The Sims 1 and 2: Patch should fix crashes and startup errors, but for many, it’s created new problems

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Kevin
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The first patch for The Sims 1 & 2 was supposed to improve the patchy technical state of the game, but players are reporting new bugs.

The joy of the re-releases of The Sims 1 and The Sims 2 lasted only briefly for many fans. Technical problems, crashes and startup difficulties caused frustration – now a first patch should bring improvement. But as a look at the community shows, not all problems have been solved.

We played The Sims and The Sims 2 before their release and despite all the nostalgia, we are disappointed by the re-launch!

Patch brings first improvements…

Shortly after the release, criticism rained down: The games often did not start, suffered from crashes or other technical problems. On Steam, the reviews are correspondingly mixed

With the freshly released first patch, at least some of these problems should now be addressed. According to the patch notes, the main focus was on stability:

  • Fewer crashes when using Alt+Tab or Alt+Enter.
  • Startup problems with The Sims 1 – the game should now actually start in most cases.
  • Fixed graphical issues with the neighborhood map and traveling.
  • Fixed some graphical issues and clipping issues.
  • Fixed rare cases of Sims disappearing and infinite loading screens in The Sims 2.

But EA is dampening expectations itself: Some problems are more complex and will take longer to fix. The Sims 1, for example, now runs on more systems – but not on all of them. And that’s exactly where the problem lies.

.. but new bugs are appearing

A look at the community forums shows: The patch has not fixed all the difficulties – and in some cases has even created new ones. On Reddit, several users complain that The Sims 1 now crashes with a Volcanic Bug

Apparently, the game was ported to the modern Vulkan API for the re-release, which is technically a major effort. Unfortunately, this seems to be causing new problems. Some players are also reporting lower-than-expected sound quality, which manifests itself in the dull-sounding voices of the Sims, for example.

Others report that their game ran smoothly before the patch – and now it won’t even start anymore. Disappearing Sims in The Sims 2 are also still a problem.

Particularly curious: Several players complain that their Sims can no longer eat cooked meals – instead, they only live on cereal and salad

While some fans are happy that EA is working on updates at all, others have already lost patience. Some players report that they have returned the games because they were simply not playable. It remains to be seen how quickly EA and Maxis deliver the next updates – and whether they can actually close all the gaps.

The complete patch notes for the first update can be found on the second page of this article.

The Sims Fixed Issues:

  • Alt+Tab or Alt+Enter can sometimes cause a crash
  • Alt+Enter can sometimes cause the Windows title bar to disappear
  • Alt+Enter sometimes fails to switch between fullscreen and windowed mode
  • On some systems, The Sims may launch and immediately exit (without displaying the splash screen).
  • The Sims should now launch in most cases.
  • In some cases where there is an underlying graphics issue, The Sims will display a message.
  • Some players are unable to click on various parts of the neighborhood map
  • The Travel screen can sometimes appear distorted or broken when switching between neighborhoods/worlds
  • Sims may crash if you are outside of the default neighborhood, interact with another Sim, and then save
  • When using Alt+Enter to switch and zoom windows, the HUD may clip. At this zoom level, The Sims will now clip from the top of the screen instead.
  • In some situations, the title bar may not be visible in windowed mode
  • The Family Friends counter is sometimes not visible

The Sims General Notes:

  • Several players experienced issues (e.g. walls, floors, objects not displayed; game not starting; other oddities) that are resolved by updating graphics drivers to the latest versions. Please make sure your drivers are up to date.
  • The game window of The Sims has a fixed size, and its basic properties cannot be changed after launch. If you move the window from one monitor to another with a different, lower resolution, this may cause unexpected results, possibly even crashes. If you want to run The Sims on that second monitor, please use the “-monitor: [open angle brackets] num [close angle brackets]” option to force the launch on the other monitor. “0” is your primary monitor, a second monitor is ‘1’ and so on. We are looking into adding this as a menu option in the future.
  • In some situations, players have noticed that music only plays in Live Mode. Please check your computer’s sound options and make sure everything is configured properly (e.g. for a 5.1 surround system, make sure your center speaker is working).
  • You may be prompted to “enable the help system” every time you return to a house. This is the game’s way of trying to get you to complete the tutorial. It will continue to do so until you complete the tutorial.

Fixed issues in The Sims 2:

  • Alt-Tab or Alt+Enter could sometimes cause a crash
  • Some EA app players received an error indicating that certain required files were corrupted
  • The game would sometimes crash after creating a family
  • The game would sometimes start at a small resolution (800×600) and then scale up to fill the entire monitor
  • In certain situations, the game starts and then immediately displays a “DirectX” error, so the “-w” option must be used to work around the problem
  • Sometimes a Sim (or multiple Sims) will disappear after the player has moved to a different lot, neighborhood, or after leaving and re-entering the game, even though they have saved
  • Sometimes non-adult Sims (children, pets) will disappear
  • Some interactions that result in a transferrable reward (e.g. a dog returning from work) may cause the game to crash
  • Fixed some infinite loading screen issues

The Sims 2 General Notes:

  • Several players experienced issues that were resolved by updating their graphics drivers to the latest versions. Please make sure your drivers are up to date.
  • Please note that the “boolProp testingCheatsEnabled” cheat will cause the game to periodically display various dialog boxes with debugging information. The cheat works as expected.
  • We are investigating an issue where the Sim may reset during certain cinematic events (e.g. alien abduction) and the event will fail. While we investigate this, you can work around the issue by making sure there are no other Sims on the property who can witness the event.