Only other problem is, it runs on windows 10, and I have heard bad things about windows 10 and the Sims 3. I play on windows 7 Home Premium. Before that, windows Vista drove me mad. I don't want to repeat the experience if 10 is problematic.
Hi, I wonder if anyone can shed some light on this issue for me?
I reinstalled Sims 3 over Christmas, after a long break from the game. I played a fair amount during the holidays, and then went back to business as usual mid-January. I've come to play my game today, and it's mysteriously vanished (also no trace of it in the "saves" folder). Additionally, all of my installed content bought from the sims store has disappeared. I also got a warning from the game when I loaded it up saying that my graphics card wasn't recognised. I'm unsure if these things are related, but my computer is barely a year old (Windows 10, spec more than sufficient to run the sims with everything set to max usually!). I'm wondering if this is a game issue or a computer issue?
I'm not really too bothered about losing my saved game, but ideally I'd like to understand what went wrong to prevent it happening again. Any help would be appreciated.
Hi, I wonder if anyone can shed some light on this issue for me?
I reinstalled Sims 3 over Christmas, after a long break from the game. I played a fair amount during the holidays, and then went back to business as usual mid-January. I've come to play my game today, and it's mysteriously vanished (also no trace of it in the "saves" folder). Additionally, all of my installed content bought from the sims store has disappeared. I also got a warning from the game when I loaded it up saying that my graphics card wasn't recognised. I'm unsure if these things are related, but my computer is barely a year old (Windows 10, spec more than sufficient to run the sims with everything set to max usually!). I'm wondering if this is a game issue or a computer issue?
I'm not really too bothered about losing my saved game, but ideally I'd like to understand what went wrong to prevent it happening again. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.
I am only going to address one issue that I am more knowledge about. Sims 3 doesn't recognize newer cards. Sims 3 document has file named deviceconfig.log. Keep that open you need that for later. You need to go to where your Orgin games are installed find Sims3. Then you look for game and then click bin. The file you need is Graphiccard.sgr. Open it with notepad. Will need device number. You need to know if your card is NVidia or AMD. If it in AMD card it needs to go to ATi area. Anything I put in () don't add it. card 0x6779(device number) "AMD Radeon HD 6450"(graphic card name) If Nvidia you need to go to Nvidia area. card 0x0a69 "GeForce G105M" That area I recommend adding your Nvidia card. basic script is" card 0x(device number don't put this in the final script) "Graphic card name" just click save after your done. The other step is graphicrules. That is way complex. You can go to youtube. Look up Sims 3 graphic card fix. jessamica92 is the video I recommend. That fix doesn't always work. But when you do get it working it works great. Patience is key.
Somebody else can help you with the rest I am not familiar enough with the Tech stuff in Sims3. There maybe more problems than meets the eye.
Little know secret, I have never installed or tried to use CAW. I think I know how to spell it, though...
I'm going to guess maybe CCleaner to clean the registry after what would have been an incomplete uninstall before trying to install it again?
www.piriform.com/ccleaner
Unfortunately that didn't help, if we look back a couple of posts.
I did try using the VM's XP search to find any more of possible CAW bits, it didn't find anything. But, bit hard to find some files if one doesn't know the specific names.
Guess I might just have to manually poke in the registry if there's no other ideas. I did unplug my external drive in the event that it had a copy somewhere when I launched VM to test/check that, world tool still says there's a version. So, wasn't that.
I do have another idea, but it might not be that either...
Check the Virtual Store there could be a hidden folder for CAW there
If on Win7/Vista Go to your Documents or Libraries look at the upper left corner for Organize click on it look for Folder and Search Options click it look for the View tab click it and tick Show hidden files and folders and then follow this pathway
C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore and see if there is anything in there
@ScottDemon my VM runs Win XP. Where else might a folder for CAW be hidden if it's not in there?
Only other problem is, it runs on windows 10, and I have heard bad things about windows 10 and the Sims 3. I play on windows 7 Home Premium. Before that, windows Vista drove me mad. I don't want to repeat the experience if 10 is problematic.
It would be very difficult if not impossible to find pre-configured consumer level (as opposed to business class, which has nothing to do with gaming) computers that are new, not refurbed, that do not come with Win 10 pre-installed today. It is the current MS operating system. In fact, MS has announced that they will soon disallow Windows Updates for users on the newest processors if they are on Win 7 (not sure about 8.1 yet).
Win 10 may put up some temporary obstacles for some users. A couple of its less than always helpful features might get in the way initially, such as its tendency to automatically activate OneDrive and the game, not expecting that, tries to hide its TS3 user game folder in there. But once getting past such annoyances, which do not hit all players, the game should run fine on Win 10 if the hardware set is suitable.
I am only going to address one issue that I am more knowledge about. Sims 3 doesn't recognize newer cards. Sims 3 document has file named deviceconfig.log. Keep that open you need that for later. You need to go to where your Orgin games are installed find Sims3. Then you look for game and then click bin. The file you need is Graphiccard.sgr. Open it with notepad. Will need device number. You need to know if your card is NVidia or AMD. If it in AMD card it needs to go to ATi area. Anything I put in () don't add it. card 0x6779(device number) "AMD Radeon HD 6450"(graphic card name) If Nvidia you need to go to Nvidia area. card 0x0a69 "GeForce G105M" That area I recommend adding your Nvidia card. basic script is" card 0x(device number don't put this in the final script) "Graphic card name" just click save after your done. The other step is graphicrules. That is way complex. You can go to youtube. Look up Sims 3 graphic card fix. jessamica92 is the video I recommend. That fix doesn't always work. But when you do get it working it works great. Patience is key.
Somebody else can help you with the rest I am not familiar enough with the Tech stuff in Sims3. There maybe more problems than meets the eye.
I am sure you are trying to be helpful. But that is not a great way to fix graphics card recognition -- it starts out sounding right but gets things a bit mixed up. There is a reason we take requests for help with that into PMs, not everyone has the same two classes of new(er) graphics cards. The profiles that are being suggested to use in GraphicsCards.sgr are not going to be good choices for most players unless they have very unusual model newer cards and you are mixing up instructions across two different methods to get this done. It doesn't always need to be done anyway. I really don't mean to be harsh or unkind, and am sure you are getting this advice from elsewhere, but it is not helpful to post incomplete or incorrect tech advice on an open channel when one isn't sure of how it actually goes and there are others around (usually, anyway) who are in a better position to help.
Anyway, this is not the problem that the OP is having.
Hi, I wonder if anyone can shed some light on this issue for me?
I reinstalled Sims 3 over Christmas, after a long break from the game. I played a fair amount during the holidays, and then went back to business as usual mid-January. I've come to play my game today, and it's mysteriously vanished (also no trace of it in the "saves" folder). Additionally, all of my installed content bought from the sims store has disappeared. I also got a warning from the game when I loaded it up saying that my graphics card wasn't recognised. I'm unsure if these things are related, but my computer is barely a year old (Windows 10, spec more than sufficient to run the sims with everything set to max usually!). I'm wondering if this is a game issue or a computer issue?
I'm not really too bothered about losing my saved game, but ideally I'd like to understand what went wrong to prevent it happening again. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.
@moosticks - Let's set aside what the game is doing when you start it up (although of course the goal here is to get and keep it working right) and focus on what may have happened with your computer. If you look in Documents/Electronic Arts/TS3 for your use game folder, are you saying that parts of it, such as your installed content (DCCache) and your saved games are just gone? Is the entire game folder even still there anymore?
The game does not have the ability to delete its own user folder or content within it. A Windows System Restore can step in and do that (although it really shouldn't). A virus might have consumed some of your data. An over-zealous anti-virus program may have quarantined it. Or some combination of the above. It is also possible to have two or more (unwanted) game folders stashed in different places and the game suddenly started reading and using a different one. This can happen within a Documents folder in OneDrive, if you have or used to have that activated, or less often in a few other ways. Does any of this give you any clues as to what might have happened since before January?
Hi igazor, thank you for your comment. I know it's inevitable that as things progress you have to move along with them, windows 10 will be installed on a new computer system and there is no way round it, as you mention updates and all that it would be not worth changing it to a, say Windows 8 etc as this means going back.
However, I am not good with computers and all their little and big issues, I just get frustrated and angry if I go to play my game and can't find the save etc, as I am not alone by the look of things, in the meantime I just have to suffer it if I want a new monster laptop!
Hi igazor, thank you for your comment. I know it's inevitable that as things progress you have to move along with them, windows 10 will be installed on a new computer system and there is no way round it, as you mention updates and all that it would be not worth changing it to a, say Windows 8 etc as this means going back.
However, I am not good with computers and all their little and big issues, I just get frustrated and angry if I go to play my game and can't find the save etc, as I am not alone by the look of things, in the meantime I just have to suffer it if I want a new monster laptop!
I am just barely tempted to toss in a commercial for Macs here. Their operating system, OS X, is a pleasure to work with no matter what kinds of changes Apple makes to it along the way and there is (almost) always a way to work around something new and unwanted that might come along with revised versions.
Unfortunately TS3 for Mac is a mess unto itself, so that wouldn't be an extremely helpful recommendation at this point. It's the only iteration of the game thus far that got a weaker Mac version than its Windows counterparts.
I prefer to think of things this way. I need to learn about new operating systems at some point as they become commonly used. It's more "fun" (more or less) to learn about them while managing a game I am playing or my own personal photo collection, etc., than it is when I have an upset corporate user yelling at me while I'm trying to figure out where all of their Very Important Files or emails went, or why their favorite collaboration program suddenly stopped working. But that's just me I guess, we all have different relationships with the progression of tech and our own systems.
Little know secret, I have never installed or tried to use CAW. I think I know how to spell it, though...
I'm going to guess maybe CCleaner to clean the registry after what would have been an incomplete uninstall before trying to install it again?
www.piriform.com/ccleaner
Unfortunately that didn't help, if we look back a couple of posts.
I did try using the VM's XP search to find any more of possible CAW bits, it didn't find anything. But, bit hard to find some files if one doesn't know the specific names.
Guess I might just have to manually poke in the registry if there's no other ideas. I did unplug my external drive in the event that it had a copy somewhere when I launched VM to test/check that, world tool still says there's a version. So, wasn't that.
I do have another idea, but it might not be that either...
Check the Virtual Store there could be a hidden folder for CAW there
If on Win7/Vista Go to your Documents or Libraries look at the upper left corner for Organize click on it look for Folder and Search Options click it look for the View tab click it and tick Show hidden files and folders and then follow this pathway
C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore and see if there is anything in there
@ScottDemon my VM runs Win XP. Where else might a folder for CAW be hidden if it's not in there?
I've never used VM so I don't know where it would be with that you could try the steps and pathway but I don't know about the OS and can't find any information on it.
I'm just a little bit crazy LOL
Okay actually I'm totally and completely nuts LOL
Little know secret, I have never installed or tried to use CAW. I think I know how to spell it, though...
I'm going to guess maybe CCleaner to clean the registry after what would have been an incomplete uninstall before trying to install it again?
www.piriform.com/ccleaner
Unfortunately that didn't help, if we look back a couple of posts.
I did try using the VM's XP search to find any more of possible CAW bits, it didn't find anything. But, bit hard to find some files if one doesn't know the specific names.
Guess I might just have to manually poke in the registry if there's no other ideas. I did unplug my external drive in the event that it had a copy somewhere when I launched VM to test/check that, world tool still says there's a version. So, wasn't that.
I do have another idea, but it might not be that either...
Check the Virtual Store there could be a hidden folder for CAW there
If on Win7/Vista Go to your Documents or Libraries look at the upper left corner for Organize click on it look for Folder and Search Options click it look for the View tab click it and tick Show hidden files and folders and then follow this pathway
C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore and see if there is anything in there
@ScottDemon my VM runs Win XP. Where else might a folder for CAW be hidden if it's not in there?
I've never used VM so I don't know where it would be with that you could try the steps and pathway but I don't know about the OS and can't find any information on it.
By VM, the player means virtual machine. They are running a virtualized version of Windows XP on top of the Mac OS, not through Bootcamp as I recall, which would be different. Once on the Windows interface, things regarding other programs like CAW really should be the same as for those who have it installed on XP natively. I believe the Registry and structure for user AppData should again be the same as for "regular" Win XP. It should (in an otherwise perfect world) only be device management and the hooks from one OS to the other that get tricky on such a system.
Can't be much more help than that. In fact, I didn't even know CAW would work on Win XP, for some reason I thought it required Vista and higher. But that was probably a false assumption on my part.
Little know secret, I have never installed or tried to use CAW. I think I know how to spell it, though...
I'm going to guess maybe CCleaner to clean the registry after what would have been an incomplete uninstall before trying to install it again?
www.piriform.com/ccleaner
Unfortunately that didn't help, if we look back a couple of posts.
I did try using the VM's XP search to find any more of possible CAW bits, it didn't find anything. But, bit hard to find some files if one doesn't know the specific names.
Guess I might just have to manually poke in the registry if there's no other ideas. I did unplug my external drive in the event that it had a copy somewhere when I launched VM to test/check that, world tool still says there's a version. So, wasn't that.
I do have another idea, but it might not be that either...
Check the Virtual Store there could be a hidden folder for CAW there
If on Win7/Vista Go to your Documents or Libraries look at the upper left corner for Organize click on it look for Folder and Search Options click it look for the View tab click it and tick Show hidden files and folders and then follow this pathway
C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore and see if there is anything in there
@ScottDemon my VM runs Win XP. Where else might a folder for CAW be hidden if it's not in there?
I've never used VM so I don't know where it would be with that you could try the steps and pathway but I don't know about the OS and can't find any information on it.
By VM, the player means virtual machine. They are running a virtualized version of Windows XP on top of the Mac OS, not through Bootcamp as I recall, which would be different. Once on the Windows interface, things regarding other programs like CAW really should be the same as for those who have it installed on XP natively. I believe the Registry and structure for user AppData should again be the same as for "regular" Win XP. It should (in an otherwise perfect world) only be device management and the hooks from one OS to the other that get tricky on such a system.
Can't be much more help than that. In fact, I didn't even know CAW would work on Win XP, for some reason I thought it required Vista and higher. But that was probably a false assumption on my part.
@ScottDemon@igazor Well I did find the Application Data folder, but there is oddly no "local" folder - I've looked under the few User folders (Default, Owner, Shared) there, one does contain an Electronic Arts folder, but there's barely nothing in there.
Weird. And restarting doesn't seem to help. Maybe it wants me to remove my Win XP Sims 3?
@Karrkitt - You need to have hidden folders revealed in Win XP in order to see Local subfolders. Or maybe that's Temp folders, it's been a while, but anyway more of them are revealed this way. Should be under Control Panel > Folder Options > View tab. Possibly you don't have this switched on?
@Karrkitt - You need to have hidden folders revealed in Win XP in order to see Local subfolders. Or maybe that's Temp folders, it's been a while, but anyway more of them are revealed this way. Should be under Control Panel > Folder Options > View tab. Possibly you don't have this switched on?
They already are. There is no "locals" folder or anything.
Are you looking under C:\Documents and Settings\(User Name) and do you have administrator rights? Things were different in the XP days.
But I suppose it's possible that your VM has what we would call a non-standard configuration for these things. They have to be somewhere, though.
That, or something's bugged in which I find does somehow randomly fix itself after awhile. Currently playing an other game on that side, will poke around more later. :shrugs:
Forgot to mention in case anyone's curious or has same or similar issue, my Virtual Machine is Parallels Desktop 7. I've had other problems with it not related to Sims 3 or EA games…
Little know secret, I have never installed or tried to use CAW. I think I know how to spell it, though...
I'm going to guess maybe CCleaner to clean the registry after what would have been an incomplete uninstall before trying to install it again?
www.piriform.com/ccleaner
Unfortunately that didn't help, if we look back a couple of posts.
I did try using the VM's XP search to find any more of possible CAW bits, it didn't find anything. But, bit hard to find some files if one doesn't know the specific names.
Guess I might just have to manually poke in the registry if there's no other ideas. I did unplug my external drive in the event that it had a copy somewhere when I launched VM to test/check that, world tool still says there's a version. So, wasn't that.
I do have another idea, but it might not be that either...
Check the Virtual Store there could be a hidden folder for CAW there
If on Win7/Vista Go to your Documents or Libraries look at the upper left corner for Organize click on it look for Folder and Search Options click it look for the View tab click it and tick Show hidden files and folders and then follow this pathway
C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore and see if there is anything in there
@ScottDemon my VM runs Win XP. Where else might a folder for CAW be hidden if it's not in there?
I've never used VM so I don't know where it would be with that you could try the steps and pathway but I don't know about the OS and can't find any information on it.
By VM, the player means virtual machine. They are running a virtualized version of Windows XP on top of the Mac OS, not through Bootcamp as I recall, which would be different. Once on the Windows interface, things regarding other programs like CAW really should be the same as for those who have it installed on XP natively. I believe the Registry and structure for user AppData should again be the same as for "regular" Win XP. It should (in an otherwise perfect world) only be device management and the hooks from one OS to the other that get tricky on such a system.
Can't be much more help than that. In fact, I didn't even know CAW would work on Win XP, for some reason I thought it required Vista and higher. But that was probably a false assumption on my part.
Well in that case does Mac have something similar to Windows Virtual Store while unlikely but within the realm of possibility that a hidden folder for CAW could be there.
I've used CAW and I know it does leave a hidden folder when it gets uninstalled
I'm just a little bit crazy LOL
Okay actually I'm totally and completely nuts LOL
Well in that case does Mac have something similar to Windows Virtual Store while unlikely but within the realm of possibility that a hidden folder for CAW could be there.
I've used CAW and I know it does leave a hidden folder when it gets uninstalled
Yes, but the Mac OS doesn't know anything about Windows software installed on the Windows virtual machine. The two operating systems speak a totally different language and there cannot be any crossover. Win XP would not be able to interpret an OS X Library entry to that effect any more than OS X would be able to interpret a Registry entry, those are meaningful only in their own separate environments and CAW is a Windows-only program.
There are downsides to using Parallels for intensive programs like this. A ton of RAM is required and performance I expect would be horrible because of the overhead of one OS running on top of another and the need for both systems to be sharing physical resources like a graphics card simultaneously. But some can make it work better than others; there is something wrong here that seems to be blocking the total uninstall/re-install of CAW on the Windows XP partition and yes it may just be the hidden folder but it wouldn't be readable if it were on the Mac side. This is (partly) why I now insist on Bootcamp. It's much less convenient, okay downright a pain in the neck, to have reboot to get from one operating system to the other, but as they are each native boots then they never get in each other's way unless one runs out of drive space to accommodate both systems.
If @KARRKITT still has no appetite for Bootcamp, the only solution may be to uninstall Parallels, thus dumping the Win XP partition entirely together with all of the programs installed on it, and reinstall Parallels and Windows again from the beginning.
Well in that case does Mac have something similar to Windows Virtual Store while unlikely but within the realm of possibility that a hidden folder for CAW could be there.
I've used CAW and I know it does leave a hidden folder when it gets uninstalled
Yes, but the Mac OS doesn't know anything about Windows software installed on the Windows virtual machine. The two operating systems speak a totally different language and there cannot be any crossover. Win XP would not be able to interpret an OS X Library entry to that effect any more than OS X would be able to interpret a Registry entry, those are meaningful only in their own separate environments and CAW is a Windows-only program.
There are downsides to using Parallels for intensive programs like this. A ton of RAM is required and performance I expect would be horrible because of the overhead of one OS running on top of another and the need for both systems to be sharing physical resources like a graphics card simultaneously. But some can make it work better than others; there is something wrong here that seems to be blocking the total uninstall/re-install of CAW on the Windows XP partition and yes it may just be the hidden folder but it wouldn't be readable if it were on the Mac side. This is (partly) why I now insist on Bootcamp. It's much less convenient, okay downright a pain in the neck, to have reboot to get from one operating system to the other, but as they are each native boots then they never get in each other's way unless one runs out of drive space to accommodate both systems.
If @KARRKITT still has no appetite for Bootcamp, the only solution may be to uninstall Parallels, thus dumping the Win XP partition entirely together with all of the programs installed on it, and reinstall Parallels and Windows again from the beginning.
The guys that recommended this Mac either lied or didn't really know what they were talking about.
Bootcamp is not an option on this Mac, as it just won't work with its version (Even they said such). And we had to get it a disc drive as it didn't come with it.
Here's my Mac's specs:
Processor 2.5GHz Intel Core i5
Memory 4GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Graphics AMD Radeon HD 6630M 256 MB
Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 (11G63)
SIms 3 runs good, only lags a bit on speeding up the game with those controls to which I find it helps a bit if I zoom in on a piece of land that has nothing on it.
And while I do have Sims 3 on my Win 7 (separate computer!), due to the graphics the pets have that mouth-snout stretch glitch. In game itself they have a specific line-tear. So, I moved over to my Mac on first trying the VM side. Which wasn't too bad, amazingly.
Anyhow, I plan to soon enough get a computer that can play Mass Effect: Andromeda, would one of those computers also work for Sims 3? And maybe future Sims 4…
All I know is it'd likely need a lot of space and RAM.
@KARRKITT - I can't think of any reason why Bootcamp wouldn't work on that Mac and you do not need an optical disc drive unless you really want one. The Mac I am typing to you on right now originally shipped with Lion also, though I'm on El Capitan now, and I was still on Lion when I set up Bootcamp years ago. I can't have the current version of Bootcamp and Win 10 on it, but the slightly older ones and Win 7/8.1 work fine. In your case though, you will end up with a slightly less spiffy graphics card, though it should still be okay, on the Windows side and still only 4 GB of RAM total, so it may not be the best solution in any event unless you can bump the RAM up a bit.
The whole Bootcamp thing goes all the way back to Tiger (10.4) as an operating system. As long as you have an Intel chipped Mac which means any of them manufactured since 2006 or so and enough hard drive space to work with, some version of it should still be feasible.
What many computer sales people and those otherwise well-versed in IT do not recognize are the needs that TS3 has, they are not heavy by today's standards but they are very real, and how much of a mess TS3 for Mac is/can be. Many of them do not regard Sims as "serious" games and tend to ignore what really needs to be in place for the games to work well.
We can help you if you want when it's time to select a new system or evaluate a potential model that you might have in mind. @phoebebebe13 is an expert at helping users find or build new computers given a country and budget to work with. She's not around much with personal things going on right now, but I'm sure she would be happy to help when she returns.
Maybe this isn't it and it won't make any difference, but shouldn't the installer of a Windows program be on the partition onto which it's being installed? That is, not on the Y drive, but downloaded or copied over to the Windows desktop (or somewhere else within the Windows system). I've never installed Windows software while the installer was still residing on the Mac side.
Either way, looks like one of those path-corruption glitches…
Presumably, where could I find CAW in using Regedit? I've had to that before for some other game… Can't remember if is was an EA game or not.
My External Drive ("X" on the VM - usually! (currently is)) once had a random problem in that it'd delete-hide folders & files with no way to get them back but still taking up the space of the drive. Had to reformat it once, it still somethings does this.
I've poked in it for anything that might have CAW, didn't find anything so I assume it is that weird hide-delete issue...
Comments
I reinstalled Sims 3 over Christmas, after a long break from the game. I played a fair amount during the holidays, and then went back to business as usual mid-January. I've come to play my game today, and it's mysteriously vanished (also no trace of it in the "saves" folder). Additionally, all of my installed content bought from the sims store has disappeared. I also got a warning from the game when I loaded it up saying that my graphics card wasn't recognised. I'm unsure if these things are related, but my computer is barely a year old (Windows 10, spec more than sufficient to run the sims with everything set to max usually!). I'm wondering if this is a game issue or a computer issue?
I'm not really too bothered about losing my saved game, but ideally I'd like to understand what went wrong to prevent it happening again. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.
I am only going to address one issue that I am more knowledge about. Sims 3 doesn't recognize newer cards. Sims 3 document has file named deviceconfig.log. Keep that open you need that for later. You need to go to where your Orgin games are installed find Sims3. Then you look for game and then click bin. The file you need is Graphiccard.sgr. Open it with notepad. Will need device number. You need to know if your card is NVidia or AMD. If it in AMD card it needs to go to ATi area. Anything I put in () don't add it. card 0x6779(device number) "AMD Radeon HD 6450"(graphic card name) If Nvidia you need to go to Nvidia area. card 0x0a69 "GeForce G105M" That area I recommend adding your Nvidia card. basic script is" card 0x(device number don't put this in the final script) "Graphic card name" just click save after your done. The other step is graphicrules. That is way complex. You can go to youtube. Look up Sims 3 graphic card fix. jessamica92 is the video I recommend. That fix doesn't always work. But when you do get it working it works great. Patience is key.
Somebody else can help you with the rest I am not familiar enough with the Tech stuff in Sims3. There maybe more problems than meets the eye.
@ScottDemon my VM runs Win XP. Where else might a folder for CAW be hidden if it's not in there?
Win 10 may put up some temporary obstacles for some users. A couple of its less than always helpful features might get in the way initially, such as its tendency to automatically activate OneDrive and the game, not expecting that, tries to hide its TS3 user game folder in there. But once getting past such annoyances, which do not hit all players, the game should run fine on Win 10 if the hardware set is suitable.
NRaas has moved!
Our new site is at http://nraas.net
Anyway, this is not the problem that the OP is having.
@moosticks - Let's set aside what the game is doing when you start it up (although of course the goal here is to get and keep it working right) and focus on what may have happened with your computer. If you look in Documents/Electronic Arts/TS3 for your use game folder, are you saying that parts of it, such as your installed content (DCCache) and your saved games are just gone? Is the entire game folder even still there anymore?
The game does not have the ability to delete its own user folder or content within it. A Windows System Restore can step in and do that (although it really shouldn't). A virus might have consumed some of your data. An over-zealous anti-virus program may have quarantined it. Or some combination of the above. It is also possible to have two or more (unwanted) game folders stashed in different places and the game suddenly started reading and using a different one. This can happen within a Documents folder in OneDrive, if you have or used to have that activated, or less often in a few other ways. Does any of this give you any clues as to what might have happened since before January?
NRaas has moved!
Our new site is at http://nraas.net
However, I am not good with computers and all their little and big issues, I just get frustrated and angry if I go to play my game and can't find the save etc, as I am not alone by the look of things, in the meantime I just have to suffer it if I want a new monster laptop!
Unfortunately TS3 for Mac is a mess unto itself, so that wouldn't be an extremely helpful recommendation at this point. It's the only iteration of the game thus far that got a weaker Mac version than its Windows counterparts.
I prefer to think of things this way. I need to learn about new operating systems at some point as they become commonly used. It's more "fun" (more or less) to learn about them while managing a game I am playing or my own personal photo collection, etc., than it is when I have an upset corporate user yelling at me while I'm trying to figure out where all of their Very Important Files or emails went, or why their favorite collaboration program suddenly stopped working. But that's just me I guess, we all have different relationships with the progression of tech and our own systems.
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I've never used VM so I don't know where it would be with that you could try the steps and pathway but I don't know about the OS and can't find any information on it.
Okay actually I'm totally and completely nuts LOL
Can't be much more help than that. In fact, I didn't even know CAW would work on Win XP, for some reason I thought it required Vista and higher. But that was probably a false assumption on my part.
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@ScottDemon @igazor Well I did find the Application Data folder, but there is oddly no "local" folder - I've looked under the few User folders (Default, Owner, Shared) there, one does contain an Electronic Arts folder, but there's barely nothing in there.
Weird. And restarting doesn't seem to help. Maybe it wants me to remove my Win XP Sims 3?
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They already are. There is no "locals" folder or anything.
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/6083.windows-xp-folders-and-locations-vs-windows-7-and-vista.aspx
But I suppose it's possible that your VM has what we would call a non-standard configuration for these things. They have to be somewhere, though.
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That, or something's bugged in which I find does somehow randomly fix itself after awhile. Currently playing an other game on that side, will poke around more later. :shrugs:
Well in that case does Mac have something similar to Windows Virtual Store while unlikely but within the realm of possibility that a hidden folder for CAW could be there.
I've used CAW and I know it does leave a hidden folder when it gets uninstalled
Okay actually I'm totally and completely nuts LOL
There are downsides to using Parallels for intensive programs like this. A ton of RAM is required and performance I expect would be horrible because of the overhead of one OS running on top of another and the need for both systems to be sharing physical resources like a graphics card simultaneously. But some can make it work better than others; there is something wrong here that seems to be blocking the total uninstall/re-install of CAW on the Windows XP partition and yes it may just be the hidden folder but it wouldn't be readable if it were on the Mac side. This is (partly) why I now insist on Bootcamp. It's much less convenient, okay downright a pain in the neck, to have reboot to get from one operating system to the other, but as they are each native boots then they never get in each other's way unless one runs out of drive space to accommodate both systems.
If @KARRKITT still has no appetite for Bootcamp, the only solution may be to uninstall Parallels, thus dumping the Win XP partition entirely together with all of the programs installed on it, and reinstall Parallels and Windows again from the beginning.
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The guys that recommended this Mac either lied or didn't really know what they were talking about.
Bootcamp is not an option on this Mac, as it just won't work with its version (Even they said such). And we had to get it a disc drive as it didn't come with it.
Here's my Mac's specs:
Processor 2.5GHz Intel Core i5
Memory 4GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Graphics AMD Radeon HD 6630M 256 MB
Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 (11G63)
SIms 3 runs good, only lags a bit on speeding up the game with those controls to which I find it helps a bit if I zoom in on a piece of land that has nothing on it.
And while I do have Sims 3 on my Win 7 (separate computer!), due to the graphics the pets have that mouth-snout stretch glitch. In game itself they have a specific line-tear. So, I moved over to my Mac on first trying the VM side. Which wasn't too bad, amazingly.
Anyhow, I plan to soon enough get a computer that can play Mass Effect: Andromeda, would one of those computers also work for Sims 3? And maybe future Sims 4…
All I know is it'd likely need a lot of space and RAM.
The whole Bootcamp thing goes all the way back to Tiger (10.4) as an operating system. As long as you have an Intel chipped Mac which means any of them manufactured since 2006 or so and enough hard drive space to work with, some version of it should still be feasible.
What many computer sales people and those otherwise well-versed in IT do not recognize are the needs that TS3 has, they are not heavy by today's standards but they are very real, and how much of a mess TS3 for Mac is/can be. Many of them do not regard Sims as "serious" games and tend to ignore what really needs to be in place for the games to work well.
We can help you if you want when it's time to select a new system or evaluate a potential model that you might have in mind. @phoebebebe13 is an expert at helping users find or build new computers given a country and budget to work with. She's not around much with personal things going on right now, but I'm sure she would be happy to help when she returns.
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"Y:\Desktop\Sims CAW\The Sims 3 Create a World Tool"
"Y" is apparently my Mac. Guess I shall poke in my external drive in the event pieces are still there and drop them back on Mac desktop?
@igazor
Well, I would also like the new system to be compatible with the Need for Speed game series as well as the other Mass Effects if possible.
oops. well, you can see with the "Y-path" I found a broken shortcut on my WinXP desktop.
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Presumably, where could I find CAW in using Regedit? I've had to that before for some other game… Can't remember if is was an EA game or not.
My External Drive ("X" on the VM - usually! (currently is)) once had a random problem in that it'd delete-hide folders & files with no way to get them back but still taking up the space of the drive. Had to reformat it once, it still somethings does this.
I've poked in it for anything that might have CAW, didn't find anything so I assume it is that weird hide-delete issue...