Hi there, I’m pretty impressed that you create and use a lot of high res textures and I was wondering whether you had run into pink flashing stuff because some people including me have been complaining about it since we play UC on Windows 10. I also use a Nvidia graphics card and Leefish said that the game doesn’t go well with these cards so if you don’t have any of these pink flashing issues, what graphic card do you use? Your advice might be helpful if I ever need to buy a new gaming computer.
I've privately answered these kinds of questions a number of times now; I hope you don't mind me publicly answering your questions so that, if I get more similar questions in the future, I can just point to this post. :)
Before I cut for length, I'll say that no, I have never experienced pink flashing, ever. That said, I am VERY conscious of what I put in my game, and I make content/playing sacrifices/compromises in order to have higher-res textures (within reason) without having, so far, such issues. I'll go into more detail about that and my machine and stuff behind the cut.
Also, I am a loyal NVIDIA customer after having had multiple issues (not related to Sims but to 3D rendering in architectural CAD) with AMD cards. I have never had issues with TS2+NVIDIA. This could, however, be due to the fact that I deliberately use older drivers and do not allow the drivers to automatically update.
So now, here's that cut...
My approach to this game, whether we're talking about computer hardware or content for the game, is that it's a game that was originally coded in 2004, meant for the sort of machine that most people had at that time. It makes sense to me that, from a hardware angle, a machine that's as 2004-like as possible would be the optimal choice for playing TS2, specifically. That being said, aside from occasional non-serious poking at TS3, TS2 is the ONLY game I play, so I am entirely unconcerned about my Simming machine being able to play other/newer games. This machine is "optimized" for playing TS2, making TS2 content (using Photoshop CS6 for the graphics editing), and dinking around on the internet to download stuff and interact with the community. That is literally all I do on it. I have other machines to do other things on.
Anyway, my Simming machine. It's a desktop because I'm not fond of laptops in general but especially so when it comes to playing games. It's an older HP machine that I bought as a refurb from Newegg about a year ago, for ~$120, including tax and shipping. It came loaded with 64-bit Windows 7 Pro (I won't touch newer OSs with a 99.5-foot pole), 4GB of RAM, had integrated graphics, and has a 3.0GHz Core2Duo processor, the latter of which is fast(ish) but its architecture is as close to "2004" as I could get in a "stock" machine. I then maxed out its RAM to 8GB and upgraded to a dedicated video card, in this case an NVIDIA GTX750 Ti with 2GB of DDR3 RAM (I think...or maybe it's DDR5; I can't remember), which was as powerful as I could get without also having to upgrade the machine's stock 375W power supply...which might be difficult/impossible to do because it has an HP-proprietary one. As I said, I installed the driver that came with the card and do not allow updates. (Once, I did allow an update and it FUBAR'ed the graphics in my TS3 game, although TS2 was fine. I'm not risking it, though. I rolled back to the old driver, which works, and that's what I'm keeping forever.) I did the CFF Explorer thing so that the game uses 4GB of RAM rather than 2 and used the Graphics Rules Maker to force the game to use all of my video card's texture memory. The latter, I think, is very important for avoiding pink flashing, Win10/UC bullshit aside.
Speaking of UC bullshit, my game is all installed from disks. I have all EPs/SPs installed, and I keep the CC to ~5-7GB. (It fluctuates. :) ) I neither have nor want the UC because I want zero, zip, zilch, nada chance of EA being able to "update" my TS2 game for me because any update would probably upset the apple cart and I would be very, very pissed. :) For my "backup," I have a pirated complete collection of the game, about which I have zero guilt because I've bought the full game on disk many times over now and, also, EA itself now gives away the game for free. I tested the pirated version so that I know it works if I should need it in the future if something happens to my disks, but my installed game is from legit disks.
Now we come to content, and here's where things get "personal." As I said, I make sacrifices/compromises to prioritize being able to use high-res textures on objects and walls/floors in my game because that's what I, personally, like. The primary sacrifice is that I am VERY choosy about what I download, particularly when it comes to hair and new objects with custom meshes. I do not download things mindlessly, and everything I download is checked for poly count and texture size(s) before I decide whether or not it goes into my game. In particular:
I am rigorous about poly counts/texture sizes for hair in my game because aside from things like high-res terrains/skies/horizons/neighborhood deco, they are the biggest drain on texture memory in my game. I allow myself only a certain number of high-poly (which I define as "more than 10K polys") hairs. In terms of helping with pink flashing, I have also been experimenting with using smaller texture images for hairs. (512x512 instead of the 1024x1024 that most of them seem to be. That's 1/4 the size/texture memory usage.) So far, in those hairs that I've messed with, I am not noticing much in the way of loss of quality in normal gameplay. Anyway, my rule is that, if I want to download a new high-poly hair, I have to delete one I already have. I don't think polys contribute to pink flashing, BUT they definitely contribute to general video card strain. AND, high-poly hairs tend to have large textures as well, so...double whammy.
For build/buy objects I tend to stick mostly with Maxis meshes and add-ons that people have made for them and older objects that were made for TS2, not those converted from newer games. This is primarily because such objects are low-poly with low-res textures. I can improve how they look with better and/or higher-res textures, but they remain low-poly. I also avoid useless, non-functional clutter (Exception: Plants :) ) because such things are often high-poly and do nothing. I would rather do this that have a bunch of high-poly AND high-res custom meshes in addition to higher-res textures for the Maxis objects. This means I have fewer choices when it comes to furnishing/decorating, but I am entirely willing to make that sacrifice for the sake of prettier/clearer/sharper textures in general.
The other thing I am conscious of is what I use in my general playing. For instance, I like using high-res terrains and (very) high-res skies and horizons and such. I like to take pretty scenery pics and use them as computer desktop wallpaper, for instance. BUT, I will often remove skies and/or horizons when I'm just casually playing a neighborhood that I don't take pics of. Those things eat a LOT of texture memory, and running out of texture memory is what causes the pink flashing. If I remove such things from neighborhoods when I'm "just playing," I can pretty much go wild with most other things. Or, if I want to leave in skies/horizons because I am, for instance, taking outdoor gameplay pics, I will often turn off neighbors in game so that only the lot I am currently playing (plus any visible-from-the-lot neighborhood deco, but that can be turned off, too, if you want to be really conservative) renders. Lot imposters do not. This reduces texture memory load as I play.
So, basically, it's all a balancing act. If I want pretties in one area, I have to settle for less-pretty in other areas, and I'm willing to do that settling. It's an old game, not meant to be high-poly/high-res, so if you want to force it to be high-poly/high-res in certain ways, you have to be willing to make such compromises because the game's age/limitations (regardless of the shininess of your computer hardware) are such that you really CAN'T have it all. I realize that the exact things I do in my playing won't suit everyone's playing/building/decorating style, but I'm pretty sure that anyone can make similar kinds of compromises in order to make prettier the things that are of primary importance to them.
• I gotta condom people • they look like they were hot boxing • oh you mean the......you bet ...did I....you are a swine... • I need that mic! • (all of the lyrics) Feel free to add
