I’ve had a new laptop for about a year now and it occurred to me that this is probably my first time trying to run TS2 on it, and I’m coming across the good ol’ DirectX 9 error when I try to run. My laptop is running Windows 10 and has Intel UHD 620 Graphics.

I’ve tried fixing my video card/graphics rules, but I’m still having issues. I’m not sure if I’m doing it wrong (because I’m not exactly the most tech savvy ) or if my card is just unworkable with the game. Could someone walk me through how to fix it? And before you ask, yes I’ve tried both downloading the fixes from leefish’s website and manually fixing it myself. It’s hard because my card isn’t listed anywhere since it’s a newer one.

You might need to install DirectX9, I had to. With those integrated graphics you need 8RAM as well.

Can you post your config-log.Txt here? The Sims 2>Logs>config-log.txt file.

@joandsarah77
You mean DirectX 9 itself?? Would that work, seeing as it’s an older program and I almost certainly have a newer version installed?

Also here’s the log text:

Notice this: Memory: 2048MB and Free memory: 2048MB That indicates your 4 gb patch is not working.
Unless you're on a very low-end laptop (in that case you can't use the 4 gb patch) those need to read at 4096MB.

Lower down it shows your graphics are recognized so your graphic rules are working.

Earlier this year a graphic driver update broke DirectX9 and I had to download and reinstall it. Yes, I also have the newer one but Sims 2 uses 9.

@joandsarah77
Ah, I hadn’t even considered that. What would I need to do to fix it? I have 4 gb patch installed on my computer for another game but I haven’t even touched it regarding TS2 yet.

You might like to watch the video on the sticky thread. http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=610641 Make sure not to use compatibility mode with the patch.

@joandsarah77
I did what it said and it didn't work. I applied the patch and it now shows my memory as 4096 and my free memory as 3636. But I still continue to get the DirectX error. I also tried reinstalling DirectX 9, but I'm not sure if it was even done correctly. I had to get it from another site because Microsoft wouldn't let me download it from their site because my computer is too new.

It's hard because leefish's site doesn't seem to have a file fix for my graphics card. I did it the manual way...nothing. I found they had an updated one and pasted in the code from that one along with it....nothing. Unless it's something completely different that I'm unaware of. I remember doing this on my old computer and it worked fine, but it seems to be giving me more problems now that I'm using an even newer graphics card.

Your config-log showed your graphic card/chip as I said post#4. If that wasn't working it would probably say not recognized or not in the database.

That's odd with the memory being different, maybe your lap top doesn't have the capability. It's not a notebook is it?
if you are running the game on a notebook you will want to use not much cc and keep settings low.
Also, you didn't say if you had 8RAM, I read that graphic card needs it. Ideally, you want a proper graphics card that isn't integrated, like a Nvidea or an AMD (I personally had nothing but trouble with the one AMD card that I tried but I know others love them)

Are you on full screen or windowed mode? -w at the end of your normal shortcut will give you window mode which may help with DirectX9 issues.

DirectX9 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dow...s.aspx?id=34429

Another thought, try right click 'run as Admin'

@joandsarah77
It might be a notebook tbh, since it has no disk drive. It runs both TS3 and TS4 fine though, so there really shouldn't be an issue running TS2. I tried that DirectX 9 link and it still gave me the same message telling me I couldn't download it because my computer is too new..

Running it in windowed mode seemed to make it work, but I really would rather have it so I can run it full screen.

I don't understand what the issue is. I fixed my settings so that my graphics card is in the database. It shouldn't still be giving me the error that means it doesn't recognize my card.

Welp, I've tried this forum and leefish and neither seem to give me a real solution beyond "buy a different computer," which isn't really viable seeing as I'm in college and don't have the money to be buying a new computer just to play one old game I own. So I guess It's just suck it up and play in windowed mode from now on..

Sorry, I don't know what else you can do. I guess you tried running it as admin? Leefish has some far techier people so if they can't help they might be right.

@joandsarah77
Yeah, I did. I'm frustrated because I found one other person online with my same problem (with my same graphic card, so my guess is that it's something about my card that makes it unrecognizable even when added to the list??) and she found a solution that made the game work in full screen, but the link doesn't work. And the forum post was from over a year ago so it doesn't seem like I'd be able to get further help on it. :\

Where was the link to, a download?

@joandsarah77
It was a link to a forum post on Sims Community about how to get the UC working in fullscreen on Windows 10, but their forums are currently down, and apparently have been down for awhile, so I'm not sure when they'll be up and running again.

Do you have enough room on the drive your game is on?
Have you tried turning off everything else that can be turned off. For example, Discord uses a whopping 100,000K of resources.
have you tried fixing your game in Origin?
You are using a desktop shortcut to load the game?

@joandsarah77
I should have plenty of room. I looked and it said I had 8GB of RAM, and my computer as a whole has space. I tried exiting out of everything I could in my tray and it didn't work, and repairing it in Origin didn't work either. I am using a desktop shortcut, the one that automatically was created when I installed, but I think I've tried the one in my TSBin and that one doesn't work either.

the game needs DX9c and the W10 by default process everything by DX12 (effectively DX11 in older machines but this is not the case), it's a mess - it's Windows, what do you expect?

DIrectX 9 (as by the link above) is a separate installment, it does not conflict with existing DX10/11/12 frameworks.
If the game is working windowed but refuse to work in fullscreen (it crashes? black screen and nothing? what is happening?) it means that something in your installation prevent the program to control the resolution. The Intel settings' screen is quite sparse but I'd try to experiment with settings if I were you for a start. You may try also disable logo/intro movies - switching resolution from default desktop to 800x600 (movies) and finally to game desired one may confuse the system and GPU sometimes, especially if there's some weird Windows Media Player version involved.

There's ofc possibility of some mess tied to that particular Windows 10 installation.

@ElaineNualla

I honestly have tried installing it about 30 times. Every time I get this:


Is there any other way to get it on??

I suppose you tried to install DX9c with elevated privileges ("run as admin") and you end with that regardless? Welcome in the wonderful world of Microsoft shenanigans.

Despise the game need 32 bit version of the library, W10 will frown upon trying to such installation. Moreover, because it's essentially treated as kind of "device driver" in secured space (Windows' own folder), the system freaks out, because it obviously "knows better" (funny it does not work at all when something is completely ruining it).

You are trying to install older version (there's actually a ton of DXc9 versions), try 64bit newest one -
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dow...ails.aspx?id=35 (web installer) or
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dow...ls.aspx?id=8109
check "system requirements" if it match (roughly) your system.

Now, thanks to MS the W10 is a land full of surprises, not mentioning other mess with Windows programs. So - regardless of your efforts it still may be tricky. If the game works at last in windowed mode it should be playable with that machine, as long as you won't drop a ton of new overflashy CC on it.
And there's no guarantee that some new update won't make another mess, ofc.

@ElaineNualla

Well, that got me a step further; I was able to launch the installer this time. However, I then got a message saying that it was determined that "a newer or equivalent version of DirectX has been installed already," and thus it ended there.

check if it is not already installed:

in windows/system (there are 2 of them in 64b installations system32 & SysWOW64) you should have files named like:
d3dx9... Now look if there're compilers (you need d3dx9_41.dll) if they are there - DX9 is already installed and theoretically everything is as expected.

So, what if it still does not work (AKA: game refuse to work in fullscreen - however it's still working in window just fine, right? *facepalm marker*):
pray, cry, get used to this, or "use real operating system (TM)". Maybe there's some another W10 special magic, but you exhausted my mediocre knowledge about this abomination. Sry.

I'm very curious if D9VK will help here. Could you try my guide and see if it helps in any way? The guide is more meant for high-end graphics cards and very powerful gaming computers but I'm curious if it can help on today's modern, yet lower-end devices. I've had some extremely promising reports of success in Jessa's thread about this approach. It's a WIP so please excuse the gypsum dust in the air.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/...6qfaI6rOs/edit#

because these GPUs gives most problems, usually. D9VK should work (libraries) just fine on this hardware, though it *may* perform worse than in normal wine/proton environment, because Windows mess. Proton/wine uses a lot of CPU power to circumvent DirectX API, that may, but not necessary will be, a bit of a problem.

However if some simmers became so desperate to use official 'working (in progress) beta' releases from *ux world, to overcome inherent Windows10 f*ckery, why just not switch? Performance is much better, problems are almost not existent at this point, and comfort of daily work and play is definitely superior (well, it always was in the 1st case).

@crazysim
The only thing is that my issue isn't the pink flashing, it's that my game refuses to run in full screen. I tried your guide anyway, and it still didn't work.

Hmm, I would try moving or deleting "My documents/EA Games/The Sims2/Config/userprops.xml" away and seeing if that helps.