Sim Pet heads looking weird

[templesmom]

I hope I can explain this right. When I create a cat in CAS the animal has a small head that looks like the coat mesh is not on it. So if I have a fluffy cat the body looks fluffy but the head looks like is is a much smaller cat head. In the pictures of the random cats the heads look right but if I pick on the head goes to the smaller size. Anyone else having this problem? I tried to up my sims graphics to medium from low but that didn't help. Thanks to anyone who can help with this.

[Joria]

My understanding is some graphics cards can't handle the software and you get distorted animals.

[candyraver69]

I think graphics cards and settings are a big part of it. I have my settings down pretty low because my laptop likes to get pretty hot after running sims for a while, and some sims and animals look very strange when I am not scrolled in all the way.

I'd double check your drivers are up to date, maybe adjust your graphics settings, it may fix it. Personally I can deal with the occasional weird looking animal vs having to turn off the game because the computers running too hot lol.

[Pam]

I have my settings down pretty low because my laptop likes to get pretty hot after running sims for a while,

Do you know that you can get fans for your laptop to help with the heat issue?  It's a flat fan that the computer sits on.

[candyraver69]

Do you know that you can get fans for your laptop to help with the heat issue?  It's a flat fan that the computer sits on.

Yeah, I have a monstrous fan/stand thing for it, it's just that after playing for hours on end on high settings it gets really hot anyways. Laptops just weren't meant to handle intense gaming the way desktops were

[Pam]

Yeah, I have a monstrous fan/stand thing for it, it's just that after playing for hours on end on high settings it gets really hot anyways. Laptops just weren't meant to handle intense gaming the way desktops were

Yeah, I understand that.  Our laptop has a fan and it helps, but it's not a complete solution.  I'm glad to have my big desktop.

[Katluvr]

There is a lot of information over on the TS3 forums about graphics cards compatibility issues with Pets and also about graphics cards overheating when playing TS3.  From what I understand, apparently there is nothing in the game code that limits the rate (frames per second, FPS) at which graphics cards will try to render TS3.  The higher the FPS the hotter the card will get - so good cooling is a must or you risk damaging your graphics card.  I understand there is also a way you can monitor the FPS your graphics card is running at, but am not exactly sure how to do this.  60 FPS seems to be the magic number from what I have read. 

I'm not sure if this issue is worse with older graphics cards (I would assume older cards would have to work harder with some of the newer EPs/SPs) or if having more EPs/SPs will make it worse.  There is more information on ways to mitigate this issue on the TS3 forums.

I would not be surprised if this is what did my old computer in as I believe one of the two graphics cards fried.  I'm not taking any chances with my new system - I'm watching this like a hawk - especially when I'm in the middle of a marathon TS3 session.

[loveSims]

To see the fps, just type fps in the cheat bar and the fps will show in the right corner of the screen.