Sims 3 is way too bright!

Whenever I play the sims 3 (I have all the expansion packs as well) the game changes the settings on my computer (or something like that) because I can't see any details. The faces are all washed out, everything is too bright or the contrast is too high. When I exit the game, the appearance of my computer is the same as it was in the game. I have tried minimizing the game, changing the video settings and returning to the game only to find that the game changes everything back. The only way I can get the game to look right is to play it in window mode, change the settings on my desktop, and play. BUT I hate window mode (ths sims game isn't window mode friendly, it takes forever to move around the screen and town).

I've not had this problem before, I don't know which expansion pack started it because I bought a few of them around the same time. Is there a patch coming out? Is there a plan to give a gamma, brightness, or contrast sliding thing? The brightness is so bad it makes the text on screen hard to read, it makes the game unplayable.

Thank you for your help.

April