So, I have a big lot, big house, and tons of custom content on my main sims lot, and time was passing by just as usual, didn't really have any problems. Then I installed Pets, maybe I jumped the gun, and created my pets and put them into my main house. Custom content was flashing blue, so I restarted. The content was there but the clock was super slow, like a minute in Sims time would be like 20-45 seconds, sometimes an actual minute. It got faster, 20-30 seconds, last time I played it, but still that's very slow. I put my pets up for adoption, don't know if that helps or not, but my other lots, the time passes by same as usual. Did I mess up? I have University and Open for Business, but I don't want to install them until I know what happened, or if I can do anything about it. Here's the specs, I think I followed the directions right

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System Information
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Time of this report: 9/20/2012, 20:09:58
Machine name:
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.120504-1619)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
System Model: OptiPlex 745
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 2.3.1
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 3.00GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 1014MB RAM
Page File: 951MB used, 6108MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode





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Display Devices
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Card name: Intel(R) Q965/Q963 Express Chipset Family
Manufacturer: Intel Corporation
Chip type: Intel(R) GMA 3000
DAC type: Internal
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2992&SUBSYS_01DA1028&REV_02
Display Memory: 256.0 MB
Current Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Default Monitor
Monitor Max Res:
Driver Name: igxprd32.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.4642 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 7/21/2006 19:11:46, 48128 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
VDD: n/a
Mini VDD: igxpmp32.sys
Mini VDD Date: 7/21/2006 19:12:16, 1095968 bytes
Device Identifier: {D7B78E66-6AD2-11CF-BA61-D021A3C2CB35}
Vendor ID: 0x8086
Device ID: 0x2992
SubSys ID: 0x01DA1028
Revision ID: 0x0002
Revision ID: 0x0002
Video Accel:
Deinterlace Caps: n/a
Registry: OK
DDraw Status: Enabled
D3D Status: Enabled
AGP Status: Not Available

also, probably a stupid question, but the games will work with Windows 7, right?

Yeah, I have windows 7 and it works fine for me. The problem might be all that custom content and your big lot. If you have too many high-poly items (look at poly-count whenever you download) your game will lag. Try removing some of your custom content from that house (I know, your house won't look nearly as nice ) but if you want it to work properly then you should try getting rid of something.

This graphics chip isn't really up to playing the game. I would suggest that you read the following:
http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title...nboard_Graphics
http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title...r_is_Like_a_Car

That^^plus having only 1GB of RAM, and it's no wonder you're having issues.

thanks everyone. Yeah, my computer's been slow for a while, freezing up on me, a long load time for web pages, all the bad stuff, even before I installed the Sims2. So I just bought a new one, an HP Pavillion, which are above the game requirements, and hopefully I won't have any problems in any other areas of my computing as well. Again, thanks everyone for the help