You are better off than you were, yes.

Now, if you wish to move on to formal graphics card recognition you already have the instructions here but they are in pieces. Let's put them together.

igazor wrote: ↑

February 26th, 2019, 6:06 am

The files will not be where you were told they are as you have a Steam install. They will be under Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\Common\TheSims3\Game\Bin. Make sure not to go under any of the EP subfolders along the way, there are sgr files in those as well but those do not need to be altered. The ones in the path above are for the base game, and those are the ones we are targeting.

sittingbear wrote: ↑

February 26th, 2019, 2:10 am

change this in the GraphicsRules.sgr it's near the top so you should see it right away look for these 4 lines (all changes needed highlighted and Bolded)
setb textureMemorySizeOK true
if ($textureMemory == 0)
seti textureMemory 32
setb textureMemorySizeOK false

Change it to this
setb textureMemorySizeOK true
if ($textureMemory == 0)
seti textureMemory 1024
# setb textureMemorySizeOK false
Make sure to add that hashtag and only change the memory size
Then save and close the GraphicsRules.sgr

Now open up the GraphicsCards.sgr
And look for this card
0x0fd1 "GeForce GT 650M"
Since I can see your card device ID you should change it to look like this
0x1c82 "GeForce GT 650M"

Now save and close the Graphics Card.sgr

igazor wrote: ↑

February 26th, 2019, 6:06 am

And then we see what the results are by way of a fresh DeviceConfig if we could.

JohnL83 wrote: ↑

February 26th, 2019, 4:15 pm

BTW: I've noticed that in windowed mode if I change the screen resolution the window changes as well. Currently the game has me set to match my monitor's resolution, 1920x1080 and as for the sims and the map, everything looks wonderful, but my issue is with the messages and the control panel which are now are way too small for my comfort. I tried a few of the other settings and all it did was make the window smaller and smaller. sigh....

The GUI (user interface) in TS3 is not modifiable or flexible. If you need to enlarge things and be in windowed mode, I believe you will need to change the resolution that your monitor is running and then that of the game to match.

I'm already confused: I'm under > Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\Common\TheSims3\Game\Bin and under that all I have are a list of files:
Bin, Gameplay, Jazz, Misc, Resources, Static Pages and UI.

If I click the seond "bin" folder all I see are a ist of files like cs-CZ, da-DK...etc I don't see anything called GraphicsRules.sgr What did I miss...I feel stupid, am I being stupid?....

I can't help with that any further right away as I am not near my sims computer. The two sgr files have to be in there someplace. But with the fps capped you should already be much better off than you were, so unless someone else can help navigate through the Program files we'll have to set the rest aside for more than a few hours.

No problem, I need a break. But things are running okay otherwise. Thanks

JohnL83,
Does this picture help you locate the files? I've outlined them in red so they stand out. Do you not see them? Obviously, your path to them will be as igazor said above:-
Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\Common\TheSims3\Game\Bin whereas mine is
"Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin" but from the part that says
"The Sims 3\Game\Bin" they are the same.

Edited to add: Before you start editing these files, make a copy of them somewhere, so you have the originals to go back to in case something goes wrong.

Sara_Sims - Yes, it did help, IDK why I didn't see it the first two times I looked, but whatever. THat so weird. (for starters I was looking at the files on the right and not in the effin window to the left. Geez....face palm!

I got them changed, so I'm hoping this will take care of things. Thank you all so very much. Sorry to be such a pain and you've all been so patient with me.

I met a girl though my work who also plays Sims3 and we were talking about what fun it all is. Though her description of the game made me cringe a bit. She said it's like, "live Barbies". "Okay", I said, "More like live action figures." HAHAHA!
Anyway, she's never used mods and she was talking about how frustrating that she can't play a game for too long because it starts crashing and I told her about Nraas and the main mods to get so she can play endlessly. She said she joined a couple weeks ago and set up her mods folder and everything, but couldn't get the mods to work. She uses Origin and I told her not to worry and to just ask because everyone here is very helpful and kind. She told me she'd been to other Sims sites where people were very mean so she never tried again. I told her not to worry that no one here will make her feel stupid and she wouldn't regret these amazing and game changing mods! Hope she looks you all up for help! Thanks again!

One last thing, this is a bit OT, but while the game looks really crisp and details are great, the color seems a lot more muted now. I'm not sure what aspect of the graphics this has to do with, I've hovered over them all, and nothing stands out as the culprit. I miss the bolder colors I had with the lower details, even though it's nice to see details in things like jeans so that they actually look like denim and the hairy chests look like hair and not blobs of black squiggles. But I really am missing the bolder colors. Do any of you know if this is just what happens with the higher details or is there a setting should I change to get some of that back?

Does it matter which world you are playing and whether indoors, outdoors, or what the time of day is (in sim time)?

Some of our other members may have some suggestions as to settings changes you can make on the Graphics card by way of the Nividia Control Panel or Inspector that we may have overlooked just to get the fps capped.

It's also difficult to say without some before and after pictures. But what you might be experiencing is a perceived difference in lighting and bloom if not merely color saturation. This is all a bit beyond my pay grade, so to speak, but there are lighting mods and reshaders out there that may be able to help if you can figure out how to use them effectively.

igazor wrote: ↑

February 26th, 2019, 10:41 pm

But what you might be experiencing is a perceived difference in lighting and bloom if not merely color saturation.

I think you're right. After playing for a bit I've adapted and things are just so much more clear and detailed that it seemed like the colors are muted, but really I think it's just getting used to high details. I noticed flowers and things are very vibrant, but it was clothing that seemed less bold. Maybe having details made them seem less boldly colored? Actually I suppose it's more realistic really.