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ApplexSims's avatar
ApplexSims
6 years ago
Solved

Sims 3 crashes to background [dxdiag included]

Ever since I installed Pets (I assume at least) my game will run for about a bit and then go to a black screen and show my background with no error message. I've deleted any mods I thought might conf...
pc
technical issues
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    6 years ago

    @ApplexSims  I have a pretty good guess, but I can't actually see what kind of connector your monitor cord uses, and I can't see what's behind the little rubber protectors in the graphics card ports.  But this is simple for someone who can see everything:  Your monitor is plugged into the motherboard port, and you need to unplug it, look at the connector, find the corresponding port on the graphics card itself, and plug the cord into that.  This is the same picture I linked earlier:

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

    The red arrow points to where your monitor is plugged in now, and the green one points to where it should be plugged in.

ApplexSims's avatar
ApplexSims
6 years ago

=== 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! 

puzzlezaddict's avatar
puzzlezaddict
Hero+
6 years ago

@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.

  • ApplexSims's avatar
    ApplexSims
    6 years ago

    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

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    6 years ago

    @ApplexSims  Although 114 isn't particularly high for your graphics card, limiting fps to 60 won't hurt.  The easiest way, if you play in fullscreen, is to enable v-sync in the built-in Nvidia Control Panel.  If that doesn't work, and it never works in windowed mode, you can try Nvidia Inspector (free download).  In either case, be sure to set up the profile for TS3.exe, not TS3W, which is only for disc or Steam installs.  Here are screenshots and instructions for both tools:

    https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/16540301/#Comment_16540301

    You could use RivaTuner Statistics Server instead, if you already have it.  The same principle applies: create a profile for TS3.exe and manually set the fps limit to 60.  The one difference is that RTSS does have to be running while you play, so be sure not to X it out.

    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.

    Spoiler

    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 0x1c02 "GeForce GTX 1060"

    So you should now see this:

    vendor "NVIDIA" 0x10b4 0x12d2 0x10de

    card 0x1c02 "GeForce GTX 1060"
    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 GTX 1060.  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 three times the video memory, but TS3 can only use 800 MB anyway.  The lines should look like this:

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

    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.

  • ApplexSims's avatar
    ApplexSims
    6 years ago

    Everything worked! Thank you for helping me!

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