@mw1525 So this computer doesn't have a dedicated graphics card? That would surprise me given how powerful the processor is, but I guess it's possible. The easiest way to check is through the Device Manager: click Windows key-X, open the DM, expand the Display adapters section, and see whether a second graphics card is listed. In that case, the first step would be to force your computer to use that card when running Sims 3.
If the computer does in fact only have the integrated chip, then here's how to get it recognized:
Open graphicscards.sgr, and right at the top, under the vendor "ATI" line, copy and paste this:
card 0x1636 "AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 Graphics"
Make sure the entry lines up with the ones below it; I believe it's one Tab in from the left. Save, quit, open graphicsrules.sgr, and crtl-F to search for x18 , which will take you to this line:
elseif (match("${cardName}", "*x18??*") or match("${cardName}", "*x19??*") etc.
Change the bolded x18?? to Vega 8 , but leave everything else intact, including the asterisks. This will rate your graphics chip as high. I don't think it should be rated as uber, but if you prefer, just change the last entry immediately above this one instead; the Uber cards are in the first section, and the list decreases from there.
For the texture memory, find these lines right at the top of graphicsrules:
if ($textureMemory == 0)
seti textureMemory 32
setb textureMemorySizeOK false
Change the 32 to 1024 and put a # and a space in front of setb. Save, quit, launch the game, quit, and check deviceconfig again.
@mw1525 To add a video card to the computer you need it to have a POCIeX16 slot and I don't see one there in the specs. You have to get your computer to tell the game EXACTLY what the graphics chip is even though it is part of the cpu package. Once you get the game to "found 1" then you need to tell the game the graphics chip capabilities are. The game asks the computer what the video chip is. What the computer returns is what you need to use in the first .sgr file. This has to be in a format that exactly matches what the computer says it has. Once the game finds the chip you have to tell the game it capabilities are in the next .sgr file and that has to be in a format the game can understand. I use AMD cpus but none of them have an integrated video chip. If you look at the other entries you can see things like ? is like a wild card. You have all the data you need - you just have to format it correctly. hth
@mw1525 I would love to hear how Sims 3 runs on this system. As you said, its graphics capabilities are very similar to what your laptop has, and the info you provided a year ago was very helpful. Among other things, I linked your thread to someone who was looking at similar systems and was on a budget, and they've since bought a laptop with the same graphics chip. They're quite happy with the outcome. So it would be great to another reference from someone who knows Sims 3 as well as you do.
And you're right, your only option for a dedicated card here would be an external one, plugged into the fastest USB port. But that's not a great option for a couple of reasons. The ifrst is price: the external enclosure the card would need can cost around $250. The second is that eGPUs perform significantly worse than their internal counterparts, so you'd need a faster card than Sims 3 requires otherwise.
Anyway, let me know if you have more questions, and I'm looking forward to whatever info you have to share.
