Strange Graphics Glitch

[MoonlightEternal]

Hey there guys!

I'm experiencing a strange graphic glitch in my Sims 3 game. It has happened on and off since Late Night, the sort of issue that didn't happen with enough frequency to say much on it. The problem is, it's begun occurring a bit more often, so I'd like to figure out what the heck it is.

Part of the problem is, I don't even know how to describe it properly. I will be playing the game, and suddenly the graphics around the text and certain objects will become blockly pixelated (best way I can describe it) and begin flashing. It doesn't seem to happen to Sims, it's much more prevalent around text. Pausing or changing settings doesn't make a difference; the only solution I have found is to save and exit. Once I start the game back up again, everything looks fine. There is no particular connection I can make to when this happens. Sometimes, it will be weeks or even months between occurrences, or it can be like today where I had it happen twice in the space of an hour.

Because I have no honest idea of how to describe it, I haven't managed to find anything remotely similar to the problem in order to attempt fixes. I would assume it's graphic card related, but really, that's about as far as I can go with this one. I'll attach two screenshots to give some idea of what it looks.

I have a 2010 13" Macbook Pro running OSX 10.6.8. The specs are sufficient, and really aside from lag now and then, this is the only graphics-related issue I've encountered.

Thanks in advance!

[Mordant17]

Could you post your specs? (Apple in the top left > About this mac > More info and copy&paste the hardware overview and graphics sections)?

Also, if you have two graphics cards, make sure the right one is being used.

[MoonlightEternal]

Thanks for the reply!

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro7,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP71.0039.B0B
SMC Version (system): 1.62f6
Serial Number (system): WQ044AL6ATM
Hardware UUID: ADB949F2-E3FA-549B-B4C3-CECF4A7D2095
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled

NVIDIA GeForce 320M:

Chipset Model: NVIDIA GeForce 320M
Type: GPU
Bus: PCI
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x08a0
Revision ID: 0x00a2
ROM Revision: 3533
Displays:
Color LCD:
Resolution: 1280 x 800
Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Built-In: Yes
Display Connector:
Status: No Display Connected

It would be nice to know if it's just a problem with the specs not being up to snuff anymore with the game, even if there's not a whole lot to be done in that arena. Thanks for taking a look!

[Mordant17]

Well, that graphics card is listed as "maybe" for all EPs beyond Night Life, so it could be your specs. Have you tried turning all the graphics settings as low as possible?

[MoonlightEternal]

I have had the settings on a variety of different levels and still seen the glitch; I believe they're all at either a medium or low setting currently. I wish I could say I remembered whether putting all the settings to low ever made a difference, but because it's an intermittent problem with no reliability of happening at all, it isn't something I've noticed (or not noticed) with a change in graphic settings. As an example, I had it happen twice the day I posted. Since then, it hasn't happened in the seven plus times I have played over the last week, with varying lengths of time playing (which to me says it isn't simply an issue of say overheating after playing for a couple hours -it can happen after playing for five minutes or after five hours). I haven't made any recent adjustments to the settings.

I was mostly curious if this particular glitch had been seen often, or at all, and if someone knew anything about what triggered it, because I can't honestly think of something I do one play through that I don't do through another, and the Sims is the only game I've seen this glitch on. But honestly it's an easy problem to fix so I can't see it being a big enough deal to really pursue. I just save and quit out, and once I reload everything is fine. So unless you think it's a warning that my computer might blow up, no biggie. :)

Thanks for the quick reply, sorry for my own lag!