Sims 3 Screen Tearing

@igazor, hi. Would you be familiar with how to use MSI afterburner for screen tearing? I have tried most of the suggestions but the standard procedure and my laptop aren't getting along. :'( Do you suggest anything else for the screen tearing? It's not terrible screen tearing, just a small line across the screen that shows when I move my mouse just some. It's not distracting and for the half sim week that I played, it seemed that my game handled it well. I know that something can be done, but like puzzleaddict said, I also feel that it is something that I have to mess around in until it works for my laptop.

Sorry that this is late, I wasn't able to properly sit down and figure this out. I agree. I also think that this can be solved as well, and hope that my case isn't one of those where it can't be. I played a few hours the other night and without altering my options, it stayed running longer. I'm guessing that when I go into windowed mode and my fps are sky high that it's a possibility that it could be affecting ram? I'm not sure.

I will check this, so thank you for pointing this out.

I have an Nvidia card, so would I be able to use RivaTurner Statistics Server too? Or would MSI afterburner be a better selection? I do have an MSI laptop though I'm not sure if that matters. And if so for either one, how would I go about downloading those and using them for this situation? Again, thanks so much for you guys' help.

I kinda went back on my word. No cc worlds at all! The only worlds downloaded are most of the store-bought worlds and the worlds that come with expansions.

I have cut off a small portion of CC that I had from my much larger amount of CC that I had saved on Mediafire from my previous laptop. I also bought some stuff packs as well, but unless I should delete those cache files, I didn't think too much on either one.

So, just clothing, hairs, accessories, makeup and a small selection of mods from modthesims. I currently am playing in Starlight Shores and it's been running smooth so far. I have been getting a lot of errortraps regarding puppies and kittens in the neighborhood, but errortrap cleans it up and that small little lag that was there normally goes away.

So far, the only time that I have gotten crashes have been when I didn't have an eyelash mesh in CAS, when I *impatiently* clicked too many times during a little hiccup which happened while running at three/four-speed, bird level following my Sims taxi cab through the city, and when I altered from fullscreen to window mode back to fullscreen which is when my game is noticeably, but not terribly slower. It will take a while, but for that time I can tell my game is struggling which is when I soon know I'll get the crash. It's like an impending doom that I know will happen, but I just don't know when. :| >:)

The first one has been fixed and the second one I try not to push my game anymore like that, assuming the second issue also had something to do with quick loading lots as I drove by on top of everything. I do have the lot loading on number 3 although I can lower that to 2 if it means I can reduce that happening again. With the third one, I'll try windowless border gaming once more to see if I see that tear again. It's a real stubborn one!

I guess I was overestimating my computer with the game until I still got crashes. My game runs smooth so it feels like those crashes are avoidable, but I know that with even machines much more powerful, people's experience with the game varies. Though the better the machine, the less likely.

I will keep a better eye out this time. One thing I can say is that it's reminded me to save whenever I accomplish something with my Sim, and having the Saver mod is also a good reminder as well.

Both Inspector and RTSS will work in windowed mode and thus in Windowed Borderless Gaming, just in different ways. Inspector imposes its settings changes on the card in the same way as the Nvidia Control Panel only it reveals more options that the Control Panel does not, RTSS uses its own mechanism and in fact must be running the entire time that the game is in order to have any impact at all.

It is vital to cap those fps rates in windowed mode the same as in full screen one way or another if your intention is to play in windowed or both modes. The runaway frame rates will affect RAM usage but will also lead to crashes for other reasons. The game should not be causing your card to generate frame rates that are over the refresh rate of your monitor as your monitor will never be able to interpret those and they are the equivalent of digital noise.

There's nothing wrong with trying MSI Afterburner either, but my sense is that it does the same thing that RTSS does. Or rather, the other way around as RTSS was meant to be a substitute for MSI for those who don't need all of its other features. That might be the early history though, the two may have diverged from each other since then.

Yes, all of these tools work on Nvidia cards. I don't even have an Nvidia card, mine is also AMD, so am relying on what others report when it comes to the tools and their interactions with the cards.

@igazor okay, so I tried using the RTSS over the MSI first, but while installing, it said that it wouldn't work on this version of windows. So, I'll try the MSI and see how that works.

Sorry if this has already been covered. Is there a way to cap fps in windowed mode? Or rather through either of the programs? Or will the settings activate once the game has been turned on?

The tearing disappears then and the game is incredibly graceful in window mode, but the fps are out of this world. I'm happy that I know this about my game now. I'm sure I had high fps for my other laptop because I didn't know back then. It's a good chance that is what hurt my laptop playing that game towards the end of lifespan of it.

I'm not sure why your computer thinks RTSS isn't compatible with your OS. Are you running Windows 10? That's what I have, last updated in July, and RTSS version 7.1.0 works just fine. I did have trouble installing it initially, though; I went back and checked the messages from when igazor was helping me through the Bootcamp process, and I fixed the issue by trashing the installer and redownloading through Chrome instead of Firefox. On the other hand, at that moment several features had decided to all not work at the same time, so there may have been some underlying problem of which I'm not aware. (By the way, igazor has Windows 7 and RTSS 6.6, for what it's worth.)

I don't use MSI, but both it and RTSS should work the same in fullscreen and windowed modes. RTSS at least doesn't distinguish between the two—the profile you set up for TS3 applies in both. (Again, the app does need to be running while you play.)

It just occurred to me that you might have the Windows 10 Creator's Update. A year ago, it was giving TS3 players fits, although the issues seem to have been worked out now. But it could conceivably be causing your issues. You might experiment with turning off its effects, to see if it makes any difference:

https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/15902876#Comment_15902876

Okay, so I clicked a wrong download number. I saw high numbers and assumed it was that one. Sorry about that :s

I downloaded the 7.1.0 one and it installed perfectly. Are there any settings that need to be checked from here? And if so, what would those be? Would I use this program with windowless border gaming in the background?

Also, this is random but with the in-game settings where it asks the screen refresh rate? Does it matter which one I have selected?

Thanks for the tips about that Creator's update. I disabled everything and when I checked the settings, it said that it had been disabled. :)

When you open RTSS, you can create a profile for TS3.exe (Origin install) or TS3W.exe (with the W, for disc and Steam installs). You should then have the option to set your fps to whatever number you want. It should match your monitor's refresh rate, which is likely 60 Hz (you can find it by running another dxdiag—it should be listed under Display Devices, as "Native Mode," about twenty lines down from the header).

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/

You should also see an option in RTSS to pin it to startup. Then it will be running at all times, and you won't have to remember to launch it before playing. It takes up almost no resources and doesn't require your attention once it's set up.

igazor posted a screenshot of his settings a while back, in case it helps:

https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/16227429#Comment_16227429

Don't worry about TS3's built-in fps setting. It doesn't do anything useful. I just leave it on default.

TS3.exe is for Patch 1.69 only, that would be an Origin controlled install. TS3w.exe (with the "w") is for Patches 1.67 and below, including Steam and disc installs that are not managed by Origin.

Good news!

My laptop got the prompt to restart because of an update. I assume this was prompted due to the changes that I took with the creator's patch and other changes, so it was almost like a fresh start when my computer came back on. I started up my game with windowed mode enabled on the Sims 3, and for the first time, my game loaded up with normal FPS. 60 and nothing higher. :)

I am going to see how it works with window borderless gaming on and see if the fps remain like how it should be.

Yes! I checked once more with window borderless and the highest the fps got was 60! So my fps is finally the way they should be which is so amazing. I didn't think I'd ever get that solved.

The formatting of the game once I select windowless border gaming tends to hide some of the UI (bottom of the screen/game) and makes some of the letters look mushed or distorted, for the lack of a better word.

Is there a way to fix that? If not, I could mess around with moving the game around to see if I could get an accurate enough size.

Thanks so, so much for taking the time out to help this clueless simmer :p Both of you are so incredibly helpful! <3

I'm so glad to hear that your fps rates are locked in. Maybe all your computer needed was that update and restart. But you'll know if you ever have high rates again—the surest signs of an overworked graphics card are the excessive heat and the fan revving up to compensate.

I've never used Windowed Borderless myself, so I'm not familiar with the screen options, but I think the point of it is that it takes up the entire screen while giving you the benefits of playing in windowed mode. You can certainly move the window; the manual says you need to specify X and Y coordinates for the window:

https://westechsolutions.net/sites/WindowedBorderlessGaming/manual#Settingawindowsposition

Otherwise, you could ask around here for help from people who do use the feature. (There are at least a few.)

Anyway, it's great that you got (almost) everything working to your liking, and I hope you enjoy playing on your new system.