"Video Program" Message

[Cathair1]

I just reinstalled the game on a new computer and transfered my old game files to the new ones. I'm not sure if I did an update of some sort but now when I open the launcher and hit play I get an error message that said I didn't have the correct video programming or something of the like and I needed to check the hardware. I'm not much of a tehnical issues kind of girl but any ideas would be great. I already uninstalled the game and the one expansion pack I have but I didn't know if there is some new deeper problem I'm unaware of. Oh, and the game was working fine last night when I tried it out to make sre my previous games worked, and the only odd thing I noticed was my game wasn't in the wide screen it usually is. It was kind of smushed in and had those black border things on the side. If that relates to my "video software" issue or whatever I'm not sure. I would appreciate if somebody of technical savvy could help! 

[Pam]

Welcome to our Forum, Cathair1.

Since you've already uninstalled the game, I suggest that you re-install it and take a screenshot if you get that same message.  It might help for us to see the exact wording.  To take a screenshot, press the PrtScn button on your keyboard (or Ctrl+PrtScn or Alt+PrtScn if it doesn't work the first time), then open MS Paint and click on Edit then Paste.  This will give you the entire screen that you can save as a .jpg file and upload to the Forum using an image hosting service like Photobucket or our Gallery.

[Cathair1]

Thanks for the advice, Pam! But I thought you might want to know I might have found a problem. A series of events happened exactly the same the second time I reinstalled the game. I install the game, install Origin, attempt to install the Generations pack through Origin because I bought it with immediate installation, and it gives me an error message saying I need to update my game through the launcher. I just tried to open the game without installing either the update or the Generations pack and it works well. Could the Generations pack or the update have caused this problem? Also the message originally said video card not video program, so it could also mean the updated version is to advanced for my current video card. I'm also only available to a certain amount of money, so I can't necessarily buy a new game or something. Also, I noticed my game isn't in full screen, which is quite annoying, can I get it back to full screen? Sorry for all this overwhelming info, but a lot is going on!

[Cathair1]

Also, I went ahead and found my graphics card info to see if anybody has a clue if this is a good or bad one.

Chip Type: ATI  display adapter (0x9712)
DAC Type: Internal DAC (400MHz)
Adapter String: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4200
Bios Information: BK-ATI VER010.094.001.053.039995

Total Available Graphics Memory: 1405 MB
Dedicated Video Memory: 256 MB
System Video Memory: 0 MB
Shared System Memory: 1149 MB

There are quite a few modes, about 33 of them, and they almost all use 60 Hertz, if that matters.

I hope this might help somebody to help me!