Ok guys and gals:
I have the solution to all your problems. No need to upgrade your graphics card or anything else. SAVE YOUR CASH. This worked for me. If you are running a older computer and you have Windows XP, here is the solution.
After you have installed Sims 2 and you try to run it and get the following message:
"Failed to find any DirectX 9.0c compatible graphics adapters in this system! Please make sure you have a DirectX 9.0c compatible graphics adapters and have installed the latest drivers provided by the manufacturer. The application will now terminate."
I have an old Celeron which uses a IntelĀ® 82815 Graphics Controller. If you want to check to see if you have this go to
Control Panal
System
Hardware
Device Manager
Display Adapters (Your Graphic chip should be here)
Anyway thats just info fluff; the answer to your problem follows:
After you install Sims 2 on your computer
Find the Sims Icon on your desktop
Right Click on the Icon
Choose Properties
Find the "Target" Window. It will show the following:
"C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\TSBin\Sims2.exe"
To fix your problem just add -w at the end of the Target, like this (also incude a space between " and -w) like this:
"C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\TSBin\Sims2.exe" -w
Hit the apply button. Ta da, problem solved.
Now close that window and go back to you Sims Icon and click it as normal to play.
What you just did is add a switch to tell the game to play in a windows environment. Have fun!!!!! and pass it on.