Video related Error

[NeWbiE :-)]

This is a real test to anyone diagnosing issues.

I'll give you some background. I'm playing Sims 2, I used to have it on this PC before my last reformat. Now I've had this PC up and running for about 4 months without installing Sims. Some other games I play are: Battlefield 2, Civilization 4, Rfactor, Madden 08, NHL 08, NBA 08 and a few others. Between BF2 and CIV4 I think that is a good test of Visual and CPU performance. As a test I've run both games at the same time to check for an issue.

System specs are still the same as in my signature, all drivers are up to date, Directx9c installed.

This was a FRESH install, some Sims help sites recommend deleting custom content, manually uninstalling through registry, etc. etc. I have done it all (or so I think)

Now here's why I think it's a video issue.*Anyone familiar with Sims will understand. The game loads, it goes through its initial loading process, and brings me to the "Neighborhood" view. I can then Select the neighborhood (same results for each neighborhood) Once in the neighborhood I can sit at a standstill for as long as I want. I can change basic options, but anytime I attempt to make the camera (view) move -- or load something separate (including quiting the game, creating a family, entering a lot) The game crashes displaying a dialog box "The application has crashed. The application will terminate."

So, lets see what you guys got for me.

Also consider -- I have daemon tools installed on my pc, I know some games don't act well with this as a protection, but I can't imagine getting this far before a crash. If this might be an issue, how do I go about COMPLETELY removing all traces of daemon tools, and other emulation software?

This is an original disk, and unique CDKey, however I have used the CDKey before obviously before I reformatted -- Again I can't imagine that being an issue.

[Heartborne]

I think a simple case of aging hardware could be at the core of your issue. Can you try recreating the problem with a different video card, maybe?

[NeWbiE :-)]

Hm. The only other video card I have is an old 9800pro that has something wrong with it's 3d. It'll play games but with very disfigured images.

The only thing that has me baffled is why no errors in anything else? I play a lot of games, I don't have Battlefield 2142, but I have run the demo version on full graphics when it came out.

The fact that it only crashes when I move the camera really has me scratching my head.

The pathetic part is I don't even like the game that much. I just need a fix and it's eating at me that there's something wrong with my PC that I can't figure out.

[Heartborne]

Hm... I'll bet Saphalline could explain this. There is probably some feature of your video card that isn't working properly, probably some physical part of the video card is burned out or something similar. If another video card can run the game with no problem, it might just be time to replace your video card.

[saphalline]

The only other video card I have is an old 9800pro that has something wrong with it's 3d. It'll play games but with very disfigured images.:confused:

Explain.

[George Hallam]

:confused:

Explain.

hahaha that just made me laugh :p

[NeWbiE :-)]

I'll check my post history I might have gotten some screen shots of it at the time and posted them. It was CRAZY. I still have the video card around here somewhere.

[NeWbiE :-)]

I'll check my post history I might have gotten some screen shots of it at the time and posted them. It was CRAZY. I still have the video card around here somewhere.

EDIT: Can't believe I found it lol

http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/4430/messedup8kl.jpg

[mjc]

Artifacts like seem to indicate a sever overheating or video memory problem (or over clocking)

[saphalline]

That's a bad RAM chip. Fairly common, actually. Notice how the HUD is fine. The GPU and RAMDAC's are operating properly because the fully rasterized image is not affected. Only certain scene data (tied to 3D objects) is corrupted.


Your issue with The Sims is most likely software-related. You are able to successfully play much more demanding games, so that rules out a power issue (sudden increase in overall system power consumption) or a core hardware problem. The Sims could be responding poorly to newer drivers or it needs a patch or some other weird incompatibility issue. Whatever is wrong, it's probably not your hardware.

[NeWbiE :-)]

Your issue with The Sims is most likely software-related. You are able to successfully play much more demanding games, so that rules out a power issue (sudden increase in overall system power consumption) or a core hardware problem. The Sims could be responding poorly to newer drivers or it needs a patch or some other weird incompatibility issue. Whatever is wrong, it's probably not your hardware.

Thats a bit of a relief. (Financially at least). So where the heck do I start!? I mean could it be anything from a Video driver to some malware program I've accumulated?

Also could this have anything to do with emulation software being on my pc? I have quite a few programs used for compiling backups and also emulating drives. (Alcohol120, Daemon tools, PowerIso)

Would putting Sims 2 on it's own HDD help anything. I know it would be a bit extreme but I do have a spare HD.

[NeWbiE :-)]

Also as for the old vid card I believe it was a refurbished item from Newegg that they offered to refund but I chose to hang on to it since I had no onboard video. God forbid anything happened to my main card -- the 9800pro could handle everything else besides games -- Anyway, it's likely it was a used item that got damaged OCing or overheating.

[mjc]

To try and fix the Sims problem...scan for malware.

Then check on the website for any patches/fixes...make sure it is up to date.

Then, roll back the drivers.

[NeWbiE :-)]

Found an error log in the Sims folder, but I have no clue if theres really anything you can use from it. The memory fact that only 52mb of ram were free could be an issue right? I'm gonna go try with more background programs closed. **Just did it again with 544mb free, same result.

As for malware I just went though a pretty extensive removal of crap -- and I clearly haven't gotten rid of it all.


Exception time: 06/08/2008, at 14:02:19.
Exception code: 0xC0000005 (-1073741819) ACCESS_VIOLATION.
Current thread ID: 3776 (0x00000ec0).
Version information:
Application/module path: C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\TSBin\Sims2.exe
Application/module version name: The Sims 2
Application/module version: 1.0.0.932
System version: Windows NT 5.1
System memory: 1024 Megabytes total, 52 Megabytes free.
Application/module configuration: ReleaseSRT-P


Extra Exception Data:

Shutdown: 0
HostName: JOHNSON
MemoryUsage: 192448K
Neighborhood Name: Veronaville
Neighborhood Prefix: N003
Lot Name:
Extra Exception Data End:

Exception module: C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\TSBin\Sims2.exe.
Exception address: 0x005094f7. Section:Offset: 0x01:0x001084f7.

Registers
EAX: 0012f320
EBX: 08ab41c8
ECX: 0012f320
EDX: 00000000
ESI: 00000000
EDI: 00000001
CS:EIP: 001b:005094f7
SS:ESP: 0023:0012f304 EBP:0012f348
DS:0023 ES:0023 FS:003b GS:0000
Flags: 00210246

Loaded Modules
Address Size Module Path
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
0x00400000 14299136 Sims2.exe C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\TSBin\Sims2.exe
0x7c900000 720896 ntdll.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntdll.dll
0x7c800000 999424 kernel32.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\kernel32.dll
0x77dd0000 634880 ADVAPI32.DLL C:\WINDOWS\system32\ADVAPI32.DLL
0x77e70000 593920 RPCRT4.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\RPCRT4.dll
0x77f10000 286720 GDI32.DLL C:\WINDOWS\system32\GDI32.DLL
0x77d40000 589824 USER32.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\USER32.dll
0x77c00000 32768 VERSION.DLL C:\WINDOWS\system32\VERSION.DLL
0x76390000 118784 IMM32.DLL C:\WINDOWS\system32\IMM32.DLL
0x4fdd0000 1728512 D3D9.DLL C:\WINDOWS\system32\D3D9.DLL
0x6d990000 24576 d3d8thk.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\d3d8thk.dll
0x77c10000 360448 msvcrt.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\msvcrt.dll
0x76b40000 184320 WINMM.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\WINMM.dll
0x75a70000 135168 MSVFW32.DLL C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSVFW32.DLL
0x7c9c0000 8470528 SHELL32.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\SHELL32.dll
0x77f60000 483328 SHLWAPI.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\SHLWAPI.dll
0x5d090000 618496 COMCTL32.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\COMCTL32.dll
0x73b50000 94208 AVIFIL32.DLL C:\WINDOWS\system32\AVIFIL32.DLL
0x774e0000 1294336 ole32.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\ole32.dll
0x77be0000 86016 MSACM32.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSACM32.dll
0x77120000 573440 OLEAUT32.DLL C:\WINDOWS\system32\OLEAUT32.DLL
0x71ab0000 94208 WS2_32.DLL C:\WINDOWS\system32\WS2_32.DLL
0x71aa0000 32768 WS2HELP.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\WS2HELP.dll
0x73f10000 376832 DSOUND.DLL C:\WINDOWS\system32\DSOUND.DLL
0x773d0000 1056768 comctl32.dll C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\x86_Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.2600.2180_x-ww_a84f1ff9\comctl32.dll
0x77b40000 139264 Apphelp.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\Apphelp.dll
0x66700000 1482752 ~df394b.tmp C:\DOCUME~1\JOHNSO~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\~e5.0001.dir.00 00\~df394b.tmp
0x5ad70000 229376 uxtheme.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\uxtheme.dll
0x74720000 307200 MSCTF.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSCTF.dll
0x59a60000 659456 DbgHelp.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\DbgHelp.dll
0x76bf0000 45056 psapi.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\psapi.dll
0x76ee0000 245760 rasapi32.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\rasapi32.dll
0x76e90000 73728 rasman.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\rasman.dll
0x5b860000 344064 NETAPI32.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\NETAPI32.dll
0x76eb0000 192512 TAPI32.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\TAPI32.dll
0x76e80000 57344 rtutils.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\rtutils.dll
0x76c30000 188416 WINTRUST.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\WINTRUST.dll
0x77a80000 606208 CRYPT32.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\CRYPT32.dll
0x77b20000 73728 MSASN1.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSASN1.dll
0x76c90000 163840 IMAGEHLP.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\IMAGEHLP.dll
0x72d20000 36864 wdmaud.drv C:\WINDOWS\system32\wdmaud.drv
0x72d10000 32768 msacm32.drv C:\WINDOWS\system32\msacm32.drv
0x77bd0000 28672 midimap.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\midimap.dll
0x73ee0000 16384 KsUser.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\KsUser.dll
0x20000000 2904064 xpsp2res.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\xpsp2res.dll
0x0ffd0000 163840 rsaenh.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\rsaenh.dll
0x769c0000 733184 userenv.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\userenv.dll
0x77fe0000 69632 secur32.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\secur32.dll
0x75e60000 77824 cryptnet.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\cryptnet.dll
0x76f60000 180224 WLDAP32.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\WLDAP32.dll
0x4d4f0000 360448 WINHTTP.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\WINHTTP.dll
0x722b0000 20480 SensApi.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\SensApi.dll
0x76fd0000 520192 CLBCATQ.DLL C:\WINDOWS\system32\CLBCATQ.DLL
0x77050000 806912 COMRes.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\COMRes.dll
0x4f680000 2125824 dxdiagn.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\dxdiagn.dll
0x74ef0000 32768 wbemprox.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\wbem\wbemprox.dll
0x75290000 225280 wbemcomn.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\wbem\wbemcomn.dll
0x74ed0000 57344 wbemsvc.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\wbem\wbemsvc.dll
0x75690000 483328 fastprox.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\wbem\fastprox.dll
0x76080000 413696 MSVCP60.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSVCP60.dll
0x767a0000 77824 NTDSAPI.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\NTDSAPI.dll
0x76f20000 159744 DNSAPI.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\DNSAPI.dll
0x73760000 299008 ddraw.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\ddraw.dll
0x73bc0000 24576 DCIMAN32.dll C:\WINDOWS\system32\DCIMAN32.dll
0x6d910000 462848 D3DIM.DLL C:\WINDOWS\system32\D3DIM.DLL
0x60000000 360448 ijl15.dll C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\TSBin\ijl15.dll

[mjc]

For that particular error, there are three main causes: 1)malware, 2)bad driver, 3) bad RAM. I would start with #1 and work through the list.

[Heartborne]

A common recommendation here: download HijackThis! and run it, then post a log in the "applications and security" forum.

The thing about malware is that there really is no removing it. The developers are so brilliantly evil that they find a way to make it reinstall itself and a dozen of it's buddies every few days, every reboot, etc...

The only sure-fire way to remove all malware is to reformat your system. Otherwise you can only hope to remove most of it. You might get lucky though, and find you have one specific infection that can be easily removed. I have had to deal with nasty malware bits in the past and defeated them after many hours of my very unhappy client complaining about how much it was costing him.

That's what you get for screwing around on the web at work. ;) A reformat is cheaper, faster and easier.

[NeWbiE :-)]

Malware makes so much sense -- I just don't know what else to do about removing it. Majorgeeks.com has a pretty extensive process for removing malware and I just did that.