This makes me wonder how sensible it is to keep The Sims 4 going for many more years like they have said that they want to do. If you are selling a product to customers (who could be AMD users), then you should make sure that it works.
This makes me wonder how sensible it is to keep The Sims 4 going for many more years like they have said that they want to do. If you are selling a product to customers (who could be AMD users), then you should make sure that it works.
That's on AMD, not on EA Maxis. Choosing to have your GPUs not support functions of DX9 is basically removing all backwards compatability from your hardware for all older games which use those functions.
The very fact that it can be fixed by adding some dll's to the Sims bin directory also demonstrates that AMD could easily fix it by including those same libraries in their drivers. They just choose not to.
It's good to be aware of this. I'm planning to replace my gaming PC that is having hardware issues after 6 years. What brand is more compatible? Nvidia? If they are going to release 5, hopefully it will also be compatible with newer cards.
I agree that it's ridiculous to label an actively developing game with a large fanbase as a legacy title. Not to mention that at this point, people play legacy games whenever they want.
It's good to be aware of this. I'm planning to replace my gaming PC that is having hardware issues after 6 years. What brand is more compatible? Nvidia? If they are going to release 5, hopefully it will also be compatible with newer cards.
Historically, Nvidia has always been more proactive in maintaining compatibility for both old and new games. They provide driver updates and fixes at a much more consistent rate as well. They are also more expensive for comparable levels of performance (overall) in large part because of this.
This is still no gaurantee though, and it does depend on the game. Both AMD and Nvidia take money from development studios in order to provide integral support for their GPUs when a game is being developed and those deals are almost always exclusively one or the other, not both. That basically means some games like AMD GPUs better and others like Nvidia GPUs better.
Given that some leaks about upcoming Maxis games have come from Nvidia Now sources, however, it's a fair bet that they are working more closely with Nvidia than they are with AMD. You may want to give that information some weight when making your choice of GPU for a future purchase.
It's good to be aware of this. I'm planning to replace my gaming PC that is having hardware issues after 6 years. What brand is more compatible? Nvidia? If they are going to release 5, hopefully it will also be compatible with newer cards.
Historically, Nvidia has always been more proactive in maintaining compatibility for both old and new games. They provide driver updates and fixes at a much more consistent rate as well. They are also more expensive for comparable levels of performance (overall) in large part because of this.
This is still no gaurantee though, and it does depend on the game. Both AMD and Nvidia take money from development studios in order to provide integral support for their GPUs when a game is being developed and those deals are almost always exclusively one or the other, not both. That basically means some games like AMD GPUs better and others like Nvidia GPUs better.
Given that some leaks about upcoming Maxis games have come from Nvidia Now sources, however, it's a fair bet that they are working more closely with Nvidia than they are with AMD. You may want to give that information some weight when making your choice of GPU for a future purchase.
Thanks, I'll take that into account. Even gaming PCs have sales and deals.
This makes me wonder how sensible it is to keep The Sims 4 going for many more years like they have said that they want to do. If you are selling a product to customers (who could be AMD users), then you should make sure that it works.
That's on AMD, not on EA Maxis. Choosing to have your GPUs not support functions of DX9 is basically removing all backwards compatability from your hardware for all older games which use those functions.
The very fact that it can be fixed by adding some dll's to the Sims bin directory also demonstrates that AMD could easily fix it by including those same libraries in their drivers. They just choose not to.
That's for all old DirectX9 games? I understand the problem then. Yeah that sounds like that's on AMD.
That's for all old DirectX9 games? I understand the problem then. Yeah that sounds like that's on AMD.
Not all DX9 games, but all that use the particular DX9 function that is causing the issue. There's more than one way to skin a cat, so to speak, so not all DX9 games would use the function causing the problem, even if they do have reflections. Still, one has to assume that there are other DX9 functions not being supported as well by these cards.
Personally, I play a lot of older games, even ones no longer being actively supported and expanded on by their developers; there is no way I'd saddle myself with a GPU that thinks it is okay to just decide not to provide support for those games. I have a newer GPU from Nvidia and I can still play games from circa Y2K without issues. I have yet to have an older game not work properly. To me, that's as important as performance when choosing a GPU.
You would think this would have been a bigger more well known issue considering that a lot of people play on PC and probably use AMD GPUs.
Maybe.
Low end AMD GPUs end up in prebuilt PCs a lot so people with low end machines have them often and in low end GPUs you're often playing at settings where these issues don't pop up because you don't have that stuff even turned on.
In terms of high end GPUs, it's been pretty standard for almost 2 decades now to warn people away from ever buying AMD GPUs.
Always get AMD for your CPU, ASUS for your motherboard, and nVidia for your GPU <--- that's kind of the default starter advice for home built machines. Sometimes the recommended motherboard changes - but even when it does ASUS remains in the top few entries.
So issues like this don't pop up as often as 'hardcore gamers' are not often on an AMD GPU.
Almost every time I've seen GPU issues, it's been with AMDs.
The rare exception being when the New World MMO launched and it was routinely bricking one or two manufacturer's 3080 / 3090 nVidia GPUs because those were all made with one faulty circuit that got past QA because "no game should ever be calling that part of the board unless it's coded by idiots" and... New World is coded by idiots... So one rare bad GPU slip through combined with one 'shockingly bad developer house' that made a call to a part of a chip that wasn't supposed to be used... an extremely rare mix.
But AMD issues just seem to flow like water. I've seen maybe 1 good AMD GPU, ever. The one in my old MacBook that can't rest flat on a table because the GPU got so hot so often that the case is warped... it ran... but I always felt like I was doing 70 on a freeway after somebody painted black paint over my windshield when using it... (the same issue happened with my former work MacBook of the same specs, that was never used for gaming, but that one melted it's first AMD GPU while running a text editor and a browser so yeah).
I don't use Discord because it doesn't support multiple accounts and I don't need folks at work wondering what I'm doing even on my own time. Until Discord catches up with every single other voice / video conferencing system, I limit where I use it:
I really like AMD and I'm considering buying a new card. Do you know to fix it for Sims 3?
A quick search of the answers HD for EA turned up this fix, which people later in the thread confirm as working for them with TS3. The post in that link has a few responses further into the thread that help provide clarity in exactly what you need to do, so read further if you need additional help beyond what the linked post provides.
I really like AMD and I'm considering buying a new card. Do you know to fix it for Sims 3?
A quick search of the answers HD for EA turned up this fix, which people later in the thread confirm as working for them with TS3. The post in that link has a few responses further into the thread that help provide clarity in exactly what you need to do, so read further if you need additional help beyond what the linked post provides.
I post as wolvescreek/thats me that found the fix for Sims 3 on the bug forums (i'd update my name here, but I can't find a way?) so if you have any questions, feel free to ask me here or there about that fix.
You would think this would have been a bigger more well known issue considering that a lot of people play on PC and probably use AMD GPUs.
In terms of high end GPUs, it's been pretty standard for almost 2 decades now to warn people away from ever buying AMD GPUs....
So there is a big positive I'd like to add for buying a AMD, that a lot of people don't always take into consideration - that being the previous and current generation of consoles (ps5, ect) have AMD gpus. So when games are often made especially with a console release on launch, they are designed and optimized for AMD gpu architecture.
This is why I bought AMD again, because more often than not when a new game is released or ported from consoles, pc players flood forums with performance issues effecting nvidia cards. Issues I rarely have with an AMD GPU unless the issues also exist on console.
Overall I'm happy with my AMD GPU, except they've done a horrible job making sure old games/directx libraries are backwards compatible with them. Which is the case with the Sims 4.
Honestly the easiest official fix, would be to update Sims 4 to Directx12 libraries, solving the issue for AMD owners. Although I'm not sure how easy that would be to do/would have been easier when they coded/updated Sims 4 to 64bit exe a couple years back.
Who can afford a new graphics card , even ATI / AMD. But half 🐸🐸🐸🐸 something and then blaming those affected in so typical of AMD, particularly the graphics division . I recall that back in the day ATI's cards had the worst VGA support of any manufacturer, but people bought them because they were cheap. They don't even have that excuse now.
Also I have a question for the simmer with AMD Radeon 6000 series, do you have windows 10 or windows 11? Does the sims 4 fix work for windows 11? Please reply :)
Also I have a question for the simmer with AMD Radeon 6000 series, do you have windows 10 or windows 11? Does the sims 4 fix work for windows 11? Please reply
The fix works based on directx libraries being used, not the operating system.
While I did make a comment above saying AMD cards are great for console port proofing, if you mostly play the Sims games I STICK BY original comment to avoid buying a new AMD card. Otherwise you will have to use these fixes to make the game run properly which isn't exactly ideal lol.
But at least they exist...
If you ARE in the market for an AMD card, I'd suggest the 580 rx 8gb or 590 rx 8gb. They are 3 generations older, but easy to find on used market (make sure not to overpay!) and are the last generation of AMD cards to properly support games built on Directx9 libraries (like sims 3/4).
Lol I'm an AMD fanboy so I'm fine with the doing the fixes as long they work. Another friend of mine has an RX 6900 XT and her game runs so smooth on both Sims 3 and Sims 4.
Lol I'm an AMD fanboy so I'm fine with the doing the fixes as long they work. Another friend of mine has an RX 6900 XT and her game runs so smooth on both Sims 3 and Sims 4.
In that case its less the gpu but computer setup in general, the difference between a 6900 and 6800 is very small % in performance if you look at benchmarks. Performance wise both games run fine, they just have issues with reflections. Sims 3 DOES have a camera rotation lag issue, before you apply the fix, but otherwise ran fine fps wise on 6800 too.
A lot of performance issues unfortunately aren't always straight forward from computer to computer. Everything Background software running, RAM, HD/SD speeds, ect. Even the mods you run can effect performance.
ive tried this fix but when i use it i can no longer tab out of the game. i have to play in windowed mode and the game doesnt register other overlays, has anyone else encountered this?
I haven't been playing the Sims or even checking the forums in some time, b/c I was one of the people affected by this bug and it finally killed my will to build/play, but I'm happy to say it is now fixed with the Adrenalin 22.7.1 Optional driver from 7/26/22.
Comments
This makes me wonder how sensible it is to keep The Sims 4 going for many more years like they have said that they want to do. If you are selling a product to customers (who could be AMD users), then you should make sure that it works.
That's on AMD, not on EA Maxis. Choosing to have your GPUs not support functions of DX9 is basically removing all backwards compatability from your hardware for all older games which use those functions.
The very fact that it can be fixed by adding some dll's to the Sims bin directory also demonstrates that AMD could easily fix it by including those same libraries in their drivers. They just choose not to.
The Winters family Tree --- My Mods
I agree that it's ridiculous to label an actively developing game with a large fanbase as a legacy title. Not to mention that at this point, people play legacy games whenever they want.
Historically, Nvidia has always been more proactive in maintaining compatibility for both old and new games. They provide driver updates and fixes at a much more consistent rate as well. They are also more expensive for comparable levels of performance (overall) in large part because of this.
This is still no gaurantee though, and it does depend on the game. Both AMD and Nvidia take money from development studios in order to provide integral support for their GPUs when a game is being developed and those deals are almost always exclusively one or the other, not both. That basically means some games like AMD GPUs better and others like Nvidia GPUs better.
Given that some leaks about upcoming Maxis games have come from Nvidia Now sources, however, it's a fair bet that they are working more closely with Nvidia than they are with AMD. You may want to give that information some weight when making your choice of GPU for a future purchase.
The Winters family Tree --- My Mods
Thanks, I'll take that into account. Even gaming PCs have sales and deals.
That's for all old DirectX9 games? I understand the problem then. Yeah that sounds like that's on AMD.
Not all DX9 games, but all that use the particular DX9 function that is causing the issue. There's more than one way to skin a cat, so to speak, so not all DX9 games would use the function causing the problem, even if they do have reflections. Still, one has to assume that there are other DX9 functions not being supported as well by these cards.
Personally, I play a lot of older games, even ones no longer being actively supported and expanded on by their developers; there is no way I'd saddle myself with a GPU that thinks it is okay to just decide not to provide support for those games. I have a newer GPU from Nvidia and I can still play games from circa Y2K without issues. I have yet to have an older game not work properly. To me, that's as important as performance when choosing a GPU.
The Winters family Tree --- My Mods
If you go to: https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/releases
Download dxvk-1.9.4.tar.gz
Extract the folder.
Find the d3d9.dll file in x64 and copy it into the EA Games\The Sims 4\Game\Bin folder
This fixes the mirror reflection problem with my 6900xt.
Maybe.
Low end AMD GPUs end up in prebuilt PCs a lot so people with low end machines have them often and in low end GPUs you're often playing at settings where these issues don't pop up because you don't have that stuff even turned on.
In terms of high end GPUs, it's been pretty standard for almost 2 decades now to warn people away from ever buying AMD GPUs.
Always get AMD for your CPU, ASUS for your motherboard, and nVidia for your GPU <--- that's kind of the default starter advice for home built machines. Sometimes the recommended motherboard changes - but even when it does ASUS remains in the top few entries.
So issues like this don't pop up as often as 'hardcore gamers' are not often on an AMD GPU.
Almost every time I've seen GPU issues, it's been with AMDs.
The rare exception being when the New World MMO launched and it was routinely bricking one or two manufacturer's 3080 / 3090 nVidia GPUs because those were all made with one faulty circuit that got past QA because "no game should ever be calling that part of the board unless it's coded by idiots" and... New World is coded by idiots... So one rare bad GPU slip through combined with one 'shockingly bad developer house' that made a call to a part of a chip that wasn't supposed to be used... an extremely rare mix.
But AMD issues just seem to flow like water. I've seen maybe 1 good AMD GPU, ever. The one in my old MacBook that can't rest flat on a table because the GPU got so hot so often that the case is warped... it ran... but I always felt like I was doing 70 on a freeway after somebody painted black paint over my windshield when using it... (the same issue happened with my former work MacBook of the same specs, that was never used for gaming, but that one melted it's first AMD GPU while running a text editor and a browser so yeah).
A quick search of the answers HD for EA turned up this fix, which people later in the thread confirm as working for them with TS3. The post in that link has a few responses further into the thread that help provide clarity in exactly what you need to do, so read further if you need additional help beyond what the linked post provides.
The Winters family Tree --- My Mods
I post as wolvescreek/thats me that found the fix for Sims 3 on the bug forums (i'd update my name here, but I can't find a way?) so if you have any questions, feel free to ask me here or there about that fix.
So there is a big positive I'd like to add for buying a AMD, that a lot of people don't always take into consideration - that being the previous and current generation of consoles (ps5, ect) have AMD gpus. So when games are often made especially with a console release on launch, they are designed and optimized for AMD gpu architecture.
This is why I bought AMD again, because more often than not when a new game is released or ported from consoles, pc players flood forums with performance issues effecting nvidia cards. Issues I rarely have with an AMD GPU unless the issues also exist on console.
Overall I'm happy with my AMD GPU, except they've done a horrible job making sure old games/directx libraries are backwards compatible with them. Which is the case with the Sims 4.
Honestly the easiest official fix, would be to update Sims 4 to Directx12 libraries, solving the issue for AMD owners. Although I'm not sure how easy that would be to do/would have been easier when they coded/updated Sims 4 to 64bit exe a couple years back.
The fix works based on directx libraries being used, not the operating system.
And yes the 6800 XT made my game lag until I used my Wine3D fix, which improved FPS.
But at least they exist...
If you ARE in the market for an AMD card, I'd suggest the 580 rx 8gb or 590 rx 8gb. They are 3 generations older, but easy to find on used market (make sure not to overpay!) and are the last generation of AMD cards to properly support games built on Directx9 libraries (like sims 3/4).
In that case its less the gpu but computer setup in general, the difference between a 6900 and 6800 is very small % in performance if you look at benchmarks. Performance wise both games run fine, they just have issues with reflections. Sims 3 DOES have a camera rotation lag issue, before you apply the fix, but otherwise ran fine fps wise on 6800 too.
A lot of performance issues unfortunately aren't always straight forward from computer to computer. Everything Background software running, RAM, HD/SD speeds, ect. Even the mods you run can effect performance.
You can see my post here on Answers HQ verifying it is indeed fixed: [FIXED] Reflections show backwards in mirrors (Radeon RX 6000 Series).
Tagging @TOLKIEN so they know it's fixed and can edit the post title to reflect such.
I hope everyone affected gets this driver, so they can get their reflections back!