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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 7th May 2013 at 7:56 PM Last edited by RawrFizz : 5th May 2014 at 2:01 AM.

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 3, Ambitions, Late Night, Generations, Pets, Supernatural, Seasons
Default SIMS 3 Super Dark/Dim on Windows 8
Whenever I start up the sims (Not alt+tabing, it's like this on start-up!), the screen is super dark/dim. It's very annoying. Day time looks like night time! Yes, I've looked around the forums and disabling igfxpers.exe does NOTHING for me. DOES NOT FIX THE PROBLEM. Nothing seems too. I have windows 8 with an AMD Radeon 6700 series card, as well as on-board intel HD graphics. There is no option in my catalyst control center to adjust 3D game colors/brightness. The most annoying part is the SIMS 3 ran fine (not too dark) on my old VISTA with the EXACT SAME AMD CARD. I thought disabling the on-board graphics would help but nada, still dark. So...How can I fix this?


::5/4/14 EDIT:: AFTER NEARLY A YEAR I HAVE FINALLY SOLVED THE DARK FULLSCREEN ISSUE. It was so simple, too. I was running the game in compatibility mode. Simply turning OFF compatibility mode has corrected the brightness when in fullscreen.Hopefully this answer will help others as well! I AM SO GLAD TO HAVE FULLSCREEN BACK FINALLY.
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Test Subject
#2 Old 10th May 2013 at 9:52 PM
Quote: Originally posted by RawrFizz
Whenever I start up the sims (Not alt+tabing, it's like this on start-up!), the screen is super dark/dim. It's very annoying. Day time looks like night time! Yes, I've looked around the forums and disabling igfxpers.exe does NOTHING for me. DOES NOT FIX THE PROBLEM. Nothing seems too. I have windows 8 with an AMD Radeon 6700 series card, as well as on-board intel HD graphics. There is no option in my catalyst control center to adjust 3D game colors/brightness. The most annoying part is the SIMS 3 ran fine (not too dark) on my old VISTA with the EXACT SAME AMD CARD. I thought disabling the on-board graphics would help but nada, still dark. So...How can I fix this?


I experience this too, I have a GT650M GPU aloingside an HD4000 and I'm also on Win8, I hope there's a solution.
Mad Poster
#3 Old 11th May 2013 at 5:33 AM
Are you certain your system is actually using the proper graphic card while you're playing the game? Have you read this thread
Test Subject
Original Poster
#4 Old 12th May 2013 at 8:17 PM
Quote: Originally posted by werismyki
Are you certain your system is actually using the proper graphic card while you're playing the game? Have you read this thread


Well, I disabled the on board graphics. So I'm not sure how in the world it could be using that instead of my AMD. Not to mention when I check under "screen resolution" it shows my AMD card is the one running with my system.

Checking through the tutorial, my deviceconfig.log shows:

=== Rating info ===
GPU: 5 GPU Memory: 1 CPU: 3 RAM: 4 CPU Speed: 2994 Threading: 3
Adjusted CPU: 3592 RAM: 8066 Adjusted RAM: 7554 Cores: 4
=== Graphics device info ===
Number: 0
Name (driver): AMD Radeon HD 6700 Series
Name (database): AMD Radeon HD 6700 Series [Found: 1, Matched: 1]
Vendor: ATI
Chipset: Vendor: 1002, Device: 68bf, Board: 31401682, Chipset: 0000
Driver: aticfx32.dll, Version: 8.17.10.1191, GUID: D7B71EE2-2BFF-11CF-9571-4A11BEC2C535
Driver version: 1191
Monitor: \\.\DISPLAY2
Texture memory: 32MB <<OVERRIDE>>
Vertex program: 3.0
Pixel program: 3.0
Hardware TnL: 1


So I guess it sees and is using my graphics card. Game graphics look FINE (although a little smushed) in windowed mode. It's only when it's full screen that the screen is super dark.
In the Arena
retired moderator
#5 Old 13th May 2013 at 5:44 PM
How did you disable the onboard graphics? In Hardware, via BIOS? Or in Software, via device drivers or some other program?
Is the igxper.exe (or something like that) still running in the background on System Startup? Or has that been disabled, too?

Since you have your own thread, lets keep all posts in one place, shall we? So we don't have to go back and forth...
To answer your question in the Q&A thread: technically, going by its specs the 6700 is not an Uber-calibre card. EA needs to start differentiating them now that more high-level and mid-range ones are available. You might want to edit the Uber's section to replace
Quote:
or match("${cardName}", "*HD 6??0*")
with
Quote:
or match("${cardName}", "*HD 69?0*") or match("${cardName}", "*HD 68?0*")
and then add the following to the next level down, is it the Mid section below Uber?
Quote:
or match("${cardName}", "*HD 67?0*")


Have you also seen this thread in our Computer Tech Section: Guide: Two Graphics Cards? How to make Sims stop using the integrated one. ?
Test Subject
Original Poster
#6 Old 14th May 2013 at 3:34 PM
I disabled the onboard graphics through device manager. I also disabled any startups related to intel graphics including igfxpers.exe and I have verified they are not running in task manager. Not an Uber card but EA see's it as one? That might explain why my old PC died. I'll try changing those lines, then.
In the Arena
retired moderator
#7 Old 15th May 2013 at 4:21 AM
No, EA does not sees it as an Uber card. It is just due to EA's slow response to update the .sgr files.

And how the GPU manufacturers roll out new products.
They generally create the most Uber of the Ubers model first - like AMD's x99x (current generation being HD 7990) and Nvidia's x90 (current generation being GTX 690 & the new GTX Titan); and then they disable this chip and that to make the other "lower" models and start releasing those down the pipe. So, EA added the "*HD 6??0*" line to cover the new 6990 at that time (albeit months and months ago), they just have not updated that file to include more models as newer ones come up in the retail space.

Which is what my Q&A and wiki article on this was designed to be - a method for us to bridge the gap until EA does update the files.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#8 Old 16th May 2013 at 12:37 AM
Oh! I see. I'm just confused because the same graphics card (in my old computer) EA rated with higher scores than it is now (in my new PC). I guess I just don't know what's going on anymore. You said to add "or match("${cardName}", "*HD 67?0*") " to the line below Uber, but the line below Uber is high. So do I want to place my card in High or Medium? (I have it placed in high right now) Also still having my dark screen issue, which is driving me crazy! Blarg.
Test Subject
#9 Old 22nd May 2015 at 2:08 PM
Ummmm... can someone help me...? I have the dark screen to it's so annoying! I tried disabling igfxpers.exe nothing!!!! I even turned off compatibility mode nothing D: What can I do!!? help D:
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