Graphic settings are high but the gameplay does not match the graphic settings

[KashmirG2002]

Hi, I have my graphic settings high but my Sims are very grainy and blurry even when I zoom in, also, the edges are supposed to be smooth as the 'edge smoothing' is on high but as you can see in the images below, the edges are not smooth at all. The Sims faces look completely unrecognisable when zoomed out a lot.

I have tried to lower the graphic settings, save the lower graphic settings, open it up then change it back to high and restart the game but it still has the same problem. 

I have attached images below of my graphic settings and the way my Sim looks with those settings. 

Could anyone help me please?

[puzzlezaddict]

@KashmirG2002  Please delete options.ini, in Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4, load your game to spawn a new one, reset your graphics options where you want them, quit and reload, and see how the sims look.  Please test in fullscreen, windowed fullscreen, and windowed modes; you can change these on the fly without having to restart the game.  Let me know whether you notice any difference.  And please also try using the native resolution of your monitor, whatever that happens to be.

If your sims are still blurry, please take a couple of in-game screenshots (with the C key) and see whether those look blurry too: I'm curious whether they reflect what you see while playing or how the game is supposed to look.  For a side-by-side comparison, you can use the Windows snipping tool: hit Windows key-shift-S and drag your cursor over the section of screen you want to capture.  Then you can open Paint and crtl-V to paste.  This tool doesn't work well in (exclusive) fullscreen, but the other two modes should be fine.

Finally, please run a dxdiag and attach it to a post.

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/

And please also post the first 40 or so lines (up to where Options starts) of your config.log file, also in Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4.  You can delete your user and machine names, about 25 lines down, if you like; nothing else in that file is specific to you.  The info will show how the game reads and rates your hardware.  You can use the spoiler tag on the config info, to keep the post shorter.

[KashmirG2002]

@puzzlezaddict Thank you for replying

I deleted options.ini and reloaded the game with my graphic options. I noticed that the Sims are not grainy or blurry in Fullscreen or Windowed Fullscreen mode but they are grainy and blurry in Windowed mode (the mode I use). 

When I took in-game screenshots of the Sim with each mode, the Sim was blurry and grainy in Windowed mode and the edges were not smooth, whereas, in Fullscreen and Windowed Fullscreen mode, the Sim was clear and the edges were smooth. I will attach the screenshots below to show you. 

Just to let you know, it is easier to notice the difference in the screenshots I have attached below when you open these files in a browser on a mobile phone rather than a PC, I noticed. 

[KashmirG2002]

@puzzlezaddict I have attached my dxdiag file to this post.

Here are the first lines before Options starts in the config.log file:

Spoiler

=== Application info ===
Name: Sims4
Version: 1.66.139.1020
Build: Release 64 Bit
=== Rating info ===
GPU: 5 GPU Memory: 4 CPU: 3 RAM: 4 CPU Speed: 2712 Threading: 3
Adjusted CPU: 3416 RAM: 8107 Adjusted RAM: 7595 Cores: 2
=== Machine info ===
OS version: Windows 10 10.0.18363
OS prod type:
OS major ver: 10
OS minor ver: 0
OS SP major ver:
OS SP minor ver:
OS is 64Bit: 1
CPU: GenuineIntel
Brand: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7200U CPU @ 2.50GHz
Family: 6
Model: 14
Cores: 2
HT: 1
x64: 1
Memory: 8107MB
Free memory: 3940MB
VA space: 134217728MB
User:
Computer: LAPTOP
=== Graphics device info ===
Number: 0
Name (driver): Intel(R) HD Graphics 620
Name (database): [Found: 0, Supported: 1]
Vendor: Intel
Chipset: Vendor: 8086, Device: 5916, Board: 81ed103c, Chipset: 0002
Driver: igdumdim64.dll, Version: 25.20.100.6518, GUID: D7B78E66-1A56-11CF-FA6A-89A1B9C2D435
Driver version: 6518
Monitor: \\.\DISPLAY1
Texture memory: 1013MB
Vertex program: 3.0
Pixel program: 3.0
Hardware TnL: 1
Opt. features: +sab +a8l8 +rgba16f +r32f +bc4 +bc5 -rawz +intz

[puzzlezaddict]

@KashmirG2002  There are a few errors in your dxdiag that are probably related to the driver for your graphics chip, and the chip itself isn't recognized by Sims 4.  The latter is easy enough to fix and isn't really an issue anyway.  The driver errors can be addressed too, but you already have the newest driver HP offers for your laptop, and that driver was made for an older build of Windows 10 than you have.  So rather than going right to installing a new driver, or clean uninstalling and reinstalling this one, I'd like to double-check with someone else.

It's also interesting that only windowed mode looks blurry.  It may be that your build of Windows changed something about graphics rendering in windows, and the driver doesn't take that into account.  But again, I'd like to ask about it before saying I know for sure how to address it.

In the meantime, to address other possible factors, try playing in windowed mode in a clean boot.  You don't need to take screenshots if you don't want to, but please let me know whether it looks the same as before.

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-clean-boot-windows-10

[KashmirG2002]

@puzzlezaddict Hi, I have clean booted my Windows 10 and played Sims in all 3 modes in a clean boot. It's still the same as before with Windowed mode being grainy and blurry with the edges not being smooth and the other 2 modes are perfectly clear. I have attached screenshots of how it looks in a clean boot.

[KashmirG2002]

@puzzlezaddict Did you manage to ask someone else about the driver issue by any chance please?

[puzzlezaddict]

@KashmirG2002  I did ask, but I don't have an answer for you yet.  We're all on different schedules and have other things we need to do as well.  I'm not going to drop this thread though; it might just take a little time.

[KashmirG2002]

@puzzlezaddict That's completely fine, I understand, thank you so much for asking and taking the time to help me. I would appreciate it if you could let me know once you've found out a potential solution. Thanks again.

[roberta591]

The graphics processing unit is part of the cpu chip and is called integrated graphics. These units are usually weak(er) for graphical games then a dedicated graphics card.. The default resolution for the graphics is 1366x768. This tells you the dot density of the processing unit. This resolution is as high as can be without adding additional hardware to the design of the laptop. This can not be changed later. If you try to decrease resolution the processing unit tries to adapt and there will be distortion. The processing unit may not display resolution higher then the default resolution but if it does there will be distortion. How much distortion depends on the graphic processing unit. The game is set for 1366x705 which doesn't match the hardware default. Try setting the game resolution to 1366x768