There is a way to make it a "hidden thing" so it doesn't minimize the game to desktop but I am still trying to figure out the instructions for it, someone left. You have to make it a system thing, not do as an admin. When I thoroughly understand the person's instructions, I will relay them lol.


As far as the 4 gb patch is concerned, the fix is ONLY for those who had a problem with their 4 gb patch. If the patch works for you, you don't have to do anything. THIS fix is only for those who lost it. I did here while back. It just went away mysteriously after a surge to my power supply and a bad driver update evidently. Since then I have found several other people have lost it. If applied, and if it works fine for you, there is no reason to do that part. That part is only for those who have had a (in my experience) graphics plus power supply issue, and the 4 gb patch is no longer working. For some reason that combination of problems creates a situation where some people lose the ability to use the 4 gb patch when it worked perfectly before. So therefore DO NOT MESS with the exe unless you have lost the 4 gb setting. You can find this out by looking in the documents folder for Sims 2, in the Logs folder, where the config log is. It will say "name of desktop" Config Log and it will be a txt file. If it says 1024 mb memory and free memory, but you KNOW you have 4 gb patch applied then you have the problem, otherwise you do not. As far as changing compatibility settings etc. That made no difference on mine, nothing got it back and yes I tried everything. I worked for several hours a day at this, and it has successfully worked for several people who had the problem. But again, if it isn't broke, don't fix it This was said in the video btw, but it may have been missed, that if you have it and it isn't working, then try this for the patch. It really is two fixes in one. One for the 4 gb patch, and one for the flashing. However I suspect that they both may be a common problem that has occurred as a side effect of the same issue. The standby memory issue.

There are here in step 4 in the reddit post:



Does that work for you? Let me know. :-)

Also, add to Gina's post:



Yep. The most important step is to check that your 4GB patch IS working and if it is, you can move on to the next step. I think some may be surprised to find it was NOT, as I was - and if the patch is NOT applied all the memory stuff we do later would not matter as the game would not be able to read all of it we free up anyway.

Thanks Jessa! I knew I had seen it somewhere I was tired.. My brain is like Cinderella's coach, it becomes a pumpkin at midnight.

Thank you so much for the fix Jessa. I was having a problem with my game crashing. It was strange at first but I always had a lot of ram (at least 32gb) and I never really understood your post from 2011 until you had posted a video on YouTube. So I just wanted to say thank you again for taking the time and effort to help fix the game.
I had done all the steps that you did but on Windows 7 and the game works perfectly

Hello, thank you for the throughout tutorial on the fix, but i seem to have a bit of problem with it. I think i'm doing everything right, yet when cut/pasting the exe. file to CSBin folder, my computer gives me a notification about Core/Activation.dlll missing. I can't think of anything else being the cause, except i'm using these loading screens made by greatcheesecakepersona on Tumblr, which use Loadingrandomizer. But if it's not about those, i don't know what i am doing wrong. Can you help? ;_;

Well it could be the loading screens. I just copied and pasted the exe over. Are you using new shortcuts? Or the exe in the new location directly itself? Because old shortcuts won't work, unless you change where they point to.

Also what format are you running and what operating system?

I'm using new shortcuts. Even when i run the exe.file from the folder, it keeps giving me the same notification. I have Windows 10.

I haven't tried copy + pasting instead of cut + pasting, is that safe to try out?

yes that is how I originally did it. Are you using UC? If so which version (pre or post origin required update)

I use pre-update (I removed the securom with other method) version. I will try out the copy + paste method soon ;v;

I just wanted to say THANK YOU so much for this! I was frustrated last night because I was following the video exactly and nothing was working until I saw this post. I had compatibility mode on and once I turned it off the 4 GB patch worked!

I'm can't get the 4gb patch to work in spite of following the tutorial. When I check properties on my Sims 2 Mansion & Garden exe, it doesn't even list compatibility as a tab. If I click that exe, it opens the game fine. The Sims 2 launcher exe does have a compatibility tab (no compatibility settings selected though), but when I click it, it tells me Mansions & Gardens isn't installed correctly and won't open the game.

My OS is Windows 10 home.

Any suggestions? I'm way, way beyond my technical expertise here.

Make a shortcut with the mansions and gardens exe and use it.

If that was a response to my question, the shortcut also doesn't have the compatibility tab. There is an option on both for "troubleshoot compatibility" but then windows just auto-sets a Windows version, there's no option to choose or remove compatibility mode.

Try the tip I found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/..._in_properties/



Google "no compatibility tab in properties" for more help.

Edit: I see that you already ran the troubleshooter, sorry about that. The only thing I can think is that you need a more flexible .exe. You can get a safe one from here: http://www.leefish.nl/mybb/showthread.php?tid=7800

Unfortunately, the tip posted and my Google search shows a way to let Windows automatically select a compatibility mode, but it seems like the issue people were having was when a compatibility mode was set - they had to take the exe out of compatibility mode, if I'm understanding correctly, which can't be done with the troubleshooter as far as I can tell. On the other hand, if I don't have a compatibility menu on that exe, I could have never put it in compatibility mode in the first place, right? And if that's the case, it should already be at the default compatibility settings, and that's not the reason the 4gb patch won't work.

My game is relatively stable as-is - I was hoping to apply the patch and memory allocation fixes to maybe eliminate occasional flashing pink and crashes, but looks like I may just have to live with things as-is.

So you can run it directly from the exe but the 4 gb patch isn't working when you do? Because I am a bit confused. I never had to bother with compatibility one way or another frankly. It never did anything on mine. I mean you added the 4 gb patch but when you check the config log in the log file it still shows 1024 right?

It sounds like you are in a stuck loop! Don't give up! The answer is to use a more flexible .exe. I link to it in my post above, on Leefish. That exe is safe and will allow you to use the 4GB patch. Make sure to set your current .exe to Sims2EP9.___exe so you do not open that one on accident. Here are the steps:

1. Rename to Sims2EP9.exe to Sims2EP9.___exe. Say yes windows asks if you are sure. (If you cannot see the .exe part, this gogle search will help. https://www.google.com/search?q=hid...nown+file+types)

2. Download the more fleixble exe from link above.

3. Apply patch to that exe and put it in CSBin. Make a shortcut to that exe.

4. Try to open your game.

Don't give up! It is worth it to have a crash free game!

What I did:

Applied the patch to the Sims2EP9.exe (it says it was successfully patched) > ran game > config log shows 2048 > moved Sims2EP9.exe to CSBIN > ran game directly from exe > config log shows 2048 > checked exe properties: no compatibility tab > checked launcher exe: compatibility tab available but no options checked > ran 4gb patch on launcher exe - launcher doesn't work w/ Sims2EP9.exe moved, abandoned that course > put Sims2EP9 game back in TSBIN, launcher works again, able to open game either from launcher, from old shortcut, or directly from exe > config log still shows 2048.

:/ would you mind sending us the config log or posting the info here under a spoiler or something? Edit out your computer name tho.

Also are you on a 64 bit or a 32 bit game? If you said I missed it.

The more flexible exe worked!!!! Config log now showing 4096MB!!!! Jessa & gdayars - thank you so much! I can't tell you how much I appreciate you taking the time to help me work through this - I was ripping my hair out.

I am so happy it worked! Yeah! Now, make sure the task for use emptystandbylist.exe is set up correctly and go play your game. Let us know if the fix works and if you crashing stops. Have fun!

I tried flexible exe method and now the game runs after pasting the file to CSbin (without any errors), but it still doesn't show 4096 MB for me in the config log ;_;

Written,

The only thing I can think of is to try running the 4GB patch as administrator. Or, move the flexible .exe to the desktop, run the patch as administrator on it, then move it back to CSbin.

The patch does work on an .exe that has NO compatibility mode options set on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_yv-sZxub4

This is a great memory leak fix for Windows 10 2018. Works like a charm.

Many thanks to Jessa for doing this. However, as usual, I am lost. I never figured out how to install the 4g patch. I've downloaded it 8 times. It brings up the sims 2 files found in documents (cameras, collections, config...). Where do I put it?

Do I have to download the thingy she talks about that makes me look at my memory allocation? I try not to hook that computer to the internet anymore. Also, I couldn't find the link list on her youtube channel. Has anyone posted it anywhere?

Thanks. And sorry, but you guys know I'm stupid when it comes to this.