"Unrecognized Video Card"

I have a 6 month old laptop of a very high standard, with core i7 and AMD graphics card. I bought Sims 4 and have played on it for a total of 266 hours with no issues, but it now says my video card is unrecognized (I have attached a photograph of the message that popped up). I have no idea why this message is coming up now as the game has been playing perfectly up until now. I did normal checks like making sure all drivers were up to date & uninstalling and reinstalling the game. After changing quality setting to the lowest it can be, the game is still very slow so very frustrating to play.

I assumed there must have been something wrong with my laptop, so as its still under warranty, I sent it off to be fixed, TWICE! PC world have ran lots of tests and also checked the drivers etc. They have confirmed that my graphics card and everything is in fine working order, so there must be an issue with the game.

I have also attached a dxdiag file for you to see.

Please help me ASAP? This is driving me crazy.

Thanks,

Jordan

DxDiag.txt92 KB

Anonymous
10 years ago
@jordanevatiley Please make sure that your computer is using your AMD card rather then the integrated Intel one. You can do this in AMD Catalyst Control Center by follow the steps originally posted by @crinrict:

Choose 'Configure switchable graphics' Catalyst Control Center

A window opens that will allow you to choose that card for whatever programs you want.

Make sure the check box in this window that says show a pop up warning for unassigned applicationsis checked

The next time you run the game, a pop up should open and let you designate the better graphics card for the game.

Let us know how you get on!

12 Replies

Anonymous
10 years ago
@jordanevatiley Please make sure that your computer is using your AMD card rather then the integrated Intel one. You can do this in AMD Catalyst Control Center by follow the steps originally posted by @crinrict:

Choose 'Configure switchable graphics' Catalyst Control Center

A window opens that will allow you to choose that card for whatever programs you want.

Make sure the check box in this window that says show a pop up warning for unassigned applicationsis checked

The next time you run the game, a pop up should open and let you designate the better graphics card for the game.

Let us know how you get on!
Anonymous
10 years ago
I went onto AMD Catalyst Control Center and selected "Switchable Graphics Application Settings", which was the closest I could find to your description. After opening Sims 4, I could then see it on the recent applications, where I changed the graphics setting from power saving to high performance. See attached a screen shot. After having a click around, I cannot see the check box you mentioned. However, after quickly opening Sims it seems a bit quicker.

Do you think this is all I can do to help it speed up? Do I need to select a tick box or anything to get to pop up message in the game? Does this confirm that the AMD graphics card is now working on the game?
Many thanks for your fast response,
Jordan
Anonymous
10 years ago
@jordanevatiley The settings may have changed slightly in the Catalyst Control Center, but the most important thing is the error message you received before indicated that proper graphics card was not used. if you don't get the error any more then the proper card is used.

Let us know if you have any further questions!
Seza123
9 years ago
Hi,

I have just bought a new 1060 Nvidia GEforce graphics card and I have just received the same message 'Unrecognized Video Card' - I just built this new rig today - i've attached my specs. All the parts are brand new so it must be a setting i need to change, your instructions above dont help me as i dont have an AMD.

Please assist as soon as possible,

thank you.
roberta591
Hero (Retired)
9 years ago
@jordanevatiley Your video chip is supported by the game. To see if the game knows the video card go to your users documents folder - Electronic Arts folder - The sims 4 folder and open a text file - config. It should say AMD Radeon R7 M260 (Found: 1, Supported: 1). That means the game is finding the AMD card and using it.
Phantomlover1717
Legend
9 years ago
@Seza123 try these, that lists Nvidia: http://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2013/06/getting-the-game-to-recognize-your-card.html
roberta591
Hero (Retired)
9 years ago
@Seza123 Your card (1060) is very new and is not in the game database (yet). I took a fast look and TS4 is different then TS3 and it will take some time to figure out how to do this. I'll probably have to print out the files and figure out how. I couldn't find any posts on a how to for Sims 4. I didn't see any GTX 10XX cards in the database.I'm guessing changes have to be made in the 2 sgr files. I'm surprised the game doesn't configure to a generic setting.
Anonymous
9 years ago
Same issue for me, 88 hours played in Sims 4 and only started getting this issue today. Config file says:

=== Graphics device info ===
Number: 0
Name (driver): Microsoft Basic Render Driver
Name (database): [Found: 0, Supported: 1]

But when I had a look in Device Manager I had the following warning:

Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)

So I don't think this is a problem with the Sims 4, but with my graphics card. Will try reinstalling my drivers and see if that helps.
roberta591
Hero (Retired)
9 years ago
@mmoores What is your video card? A couple things to check - is the video card overheating, check to make sure the fan is working properly. I have seen case fan wires blocking the fan. Another common issue for failing video cards is an under powered power supply. Either the power supply is failing (because the power supply is being over taxed) or the video card manufacturer has under stating the power requirements. Not all 500W power supplies are created equal. Some power supply manufacturers boost unnecessary voltages to boost the wattage. Some power supplies have multiple rails and each rail supplies only so many amps - I have seen some power supplies installed unbalanced (one rail trying to supply all the power and the other rail supplying very little) and not supplying enough power and when the video card demands more power then available, it fails. Power supplies are seldom considered carefully when configuring a computer. And with this next generation of high powered video cards you power supply needs to be properly selected.
Anonymous
9 years ago
Downloaded the latest drivers for my graphics card and that has fixed the problem: Sims 4 runs fine now at full resolution.

=== Graphics device info ===
Number: 0
Name (driver): NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M
Name (database): [Found: 0, Supported: 1]
Vendor: NVIDIA
Chipset: Vendor: 10de, Device: 1618, Board: 22da1043, Chipset: 00a1
Driver: nvd3dumx.dll, Version: 10.18.13.5946, GUID: D7B71E3E-5558-11CF-C964-D7021CC2C735
Driver version: 5946
Monitor: \\.\DISPLAY1
Texture memory: 2989MB
Vertex program: 3.0
Pixel program: 3.0
Hardware TnL: 1
Opt. features: +sab +a8l8 +rgba16f +r32f +bc4 +bc5 -rawz +intz