Game freezes, screen goes static every 3-5 minutes

[mggundy16]

Hello, I have been here before. I am a big fan of Sims 3 and have been playing it on my laptop for about a year and a half now. It has not been without issues, but I've managed to make it work (until now). For background, in addition to the base game I play Pets, University, Seasons, Late Night, Island Paradise, Generations, and have one stuff pack. I also use mods and a bit of CC.

I know my computer is not the best to run the game (its a Lenovo IdeaPad 330S) but it what I have to work with at the moment. My problem is that while I am playing, my game will just stop and the screen will become all static. If I put my computer to sleep and then wake it up again, I'll be kicked back to my desktop screen. I play in windowed mode, so I can open the game window and get back to it. It's just a big interruption, and it happens every 3-5 minutes during game play. I want to figure out how to fix this. I've included (what I think is) my dxdiag. Please let me know if you see anything that is causing my problems with game play, or if you have a suggestion for me to try. Thanks!

dxdiag:

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 6/29/2020, 17:00:06
Machine name: LAPTOP-A8OU1SER
Machine Id: {624C414E-5B1E-4C28-9FB0-96E201CD9CD0}
Operating System: Windows 10 Home 64-bit (10.0, Build 18362) (18362.19h1_release.190318-1202)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: LENOVO
System Model: 81FB
BIOS: 7WCN37WW (type: UEFI)
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 2500U with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx (8 CPUs), ~2.0GHz
Memory: 8192MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 7058MB RAM
Page File: 3636MB used, 4573MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 12
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: 120 DPI (125 percent)
System DPI Setting: 120 DPI (125 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: UnKnown
Miracast: Available, with HDCP
Microsoft Graphics Hybrid: Not Supported
DirectX Database Version: Unknown
DxDiag Version: 10.00.18362.0387 64bit Unicode

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: AMD Radeon(TM) Vega 8 Mobile Graphics
Manufacturer: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Chip type: AMD Radeon Graphics Processor (0x15DD)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Type: Full Device (POST)
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_15DD&SUBSYS_380117AA&REV_C4
Device Status: 0180200A [DN_DRIVER_LOADED|DN_STARTED|DN_DISABLEABLE|DN_NT_ENUMERATOR|DN_NT_DRIVER]
Device Problem Code: No Problem
Driver Problem Code: Unknown
Display Memory: 4538 MB
Dedicated Memory: 1009 MB
Shared Memory: 3529 MB
Current Mode: 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (60Hz)
HDR Support: Not Supported
Display Topology: Internal
Display Color Space: DXGI_COLOR_SPACE_RGB_FULL_G22_NONE_P709
Color Primaries: Red(0.584961,0.363281), Green(0.349609,0.579102), Blue(0.162109,0.142578), White Point(0.312500,0.328125)
Display Luminance: Min Luminance = 0.500000, Max Luminance = 270.000000, MaxFullFrameLuminance = 270.000000
Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor Model: unknown
Monitor Id: BOE0700
Native Mode: 1920 x 1080(p) (60.027Hz)
Output Type: Internal
Monitor Capabilities: HDR Not Supported
Display Pixel Format: DISPLAYCONFIG_PIXELFORMAT_32BPP
Advanced Color: Not Supported
Driver Name: C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\u0327981.inf_amd64_436272295b4cee3f\B326924\aticfx64.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\u0327981.inf_amd64_436272295b4cee3f\B326924\aticfx64.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\u0327981.inf_amd64_436272295b4cee3f\B326924\aticfx64.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\u0327981.inf_amd64_436272295b4cee3f\B326924\amdxc64.dll
Driver File Version: 23.20.0822.2304 (English)
Driver Version: 23.20.822.2304
DDI Version: 12
Feature Levels: 12_1,12_0,11_1,11_0,10_1,10_0,9_3,9_2,9_1
Driver Model: WDDM 2.3
Graphics Preemption: DMA
Compute Preemption: DMA
Miracast: Not Supported by Graphics driver
Detachable GPU: No
Hybrid Graphics GPU: Not Supported
Power P-states: Not Supported
Virtualization: Not Supported
Block List: No Blocks
Catalog Attributes: Universal:False Declarative:False
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 4/10/2018 7:00:00 PM, 1958256 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
WHQL Date Stamp: Unknown
Device Identifier: {D7B71EE2-569D-11CF-1A7D-371B7FC2DA35}
Vendor ID: 0x1002
Device ID: 0x15DD
SubSys ID: 0x380117AA
Revision ID: 0x00C4
Driver Strong Name: oem10.inf:cb0ae414bd67b00a:ati2mtag_RavenDS:23.20.822.2304ci\ven_1002&dev_15dd&subsys_380117aa&rev_c4
Rank Of Driver: 00CF0000
Video Accel: Unknown
DXVA2 Modes: DXVA2_ModeMPEG2_VLD DXVA2_ModeMPEG2_IDCT DXVA2_ModeH264_VLD_NoFGT DXVA2_ModeHEVC_VLD_Main DXVA2_ModeH264_VLD_Stereo_Progressive_NoFGT DXVA2_ModeH264_VLD_Stereo_NoFGT DXVA2_ModeVC1_VLD DXVA2_ModeMPEG4pt2_VLD_AdvSimple_NoGMC DXVA2_ModeHEVC_VLD_Main10 DXVA2_ModeVP9_VLD_Profile0 DXVA2_ModeVP9_VLD_10bit_Profile2
Deinterlace Caps: n/a
D3D9 Overlay: Not Supported
DXVA-HD: Not Supported
DDraw Status: Enabled
D3D Status: Enabled
AGP Status: Enabled
MPO MaxPlanes: 2
MPO Caps: ROTATION,VERTICAL_FLIP,HORIZONTAL_FLIP,YUV,BILINEAR,STRETCH_YUV,HDR (MPO3)
MPO Stretch: 16.000X - 0.250X
MPO Media Hints: rotation, resizing, colorspace Conversion
MPO Formats: NV12,420_OPAQUE
PanelFitter Caps: ROTATION,VERTICAL_FLIP,HORIZONTAL_FLIP,YUV,BILINEAR,STRETCH_YUV,HDR (MPO3)
PanelFitter Stretch: 16.000X - 0.250X



Name: AMD USB 3.10 eXtensible Host Controller - 1.10 (Microsoft)
Device ID: PCI\VEN_1022&DEV_15E1&SUBSYS_15E11022&REV_00\4&26C23DB9&0&0441
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\system32\DRIVERS\USBXHCI.SYS, 10.00.18362.0900 (English), 6/18/2020 23:52:30, 531768 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\system32\DRIVERS\UMDF\UsbXhciCompanion.dll, 10.00.18362.0900 (English), 6/18/2020 23:52:30, 132256 bytes

Name: AMD Radeon(TM) Vega 8 Mobile Graphics
Device ID: PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_15DD&SUBSYS_380117AA&REV_C4\4&26C23DB9&0&0041

[puzzlezaddict]

@mggundy16  You're right, the hardware in this laptop isn't great for Sims 3.  Getting freeze every few minutes seems a bit extreme though.  Please attach the full dxdiag to a post, so I can see the rest of the info.  There's a lot of information not included in what you posted, and it would be useful to see things like the Windows error reports and the installed drivers (not GPU, the other ones).

[mggundy16]

Thanks for responding. Yeah, I tried to post the whole dxidag, but it was way too long. Is there a site I can easily post/link to so I can share the whole thing?

[puzzlezaddict]

@mggundy16  You can attach the .txt file to a post here.  There should be a Browse button above the Submit button, and you can use that to choose the dxdiag and attach it.