GPU drivers resetting options

[Alessondria]

Everytime my Nvidia has a graphics driver update ALL of my TS3 settings reverts back to default. Its a pain. Are there some files I am able to .rar up and just overwrite when a new update pops fro my hardware so I don't need to go back through and redo everything? If so could you please list the files?

I'd appriciate it.

[marstinson]

Most of those settings are stored in \Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Options.ini

NVidia is pretty bad about pushing down driver updates every couple or three weeks. The major problem from my end is remembering to replace from a backup right after doing the driver update. I'm usually at the main menu when I have the "oh, duh!" moment and it's faster to make the changes and relaunch than it is to exit, remember where I put the backup, restore, and relaunch. But there is honestly not much in the way of bugfixes in those driver updates. Mostly they are optimizations for newly-released games, so I normally update only if I'm playing one of those games and just avoid the hassle.

EDIT: To add to that, I think the game has to launch before restoring the backup will do any good (it needs to detect the new drivers before it resets the options). So the process runs more like update->Sims 3->exit->restore backup->relaunch and my routine usually runs update->Sims 3->put settings back manually->exit->relaunch

[cruinne]

You can try going into Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3, and there, backing up your Options.ini file to another location, then dropping it back in after an update. I'm not sure it will work though - the update itself isn't resetting the file, Sims 3 is throwing it out and starting anew.

It leads me to believe there's something in the file it wants to change, but then it goes too far. I'd wonder if letting it make a new file, then pasting in the contents of your old one (in whole or in part) would resolve it.

[Haeloth]

Originally posted by cruinne:

It leads me to believe there's something in the file it wants to change.

That is the case yes. When a new driver update happens, the game thinks as if you have a new graphics card, so it uses a new "lastdevice" value in the new options.ini it creates. What the OP can do is
1-)Back up current options.ini before driver update
2-)Let the game generate a new options.ini file. Just run it once. Close the game afterwards
3-)Copy new "lastdevice" value that is generated by the game, to your old options.ini file
4-)Replace your old file with the new one.

[Alessondria]

Great thanks so much!

[Alessondria]

Kay.... didn't work. I updated my drivers today. Options reset, closed game, replaced options text, relaunched and nothing changed. Soooo that didn't work. If anyone knows the trick please share! I'll likely try to consult Lord Google again tomorrow to see if I can dig up any info.

[marstinson]

Originally posted by Alessondria:

Kay.... didn't work. I updated my drivers today. Options reset, closed game, replaced options text, relaunched and nothing changed. Soooo that didn't work. If anyone knows the trick please share! I'll likely try to consult Lord Google again tomorrow to see if I can dig up any info.

I am so going to hate myself for doing this, but let me run a driver update and compare the old and new .ini files to see what changed (other than in-game settings). I'll post back in about 20 min.

[Alessondria]

o7

[marstinson]

Originally posted by Alessondria:

o7

Driver updates at bedtime. Just shoot me.

Ran the driver update, launched the game, and everything reset (as expected). Except for the game length and aging, which have to be set in-game, I put all of my setting back to what they were before. Loaded my backup Options.ini side-by-side with the new Options.ini and sure enough, the lastdevice setting changed slightly:

Backup setting:

lastdevice = 0;10de;1b81;8831

New setting:

lastdevice = 0;10de;1b81;9065

So I copied the new setting over into the backup copy, saved the backup again, moved the new Options.ini out of the folder and put the backup in its place. All of the settings were back where they should have been. Sequence, therefor, is:

1. put your settings where you want them and exit the game.
2. make a backup of Options.ini
3. update drivers
4. launch game to generate a new Options.ini
5. exit game
6. open Options.ini and copy the lastdevice line
7. open backup Options.ini, replace the lastdevice line, and save
8. delete/move/overwrite \Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Options.ini and replace it with the backup
9. relaunch the game

EA really does make it about as easy/difficult to put settings back manually as it is to work around the problem.

[Alessondria]

Ahhhh... huzah!!!!
You get bacon.

[marstinson]

Originally posted by Alessondria:

Ahhhh... huzah!!!!
You get bacon.

Baconbaconbaconbacon! I feel my arteries hardening already, but so worth it.

Glad that answered your question, but to return to an earlier point I raised, all driver updates are not created equal. nVidia's drivers are in exceptionally stable release form. Barring major bugfixes, updates mostly just optimize for new-release games.

To that extent, and because this game has such an issue with new drivers, I find that it is easier and simpler to ignore updates unless they are fixing something that needs to be fixed on my system. In more practical terms, I don't update just because a new version has been released. I read the release notes first and see if the update affects anything specific to my situation. If so, I update, and if not, I don't. The only major exception to that is when I purchase a new-release game, but I still check the release notes to see if there is anything specific to that game in the new version. Prior to last night, my last driver update was several months ago when I installed AC: Origins. Unlike app and OS updates, which should be done regularly, drivers are a situation where you should do it if you're having a problem or making a system change that requires it, but can usually be ignored.

[susannag]

I update my nVidia's drivers only a couple of times a year, as well, and things seem to be fine.

[matantemetal]

Same for me.
I do it only when i feel for it, or if it's very necessary for another game, or when i start the sims an the FPS go's very high,... like 1000 or 2000. (It's very important for you graphique card, to avoid this situation if you don't whant to burn it.)
Normally i set my nividia card for not going more than 60 fps in sims. If it's do not work find anymore i quit the game immediatly, i do the driver's update an after it's ok.

[Haeloth]

You don't have to update your drivers when you have a graphic card that is no longer supported by Nvidia lol :D

[Cahos Rahne Veloza]

Man marstinson's definitive answer NEEDS to be posted over at the "Guides" section for this game.

[cruinne]

It's now section 5.11 of my guide... which is way, way too long.



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