Sims 3 64-bit whole screen flickering after Mac OS update [ Edited ]

[soph4332]

I downloaded the sims 3 about 3 weeks after the 64 bit update and, as everyone else has already found, had some issues with it. I started new games every once in a while to try and see if it would fix itself and ended up starting one of my sims off in the town that comes with the Pets expansion pack (I have pets, ambitions, night life, generations, seasons and university.). My Mac has always been able to cope with these packs before without many issues (I'd been playing with bootcamp on the windows side too a few month ago) but this specific game in the pets world was really bad, it would crash and exit the game around 10 minutes into playing everytime. I uninstalled and reinstalled the game without Pets incase it was that messing it up, then installed the new Mac update (Big Sur) incase that had anything to do with it, I've gone back on the Sims 3 now without pets and the game is just flickering at me anytime something moves, I can't even get past create a sim so it's completely unplayable. Passed my mind that it could be a graphic card issue but its worked completely fine on this computer before I installed the new Mac update and got rid of Pets. The weird thing is I try to screen record it with Quicktime Player and the flickering just stops altogether, minus a few glitches when trying to change clothes or hairstyle. Any help on why it could be doing this? I really don't want to switch to the Sims 4 lmao.

Mac sepcifications:

MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports)

Graphics: Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 1536 MB

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@soph4332  As an experiment, try turning down the lighting and trees settings to the minimum.  (Do so at the Main Menu, then quit to desktop before loading a save.)  If that doesn't help, test in fullscreen or windowed mode, whichever one you haven't been using.

If neither of these makes a difference, please attach your deviceconfig.log to a post; it's in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3.  You'll need to manually open the folders; the file won't show up in a search.  You can delete your user and computer names, about 25 lines down, but there's nothing else in that file that can identify you.

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@soph4332  As an experiment, try turning down the lighting and trees settings to the minimum.  (Do so at the Main Menu, then quit to desktop before loading a save.)  If that doesn't help, test in fullscreen or windowed mode, whichever one you haven't been using.

If neither of these makes a difference, please attach your deviceconfig.log to a post; it's in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3.  You'll need to manually open the folders; the file won't show up in a search.  You can delete your user and computer names, about 25 lines down, but there's nothing else in that file that can identify you.

[mangogirl10]

Try reinstalling your game completely. i had this problem and i fixed it by starting a brand new save game and fresh reinstall

[srsmoonlite]

I installed the game for the first time on my new computer last night (running Big Sur) and the lighting setting seemed to be the culprit. After turning it to low I haven't seen the problem reoccur.

[soph4332]

I tried both full screen and half screen and they both do the same thing, I can't actually get past create a sim because of how bad the glitching is so i changed the tree and lighting setting and some other settings to their lowest and it didn't make a difference

=== Application info ===
Name: Sims3
Version:
Build: Release
=== Rating info ===
GPU: 3 GPU Memory: 5 CPU: 3 RAM: 5 CPU Speed: 2300 Threading: 3
Adjusted CPU: 3510 RAM: 8192 Adjusted RAM: 7680 Cores: 2
Card Found in DB: 0
=== Machine info ===
OS version: Mac OS X Version 10.16 (Build 20B50)
OS prod type: 0
OS major ver: 10
OS minor ver: 16
OS SP major ver: 0
OS SP minor ver: 0
OS is 64Bit: 1
CPU: MacBookPro14,1
Brand: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7360U CPU @ 2.30GHz
Family: 8
Model: 7
Cores: 2
HT: 1
x64: 1
Memory: 8192MB
Free memory: 46MB
=== Graphics device info ===
Number: 0
Name (driver): Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640
Name (database): Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 [Found: 0, Matched: 1]
Vendor: Intel
Chipset: Vendor: 8086, Device: 5926, Board: 00000174, Chipset: 0006
Driver: macOS Metal driver, Version: 0.0.0.0
Driver version: 0
Monitor: 00000000
Texture memory: 1536MB
Vertex program: 3.0
Pixel program: 3.0
Hardware TnL: 0
=== Options ===
AnimationSmoothing 1
LightingQuality 2
GeneralReflections 1
TextureQuality 2
VisualEffects 2
TerrainQuality 1
EdgeSmoothing 0
ObjectHiding 1
AspectRatio 0
ForceSquarePixels 1
SimQuality 2
TreeQuality 2
DrawDistance 2
MaxActiveLots 2
NumMaxActiveLotOptions 6
AdvancedRendering 1
AudioQuality 3
AudiutputMode 1
VoiceLevel 255
SoundFXLevel 255
MusicLevel 255
AmbientLevel 255
FocusMute 1
VoiceMute 0
SoundFXMute 0
MusicMute 0
AmbientMute 0
EdgeScrolling 1
EdgeScrollingWarning 0
SupressOpportunityDialogs 0
SuppressOpportunityDialogsWarningProducts 426145
SimWhileMinimized 0
TwelveHourClock 1
ShowPlacementGrid 0
AutonomyLevel 2
DisableAutonomyForSelectedSim 0
PetAutonomyLevel 2
AgingInterval 2
EnableAging 1
EnableTutorial 1
EnableIntroTutorial 1
EnableTombResets 1
EnableInGameStore 1
EnableTelemetry 1
EnableMemories 1
AgingStageLengthBaby 3
AgingStageLengthToddler 7
AgingStageLengthChild 7
AgingStageLengthTeen 14
AgingStageLengthYoungAdult 21
AgingStageLengthAdult 21
AgingStageLengthElder 17
EnableInteractiveLoading 1
AgingStageLengthPuppy 0
AgingStageLengthDogAdult 0
AgingStageLengthDogElder 0
AgingStageLengthKitten 0
AgingStageLengthCatAdult 0
AgingStageLengthCatElder 0
AgingStageLengthFoal 0
AgingStageLengthHorseAdult 0
AgingStageLengthHorseElder 0
LunarCycleLength 3
LunarPhaseLength 0
EnableLunarCycle 1
EnableLunarPhase 0
EnableStoryProgression 1
EnableVampires 1
EnableWerewolves 1
EnablePets 1
EnableCelebrities 1
EnableFairies 1
EnableWitches 1
EnableHorses 1
EnableOptOutCeleb 0
ReceiveConnectTNS 1
ReceivedDevGift 0
PostFilterFlags 0
RequireLoginBeforeLoad 1
SummerLength 7
FallLength 7
WinterLength 7
SpringLength 7
SummerEnabled 1
FallEnabled 1
WinterEnabled 1
SpringEnabled 1
IsCelcius 0
FogEnabled 1
RainEnabled 1
SnowEnabled 1
HailEnabled 1
InvertHorizontalRotation 0
InvertVerticalRotation 0
VideoCaptureSize 1
VideoCaptureQuality 2
VideoCaptureSound 0
VideoCaptureTime 60
VideoCaptureHideUI 1
=== Default Options ===
AnimationSmoothing 1
LightingQuality 2
GeneralReflections 1
TextureQuality 2
VisualEffects 2
TerrainQuality 1
EdgeSmoothing 0
ObjectHiding 1
AspectRatio 0
ForceSquarePixels 1
SimQuality 2
TreeQuality 2
DrawDistance 2
MaxActiveLots 2
NumMaxActiveLotOptions 6
AdvancedRendering 1
AudioQuality 3
AudiutputMode 1
VoiceLevel 255
SoundFXLevel 255
MusicLevel 255
AmbientLevel 255
FocusMute 1
VoiceMute 0
SoundFXMute 0
MusicMute 0
AmbientMute 0
EdgeScrolling 0
EdgeScrollingWarning 1
SupressOpportunityDialogs 0
SuppressOpportunityDialogsWarningProducts 0
SimWhileMinimized 0
TwelveHourClock 1
ShowPlacementGrid 0
AutonomyLevel 2
DisableAutonomyForSelectedSim 0
PetAutonomyLevel 2
AgingInterval 2
EnableAging 1
EnableTutorial 1
EnableIntroTutorial 1
EnableTombResets 1
EnableInGameStore 1
EnableTelemetry 1
EnableMemories 1
AgingStageLengthBaby 3
AgingStageLengthToddler 7
AgingStageLengthChild 7
AgingStageLengthTeen 14
AgingStageLengthYoungAdult 21
AgingStageLengthAdult 21
AgingStageLengthElder 17
EnableInteractiveLoading 1
AgingStageLengthPuppy 0
AgingStageLengthDogAdult 0
AgingStageLengthDogElder 0
AgingStageLengthKitten 0
AgingStageLengthCatAdult 0
AgingStageLengthCatElder 0
AgingStageLengthFoal 0
AgingStageLengthHorseAdult 0
AgingStageLengthHorseElder 0
LunarCycleLength 3
LunarPhaseLength 0
EnableLunarCycle 1
EnableLunarPhase 0
EnableStoryProgression 1
EnableVampires 1
EnableWerewolves 1
EnablePets 1
EnableCelebrities 1
EnableFairies 1
EnableWitches 1
EnableHorses 1
EnableOptOutCeleb 0
ReceiveConnectTNS 1
ReceivedDevGift 0
PostFilterFlags 0
RequireLoginBeforeLoad 0
SummerLength 7
FallLength 7
WinterLength 7
SpringLength 7
SummerEnabled 1
FallEnabled 1
WinterEnabled 1
SpringEnabled 1
IsCelcius 0
FogEnabled 1
RainEnabled 1
SnowEnabled 1
HailEnabled 1
InvertHorizontalRotation 0
InvertVerticalRotation 0
VideoCaptureSize 1
VideoCaptureQuality 2
VideoCaptureSound 0
VideoCaptureTime 60
VideoCaptureHideUI 1

[soph4332]

Update - retried the game a few times and I think lowering the lighting and trees worked! The only issue I've had so far is in create a sim her hair texture is kind of fizzing, so it has a weird texture. I also still cant tilt the camera normally but thats just the 64-bit update :/

[BarkerVe]

@puzzlezaddict Thank you for this! Almost 2 years later and this helped my kid get it working. Greatly appreciate the time it took to answer!