Yeah, I had Vista for a while (bought Win7 for DX10 eventually). It worked fine for me too. I had it just after the first service pack came out. I believe it settled down at that point.

I'm not upgrading to Windows 8 it looks like vista but built for a smart phone... Lubuntu ftw!

With the number of current and legacy programs being used, I can't imagine that would be feasible. To me, that's one of the reasons for a public beta.




That's good to know. Has anyone been successful with a new install from disk?



Ouch! That had to hurt.

Well all my documents and music and stuff was saved in some windows.old folder, but it's taking me forever to reinstall everything!

Yeah, but Microsoft has to test on its own as well, even a small portion of the most popular software.

Man, I'm still looking for a yes or no answer.

Yes - Quetzkotl and I are playing Sims 2 on Win 8.

However, the original problem was installing Sims 2 on the pre-release. The installer crashed at the point you where supposed to choose the directory. I have no idea if that is still a problem or not. Going from Win 7 to Win 8, I didn't have to reinstall any of my programs. Quetzkotl installed from the Origin's site and not a disk, but I don't know if that makes any difference.

I downloaded and ran the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant and it lists Sims 3 and all the current EPs/SPs as compatible.

That's not helpful for those of us in the Sims 2 forums.

My post was in response to needing to run Sims 3 in Windows 7 compatibility mode.

Pretty much what I'm thinking. When the time comes, I'd like to have one computer for gaming only, and probably XP (which I still use ... never even made the jump to Vista) or Windows 7, and one for everything else with the new OS. (My family enjoys primarily older games.) I wasn't able to do that years ago, when a good computer cost $2000 or so. But now, you can get or build a very good PC or laptop AND a workhorse PC unit for the XP games for that old price ... and still have change left over. I've been doing some research on how to build a decent (not top of the line, but decent) gaming machine, and was amazed at the price difference from several years ago.

In fact, as a point of nostalgia, I still have an old ad right in front of me. (Just wanted to make sure my memory wasn't THAT bad.) Back in 2000, a REFURBED laptop cost $2000. We're not even talking about new units! Can you imagine if a salesperson tried selling you a refurbed $2000 laptop now?

Some things really DID change for the better.

I know that in building my "dinosaur" unit, I can cannibalize many of the parts I have now. The tower case would be just fine, for instance. So that could save quite a bit of money. I learned a long time ago that the bundled computers in a chain store aren't nearly as much fun as going more the DIY route ... or rather, in my case, working with my techie. (I'm afraid I'm not that technologically gifted.) I wouldn't be looking for "pretty" or "cool" ... I would just want the thing to work well! The "main" computer could be the pretty one.

And BTW, I ran Windows 98 for a couple of years after it was no longer supported at all. In time, I had to replace the OS, but for a while, it was no problem.

It's comforting to know I can buy XP software long after it's no longer in vogue. For Pete's sake, you can still buy new Windows 95 software on Amazon!

Hey, I had Windows 2000 until 2007 or so. So.

Yeah, my husband still mostly plays older PC games too. I think his Linux desktop dual boots Windows 2000 for his old PC games. Other that that, he's all Linux now.

I may need to get a new copy of XP because my current one is pretty scratched up. (It's a used copy.) I might even consider Windows 7, in that case, just to extend the amount of time I'll be able to Sims 2 and do everything else all on the same computer. Ugh.



Who in this thread expressed a need to know this? If someone has, they need to find or start a similar thread in the Sims 3 section where it will be more useful and appropriate.

Read the quote within my original post by parrot999. I thought I would respond since they provided wrong information. I'm sorry you have a problem with my post, I was only trying to help.

GiveTheNineARide, please accept my apology for being a crotchety weirdo. I was about to say it would have been helpful if you'd quoted the person you intended to help, and lo and behold, you had. I simply hadn't noticed. I'm sorry.

I feel like I just upgraded to Windows 7 not too long ago. I have no desire to upgrade to 8 (I don't have an iPad or a smartphone, and AAAAGGGGHH TOUCHSCREEN!) I'm also a diehard TS2 fan, so I guess I'll continue to be stubborn with old technology.

No problem

Whatever OS I choose (be it Linux, winxp, win7 ,etc) .... I will stick with that OS and if I need to run something else:
I would use virtualization to run other operating system(s):

• VirtualBox (on linux) [free]
• VMWare Workstation (on windows) [not free]
• -or- a truly free alternative to Workstation on windows

It seems to me that the best way to go would be to run:
* Ubuntu Linux
* Use virtual box to run any other OS that you need (namely windows)

This would solve all the problems, in that you could have a VM for
* Windows XP
* Windows 7
* Windows 8 (if you wanted to test it out)
* or any other combination

Thanks for this post. I forgot about VirtualBox. It's quite the tool.

You know I just got an email from StarDock about the start menu being removed from Windows8.

It seems that Stardock has created a utility (start8) that returns the start menu ... giving windows7-style function (with Windows 8-specific enhancements).
They are charging $4.99 for this tool.
http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/

I thought I would post this: incase anywhere is wanting the start-menu back in Windows 8

Just to add my 2 cents (or 2 pence for those of you across the big pond,) I would recommend waiting at least a couple months before jumping on the Windows 8 bandwagon simply because new OS's releases ALWAYS have a few surprises that the manufacturer didn't know about. Some problems are more serious than others and some releases are more problematic than others. Just because a bunch of people can run a particular program that was originally written for an OS that was 2 versions prior doesn't mean that everyone will be able to run it. It will depend largely on their machine specs in addition to potential software/registry conflicts. This will most likely improve as updates and patches are released.

I personally won't be running Win 8 anytime soon as I am happy with my Win 7 laptop with Virtual Win XP Mode. But there have been some "red flags" in the gaming industry concerning Win 8 and its future (or possibly lack thereof) for gaming. There is the fact that Gabe Newell of Valve Corporation feels that Microsoft is trying to stifle PC gaming and is developing a Linux-based version of Steam, You can check it out here.

And Croteam CTO developer Alen Ladavac (Serious Sam 3) posted a rather harsh critique of Microsoft and their new policies for game developers, Read it here.

So I guess everyone should draw their own conclusions, but I would hold onto Win 7 for PC gaming just a little while longer and wait to see what the future of Win 8 brings to the table. Hopefully the future will remain bright!

I just installed the base game on my new Windows 8 desktop. It definitely works. I haven't installed the EPs and SPs yet though.

Do you have the old four CD version of the base game? (There was a DVD version too, wasn't there?)

Yeah, I bought the DVD when I got the game - late Sep 2004.

Did you install it by CD or did you download a copy of it from the EA store? I just got a brand new laptop (early xmas present) and it has Windows 8 on it. I never used windows 7 or Vista. My old desktop has Windows XP, but it's not in the best shape. I really wanna play the sims 2 w/ all EPs and CC!