DirectX 9.0, For a good reproduction of The Sims it is necessary to control if you still have the latest DirectX version on your pc, on a regular basis. Almost every month Microsoft offers a newer version and sometimes it just can make the differents between a working game and a non-working game You can download DirectX 9.0c here (even if you have installed DirectX10 or 11) Windows 7 however has a newer version installed of DirectX, so you need to install DirectX9 manualy Some Applications and Games need DirectX9 (like sims2 and 3) to work, if you don't have installed it you could get an error like "The program can't be started because of d3dx9_35.dll is missing. Try to re-install the program to solve the problem" The last 2 numbers could be diffrent then 35 If after re-installation the game still won't start then just download the latest version of DirectX 9.0c