Graphics Card Help? - 940MX

[nosnahnnylamme]

As the title, says, my Sims 3 game does not recognize my graphics card.

I have an Acer Aspire E5-575G Signature Edition that runs Windows 10 with a NVIDIA GeForce 940 MX graphics card. In Device Manager on my computer, under 'Display Adapters', it also lists "Intel(R) HD Graphics 520".

I run the game through Origin.

Here is my "Graphics Device Info" from my DeviceConfig file.

Number:          0
Name (driver):   NVIDIA GeForce 940MX
Name (database): NVIDIA GeForce 940MX [Found: 0, Matched: 0]
Vendor:          NVIDIA
Chipset:         Vendor: 10de, Device: 179c, Board: 10941025, Chipset: 00a2
Driver:          nvd3dum.dll, Version: 21.21.13.6909, GUID: D7B71E3E-54DC-11CF-6869-993018C2D835
Driver version:  6909
Monitor:         \\.\DISPLAY1
Texture memory:  32MB <<OVERRIDE>>
Vertex program:  3.0
Pixel program:   3.0
Hardware TnL:    1

I have tried using the NVIDIA control panel to add TS3 under Manage 3D Settings>Program Settings, but that has not worked.
I also tried using this (http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=26753.0) tutorial, but found the whole thing too confusing.
I even reset my entire computer, which updated my graphics card, and (obviously) made me reinstall all my games. I haven't put back any of my save files yet, because I want to first make sure that my game is running the best it can.

I'm really hoping someone can help me here. Please get back to me. If you need any other information about my computer, graphics card or otherwise, let me know.

[Flynn Arrowstarr]

Hi, nosnahnnylamme. Welcome to the forums.

Sorry if it seems confusing. It can be a bit of a complex topic, as you can see. I did make a couple of small edits to the tutorial to help make it a little clearer.

Could you post the Rating Info section of the DeviceConfig.log file? That can help me figure out what section to put your GTX 940MX in. Thanks!

Flynn

[nosnahnnylamme]

Here is the rating info:

=== Rating info ===
GPU: 5 GPU Memory: 1 CPU: 3 RAM: 4 CPU Speed: 2400 Threading: 3
Adjusted CPU: 2800 RAM: 8065 Adjusted RAM: 7553 Cores: 2
=== Machine info ===
OS version:      Windows 8  6.2.9200
OS prod type:    0
OS major ver:    6
OS minor ver:    2
OS SP major ver: 0
OS SP minor ver: 0
OS is 64Bit:    1
CPU:             GenuineIntel
    Brand:       Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6200U CPU @ 2.30GHz
    Family:      6
    Model:       14
    Cores:       2
    HT:          1
    x64:         0
Memory:          8065MB
Free memory:     5534MB
User:            nosna
Computer:        LAPTOPOFEMMA

I also have two new questions:
1. When I launch The Sims 3, my NVIDIA Activity Icon says that TS3 is using the card. However, my DeviceConfig file still says it is not. Which one should I trust?
2. I've done a lot of research today and have come across forums that suggest one should use an FPS Limiter, in order to not have your card burn out. Before I reset my computer and reinstalled all my games, I checked my FPS in TS3 by opening the command box and typing in "fps on". My FPS went well above 100. My question is, (once I have the game recognize my card), will I want to install one of these FPS limiters? Is it completely necessary? And is there any way to do it directly through NVIDIA?

[Flynn Arrowstarr]

I'm splitting my reply into two parts. This part will be on editing your files, and the second part will be answering the FPS limiter question.

Going back to part two in the tutorial, you want to open GraphicsCards.sgr in Notepad. In that file, scroll down to about the halfway point to the nVidia section. Your going to insert a line there that will add the GTX 940MX to the database:

...
        card 0x5655 "Mach 64" unsupported
        card 0x4158 "Mach 32" unsupported
end
vendor "NVIDIA" 0x10b4 0x12d2 0x10de
        card 0x179c "GeForce 940MX"
        card 0x0fd1 "GeForce GT 650M"
        card 0x0fd2 "GeForce GT 640M"
...

I've bolded the line you need to add. Copy that line into the GraphicsCards.sgr file and save it.

Next, open the GraphicsRules.sgr file and we're going to make two changes to this file. First, let's make sure the game can recognize the card. Scroll down through GraphicsRules.sgr until you find this section:

...
if (match("${cardVendor}", "NVIDIA"))
    if(match("${cardName}", "* 1?0M*") or match("${cardName}", "* 2?0M*") or match("${cardName}", "* G1?0M*") or match("${cardName}", "* G2?0M*"))
        seti cardLevel $cardLevelMedium
        seti isCardMatched true
    elseif (match("${cardName}", "*8800*") or match("${cardName}", "*9500*") or match("${cardName}", "*9600 GSO*") or match("${cardName}", "*9600 GT*") or match("${cardName}", "*9800 *") or match("${cardName}", "*GTX 2??*") or match("${cardName}", "*2?00M*") or match("${cardName}", "*3?00M*") or match("${cardName}", "*Quadro*FX 5??0*") or match("${cardName}", "*GT 1?0*") or match("${cardName}", "*GTS 150*") or match("${cardName}", "*GTS 250*") or match("${cardName}", "*GT 2??*") or match("${cardName}", "*GTS 2??*")  or match("${cardName}", "*GTX 2??*") or match("${cardName}", "*GeForce G2??*") or match("${cardName}", "*GT 3??*") or match("${cardName}", "*GTS 3??*")  or match("${cardName}", "*GTX 3??*") or match("${cardName}", "*GeForce 3??*") or match("${cardName}", "*GT 4??*") or match("${cardName}", "*GTS 4??*")  or match("${cardName}", "*GTX 4??*") or match("${cardName}", "*GT 5??*") or match("${cardName}", "*GTS 5??*")  or match("${cardName}", "*GTX 5??*") or match("${cardName}", "*GT 6??*") or match("${cardName}", "*GTX 6??*"))
        seti cardLevel $cardLevelUber
...

We know from the DeviceConfig.log file information that your GPU is rated 5, or an "uber" card, so we're going to add it to that section of the database. We just need to add one small line between the two parentheses at the end of the elseif section:

...
if (match("${cardVendor}", "NVIDIA"))
    if(match("${cardName}", "* 1?0M*") or match("${cardName}", "* 2?0M*") or match("${cardName}", "* G1?0M*") or match("${cardName}", "* G2?0M*"))
        seti cardLevel $cardLevelMedium
        seti isCardMatched true
    elseif (match("${cardName}", "*8800*") or match("${cardName}", "*9500*") or match("${cardName}", "*9600 GSO*") or match("${cardName}", "*9600 GT*") or match("${cardName}", "*9800 *") or match("${cardName}", "*GTX 2??*") or match("${cardName}", "*2?00M*") or match("${cardName}", "*3?00M*") or match("${cardName}", "*Quadro*FX 5??0*") or match("${cardName}", "*GT 1?0*") or match("${cardName}", "*GTS 150*") or match("${cardName}", "*GTS 250*") or match("${cardName}", "*GT 2??*") or match("${cardName}", "*GTS 2??*")  or match("${cardName}", "*GTX 2??*") or match("${cardName}", "*GeForce G2??*") or match("${cardName}", "*GT 3??*") or match("${cardName}", "*GTS 3??*")  or match("${cardName}", "*GTX 3??*") or match("${cardName}", "*GeForce 3??*") or match("${cardName}", "*GT 4??*") or match("${cardName}", "*GTS 4??*")  or match("${cardName}", "*GTX 4??*") or match("${cardName}", "*GT 5??*") or match("${cardName}", "*GTS 5??*")  or match("${cardName}", "*GTX 5??*") or match("${cardName}", "*GT 6??*") or match("${cardName}", "*GTX 6??*") or match("${cardName}", "*9??*"))
        seti cardLevel $cardLevelUber
...

Once again I've bolded what you want to add to the file.

Now, look for this section near the top of the file:

...
if ($textureMemory == 0)
  seti textureMemory       32
  setb textureMemorySizeOK false
endif
...

And make a couple of small changes (in bold):

if ($textureMemory == 0)
  seti textureMemory       1024
#  setb textureMemorySizeOK false
endif

Once saved and copied back into your game's Bin folder (see step two in the tutorial) run the game and then check the DeviceConfig.log file and it should show a match on your card.

Hope this helps and happy Simming!

Flynn

[Flynn Arrowstarr]

I also have two new questions:
1. When I launch The Sims 3, my NVIDIA Activity Icon says that TS3 is using the card. However, my DeviceConfig file still says it is not. Which one should I trust?
2. I've done a lot of research today and have come across forums that suggest one should use an FPS Limiter, in order to not have your card burn out. Before I reset my computer and reinstalled all my games, I checked my FPS in TS3 by opening the command box and typing in "fps on". My FPS went well above 100. My question is, (once I have the game recognize my card), will I want to install one of these FPS limiters? Is it completely necessary? And is there any way to do it directly through NVIDIA?

1. It is still using the nVidia card. Just Sims 3 doesn't recognize it, so DeviceConfig.log is going to show card not found, no match. The steps we took above should fix that. Sims 3 is preconfigured in the nVidia Control Panel to use the nVidia graphics processor.
2. You can limit FPS in game by going to the Options screen and changing the refresh rate to something other than Default. It's best to match the refresh rate of your monitor - most displays in the US are set to 60 Hz. Save the Options and restart the game, then turn on the FPS display and you should see it hover between 55 - 65 fps for most things. Zooming in and traveling can cause the framerate to drop.

Hope this helps and happy Simming!

Flynn