Alrighty, so I didn't reset the system yet, but I uninstalled the drivers with DDU (in safe mode with no networking) and then reinstalled as suggested. I wasn't able to get the graphic drivers from Asus because this laptop is about 4 years old and they didn't have anything for it. I used the laptop's installer wizard thing to install the original AMD graphics drivers and used the Nvidia driver I was previously testing out.

On first run (before touching any settings, no screen tearing but wildly out of control FPS. I used the Nvidia control panel to cap frame rate at 58 (which is what the frame rate limiter setting defaulted to) and welp, wouldn't you know it, tearing was back. I turned on vsync, tried the game again, tearing. If anything the vsync seemed to make it worse. I turned on triple buffering, still tearing.

I will probably try again tomorrow, see if capping it at 59 or 60 makes a difference, and look into the AMD settings some more.

Thank you again!

indignantgirl wrote: ↑

July 8th, 2023, 11:22 pm

I turned on triple buffering, still tearing.

AFAIK triple buffering setting works only with OpenGL applications, so in case of TS3 it has no effect.

This laptop doesn't have FreeSync/G-Sync, right?
If you find an AMD Enhanced sync setting, try turning it on, reset nvidia settings (except fps limit, or you can try another program for this purpose, such as RTSS) and turn fullscreen optimizations back on.

Maybe pointing out the obvious/simple, but it's always nice when that's the solution so I'll go ahead anyway-

Have you tried borderless fullscreen? Which isn't 'real' fullscreen, where these problems seem to be originating.
The dark screen thing is a common issue with trying to screen record the game, because there's application level stuff filtering the way the game looks for you but software (and apparently your computer) sees through it. EA hiding their own bug, not your systems fault really. Not sure if screen tearing is related.
You can either use an external program like Borderless Gaming, or I believe Smooth Patch has a setting for it as long as you don't use the NRAAS incompatible parts. I use the former so I can move my mouse between two monitors, but it's also far less temperamental than true fullscreen.
Edit: I'll also add that I force 60fps and VSync in both NVIDIA Control Panel and Inspector. Whether one program is keeping it more in line than the other... I do not question lest the wrath of the graphics card comes for me also.

Simphobic post_id=95630 time=1688759206 user_id=23634 wrote: This probably doesn’t have anything to do with it just thought it was interesting that it matched your graphics card as gtx 480. I dont think it technically makes a difference since the rating is still at the highest.

TS3 does indeed have hidden settings imbedded in the graphics card recognition. A bit of a failsafe on their part, to disable incompatible features on old hardware. Gets in the way now that we have graphics cards that didn't exist at the time.

By the way, Smooth Patch also has a fps limiter, but it may not work on some machines.
I agree, the option with Borderless gaming and fps limiter will also be a good solution, if you do not need a exclusive fullscreen mode.

CardinalSims wrote: ↑

July 9th, 2023, 6:25 am

Maybe pointing out the obvious/simple, but it's always nice when that's the solution so I'll go ahead anyway-

Have you tried borderless fullscreen? Which isn't 'real' fullscreen, where these problems seem to be originating.
The dark screen thing is a common issue with trying to screen record the game, because there's application level stuff filtering the way the game looks for you but software (and apparently your computer) sees through it. EA hiding their own bug, not your systems fault really. Not sure if screen tearing is related.
You can either use an external program like Borderless Gaming, or I believe Smooth Patch has a setting for it as long as you don't use the NRAAS incompatible parts. I use the former so I can move my mouse between two monitors, but it's also far less temperamental than true fullscreen.
Edit: I'll also add that I force 60fps and VSync in both NVIDIA Control Panel and Inspector. Whether one program is keeping it more in line than the other... I do not question lest the wrath of the graphics card comes for me also.

I will probably end up using the borderless fullscreen program if there's literally nothing else I can do. I've been using the borderless program for the last week or so to play on an outdated, non-gaming laptop and I really thought I would hate it but it wasn't that bad at all.

Real talk: it's incredibly hard (read: nigh impossible) for me to "work around" a problem instead of solve it. Even if I'm using the work-around, I *know* I didn't actually fix anything, and it's utterly maddening. Which doesn't really serve me well when I'm trying to play an ever-aging game on ever-advancing gaming systems. I'm fighting a losing battle and I know it!

Like you, I also use both the Nvidia control panel and the profile inspector. It kept things in shape for a long time on my previous gaming laptop but since I don't know which one was THE one, I'll be using both for as long as I play this game!

Knight wrote: ↑

July 9th, 2023, 4:03 am

AFAIK triple buffering setting works only with OpenGL applications, so in case of TS3 it has no effect.

This laptop doesn't have FreeSync/G-Sync, right?
If you find an AMD Enhanced sync setting, try turning it on, reset nvidia settings (except fps limit, or you can try another program for this purpose, such as RTSS) and turn fullscreen optimizations back on.

No FreeSync/G-Sync. Or, I don't think so. In the AMD global graphics it says "FreeSync: not applicable" but in the Sims 3 game-specific graphics profile it says "FreeSync: AMD Optimized" and there was also a choice for On and Off. But I'm using my laptop's display and not an external one, if that matters.

It looks like either my AMD drivers are too old for the Enhanced Sync option to show up, or it's not available on my version of laptop. I'm investigating further.

I'm still on one of the older versions of Smooth Patch but I'll install it on this computer and check to see if it has the fps limiter to try, or try another fps-limiting option.

So many ideas here!

In your first post with the specs.

Do you really have windows 8?

C-Dark wrote: ↑

July 9th, 2023, 3:36 pm

Do you really have windows 8?

No, the game just doesn't know about the existence of new versions of Windows and specifies Windows 8 in DeviceConfig.log. At least it's the same for me.


This is what my friend's AMD panel looks like with the latest driver version.

indignantgirl wrote: ↑

July 9th, 2023, 1:57 pm

Real talk: it's incredibly hard (read: nigh impossible) for me to "work around" a problem instead of solve it. Even if I'm using the work-around, I *know* I didn't actually fix anything, and it's utterly maddening. Which doesn't really serve me well when I'm trying to play an ever-aging game on ever-advancing gaming systems. I'm fighting a losing battle and I know it!

I totally understand.
I started writing tutorials due to the nature of existing ones to have instructions to do certain things without any explanation as to why, after all. Genuinely understanding a problem over making it go away is a good stubborn trait to have.

That being said, the gap between hardware that existed in the final patch years of the game and now is growing ever wider.
There may not necessarily be a fix at this stage. There is a point where the workarounds are the fixes, if there is some kind of fundamental incompatibility.

The fact that the issues go away when FPS is uncapped is a promising lead, though. I'd definitely recommend 60, but also don't be afraid to go higher. TS3 has uncapped FPS issues because strong graphics cards will genuinely launch into the hundreds or thousands in the menu (which makes mine make a pathetic sound) and such, but there isn't anything wrong with capping it to, say, 144- if the screen tearing is alleviated by higher fps.
30, 60, 120, and 144 are all good benchmarks to test.

I also don't know what kind of expansions you're working with, but you might want to disable all of them for your own sanity doing so much testing so that the load times are more forgiving.

CardinalSims wrote: ↑

July 9th, 2023, 6:48 pm

The fact that the issues go away when FPS is uncapped is a promising lead, though. I'd definitely recommend 60, but also don't be afraid to go higher. TS3 has uncapped FPS issues because strong graphics cards will genuinely launch into the hundreds or thousands in the menu (which makes mine make a pathetic sound) and such, but there isn't anything wrong with capping it to, say, 144- if the screen tearing is alleviated by higher fps.
30, 60, 120, and 144 are all good benchmarks to test.

I also don't know what kind of expansions you're working with, but you might want to disable all of them for your own sanity doing so much testing so that the load times are more forgiving.

I also felt like the uncapped FPS thing was a promising lead! And looking into Knight's suggestion of AMD's Enhanced Sync (which is like NVIDIA's Fast Sync) gave some new ideas to test.

So this Enhanced/Fast Sync is supposed to function as intended when FPS is much (2x or more) higher than the monitor's refresh rate. (Which sounds pretty familiar...)

I was intrigued, but confused, because how can that be? I thought that the whole point of keeping the framerate around the refresh rate is so that nothing...burns up or melts or whatever. Somehow the Enhanced/Fast Sync gets around that?

In any case, I decided to try NVIDIA's Fast Sync 3 ways: uncapped, capped at 60 (my monitor is 60hz), and capped at 130 (to get over 2x the refresh rate but not wildly high).

There was no tearing when uncapped (which was too high at 250-350), but there was also no tearing when capped at 130. But tearing again at 60.

I'm going to test this some more. And also research a little more as to why Fast Sync makes higher frame rates okay, because I don't quite understand or believe it yet. It seems too good to be true.


(Probably most people know about this Enhanced Sync/Fast Sync thing but me, and there's probably a reason why these functions aren't widely used for Sims 3. But again, I'm pretty intrigued by it.)