Re: No shadows on Parallels Desktop on M1 Pro mac

@puzzlezaddictthanks for your help! the tool did not fix the shadow issue ☹️ i just leave the changes that the tool made because i so no difference.

these are the 40 lines of my deviceconfig:
=== Application info ===
Name: Sims3
Version:
Build: Release
=== Rating info ===
GPU: 5 GPU Memory: 4 CPU: 4 RAM: 4 CPU Speed: 3200 Threading: 3
Adjusted CPU: 3867 RAM: 8186 Adjusted RAM: 7674 Cores: 6
=== Machine info ===
OS version: Windows 8 6.2.9200
OS prod type: 0
OS major ver: 6
OS minor ver: 2
OS SP major ver: 0
OS SP minor ver: 0
OS is 64Bit: 1
CPU: Virtual CPU
Brand: Virtual CPU @ 3.20GHz
Family: 15
Model: 4
Cores: 6
HT: 0
x64: 0
Memory: 8186MB
Free memory: 1843MB
User: costa
Computer: ...
=== Graphics device info ===
Number: 0
Name (driver): Parallels Display Adapter (WDDM)
Name (database): Parallels Display Adapter (WDDM) [Found: 0, Matched: 0]
Vendor:
Chipset: Vendor: 344c5250, Device: 353030, Board: 00000000, Chipset: 0000
Driver: prl_umdd.dll, Version: 20.18.1802.53077, GUID: E3FB5CB0-7370-11FA-E5AC-0A27BDC2D935
Driver version: 53077
Monitor: \\.\DISPLAY1
Texture memory: 2048MB
Vertex program: 3.0
Pixel program: 3.0
Hardware TnL: 1

@puzzlezaddictso i looked up this guide https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/300915/a-help-for-pixelated-shadows-ati-cards/p2 and i edit the graphicsrules files. Now it says it found 0 but matched 1 which is confusing to me. How can you find nothing but actually found a match. However, the shadows are still missing.

What i did:
I found out that the card vendor has no name, the GPU name is Parallels Display Adapter (WDDM).

So I added this to my graphicsrules file:

elseif (match("${cardVendor}", "")) < no vendor name so blank
if (match("${cardName}", "*Parallels Display Adapter (WDDM)*")) < GPU name
seti cardLevel $cardLevelUber
seti isCardMatched true
else
seti cardLevel $cardLevelUber
seti isCardMatched false

I also edit my graphicscards file. It actually had a vendor "Parallels" at the bottom, but not my GPU name. I did this:

vendor "Parallels" 0x5250
card 0x3030 "Parallels Display Adapter"  < this was already there
card 353030 "Parallels Display Adapter (WDDM)" < this was not so added my GPU name 
end

Not sure if its going to the right direction? 

Edit:

Omg okay i got shadows but they looks very pixelated. I have no idea. I added this and the shadows came:

 setProp $ConfigGroup RenderShadowMode 2
setProp $ConfigGroup ShadowMapAllowNullColor 1

See screenshots for my GraphicsRule file and the shadows. Also note that antilaliasing looks horrible, even though it's on highest.

@costalovesit  The reason your card is Matched but not Found is that it's still not listed in graphicscards.sgr in a way that the game can read it.  The edit you made to graphicsrules.sgr tells the game to match any card with "Parallels Display Adapter (WDDM)" in the name, whether it's listed in graphicscards.sgr or not.

For the graphicscards.sgr entry, try this:

vendor "Parallels" 0x344c5250

The shadows are alwasy going to be very pixelated.  The effect is a little worse in macOS than in Windows, but it's mostly a limitation of Sims 3 itself.  Here are a couple screenshots from my Intel Mac, for comparison:

A fix would probably require either a reworking of textures within the game or some kind of (very large) texture override mod, which I don't believe exists at this time.

Thanks for providing the edits that restored the shadows.  I've never been able to test myself because I don't have one of the newer affected AMD GPUs, or Parallels for that matter.

I downloaded lazy duchess's shadow extender and a 8k shadows mod, I think it helped. At least my game looks good now! Some screenshots for example. Thanks for your help!

Hello! 

I'm amazed you got something to work! 

I'm having the same issue but was having difficulty working it out and was wondering if you wouldn't mind helping me out if you don't mind?! 

Thank you so much in advance! 

@EnricoFrancis  Please go into Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3, open deviceconfig.log, copy the first 40 or so lines (stop when you get to Options), and paste them here.  You can delete your user and computer names, about 20 lines down; the file doesn't contain any other personal information.

Thank you so much for your response, here's the info:

Hi! I hope I can help you out with the shadows. As mentioned in my previous post, you have to edit the graphicscards file. At the bottom there is a "Parallels" card but not tje (WDDM) one. You have to add the GPU name so it looks like this:

vendor "Parallels" 0x5250
card 0x3030 "Parallels Display Adapter"
card 353030 "Parallels Display Adapter (WDDM)"

Also edit the graphicsrule file and add the shadow lines to your card. Check the screenshot attached to see where to place it.

setProp $ConfigGroup RenderShadowMode 2
setProp $ConfigGroup ShadowMapAllowNullColor 1

 Let me know if this is clear or not, its been a little while since I did this and I don't have parallels anymore on my Mac so I can't check it again.

OH MY GOOOOODNESSSS THANK YOUUUUUUUUUU

I actually got them showing in game! I'm going to download the same mod you downloaded (lazy duchess's shadow extender etc) and see if I can get them looking a little less pixelated but honestly just having them in game is so amazing I appreciate that so much ! 

Thank you sm ! I really appreciate it ! 

I've come a really far way in regards to making them look better - I'll attach a screenshot for reference 

This is what I added/changed about the two txt files;

GraphicsCards:

end
vendor "Parallels" 0x5250
card 0x3030 "Parallels Display Adapter"
card 353030 "Parallels Display Adapter (WDDM)"
end

GraphicsRules:
endif
elseif (match("${cardVendor}", ""))
if (match("${cardName}", "*Parallels Display Adapter (WDDM)*"))
seti cardLevel $cardLevelUber
seti isCardMatched true
else
seti cardLevel $cardLevelUber
seti isCardMatched false
endif
setProp $ConfigGroup RenderShadowMode 2
setProp $ConfigGroup ShadowMapAllowNullColor 1
elseif (match("${cardVendor}", "ATI"))

and I also changed the high settings for ShadowMapSize to 7680 

So, that seems to have worked in making the shadows so much better, but it's still sayings 'found 0 matched 1' not sure what's going on there lol 

@EnricoFrancis  The problem is these lines:

---

GraphicsCards:

end
vendor "Parallels" 0x5250
card 0x3030 "Parallels Display Adapter"
card 353030 "Parallels Display Adapter (WDDM)"
end

---

The deviceconfig is telling you the vendor and device IDs here:

---

Chipset:         Vendor: 1ab8, Device: 4005, Board: 04001ab8, Chipset: 0000

---

So to match, you'd need to use "Parallels" 0x1ab8 and card 0x4005 for one of the two entries below.

Thank you sm for your response!

Sorry to be confused lol but would it look like this? 

end
vendor "Parallels" 0x1ab8
card 0x4005 "Parallels Display Adapter"
card 353030 "Parallels Display Adapter (WDDM)"
end

because when I tried that, it says Found: 1, Matched: 0

and the shadows no longer work - would you know how to troubleshoot this? Sorry if I'm missing something obvious lol

@EnricoFrancis  In this line that mentions Parallels:

---

GraphicsRules:
endif
elseif (match("${cardVendor}", ""))
if (match("${cardName}", "*Parallels Display Adapter (WDDM)*"))
seti cardLevel $cardLevelUber

---

change the entry to just "*Parallels*" , including the asterisks.  The full name doesn't need to be present, just enough for the game to match the entry.  The asterisks mean "anything can go here," so what you're saying to the game is "match this to any entry with 'Parallels' somewhere in its name."

Thank you so much for your help, I did what you said but the shadows don't seem to be appearing (It currently says found 1 matched 0) 

Here is the txt or both graphics cards and rules and device config for context (and thank you so much for helping!)

end
vendor "Parallels" 0x1ab8
card 0x4005 "Parallels Display Adapter"
card 353030 "Parallels Display Adapter (WDDM)"
end

endif
elseif (match("${cardVendor}", ""))
if (match("${cardName}", "*Parallels*"))
seti cardLevel $cardLevelUber
seti isCardMatched true
else
seti cardLevel $cardLevelUber
seti isCardMatched false
endif
setProp $ConfigGroup RenderShadowMode 2
setProp $ConfigGroup ShadowMapAllowNullColor 1
elseif

here is my deviceconfig 

@EnricoFrancis  I don't use and have never used Parallels, so I'm flying blind here, so to speak.  But try adding 0x1ab8 to this line:

elseif (match("${cardVendor}", ""))

so it reads like this:

elseif (match("${cardVendor}", "Parallels"))

omg Found: 1, Matched: 1 !!!!

wow I never thought I'd see the day lol THANK you so much ! 

The shadows are still pixelated (picture attached) so I'm going to try troubleshoot that - but if this is as good as it gets I'm still okay with that 

Thank you again! 

Mine also was at found 0 matched 1 but i think it doesnt matter if found is 0 as long as its matched with a card. 

The shadows tho, did you install the 4k shadows mod? In this guide you can read how to improve gameplay and graphics.

I mean, as long as it works, right? Hahaha 

Thank you so much for your advice it REALLY helped, I'm still not over how satisfying it is to have shadows again lol