Video Card Question

[Cathair1]

Hello, I've already posted something about this but I've seemed to fix the problem the way I wanted. If you happened to read something awhile back about a "Video Program" Message, I happened to fix it by not installing Generations or the most recant path for my base game to run Generations. I'm afraid it might be Generations that is the issue but I'm not quite sure. I thought it was most likely that because the updated version of Generations could be too advanced for my graphics card, which explains the message. I also thought it could be the new patch because even though this is a new laptop I'm having the issue with it's a replacement laptop that is the same one I was using before and I used both the newest patch and Generations. Has anybody else experienced issues with the newest patch? I really need help because playing how it is is quite annoying because I basically lost the 40 dollars I spent on Generations and I can't play the game even in the updated version.

I know it sounds like little things, but it's quite annoying.

Thanks a bunch!

[Pam]

I believe the graphics requirements increased with the release of Pets, but I haven't heard about Generations.  Your best bet would be to check the graphics card in your computer against the requirements for the most recent expansion pack you use.  If you bought the disk, it will be listed on the back of the box.

[jeanamariex3]

Technically the requirements have always been the same. It's just that lower end computers that were only at the minimum could only handle the base game, and that Pets threw in the towel. Most laptops aren't really for gaming anyways, unless you have a dedicated gaming one. They tend to overheat even doing business tasks like checking your Facebook. So it's normal that your game is running slow on just the basegame alone.

[Cathair1]

Thanks for everybody's help, but the problem seems to have vanished! Wierd... I guess I just needed to uninstall it and then install a second time for my computer to let it work. I also checked the video card and it seems to be a decent size, but its introverted so I doubt I would have been able to do anything in the first place if the problem was still evident.

Now that I think about it though I believe it was the games that I backed up from my old computer and put on my current one. I reinstalled the game without the old save files and just started a new one, and it works perfectly fine. I have a feeling that might have been the problem. I did have three save files, one of which was on, like, a fourth generation or something. Maybe the files were just to big, who knows.

Leaving that all aside, I'm happy the problem is fixed and I appreciate you all took the time to try and help me! Your advice made me check everything and think about what the problem could have been. Thanks so much!

[Pam]

Technically the requirements have always been the same.

I was sure I'd read that the requirements had changed.  Where did I see that?  Seabody!  Help! 

[Cathair1]

 thought I might have read it online when I was thinking about getting Pets, but they might have mentioned it in a new patch for the adjustments it would make.

[Seabody]

I was sure I'd read that the requirements had changed.  Where did I see that?  Seabody!  Help! 

I just checked my game cases. The Hard Drive requirement went up by 1GB, but that appears to be it, other than some wording changes. I'm not really that good in hardware (stuff like the Hard Drive, RAM, Graphics Driver, etc), by the way.

[Ellenser]

Technically the requirements have always been the same. It's just that lower end computers that were only at the minimum could only handle the base game, and that Pets threw in the towel.

They tend to overheat even doing business tasks like checking your Facebook. So it's normal that your game is running slow on just the basegame alone.

This is true, unfortunately. I have a middle-class gaming laptop that runs games such as Diablo 3, Skyrim and the Sims 3 at high settings, though I need a laptop cooler with a fan (about 10-15 USD for anyone who's curious) which prevents it from overheating too much. Pretty much any laptop that is used for computer-intensive processes need a laptop cooler, though. As for just surfing the net, that's probably more a problem with cleaning the inside of the laptop and leaving the fans exposed.

As for the gaming requirements, while the technical minimum requirements have remained relatively the same if you want to have an enjoyable experience, you must have a better computer, especially if you have the expansion packs, even moreso with the newer expansion packs. I wonder how weather will affect lower-end computers!