Reinstalled Sims 3 on same computer, looks worse!

[Karlsburg]

Hey,
I've played Sims 3 before on this computer, no big problems other than the general bugs of TS3 and some lag.

Then I uninstalled it after some time and switched to The Sims 4 to try it out. Didn't find it as fun.

Now today I have reinstalled The Sims 3, and sure I know the graphics aren't as good, but they look REALLY ♥♥♥♥♥♥ now for some reason. I've turned all the graphics settings up. I have a pretty decent gaming computer. I'm not sure why all of a sudden it looks so bad this time around versus the other times and versus looking at other peoples pictures and videos... IDK if it helps much because the screenshots come out kind of small but here is on of my game: https://i.ibb.co/fMnHvvr/image.png -- When I look at it and think of what it was like before, and look at other peoples games, mine looks so poorly in comparison and I don't understand why. WHAT changed? Its the same computer. Same everything.. Any ideas?


Here is some DxDiag Info:
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-9600K CPU @ 3.70GHz (6 CPUs), ~3.7GHz
Memory: 16384MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 16306MB RAM
Page File: 8708MB used, 10028MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 12
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
Miracast: Available, with HDCP
Microsoft Graphics Hybrid: Not Supported
DirectX Database Version: 1.0.8
DxDiag Version: 10.00.19041.0546 64bit Unicode

Here is the DeviceConfig for TS3:
=== Application info ===
Name: Sims3
Version:
Build: Release
=== Rating info ===
GPU: 5 GPU Memory: 1 CPU: 4 RAM: 4 CPU Speed: 3696 Threading: 3
Adjusted CPU: 4528 RAM: 16305 Adjusted RAM: 15793 Cores: 6
=== Machine info ===
OS version: Windows 8 6.2.9200
OS prod type: 0
OS major ver: 6
OS minor ver: 2
OS SP major ver: 0
OS SP minor ver: 0
OS is 64Bit: 1
CPU: GenuineIntel
Brand: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-9600K CPU @ 3.70GHz
Family: 6
Model: 14
Cores: 6
HT: 0
x64: 0
Memory: 16305MB
Free memory: 11991MB

=== Graphics device info ===
Number: 0
Name (driver): NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
Name (database): NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB [Found: 0, Matched: 0]
Vendor: NVIDIA
Chipset: Vendor: 10de, Device: 1c03, Board: 61633842, Chipset: 00a1
Driver: nvldumd.dll, Version: 27.21.14.5671, GUID: D7B71E3E-5F43-11CF-D54D-6D411BC2D635
Driver version: 5671
Monitor: \\.\DISPLAY1
Texture memory: 32MB <<OVERRIDE>>
Vertex program: 3.0
Pixel program: 3.0
Hardware TnL: 1


I'm about to give up on The Sims 3, it's too bad it doesn't play as well as computers continue to improve. It really is a gem.

[igazor]

Your graphics card is unrecognized (this is not fatal) and you are getting the totally unnecessary 32 MB Texture Memory override (this can make things look awful even on higher end cards like yours). The fix involves editing the GraphicsCards and GraphicsRules sgr files to account for your GPU. Do you recall how you would have done this in the past or do you need more guidance?

Your card also absolutely needs its frame rates capped for TS3 by way of the Nvidia Control Panel and (if necessary) Nvidia Inspector. TS3 being an older game has no functional fps limiter. Have you taken the steps to do that and to check the frame rates you are actually getting in-game to make sure they are staying within range of the refresh rate of your monitor?

[Karlsburg]

Originally posted by igazor:

Your graphics card is unrecognized (this is not fatal) and you are getting the totally unnecessary 32 MB Texture Memory override (this can make things look awful even on higher end cards like yours). The fix involves editing the GraphicsCards and GraphicsRules sgr files to account for your GPU. Do you recall how you would have done this in the past or do you need more guidance?

Your card also absolutely needs its frame rates capped for TS3 by way of the Nvidia Control Panel and (if necessary) Nvidia Inspector. TS3 being an older game has no functional fps limiter. Have you taken the steps to do that and to check the frame rates you are actually getting in-game to make sure they are staying within range of the refresh rate of your monitor?

Dang!
Thank you for your information! I would definitely need more guidance. I never messed with anything like this before... maybe I am mistaken that I played Ts3 on this computer but I swear I have since I've had it for a few years now.

I haven't taken any steps with Nvidia control or fps and frame rate stuff I really don't know anything about fixing or getting games to work lol Im the type to just play games that run properly the first time -- but the sims 3 is so fun its worth trying at least! IF you have the time to spare me more information either written or information via video (visual learner here) I would really appreciate it. I don't even know where to start, I was genuinely surprised to see it look so ♥♥♥♥♥♥ lol!

[igazor]

Since part of this procedure involves editing your sgr files specifically for your GPU model, I prefer to do that through private messages so as not to mislead players who have all different model cards. That can be here if we do the friend thing, or I can be reached pretty easily (same screen names) at NRaas or EA's Sims forum.

To get the refresh rate of your monitor, right-click on your desktop then Display Settings > Advanced Display Settings and it should be one of about six things that shows up, the one measured in Hz. Most common would be 60 Hz, but many can run higher.

To see the actual frame rates you are getting in-game, Ctrl+Shift+C to bring up the cheats console and type fps on (enter). As you play and move the game camera around, the displayed frame rate (fps) should never wander above the refresh rate above. Your card is powerful enough unchecked to throw fps rates into the high hundreds. To make the display go away, cheats console again and type fps off (enter).

On the Nvidia Control Panel, establish a profile for TS3w.exe (with the "w", you will have to browse to find it into Program Files (x86)\Steam\streamapps\common\The Sims 3\Game\Bin. On that profile, set vertical sync to Forced (or Adaptive), Triple Buffering to On, and if you see an explicit cap for the frame rate, set it to 60 or whatever the refresh rate of your monitor is. Vertical sync only works when it does in full-screen mode, but explicit frame caps also work in windowed. Then startup the game and check your in-game frame rates again. If this doesn't work, then we move on to Nvidia Inspector but the most recent Nvidia drivers do now include a frame cap setting that most players find to be very effective.

I can't demonstrate this part personally because my cards are AMD and a slightly different procedure is used, but there are screen shots of the Nivida procedure available all over the place if you need them.

[Karlsburg]

I see.. Thank you for this information. I can send a friend request via steam since I'm not really on any forums. I appreciate your patience as I imagine my questions might be quite tedious because of how little I know about any of this.

I will admit editing sgr files does sound rather daunting. Also, will this affect my other games? Everything else runs perfectly on my computer and I'd rather not mess that up just to have The Sims 3 working properly haha! I guess that's my biggest concern is that messing with this could mess things up big time if I do it incorrectly?

The Refresh Rate on my monitor says 60.000Hz
and when I did that in game LOL, its flying up into the 100s hitting numbers up in the 200. I assume... that... is not good:
https://i.ibb.co/hLhvNn5/image.png
screenshot of FPS in game on

I did find the Nvidia control panel and changed those settings to Adaptive, Triple Buffering On and found the Max Frame Rate thing and set it to 60. Upon relaunching the game with the fps on it is staying around 60FPS which is much better than 200 hah!

Unfortunately, it still looks quite crappy. So I guess the rest lies in the SGR files? Feel free to message me on Steam upon accepting friend request, I may be appearing offline to hide from people lol BUT you can send the messages anyway and I'll reply when I can. I do very much appreciate the time you're taking to help get the Sims 3 running properly for me. I dumped hundreds of hours into this game in the past and would love to do so again.

[igazor]

Yeah, no fps in the 200s on a 60 Hz monitor is not good. The extra frame rates would have been the equivalent of digital noise and can cause all kinds of graphics and performance issues as your card is forced to work much harder than it needs to for no reason. Prolonged gameplay like that can ultimately burn out/damage your card and system board, so it's really good you've got that taken care of now. Newer games, even TS4, have built in fps capping that actually works but TS3 was unfortunately developed just prior to what were then higher end cards becoming more accessible to home consumers so that's why we have to take extra steps to fix that.

Moving to PMs for the sgr edits, and no nothing we do there will affect anything at all on your computer except for how TS3 plays. The worst thing that could happen is that you don't get enough benefit, and then we move on and see what we can do with other Nvidia settings to make the game look more appealing. Your hardware sounds great by TS3 standards, so the game should be working for you better than it sounds like it is.

None of this is tedious or cutting into vast amounts of my personal time, so don't worry about that. I'm much more active on other forums than here, but we at NRaas, on EA's forums, and ModTheSims have helped many thousands of TS3 players with things just like this over the years and we love doing it. :)