Hi everyone!I recently got a new dell inspiron 17R laptop, with duel graphics, and installed all the sims games on it. I started the game and it played fine (I repeat the game will play on my computer) but I noticed the settings were all at their lowest despite having a good graphics card and according to the deviceconfig sims is using the integrated intel chip, and does not even recognize the AMD graphics.I looked up the issue and it seemed like an easy fix.I configured the switcheable graphics so AMD should play all sims 3 applications but sims still uses intelI figured (and still do think) the problem is that sims 3 does not recognize the card and I tried following the tutorials for editing sgr files, and I thought I had it, I have made tuning mods before it seemed easy enough, and I have tried multiple ways of writing in the card but I cannot get it to work, I don't know what I'm doing wrong but I must be doing somethingI looked around for answers to no avail, asked on other forums, contacted ea help but they said it's not their job and tried to send me to someone who's job I know it isn't, and I am now increadobly frustrated.So if someone could help me with making sims recognize my graphics card that would be great.My Graphics Card is an:AMD RADEON HD 8870Mdevice ID: 6821vedor ID: 1002The fact that those bumbers are memorized should tell you how long I have been trying to make this work, so any and all help is apreaceated, I am running out of options. Please help me fix this.

I found a solution and thought I should let you know in case others are still having issuesThere is advice that might work for Nvidia users here or more specifically hereI tried to do the AMD equivilent, I am not sure how much that helped or not, I know AMD thought it was running the sims, sims thought it was using intel, the graphics looked like intel but the fps was realy low (like 2-8)apparently windows 8.1 is known to cause issues with graphical performance, and since you can't downgrade from 8.1 to just 8 or 7 without purchacing a new licence I tried running sims in compatability mode.running the game in windows 7 compatibility mode seems to have fixed it.The game still thinks it's using intel...but it is using AMD and runs beautifuly so I consider it solved.Things that did not work but might contribute to the above success:removing intel graphics from the 2 sgr files in question, sims still sees inteladding AMD to the sgr files, sims still does not recognize it (which is annoying but everything works now so I give up)telling swicheable graphics to use AMD for sims (all the ep's and sp's, the launchers and main ts3w.exe)giving sims it's own profile under 3D application settingsThank you for your time, hope this solves some other peoples issues as well

Forum Discussion

DragonPyromania

New Rookie

12 years ago

Solved

Sims 3 Does Not Recognize AMD Graphics Card

Hi everyone!

I recently got a new dell inspiron 17R laptop, with duel graphics, and installed all the sims games on it. I started the game and it played fine (I repeat the game will play on my computer) but I noticed the settings were all at their lowest despite having a good graphics card and according to the deviceconfig sims is using the integrated intel chip, and does not even recognize the AMD graphics.

I looked up the issue and it seemed like an easy fix.

I configured the switcheable graphics so AMD should play all sims 3 applications but sims still uses intel
I figured (and still do think) the problem is that sims 3 does not recognize the card and I tried following the tutorials for editing sgr files, and I thought I had it, I have made tuning mods before it seemed easy enough, and I have tried multiple ways of writing in the card but I cannot get it to work, I don't know what I'm doing wrong but I must be doing something
I looked around for answers to no avail, asked on other forums, contacted ea help but they said it's not their job and tried to send me to someone who's job I know it isn't, and I am now increadobly frustrated.

So if someone could help me with making sims recognize my graphics card that would be great.

My Graphics Card is an:

AMD RADEON HD 8870M

device ID: 6821

vedor ID: 1002

The fact that those bumbers are memorized should tell you how long I have been trying to make this work, so any and all help is apreaceated, I am running out of options. Please help me fix this.

technical issues

DragonPyromania
12 years ago
I found a solution and thought I should let you know in case others are still having issues
There is advice that might work for Nvidia users here or more specifically here
I tried to do the AMD equivilent, I am not sure how much that helped or not, I know AMD thought it was running the sims, sims thought it was using intel, the graphics looked like intel but the fps was realy low (like 2-8)
apparently windows 8.1 is known to cause issues with graphical performance, and since you can't downgrade from 8.1 to just 8 or 7 without purchacing a new licence I tried running sims in compatability mode.
running the game in windows 7 compatibility mode seems to have fixed it.
The game still thinks it's using intel...but it is using AMD and runs beautifuly so I consider it solved.
Things that did not work but might contribute to the above success:
removing intel graphics from the 2 sgr files in question, sims still sees intel
adding AMD to the sgr files, sims still does not recognize it (which is annoying but everything works now so I give up)
telling swicheable graphics to use AMD for sims (all the ep's and sp's, the launchers and main ts3w.exe)
giving sims it's own profile under 3D application settings
Thank you for your time, hope this solves some other peoples issues as well

12 Replies

Anonymous
12 years ago
Hi all.
I realize that this is a somewhat old thread, but my problem is (at least partially) in line with this one, so I figured I'd put it in here instead of creating a new one.
I also had (have) the problem with the dual graphics cards (intel integrated card and amd radeon hd 8870m) where the sims 3 should have easily been able to run on at least good settings (i did the cyri for sims4 and i barely miss out on recommended), but didn't (worst setting, with constant low fps and 3-5 second freezes every now and then).
I'm using windows 8.1 (which I've found to be a horrendous idea for gaming, not that I had a choice when I bought it).
So I googled it and found several threads (including this one) dedicated to fixing this problem. I opened op the two .srg files and my card was indeed not in there, so I added it. Then I went through both the intel 'graphics options' and the settings in the catalyst control center and the 'configure switchable graphics' tab (pretty much 'maximize performance' everywhere).
It didn't work, so I replaced the .srg's with the originals and tried again (which I did again after it didn't work again). Then I tried compatibility mode and running as administrator.
Still didn't work, so I decided to just put it aside and try again later.
However, since then I've tried playing other games, but most other games on my computer now also lag and freeze constantly.
I haven't changed anything other than these things (no updates, no other installed programs), and I still have loads of room on my drive (both of them actually).
In particular I'm talking about 'XCOM - enemy unknown', 'Assassin's Creed 3' and 'NBA 2k13', which all ran perfectly before, but are now constantly running on low fps. Also, it might not be important, but for some reason 'Europa Universalis 4' is the only game that still runs the way it used to, even though that's the only game currently on my computer that I've ever experienced any form of low fps with before.
As far as I know, the .srg files can't influence other games, so the problem lies with the changes I did in the intel and catalyst control center. I've tried everything I can think of (resetting options to default, then toggling them around manually, then updating the drivers (which were up to date), and after that uninstalling the device and downloading and installing the drivers manually) but I can't get them to work decently again.
Right now, it isn't even about playing the sims anymore, I'd be happy to get everything else working again (without losing progress)
Hope you have some ideas on what to do,
Corove
PS:
- also, in the catalyst control center I don't have that checkmark that some people seem to have to get a pop-up when a new program opens to assign a graphics card
- when I use the catalyst control center to monitor which program uses which gpu, rarely does running program show up in there, only explorer and sometimes google chrome
MsPrissySim
Seasoned Ace
9 years ago
A very old thread, but i hope SOMEONE is monitoring this.

A recent "update" over in the Sims 4 world, caused both that game AND my Sims 3 to not work anymore. I don't care about 4 (right now). I seriously need to get my Sims 3 working again.

I have read through ALL the previous posts/comments, but there was NOTHING posted about HOW to go ABOUT getting the AMD graphics card to work. Or, more precisely... to get the GAME to read it.

WHAT ARE THE STEPS??? Does ANYONE know??