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Keyanna4211's avatar
Keyanna4211
2 years ago
Solved

Re: [READ FIRST] Unrecognized video card

Hi @puzzlezaddict - I'm having this sort of issue with my Sims 3 game. I saw that this was the most recent thread for the unrecognized card issue, so I thought to reach out here. So, I would try to f...
pc
technical issues
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    2 years ago

    @Keyanna4211  This is a guide to the AMD Adrenalin (graphics control software) app.  Please try changing the settings in step 3:

    https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/dh3-021

    You can change them back again right away; the idea is to make the software think about the color tints.  It's probably enough to change the settings just for Sims 3 (TS3.exe if you've installed through the EA App; TS3W.exe, with the W, otherwise), but you can try the global setting as well.  Let me know whether that gets rid of the purple.

puzzlezaddict's avatar
puzzlezaddict
Hero+
2 years ago

@Keyanna4211  That makes things a lot easier.  If you have saves or other files you want to preserve that are NOT also on your USB, rename the Sims 3 folder in Documents to something that doesn't include "Sims 3" in its name; otherwise, you can skip this step.

For the uninstall process itself, please download Revo Uninstaller (the free version is fine) and tell it to remove Sims 3.  Make sure the EA App is closed, the EABackgroundService is NOT running in the backtround, and the external drive is plugged in and recognized.  When Revo is finished, restart your computer and reinstall the game to the external, or wherever you want it.

I would strongly suggest installing into a folder on the external, for example D:\Games, rather than on the root level of the drive.  That will make troubleshooting much easier and will also avoid some potential complications that could happen if the EA App thinks the entire D drive is one of its game directories.

Once you've reinstalled the game, launch it once to make sure everything is working, and then we can move on to getting your graphics card recognized.

Keyanna4211's avatar
Keyanna4211
2 years ago

@puzzlezaddict Okay! Thanks for these tips! I will try them. Just one more thing before I uninstall The Sims 3 game off my drive, to ensure there isn't any misunderstanding. The only important downloads on my USB "(E: )" drive are just CCs like houses, custom clothing, and that sort. The other folders in it -- were old duplicates (like the ones I've tried to move) that were from my previous installation of the Sims 3 when it used to be on my regular computer drive. So, they are basically unneeded/old files. I don't plan to use the USB at all until of course, it's for moving just the CC downloads (which is not dependent on the game registry). 


Also another thing, it seems that my computer had automatically installed the 'User Files' into my Windows "(C: )" drive although I had selected my External Drive "(D: )" as the destination for installation. Are you sure that the 'User Files' will/should be under the "(D: )" drive? Like I understand, the original folders that I mentioned that were there initially from the time of installation would be okay to be under "(D: )" drive. But shouldn't it be fine for the 'user files'-which include save files, game settings, and caches to be within my Windows folder directory "(C: )"? I saw something that said that sometimes game's registry entries and system path variables often point to locations on the C: drive for user data, regardless of where the game is installed. So that user-specific data is separated from the program data (making it easier to manage and back up important files) and since its a default that Windows does for user-specific data.

Just want to make sure, because I wouldn't want to reinstall the game if the 'User Files' are supposed/will go back in that directory place "(C: )" unless it was something else you meant.

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    2 years ago

    @Keyanna4211  The program files and user files are not only separate folders, they're handled completely differently.  The program files go where you tell the EA App to put them; the user files always go into Documents > Electronic Arts.  If Documents is on C, which it always is by default, the user files will be there too.  You can change this if you want, but I wouldn't suggest it unless you really need the space.

    For that matter, I wouldn't suggest installing the program files to the external drive either unless you'd rather use the internal drive's space for some other program.  Many games, Sims 3 included, will load more slowly from an external drive, or an internal HDD, than they would from an internal SSD.  That doesn't mean you can't play; I'm just saying if it's between photos or music and Sims 3, I'd put the game on the internal drive and the other data on the external.

    As far as the registry entries go, the EA App creates some when installing a game, but this data has to do with the program files and resources they might use.  The App has nothing to say about where the user files are.  The location of Documents is also stored in the registry, but that's a Windows-level setting.  The game uses whatever Windows says is the Documents directory.

    If you do want to move the user files to D, that's fine, let me know; but please confirm the game is properly reinstalled and working as intended first.

    • Keyanna4211's avatar
      Keyanna4211
      2 years ago

      @puzzlezaddict Thanks for explaining. I’m new to learning these computer terms! I have just followed everything you said. I decided I’ll still have the game installed on the external drive since it’s best for my computer storage right now.

      In that case, I started with uninstalling The Sims 3 game and all other related files with the Revo Uninstaller, then I cleaned up my C: drive Sims 3 folder from the previous User Files I had and made sure that there were backups into a separate new folder into a different drive so they can be separate and prevent any mix-up from any new files. After that I installed my game under the suggested default install location, “D:\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3” path structure, and not the root of the drive like you said. After the game had been installed, I launched it to test out how it worked. The game launches fine. But the Unrecognized Video Card did pop up again once I reached the New Game menu. I believe I followed everything well this time. I have attached the screenshots of the pop-up, as well as the new user files and program files. Hopefully, we can move forward from here.


      https://imgur.com/a/mROYgN6

      • puzzlezaddict's avatar
        puzzlezaddict
        Hero+
        2 years ago

        @Keyanna4211  The unrecognized video card error happened again because you have a new Options.ini file, which sits in the user folder and stores the data that you've already seen the error.  Your GPU was unrecognized this whole time; it's just that the game didn't bother you about it again until now.

        To get the card recognized, you'll be editing two files here:

        D:\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin

        First, open graphicscards.sgr (Notepad is fine).  Right at the top, you'll see these lines:

        vendor "ATI" 0x1002
        card 0x6798 "AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series"
        card 0x6799 "AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series"

        Create a new line under the one that says ATI and copy and paste this:

        	card 0x98e4 "AMD Radeon R5 Graphics"

        Make sure this line is indented like the ones below it; the lines in my copy are one Tab in from the left.  Save, close the file, and open graphicsrules.sgr.  Search for x14 , which will take you here:

        elseif (match("${cardName}", "*x14??*") or match("${cardName}", "*x850*")

        Change the bolded x14?? to R5 , but don't change or delete any of the other characters, not even the asterisks.  (Do remove the question marks, so the R5 is directly between the asterisks.)  This will designate your card as medium, which is appropriate for your card, but feel free to play with the graphics settings a bit.

        Save, close the file, load the game, quit, and check deviceconfig again.  You should see a [Found: 1, Matched: 1] next to your graphics card's name.

        If this doesn't work, please post the same section of the deviceconfig as you did last time.

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