been known to take up a lot of CPU, but I've had no problems before. I guess I could try disabling it (disconnecting from my network first, of course), and try running TS3, see how that goes.

My settings are about average - some are in the middle, some higher, some lower. I have a large monitor, so the resolution is pretty high, but I don't know if that could affect it much.

I run the windowed mode practically fullscreen, like a maximized browser.

Like I said, I didn't know what to call my issue, that's why I put quotes around it. Also, I don't get any Windows alert pop-ups that can make programs minimize - that's happened before, but this is different. I really appreciate your help!
Mad Poster
#6 Old 10th Jan 2011 at 9:42 PM
Perhaps try to set NAV to silent or gaming mode, not sure it will allow you to disable it. A game crash means the game closes completely, since you also mention you are aware of pop-ups that can minimize games, etc and this is behaving differently, then I am a bit baffled too. Still sounds like some sort of windows control issue though. I asked about your windowed mode because, like you, I run my game windowed in the same resolution as my desktop setting 1680x1050. If you don't experience the issue with windowed mode, perhaps you ought to stick with it.
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#7 Old 10th Jan 2011 at 10:58 PM
I just don't like windowed mode, though.

When I disconnected from the network, disabled everything, and put it in silent mode - the game seemed to get a lot better, but then it minimized. Now it's still happening, but a little less often.
Née whiterider
retired moderator
#8 Old 10th Jan 2011 at 11:36 PM
Oh, sorry - I totally missed that it's minimising itself. This definitely sounds like there's something else grabbing the screen. Do you have another user account on this computer that you could test on?

What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact.
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#9 Old 11th Jan 2011 at 12:34 AM Last edited by werismyki : 13th Jan 2011 at 11:58 AM. Reason: Merged posts: 3419103, 3419256
No, I don't, but I can easily create one. Should I change the title of this thread now that I know what's going on? But not why, sadly.

I have a theory. I'm going to test out in a few hours - there's a clear rectangular, horizontal button (hardly noticeable, I only found out about it from research) at the right far side of the toolbar in W7 that, if moused over, shows the desktop. I disabled it and will try that out later, but I'm not sure if that's it, because I don't think I move my cursor over that way, but it's worth a shot.

Thank you guys so much! I've been going nuts over this.

Okay, I tried out my theory, but it's still minimizing. I guess I'll create a new user account and play it from there...see if that works.
shiny!
retired moderator
#10 Old 11th Jan 2011 at 5:21 AM
Default MTS2 Staff Reply
You don't have an IGP, but you do have an unsupported entry level GPU. Not the cause of your problems for now, but use the part of the guide that has you disabling background processes with msconfig. Also, don't leave other programs running while you're playing the game. All it does it eat up resources and could cause problems.
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#11 Old 11th Jan 2011 at 5:45 AM Last edited by shadedgrey63 : 11th Jan 2011 at 8:14 AM.
I have Windows 7 though, so I'm not sure if using the Vista guide would be safe. Would you recommend buying a separate graphics chip than what came with the system? I'd be happy to do that - the choices while "building" it didn't really satisfy me in the graphics department.

EDIT: I tried, but it's still minimizing. But I didn't uncheck all, should I uncheck all (except the ones required)and if that does the trick, recheck the ones I still want (one by one) until I find the culprit, then disable it?
Née whiterider
retired moderator
#12 Old 11th Jan 2011 at 10:30 AM
Following Vista instructions on 7 is fine - the two OSes work the same. A better graphics card would be a good investment; there's not much point unless we can get the game running properly, though.

Yes - untick all extra/non-required things, just as a test.

What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact.
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#13 Old 12th Jan 2011 at 5:57 AM Last edited by werismyki : 13th Jan 2011 at 11:57 AM. Reason: Merged posts: 3420148, 3421141
It seems like it worked - I played for over an hour with no issues at all. Now I guess now I need to figure out which is the problem. Thanks for helping! I'm really not looking forward to adding them back one-by-one, though...

Okay, after two long nights of exhaustion by trying to find which process caused the problem, I finally have it (of course it had to be literally the last one I tested...ugh ) - Windows Script Host. The odd thing is, there are two instances of it (one HKCU, one HKLM), but it'll only cause the game to minimize if both are running, while if either one is running by itself, everything seems fine. I'll probably end up disabling both because they are apparently big targets for hackers, etc. I just wonder if I run any software that would require it...

Thanks a ton for helping! One last request, would you be able to help me choose a new graphics card? I already have the MTS TS3 guide to help me pick one out, but I'm not great with finding one that will work with my computer. If you can't, it's fine, as I know my brother could help me with that, while using the guide to see what the best choices are. Again, thank you so much for your help! :D
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#14 Old 16th Jan 2011 at 11:53 PM
I have it all worked out. Turns out I actually have been infected by trojans for a while, so that may have caused this, but I also solved it anyway. I'll work on getting a new card soon. Thanks for all the help! This can be closed now.
Locked thread | Locked by: werismyki Reason: RESOLVED
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