Sims 3 Poor Graphic Quality

Question

I've been playing Sims 3 since it launched and it is my favorite of the Sims games because of all the customization options (and fairies!). I previously invested a lot of time and money in it. I haven't played it for several years (I switched over to Sims 4 eventually, several years after it came out), but wanted to reinstall it on my new computer and play it again. When I did, it does load and I can technically play, but the graphic quality is terrible. I have tried everything I can think of - followed the pinned post about Running Sims 3 in Windows, limited in-game framerates, changed the graphic settings in game, tried compatibility mode, followed instructions about how to make sure the game recognizes my video card, etc. It does recognize the video card, it now lists the GPU as 5 and the texture memory as 1040 (used to be 32MB), and the graphics are somewhat better. Sims were basically potatoes, worse graphics than original Sims by quite a margin, but now look more like Sims when zoomed in, but everything is still a bit unfocused/poor quality and no details really show up, even with the camera zoomed in all the way. As you can see from the attached screenshot, the Sims and items in their house are identifiable, but clothes are painted on, and things are a bit pixilated, while things like wants and buffs are perfectly fine. When zoomed in, while they are better, they have blur around their eyes and other details, and they're not as crisp as they used to be on my old computer.

I don't know what to try anymore. I really want to play Sims 3 again, but I don't know how to get it back to decent quality graphics like it used to have. It baffles me a bit because this computer and graphics card are quite a bit better than the old one I used to play Sims 3 on. Any suggestions?

OS: Windows 11 Home 64-bit

System: Alienware Aurora R16

BIOS: 2.12.0

Processor: Intel(R) Core(T) i9-14900KF (32 CUPs), ~3.2 GHz

Memory: 32768MB RAM (20123MB available)

DirectX Version: DirectX 12

Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070

Monitor: Dell S2722DGM

Current Display Mode: 2560 x 1440 (32 bit) (59Hz)

starlysh · Answer

I've read elsewhere that sometimes older graphic cards work better for this game because the game is older, but I keep hoping that's not true because I just built this computer haha.
What are your game settings like - can you post a screenshot? Honestly your Sim looks okay except for that one strap, but the other pic of them in bed is weirdly very dark.

puzzlezaddict · Answer

storywriter27​&nbsp; Sorry for the late reply; it looks like your post was moved here from elsewhere after the fact, or perhaps caught in the spam filter.
Please first confirm that all your graphics options (except for water and high-detail lots) are maxed out, and that Advanced Rendering is enabled.&nbsp; If not, change the appropriate settings at the Main Menu, then quit to desktop before loading a save.
Please also let me know whether your RTX 4070 is listed in DeviceConfig.&nbsp; I would guess it is since you otherwise would have asked why you saw a different GPU there, but I want to make sure.
If this doesn't help, please provide a dxdiag. &nbsp;Click Windows key-R, enter dxdiag in the run box, wait for the scan to finish, click "Save all information," and save the file to your desktop. &nbsp;From there, you can attach it to a reply using the paper clip (Attachment) icon included with the other formatting buttons.
I will say that some of the blurriness/pixelation is normal for Sims 3, unfortunately.&nbsp; HQ mods, basically custom GraphicsRules.sgr files, can help, but they also increase the demands on the game engine to a point that you might see performance tank even on your high-end PC.&nbsp; So it would be best to see how much improvement you can get out of other changes first, and of course to make sure there's nothing about your computer itself that's contributing to the problem.

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Sims 3 Poor Graphic Quality

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