I recently bought a new laptop and my graphics card is a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650... but I can't seem to set the V-Sync on for The Sims 3! I've tried everything... I went through the NVIDIA control panel and set the settings on ALL possible Sims 3 applications (sims3.exe, sims3w.exe, etc). Nothing seems to be working, sadly.And yes, the game is using the correct graphics card. Other than the FPS not being capped at 60 (it goes beyond to like 200 and 300), everything in the game looks great and is running smoothly on the highest settings... I even double checked this in the control panel and made sure the game was using it, but the V-sync just doesn't seem to wanna work properly! I'm mostly concerned about frying and burning out the graphics card (I've heard horror stories of how badly Sims 3 has been known to do this), so I wanna make sure I'm keeping the FPS at a stabilized rate. Does anyone have a possible solution to what I could be doing wrong!? Please help!

A lot of us haven't been able to get frame rates locked in Sims 3 with just Nvidia control panel. I used Nvidia Inspector as outlined in the last part of post below: https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/16540301/#Comment_16540301

"Lustianicia;c-17593995" wrote:... but whoever it was seriously failed miserably at developing this game properly... it's so sad how this much stress can be caused simply for trying to avoid killing a graphics card! TS3 was originally designed in 2008-09, at a time when most consumer grade graphics cards would not have been strong enough to generate overly high fps rates. The few top end ones that could were so expensive back then (like the GTX 280, its successors, and its AMD counterparts) that one would hope those who had one would know to take the precautions that were at the time necessary to protect their hardware.Where EA can be faulted was for not updating the game further along the way as the marketplace changed and what were once higher end graphics card specs became more mainstream.But on a more practical note...The suggestion to change that setting on the Intel integrated chip was a good one and is worth pursuing to get vsync to function as it should. But in addition, both the newest (as of earlier this calendar year) Nivida drivers through the Nvidia Control Panel and Nvidia Inspector are supposed to provide a field for Max Frame Rate into which you should be able to specify exactly 60 or some value just under that (59.something, maybe 58). Are you not seeing this field/option in either place or is it still being ineffective once set that way? The max value cap alone, either way, is not as "good" as vsync in terms of quality, some players honestly cannot tell the difference, but vsync and a max cap together should at least be working to lock things in under your refresh rate and protecting your GPU from working too hard and overheating while you play and perhaps work on other combinations of settings.It should also be noted, since I didn't see it referenced here yet, that vsync no matter how it's done is only relevant in full screen mode. If you happen to be running in windowed mode it will never work and explicit frame rate capping does become essential.

Okay good, this is progress. It would still be best to somehow get into the control panel for that Intel HD integrated chip to coax vsync into working properly.But since the game is working and the fps is now capped without screen tears in windowed mode, there is an alternative and that is to embrace windowed mode but use Windowed Borderless Gaming. This utility makes windowed mode look a lot more like full screen even though it really isn't and many players who are/were having Win 10 growing pains for different reasons along the way have found it very helpful.

Most monitors/laptop screens have refresh rates of 60 Hz. Some can run a bit higher (75, 144, etc.). Let's use 60 as a baseline, but you can see yours by right-clicking on the desktop and Display Settings > Advanced Display Settings.That means fps rates of higher than 60 cannot be interpreted by your monitor and are the equivalent of digital noise. If a game or other program's actual fps rate spikes up to 65 or 70, that can lead to occasional graphics glitches and some small amount of lag/stutter, but usually it wouldn't really be that bad. With a powerful enough GPU like yours, the frame rates generated can easily go into the hundreds and fluctuate wildly all over the place. With a yet more powerful card, they can go even higher like into the thousands. Vertical sync is supposed to fix that by bringing the game's frame generation "into sync" with the monitor. It doesn't work in windowed mode because without full screen Windows is managing that aspect rather than the graphics card control panel. And we still think it's not working in full screen in your case because of the dual graphics and handoff from the Intel chip to the Nvidia card needing some extra help by way of that Intel HD setting that is eluding you.Anyway, all that extra frame generation per second provides no benefit and overworks the card hard. Some will experience high pitched whining noises coming from the area of the card within their computers when this happens, which is a huge warning sign that something is wrong. Graphics glitches, lag, and crashes often arise as well or instead, with the danger of the card overheating not far behind, leading the player to think there is something wrong with their game or its added content when there really isn't. Most modern games include a mechanism to sync or cap the frame rates themselves, even TS4 does, but TS3 is kind of an oddity because of when it was designed, before this became more of a standard thing, and how hard the game engine can work in its attempts to render and simulate everything it needs to.If the card were to overheat to the point where it melts down or explodes, it can damage the system board on which it is attached as well and that becomes either a very expensive repair job or renders the computer useless if the repair would cost more than just replacing it with a new computer would be. Most laptops in particular have an extremely high temperature sensor built in so that besides or in addition to high pitched whining noises and the fans constantly kicking into super high gear, they may find the game shuts their laptop off abruptly if its defense mechanism is triggered. For some reason players don't like suddenly and unexpectedly staring at a black screened, powered off laptop when seconds ago they were trying to play a game or do other things. That impact is of course better than a meltdown or explosion, but it doesn't make the game any more playable until the underlying issues are addressed.

@Lustianicia Does your laptop have dual graphics with Optimus configuration? If so, it's perfectly normal that it doesn't work to turn on V-sync in the Nvidia Control Panel, at least I've never seen it work, not for me and not for anyone else. I have three gaming laptops with dual graphics, and what I had to do to turn v-sync on was use the control panel for the integrated graphics chip on the processor, Intel in my case. I suggest you try that too. I don't know the make of your CPU, Intel or AMD, but if it's Intel here's a link to a help article for the different versions of Intel Control Panel:Enabling and Disabling Vertical Synchronization Here are some links to threads with people who couldn't turn on v-sync either until they did it in the Intel Control Panel.HappySimmer3 Xavy_Cat (formerly Nikoa)tiger_lily5

V-Sync won't work with new graphics card! Please help!

suzses
Seasoned Newcomer
5 years ago
A lot of us haven't been able to get frame rates locked in Sims 3 with just Nvidia control panel. I used Nvidia Inspector as outlined in the last part of post below:

https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/16540301/#Comment_16540301
igazor
5 years ago
"Lustianicia;c-17593995" wrote:
... but whoever it was seriously failed miserably at developing this game properly... it's so sad how this much stress can be caused simply for trying to avoid killing a graphics card!

TS3 was originally designed in 2008-09, at a time when most consumer grade graphics cards would not have been strong enough to generate overly high fps rates. The few top end ones that could were so expensive back then (like the GTX 280, its successors, and its AMD counterparts) that one would hope those who had one would know to take the precautions that were at the time necessary to protect their hardware.

Where EA can be faulted was for not updating the game further along the way as the marketplace changed and what were once higher end graphics card specs became more mainstream.

But on a more practical note...

The suggestion to change that setting on the Intel integrated chip was a good one and is worth pursuing to get vsync to function as it should. But in addition, both the newest (as of earlier this calendar year) Nivida drivers through the Nvidia Control Panel and Nvidia Inspector are supposed to provide a field for Max Frame Rate into which you should be able to specify exactly 60 or some value just under that (59.something, maybe 58). Are you not seeing this field/option in either place or is it still being ineffective once set that way? The max value cap alone, either way, is not as "good" as vsync in terms of quality, some players honestly cannot tell the difference, but vsync and a max cap together should at least be working to lock things in under your refresh rate and protecting your GPU from working too hard and overheating while you play and perhaps work on other combinations of settings.

It should also be noted, since I didn't see it referenced here yet, that vsync no matter how it's done is only relevant in full screen mode. If you happen to be running in windowed mode it will never work and explicit frame rate capping does become essential.
igazor
5 years ago
Okay good, this is progress. It would still be best to somehow get into the control panel for that Intel HD integrated chip to coax vsync into working properly.

But since the game is working and the fps is now capped without screen tears in windowed mode, there is an alternative and that is to embrace windowed mode but use Windowed Borderless Gaming. This utility makes windowed mode look a lot more like full screen even though it really isn't and many players who are/were having Win 10 growing pains for different reasons along the way have found it very helpful.
igazor
5 years ago
Most monitors/laptop screens have refresh rates of 60 Hz. Some can run a bit higher (75, 144, etc.). Let's use 60 as a baseline, but you can see yours by right-clicking on the desktop and Display Settings > Advanced Display Settings.

That means fps rates of higher than 60 cannot be interpreted by your monitor and are the equivalent of digital noise. If a game or other program's actual fps rate spikes up to 65 or 70, that can lead to occasional graphics glitches and some small amount of lag/stutter, but usually it wouldn't really be that bad. With a powerful enough GPU like yours, the frame rates generated can easily go into the hundreds and fluctuate wildly all over the place. With a yet more powerful card, they can go even higher like into the thousands. Vertical sync is supposed to fix that by bringing the game's frame generation "into sync" with the monitor. It doesn't work in windowed mode because without full screen Windows is managing that aspect rather than the graphics card control panel. And we still think it's not working in full screen in your case because of the dual graphics and handoff from the Intel chip to the Nvidia card needing some extra help by way of that Intel HD setting that is eluding you.

Anyway, all that extra frame generation per second provides no benefit and overworks the card hard. Some will experience high pitched whining noises coming from the area of the card within their computers when this happens, which is a huge warning sign that something is wrong. Graphics glitches, lag, and crashes often arise as well or instead, with the danger of the card overheating not far behind, leading the player to think there is something wrong with their game or its added content when there really isn't. Most modern games include a mechanism to sync or cap the frame rates themselves, even TS4 does, but TS3 is kind of an oddity because of when it was designed, before this became more of a standard thing, and how hard the game engine can work in its attempts to render and simulate everything it needs to.

If the card were to overheat to the point where it melts down or explodes, it can damage the system board on which it is attached as well and that becomes either a very expensive repair job or renders the computer useless if the repair would cost more than just replacing it with a new computer would be. Most laptops in particular have an extremely high temperature sensor built in so that besides or in addition to high pitched whining noises and the fans constantly kicking into super high gear, they may find the game shuts their laptop off abruptly if its defense mechanism is triggered. For some reason players don't like suddenly and unexpectedly staring at a black screened, powered off laptop when seconds ago they were trying to play a game or do other things. That impact is of course better than a meltdown or explosion, but it doesn't make the game any more playable until the underlying issues are addressed.
SuzyCue72
5 years ago
@Lustianicia Does your laptop have dual graphics with Optimus configuration? If so, it's perfectly normal that it doesn't work to turn on V-sync in the Nvidia Control Panel, at least I've never seen it work, not for me and not for anyone else.

I have three gaming laptops with dual graphics, and what I had to do to turn v-sync on was use the control panel for the integrated graphics chip on the processor, Intel in my case. I suggest you try that too. I don't know the make of your CPU, Intel or AMD, but if it's Intel here's a link to a help article for the different versions of Intel Control Panel:

Enabling and Disabling Vertical Synchronization

Here are some links to threads with people who couldn't turn on v-sync either until they did it in the Intel Control Panel.

HappySimmer3

Xavy_Cat (formerly Nikoa)

tiger_lily5
SuzyCue72
5 years ago
"suzses;c-17593516" wrote:
A lot of us haven't been able to get frame rates locked in Sims 3 with just Nvidia control panel. I used Nvidia Inspector as outlined in the last part of post below:

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

@suzses If it's a laptop that has dual graphics with Optimus configuration it's perfectly normal that it doesn't work to turn on V-sync in the Nvidia Control Panel, at least I've never seen it work, not for me and not for anyone else.

Possible explanation as to why it doesn't seem to work turning on V-sync in Nvidia Control Panel on dual graphics laptops with Optimus configuration:

Nvidia Optimus Technology
"Using NVIDIA's Optimus technology, when the discrete GPU is handling all the rendering duties, the final image output to the display is still handled by the Intel integrated graphics processor (IGP). In effect, the IGP is only being used as a simple display controller."

Nvidia Optimus explanation on Quora:
"The way that an optimus card is wired is that the display is connected to the integrated gpu. That is the only card with output to the display.

When you run an application with the nvidia card, the nvidia card renders the image, and when it wants to display the image on the screen, it copies the image on the integrated card, which then copies the image to the screen."

Nvidia GeForce Forums:
"You're running it on a laptop and for vsync to work through the Nvidia Control Panel you have to go into the Intel control panel (should be an icon in the system tray at the bottom right of the task bar) Right click it and select Graphic Properties then click 3D and at the bottom right change Verticle Sync from Application Settings to Driver Settings."
Lustianicia
5 years ago
"SuzyCue72;c-17593598" wrote:
@Lustianicia Does your laptop have dual graphics with Optimus configuration? If so, it's perfectly normal that it doesn't work to turn on V-sync in the Nvidia Control Panel, at least I've never seen it work, not for me and not for anyone else.

I have three gaming laptops with dual graphics, and what I had to do to turn v-sync on was use the control panel for the integrated graphics chip on the processor, Intel in my case. I suggest you try that too. I don't know the make of your CPU, Intel or AMD, but if it's Intel here's a link to a help article for the different versions of Intel Control Panel:

Enabling and Disabling Vertical Synchronization

Here are some links to threads with people who couldn't turn on v-sync either until they did it in the Intel Control Panel.

HappySimmer3

Xavy_Cat (formerly Nikoa)

tiger_lily5

Yes, I have a dual graphics... my laptop has an Intel HD Graphics Card AND GTX 1650... however, I can't seem to find the control panel for Intel graphics at all... I tried right clicking on the desktop to find the 'graphics properties' option and nothing shows up... and it's not in the bottom corner either. I even tried the Ctrl + Alt + F12 option that link suggests and it says I have to find an app on the Microsoft store... ?
Lustianicia
5 years ago
"suzses;c-17593516" wrote:
A lot of us haven't been able to get frame rates locked in Sims 3 with just Nvidia control panel. I used Nvidia Inspector as outlined in the last part of post below:

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

Unfortunately, even that didn't work for me... the FPS are still going to like 100-300... OMG! This is seriously so irritating! I have no idea what idiot decided it was such a smart idea to create a game that literally fries and melts your graphics card unless you specifically go through the GPU control panels to change the FPS from going too high, but whoever it was seriously failed miserably at developing this game properly... it's so sad how this much stress can be caused simply for trying to avoid killing a graphics card!

I guess I won't be playing Sims 3 on my laptop anytime soon... not until I get all of this figured out... and it's even worse how I need to keep turning on and off the game just to see if the FPS problem is fixed! That's making me extremely paranoid because it's probably killing my GPU just by doing that! :angry:
Lustianicia
5 years ago
"igazor;c-17594028" wrote:
"Lustianicia;c-17593995" wrote:
... but whoever it was seriously failed miserably at developing this game properly... it's so sad how this much stress can be caused simply for trying to avoid killing a graphics card!

TS3 was originally designed in 2008-09, at a time when most consumer grade graphics cards would not have been strong enough to generate overly high fps rates. The few top end ones that could were so expensive back then (like the GTX 280, its successors, and its AMD counterparts) that one would hope those who had one would know to take the precautions that were at the time necessary to protect their hardware.

Where EA can be faulted was for not updating the game further along the way as the marketplace changed and what were once higher end graphics card specs became more mainstream.

But on a more practical note...

The suggestion to change that setting on the Intel integrated chip was a good one and is worth pursuing to get vsync to function as it should. But in addition, both the newest (as of earlier this calendar year) Nivida drivers through the Nvidia Control Panel and Nvidia Inspector are supposed to provide a field for Max Frame Rate into which you should be able to specify exactly 60 or some value just under that (59.something, maybe 58). Are you not seeing this field/option in either place or is it still being ineffective once set that way? The max value cap alone, either way, is not as "good" as vsync in terms of quality, some players honestly cannot tell the difference, but vsync and a max cap together should at least be working to lock things in under your refresh rate and protecting your GPU from working too hard and overheating while you play and perhaps work on other combinations of settings.

It should also be noted, since I didn't see it referenced here yet, that vsync no matter how it's done is only relevant in full screen mode. If you happen to be running in windowed mode it will never work and explicit frame rate capping does become essential.

Okay, that actually makes sense... I guess it's reasonable for them to not have known how high the fps rates for future GPUs would function, so it was easily overlooked.

Also, yes, I actually did find the option in the NVIDIA control panel to manually put a maximum FPS... however, now it seems to cause tearing effects in the game... and they're quite noticeable. I've tried 59, 60, and 61... the tearing still occurs, regardless. And yes, the FPS are being capped in the game (I used the fps on cheat to check and the FPS are an avg of 58-61, depending). This doesn't happen without the FPS being capped... is there a way to fix this issue!? Also, I'm in fullscreen mode... I switched to windowed mode and the tearing doesn't happen (the FPS are still capped), but windowed mode really bothers me... is there a way to fix the tearing in fullscreen mode?
Lustianicia
5 years ago
"igazor;c-17594390" wrote:
Okay good, this is progress. It would still be best to somehow get into the control panel for that Intel HD integrated chip to coax vsync into working properly.

But since the game is working and the fps is now capped without screen tears in windowed mode, there is an alternative and that is to embrace windowed mode but use Windowed Borderless Gaming. This utility makes windowed mode look a lot more like full screen even though it really isn't and many players who are/were having Win 10 growing pains for different reasons along the way have found it very helpful.

I was hoping it wouldn't come down to this, but I guess it's not the end of the world... I suppose Sims 3 being over a decade old is just something many of us need to accept and it won't run on newer computers the same way it did before... :disappointed: Oh well... I'm mostly glad I ended up getting the FPS issue fixed! Now I can safely play the game without the fear of my graphics card being killed! :smile:

On a side note, I have no idea if you have the answer to this, but why exactly does a game like Sims 3 cause a graphics card to overwork itself and basically "melt" or "fry" as a result? I fully understand it's a precaution we need to take and I'll never risk it, but why is it so important to cap the FPS?