Hello all.

Recently, my game has been consistently crashing. First it was not enough memory. I fixed that. Then it needed game updates. I fixed that. Now, the message the crash log is giving me is Warning: Graphic Device(s) Not Found in Database.

Now, I've been doing my own research and I found the insanely painstakingly detailed tutorial here:
http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title...zed_by_the_game
Which I greatly appreciate, but for some reason, I get my Vendor and Device numbers and then I get lost when it comes to actually getting into the GraphicsCards.sgr file. I desperately need help with this as I don't know anyone who knows much about computers and I've had such a nostalgic want to play lately. If anybody can or is willing to help, I can provide my graphics card information and everything. I just really need help with this.

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to help!

Thank you I should have been more clear, but I can get to that and open it up. It's the steps after opening it up that get me confused. I know I'm supposed to add a line into it and name it as shown in the DeviceConfig.log file but I get completely confused as to what exactly to add and what to name it, and then the steps after with the GraphicsRules lose me entirely. I have a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 645, for the record.

Hi MadamFoster,

Please open your DeviceConfig.log with Notepad (EDIT: located under Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\ userdirectory), then look up ==Graphics device info== can you then copy and paste that piece of information onto a post

I just need this bit of info, like this example from my own GPU card:

=== Graphics device info ===
Number: 0
Name (driver): NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650
Name (database): GeForce GTX 650 [Found: 1, Matched: 1]
Vendor: NVIDIA
Chipset: Vendor: 10de, Device: 0fc6, Board: 28021462,

With yours I can probably offer you some further assistance.

Cheers ;-)

Sure thing, and thank you! I did actually just get the game to open and get into a family for about five minutes before it froze entirely. Task manager wouldn't open. Nothing. I had to shut the computer down manually and now I'm afraid to open it again.

=== Graphics device info ===
Number: 0
Name (driver): NVIDIA GeForce GTX 645
Name (database): NVIDIA GeForce GTX 645 [Found: 0, Matched: 1]
Vendor: NVIDIA
Chipset: Vendor: 10de, Device: 11c4, Board: 102910de, Chipset: 00a1

1. Open a windows explorer and go to the file GraphicsCards.sgr (C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin)
NOTE, you might need to make a copy of it and place it onto your desktop to be able to edit that file. If you aren't able to edit in that directory, do so.

2. Right Click on that file and choose "Open With....", select Notepad

3. (don't be shocked or feel overwhelmed by it when you see all that data in Notepad, we just going to make an extra line), Press CTRL+F (we are going to search for a similar entry), type in the prompt box: "GeForce GTX 6" without quotes

4. you'll be instantly moved (teleported ) to the selection of similar cards under GeForce GTX 6..., okay here comes the tricky part.
example:
card 0x0fd1 "GeForce GT 650M"
card 0x0fd2 "GeForce GT 640M"
card 0x0fd3 "GeForce GT 640M LE"
card 0x0fd4 "GeForce GTX 660M"

now select the row of one of the lines, copy it (CTRL+C) and place a new line right under it, say the GT 640M

Just like this:
card 0x0fd1 "GeForce GT 650M"
card 0x0fd2 "GeForce GT 640M"
card 0x0fd2 "GeForce GT 640M"
card 0x0fd3 "GeForce GT 640M LE"
card 0x0fd4 "GeForce GTX 660M"

Now change the details of that entry to your card

card 0x0fd1 "GeForce GT 650M"
card 0x0fd2 "GeForce GT 640M"
card 0x11c4 "GeForce GTX 645"
card 0x0fd3 "GeForce GT 640M LE"
card 0x0fd4 "GeForce GTX 660M"


Save the file and exit.

5. If the file is located outside your (C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin), move it back towards that directory and overwrite the existing file (Or rename the original to something like GraphicsCards.OLD)


You are done, that's all it takes. Start your game, let it load till the main menu, this will update your DeviceConfig.log directly. Open it up and see if it says Found 1 and Match 1.

Cheers ;-)

Hmmm just read your post about the game freezing up.

It might not be your Graphics Card though that's causing it, though it wouldn't harm the game if you updated that file. Are you playing with or without any mods installed?

When the game locks up (freeze), do you see the animations playing in the background (music notes, trees moving) but your Sim and the game clock is stuck? On what patch level are you on?

Only answer if it's still happening after you done the changes onto your GraphicsCards.sgr.

Ok progress report:
I've been in game for a few hours and it seems like updating the file fixed the problem. It was lagging at first but now that I've been playing for a while it seems like it's going to behave. Thank you!