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dramaqueenlp's avatar
dramaqueenlp
5 years ago

Major Graphics Issue

I'm at a loss on what to do to try to fix this issue and I find it beyond strange.
My laptop far exceeds requirements to run this game all on high; it's not just a laptop, it's a workstation meant for rendering massive 4k videos.
I've been playing this game on my laptop since March for several months, but then I stopped playing for a few months and booted it up today.
I noticed right away that for some reason the game booted in what I would guess is default settings.
The resolution was set to very low and most graphics settings were very low and it was giving me first time tips and asked if I wanted to turn on edge scrolling. I had made no changes to the game since I stopped playing, so it made no sense.
I noticed quickly that something was seriously wrong with graphics/shadows, that's when I noticed all of the low settings.
I put them all up to high, then restarted but it made little to no change in the appearance.
I checked for graphics card updates; none.
(side note, my graphics card DID update last month which is after the time I stopped playing, so this would be the first time I'm playing on this update).

I then proceeded by uninstalling and reinstalling the game; no change.
I turned all settings back up to high; no change. Set them back to default.
I turned each and every setting up to high while restarting the game in between each one; almost no change.
The shadows setting made a "change" but I wouldn't call it a change to better, it just shifted the boxy shadows slightly.
I turned off all expansion packs and booted vanilla; no change.

Then it got very weird.
I took a screen shot to post here, and when I opened the screen shot, the graphics are FINE with the exception of being extremely dark.
That's the first screen shot.
The second screen shots are photos I took on my phone so you can see what I'm actually seeing.

Final comment; Sims 4 looks perfectly fine.

Any thoughts? =\

https://imgur.com/PusBzd9
https://imgur.com/8Y2rTsF
https://imgur.com/PQABWKP

9 Replies

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  • igazor's avatar
    igazor
    5 years ago
    The game's options.ini file, located in your TS3 user game folder in Documents, resets to defaults whenever there is a graphics driver update thus resetting all of the game's options to default. This is totally normal, and it would have happened after not having run the game since the last driver update you mentioned.

    I'm going to assume that your graphics card is not being recognized by the game, hence the awful and unnecessary low defaults. But more importantly, what are you seeing for frame rates? TS3 has no functional in-game frame rate limiter like TS4 has and, even if you took steps to liit things appropriately for this card in the past, that might have become undone. To see actual frame rates, Ctrl+Shift+C to bring up the cheats console and type fps on (enter). As you play and move the game camera around, the displayed frame rate should never rise above the refresh rate of your monitor. For many that's 60 Hz (so 60 fps), some can run higher. To make the display go away, cheats console again then fps off (enter). How to actually limit the fps if this has become undone will vary, if help is needed we need to know what graphics card you have in play.

    Once we get that squared away, if it needs squaring away, perhaps we could see the first 40 lines or so of the DeviceConfig.log file also in your TS3 user game folder? Not the long lists of game options that follow, the parts that come before all of that.
  • dramaqueenlp's avatar
    dramaqueenlp
    5 years ago
    Refresh rate is hovering around 275.
    Locking the refresh rate in options to 60 doesn't nothing and it continues to say 275.
    I have no idea what my refresh rate is, anything I find online to try and walk me through finding that doesn't seem applicable and leads me nowhere.

    This probably more than 40:
    === Application info ===
    Name: Sims3
    Version:
    Build: Release
    === Rating info ===
    GPU: 5 GPU Memory: 1 CPU: 3 RAM: 4 CPU Speed: 2592 Threading: 3
    Adjusted CPU: 3056 RAM: 32551 Adjusted RAM: 32039 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: GenuineIntel
    Brand: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8850H CPU @ 2.60GHz
    Family: 6
    Model: 14
    Cores: 6
    HT: 1
    x64: 0
    Memory: 32551MB
    Free memory: 25851MB
    User: KLH
    Computer: IONLAP11
    === Graphics device info ===
    Number: 0
    Name (driver): NVIDIA Quadro P3200
    Name (database): NVIDIA Quadro P3200
    Vendor: NVIDIA
    Chipset: Vendor: 10de, Device: 1bbb, Board: 08321028, Chipset: 00a1
    Driver: nvldumd.dll, Version: 27.21.14.5671, GUID: D7B71E3E-58FB-11CF-BF65-3C281BC2D635
    Driver version: 5671
    Monitor: \\.\DISPLAY1
    Texture memory: 32MB <>
    Vertex program: 3.0
    Pixel program: 3.0
    Hardware TnL: 1
    === Options ===
    AnimationSmoothing 1
    LightingQuality 3
    GeneralReflections 3
    TextureQuality 3
    VisualEffects 3
    TerrainQuality 2
    EdgeSmoothing 3
    ObjectHiding 1
    AspectRatio 0
    ForceSquarePixels 1
    SimQuality 4
    TreeQuality 4
    DrawDistance 3
    MaxActiveLots 8
    NumMaxActiveLotOptions 6
    AdvancedRendering 1
    AudioQuality 3
    AudioOutputMode 1
    VoiceLevel 255
    SoundFXLevel 255
    MusicLevel 255
    AmbientLevel 255
    FocusMute 1
    VoiceMute 0
    SoundFXMute 0
    MusicMute 0
    AmbientMute 0
    EdgeScrolling 1
    EdgeScrollingWarning 0
    SupressOpportunityDialogs 0
    SuppressOpportunityDialogsWarningProducts 687
    SimWhileMinimized 0
    TwelveHourClock 1
    ShowPlacementGrid 0
    AutonomyLevel 2
    DisableAutonomyForSelectedSim 0
    PetAutonomyLevel 2
    AgingInterval 2
    EnableAging 1
    EnableTutorial 1
    EnableIntroTutorial 1
    EnableTombResets 1
    EnableInGameStore 1
    EnableTelemetry 1
    EnableMemories 1
    AgingStageLengthBaby 3
    AgingStageLengthToddler 7
    AgingStageLengthChild 7
    AgingStageLengthTeen 14
    AgingStageLengthYoungAdult 21
    AgingStageLengthAdult 21
    AgingStageLengthElder 17
    EnableInteractiveLoading 1
    AgingStageLengthPuppy 0
    AgingStageLengthDogAdult 0
    AgingStageLengthDogElder 0
    AgingStageLengthKitten 0
    AgingStageLengthCatAdult 0
    AgingStageLengthCatElder 0
    AgingStageLengthFoal 0
    AgingStageLengthHorseAdult 0
    AgingStageLengthHorseElder 0
  • igazor's avatar
    igazor
    5 years ago
    As I already said, sorry if I wasn't clear enough, TS3 has no built-in fps limiter. That setting you see in Game Options doesn't cap anything. We will need to use the Nvidia Control Panel and perhaps some additional tools to accomplish that.

    To see your monitor's refresh rate, right-click on the Desktop and select Display Settings > Advanced Display Settings (near at the bottom). It will be one of about six things showing there, the one measured in Hz. I doubt that you have a 275 Hz screen, but let's see what the goal really is.
  • dramaqueenlp's avatar
    dramaqueenlp
    5 years ago
    "igazor;c-17701668" wrote:
    As I already said, sorry if I wasn't clear enough, TS3 has no built-in fps limiter. That setting you see in Game Options doesn't cap anything. We will need to use the Nvidia Control Panel and perhaps some additional tools to accomplish that.

    To see your monitor's refresh rate, right-click on the Desktop and select Display Settings > Advanced Display Settings (near at the bottom). It will be one of about six things showing there, the one measured in Hz. I doubt that you have a 275 Hz screen, but let's see what the goal really is.


    60hz. and sorry I misunderstood what you originally were saying.
  • dramaqueenlp's avatar
    dramaqueenlp
    5 years ago
    Update: I have locked fps in nvidia, confirmed fps in game to 60, and issue persists.
    TBH it kind of looks even worse.
    This is giving me flashbacks to being 14 years old, purchasing sims1, and finding out my computer wasn't good enough to run it.
    Same shadows lmao.
  • igazor's avatar
    igazor
    5 years ago
    Okay, it's good that you took care of the fps issue because running wildly with no cap or even one at 275 can't have been doing the game or your computer any good. The excess frame rates above 60 would be the equivalent of digital noise that your monitor would never have been able to interpret.

    So with that variable out of the way, I will send you instructions on how to get formal recognition of your card and we'll get rid of the unnecessary 32 MB texture memory override that is being reported on through the DeviceConfig.log. Give a me a half hour at least and I'll PM (need to go offline for a bit here), the instructions will be specific to your card and we don't want to confuse others reading this thread. But by all means you should be able to run the game with the Game Options settings all on high and with Advance Rendering switched on (did you include this setting prior?). For the most part though, we recommend no more than medium on Water/Reflections and no higher than 2 on High Detail Lots to reduce stress on the game engine at least at first and while troubleshooting -- the game still has its limitations no matter how strong a system is running it.
  • dramaqueenlp's avatar
    dramaqueenlp
    5 years ago
    Yes it is checked. I don’t typically have everything all set to high, no need for it, I just flipped them all the way up to try and make some improvement whatsoever which it didn’t.

    No rush. Thank you!
  • igazor's avatar
    igazor
    5 years ago
    We got the OP's card formally recognized and got rid of the 32 MB texture memory override. They report no improvements.

    I was going to try to take things further here, but given that it's relatively unusual to see a TS3 player on a high caliber Quadro GPU like that one I think maybe a different course of action might be in order. My next suggestion would be to open up a thread on EA's AHQ TS3 board, post a full dxdiag report, and provide a link back to this thread so the helpers there can see what was already tried.

    There is some overlap between the techies helping out there and here, but there are more of them on AHQ and some with a lot of experience with less than typical hardware configurations who may be able to help figure this out. And by so doing, may be able to help other players that this might be happening to if a recent Nvidia driver, Windows update, or some other component turns out to be the culprit.
  • dramaqueenlp's avatar
    dramaqueenlp
    5 years ago
    "igazor;c-17701956" wrote:
    Okay, we got the OP's card formally recognized and got rid of the 32 MB texture memory override. They report no improvements.

    I was going to try to take things further here, but given that it's relatively unusual to see a TS3 player on a high caliber Quadro GPU like that one I think maybe a different course of action might be in order. My next suggestion would be to open up a thread on EA's AHQ TS3 board, post a full dxdiag report, and provide a link back to this thread so the helpers there can see what was already tried.

    There is some overlap between the techies helping out there and here, but there are more of them on AHQ and some with a lot of experience with less than typical hardware configurations who may be able to help figure this out. And by so doing, may be able to help other players that this might be happening to if a recent Nvidia driver, Windows update, or some other component turns out to be the culprit.

    Sounds good. Will do thanks.

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