Sims 3 Graphics Trouble on Windows 10

[bookwormpizza]

Hey everyone I'm having a hard time with my sims 3 graphics.  I recently uploaded all of my Sims 3 packs and cc on a new computer that runs on a Windows 10 system.  I've heard there have been other people with this problem.  I have the dxdiag  and I was wondering if anyone could possibly help,

Thanks!

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@bookwormpizza  The graphics can only look so good no matter what hardware you have.  Part of that is that the game doesn't always show the details of everything on-screen.  One of the graphics settings is high-detail lots, which is the number of lots that get fully rendered at one time, but turning this up is demanding on both a graphics card and on the game engine itself.  (My card could handle all lots being rendered, but I keep high-detail lots at 2 while playing to lower the stress on the game engine.)  However, this doesn't help with the so-called world lot, the rest of the world that's not part of any particular lot.  It's always going to look low-resolution to some extent.

The issue with your graphics chip is that it can only process so much data at once.  When you zoom in and out quickly, or pan the camera, or jump to another lot, there's a large amount of new data that needs to be processed, and that takes time.  It takes more time when using a GPU with a very limited capacity, although here again the game engine is inefficient as well.  So what you might see is that the scene takes a few seconds to come into focus, or even that there are sort of mistakes in rendering certain objects.

The graphics driver being out of date can exacerbate the issue, especially when it doesn't keep up with the operating system.  Your driver crashing was probably not due to the load the graphics chip was carrying but either a mismatch between the driver and OS, or (less likely) some corruption in the driver itself.  Intel is great about keeping its graphics drivers updated, and with good reason.  Your particular driver was tweaked after the fact by Asus to go with your particular laptop, but there again, there's a reason Asus spent the time and resources to release a new driver.  Why this newer driver is better, I couldn't tell you.  But it almost certainly is going to give you at least a small improvement.

If a certain graphics issue bothers you a lot, you can try changing just the one setting that covers it.  Still, that won't allow your GPU to render anything faster, it'll just improve the quality of the image you eventually see, perhaps at the expense of the time it takes you to see that image.  However, the risk is that the chip constantly receives more data than it can process and just doesn't render certain objects properly at all, or even crashes the game.  In more optimized games, you'd just see lower framerates, but Sims 3 is not well-optimized, and this is one of the consequences.

As for your older computer, it may have had a faster graphics card, or at least one with more bandwidth to handle the load Sims 3 was placing on it.  In this case, newer is not always better: the newest high-end cards are faster than anything that existed even five years ago, but the new low-end integrated chips are only better than the old integrated chips.  It's also possible that you got a bit lucky with the HP: that it was built in a way that worked better with Sims 3 than your current one does.  Without knowing its specs, I'm just guessing.

There isn't much you can do to improve overall graphics performance, other than what you've already done.  But one thing that will help is making sure your laptop can cool itself while you play.  Your processor and its integrated GPU will throttle above a certain temperature, dialing back performance to create less heat.  So the lower the temps, the more likely your hardware is to be able to sustain its maximum load.  Anything below 80º C is fine; anything below 70º C is great.

[puzzlezaddict]

@bookwormpizza  What graphics issues are you having?  If they're not easy to describe, you can post a screenshot instead.  What kind of install is this: Origin, disc, or Steam?  And which packs do you have installed?

[bookwormpizza]

Thank you so much for replying so soon.  I have a download from the disc. 

The Packs I have are as follow:

The Sims 3 World Adventures Expansion Pack
The Sims 3 Ambitions Expansion Pack
The Sims 3 Late Night Expansion Pack
The Sims 3 Generations Expansion Pack
The Sims 3 Pets Expansion Pack
The Sims 3 Supernatural Expansion Pack
The Sims 3 Seasons Expansion Pack
The Sims 3 University Life Expansion Pack
The Sims 3 Island Paradise Expansion Pack

and the graphics problems are as follows:

*Sand and Grass texture is off regardless of how I change the settings.  It is very smooth and 

*It is currently night time in game and raining the puddles appear to be glowing bright yellow

*The trees are also abnormally bright although when you zoom out they are normal dark

*Everything except the puddles is normal when in Town view but when zoomed in the abnormalities begin in show.

I hope this is just something I am missing and not a problem I will have to fix, thank you for your time and I hope to hear from you soon!

Here is a screen shot if my description is terrible XD

[puzzlezaddict]

@bookwormpizza  Some of the graphics effects may be due to your integrated graphics chip not being able to keep up with the demands of Sims 3, particularly of the Seasons expansion.  (Pets is even more demanding, and Island Paradise is less demanding than Seasons but still taxing on an integrated chip.)  So there may not be a way to completely fix the problem.

However, there are steps you can take to try to improve the graphics.  First, please run the Super Patch to manually patch the game, even if you've done so before.  There are a number of Sims 3-related errors in your dxdiag that reference a component of the game itself, as opposed to some other process on your computer, so it's a good idea to run the patch to repair the game files.  The Super Patch is listed under "Cumulative Base Game Super Patcher" here:

https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/175477/official-ea-download-link-for-the-sims-3-cumulati...

A component of your computer's graphics driver crashed as well, so it's a good idea to update it.  You can find a newer driver for your laptop (the VGA driver) here:

https://www.asus.com/us/Laptops/ASUS-ZenBook-13-UX331FA/HelpDesk_Download/

Restart your computer, open Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4, and delete options.ini.  You'll need to reset all your game options, but do that later.  First, just load your game and have a look around.  Let me know how the graphics look compared to before.

Then you can exit to the Main Menu, change the graphics options to what you want, and quit.  (Be sure to quit to desktop after changing any graphics option and before loading another save.)  Reload and see whether the game looks better.  If it doesn't, switch between fullscreen and windowed modes to see whether it makes a difference.

Please also let me know what resolution the game is using; this is on the same menu as the other graphics options.

[bookwormpizza]

@puzzlezaddict So I got the super patch, updated my graphics driver, restarted, and am now looking for the options.ini. that you mentioned for the sims 3. I see Options, but no options.ini. are they interchangeable or is there something I am missing?

[puzzlezaddict]

@bookwormpizza  It's the same file.  Your Windows isn't set to show file extensions, so you don't see the .ini on the end.

[bookwormpizza]

Thank you so much for the help.  The graphics has not improved greatly but it has improved to the point where the game is playable.  I did all of your recommendations and then proceeded to:

*Saved my current household to library (I had taken that particular family from my previous computer and I wasn't sure if that could be messing with things.)

*Then I changed the graphics options

*Saved the game 

*Restarted the game

*Took screenshots

*Attached them to this post.

The graphics for my selected lot looks a lot better, but the terrain for the surrounding area is pretty badly rendered (As you can see in the town screenshot). Is there any way that I can make it better, or do I run the risk of making my graphics chip crash again?  i must admit I am somewhat baffled by the bad chip performance because my previous computer was a very very old HP and had better graphics.  If you could help me with these questions I would greatly appreciate it, but I completely understand if you can't.  Thank you so much for the help, I actually created an account here for some kind of help and was very happy with the response!

***Side note for those maybe reading this thread in the future I have the pictures attached to this post labeled for BEFORE and AFTER changes 

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@bookwormpizza  The graphics can only look so good no matter what hardware you have.  Part of that is that the game doesn't always show the details of everything on-screen.  One of the graphics settings is high-detail lots, which is the number of lots that get fully rendered at one time, but turning this up is demanding on both a graphics card and on the game engine itself.  (My card could handle all lots being rendered, but I keep high-detail lots at 2 while playing to lower the stress on the game engine.)  However, this doesn't help with the so-called world lot, the rest of the world that's not part of any particular lot.  It's always going to look low-resolution to some extent.

The issue with your graphics chip is that it can only process so much data at once.  When you zoom in and out quickly, or pan the camera, or jump to another lot, there's a large amount of new data that needs to be processed, and that takes time.  It takes more time when using a GPU with a very limited capacity, although here again the game engine is inefficient as well.  So what you might see is that the scene takes a few seconds to come into focus, or even that there are sort of mistakes in rendering certain objects.

The graphics driver being out of date can exacerbate the issue, especially when it doesn't keep up with the operating system.  Your driver crashing was probably not due to the load the graphics chip was carrying but either a mismatch between the driver and OS, or (less likely) some corruption in the driver itself.  Intel is great about keeping its graphics drivers updated, and with good reason.  Your particular driver was tweaked after the fact by Asus to go with your particular laptop, but there again, there's a reason Asus spent the time and resources to release a new driver.  Why this newer driver is better, I couldn't tell you.  But it almost certainly is going to give you at least a small improvement.

If a certain graphics issue bothers you a lot, you can try changing just the one setting that covers it.  Still, that won't allow your GPU to render anything faster, it'll just improve the quality of the image you eventually see, perhaps at the expense of the time it takes you to see that image.  However, the risk is that the chip constantly receives more data than it can process and just doesn't render certain objects properly at all, or even crashes the game.  In more optimized games, you'd just see lower framerates, but Sims 3 is not well-optimized, and this is one of the consequences.

As for your older computer, it may have had a faster graphics card, or at least one with more bandwidth to handle the load Sims 3 was placing on it.  In this case, newer is not always better: the newest high-end cards are faster than anything that existed even five years ago, but the new low-end integrated chips are only better than the old integrated chips.  It's also possible that you got a bit lucky with the HP: that it was built in a way that worked better with Sims 3 than your current one does.  Without knowing its specs, I'm just guessing.

There isn't much you can do to improve overall graphics performance, other than what you've already done.  But one thing that will help is making sure your laptop can cool itself while you play.  Your processor and its integrated GPU will throttle above a certain temperature, dialing back performance to create less heat.  So the lower the temps, the more likely your hardware is to be able to sustain its maximum load.  Anything below 80º C is fine; anything below 70º C is great.

[bookwormpizza]

Thank you so much for the help, I really appreciate it!