Sims 3 crashes to background [dxdiag included]

@ApplexSims  Your hardware is great for Sims 3: processor, graphics card, and RAM are all over the recommendations for ultra settings.  However, your C drive is getting low on space, with only 12 GB available.  It's a good idea to clear another 10 GB if you can.

More relevantly to the Sims 3 issue though, the game might be using your integrated graphics card rather than the dedicated one.  Where is your monitor plugged in: to the motherboard, or to the card itself?  If you're not sure what to look for, this is a useful screenshot:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues/MONITOR-WONT-DETECT-MY-DESKTOP/m-p/8517464#M236

If this isn't the issue, please go into Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3, open the file called deviceconfig.log, copy the section between "Graphics device info" (about 25 lines down) and "Options" (about 40 lines down), and paste it here.  This will show which card Sims 3 is using.

Sorry for the late response. I’m still quite confused about the monitor part so here’s a picture of it instead 

Edit: Also here's the document text in case the monitor is plugged in correctly.

@ApplexSims  Sims 3 is in fact using the integrated graphics chip, and the monitor is in fact plugged into the motherboard, not the dedicated card.  In the picture you attached, do you see the little gold knob sticking out?  Just above that, there are two rubber protective plugs protecting the graphics card's ports.  I belive the one on the right is for DisplayPort, which I believe is what your monitor cable uses.  (It's difficult to be 100% sure from the picture.)  But you can unplug the monitor cable and look at its connector, then find the matching one on the graphics card.

Plug the monitor in to the dedicated card, launch Sims 3 once (no need to go past the Main Menu), quit, and look at the config file again.  It's the part in bold that matters:

=== Graphics device info ===
Number: 0
Name (driver): Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630
Name (database): Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 [Found: 0, Matched: 1]
Vendor: Intel
Chipset: Vendor: 8086, Device: 3e92, Board: 86941043, Chipset: 0000
Driver: igdumdim32.dll, Version: 25.20.100.6444, GUID: D7B78E66-7DD2-11CF-DF6A-F0A6BBC2D435
Driver version: 6444
Monitor: \\.\DISPLAY1
Texture memory: 32MB <<OVERRIDE>>
Vertex program: 3.0
Pixel program: 3.0
Hardware TnL: 1

although I'd still like to see that whole section above.  The card listed should now be the Nvidia 1060, although it's easy enough to manually force TS3 to use the Nvidia card if necessary.

if you mean the monitor hdmi cord thats the only plug in for it ): would a clearer picture help? And if I provided it could you circle it? Im sorry if this is too much

Wow. I had not realized those rubber things were removable 😞 I plugged my monitor into one of the slots. I'll load the game and get back to you.

=== Graphics device info ===
Number: 0
Name (driver): NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB
Name (database): NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB [Found: 0, Matched: 0]
Vendor: NVIDIA
Chipset: Vendor: 10de, Device: 1c02, Board: 37221458, Chipset: 00a1
Driver: nvldumd.dll, Version: 26.21.14.3200, GUID: D7B71E3E-5F42-11CF-687B-2C171BC2D735
Driver version: 3200
Monitor: \\.\DISPLAY4
Texture memory: 32MB <<OVERRIDE>>
Vertex program: 3.0
Pixel program: 3.0
Hardware TnL: 1

This is what I've got! (: If this is all, I'll run the game and see if it goes smoothly! 

@ApplexSims  Great, the game picked up the Nvidia card right away.  One thing you should definitely test, now that the 1060 is running the game, is what kind of framerates you get.  A 1060 is strong enough to generate rates well into the hundreds, which is not good for the long-term health of the card.  But limiting fps is usually simple enough.

To see the framerates, bring up the cheats console (ctrl-shift-C) and enter  "fps on" without quotes.  A number will appear in the upper right corner, and it should never go above the refresh rate of your monitor, which in your case is 60 Hz.  If you see consistently higher numbers or wild fluctuations, let me know, and I'll describe how to force limit the framerates.

I can also help you get your graphics card recognized, if you want.  But it's not strictly necessary, and either way, the fps issue should be addressed first.

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@puzzlezaddict  schrieb:

(Sorry @holger1405, I need to borrow this.)

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How dare you?! 😠

🤣 No, it is fine of course. 😉

The highest I saw it go was to 114 and the lowest being 21, but it still seemed to run smoothly; much better after changing where the monitor was hooked up to. I was shocked with the difference. If the fps still needs to be fixed then lay it on me. Also getting it to recognize the graphics card would be great