Hi there! I’m sorry to say I don’t have much experience with this issue. 😦 In case you haven’t already seen it, hambergersims posted a response you might find helpful!
I haven’t had any graphical issues with my Sims 2 game at all except for the black box shadow problem (fixed by setting my shadows to medium). My sister had some issues with her new laptop (the game wasn’t recognizing the main video card even though it’s compatible), but we were able to fix it using the steps outlined here. So perhaps fixing your graphic rules will help? This seems to be an issue with newer computers and/or Windows 8. :