Why is Save Game Date is in Advance of Actual Date?

[Gheez]

I've had three crashes where my laptop has completely turned off.  The first related to the Security Level 7 issue (for which EA are working on a Patch), the other two seem to have been random.  The most recent crash caused real problems with my laptop. I've finally got the laptop working again and am wondering whether or not to continue to play.  The crash happened whilst I was saving my game.  I went in to the directory to look to see how the backup of the save games worked, figuring that the latest save was likely to be corrupt and discovered that the most recent saved game is dated in advance of today's date and my system date.

I'm really confused by this. It doesn't help that the date of the saved game is April 01, 2011.  April Fool's Day.     By the way, this is not a wind-up, I've saved a print-screen.  I've been unable to log into the official EA Forum site to seek advice there, couldn't find anything relevant when I searched on-line, then I thought of you all (probably should've thought of you first, sorry) - has anyone ever come across anything like this before?

I'm currently dithering about what to do, whether or not to try playing again.  Ah decisions, decisions.  Any advice or opinions would be most gratefully received.  Thank you.

[Katluvr]

I just did a quick search on the EA forums and it sounds like there are 2 known issues that cause crashes and a bunch of other users who seem to be experiencing crashes unrelated to the known issues.

Known Issues
EA said they are aware of and working on fixes for:
1.  Level 7 Security - which you have already experienced.
2.  Video Settings - turn mirror reflections off in your video options

Possible Issues
1.  One of the TSM developers posted that they are having some problems with the game running on systems that have integrated video cards.  I have no idea of what that means, but if you fall into that category it sounds like EA is also working on a fix for this.  No estimated date/time for a patch, though.
2.  EA is also suggesting people make sure their video drivers and Windows are all up to date.  The general consensus on the forum is that this is a stalling tactic while they figure out what is really wrong, but it might be worth checking to make sure everything is up to date.  EA also suggests running in windowed mode instead of full screen mode.

It sounded like a lot of people were having corrupted game files because of the crashes, but I didn't notice if anyone mentioned the same situation you described.

One EA forum member posted the following that seemed to my relatively un-computer-savvy eyes to be constructive:

"I understand all of your frustration..but I have to say that when I looked at alot of the specs on the other page only a handful of windows 7 users had the service pack 1 installed.

when i installed it and ran the game in XP mode as admin, reinstalled Direct X drivers and most current ATI HD4800 driver I can play now and in high resolution.

I was very frustrated a few days ago too but now I am able to play just fine.

I still have reflections turned off as I dont think it is really needed in the game but other than runing is xp sp3 mode as admin everything is working fine..I have 10 of the 15 buildings up and moving along on quest.

So good Luck everyone!"

I hope this helps.

[Gheez]

Thanks Katluvr.  I may give this another go in after a fortifying hot drink, for courage. 

My major worry is that I'll damage my laptop as, with the last crash, I had to do a system restore and it took several attempts to get Windows to start.  I've also just run a virus check - the April 1st date was worrying me - but all seems fine. 

Well, off to get a cup of tea and face my fears...

[Katluvr]

I'm really useless when I run into problems with my computer - I have to call a friend to help me out.  If it were me, I don't think I'd risk blowing up my computer - but I wish you lots of good luck.  In the meantime there's always TS3 until EA gets this sorted out.

[TheChronicR]

@Gheez - Did you change the default graphic settings? I really recommend not to change the default settings if you're not sure that your machine has more than required to run the game. I changed my settings to medium and it worked fine for 20 minutes, but then BAM and the Blue Screen of Death (Yes, it was blue)! Game lost, laptop 'recovered from a serious problem', me left crying.  It's all about that, don't change it, and you will be just good. My defaults were all set to low.

[Gheez]

@ Katluvr - the patch was released just as I was about to attempt to play again. I'm hoping that this might mean that it is safe to play again.

@TheChronicR - I left the default graphics as they were - they were all on low.  I'm sorry that you had problems and lost your game when you tried to turn yours up.  The default settings for my graphics on TS3 are also low but I found, with TS3, that I could turn up the sim detail, to medium, without running into problems. Maybe there will also be a halfway house state for you?

So, I've patched my game to the patch released earlier today.  I couldn't open up my save game because of the advance date and also could not open up a renamed backup file with a more correct date.  I gave up and deleted them and have started again from scratch.  The game appears to be running fine.  (Can't check about crashing with the security over 6 as I'm back to the very first quest - won't be checking about the reflections as I'm sure that my laptop wouldn't be able to do them, anyway.)  

Thanks.

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Edit: the latest patch has fixed my problem with crashes related to placing a building that brings the security level up to 7.  If you've also been affected, then I hope it fixes your problem too.