EDIT: I think I fixed it, but would still like any feedback if I missed something. When I took out all my content, did that reset all the graphics settings? Because I hadn't thought to look at them before--and they were all set to "high". When I put them down to medium, the game worked fine! At least for the five minutes I sat staring at it with my mouth hanging open. Do you think that's all i needed to do? lol

EDIT AGAIN: I've played it for a bit and, while not as bad, it is not quite up to par.


Ok, about a month ago, I noticed game slowdown occasionally. It would run fine so a while, then slow for a few minutes. I had no problems loading, and it wasn't terribly annoying, so I just put up with it.

Recently, it got much worse--the game loads, but when it goes into neighborhood OR lot view, it is jerky and slow. I tried restarting--continued.

I also had some issues with webpages occasionally freezing.

So then I started troubleshooting--here is what I have done:

I do not have any custom content, but I went ahead and did the procedure where I remove ALL my content (after backing it up) and started the game new.

I removed all my cache files.

According to the FAQ, I should not need any patches.

Then I figured it might be a problem with my computer, so I did these things:

deleted all unused programs
ran cleanup files and cleanup system files
did a cache & cookies clean for all browsers
ran defrag
ran antivirus--all fine
physical cleanup of computer innards and fans

Did a restart--Sims 2 still doing the same jerky thing, but computer working just dandy. I've occasionally had lag problem for lots before--never a neighborhood.

I don't know anything else to try--any ideas?

I have the Sims 2 Christmas base game with all packs except Celebration stuff.
My computer specs have always been fine, but I did do the dxdiag if you need any of that info--just wasn't sure exactly what you need to look at.

Any suggestions appreciated!

Check the harware - memory not properly connected, power supply not working; dvd player not properly connected - all things that I experienced over time. A computer expert has actually once decided to format my pc - and in the meantime it was the power supply. If there's nothing wrong with your software, it can't hurt to check all the hardware.

could it be this? http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=481768

You still need any patch for stand alone EP's you have, Tri packs do not need to be patched.
Did you update you video card drivers just before this started.

And yes setting your settings down to med. could be all you needed to do.