Help needed please...

SixTwoSix · 1 Jan 2010 at 13:57

Last night I got Sims 3 off Direct2Drive for my girlfriend, let it download overnight and went to install this morning. However when I go to install it gives me this message "NTVDM.exe has stopped working"

Firstly i'm confused why it needs to run with NTVDM as it's a new program, i've googled for hours with no luck and no real answers of how to fix this, anyone got any ideas?

She's using vista 32 bit, she's already had a second hand copy of Sims 3 working on the laptop with no problem in the past, this is a brand new digital download copy though and just will not install, either hangs with the MS-Dos window open or gives the NTVDM error message.

Anyone else ever had this problem, could you fix it or maybe someone can just give me a simple fix

Thanks in advance for any help, this is driving me nuts!

EDIT: D2D provided me with a registration key, could i just download the game from a torrent site and then install with my legit key?

SpaghettiOs · 1 Jan 2010 at 14:26

NTVDM.eve appears to be something to do with 16-bit emulation. I'd suggest running the installer in compatability mode.

SixTwoSix · 1 Jan 2010 at 14:28

gamer_boy said:
NTVDM.eve appears to be something to do with 16-bit emulation. I'd suggest running the installer in compatability mode.

First suggestion I followed off google, tried in all possible compatibility modes, no joy, always got the NTVDM.exe is not working message, the problem seems to be that NTVDM.exe itself isn't working but there is no clear information anywhere of how to fix it

uknorthboy · 1 Jan 2010 at 14:44

Maybe go to EA support page, they may have the answer.

http://support.electronicarts.co.uk...ch=&p_accessibility=&p_page=&p_lva=&nextlink=

Eddie · 1 Jan 2010 at 15:02

Do you have any other 16bit programs running on your PC? If so, try disabling them and also any anti-virus software you have.

I've had a look but I can't really find anything that looks like a definite answer to your problem.

It seems that NTVDM.exe can be either hogged by some other 16bit program or that it has been corrupted.

Just found this, which may be of help I don't know...for troubleshooting NTVDM errors.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;220155

SpaghettiOs · 1 Jan 2010 at 15:18

Could be an error with the installer. Try re-downloading it.

SixTwoSix · 1 Jan 2010 at 18:01

uknorthboy said:
Maybe go to EA support page, they may have the answer.

http://support.electronicarts.co.uk...ch=&p_accessibility=&p_page=&p_lva=&nextlink=

As always with EA, no useful information

SixTwoSix · 1 Jan 2010 at 18:02

shoot1st said:
Do you have any other 16bit programs running on your PC? If so, try disabling them and also any anti-virus software you have.

I've had a look but I can't really find anything that looks like a definite answer to your problem.

It seems that NTVDM.exe can be either hogged by some other 16bit program or that it has been corrupted.

Just found this, which may be of help I don't know...for troubleshooting NTVDM errors.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;220155

As far as I know there are no other 16 bit applications, how can I check though?

The MS troubleshooter was no good, can run the first program, sysedit so it's not a problem with not being able to run 16 bit programs

SixTwoSix · 1 Jan 2010 at 18:03

gamer_boy said:
Could be an error with the installer. Try re-downloading it.

It was a zip file, just unpackaged again and got the same problem

As for redownloading, it's a 6GB file and even though I have 50MB virgin, it doesnt go above 1.2Mbps with EA

Eddie · 1 Jan 2010 at 19:49

SixTwoSix said:
As far as I know there are no other 16 bit applications, how can I check though?

The MS troubleshooter was no good, can run the first program, sysedit so it's not a problem with not being able to run 16 bit programs

In Task Manager, check to see if the ntvdm.exe service is running.

If you see it then you have a 16bit program running which may be the reason why you're having problems.

This is just from my very limited understanding of it though and it might not lead to a fix, but it was the only thing I could find that maybe explained your problem.