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Sunset_Gossip's avatar
12 months ago
Solved

Nvidia graphics card help

Hello there! I'm getting a new computer but I know when I boot up the sims 3 it'll come up with the issue of the graphics card not being recognised. I'd be really grateful if someone could walk me through the process of getting my card matched. What I know so far of the computer are these details:

Graphics card:  NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti

Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X Processor

Hopefully that's enough details but if more is needed I can get it tomorrow when I pick up my computer. Thanks!

  • @Sunset_Gossip  Correct, 2083 is the device ID.  To get the GPU recognized, you'll need to edit a two files called graphicscards.sgr and graphicsrules.sgr, which are both located in the Sims 3 program files.  For an Origin install, the default file path is:

    Program files (x86)\Origin Games\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 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 0x2803 "GeForce RTX 4060 Ti"

    So you should now see this:

    vendor "NVIDIA" 0x10b4 0x12d2 0x10de

    card 0x2803 "GeForce RTX 4060 Ti"
    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 8800, which will take you here:

     elseif (match("${cardName}", "*8800*") or match("${cardName}", "*9500*") or match("${cardName}", "*9600 GSO*") or match("${cardName}", [etc.]

    Change the bolded 8800 to RTX 4060.  Don't change anything else, not even the asterisks.  This will classify your card as uber.

    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 more VRAM than that, but TS3 can only use 800 MB anyway.  The lines should look like this:

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

    Launch the game at least once to refresh the deviceconfig.log.  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 that same section of deviceconfig here, and we can tweak the edits.

6 Replies

  • @Sunset_Gossip  To get your graphics card recognized, you'll need its device ID, which you can see in DeviceConfig.log, among other places.  It's this section:

    === Graphics device info ===
    Number: 0
    Name (driver): Unknown Unknown
    Name (database): Unknown Unknown [Found: 1, Matched: 1]
    Vendor: ATI
    Chipset: Vendor: 1002, Device: 6810, Board: 00000000, Chipset: 0000

    (Ignore the "Unknown" part; that's the game not knowing what to do with an ARM Mac.)  The device ID is in bold.  If you'd like help getting the GPU recognized, just list this ID.  Or you can use the GPU add-on utility, hosted at NexusMods, which includes most but not all newer cards' device IDs.

  • Thanks that would be great! My number seems to be 2803 but posting my info to be safe haha.

    === Graphics device info ===
    Number: 0
    Name (driver): NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti
    Name (database): NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti [Found: 0, Matched: 1]
    Vendor: NVIDIA
    Chipset: Vendor: 10de, Device: 2803, Board: 41061458, Chipset: 00a1
    Driver: nvldumd.dll, Version: 31.0.15.5186, GUID: D7B71E3E-6B43-11CF-AA63-09610EC2D235
    Driver version: 5186
    Monitor: \\.\DISPLAY1
    Texture memory: 32MB <<OVERRIDE>>
    Vertex program: 3.0
    Pixel program: 3.0
    Hardware TnL: 1

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    12 months ago

    @Sunset_Gossip  Correct, 2083 is the device ID.  To get the GPU recognized, you'll need to edit a two files called graphicscards.sgr and graphicsrules.sgr, which are both located in the Sims 3 program files.  For an Origin install, the default file path is:

    Program files (x86)\Origin Games\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 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 0x2803 "GeForce RTX 4060 Ti"

    So you should now see this:

    vendor "NVIDIA" 0x10b4 0x12d2 0x10de

    card 0x2803 "GeForce RTX 4060 Ti"
    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 8800, which will take you here:

     elseif (match("${cardName}", "*8800*") or match("${cardName}", "*9500*") or match("${cardName}", "*9600 GSO*") or match("${cardName}", [etc.]

    Change the bolded 8800 to RTX 4060.  Don't change anything else, not even the asterisks.  This will classify your card as uber.

    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 more VRAM than that, but TS3 can only use 800 MB anyway.  The lines should look like this:

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

    Launch the game at least once to refresh the deviceconfig.log.  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 that same section of deviceconfig here, and we can tweak the edits.

  • SiMs3ismylife11's avatar
    SiMs3ismylife11
    Newcomer
    2 days ago

    puzzlezaddict​ Hi! I’m having the same issue on my new laptop, however I’m unable to save over or save as the GraphicsCards.sgr notepad as it says I need to be the administrator, which I am. I’ve seen a previous post of yours advising to make sure the ea background service wasn’t running in task manager which I did but still won’t let me save the file! Please can you help? 

    Graphics card: GeForce RTX 2050

    I couldn’t see an option for processor in my device config log but my pc shows as this: 

    Processor: 13th Gen Intel(R) Core (TM)

  • SiMs3ismylife11​  Please post a screenshot of the error you're getting.

    Please also post the first 40 or so lines of DeviceConfig; stop when you get to Options.  You can delete your user and computer names, about 20 lines down.  The file doesn't contain any other personal info.

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