Re: "Warning; Unrecognized Video Card. Your video card not found in our dat

by puzzlezaddict
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"Warning; Unrecognized Video Card. Your video card not found in our database.

★★★ Apprentice

My computer recently updated its AMD Radeon R7 200 Series graphics and when I try playing my game I get this message: "Warning; Unrecognized Video Card. Your video card was not found in our database. Your graphics settings have been set as high as possible, but you may wish to reduce them if you are experiencing poor performance." I read something about editing my graphic control panel. I don't know how to do that so can someone help? I think something called fps/frame rate can ruin my game.....

Message 1 of 55 (3,116 Views)

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Re: "Warning; Unrecognized Video Card. Your video card not found in our dat

@esperelda  If you installed via disc but then Origin patched the game to 1.69, you'd need to use TS3.exe, and if you're still on patch 1.67, you'd need to use TS3W.exe.  You can see the patch level in the launcher, or you can see which .exe the game uses through the Task Manager.  Or you can add both TS3.exe and TS3W.exe and set the limit to 60 for each one.  It doesn't really matter; you'll get to the same place regardless.  And yes, the files that end in .exe are executables.

 

If you double-click on an .exe, it should be added to RTSS, and then you can set the fps limit for that .exe.

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I don't work for EA. I'm just trying to help fellow players with their games.

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Message 39 of 55 (2,992 Views)

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Re: "Warning; Unrecognized Video Card. Your video card not found in our dat

@esperelda  The unrecognized card error means exactly what it says: Sims 3 has a database of graphics cards, and your card's ID is not listed.  This by itself isn't a problem: the database determines what settings profile to apply, and you can change most of those settings yourself.  It has nothing to do with framerates.

 

If you'd like to get the card recognized though, please go into Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3, open deviceconfig.log, copy the lines between "Graphics device info" (about 25 lines down) and "Options" (about 40 lines down), and paste it here.  That will give me the card's device ID so I know what you'd need to add to the game's database.

 

Framerates, or fps (frames per second), is a measurement of how many frames (still images) your graphics card is rendering every second.  Without a manual cap, a graphics card can overwork itself running at close to 100% load, but this isn't really a problem unless your card is overheating.  High-end cards can also generate far too many frames in general, which isn't good for them either, but an R7 200 series won't have that issue.  Regardless, the solution is to manually cap fps, which can be accomplished with a few different tools.

 

If you'd like to see your in-game framerates, open the cheats console (crtl-shift-C) and enter "fps on" without quotes.  A number will appear in the upper right corner.  Please let me know how that number behaves, both its average and how much it fluctuates.

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I don't work for EA. I'm just trying to help fellow players with their games.
Message 2 of 55 (3,108 Views)

Re: "Warning; Unrecognized Video Card. Your video card not found in our dat

★★★ Apprentice

Hi @puzzlezaddict  here it is:

 

=== Graphics device info ===
Number: 0
Name (driver): Microsoft Basic Render Driver
Name (database): Microsoft Basic Render Driver [Found: 0, Matched: 0]
Vendor:
Chipset: Vendor: 1414, Device: 008c, Board: 00000000, Chipset: 0000
Driver: d3d10warp.dll, Version: 10.0.19041.546, GUID: D7B71AF4-43CC-11CF-9261-616AAFC2C735
Driver version: 546
Monitor: \\.\DISPLAY9
Texture memory: 2024MB
Vertex program: 3.0
Pixel program: 3.0
Hardware TnL: 1
=== Options ===

 

Message 3 of 55 (3,089 Views)

Re: "Warning; Unrecognized Video Card. Your video card not found in our dat

@esperelda  The deviceconfig lists only the Microsoft Basic Display driver,  the default when no other driver is found.  So either your computer doesn't currently have a graphics driver installed, or the driver that is present is crashing before Sims 3 can pick it up.  Either way, that needs to be addressed before you do anything else.

 

Please run a dxdiag and attach it to a post, so I can see whether your computer currently has a graphics driver and which one you'd need to install.

 

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

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I don't work for EA. I'm just trying to help fellow players with their games.
Message 4 of 55 (3,057 Views)

Re: "Warning; Unrecognized Video Card. Your video card not found in our dat

★★★ Apprentice

It is attached and hope you can open. 

Message 5 of 55 (3,045 Views)

Re: "Warning; Unrecognized Video Card. Your video card not found in our dat

@esperelda  Your computer does in fact have a driver installed, but the driver support software is crashing, which is probably why Sims 3 isn't using the driver.  Please start with a couple of basic checks of your Windows system files:

 

  • Hit Windows key-X
  • Choose either “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Command prompt (Administrator),” whichever option is offered
  • Inside the window that appears, copy and paste “DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth” without quotes into the window, and enter
  • The system will start validating soon. If it throws an error, please list it here
  • After it reaches 100%, hit Windows key-X again
  • Again, choose “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Command prompt (Administrator)”
  • Inside the window, copy and paste “sfc /scannow” without quotes into the window, and enter
  • Post the message you receive here

If sfc reports it found corrupt files and was unable to repair some of them, please stop here and let me know.  Otherwise, restart your computer, hit Windows key-i, select Update & Security, and click the button to check for updates.  If anything installs, restart again when it's done.

 

The next step is a clean uninstall of the graphics driver, but here I think it's best to let Windows install one for you rather than installing one manually.  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:

DDU 1.1.png

 

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:

 

DDU 2.png

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, go back online, and Windows should find a driver for you.  If that doesn't happen, go here:

 

https://www.amd.com/en/support

 

Download the auto-detect tool, and let AMD select a driver.  Either way, restart your computer when the driver is installed.

 

After you launch Sims 3, please provide the same section of deviceconfig: the file refreshes each time you load the game, so it will show whether your GPU and driver are being used properly.

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I don't work for EA. I'm just trying to help fellow players with their games.
Message 6 of 55 (3,039 Views)

Re: "Warning; Unrecognized Video Card. Your video card not found in our dat

★★★ Apprentice

I think you want me to post the message after typing "sfc /scannow" so I took a pic and attached (it wouldn't seem to let me copy and paste) Now to continue with restarting the computer then Windows key - i, Update & Security. I'm nervous about the rest of the instructions because I don't know what I'm doing lol with the driver uninstaller but.....fingers crossed.

Message 7 of 55 (2,992 Views)

Re: "Warning; Unrecognized Video Card. Your video card not found in our dat

★★★ Apprentice

I followed all instructions. Here is device config info:

 

=== Graphics device info ===
Number: 0
Name (driver): AMD Radeon R7 200 Series
Name (database): AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series [Found: 1, Matched: 1]
Vendor: ATI
Chipset: Vendor: 1002, Device: 683d, Board: e214174b, Chipset: 0000
Driver: aticfx32.dll, Version: 27.20.21003.8013, GUID: D7B71EE2-2B7D-11CF-B66B-1F90BBC2D635
Driver version: 8013
Monitor: \\.\DISPLAY1
Texture memory: 3024MB
Vertex program: 3.0
Pixel program: 3.0
Hardware TnL: 1
=== Options ===

 

Since I have to work around my work schedule I only played the game a couple times for about 10 minutes each time but seeing the fps number in the upper right hand corner after typing in ctrl shft command but I'll keep trying. So far my game seems to be playing okay. I'll play more on next day off work. 

 

 

Message 8 of 55 (2,960 Views)

Re: "Warning; Unrecognized Video Card. Your video card not found in our dat

★★★ Apprentice

I meant that I'm "not" seeing the fps number.

Message 9 of 55 (2,958 Views)

Re: "Warning; Unrecognized Video Card. Your video card not found in our dat

@esperelda  When you type "fps on" and enter, does the cheat console close?  If the command is unrecognized, you should see an error message to that effect.

 

If the cheat console isn't appearing at all, the issue may be AMD's graphics software: it often uses crtl-shift-C for a different function.  One way around this is to click Windows key-crtl-shift-C; another is to change the key binding for the other function.  Let me know if you need help with this.

 

The alternate approach is to enable an fps counter within Origin, that is if you play through Origin.  Hover over your username, select Application Settings, then the Origin in-game header, and select a corner of your screen for the fps counter.  This won't go away until you quit the game and change the Origin settings.

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I don't work for EA. I'm just trying to help fellow players with their games.
Message 10 of 55 (2,937 Views)