Can't limit FPS anymore

brackencat31 · June 2017

Hi, can anyone help me? My Fps for sims 3 are over 200, I have nt played for months, last time I played I turned v sync on in the nvidia control panel and fps went down to 60. I don't know why it's changed, although I did download windows creator and I think it must have changed my settings.

Game mode is disabled, I ve checked my video card drivers and they are up to date, I m using the Ts3.exe file in the control panel. Has anyone got any other ideas? I really want to play sims 3 but I can't at the moment because of this, FPs are fine in sims 4, never go above 60.

igazor · June 2017

If the Nvidia Control Panel isn't going to lock in your fps rates, the usual tool to try next is Nvidia Inspector. Others also get positive results with MSI Afterburner, RivaTuner Stats Server (RTSS), there are others as well.

TS4 has it's own built-in fps limiter, whereas TS3 does not. That's why the two games are behaving differently.

brackencat31 · June 2017

Thank you very much I ll definitely give those a try x

harun789 · June 2017

i dont see the problem , more fps is better it will play smoother i play sims 3 in 400 fps and it feels awesome.

phoebebebe13 · June 2017

harun789 wrote: »

i dont see the problem , more fps is better it will play smoother i play sims 3 in 400 fps and it feels awesome.

The sims 3 had no fps limiter. When you run your fps higher than your monitor refresh rate you overwork your card. It will over heat and eventually get damaged. We have seen plenty of people who do what you do have to replace their video card. What your doing to your video card is foolish and irresponsible. No the game will not play better running your fps that high. Enjoy your game

harun789 · June 2017

phoebebebe13 wrote: »

harun789 wrote: »

i dont see the problem , more fps is better it will play smoother i play sims 3 in 400 fps and it feels awesome.

The sims 3 had no fps limiter. When you run your fps higher than your monitor refresh rate you overwork your card. It will over heat and eventually get damaged. We have seen plenty of people who do what you do have to replace their video card. What your doing to your video card is foolish and irresponsible. No the game will not play better running your fps that high. Enjoy your game

i did not realise that, well good thing i have a great monitor but i will keep what you said in mind, i will be more carefull now.so thanks for the critique.

phoebebebe13 · June 2017

harun789 wrote: »

phoebebebe13 wrote: »

harun789 wrote: »

i dont see the problem , more fps is better it will play smoother i play sims 3 in 400 fps and it feels awesome.

The sims 3 had no fps limiter. When you run your fps higher than your monitor refresh rate you overwork your card. It will over heat and eventually get damaged. We have seen plenty of people who do what you do have to replace their video card. What your doing to your video card is foolish and irresponsible. No the game will not play better running your fps that high. Enjoy your game

i did not realise that, well good thing i have a great monitor but i will keep what you said in mind, i will be more carefull now.

This game will fry your video card. If your running 400 fps I suspect you have a decent video card. Do you have laptop or desktop? Nvidia or AMD.?

This is instructions for Nvida cards even if you don't have same card http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/906947/limit-fps-on-1070#latest

if you need help with AMD post back and @igazor can help you with that

harun789 · June 2017

desktop and nvidia 1070 graphics card. with i7 intel cpu 2700k

harun789 · June 2017

also my monitor has 144hz so is it safe to assume thats enough?

phoebebebe13 · June 2017

harun789 wrote: »

desktop and nvidia 1070 graphics card. with i7 intel cpu 2700k

you need this so you don't damage your video card http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/906947/limit-fps-on-1070#latest

harun789 · June 2017

phoebebebe13 wrote: »

harun789 wrote: »

desktop and nvidia 1070 graphics card. with i7 intel cpu 2700k

you need this so you don't damage your video card http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/906947/limit-fps-on-1070#latest

alright i will check it out, thanks for the help i appreciate it and have a nice day.

Dusty_Boots · June 2017

This may be why users are suddenly discovering that their Vsync Settings are no longer working in-game and/or why these FPS Limiter are having varied effectiveness. User have reported that the Windows 10 Creator Update's Fullscreen Optimizations can break Vsync.
Link to a particularly informative post:
Windows 10 Creators Update Game Mode investigation and benchmarks

Current advice is to:

1. Disable Fullscreen Optimizations in the Compatibility Tab of the game's .exe.
*Its a new property that the Creator Update has added in the app's .exe under the Compatibility Tab.

2. Disable the Windows 10 Creator Update Gamebar.

How to do steps 1 & 2 are covered in the link above.

3. Disable Night Light
Its been found to become stuck in the enabled status, and to interfere with HDR lighting, monitor brightness, color profiles, etc. This may have been what caused ZeeGees monitor brightness issues.
Linky: How to Turn On or Off Night Light in Windows 10

Apparently, this Optimization has also changed game/app handling of DirectX 11, though I haven't seen any reliable DX errors reported. Varied user reports are also saying that the update installed new graphics drivers, not always gracefully. Nvidia users seem the hardest hit, but that may be skewed due to their large installed base. Results have ranged from failure to detect/install, to Boot Loops, to black/blue screens, to borking hybrid graphics switching, to the usual symptoms of a bad driver installation.

igazor · June 2017

@harun789 - Just to explain a little more as to why this is so important. Yes, in general (but only up to a point) higher fps rates for games like First Person Shooters that require split second accuracy in player input are better. Sims games do not require any of that. The human eye cannot see the difference in frame rates over probably around 30 fps (this will differ by player) but there will be a difficult to exactly pinpoint perceived difference in visual quality for many at rates over 30 fps up although only up to the possible refresh rate of your monitor.

A 144 Hz monitor needs to be capped at 144 fps (or lower), not necessarily at 60.

The excess frame rates generated, and your card is certainly capable of producing those into the higher hundreds or thousands, are the equivalent of digital noise that your monitor cannot possibly interpret. TS3 behaves this way and needs an external app to cap these because unlike newer games (such as TS4), it does not have a built-in fps limiter. In 2009, when the game was released, such was far less of an issue as graphics cards at the time weren't typically as capable of running wild like this. The results to the player can vary from lag, graphics glitches, screen tears, crashes to, as the others are saying, a burned out graphics card that can also take the system board down with it. Sometimes another symptom of severe trouble about to happen is a high pitched whining noise coming from the overworked card, but often that symptom doesn't appear.

This is one of the things we get for loving and playing a now eight year old game on more modern hardware.

brackencat31 · June 2017

hi, just thought I d update this thread in case anyone in the future has a similar problem. Following the steps above in Dusty Boots post has worked, my frame rate is now capped at 60, so it was definitely the window creators update which caused the problem with my FPS. Thanks, for everyone s help.

harun789 · June 2017

igazor wrote: »

@harun789 - Just to explain a little more as to why this is so important. Yes, in general (but only up to a point) higher fps rates for games like First Person Shooters that require split second accuracy in player input are better. Sims games do not require any of that. The human eye cannot see the difference in frame rates over probably around 30 fps (this will differ by player) but there will be a difficult to exactly pinpoint perceived difference in visual quality for many at rates over 30 fps up although only up to the possible refresh rate of your monitor.

A 144 Hz monitor needs to be capped at 144 fps (or lower), not necessarily at 60.

The excess frame rates generated, and your card is certainly capable of producing those into the higher hundreds or thousands, are the equivalent of digital noise that your monitor cannot possibly interpret. TS3 behaves this way and needs an external app to cap these because unlike newer games (such as TS4), it does not have a built-in fps limiter. In 2009, when the game was released, such was far less of an issue as graphics cards at the time weren't typically as capable of running wild like this. The results to the player can vary from lag, graphics glitches, screen tears, crashes to, as the others are saying, a burned out graphics card that can also take the system board down with it. Sometimes another symptom of severe trouble about to happen is a high pitched whining noise coming from the overworked card, but often that symptom doesn't appear.

This is one of the things we get for loving and playing a now eight year old game on more modern hardware.

alright then i will cap it for later thanks.

Dusty_Boots · June 2017

brackencat31 wrote: »

hi, just thought I d update this thread in case anyone in the future has a similar problem. Following the steps above in Dusty Boots post has worked, my frame rate is now capped at 60, so it was definitely the window creators update which caused the problem with my FPS. Thanks, for everyone s help.

I'm glad to hear that it worked out for you and thank you very much for the feedback on that information. Its very helpful. I hadn't forgotten about your first post concerning the FPS issue. This Creator Update is not yet widely adopted and good information is a bit scarce. So I took some time to try and read up on, and understand, what this Creator Update is doing.

As the poster I linked to said, it operates very much like a "exclusive fullscreen emulation" app, which I feel is a very appropriate definition. imo The very worst aspect of this feature is its unannounced invisible nature; It silently toggles On when many apps/games are run in fullscreen and proceeds to override previous user/device settings while enabled, and it toggles Off when you exit fullscreen. For anyone that's unaware of this feature, their fixes applied in between may simply be overruled again when it toggles back on. That would explain the odd behaviors I've been seeing where the user settings aren't sticking.

This Fullscreen Optimizations is a feature that M'sft uses on their Xbox system and now seems determined to apply to Windows PCs. It does seem to offer some benefits to low-end PC app/game performance and/or for heavy multi-taskers, but often negatively impacts mid-high end PCs when playing games. No doubt M'sft will continue to tweak & push this feature.

Animaag · July 2017

Dusty_Boots wrote: »

This may be why users are suddenly discovering that their Vsync Settings are no longer working in-game and/or why these FPS Limiter are having varied effectiveness. User have reported that the Windows 10 Creator Update's Fullscreen Optimizations can break Vsync.
Link to a particularly informative post:
Windows 10 Creators Update Game Mode investigation and benchmarks

Current advice is to:

1. Disable Fullscreen Optimizations in the Compatibility Tab of the game's .exe.
*Its a new property that the Creator Update has added in the app's .exe under the Compatibility Tab.

2. Disable the Windows 10 Creator Update Gamebar.

How to do steps 1 & 2 are covered in the link above.

3. Disable Night Light
Its been found to become stuck in the enabled status, and to interfere with HDR lighting, monitor brightness, color profiles, etc. This may have been what caused ZeeGees monitor brightness issues.
Linky: How to Turn On or Off Night Light in Windows 10
Apparently, this Optimization has also changed game/app handling of DirectX 11, though I haven't seen any reliable DX errors reported. Varied user reports are also saying that the update installed new graphics drivers, not always gracefully. Nvidia users seem the hardest hit, but that may be skewed due to their large installed base. Results have ranged from failure to detect/install, to Boot Loops, to black/blue screens, to borking hybrid graphics switching, to the usual symptoms of a bad driver installation.

OMG! Finally! I've been messing around getting the FPS limiter/ v-sync to work for ages. You can't imagine the things I tried to do to limit it without screen tearing issues. And all it took was to disable the game mode. Thank you so very much @Dusty_Boots

Dusty_Boots · July 2017

Animaag wrote: »

...
OMG! Finally! I've been messing around getting the FPS limiter/ v-sync to work for ages. You can't imagine the things I tried to do to limit it without screen tearing issues. And all it took was to disable the game mode. Thank you so very much @Dusty_Boots

You're very welcome! And thank you for the positive feedback about the Creator/Game info. The varied symptoms rendered it a bit maddening to look into. Its difficult to pin down an issue with Win10 with its daily updates creating such a rapidly changing environment. A problem today is remedied and replaced by a whole new one tomorrow

BariSaxy · July 2017

@igazor Hello, I know this is not my topic, but it seems like it's been resolved for the original poster and some other posters have been posting their issues as well. I'm wondering if you could help me? Unlike others, I don't have an Nvidia card, I have an ATI Radeon card.

I don't have any spending money in my life right now so the thought of my card frying really freaks me out. I don't want to do that to my PC! Especially when I did spend as much as I did for it.

Do you know of any good way to limit the FPS for an ATI Radeon card? (I have R9 270x IIRC). I used the "FPS on" cheat and was seeing a lot of readings well over 100 and readings up into the 200s when I got near the bodies of water.

igazor · July 2017

BariSaxy wrote: »

@igazor Hello, I know this is not my topic, but it seems like it's been resolved for the original poster and some other posters have been posting their issues as well. I'm wondering if you could help me? Unlike others, I don't have an Nvidia card, I have an ATI Radeon card.

I don't have any spending money in my life right now so the thought of my card frying really freaks me out. I don't want to do that to my PC! Especially when I did spend as much as I did for it.

Do you know of any good way to limit the FPS for an ATI Radeon card? (I have R9 270x IIRC). I used the "FPS on" cheat and was seeing a lot of readings well over 100 and readings up into the 200s when I got near the bodies of water.

My card is AMD as well, like most users have found that AMD's built in Catalyst Control Center (CCC) doesn't do a thing for fps rates, and I can't use Crimson, the usual next choice, as it doesn't support my card model. I suggest RivaTuner Stats Server (RTSS) as a third party control for this, it's lightweight and has always worked for me. One odd thing about RTSS is that it must be running (you can see it in Task Manager) before the game is launched in order to be effective. I set its option to startup with Windows but still make sure it's running anyway before launching. It's far too easy to quit the program when one meant to minimize it -- it disappears off the task bar when minimized but should still show up in the control center next to the system clock with other hidden icons. Or at least that's the way it works on Win 7.

We are meant to set up a profile within RTSS for The Sims 3, using TS3.exe for Patch 1.69 or TS3w.exe (with the "w") for 1.67 and below and adjust the fps cap setting. Some have reported that using a global setting instead of a special profile for TS3 has also worked for them.

http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/rtss-rivatuner-statistics-server-download.html
(look for the "real" download links around 2/3 of the way down the page, not any that might show up in the upper right corner if you don't have an ad-blocker as those are rogue advertising links that can look real)

(I'm still on version 6.6 myself, but haven't seen any problems reported with the new 7.0 beta and it's been out for a while)

BariSaxy · July 2017

@igazor

Thank you, I will check it out... But first, it appears that my card *is* compatible with AMD's Crimson program as it is telling me I can download it when I check to see if I can download new drivers. Do you think it will work?

I have been avoiding a lot of updates since Windows tried to force me to upgrade to Windows 10 so I wasn't even aware of this new AMD program.

igazor · July 2017

@BariSaxy - Yeah, mine is unusual because I'm on a Bootcamped iMac and must use drivers supplied especially for that setup. I can't remember if it's using Bootcamp at all or the case that my card is an older and slightly unusual model that prevents Crimson from working with it. I would still suggest RTSS though. The reported failure rate of Crimson to actual cap the fps as it says it is going to is pretty high.

But, in the end, the "correct" answer is whichever one works.

BariSaxy · July 2017

@igazor Actually if the "FPS on" cheat in-game is anything to go by, it [Crimson] is working just fine. The only problem is that it only works in full-screen mode. I'd rather have it in windowed mode, because I like to listen to music, podcasts, etc. while I play. =( Oh well, if that's how it has to be, that's how it has to be. I can always just listen from my phone.

igazor · July 2017

@BariSaxy - Yes, forgot to mention that's how vertical sync works -- in Full Screen only. RTSS uses a different mechanism to lock frame rates and will work in either Full Screen or Windowed mode.

BariSaxy · July 2017

@igazor That's unfortunate. Just glad I've managed to get it working in full-screen mode. I may look into the program you posted about. Is it completely safe, and is it complicated? I take it that it's not too complicated, but when we get this deep into PC stuff I get lost easily. lol

igazor · July 2017

@BariSaxy - It's perfectly safe, the worst thing it can do is not work which is pretty rare. The interface is a little confusing, but then I think the interfaces for all of these tools are at first. I can provide some screen shots if you really need them, as can others here.

The Sims Forums

Can't limit FPS anymore

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