Screen flickering when trying to run TS2 on my laptop

Rhiannon58

So I was trying to play TS3 on my laptop but it just couldn't handle it. I thought I would try TS2 and it's doing the same thing; the top of the screen is flickering.

In the TS3 thread @igazor said that my laptop couldn't handle it. How about TS2 Igazor?

[url="http://"]https://pastebin.com/Tefj9ffp[/url]

Bessieboo

I had the same thing happen with mine. I bought a second hand lenovo thinkpad with HD 4000 graphics. It installed fine but had to patch it but the screen flickered, I tried a fix recommended on here to enable smooth edges but unfortunately it didn't work. Hope you get your game to work.

igazor

@Rhiannon58 - It looks to me like that laptop should be just fine for TS2. Afraid I would have to defer to the others here on this board as to what you might be able to do to resolve the flicker problem as I do not own nor have I ever played that version of the game.

Here is a better working link to your dxdiag, the one above got a bit mangled.
https://pastebin.com/Tefj9ffp

FlyingPotato659

Change smooth edges to high in settings for The Sims 2 to stop the flickering

Rhiannon58

Finbar659 wrote: »

Change smooth edges to high in settings for The Sims 2 to stop the flickering

So my smooth edges option is grayed out and if it were available, it has a "less" and "more" slider. So how do I get it to be available? Interestingly the "shadows" option is also grayed out but it's set on "high".

Bluefairy286

Fix smooth edges

Remember The Sims 2 requires a dedicated graphics card Nvidia or AMD.

Rhiannon58

That worked @Bluefairy286! Thanks for the tip! Note that I don't have a dedicated graphics card on my laptop but so far, that smooth edge thing seemed to work. I can also play full screen and change my screen resolution. So now I'll be able to enjoy my Sims when I travel (laptop can't handle TS3). I had played TS2 on my old desktop which is unplugged under my desk. I don't think my TS2 data files made the transfer so I might have to crank it back up to look for them. Be nice to not have to start all over from scratch.

Seera1024

Bluefairy286 wrote: »

Fix smooth edges

Remember The Sims 2 requires a dedicated graphics card Nvidia or AMD.

It doesn't require it. I wouldn't recommend it if there's an option to afford a computer with a dedicated card.

I played for years on a desktop with an integrated graphics card and did not have any major issues with Sims 2. Don't remember what my settings were, but they weren't high. And I had everything. Computer did not get a dedicated card until around the time Sims 3 was released. The only thing I can remember was it took forever and a day for the buy clothes or change hairstyle/makeup things to pop up as my game had to work to get those rendered. And I do remember that I did notice the change in graphics when I did install the actual graphics card, but not in regards to reduced lag.

The computer died at around 5.5 years of mechanical hard drive failure.

@Rhiannon58 Just be mindful of the heat the game generates. Integrated cards aren't designed for gaming and don't have the cooling for it. Laptops compound that issue with the lack of air space for heat to move to instead of to the other components.

Rhiannon58

Very good reminder @Seera1024. This is a spare laptop that is a backup for my main computer in case of failure (I use my main for work). I thought I might put a few games on the laptop to play while I'm watching TV or traveling. It's got an SSD drive but it can get really hot sometimes. I'll pay attention so I don't fry it.