I just purchased and downloaded the Sims 3 Pets expansion. I have the Sims 3, Late Night, and High End Loft Stuff and they work fine. The pets all look completely distorted. I've tried uninstalling it and reinstalling it. I have plenty of memory, my video card is supported (GMA3100) and all the system requirements are met. Everything looks fine except for the Pets themselves. Please help, I feel like I've wasted my money.
The integrated Intel video chips do not support all the game packs completely. Integrated video chips (expecially Intel video chips) have been the source of problems. I don't know if this is caused by video drivers or the hardware itself. Intel is slow to release driver updates and Intel drivers work but are conservative in performance. My best guess this is a problem with the chip itself not being able to process the game code correctly. This is not unusual and if possible the code is changed to work around the problem if there is a known solution. Coders work off white papers that explain how the chip works and sometimes the chip does not work the way it is supposed to.
hth
