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Re: Sims 3 graphics card/framerates

@puzzlezaddict  I've been playing around with it for a bit and I don't think editing the graphics files is the problem. Repairing the game through Origin does not fix anything, but spawning a new game folder does fix the problem. I tried going in and out of the game to see when it would stop working and the problem seems to start when I change the graphics settings in game. I don't know if it is because I set them too high (I set most of them to the highest setting) or if it is a specific one that causes the problem (I haven't tested that yet, seems like it might take a while to go through them all). I've tried this both with the graphics card unrecognized and with the graphics files changed to recognize it, the problem happens with both. 

I did update some things in Windows Update when I got the computer this Tuesday, and I guess the GPU driver was also updated that day. The game doesn't crash as such it just freezes (or seems to do so as the mouse is sometimes still there and moveable) so I have to either reboot the computer or sometimes I can ctrl+alt+delete and sign out so it forces the game to close. If I just leave it be, it stays on the frozen black screen. 

Edit: the black screen happens when launching the game but also when exiting it after having changed the in game graphics settings.

9 Replies

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
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    6 years ago

    @MyCatsNameIsMax  Just to clarify, you should never change your graphics settings anywhere except the Main Menu, and you should always quit and reload afterwards.  (The exceptions are fullscreen/windowed, resolution, and high-detail lots, which can be changed on the fly.)  Changing while a save is loaded can cause all sorts of graphics problems, up to and including crashing or freezing.  So playing with the settings could account for the problems.

    Having said that, your dxdiag does list errors both with your GPU driver and with the Radeon control software.  These could just be the result of your messing with the settings.  But if changing options at the Main Menu, quitting, and reloading still leads to freezing/crashing, it's possible that the Radeon software is attempting to impose what it deems optimal settings on the game, and your manually overriding those settings is the issue.  (Nvidia's GeForce Experience does the same thing, offering to "optimize" settings, and it's always been a problem with TS3.)

    I don't have the control software in front of me right now, but if yours has a profile for TS3.exe, you could try turning off any options for optimizing or managing graphics settings or whatever Radeon calls it.  You can access the control panel by right-clicking on the desktop and selecting Radeon-something.

  • @puzzlezaddict  The graphics settings that I have been changing is in the main menu of the game, not in any files or Radeon software or anything. I only "played" with the settings in the main menu after the game started having problems to see if these settings were the cause of the problem. I spawned a new sims 3 folder, launched the game and then changed the settings to what I wanted in the main menu, then exited the game as it recommends and it would freeze while closing or when I tried to launch the game again afterwards. I kept doing that to see which settings were causing problems (disabling in game store, memories and such or the graphics settings). I was not in a save while doing it as I haven't really been playing yet and currently have no saves (I just let the 1 save I had be deleted when spawning a new game folder as I had not been playing for long and didn't care if it was saved). This was also how I found out that changing the graphics files was not causing the problem, as when I spawn a new folder the graphics files go back to not recognizing the GPU and the problem was still present.

    I just tried looking at the Radeon software, I'm not quite sure how it works or what it does, so I haven't changed any settings from the default they were when the software was installed. But I just now disabled the ones that were enabled for Sims 3. One was surface format optimization (sounds like this could be some of what you are talking about?)

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
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    6 years ago

    @MyCatsNameIsMax  Wait, your GPU goes from recognized to unrecognized when you just spawn a clean folder?  That doesn't sound right at all.  A game repair would do this because the repair replaces the altered .sgr files with their original copies.  But there's nothing in the Sims 3 folder in Documents that should have anything to do with this.

    Please let me know if disabling any Radeon optimization settings helps.  If not, there's an experiment I can suggest: repair, clean folder, let your card be unrecognized, and see whether you can change any of the graphics settings without getting more crashes.  If you can't, it's the Radeon software, and we can try to troubleshoot that further.

    If you can change the settings, then apply only the texture memory fix (the last one listed), not the other two steps, and let me know whether you can tweak the settings without the game crashing.  (You'll know the texture memory edit worked when deviceconfig lists it as 1024 rather than "32 MB <<OVERRIDE>>.")  I'm curious whether it's the fact that you're altering an .sgr file at all, or whether it's specifically having your card recognized and/or the game applying the default ultra settings.

  • @puzzlezaddict Oh no it doesn't go from recognized to unrecognized by getting a new folder, it's just me getting confused :D

    It's definitely the Radeon Software causing the problem. The game works with all the settings disabled but stops working as soon as I turn them on again. However I don't know if its a specific setting or all of them.
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
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    6 years ago

    @MyCatsNameIsMax  At least you know you can get the game running though.  If you feel like experimenting and find out which setting is the problem, please let me know—you won't be the only person with this issue.  But if you'd rather just disable everything in the Radeon software and go on playing, that works too.  I'm just glad you've confirmed that it is Radeon and not some other more elusive issue.

  • @puzzlezaddict What do I need to do? I'll probably just let the settings be turned off, but if it can help others with the same problem I'd be glad to figure it out anyway.
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
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    6 years ago

    @MyCatsNameIsMax  If you do want to troubleshoot more, you can reenable one setting at a time and test the game.   It sounds like you know when there's a problem pretty much right away, so you'll know which settings are fine and which mess with the game.  If there are a number of settings, you can use the 50/50 method, but keep in mind that there may be more than one setting that causes trouble.

    For myself, I'd love to see a screenshot with all the available settings for TS3, since I don't have the same software and need to look it up every time (and I can only assume that other games' options look the same).  But don't worry about it if you don't have time.  This is just me being curious and anticipating the next time someone is trying to play TS3 on a high-end AMD card.

  • @puzzlezaddictI've attached screenshots of the settings options, hope you can use them 🙂

    It seems to be the advanced settings that cause problems, having the other settings on doesn't seem to do anything.

    I also discovered that sometimes the game does open after seeming stuck if you wait a few minutes, but it still freezes when you close it so you have to reboot the pc. 

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
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    6 years ago

    @MyCatsNameIsMax  Thanks so much for the screenshots; I really appreciate it.  It's interesting that the game does occasionally work (mostly), but why that would happen and then cause a freeze later is a bit over my head—my understanding of GPU drivers and associated software pretty much ends with identifying problems via error codes and describing how to do a clean uninstall.

    Anyway, thanks again.  This will help me describe the settings to the next person, who might well not be as capable of navigating the settings as you are.

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