Recognising Newer Graphics Cards for Sims2

Kiri! Good news (fornow!). I think I solved the problem with textures!!! It has not been deleted it just have been "covered". I tried to put Reflections at "No" and , for now, it has worked. Reflections are not sooo important for playing, so I don't mind having them or not, so for me it's great. I'm not 100% maybe I play 2 hours and then it can become low again, I don't know, but I'll tell you.

Here you can see the new texture at my Sim



And here you can see the texture that should have been from the beginning having a AMD Radeon HD 8670D. It's even better than in my old computer!



The textures are not "perfect" but after being 5 month with low textures, I have no complaint! I'll keep you informed.

And for those who have this problem on Windows 7 with AMD graphics, remember to turn the reflections to "No".

Thanks for letting me know Alex, I appreciate it!

I downgraded my new laptop to Windows 7. Since the black screen bug went away, I'm guessing that must have been related to 8.1 and the compatibility troubleshooting. So word of advice if your windows 8.1 game starts up without a hitch, do NOT follow the advice of MTS and change compability options to XP service pack 2! Just leave it alone.

After updating the Video Cards.sgr and adding the line I posted above to my Graphic Rules.sgr file, the game now recognizes my Nvidia card as well as my Intel card depending on whichever I select to run with the game on my Nvidia Control Panel. I was thrilled when my log recognized my Nvidia card, but then was ready to hurl my laptop when I opened up my game and saw that black shadow. Switched to the Intel Graphics 4000 card and the shadow was gone. So did a bit more research and found this information Will try downgrading the video card, but since it is new I doubt it can be fixed. Until then I will continue to play with my Intel Graphics card since the last 2 bugs are gone and my graphics look great again. If I can find an Nvidia driver that works and removes the shadow, then I'll post the info here.

Full link display for information on the black shadow bug: http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game...im_Shadows

EDIT: driver downgrade did not work, pretty much like I anticipated. That doesn't mean that it won't work for others, so try and please update this thread if it does. The only workaround for me on both Win 8.1 and 7 is to use the medium shadows setting. I will test Nvidia performance with med. shadows and Intel HD 4000 at high shadows and will determine which card is best to use for gameplay. In the meantime, I will reinstall my latest Nvidia drivers since downgrading doesn't affect the game but might adversely affect my laptop's display performance. The only difference with Windows 8.1 and 7 for me was the log not explicitly recognizing my Nvidia card, but even with the OS downgrade the shadow bug is annoying enough to make me prefer the Intel driver.

Latest log:
  WIN7NVIDIA-config-log.txt (Size: 10.21 KB / Downloads: 454)

Thank you Nanashi for the tip - I'll try downgrading my driver... but I doubt it will work too. UGH!

It's been a few days, so I'm writing a new post - sorry to "double post" on ya'll...

I just had my first crash since doing all the above (and no, rolling back the drivers didn't do diddly for me.) I'm attaching the Access Violation log.txt just in case anyone can shed light on this particular crash. I'm slowly adding back in my CC, so it's probably something CC related. But, it's all stuff I've used many times before and have had no issues with - it's all CC I've used in my uploaded houses at MTS. Is it possible for a bit of CC to corrupt itself over time?

Attached File(s)

  Sims2Exception 2014.01.28 16.13.35.txt (Size: 11.86 KB / Downloads: 455)

Catherine - actually I think it is. I noticed after not playing for 4-5 years that the CC I had crashed a lot. I replaced it with a newer version of the same thing, and it stopped crashing.

Sorry that the driver thing didn't help.

How did the DEP and the other change that you tried out go? (The one that you mentioned at the Contest?)

Yeah... I figured. I'm doing the "find the faulty CC" dance now *sigh* ...what a PITA especially with 45 minute load times.

As to the DEP/etc... yes! I think it did help. I still can't use my shadows - but it all seems really stable. Until today's crash. I think it's one of my CC fireplaces - the crash happens when trying to place a fireplace from the catalog. Poohey.

No word yet on the doomed-shadows?

nope. No movement on that yet.

I've been playing with my NVIDIA card with medium shadows and the shadows do not seem to affect the neighbourhood view or inside objects. It looks like the medium shadows are only affecting Sims, am I wrong about this?

Nanashi - My whole game is affected. Yes, there are some shadows, but not the nice dark outdoor ones that I'm used to. (See the pix I attached to post #265)

...it'll do. For now. But, I'm eagerly awaiting a fix.