Pink lines across edges of screen and resolution problems on 2020 M1 Macbook Air

@Yhrite  Thanks for the thorough report.  On this site, you're the first person so far to describe in detail how Sims 3 runs on an ARM Mac.  So there are unfortunately no guaranteed solutions, just maybe a couple of suggestions.

The UI size is a known issue: it doesn't actually scale, it's the same size in pixels no matter what resolution you use.  So the higher resolution you use in-game, the smaller the size of the UI on the screen.  As far as I know, there's no fix for this, with mods or without.

First, try switching between fullscreen and windowed modes (cmd-return at the Main Menu or in-game) to see whether it makes a difference.  Try a few different resolutions with each, and reload at least a couple times to see if you can get the pink lines to disappear.

The next step to try would be to add a line for vertical sync to options.ini.  The file is in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3; you can open it with TextEdit.  Scroll down to the bottom and add

verticalsync = 1

Then launch the game to test.  Traditionally, v-sync only works in fullscreen mode, although I'm not sure whether this setting is supposed to have any effects in windowed mode as well.  It's more an experiment than a fix; I'm curious whether it will have any effect.

I tried this myself on my Intel Mac and couldn't tell a difference, but then the game already runs fine for me.  It would be helpful though if you provided your deviceconfig.log, also in the Sims 3 folder, just to see what your graphics settings are and whether the game picks up the v-sync setting.  You can attach the file directly to a post.  (Please attach one from after you edit options.ini.)  Your user and computer names are about 20 lines down, so delete those if you want, but the file doesn't contain any other identifying information.

Finally, if you have some screenshots or a video, I'd love to see, especially camera distortion you describe.  If the effect doesn't show up with in-game screenshots—please let me know either way—you can put the game in windowed mode, then click cmd-shift-4 and drag your cursor over the section of screen you want to capture.

Thanks a lot for the reply and also the guidance! It's difficult to capture the problem with the blur as it seems to most visibly affect text. I added in the vsync option to the game options but it doesn't seem to have had any affect as frame rate tends to float well above my Mac's refresh rate of 60hz while in-game. The game is running in fullscreen.

You'll see in the images below the pink line around the character portrait. I've also realised I made a mistake in my original post and the 'pink lines around the entire edge of the screen' thing only affects the opening intro videos. Once past the menu and in-game they disappear. Though there is also a pink line around the edge of the save-game family screenshot on the main menu (not shown here)

 I've attached the device config. I'm using the graphics options the game suggested for me.

@Yhrite  Just because I'm curious, could you take a couple of screenshots I can use for comparison in my game?  Please take one each in fullscreen, at the native resolution of your screen, using the C key; and in windowed mode, at a lower resolution (let me know which one), with cmd-shift-4.  These are mine: the first is of the Hart kitchen, and the second of Victoria Andrews's right arm, both in Sunset Valley.  I'd like to compare mine to yours.  (The second is actually a composite I made for comparing the effects with different settings and in different OSs, but one close-up is enough.)

These are from around 9-10 am, without Seasons enabled, so a sunny day would be best.  You can change the season and weather by bringing up the cheats console (cmd-shift-C) and entering testingcheatsenabled true , then shift-clicking on the ground.

I'm curious how graphics rendering might be different with Rosetta on an ARM Mac.

And yes, they're supposed to look that bad; that was the point.

First two images were in fullscreen 2560x1600, settings same as seen in previous post. Third image is at 1440x900 resolution, windowed. Unfortunately, I can not get the window capture shortcut to work with windowed TS3 as it just stops the mouse from moving.

@Yhrite  Thanks for the screenshots.  Other than the sort of blurry text, yours look pretty normal to me, the same as I see in both macOS and Windows.  I was hoping that the blurriness was the side effect of some enhanced graphics rendering process (no particular reason, I just wondered), but it looks like the game is rendered pretty much the same.

As for the blurriness and pink lines, I've passed along the info.  I don't know whether there will ever be a fix, but I'll post back, or someone else will, if there's anything to try.

Hey! I'm also having this same issue. I'm on the M1 13in MBP. 

@Clutzmut  Sorry, as far as I know there's no fix for this issue.  Maybe it'll be fixed by by something on Apple's end, and maybe not, but I doubt EA will do anything, especially considering M1 chips and the software that they use to emulate x86 applications are not officially supported.

Hey there! I think I have a fix for one of your issues which I just tested. When you try to log in in-game, without telling me your password of course, but do you use the 'caps lock' key at all? I noticed that whilst trying to use the caps lock key in CAS, it wasn't actually working when I tried to name my sims and I had to use the shift key instead. When I type my origin/sims 3 password in launcher I always use the caps lock key. I just tried logging in using the shift key for the capitalised letters in my password and it worked. So it's worth a try 🙂

I have also been able to replicate the pink border and will attach photos below. My resolution had to come down too because the UI shrunk. The border isn't causing damage to gameplay so I don't mind it so much. But the fact that I know it does not belong there is what irritates me the most. 

The thing that is bugging me the most about this metal version of the sims is that my camera is all weird. If I press to slightly tilt it goes all the way up/down and gets stuck. It's forcing me to use the mouse and click the tilt button on the screen which is irritating because I prefer to use my keyboard but oh well. I hope they start fixing these issues as complaints/reports come in.

(oh, and btw I use the M1 13.3in Macbook Air)

@YazPlatt  I knew the caps lock key didn't work in CAS but hadn't thought to try it at the Main Menu, so thanks for that insight.  (I always use shift when typing.)

The camera control issues were reported back when the game was released.  Hopefully they'll get addressed at some point, but it's been a long time.

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-Mac/CURRENT-ISSUE-64-bit-Camera-controls-don-t-properly-control/td-p/9677211

This is my same issue I even started calling apple like hey I paid a lot for the computer. It seems like it’s a sims issue