Hi Ken,
Will the Sims work on XP is a frequent question asked in this newsgroup.
According to EA Support the game should work under Windows XP.
Hold onto your hat though, because they have a lot of suggestions to offer:
1. Make sure that you are logged in as the Administrator (for Windows XP
Professional) or Owner (for Windows XP Home). This will usually be the first
account that was created once Windows XP was fully installed. If you are not
certain, contact the manufacturer of your PC for assistance in finding your
Administrator/Owner account.
2. Make sure that you have closed any programs or tasks running in the
background. To do this, hold the Ctrl and Alt keys down at the same time and hit
the Del key once. This will in turn bring up a window called "Task Manager". You
will then see 5 tabs; Applications, Processes, Performance, networking, and
Users. Select the Processes tab; this will list all current programs that are running. Close all programs that have your login ID
next to them. Your user ID is listed in
the second column next to the program name. For example here is a portion of
what you should see;
Image Name User Name Session ID
Explorer.exe Owner 01
The Image Name column is the name of the programs currently running. The User
Name column is where you will find your User Name. The best way to check this
is to locate "Explorer" and see what it says under User Name.
Also, do not close any applications that say "System" next to them. Be sure not to
close a program labelled "Explorer" or "Taskmgr" as well. You close each one of
these applications by clicking on each one and hitting the button "End Process".
Note some applications may take multiple times before closing. Don't worry that
you are permanently changing your system configuration; these applications will
return when you restart your system.
3. Try editing the shortcut to The Sims. To create a shortcut, Right-click on the
desktop, choose New, Shortcut, browse to The Sims folder. (Usually C:\program
files\maxis\the sims\sims.exe) Choose Next and finish the shortcut. Right-click on
the new shortcut and choose properties. Go to Shortcut, and the Target Line
should be high-lighted. Add the following switches to the end of the line: -nodx6 -
skip_verify -w
(Ex: "C:\..\the sims\thesims.exe" -nodx6 -skip_verify -w )
As a last resort use the -nosound switch to disable the game sound.
4. Try running the game in Windows Compatibility mode for either Windows
98/Windows ME or Windows 2000. You can do this by right clicking once on the
shortcut and selecting properties by left-clicking on it. Click on the tab that says
Compatibility and enable "Windows95/98 compatibility mode" or "Windows 2000
compatibility mode". You can also try running the installation for the game using
the Program Compatibility Wizard. You can find the wizard program by clicking
on Start - All Programs - Accessories and you will see the shortcut for Program
Compatibility Wizard listed there. Make sure that as you walk thru the menus that
you select the option "I want to use the program in the CD-ROM drive." which
will be the options on the second screen of the wizard.
5. Update the drivers for your sound and video cards. To update your soundcard
driver, go to your sound card manufacturers web page and download the most
recent Windows XP driver available for your Sound card. To update the driver for
your video card, first determine what type of card you have. This information
is usually available in the System control panel, in Device Manager, under the
display adapters heading. Next, try to obtain a new driver for that device from the
manufacturer, either by downloading one from the manufacturer's website or by
contacting the manufacturer of the card directly. Installing newer drivers for both of
these cards should fix your problem. If you need help installing these drivers,
please contact the manufacturer in question, as these drivers are not our products.
6. Try to lower the sound acceleration for your sound card. To do this:
a. Go to Start>Find>Files & Folders.
b. In the "Named" box, type the following: dxdiag.exe
c. Then make sure the "Look In" box is pointed to your (C:\) drive.
d. Click "Find Now".
e. After the file has been found, double click on it to run the
application.
f. Click on the tab labelled "Sound".
g. Lower the Hardware acceleration down to "basic"
h. Click "Exit" and try to run the game.
7. Try to lower your video hardware acceleration. I would like you to right click
on your desktop and select Properties. Click on Settings and then on the button
that says Advanced. Once there, click on the tab that says Troubleshooting.
Adjust the setting to one notch to the right of NONE. Also, be sure to check and
make sure that the option Write Combining has been unchecked. Then try the
game again.
8. Also, if you have any virus protection programs like Norton or McAfee,
temporarily disable them by right clicking on the icon in your system tray in the
lower right corner of the desktop and selecting "Disable" or "Exit". Also be sure to
end all background programs before attempting installation. Do this by hitting
Ctrl+Alt+Delete simultaneously and end tasking all applications except for
Explorer and Systray.
If the game still won't start up, try rebooting your computer, then before you do
anything, make sure to end all background tasks then try starting up the game.
Also, make sure that the default cdrom drive in windows for playing audio cd's is
the cdrom drive that you installed the game from.
a) Go to "CONTROL PANEL" (click Start -> Settings -> Control Panel)
b) Double-Click "MULTIMEDIA"
c) Click "CD MUSIC" Tab
d) Where is says: "Default CD-ROM drive for playing CD music", choose the
letter of the drive that the game was installed from.
Source:
http://eatech.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/...lPTMmcF9wcm9kX2x2bDE9MzY5JnBfcHJvZF9sdmwyPX5h
bnl_JnBfY2F0X2x2bDE9fmFueX4mcF9jYXRfbHZsMj1_YW55fiZwX3NjZl9mYXFzKmMkcGxhdGZvcm09MTgyJnBfc29ydF9ieT1kZmx0JnBfcGFnZT0x&p_li=
--
Cheers, Windows XP MVP Shell / User
Jimmy S.
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
Game FAQs:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=FH;[LN];gms
Visit my Zone.com / Gaming Helpsite:
http://nibblesnbits.tk or Call / Contact
MS Support at:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=sz;en-us;top
My advice is donated "AS IS" without warranty; nor do I confer any rights.
_________________________________________________________
| Hi,
| We got a new computer,(emachine,windows ex)and my
| daughter is trying to run her sims game on it. Operating
| system for the game is windows 95 or 98,(windows nt not
| supported).
| Is there anything we can do to make these games work on
| our windows xp.
| Thank You
| Ken
