New Laptop. Sims 3 won't recognise video card and hardware

@pigsquiggle  Start by setting Sims 3 to use your dedicated graphics card in the Nvidia Control Panel.  Right-click on the desktop and select the Control Panel, then Manage 3D settings, then Program Settings.  Find or add Sims 3: use TS3.exe for an Origin install, or TS3W.exe (with the W) for a disc or Steam install.  There should be an option to use the high-performance card.  (I don't have a screenshot handy because I don't have a laptop with an Nvidia card.)

If this doesn't help, please let me know what kind of install you have (Origin, disc, Steam).  Please also run a dxdiag and attach it to a post.

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

Hello, thank you for your response. I tried that and it is still the same problem. 

I have installed it by disc.

My DxDiag is attached

@pigsquiggle  Please run the Super Patch to manually patch the game to 1.67.  Even if the launcher says it patched already, it may not have done a thorough job.  The download you want is under "Cumulative Base Game Super Patcher":

https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/175477/official-ea-download-link-for-the-sims-3-cumulative-manual-update

Once it's run, which may take a few minutes, go into Documents\Electronic Arts and move the Sims 3 folder to the desktop, or just delete it if you don't have any content you want to keep yet.  Then launch the game and test.

@pigsquiggle  The unrecognized card is fixable.  You just need to add the MX150 to the game's database: specifically, you'll need to edit two files called graphicscards.sgr and graphicsrules.sgr, which are both located in the Sims 3 program files.  For a disc install, I think the default file path is:

Program files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin

Note:  These instructions only apply to and will only work for the original poster's graphics card.  If you'd like help getting your own card recognized, please post the same information from deviceconfig (at the bottom of this post) and ask for help.

Open graphicscards.sgr (Notepad works fine), and crtl-F to search for 10de.  That will take you to these lines:

vendor "NVIDIA" 0x10b4 0x12d2 0x10de
card 0x0fd1 "GeForce GT 650M"
card 0x0fd2 "GeForce GT 640M"

Create a new line under the "Nvidia" line, copy this text, and paste it in the new line:

    card 0x1d10 "GeForce MX150"

So you should now see this:

vendor "NVIDIA" 0x10b4 0x12d2 0x10de

card 0x1d10 "GeForce MX150"
card 0x0fd1 "GeForce GT 650M"
card 0x0fd2 "GeForce GT 640M"

(with indents from spaces that this site isn't displaying properly).  Save, quit, and open graphicsrules.sgr.  Crtl-F and search for g100, which will take you here:

or match("${cardName}", "*G100*"))
seti cardLevel $cardLevelHigh

Change the bolded G100 to MX150.  Don't change anything else, not even the asterisks.  This will classify your card as high.  You can play with the graphics options later if you want, but this is a good place to start.

Finally, scroll back to the top of graphicsrules, and look for this, 8-10 lines down:

if ($textureMemory == 0)
seti textureMemory 32
setb textureMemorySizeOK false

change the 32 to 1024, and add a # and a space in front of setb.  Your card has twice the video memory, but TS3 can only use 800 MB anyway.  The lines should look like this:

if ($textureMemory == 0)
seti textureMemory 1024
# setb textureMemorySizeOK false

You'll know it worked if you see a [Found: 1, Matched: 1] next to the card name in deviceconfig, and texture memory listed as 1024 instead of the current 32 MB override.  If either tweak doesn't work, please paste the section of deviceconfig between "Graphics device info" (about 25 lines down) and "Options" (about 40 lines down) into a post here.

HI, I've tried looking in my files and all I can see these options, attachment below:

@pigsquiggle  That's the user data folder, which is always located in Documents\Electronic Arts.  You're looking for the game's program files.  If you can't find them, search your computer for graphicscards, or TS3W for that matter.  The files are located in the same place.  I don't know the exact location you chose for the install, but the last part of it will be \The Sims 3\Game\bin.

Thank you I have done that and it is saying found 0 matched 0

== Graphics device info ===
Number: 0
Name (driver): NVIDIA GeForce MX150
Name (database): NVIDIA GeForce MX150 [Found: 0, Matched: 0]
Vendor: NVIDIA
Chipset: Vendor: 10de, Device: 1d10, Board: 240f1b0a, Chipset: 00a1
Driver: nvldumd.dll, Version: 26.21.14.3172, GUID: D7B71E3E-5E50-11CF-DE74-01041BC2D735
Driver version: 3172
Monitor: \\.\DISPLAY1
Texture memory: 32MB <<OVERRIDE>>
Vertex program: 3.0
Pixel program: 3.0
Hardware TnL: 1

@pigsquiggle  Did you repair or patch the game after you did the edits?  That would revert both .sgr files to their original state.  None of the three edits had any effect, even the one for texture memory, and that should work regardless of what card you have.

Please search your entire computer for "graphicscards" and see if you have a second copy somewhere.  It's unlikely, but I did see someone once who had two copies of the game installed somehow and happened to be editing the file that wasn't being used.

I've searched my computer and this is what has come up (attached). I'm not sure which ones to delete. I'm assuming this is why the deviceconfig.logs folder is not showing anything. Also,I started my game and shut it down again and the file now reads '=== Options === === Default Options ===' again.