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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 29th Nov 2015 at 4:56 AM

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 3, World Adventures, Ambitions, Late Night, Generations, Showtime, Seasons
Default Graphics Glitch In Create A Sim
In create a sim, the face appears normal but a white/grey shadow appears from the neck down on the body and clothes. I have all packs up to Seasons patched to 1.67. I uninstalled every game then re-installed the base game without any mods or CC patched to 1.063 but the problem remains. My laptop is Toshiba Satellite L50-C-1GX Windows 10 8GB Ram 1TB Intel-Pentium CPU N3700. This game worked fine on my old compaq presario windows vista 3GB Ram so I am baffled. The game works fine in live & Build mode. Any suggestions?
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Lab Assistant
#2 Old 29th Nov 2015 at 12:51 PM
Post your DeviceConfig.log (located in Documents\Electronics Arts\The Sims 3) in a post in spoiler tags.

Open the document in Notepad and select everything from top till where it says ===Options===, that's the info we need. If your laptop has a dual GPU card (integrated for your system and dedicated for High Performance software) you should see it in the Diagnostics tools of Direct X (Click Windows Key+ R and type in dxdiag and press enter). It might be muffled somewhere in the drivers of your GPU information, if you wish save all output to a file and upload it on here, so we can have a look.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#3 Old 29th Nov 2015 at 3:37 PM
I ran the game in compatibility mode and it says the launcher is not compatible. It seems that a lot of people on Windows 10 are having problems. I will try what you said . Thank you.
Lab Assistant
#4 Old 29th Nov 2015 at 7:20 PM Last edited by stevset : 29th Nov 2015 at 7:32 PM.
Your Integrated HD Graphics isn't recognized by the game, but what's more concerning is your CPU thats been branded by the game as CPU: 1, which is Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU N3700 @ 1.60GHz where Sims 3 requires minimum CPU speed of 2.4 GHz on a windows 8 or even windows 10.
Source: http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title...ts_-_No_Patches

Altering CPU rating:
However, you can try altering your CPU to a level 2 or level 3, if that CPU can handle it manually by altering the "GraphicsRules.sgr" file within your Sims 3 Install Directory (C:\Program Files (x86)\EA or Origin\The Sims 3\Game\Bin). Follow Nitromon instructions within this thread: http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=562988 (postcount #4)

Note: if you aren't able to edit the file in your install directory, make a copy and place it on your desktop (be sure to do this either way so you have a backup), edit it, and then place it back, the system will ask you to overwrite it, do so.

And see afterwards how your system behave, if the game is unplayable after changing it revert it back to 1 or if you use 3, try 2 (just make a backup of the original file and revert it back if the issue still continues)

Getting your Integrated Card recognized:
Within another thread, again Nitromon wrote something that you can use: http://www.modthesims.info/showthre...d=1#post4782510 (postcount #12 if it doesn't show properly)
Though it's for a dedicated card, but integrated is solved the same. I am not quite sure which Integrated Intel HD Family series you are running but the ID 22b1 says its from 2015.

Find the file GraphicsCards.sgr the same location as the other, and change the ID only 0x... of the 0x0166 Mobile IvyBridge GT2 to 0x22b1, save and place it back inside your Install Directory., read the instructions how to alter the Texture memory if you get a 32MB texture error (not sure if it will help at all as the chip doesn't have extra memory on the chip itself).

After the changes start the game till main menu, check your DeviceConfig log if all changes has been recorded. And better yet see how you game performs.

Good luck.

EDIT: Also it might be wise to read this page: http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title...nboard_Graphics on tips when running the game through an integrated/onboard gpu card.
Lab Assistant
#5 Old 30th Nov 2015 at 11:47 AM Last edited by stevset : 30th Nov 2015 at 12:21 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by JANMODDER
Hello, it's me again
I have changed the graphics rule file but in the graphics card I can't find the number that you said. I have included both for you to look at.

Also when you say run the game till main menu do I keep the game open and check the log and what am I looking for?

Thank you so much, I really appreciate your help


Ohh, yeah right, you will need to patch first as some information on those files has been updated, beside the updated list of graphics card devices I believe in BG patch v1.12 (not sure if they added more later on) there are other valuable things fixed with later patches:
1.: also in BG patch 1.12 (Ambitions release), they were able to provide modders a better hook to the game through the Sims 3 userdirectory (Documents\EA\Sims3) whereas on older patches modding went in the Install directory
2.: BG patch 1.17 (Late Night release); they enabled Large Address Awareness where the game can use resources to a max 4GB RAM, prior patches it was only max 2GB
3.: BG patch 1.22 (Generations release); they fix the Data Execution Prevention for windows users, that was bugged in previous patches.

If you are going to mod later on, most of the recent mods are build on patch 1.67 (scripting mods), there are some mods on older patches, but mods on patch 1.063 (Sims 3 Base release version) there won't be any or they are hard to find. So with this, I recommend patching it through the latest EA patch 1.67 and try again. Make sure those files retains their exact names (including the extensions *.sgr) as to what they are called, after you edited them and before putting them back in your install directory.
Lab Assistant
#6 Old 30th Nov 2015 at 4:16 PM Last edited by stevset : 30th Nov 2015 at 4:46 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by JANMODDER
So I have patched the game to 1.67, I ran it nothing has changed. Also I forgot to mention that in the wee hours of this morning, after sending several incompatibility reports the launcher was updated and horrible Origin was re-installed. I have found the number of the graphics card and would be grateful if you could look at them and advise me on what to do as I'm wary of making any changes without really knowing what i'm doing. Thankyou


Please at least try to follow the things that been written on the post and the provided links. If you did anything wrong, you can revert it back with the backups of the original files you stored away for safe keeping. Don't be afraid, cause what ever you seeing now can only result in:
1. the game unable to launch, due to editing something wrong in those sgr files
2. the game glitching even more due to you having used CPU rating 4 or 3, just lower it to 2 and see if that's possible.

I don't need your unaltered files as I own my own Sims 3 game and could have adjusted the files for you already, but it's wise to know how to edit such things by yourself if you bump into problems, there might be no one around to help you out.

When you have tried it by yourself and want someone to look at the changes you made, then and only then upload those altered files.
Lab Assistant
#7 Old 30th Nov 2015 at 9:05 PM Last edited by stevset : 30th Nov 2015 at 9:18 PM.
Okay you're almost there, within the GraphicsRules.sgr, adjust the default texture memory, such as written in this thread: http://www.modthesims.info/showthre...d=1#post4782510 (postcount #14) which you forgot to do.

After doing so, add the edited GraphicsRules.sgr within your install directory. Run the game till main menu, adjust your in game Options GPU settings, the sliders all to the left and see how the graphics is, then adjust while in a game the settings slowly one step at the time to the right, until the graphics in game goes blurry again then your beyond your limit and need to switch it back one step back.

You're on a onboard/integrated Graphics card so you'll need to find out what settings is ideally on that system of yours. Also, again, read these tips http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title...nboard_Graphics, when playing on such cards.

After all the changes you made in the *.sgr files, the results should be shown in your deviceconfig.log file within your Sims 3 userdirectory (Documents\EA\Sims3), as an example using your old one altered with those things (see everything between *..* and bold):



If the GPU rating is still on 1, try giving also the GPU a 2 rating like you did with the CPU, if the graphics is still off within the game.

Good luck!
Test Subject
Original Poster
#8 Old 11th Dec 2015 at 5:57 PM
Default UPDATE: The Original EA version 1 of the Sims 3 (Not Origin) is not compatible
Quote: Originally posted by stevset
Okay you're almost there, within the GraphicsRules.sgr, adjust the default texture memory, such as written in this thread: http://www.modthesims.info/showthre...d=1#post4782510 (postcount #14) which you forgot to do.

After doing so, add the edited GraphicsRules.sgr within your install directory. Run the game till main menu, adjust your in game Options GPU settings, the sliders all to the left and see how the graphics is, then adjust while in a game the settings slowly one step at the time to the right, until the graphics in game goes blurry again then your beyond your limit and need to switch it back one step back.

You're on a onboard/integrated Graphics card so you'll need to find out what settings is ideally on that system of yours. Also, again, read these tips http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title...nboard_Graphics, when playing on such cards.

After all the changes you made in the *.sgr files, the results should be shown in your deviceconfig.log file within your Sims 3 userdirectory (Documents\EA\Sims3), as an example using your old one altered with those things (see everything between *..* and bold):



If the GPU rating is still on 1, try giving also the GPU a 2 rating like you did with the CPU, if the graphics is still off within the game.

Good luck!


I did try all the suggestions here but nothing worked. As my laptop was under a 30 day returns warranty, I took the laptop with my Sims 3 base game into Currys/PC world where I had purchased it. They kept them overnight with the result being that they tested the game on several laptops and the glitch was still the same.

Bearing in mind that all their laptops have Windows 10 pre-installed, I think it would be safe to presume that the original EA version 1 of the Sims 3 (Not the Origin version) is not compatible with Windows 10.

I was kindly given a refund as I had particularly asked in store if the laptop would run the Sims 3.

So now I have a new question. Which laptop and operating system will run the original version 1 of the Sims 3 game?
Test Subject
Original Poster
#9 Old 13th Dec 2015 at 6:25 PM
PROBLEM SOLVED

The lovely staff at Cex allowed me to test-drive my base game on a secondhand Hp laptop which has Windows 7 Professional.THE GLITCH IS GONE. So it will be secondhand laptops for me from now on. I'm just glad I can play again.
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