Sims 4 not recognizing my Video Card?

Question

I've had to go back and forth with TS4, I've done all the troubleshooting that I can without wanting to chuck my laptop across the room because of how badly my brain hurts from all the Tech Specs/speak. I've done my DxDiag and everything and I'm confused on how to get TS4 to recognize my VC without having to buy a totally new laptop in the process.
Any ideas?

puzzlezaddict · Answer

@RebelRevanAngel&nbsp; Your dxdiag has a number of errors that are probably related to the graphics card driver, so it's a good idea to clean uninstall the driver and install the newest one from Intel.&nbsp; While driver errors usually don't cause an unrecognized graphics card error, it's possible, and this issue should be addressed anyway.

Spoiler (Highlight to read)
Download Display Driver Uninstaller from here:

https://www.wagnardsoft.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&amp;t=3017

You can download the newest Intel driver for your graphics chip here:

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/29554/Intel-Graphics-Windows-10-DCH-Drivers?product=128988

Next, take your computer completely offline—disable wifi and/or pull the ethernet cord—and double-click the DDU.exe. Take note of where the file will land, and click Extract. If it's easier, you can copy the path and then paste it into the address bar in a File Explorer window. Open the folder and then launch Display Driver Uninstaller.exe, and you'll get a message that you're not in Safe Mode. Click OK, then go to Options and enable Safe Mode dialog. Here's a screenshot of what your options should look like; make sure the box in red is checked:

Close options, and the DDU, and then open the DDU.exe again.&nbsp; For launch options, choose "Safe Mode (Recommended)," and then click Reboot to Safe Mode (you'll need your password, so find it before rebooting).&nbsp; Once you login, you'll see this:

In the blue box, choose GPU, then Intel if it's not already showing.&nbsp; Then click Clean and Restart (red box).

Once your computer has rebooted, now back in normal mode, install the Intel driver.&nbsp; Restart again, then you can test the game.

Download Display Driver Uninstaller from here:
&nbsp;
https://www.wagnardsoft.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&amp;t=3017
&nbsp;
You can download the newest Intel driver for your graphics chip here:
&nbsp;
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/29554/Intel-Graphics-Windows-10-DCH-Drivers?product=128988
&nbsp;
Next, take your computer completely offline—disable wifi and/or pull the ethernet cord—and double-click the DDU.exe.&nbsp; Take note of where the file will land, and click Extract.&nbsp; If it's easier, you can copy the path and then paste it into the address bar in a File Explorer window.&nbsp; Open the folder and then launch Display Driver Uninstaller.exe, and you'll get a message that you're not in Safe Mode.&nbsp; Click OK, then go to Options and enable Safe Mode dialog.&nbsp; Here's a screenshot of what your options should look like; make sure the box in red is checked:
&nbsp;
Close options, and the DDU, and then open the DDU.exe again.&nbsp; For launch options, choose "Safe Mode (Recommended)," and then click Reboot to Safe Mode (you'll need your password, so find it before rebooting).&nbsp; Once you login, you'll see this:
&nbsp;

In the blue box, choose GPU, then Intel if it's not already showing.&nbsp; Then click Clean and Restart (red box).
&nbsp;
Once your computer has rebooted, now back in normal mode, install the Intel driver.&nbsp; Restart again, then you can test the game.

For the unrecognized card itself, I'm not sure what you've done, so I'll give the usual instructions, and you can skip it if you already know how to do this.&nbsp; You'll need to edit a file labeled graphicscards.sgr, inside the game's program files.&nbsp; Unless you changed the default install location in Origin, the full path will be:

Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 4\Game\Bin

(You don't want to edit the graphicscards.srg file in the Bin_LE folder unless you're playing the Legacy Edition, which it looks like you're not from the dxdiag errors.)&nbsp; Open graphicscards.sgr (Notepad works fine), and crtl-F to search for 1902.&nbsp; That will take you to these lines:

card 0x1902 "Intel (R) HD 510" $cardLevelMedium $resolutionMediumcard 0x5916 "Intel (R) HD 620" $cardLevelMedium $resolutionMedium

Create a line underneath the one with 1902, and copy and paste this:

card 0x3185 "Intel (R) HD 600" $cardLevelLow $resolutionLow
Save, quit, launch the game, quit, and check the config.log file in Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4.&nbsp; About 30 lines down, you should see a [Found: 1, Supported: 1] next to your card's name.&nbsp; Let me know if it doesn't work.

puzzlezaddict · Answer

@RebelRevanAngel&nbsp; You're uninstalling and reinstalling a driver, as in, the software that tells the system how to properly use some hardware.&nbsp; In this case, the driver for the graphics card is throwing errors, so it's best to replace it.

This process shouldn't delete any of your files.&nbsp; However, it's always a good idea to have backups, just in case.&nbsp; Your Sims 4 user data (saves, saved households and builds, etc.) is stored in Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4; you can copy that entire folder to an external drive or USB stick, or upload it to cloud storage.

rebelrevanangel · Answer

I'm a little confused about how to do all of that without losing all of my files.. I've never had to uninstall or install a new drive for anything before, so pardon me for being a little worried/confused?&nbsp;

rebelrevanangel · Answer

I let DDU run and when it logged me back in, it now won't let me change my screen brightness..? Is that normal?

puzzlezaddict · Answer

@RebelRevanAngel&nbsp; It's normal not to have all the options until you install the new graphics card driver and restart your computer.&nbsp; I don't know exactly which options you should and shouldn't see in between.