Installing Sims 3 on a new computer, via Steam

hugzncuddles

Hi everyone, due to my old computer struggling to live, I haven't played Sims 3 for a couple of years, but I bought the entire collection on Steam in a sale a while back ready for the day when a shiny new PC arrives. Now I finally have a new computer (high end), I want to reinstall Sims 3, but without Origin. Sadly I was late to the party so haven't got a base game where Origin wasn't required.

So, I have a few queries:

1. Can my Sims 3 account hold more than one serial code per game/EP etc? What I mean is, if I want to access all my Sims 3 Store downloads again, but on a Steam installed game this time instead of Origin, can I use the same Sims 3 account to register my Steam games as before? I already own all Sims 3 EPs/SPs registered via Origin.

2. I vaguely remember something about going into the files to adjust the name of the graphics card so the game recognises it to allow high settings. As it's been a while, can anyone point me in the right direction?

Due to many reasons I haven't kept up with what's been happening in the Sims 3 community and haven't visited these forums for a while. As I tested out my new speakers with the new computer, literally had tears flooding when listening to Sims 3 music with crystal clear sound. Proper thump in the heart. So now I've finished setting up the computer, I really want to try Sims 3 again. Really appreciate any help you guys can give me!

The new PC has an AMD Ryzen 2700X processor, GeForce RTX 2080 ROG Strix OC 8192MB GDDR6, 2 x 8GB Corsair Dominator Platinum RAM, Windows 10 (64-Bit). Overkill for Sims 3 I know, but it should at least run it reliably compared to the old PC, right?

Many thanks, Hugz

lisasc360

You might want to ask this question over there or take a look to see if there is any answers to your questions about Steam and Origin games.
https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/961825/steam-sale-all-sims-3-content-until-july-9#latest

puzzlezaddict

Wow, that's a nice computer. And sure, it's overkill for TS3, but you never know what else you'll want to run on it. Besides, those ROG Strix graphics cards are just so pretty.

Right, you had some questions.

1) My account has four base game codes, or rather three standalone base game codes plus one from a combo pack, for reasons. It's fine. But definitely add the Steam code to your account, or you might have trouble getting your store content to work, since it's encrypted. When I reinstalled via Steam, I had no trouble downloading what little I had in my purchase history.

Also, be sure to redeem your extra points for registering the new base game and World Adventures. Last I heard, the offer still worked.

2) I've seen some guides that are kind of overdone, or not too helpful. I can try to find a better one, if you want. Or, if you send me the device ID of your graphics card, I can send you instructions. (This is usually better done by PM, since the specifics are dependent on the card.) The device ID is in a lot of places, among them the deviceconfig that TS3 generates, about 35 lines down. For example (ID in bold):

Chipset: Vendor: 1002, Device: 67ef, Board: 0179106b, Chipset: 00c0

3) Even though you didn't mention it, it's critical that you take steps to limit your in-game frame rates. A 2080 will throw rates well into the hundreds if fps isn't capped, for best results to the refresh rate of your monitor. For Nvidia cards, the usual first tool to try is the built-in Control Panel. But it doesn't always work, and never works in windowed mode. So if you need it, you can download Nvidia Inspector, or RivaTuner Statistics Server (both free). Unlike the others, RTSS does need to be running in the background to work.

To see your in-game frame rates, bring up the cheats console (crtl-shift-c) and enter "fps on" without quotes. The number will appear in the upper right corner of your screen. ("fps off" makes it disappear.) Here are screenshots of the settings for CP and Inspector:

https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/16540301/#Comment_16540301

I can grab one of RTSS as well, if you need it, although it's pretty straightforward. Keep in mind that to set up the game's profile for a Steam install, you'll need to use TS3W.exe, with the W, unlike an Origin install, where you'd use TS3.exe.

And I know what you mean about the emotional impact of seeing TS3 running again. I almost teared up when I got my Windows/Bootcamp install running a bit more than a year ago, although that was because of all the packs I finally had that I could never play in macOS. It's amazing how much this game can still mean, a full decade later.

hugzncuddles

Wow thank you both for your swift replies!

Lisa, yep that thread was helpful! Good to know that certain folders can be transferred directly (such as Saved Sims, Mods etc), but I understand the Store purchased items need to be downloaded again for the Steam installed game.

Puzzlezaddict, thanks for reassuring me regarding using Steam codes on the same Sims 3 account. Well, I started the Steam download for the base game a few hours ago and still have about 7-8 hours to go for the base game alone. Wish I started earlier lol.

Thanks for reminding me what exactly it was with the graphics card, I've now found the guide which looks familiar from when we upgraded the old computer. Hopefully will be straightforward.

Also, hadn't remembered about limiting fps so thanks for the reminder! is 144 too high? Refresh rate is set to that due to eye strain at 60 refresh rate.

Been watching some old LPs on youtube, all fired up and can't wait to get back into simming again

lisasc360

You're welcome @hugzncuddles...

hugzncuddles

Ohhh well it's downloaded and guess what, it's ALL downloaded, I thought it was base game alone lol. Anyway, the launcher appeared and the game loaded.

I exited without selecting a world to play in. Then made the changes to the sgr files and set the texture memory to 1024.

On loading and exiting the game again, in the device config file it's found and matched the graphics card, but in the game it's still showing the same lower settings as before, not all were set to lowest, but resolution size and some aspects of the graphics settings were less than best.

Is this because it's an RTX card and the sgr files don't know what rtx is (as in not a gtx)?

Is it safe to manually select graphics settings?

Thanks for any help!

EDIT: *pulls out own hair* Well I just looked in Steam library at the list where the EPs/SPs are with the ticks in the boxes and somehow clicked on world adventures and now it's saying it's 'not installed' and it's now downloading again. How can that be?! How can WA just be gone like that? Says it will take an hour to redownload, also I'm annoyed now because I thought that WA was meant to be added before any other EP, so if that's now removed and being redownloaded... it's almost 2am, I'm going to bed and will deal with it tomorrow.

puzzlezaddict

It's certainly fine to set the graphics options to whatever you want. High-detail lots should be kept at 2-4 though, as higher numbers will excessively strain the game engine. (You might choose to turn down the water setting as well, since it's also quite demanding, but then again you might enjoy the look of "super water.")

It is strange that your options weren't mostly maxed out automatically, although I'm actually not sure if they reset when you edit the .sgr files after loading the game once. Still, check the ratings info right at the top of deviceconfig. You should see something like this:

=== Rating info ===
GPU: 5 GPU Memory: 4 CPU: 3 RAM: 4 CPU Speed: 2904 Threading: 3
Adjusted CPU: 3472 RAM: 16281 Adjusted RAM: 15769 Cores: 4

The first two numbers are the keys. If your GPU isn't listed as a 5, then perhaps you added it to a list of weaker Nvidia cards, rather than the uber ones? It's easy to do—the first group of Nvidia cards is classified as medium. (The ones right below are the uber cards.) The GPU Memory rating should be a 4 if you set texture memory to 1024, but check it too, just to be sure.

I doubt TS3 has any idea what RTX means, or GTX, or GT, or any of the other labels for graphics cards. They're just names in the .sgr files and don't mean anything. As long as you've ID'd your card and told the game how to rate it, TS3 doesn't really process any other data.

And yes, Steam can be annoying like that. Unchecking the box uninstalls the pack, and there's nothing to do except reinstall it from scratch. It seems a small price to pay though, considering you don't have to use Origin. By the way, in case you didn't know, you don't have to use Steam either. Once you've launched TS3 for the first time (with all packs present and accounted for), you can leave Steam out of it entirely and launch the game via TS3W.exe. You can also open the launcher directly via Sims3LauncherW.exe. (In each case, you need the version with the W.) Both files are found inside the binaries folder in the game files. Unless you changed the install location, the full path is:

Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\The Sims 3\Game\Bin

I created desktop shortcuts for both, and Steam is never even open unless I'm checking my game library for some reason.

Finally, running TS3 at 144 Hz is more than fine. That's not a workout for a 2080; it's barely a warmup for a workout. You can always monitor GPU temps and other stats if you're worried, but the only issue would be if your card or its cooling failed outright, and I think you'd notice that.

hugzncuddles

Thanks @puzzlezaddict it's reassuring to know the refresh rate is fine at 144. Also I didn't know the game could be run without Steam running as well. Will make sure to look for the exe files with a W and save to desktop.

I checked the device config this morning and the lines you listed are similar to mine, and the first 3 numbers are 5, 4 and 4 with the other numbers a bit higher so I think it's ok.

Decided to uninstall TS3 and all its packs in one fell swoop via settings (uninstall page) and in an instant they were gone. restarted downloading from scratch, should be done by 9pm tonight hopefully. Working the next 2 days so will try to get it up and running asap, practically salivating here lol.

Thanks again for your help.