Sims not working in Windows Vista

[Beckinsale]

I want some help to run Sims game in Windows Vista. My desktop is entirely new. It has Windows Vista in it. I had checked the game specification which says that it will be able to perform under compatibility mode. I had some old games also which works quiet fine. But only SIMS is not working well. I do not understand what is wrong with this. I need help for the same. How to run Sims in Windows Vista. What is the optimum settings needed.

[Diggs]

About which edition you are talking. Is it Sims 1 or Sims 2. Sims 2 games work well on my girlfriends laptops. She also has Windows Vista installed in it. The game installation works fine, but yet we had not tested the older edition. Remember that you need a bit good graphic support to run the game. Second install in admin mode only. The game need certain files to execute. If you are on limited account there are maximum chances of facing errors. Try to re-install the same and get driver patches if required. Check the system requirement of game first and then go for the installation.

[Illeana]

Sims 2 works great. I too have a Vista laptop and there is no issue with that. All you need to do is update your system with latest updates. You have to run Sims update also. There is a online web service in the game that can update the game for better performance. Just run sims2_update.exe. You will need to execute this under Safe Mode. I am not sure about the patches but there might be some available on the official website. You can download and run the same. If there is a more older edition then try to change the compatibility mode to XP or 98 or 95. Change the basic settings and then launch it.

[Eithne]

The problem surely lies with Sim 1, while Sims 2 work fine. I have both the game. I can play Sims 2 with all additional pack and it work well. There is no issue at all. While SIM 1 is not working at all. The installation was very slow, but it finished anyhow. When I try to launch the game the game slows down and freezes. I was able to use Sims 2 but not Sims 1. After updating my existing video card drive I had gain a better output in the game performance. I had given up on Sims 1 and not willing to install that.

[Han$naH]

Crashing is the most common issue that is noticed in Sims 1 on Vista. I do know why. Even though there is XP compatibility mode available that you can use to run the game. I had tried a number of option but still struggling with the same. Later on I though to install Sims 2, but the same issue. The old games are facing similar issue while new games does not give much trouble. I had installed Vmware. I had installed Windows XP on that and now installed Sims 2. That worked well. But as going for virtualization cause too much issue related to cpu performance. You need a better system for that.

[LeSueur]

To some extent software conflict is also responsible for the same. Due to antivirus or incompatible drivers the issue is common. Remember that for a bit older system you need older codecs and patches. When last time I had installed Windows XP in which my antivirus Norton was responsible for the errors. There are some security application that might causing the file to load properly. You must disable your antivirus first and then try to play it. Or else it might not work well at all.

[Vanilla]

I have a Windows XP system. Sims 1 is not working on that. When I launch it, there is a black screen and the game crashed. I was using Norton 360. It was a trial. I removed it after the trial was over. Now when I tested the installation again it worked. I do not know how to add the game under exception list of antivirus. But if there is any such application installed in your system there is no way you can run the game. The only way to make it work is by disabling the same completely. Second thing running the game patches and updates are the other most important thing that you have do. If there are no patches you cannot do anything. You can find those on the official game site only. Second thing at the time running the game disable background processes.

[shawntae]

Somehow removing your antivirus and then switching to other is a real pain. It is a bit complicated method that you can go for. The game is outdated and that is why you cannot locate patches or updates for that quiet easily. I had seen a number of blogs and website which still provides those patches. I will advice you to get a much newer editions and quiet the old one. It is not at all worth playing according to me. I am using Nod and I had not faced any issue when installing Sims 2 on my Vista system. To some extent your video driver is too responsible for game crash. For older system you will have to downgrade the drivers to run the game as they do not work on latest drivers. This issue is commonly noted on system which has graphic cards.

[Gregoryl]

I do not think antivirus might be responsible for the same. There can be number of reason. Older edition of Sims work well on XP. No doubt you need right patches for them or else it is no worth useful. Also there are certain gpu which does not support this game. You need to find that your card does not comes to that list. Somehow recent antivirus software is capable of identifying the difference between game files and malicious software. You can try to disable your firewall at the time of playing the game.

[Judy B]

Somehow I agree with the antivirus things. In older system the antivirus is not capable of unblocking the game. That is the reason I do not like Norton. SimCity 4 works quiet best in Vista 64Bit. Making changes to the DEP settings of the game can help out much. Right click on the game file and click on Properties. Then click on Advance system settings. At the left side you can find the Performance Tab. In that click on settings > dep. Turn it on for all programs and then try to relaunch the game again. You will need to add all the .exe files in the DEP list. You can try the same settings for older edition and hope that will work. Do not forget to run the game update or download patches which will fix the issue to some extent.

[cleih]

i am having the same problem as rockonzombie but i have 3 gig ram and 320 gig hard drive and best buy told me it would work and it installed and i could save as many times as i wanted and when i went out of it and went back in to it i tried to save again it will not save

[brad 1234]

hi my sims game is not working there r line on my home and i can not do nothing at all to the game anyone no what i can do to fix it

[SpearMan]

hi my sims game is not working there r line on my home and i can not do nothing at all to the game anyone no what i can do to fix it

First of all you need to specify in details whether the sims game was able to launch on your computer or not prior to the problem. What is the computer specifications you are having? Have you tried updating the graphics driver to the latest? Do you get any error messages when launching the sims on your pc, if so then post it here.