Hey guys!

My game for some reason has started giving me this error message and I can't seem to be able to fix it. I was hoping one of you knowledgeable people will have a solution.
"Found no DirectX 9.0c-compatible graphics adapter on this computer! Check that you have a DirectX 9.0c-compatible graphics adapter and that you have installed the latest drivers from the graphics card maker. This program will now shut down".


What's going on
On sunday I tried to boot my game, and I got the error message. I vaguely remember having had it before but I do not remember the context. I've been able to fire up my game a couple of time, first time a restart seemed to do the trick as I was able to start it up. The next day the error message returned, and updating my graphics driver seemed to help as I was able to start but then later in the evening I closed down the game to use SimPE and since then I have been unable to start it. I've restarted my PC, I checked driver again, error persists. I tried renaming my user files to generate new ones, the error message remains.

I haven't changed anything to my PC, no updates or anything installed recently. Only change is the graphics driver I updated after the issue started. Graphics card is from February last year, I used graphics rule maker when I first got it and it's been working fine until now. I tried setting the exe to compatibility mode for win 7 and win vista, no change. What confuses me is the fact that I hadn't changed anything when the issue started, and that I have been able to start the game a few times since the message began, so clearly it is capable of running but refuses to do so. I've read a ton of threads about the issue but all the ones I found where the issue was resolved the solution was windowed mode or using graphics rule maker, but I already run the game in windowed mode and I used graphics rule maker when I first got the graphics card.

Does anyone have any ideas of something else I should be trying?

What I have done
- Restarted pc (worked once)
- Installed latest graphics driver for graphics card (worked once)
- Tested renaming user files
- Deleted cache
- Used graphics rule maker, did when card was new and tried to do again now (verified that files did change)
- Tested compatibility mode on the exe, for win7 and win vista
- Tried changing graphics rule maker resolution to match system resolution (1920x1080)

EDIT: Reopened as issue has returned.

The only thing that got my computer out of that loop was to run the game windowed (which I planned to do anyway).

The resolution shown in the picture looks a bit off, but if you've already changed it, that should be fine.

Try running without compatibility mode (especially if you're using the 4GB patch, because those work against each other).

Already using windowed mode, and have tried with and without compatibility mode with no change.

Some have had issues with monitor refresh rate being higher than 60hz. I find this weird though as mine is set to 144hz and the game works. 🤷‍♀️

Some have had success installing legacy directx

I also have https://imgur.com/9x2e1T8 this image in my list, but I have no context with it. But it appears to also link to the legacy directx.

Windows updates do seem to break any changes GRM makes. You mentioned using it again, and you did run as admin right? I'd say also check the virtual store folders to make sure files are not being saved there. You mention your resolution is 1920x1080, but GRM isn't setting your default resolution to that?

I may have found the problem, hard to say for certain but my game has started without quarrel since I applied it so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I was googling around and I came upon a thread on origins support page where people were reporting issues and getting advice. Apparently there are some issues with full screen games in general and windows 10, not just Sims 2, and one person linked to an article giving advice on fullscreen games not working well on windows 10. Reading through it one of the things it mentioned was teamviewer, and I think that might have been the issue. I accidentally used teamviewer from my phone to PC, while the game was open. I had forgotten about it, but it was this weekend so it would explain why the game suddenly got all huffy after having worked fine for ages. At any rate I tested uninstalling it. I also tested out a program that helps you update drivers and in theory it updated some drivers related to my monitor, though I am not convinced they actually installed. But since doing those two things game has opened every time I asked, so I am cautiously optimistic that it was teamviewer that was the cause of my issue. It doesn't entirely make sense to me that the effect would persist after you closed down the teamviewer session, but if anyone else has issues with directx 9 that isn't helped by graphics rule maker or windowed mode and you are using teamviewer, you could try uninstalling it.

I'll leave the link to the post I mentioned, on the off chance someone finds this thread in future having similar struggles. Origin support thread and win 10 fullscreen games article.



Thank you for the suggestions! I will take a look at them if the issue returns

^ For the teamviewer issue, some programs will continue to run background tasks even when you close them down, so to completely shut them down you sometimes have to close whatever they're running in the task manager, or shut it down somewhere else. Could be updating managers or similar.

Game has opened without complaint for 3 days now so I will conclude that it was teamviewer that was the problem, changed category to solved to reflect that Thank you again Simmer22 and HugeLunatic for giving tips!

I was so hopeful I had resolved the issue since it went away completely after I found the teamviewer thing, but today it made a most unwelcome return

What I did today that I have not done in recent weeks was open game, tinker with a building, close the game down, I used lot adjuster to expand the lot and then I tried to open the game again only to get direct x9 error. I know I used lot adjuster around the time it started last time too, though I think only once. I don't see how it could be related, but that's the only thing I can think of that I did both times, and it's hard to ignore using it now and immediately the error message is back. Teamviewer remains uninstalled and I have not installed a different type of remote control thing either, so that can't be the problem this time. Unclear if I am having the same symptom caused by a different problem, or if teamviewer uninstallation was unrelated and it just coincided that issue went away for a while after I removed it.

Grateful for any ideas or thoughts on what could possibly be going on.



I checked monitor refresh rate and it's not above 60. I tried the legacy directx link, but it says it's already installed which it is. Do you think it'd be wise to uninstall and install it again? I did the windows feature setting from the picture, I still get the error.

I have not updated windows, it may have updated on it's own I suppose as I hibernate overnight these days. I ran GRM again as administrator and the files' last change date updated to now. I do not know what virtual store folders are or how to check them but I'll investigate. EDIT: Appdata/Local/VirtualStore is empty, so if that's what was meant, then nothing there. If that's not what you meant, I'm not sure where to look

I do not play full screen, I play windowed mode and I found the resolution setting in GRM controlled the size of the window so default resolution is set to the size I want the window to be. It's been set to that since I got this graphics card and the error is new, so I don't think that is the problem.