I'm having someone rebuild my PC for ts2 specifically, is there anything in particular I should look for (specific graphics card or SSD) in order to have maximum output of graphics and be able to handle a ton of cc? I have 30gb of cc...

Money is not an issue but I know buying the most modern equipment won't make a difference since ts2 is so old it won't recognize the new technology. So I am kinda scares to spend money on something that won't make a difference or will break the game because it doesn't know how to run it on a modern engine.

Thanks for any help on this

I know nothing about PCs, but it might be a good idea to try and clean out your CC. 30gb is a lot :o

I did this:
Good graphic card.
Extra ram (even though not needed strictly for the game, it helps if you do other things. I have a small business and can send and read my e-mails while running my game). I have read somewhere, sometime, that your downloads should not be more than half of your RAM (although I can't remember where and would not know how it works) - but I advise at least 8.
Very important: a processor that is quite fast if you say money is not an issue - because it does make a difference. I have an i-5, which is not the fastest or the best, but still faster than a lot of others and I never have to wait for hours for my game to load.
Enough storage space.

Thanks, I never had to wait longer than 15 minutes for 30 GB of cc to load and my computer is 6 years old. I guess I need to look at my processor and see if I could buy an upgraded version for my new computer.

Definitely get an SSD and put your Documents location on it - it makes a huge difference to loading times with lots of CC. As in, down from an hour to five minutes, that level of difference.

After some reconfiguring & experimentation, here's what I did. For playing Sims 2 (only - I don't use that particular puter for anything else & don't have it connected to internet), I have a Dell Optiplex computer running Windoze XP, 2 Gb of RAM, Nvidia GeForce graphics card. I tried Sims 2 on another Dell rig with Intel processor, but it seems the game doesn't care for Intel cards. It would only play for a few minutes & then stall, making a highly annoying buzzing sound.

I'm definitely getting an SSD, does anyone know what part of a computer reads the cc in the documents folder... Finds it, and makes it appear in the game? How do I make this process faster? Is it the processor or the ram? Is the Sims limited in how much cc processing it can handle at any given time?

Hmmm - I've been umm-ing and arr-ing over getting a SSD for a while. My game loads in 5 minutes anyway (less actually) but I have and maintain a fairly mid-high range rig because I play other games. I'm still thinking about it but that's an interesting observation about TS2.

TS2 works fine on Intel CPUs, the issue you (lizard) experienced was caused by something else.

labella, apart from the SSD, the CPU and RAM both impact how quickly your computer can read and write files - but it takes a lot more CPU power and RAM to run the game than it does to process CC files, so you don't need to specifically consider CC loading when you're picking those components.

I read somewhere, don't recall where, that Nvidia graphics cards are best for Sims games. I had one in my old Windows XP rig, so I put that machine back into service & so far so good.
It may be that what Sims 2 disliked, wasn't the Intel card but the Windows 10 operating system I was trying to run it on. ?

Stay away from cards not intended for gaming or a heavy graphics load. If you're planning to make videos, or have your settings on high at all times, make sure your system can handle it. If the card has dedicated memory, that's probably a bonus.

As for RAM, 2 GB is in most cases too little on a newer system, or with Windows Vista and above (XP used much less RAM to run background tasks). The game can only make use of 2 GB as a default setting (depending a little on the system), BUT you also need to consider Windows and other background programs. I'd say 4 GB is the minimum you need with the newer versions of Windows (they often need 1-2 GB of RAM for background tasks), and 8 GB is usually enough, but as high as 16 probably doesn't hurt. You really don't need a lot more. Spending a lot on a ridicolous amount of RAM if you're only playing Sims is really a waste of money, because there's an upper game limit (4 GB with a bit of editing) so you won't be able to use it all. However, if you're doing other things, like rendering or making videos, or using other programs that eats up large amounts of RAM, then sure - go ahead.

When that's said - I have run Sims on 512 mb of memory on a (by today's standards) very crappy laptop with XP (it often switched to using slower harddrive memory, though), but after 5-6 years it gave in. Couldn't handle more than around 9-14 GB of CC (and loaded that amount in anything between 1-4 hours, which now takes my new laptop around 5-10 minutes to load...)

The PC I use has 4 GB RAM, and could really need some more - but it runs the game fine most of the time (I do get the flashing pink RAM issue occasionally, though - and no, that's technically not a graphic issue, but a RAM issue. The computer runs out of texture storage, dumps the older information, and all the objects that now lack textures start flashing pink).

Reducing CC is a good idea, and will give your game a better performance. So will playing on smaller lots, playing with fewer sims/pets, and turning off shaders and/or reflections and shadows, and all those other boring things. But who wants that? Make sure your graphics card is up to the task, that you have enough RAM and a good enough CPU, and you can play around with a pretty game as much as you want.

I upgraded to a newer computer a couple of years ago, and am still using basically the same video graphics card I did before upgrading-an NVidia GE Force style one (dedicated) with a slightly faster speed. Any of the ones listed in the tech side of this site will do well-but avoid the ones they've marked as 'marginal' or 'very bad'..they're a waste of time and money.

But to maintain the computer is half the battle. I'd suggest that once you get one that you prefer, you keep it in shape by defragging it on a regular basis, and go through your CC as well. 30 gigs of CC is a bit much for any machine.

I asked a similar question 'bout a month back. My dad was upgradin my comp and was curious about video cards. With what my dad upgraded me my Sims 2 runs great. Video wise it could be slightly better so I'm gonna put my old nVidea card back and see that doesn't do the trick. However, it's not that big of an issue so I'm not sure when I'll be doin that as it means stoppin playin lol.

Here is what I got:
Motherboard - MSI
Chip - A6HM-E33 V2 FM2+ mATX
CPU - AMD A6 7400k FM2+
4g memory
New power supply (one that fit the old case)
I already had a fairly new 1T HD.
I run Win7.

I love my newly upgraded comp. It runs so nice. Hope you enjoy yours as much as I have mine

What do you use @maxon that gives such good loading times? I have 11Gigs of cc and it's taking close on half an hour. Not that we can afford to upgrade yet but it's on the horizon.

Well, I don't have as much CC - maybe 8GB now and that makes quite a difference - for one thing I can't cope with much more in the catalogues and I'm always weeding (I'm always adding too). I keep thinking I should strip a lot of stuff out but the problem with playing neighbourhoods long term as I do is that you use CC for some townie or community lot and you can't get rid of it ever after. There's something to be said for short-term neighbourhoods apparently. I've got some old hairs that really should go though.

Then I have a custom built rig and it's fairly good. It's not *very* high end because I'm not wealthy enough for that but I can buy good mid-range components (which are researched first for specific performance features) and Him Indoors is an electronics engineer and knows what he's doing. It has a whizzy processor (i7), fairly heavy duty video card (which I'll probably look to replace this year) and lots and lots of RAMz. We built it last year and it has already had a RAMz upgrade. That's what will happen - I'll keep updating parts until I get to a point where it's better to rebuild which is what happened with this one (The Behemoth 2) which replaced the first Behemoth. I did cannibalise some parts (I still have the old hard drives and the power supply which was a great big thing anyway, speakers and headphones - I kept the monitor initially but then it went kaputski so I bought a new nicer one about three months ago) but most of the rest is replaced and I bought a very nice new hard drive which was chosen, in part, for its file transfer performance (something that contributes to loading times, hence the interest in SSDs). I'm thinking about an SSD but I haven't bought one before now because early on there were reliability issues with them. So it's fairly new, is made with pretty nice components and is kept fairly up-to-date as an ongoing process and that's probably what makes the performance difference alongside the lower amount of CC. It's a good machine and I like it. I was pleased with our design and build.

Well it sounds better than my old girl, she is getting by on spit balls and band aids. Can you suggest a card? Mine is 6 years old, I don't know how it keeps going. I've also had the SSD suggested but can't afford that right now.

2-3 years ago (I lost track) I got a laptop that was relatively high end at its time and it’s still not bad now for TS2 and other games:
Intel Core i7-4710HQ, 2.5 GHz (can go 3.5)
8 GB RAM
NVidia GeForce 860M 4 GB (dedicated) and Intel HD Graphics 4600 (integrated)
I’m thinking about increasing RAM (I can upgrade to 16 GB), not for playing TS2 specifically, but when I run the game I also run other things and my RAM usage is usually quite high. The only problem is that Windows doesn’t like me and I sometimes have issues (I reinstalled it yesterday but it’s even worse than it was before, so today I’ll have another attempt; yay I guess), but it’s not the hardware fault.

I currently have 16 but think more would be good.

I often start with the PC Gamer comparison testing articles - they're pretty informative and give specific recommendations which I've found to be pretty reliable in the past. http://www.pcgamer.com/tag/top-buying-guides/

This is their latest video card analysis (they do them regularly) http://www.pcgamer.com/the-best-graphics-cards/ There's a nice Radeon card recommendation there in the mid-range stuff though I have to say it still apparently has a lower performance profile than the one I bought last year which I thought of as mid-range at the time. I'm pleased to see my now near year old video card is still appearing on those charts close-ish to the top though it's been outstripped now by newer releases. It was a good buy I think. (although - wow - checking on Amazon, it's now more expensive than when I bought it - blimey).

For mid-range SSDs, they're currently recommending the Samsung 850 EVO 500GB which, though it has some drawbacks, has considerable strengths too and is at a much more affordable price than other similar drives. http://www.pcgamer.com/the-best-ssd-for-gaming/

Thanks, saving those. So which one is your card? I've always been fond of NVIDEA cards myself. This 9800 Geforce that I have has been the best card I have ever had. It was one up from what they recomended at the time (since I did not trust their views on what I needed for sims 2) I guess I'm nervous of new cards because I doubt they are aimed at old games like sims 2 but things like Mass Effect. I'm worried that I will get a new card and it will give me nothing but issues when trying to make it run an old game.

I see that Radeon card, that is a very good price compared to what the Geforce cards sell for now. I think I paid about $300 6 years ago. Those SSD's are way cheaper than I was told. Maybe that Geforce GTX 1050 Ti could be an option, if it struggles with new games it might be better for something like sims 2.

I also did the same I got a brand new computer because I do love my CC and on my old computer was crashing something more than 9gb and I got like 25gb. so now I am starting from scratch. I installed the game on my hdd but the download is on my ssd
Aspire VN7-792G Core i7-6700HQ
17.3", 1920x1080 Pixel, LED Backlight - Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M - 1TB HDD, 512GB SSD.

I too tend to prefer NVidea cards but the Radeon I bought (R9 390 series) was one of the top-scoring mid-range cards when I bought it. I think it's seventh now on that comparison rating. Not bad for a year+ old card. It makes TS2 look pretty nice - not the best - I've seen better definition but it looks well and when I installed Dishonored 2 in November it defaulted to the highest graphics settings. So I'm fairly happy with that. I'll probably give it another 6 months and then review. Depends on how well it does with Mass Effect Andromeda. What surprised me slightly was looking at the price on Amazon shows it has not gone down in price (it has high ratings on there too) and in fact, I paid less for it than the current recorded price. I know price is an issue in Australia though - you tend to pay a lot more than we do.

As for using new cards with TS2, I found I was able to deal with that very quickly with the graphicrules fix - no problem, just selected the most appropriate file, installed it and Bob's Your Uncle. I know not everyone has a problem-free experience but, as I said on that Win10 and TS2 thread, you tend not to hear from those of us who have a trouble free experience. These are a couple of pictures I took yesterday in Little Carping - looking at that, I realise it needs MOAR TREES. Didn't used to look that sparse so that's a measure of how the graphics have improved with this card (and the lovely recent updates in texture overhauls we've had). The trees definitely used to be fluffier.

I thought the same about Pleasantview a few months ago and this happened:

The performance isn’t bad, however it does drop below 30 FPS when zoomed out. But even if it were worse I wouldn’t care, I need a huge amount of plants both in the hood and on lots.

One of the things to remember with TS2 is it can't utilise multi core processors, so individual clock speed is more important than overall speed. a Single core 2.5 will run TS2 just as well as a quad core 2.5.

Getting it to address one core consistently (usuing CFF Explorer) is also a good move. I did all that too.