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Forum Resident
#51 Old 16th Nov 2013 at 4:57 AM
Thank you so much for this tutorial!

I thought my neighborhood view was doomed to 1990s-era graphics on my new laptop with a more than adequate graphics card. After much tweaking of the Graphics Rules and finally this tutorial, everything looks as it should. *is greatly relieved*

Thanks again!
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Test Subject
#52 Old 26th Nov 2013 at 3:35 PM
I also had this problem and then when i finally restarted the game after i did the things to fix it, it worked! Thanks so much, i thought i'm the only one that had this problem!
Lab Assistant
#53 Old 22nd Jun 2014 at 9:05 PM
Thank you worked perfectly. I got carried away and changed too much and now I can't change my lot option ,ie, decorations, neighbors. Do you happen to know what those options are called so I can fix it?

[SIZE=3]
"I asked for a car, I got a computer. How's that for being born under a bad sign?"

~Ferris Bueller's Day Off, 1986
[/SIZE]
Theorist
Original Poster
#54 Old 23rd Jun 2014 at 10:07 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Access Denied
I can't change my lot option ,ie, decorations, neighbors.
What options are you talking about, specifically?

If it's changing the surroundings in lot view (neighbors, neighborhood decorations, view distance), then they're found under Game Options.
#55 Old 14th Jul 2014 at 8:45 PM
Quote: Originally posted by DJ.
* Please note that if you have Intel HD Graphics/Intel Express Chipset Family (or something similar to that) as your graphics card, do not follow this tutorial. Intel Graphics is an onboard graphics chip which handles basics of basics - surfing the web, checking mail and other similar stuff - it's definitely not designed to handle demanding games such as The Sims 2.


This is a somewhat old thread and as you can see I've used this tutorial before on a different computer. Now I play Sims 2 (with all EPs/SPs and CC) on a laptop. The game runs really well for me and shows no sign of bad graphics except pool water on lots doesn't reflect and my hoods do have the solid water and hay grass terrain. I am in the process of fiddling around with creating my own SC4 terrains and testing some out in the game. In order to get a real feel of what they look like I wanted to change the graphics of the game to give me the reflecting water and nice grass. Of course, being uneducated about graphic cards and such, I knew not to change the way my hood looked until I looked some stuff up. I found out my graphics card for my laptop is the Intel(R) HD Graphics Family card right when I read over this quote again. I guess it never caught my attention before because I was unaware I had this card. So now I know definitely not to change the way my hoods look and am even weary of playing the game with this card even though I've played it on this laptop for somewhere around 2 years.
I do still really want to get rid of the hay grass terrain and even just play the game, so what can I do? Can I buy another graphics card to replace this one? And how would I go about that (which card to get/how to install)?- the option of switching to a better desktop/laptop is not possible at the moment, but I'm sure I can figure something out. Thank you
Test Subject
#56 Old 15th Jul 2014 at 3:43 PM
I have a question. what happen when i do this in a pc with intel graphics? The game will crash?
Lab Assistant
#57 Old 18th Jul 2014 at 2:11 PM
I do it with a netbook... with a netbook with the REALLY minimun specs... >:DD And it was awesome! I never see my neighboorhood with so many colors and BLUE and GREY and BROWWN like terrainpaint before <3~~ but anyways, it wasn't showing any issue or crash or lag or anything like that. So... that. Nothing more, just passing here. Very good thread eh!



*runs*
Test Subject
#58 Old 28th Jul 2014 at 9:00 AM
I am eternally grateful, THANK YOU SO MUCH. The low-quality graphics almost made me quit Sims and throw my new laptop out the window.
Test Subject
#59 Old 30th Jul 2014 at 4:11 PM
Somehow, none of this worked for me. I've tried everything, and now my notepad won't even find the areas that the post was specifying. It would at first, but now it won't even find things that are actually written in the .sgr file. I'm not sure if it's a problem with my computer or the file. Either way, it didn't do anything to the water besides add these weird white diamonds to it. At least it was trying to work, though.
Test Subject
#60 Old 11th Aug 2014 at 8:50 PM
Thank you soooo much! This solution worked :D
Test Subject
#61 Old 4th Sep 2014 at 10:23 PM
What if your computer does not come with Notepad
Test Subject
#62 Old 3rd Oct 2014 at 2:14 AM
* Please note that if you have Intel HD Graphics/Intel Express Chipset Family (or something similar to that) as your graphics card, do not follow this tutorial. Intel Graphics is an onboard graphics chip which handles basics of basics - surfing the web, checking mail and other similar stuff - it's definitely not designed to handle demanding games such as The Sims 2.

I have a question. So it doesn't matter what type Intel HD Graphics card you have (I have Intel HD Graphics 4000), you're still advised not to use this method to solve the solid water problem right? Because I'm too wary at the moment to mess with my graphics settings because of this.
Theorist
Original Poster
#63 Old 8th Oct 2014 at 9:07 AM
That's correct. You shouldn't be applying this method if you have any cards that have "Intel" in the name.

Moreover, I'd advise you to get an actual graphics card if you plan on playing TS2. It's not just the grass texture and water reflection that break your computer when played on a weak chip such as Intel HD Graphics, it's the game itself. It may seem ok to play the game at first (no slowness, no blurriness, medium settings, all good), but once the card starts having a hard time catching up with all the work that it's told to do, you're going to start seeing blurriness even on lowest settings, and slowness even on OS-level. Sorry about that.
Test Subject
#64 Old 12th Oct 2014 at 6:08 PM
Bleh, this is really disheartening to read through. I would think with a game series that's ten years old, my two year old laptop would be able to handle it.

Here's my variation on the problem, though. I had been playing the Mac version of TS2 on this laptop, with the Intel HD 4000 card, and it looked great with no performance issues. However, the Aspyr Mac ports of the game only ever went up to Bon Voyage, and I was curious about playing the full version of the game (FT + AL and stuff packs), and I'd finally bootcamped my Mac and installed Windows 7. Once I installed everything on the Windows OS, however, I got all the hay grass, blocky water and some of the in-game graphics glitches described here. Is it still unsafe to try this fix, since it looked like my other Mac hardware was handling the game better than a standard PC laptop? (I can understand there's probably already a strain on the comp since it's running Bootcamp + the game, but my general understanding is Macs are sturdier machines, so I thought I'd pose the question before resigning myself to bad graphics.)

Thanks so much!
Test Subject
#65 Old 28th Oct 2014 at 9:42 PM
I recently installed the Sims 2: Ultimate Collection through origin and my neighborhoods looked like crap. I do have an Intel HD Family card in my (brand new) Dell laptop, and I did follow this tutorial. Everything works just fine now. I am able to play the Sims 4 on maximum settings with little/none lag. Can you explain to me why following this tutorial to fix my neighborhoods will seriously damage my laptop? I don't really get that..
Test Subject
#66 Old 27th Dec 2014 at 5:27 AM
Aryasa, I found out that the Ultimate Collection has this file in other place

Origin Games > The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection > Fun with pets > SP9 > TSData > Res > Config

xoxo

The Sims 2 Brasil
Undead Molten Llama
#67 Old 27th Dec 2014 at 6:24 AM
@Aryasa: In short, it's because TS2 was not designed to run under an integrated graphics chip, not even new ones. It will damage the chip over time which in turn may damage the motherboard of your laptop, to which the chip is soldered. If the motherboard is damaged, your laptop is essentially destroyed. See the info here: http://modthesims.info/wiki.php?tit...nboard_Graphics The newer games can indeed run better on integrated chips, but TS2 does not and was never meant to.

That said, many newer laptops have both an integrated chip and a dedicated card but will run TS2 on the integrated chip by default. If your laptop has a dedicated card, then if you direct it so that the game runs on the dedicated card rather than the chip, you'll be fine. And also, your graphics are likely to be a lot better.

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
Test Subject
#68 Old 6th May 2015 at 3:18 PM
Default re
I dont read Note and now my game keep craching but i turn it false and work good
Thanks for Tutorial!
Test Subject
#69 Old 30th Jun 2015 at 1:17 AM
It worked like a charm!! And the game still runs smoothly like when it was with the simple terrain! Thank you very very much!!!
Test Subject
#70 Old 12th Sep 2015 at 11:21 PM
I have an Intel integrated graphics card and it works fine for me
Theorist
#71 Old 12th Sep 2015 at 11:45 PM
@ickyriickkyy Then you got lucky. Some people do, and that's great! But sooner or later, luck runs out. I'd start saving for a new computer now, if I were you. You might find this article helpful: http://modthesims.info/wiki.php?tit...r_is_Like_a_Car

esmeiolanthe's Live Journal and Tumblr
Most recent story update: Fuchs That! on 2/21/15
Test Subject
#72 Old 27th Nov 2015 at 6:14 PM
Default It works like a dream!
Been searching for the solution to this problem for like, FOREVER!
And now the Crystal Springs' neighbourhood works like a dream!!!
Thank you, my angel!
Test Subject
#73 Old 14th Aug 2016 at 12:48 PM
Thank you, this helped me a lot!
Lab Assistant
#74 Old 1st Oct 2016 at 8:54 PM
Will this tutorial work with an Intel Core i3??? My computer is an Asus X540LA-SI30205P with 4GB of memory, 1TB of hard drive, and I am having choppy waters.
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#75 Old 1st Oct 2016 at 9:17 PM
Quote: Originally posted by tictachoe
Will this tutorial work with an Intel Core i3??? My computer is an Asus X540LA-SI30205P with 4GB of memory, 1TB of hard drive, and I am having choppy waters.

That's probably your video card (or your machine not using your modern one) - you should use the leefish tutorial or files for the graphicrules.sgr file.

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
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