Seeing Red...Graphics Gone Screwy, Among Other Issues

[greywolf69]

I have not had any problems w/my game (at least not graphically) until fairly recently, and then for some strange reason this started happening. Took a few times messing with the visuals too get it looking as good as it is in that screen cap. There have been times when everything's been so dark I'd been unable to find the damn mailbox...in the daytime.

And that's not the only problem. There also seems to be other issues as well, such as:

• Sims moving somewhat slow even when I have the speed set at its fastest setting.
  Jerky movements.

• Slow rendering of graphics.

• when entering a home (even the home of the active sim) or community lot (not rabbit holes) it takes more time than it should before I can see what's happening inside that house or lot.

• More often than not my sims standing around like idiots of the time until I command them to do something, even w/Autonomy at its highest setting.

• A lot of the time my sims keep doing things (like Play Tag, or Play Chess) until I tell them otherwise (or--if playing w/an npc sim--until the npc sim has to leave, or the active sim, if at npc's home). Granted, I do keep using the cheat option on the mail box to Make Needs Static-dunno if that has something to do with it, keeping sims from getting tired of whatever interactions they are performing...
  My sims will not change out of work clothes unless I tell them to, unless it's to perform specific actions (Swim, Work Out, Shower, ect...)

• Not sure if this is a bug or just the way it is in the game, but I could not get babies to Blow Out Candles when a cake was placed in front of them (I do have Aging turned off, but that shouldn't matter, since it allowed for the option of the adult sims to Blow Out Candles), had to use the cheat option to Trigger Age Transition for all three babies.

That's all I can think of off hand. I'm sure there's probably more than a few that may have slipped my mind at the moment...

[caffeinated.joy]

What are your system specs? That's always good information to give when having game issues of this type.

[greywolf69]

System Information

OS: Win XP Home Edition
Version: 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
System Manufacturer: Dell
System Model: Inspiron 531
BIOS: oC)Phoenix-AwardBIOSTeDell System v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Sempron(tm) Processor LE-1300, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.3GH
Memory: 1982MB RAM
Page File: 1016MB used, 2859MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)

Device

Name: NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
DAC Type: Integrated RAMDAC
Appox. Total Memory: 256.0 MB
Current Display Mode: 1024 x 768 (32-bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor

Drivers

Main Driver: nv_4disp.dll
Version: 6.14.0011.6258
Date: 9/4/2007 20:47:00
WHQL: Logo'd: Yes
Mini VDD: nv4._mini.sys
VDD: n/a
DDI Version: 9 (or higher) 

Drive: C (Main Drive)
Description: Local Fixed Drive
Compressed: No
File System: NTFS
Size: 148.98 GB
Free Space: 106.08 GB

Drive: E (External Drive-Where I launch my Sims 3 game)
Description: Local Fixed Drive
Compressed: No
File System: FAT32
Size: 372.52 GB
Free Space: 360.15 GB 

[Razamataz]

I had this same issue. due to a Hack. If you have the multiple marriages for all ages. once you update to the 1.3 patch you'll need to remove this Mod. Its not uptodate for any patchies of 1.3 and above. you'll need to remove cache files. if this doesnt fix it the next steps is the My Documents Sims 3 folder. witch means all sims store downloads will need reinstalling.  But you can Keep the Saves and Saved sims folders. I couldn't find all it changed but this is what I had to do to Fix my game.

[greywolf69]

I'm not updated up to 3 yet. The patch wouldn't dl for me, which in a way I'm sorta glad about, what with all the bugs I hear it's supposedly infested with and everything.

At this time, the only mods currently in my folder are the Awesome Mod and its config, Indie Stone (the mod file, not the core), and Mausoleum-Buy-Invest-Rabbithole. All others have been moved away from my Sims 3 files and backed up in a zip file.

However...a fairly recent incident that for some reason I failed to mention in my previous post, leads me to believe that even though the .package files had been removed from my Sims 3 folders, the mods themselves seem to not have been removed from the game itself...



Those are the only versions of those files that were anywhere in my Mods folder at the time that I had received that error. And when I attempted to overwrite, I got this...



...which is odd, because the only things I had running were FireFox, Windows Explorer, and the Task Manager. I had been lead to an unlocker program that was supposed to help in situations like this, but it didn't pick any processes up that needed to be "unlocked".

Only thing I did get was a Tamper Protection alert, even though the Tamper Protection and the antivirus program itself had been disabled at the time.

[Chaavik]

System Information

OS: Win XP Home Edition
Version: 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
System Manufacturer: Dell
System Model: Inspiron 531
BIOS: oC)Phoenix-AwardBIOSTeDell System v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Sempron(tm) Processor LE-1300, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.3GH
Memory: 1982MB RAM
Page File: 1016MB used, 2859MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)

Device

Name: NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
DAC Type: Integrated RAMDAC
Appox. Total Memory: 256.0 MB
Current Display Mode: 1024 x 768 (32-bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor

Drivers

Main Driver: nv_4disp.dll
Version: 6.14.0011.6258
Date: 9/4/2007 20:47:00
WHQL: Logo'd: Yes
Mini VDD: nv4._mini.sys
VDD: n/a
DDI Version: 9 (or higher) 

Drive: C (Main Drive)
Description: Local Fixed Drive
Compressed: No
File System: NTFS
Size: 148.98 GB
Free Space: 106.08 GB

Drive: E (External Drive-Where I launch my Sims 3 game)
Description: Local Fixed Drive
Compressed: No
File System: FAT32
Size: 372.52 GB
Free Space: 360.15 GB 

The items highlighted in bold and italic are the ones in question. I checked the official site for the system specs and did not see that particular card in the supported video card list.

Have you updated the drivers for this particular video card and do you have problems running other games off the external drive?

Have you manually deleted the files by just dragging the mods out of the folder when the game is not running and when S3pe or another Sims 3 tool isn't running?

[greywolf69]

Have you updated the drivers for this particular video card and do you have problems running other games off the external drive?

The drivers for that card have not yet been updated. I tried to update it, but like the patch for Sims 3, it stubbornly refuses to do so. However, I personally do not consider this to be a major factor. Before I had first attempted to use mods in my game, these issues did not occur. Now, whether or not I delete or drag the mods out of the folder (following the instructions about deleting the .cache files) or even remove the Mods folder completely by deleting/dragging, the issue still remains unresolved.

I am by no means a techno-wiz, so I may be totally off base here...but the only thing I can think of is that the game may somehow still be trying to read all the mods that have been installed up to this point (and possibly conflicting w/one another), even though the actual .package files have been removed from the Mods folder.

Have you manually deleted the files by just dragging the mods out of the folder when the game is not running and when S3pe or another Sims 3 tool isn't running?

Nope, I never delete any files from a program while that program (or any program(s) that my be associated) is still running. I hear tell that such a thing is considered a big no-no, and after all the expensive internal damage that I have caused due to lack of good judgment and common sense, I've learned (so I hope) to listen to good advice when I hear it.    

[greywolf69]

UPDATE:

• "I have not had any problems w/my game (at least not graphically) until fairly recently, and then for some strange reason this started happening. Took a few times messing with the visuals too get it looking as good as it is in that screen cap. There have been times when everything's been so dark I'd been unable to find the damn mailbox...in the daytime." Seems to be fixed.

• Sims moving somewhat slow even when I have the speed set at its fastest setting. Jerky movements. Seemingly fixed. Will pay more attention to this as I play tonight.

• Slow rendering of graphics. Fixed as far as I can tell.

• when entering a home (even the home of the active sim) or community lot (not rabbit holes) it takes     more time than it should before I can see what's happening inside that house or lot. Fixed I think.

• More often than not my sims standing around like idiots of the time until I command them to do something, even w/Autonomy at its highest setting.

• A lot of the time my sims keep doing things (like Play Tag, or Play Chess) until I tell them otherwise (or--if playing w/an npc sim--until the npc sim has to leave, or the active sim, if at npc's home). Granted, I do keep using the cheat option on the mail box to Make Needs Static-dunno if that has something to do with it, keeping sims from getting tired of whatever interactions they are performing...Nothing fixed here yet. I still think it may be due to the Make Needs static command.

     

• My sims will not change out of work clothes unless I tell them to, unless it's to perform specific actions (Swim, Work Out, Shower, ect...)

• Not sure if this is a bug or just the way it is in the game, but I could not get babies to Blow Out Candles when a cake was placed in front of them (I do have Aging turned off, but that shouldn't matter, since it allowed for the option of the adult sims to Blow Out Candles), had to use the cheat option to Trigger Age Transition for all three babies. Remains to be seen whether or not this issue is resolved, as I have not tried having anyone try to Blow Out Candles since the issue had been reported. My current theory on this one is that it may be due to having aging and story progression turned off.  I could be wrong. I will report on this as soon as I have my sim children grow up.

Solution: Deleted Mods folder and Resource file from the root folder (E:\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3). This seems to have fixed at least the majority of the problems. My theory on these issues (and I could be totally wrong about this) is that, though I had deleted all the mods from my folder, something (possibly the Resource config that had been in my root folder) was causing the game to act as if all the mods that I had removed were still in place.

These mods may or may not have included core and/or tuning mods that could have been conflicting w/one another. Even though I had deleted these conflicting .package files (at least, those that I had caught w/the Compatibility Checker), the game may have still been acting as if they had not been removed.  

Again, this is only a theory. I still have a hell of a lot to learn about how all this techno stuff is supposed to work before I can consider myself an "expert" on these things, so feel free to poke as many holes in this theory as you please.

Any comments/ideas/suggestions would be most welcome.

[violetlass]

•More often than not my sims standing around like idiots of the time until I command them to do something, even w/Autonomy at its highest setting.

•A lot of the time my sims keep doing things (like Play Tag, or Play Chess) until I tell them otherwise (or--if playing w/an npc sim--until the npc sim has to leave, or the active sim, if at npc's home). Granted, I do keep using the cheat option on the mail box to Make Needs Static-dunno if that has something to do with it, keeping sims from getting tired of whatever interactions they are performing...Nothing fixed here yet. I still think it may be due to the Make Needs static command.

•My sims will not change out of work clothes unless I tell them to, unless it's to perform specific actions (Swim, Work Out, Shower, ect...)

•Not sure if this is a bug or just the way it is in the game, but I could not get babies to Blow Out Candles when a cake was placed in front of them (I do have Aging turned off, but that shouldn't matter, since it allowed for the option of the adult sims to Blow Out Candles), had to use the cheat option to Trigger Age Transition for all three babies. Remains to be seen whether or not this issue is resolved, as I have not tried having anyone try to Blow Out Candles since the issue had been reported. My current theory on this one is that it may be due to having aging and story progression turned off.  I could be wrong. I will report on this as soon as I have my sim children grow up.

For these lest few items, I would suggest removing the Awesome mod. Most of the items are what are described to do in the Awesome mode. I have decieded not to use this mod based on what it does that I prefer not to use in my game. Go back to MATY and read the description of what it does and you will see that most of these are caused by Awesome Mod.

[greywolf69]

Already done. As was posted in my previous post, I have gone so far as to delete the entire Mods folder and the Resource file that I had placed in the Sims 3 root folder.

The autonomy problem seems to have lessened somewhat, though still not enough to lessen my irritability.

Haven't yet tried to get my sims to Blow Out Candles recently, so I don't know if that one's gotten resolved or not.