The Sims

Did anyone else play The Sims when they were young? Ah, it was such a fantastic game! Wasn't it fun to have a wife/husband, kids, a job, and a jacuzzi in your bedroom? Good times. Anyway, I have this weird problem with my game, and I was hoping one of you guys could solve it...

So I recently got the game off of Ebay for £1.20. There weren't that many bidders, and I was willing to pay a lot to bring back an old childhood memory. After I installed the game, I immediately launched it.

After playing the tutorial to remind me of the game's controls, I made a Sim. I called him David, and gave him the "cancer" personality. Then I moved him into a lot. I made him a cute little bungalow and gave him a job in the medical career. On the 7th Sim day, I finally got him to marry a Sim called "Truce." Things were going well, and by the 11th Sim day, my Sim had 2 children: Matt and Lisa.

On the 15th day, David was in work and the kids were in school. Truce was the only one in the house and her "hunger" levels were low, so I decided to make her cook dinner. Just as she was cooking, David arrived, and he went over to his wife to greet her, and next thing you know, the oven was on fire. Upon being set alight, the flames instantly spread and engulfed Truce. By the time the firemen arrived, Truce was already just a pile of ash. After the firemen extinguished the flames, a box came up saying that Truce died in the fire. I was frustrated by this, but I carried on with my game.

Strangely, instead of doing obvious things (such as taking a shower, cooking a meal, etc.) in free-will state, all he would do, was "mourn." Of course, if I were to command him to do something, he would do it, but then he would go straight back to mourning. The kids didn't do the same thing though, and by the time it was night, I sent all my sims to bed.

At 0:36, I heard David scream, I set the game to normal-speed and went up to him. He was in bed, tossing and turning, he was still doing that horrible scream. I set him as my active sim to check his activity. Instead of showing a picture of a bed and the words 'sleep', there was a picture of his wife. When I highlighted the picture, the word "Truce" came up. I tried to cancel it, but I couldn't do anything, other than watch him scream in his sleep. I haven't seen this before, and I was puzzled; regardless, I felt bad for him. I mean, he lost his wife! It's natural to see him do this...well, in real life, that would be true. But this is The Sims, not real life... the same thing happened today. Mourning all day, and then screaming at night. I have also noticed that when my sim is in the nightmare state, his fun, comfort, and social bar always plummet. I've also sent the guy who gave me the copy a private message, but he hasn't replied. Keep sending the solutions, though. I might find one that works.

Thanks.

So on the 18th day, he woke up, and just...sort of...stood there, just twitching and shaking. His mood bars were static, but when I commanded him to do something, the game would instantly cancel the activity.

When the time hit 20:00, he started walking. Well, when I say walk, I mean he would stumble awkwardly, as if he was freezing cold or being watched. He went up to Matt and grabbed him; he screamed in horror as David dragged him to his bedroom and threw him on the bed. My eyes widened as I saw David pull out a kitchen knife. He pounced on Matt and started swinging the blade back and forth into Matt's chest. Blood was being splattered in all directions and you could see David pulling Matt's intestines out. Matt's scream was now but a faint mumble. David stood up from the bed as Matt's body twitched and bled. Suddenly, I realized about Lisa. When I activated her, the plumbob went to the cupboard, and the activity said that she was "hiding." I saw David go for the cupboard, and he paused. Then the screen went black and my game crashed. My desktop background had changed to pictures of Matt and Lisa, which were in black and white.