# Help me debug ''The Sims Double Deluxe''

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-debug-the-sims-double-deluxe/212322>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 10, 2003, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-debug-the-sims-double-deluxe/212322 "2003-11-10T01:12:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-debug-the-sims-double-deluxe/212322/1 "2003-11-10T01:12:51Z")

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A while back, I purchased “The Sims Double Deluxe” for my PC (I have Windows 98, not sure if that makes a difference in this instance).

After many hours of enjoyable playing, I seem to have developed a bug in it. For some reason I can’t identify, when I start the game, it goes through its normal functions (those familar with the game know what I mean…title screen, then the scrolling banner as the game loads). However, when it reaches the end of the scrolling banner (which has such things as “reticulating splines,” “normalizing social network,” and such), the game dumps me right back to the desktop.

I’ve tried closing all programs except “explorer” and “systray,” and it still happens.

I don’t want to have to uninstall the game, and start it all from scratch, but I will if I have to.

Any help?

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**Author:** ![eveanyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@eveanyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eveanyn)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-debug-the-sims-double-deluxe/212322/2 "2003-11-10T02:06:29Z")

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Have you tried [thesims.ea.com](http://thesims.ea.com)?

I don’t have the double deluxe version of the game, but I had similar problems until I downloaded a patch from their website. There was a conflict between the game and WinDVD. They have a list of patches that address different bugs and problems.

The sims is a great game!

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**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-debug-the-sims-double-deluxe/212322/3 "2003-11-10T04:18:45Z")

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Yeah, I tried downloading the patch. It didn’t solve the problem. It actually told me that it was already installed.

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**Author:** ![critter42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@critter42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/critter42)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-debug-the-sims-double-deluxe/212322/4 "2003-11-10T05:28:37Z")

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First thing I would do is get the most recent set of video drivers for your video card and reinstall them (I would also go ahead and get DirectX 9 from [microsoft.com](http://microsoft.com), but it’s not absolutely necessary). I had the same problem with the original release of The Sims. I updated (actually, mine were the latest, but I reinstalled them) the video drivers and updated DirectX, and it worked like a champ.

critter42