Recently, I got a new laptop with the a 1050Ti graphics card. The issue with my game is that I have screen tearing at the top of the screen. I have turned on V-Sync and clicked the option for on the NVIDIA control panel, and I did the same for the Intel graphics card from another post I saw. So, I'm unsure on how to fix it now. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

@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. :)

Sims 3 Screen Tearing | EA Forums

igazor
6 years ago
@Studer5544 - With Nivida Inspector with its explicit frame rate limit and/or MSI going, does the fps stay capped and is the screen tear any better in windowed mode vs. full-screen? Many players facing this have had success with Windowed Borderless as described and linked to just a couple of posts above. The persistent tears seem to be a very common issue with Win 10 ever since the Creators Updates started rolling out over a year ago.
Studer554
6 years ago
Nvm I think I fixed it. Thanks for all your help! It's not ideal, but Windowed Borderless mode will suffice!
igazor
6 years ago
@Studer5544 - You aren't going to get consistent fps readings even with the Control Panel's vsync (it doesn't apply in windowed mode anyway). There will be frame rate drops. It's not really a problem usually, it's the poor old patched together game reacting to changing screen data as fast as it can and constantly playing catch-up. If you have WA, try visiting some of the more elaborate tombs and I bet your frame rates will drop as low as 20 or 30 on some of the levels. As long as the game performs well and looks appealing enough, none of this should really matter. If you start getting frame rates dropping down to something like 6 (when not in a WA tomb), then that might be worth paying closer attention to as the performance would then likely be intolerable.
Studer554
6 years ago
@igazor Yeah, I know what you mean. Old game, crappy developers haha that's what Maxis/EA is known for. I'm not sure if it was just the computer getting used to workload or not, but I'm able to get a consistent 58 - 60 FPS, depending on how far I'm zoomed in/out in a lot, which still looks pretty smooth. Thanks again for all your help and I'm excited I'm finally able to play my favorite Sims game with little to no problems!
puzzlezaddict
Hero+
7 years ago
You might need to play with Control Panel's settings a bit to get the effect you want; try toggling between "on" and "adaptive" for vsync. Is your fps locked in at 60? CP doesn't always work (and never works in windowed mode), so you might get better results with Nvidia Inspector (free download). Here are some screenshots of the settings for each tool, under the spoilers:

https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/16540301/#Comment_16540301

(Also, you don't need to do anything for the Intel card. The game should automatically use your Nvidia card, especially with CP or Inspector in the picture. But you can check your deviceconfig to make sure it's doing so—the card used will be listed around 25 lines down.)
polkaabear
7 years ago
@puzzleaddict Hi, thanks for helping me again :)

My fps is around 59-60, but then I have tearing.

I don't have adaptive, but I did put select for v-sync to be onto 'on'. I have also read through some posts of Nvidia Inspector, downloaded that and followed that post as well. I also had the Windowed Borderless program but, as you said, fps won't cap the window mode that, right?

My fps was high when I did that though so I immediately went back to full screen. However, it seems that when I did that, my game didn't have any tears. So, full screen to windowed mode back to full screen and my tears were gone. My game seemed to be a bit more slowed and crashed, but I'm assuming it was too much configuration and interactions on my part.

I'm going to try it again though. This time, I went through Inspector and selected for the fps to be 60.7 instead of 59, but I'm not sure what help that would do. I have read some things about MSI and something that can be selected through there, but I may be wrong. Still, I'll test out my game again.
polkaabear
7 years ago
@puzzlezaddict So, I tried my game out and came to a conclusion that the Sims 3 is prone to crashing, but for the most part, my game runs really smoothly. The crashing only occurs when I toggle the option from windowed mode back to full screen. The tears are gone but I see that it feels unstable, but I suspect those are unrelated and that the game cannot handle the options being switched mid-game.

As for the tearing, it is only a small line on the top. Right where the black bars would be when you start the game and haven’t set up the screen resolution except there isn’t any tearing on the bottom or the sides, just one when I move the camera around for the top. Then again, it’s very faint so I’m able to play my game. Is this just something to expected with newer end machines?
puzzlezaddict
Hero+
7 years ago
Inspector should work in windowed mode—it's Control Panel that never does—but some players do need to cap the fps slightly higher or lower than 60 to see results. Of course, if you're in windowed mode and Inspector isn't doing a thing for your frame rates, it's time to try something else. MSI Afterburner and RivaTuner Statistics Server are both good options; I use RTSS for my AMD card, and it works very well.

Screen tearing is somewhat common with TS3, but you should be able to get rid of it with the right tool. It does sometimes take a bit of experimentation to find the right settings. Fussing with these tools is not really my area of expertise; you might want to ask for advice from igazor, or SimplyJen, who put together the screenshots I linked above.

I'm also not sure why your game would crash transitioning from fullscreen to windowed mode, but if that's the only issue, you could just stay in Windowed Borderless Gaming. Are you playing in a custom world again, or do you still get crashes in a world like Sunset Valley or Riverview? And how much RAM is your game using? You can check in the Task Manager; if it's showing percentages of memory, you can right-click on the Memory header to see the absolute amount. Over 3.5 GB RAM, the game is in constant danger of crashing.
polkaabear
7 years ago
Okay, so I went into the game after getting everything we talked about to set up. The loading only took a while longer and my game was a tad bit laggier than normal. I also noticed that my fan could be heard coming from my laptop (assuming it's the fps rate). When my game loaded, I saw that my fps was 140's at it's highest and rapidly climbing and dropping.

I know that the windowed mode doesn't have that fps limit, but please correct me if I'm wrong. I followed igazor's screenshot and added the TS3.exe, made the framerate limiter to 60, made it startup with windows and minimized it. I did see the TS3W.exe but I did not add that one. :/

Is there anything that I could be doing wrong?
polkaabear
7 years ago
"igazor;c-16768938" wrote:
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.

Okay, I added the right one then. I added TS3.exe for origin, not TS3w.exe. Thank you for clearing that up, igazor.