Help. Purple Menus in Sims 3

[RavenMilton255]

Hi! I just got a new hard drive for my HP Laptop and I downloaded Sims 3 and before I started to play, the menus are purple and the loading screens the sims skin tones are light and not a neutral skin tone. I think it's because of my graphics card I could be wrong, but I really hope someone can help me with this cause it's very annoying and displeasing. I wasn't able to submit pictures of my issue because the file was too big, so I apologize for that.

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@RavenMilton255  Since the clean folder didn't help, I do think you need to uninstall and reinstall the graphics driver.  Since this may be an issue with the current driver you have installed, it's best to start with the newest one HP offers for your laptop.  If you run into trouble with it, you can always update from there.  Download the graphics driver dated July 10, 2020:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-15-db0000-laptop-pc/20395843/model/29378107?sku=...

Download Display Driver Uninstaller from here:

https://www.wagnardsoft.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3513

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.  For launch options, choose "Safe Mode (Recommended)," and then click Reboot to Safe Mode (you'll need your password, so find it before rebooting).  Once you login, you'll see this:

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

Once your computer has rebooted, now back in normal mode, run the driver install .exe as an admin: right-click on the download and select "Run as administrator."

Restart again, go back online, and see how the game looks.  Please test again in a clean user folder, just to keep things simple.

[puzzlezaddict]

@RavenMilton255  If you crop the image, it should be small enough to upload.  Or you can upload it to another site (e.g. Imgur) and link it here.  Please check that the screenshots themselves show the purple when you're not in-game: there's a difference between the game being rendered incorrectly and your screen displaying the output incorrectly.

Please also run a dxdiag and attach it to a post.

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

And let me know whether you've done anything to limit in-game fps, and if so, what tool you've used and what limit you've set.

[RavenMilton255]

I wasn't able to upload both pictures but I'm hoping the one picture would explain the issue. I also attached the DxDiag, I did watch a YouTube video on how to change the graphics and I did everything correctly but it was still purple, so I hope there is a situation to my issue.

[puzzlezaddict]

@RavenMilton255  I'd like to check your installed drivers against the downloads HP offers for your laptop.  Please go here:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/laptops

Enter your laptop's serial number, choose your operating system if asked, and you'll land on the driver download page.  Please link it here.  That page doesn't have any info about your own laptop, just the overall model.

Again, please also let me know whether you've specifically capped in-game framerates, and if so, what tool you used and the limit you set.  This is important because I've seen this same problem before in a particular context, and I want to know whether your issue has a similar cause.

[RavenMilton255]

The driver I have is AMD Radeon (TM) R3 Graphics. I don't believe I specifically capped in-game framerates. Before I started the game, I did download some CC, the sims 3 store changing table, and only three mods I found on mod thesims. I hope that helps. Attached is my device manager of the driver. Thank you for taking the time out to help me.

[puzzlezaddict]

@RavenMilton255  I saw your graphics device in your dxdiag; the question was whether there was possibly a better driver available than the current one.  That's why I asked you to link the HP driver download page.  Please do that.

Since you did download some third-party content though, please try playing in a clean user folder.  Move the entire Sims 3 folder out of Documents\Electronic Arts and onto your desktop, and when you launch the game, a clean folder will spawn with no content.  (Your saves and other content will be intact in the folder you moved but temporarily not read by the game.)  Don't add anything to the new folder; just let me know whether the purple tinge is still present.

[RavenMilton255]

Here the link: https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-15-db0000-laptop-pc/20395843/model/29378107?sku=... and okay I'd move the file. Attached is a picture of the loading screen still purple. 

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@RavenMilton255  Since the clean folder didn't help, I do think you need to uninstall and reinstall the graphics driver.  Since this may be an issue with the current driver you have installed, it's best to start with the newest one HP offers for your laptop.  If you run into trouble with it, you can always update from there.  Download the graphics driver dated July 10, 2020:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-15-db0000-laptop-pc/20395843/model/29378107?sku=...

Download Display Driver Uninstaller from here:

https://www.wagnardsoft.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3513

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.  For launch options, choose "Safe Mode (Recommended)," and then click Reboot to Safe Mode (you'll need your password, so find it before rebooting).  Once you login, you'll see this:

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

Once your computer has rebooted, now back in normal mode, run the driver install .exe as an admin: right-click on the download and select "Run as administrator."

Restart again, go back online, and see how the game looks.  Please test again in a clean user folder, just to keep things simple.

[RavenMilton255]

It's not purple anymore! Thank you so much! I did get a message saying the graphics card is not recognizable, but I think I know how to change that, but thank you again.  

[puzzlezaddict]

@RavenMilton255  That's great to hear.  Please let me know if the purple comes back, and post another dxdiag; but hopefully it's gone for good.