Sims 3 Help

[smilelikemiles]

Hello! I recently got a gaming laptop and although I prefer to play sims 4 nowadays I miss playing with horses in sims 3. I was told in another thread that I would have to do something to play sims 3 in order to not harm my computer as it doesn’t cap something (I’m not sure what.... not really computer smart here) and I reinstalled it, but again I don’t want to harm my computer. I don’t really play for more than a few hours if not even more than one hour a day and sometimes I skip a day here and there. Can someone help me? It’s a newer laptop and it runs sims 4 great but sims 3 it also said it couldn’t identify my graphics card. Thanks to anyone who can help!

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@smilelikemiles  I unmarked the solution for you, since it's not clearly solved yet.

For Inspector, you need to manually find Sims 3, not the launcher .exe.  This guide has good screenshots, under the second spoiler:

https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/16540301/#Comment_16540301

[puzzlezaddict]

@smilelikemiles  You probably saw a reference to capping framerates/fps (frames per second), which is necessary so that Sims 3 doesn't overwork your graphics card.  How to do this depends on the manufacturer of your card, so let me know what kind you have.

It's not strictly necessary to get your card recognized, but if you'd like help adding it to the game's database, let me know.  (The database hasn't been updated since 2013, so any new card will throw that message.)  Go into Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3, open the file labeled deviceconfig.log, copy the information between "Graphics device info" (about 25 lines down) and "Options" (about 40 lines down), and paste it here.

[smilelikemiles]

@puzzlezaddict Thanks for the quick reply! How do I cap the frame rates so I can safely play?

Here is my graphics info:

=== Graphics device info ===
Number: 0
Name (driver): NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
Name (database): NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti [Found: 0, Matched: 0]
Vendor: NVIDIA
Chipset: Vendor: 10de, Device: 1c8c, Board: 18fe1043, Chipset: 00a1
Driver: nvldumd.dll, Version: 25.21.14.2546, GUID: D7B71E3E-5FCC-11CF-017A-F0381BC2D435
Driver version: 2546
Monitor: \\.\DISPLAY1
Texture memory: 32MB <<OVERRIDE>>
Vertex program: 3.0
Pixel program: 3.0
Hardware TnL: 1

[puzzlezaddict]

@smilelikemiles  For Nvidia cards, enabling v-sync in the built-in Control Panel works in fullscreen mode, at least most of the time.  If you want to play in windowed mode, you can download Nvidia Inspector for free and manually cap fps.  Here's a guide for both tools:

https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/16540301/#Comment_16540301

If you play through Origin, be sure to use TS3.exe to set up the game's profile; if you have a disc or Steam install, use TS3W.exe, with the W.  You can check your in-game framerates by bringing up the cheats console (crtl-shift-C) and entering "fps on" without quotes.  A number will appear in the upper right corner of the screen, and it should never go above the refresh rate of your monitor, likely 60 Hz but possibly higher.  (How to find your refresh rate is also described in the above guide.)  If neither app is locking in fps, there are other apps to try instead.

By the way, your driver is a bit old, although it shouldn't be an issue.  However, if and when you want to install a newer one, the most recent Nvidia drivers have the option to manuallly limit framerates under the Control Panel's global settings.  But it's not worth updating the driver just for this feature.

If you want to get your graphics card recognized, you'll need to add it to graphicscards.sgr and graphicsrules.sgr, both of which are located within the game's program files.  The default install path is:

Program files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 3\Game\Bin

Note:  These instructions only apply to and will only work for the original poster's graphics card.  If you'd like help getting your own card recognized, please post the same information from deviceconfig and ask for help.

Spoiler

Open graphicscards.sgr (Notepad works fine), and crtl-F to search for 10de.  That will take you to these lines:

vendor "NVIDIA" 0x10b4 0x12d2 0x10de
card 0x0fd1 "GeForce GT 650M"
card 0x0fd2 "GeForce GT 640M"

Create a new line under the "Nvidia" line, copy this text, and paste it in the new line:

    card 0x1c8c "GeForce GTX 1050 ti"

So you should now see this:

vendor "NVIDIA" 0x10b4 0x12d2 0x10de

card 0x1c8c "GeForce GTX 1050 ti"
card 0x0fd1 "GeForce GT 650M"
card 0x0fd2 "GeForce GT 640M"

(with indents from spaces that this site isn't displaying properly).  Save, quit, and open graphicsrules.sgr.  Crtl-F and search for 8800, which will take you here:

 elseif (match("${cardName}", "*8800*") or match("${cardName}", "*9500*") or match("${cardName}", "*9600 GSO*") or match("${cardName}", [etc.]

Change the bolded 8800 to GTX 1050.  Don't change anything else, not even the asterisks.  This will classify your card as uber.

Finally, scroll back to the top of graphicsrules, and look for this, 8-10 lines down:

if ($textureMemory == 0)
seti textureMemory 32
setb textureMemorySizeOK false

change the 32 to 1024, and add a # and a space in front of setb.  Your card has three times the video memory, but TS3 can only use 800 MB anyway.  The lines should look like this:

if ($textureMemory == 0)
seti textureMemory 1024
# setb textureMemorySizeOK false

You'll know it worked if you see a [Found: 1, Matched: 1] next to the card name in deviceconfig, and texture memory listed as 1024 instead of the current 32 MB override.  If either tweak doesn't work, please paste that same section of deviceconfig here, and we can tweak the edits.

[smilelikemiles]

@puzzlezaddict Thank you! I will take a look now at that link. And it doesn't bother me the popup about the card but in the future if I'd like to I will. And yeah I am unsure about this stuff because my computer is new since last year so I am not sure why the driver is old. But I won't worry about that now. How do I play through TS3.exe? Where is that located? I generally just go to my library and click play in Origin.

[puzzlezaddict]

@smilelikemiles  You don't need to do anything specific with TS3.exe other than set up a profile for it in the Nvidia Control Panel, or Inspector if you get that far.  When you press play in Origin, it calls Sims3Launcher.exe, which in turn calls TS3.exe when you press play in the launcher.  The point is, if you were to set up a profile for TS3W.exe, with the W, it wouldn't have any effect on the behavior of your graphics card, because that's not the executable that's running your game.

[smilelikemiles]

Thanks so much! Do I have to download the Nvidia inspector for the fps?

[smilelikemiles]

@puzzlezaddict So I downloaded the inspector and also went into the control panel and I clicked Sims 3 and turned on the v-sync and the FPS is still in the 400’s :/ not sure what I’m doing wrong. I’m a little confused

[puzzlezaddict]

@smilelikemiles  If you play in windowed mode, v-sync doesn't work, and it also doesn't work in fullscreen mode some of the time.  Did you specifically set Inspector to limit the game's fps to 60?  If so, try 59 or 61 instead.

If that doesn't work, try installing RivaTuner Statistics Server instead (also free).  Set up a profile for TS3.exe, manually set the fps limit to 60, and minimize the app to the tray.  Don't X it out—unlike the other tools, it does need to be running while you play.

[smilelikemiles]

@puzzlezaddict Thank you so much! I think I accidentally clicked this as a solution. I hope it works. I’m not really understanding the inspector program and Sims 3 is on there but it’s labeled as sims3launcher idk how to set up a profile on it. And how do I max at 60? Where do I put that in?