Just like TS2, now I have problems with TS3 & 4. Yay.

Since the fix, I've been playing TS2 only, so, for a few months. Yesterday, I decided that I wanted to play TS3 again. Guess what? It crashed.
The launcher opened fine, and when I pressed play, the game sort of opened. The black screen before the maxis logo? It kept getting stuck there, and got itself to the task bar. According to task manager, the first time it did that, it was still running. But when I tried to open it from the task bar again, it stopped responding.

That is what happened, BEFORE I RAN THE PROGRAM IN COMPATIBILITY MODE.


After the compatibility troubleshoot, the game opened. But it is dark this time! I closed the game, reopened it, unchecking the compatibility box in properties, but it is still dark. I read on some forums that unchecking fixed it for people, I don't know why it doesn't for me.
In the troubleshoot, it said that the game was incompatible, and that compatibility mode ran it on an older version of Windows. I also do not know how that happened, I played TS3 for 2 years before the TS2 break and it never once said anything like that.

I tried to fix the problem first, by deleting tons of mods and cc, so I'm sure that the reason it didn't run wasn't the cc.
Thanks! And sorry for all the threads!


On left, cas camera (how bright it should be)
On right. printscreen shot (how bright it is)

The game is slow, but I do have a bit of cc. So yes, brightness is the only issue.
I forgot to write, I use windows 8. And I have tried running it with -w.
Being the non-tech person, deviceconfig? GPU's own software? Wut? I'm so sorry

Your DeviceConfig.log is located within your Documents\Electronics Arts\The Sims 3 -folder, right-click on that file then select "Open With..." choose Notepad. Select the content of whatever is inside of it and paste it in a reply within this thread.

GPU own software = your Graphics Card should have it's own software, such as NVidea or ATI Catalyst to adjust your graphics settings on your system. That is if you do have a dedicated Graphics Card installed, here's where the deviceconfig.log comes in handy.

Now, how to find where the gpu software is located? Program Files (x86)?

~just what I expected it to be~ You have an integrated/onboard Graphics Card that performs less then having a dedicated card, which really is stretching your system if you run the Sims 3 on it. In here; http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title...nboard_Graphics, you can find some tips how to deal with these type of cards.

I couldn't see the darkness problem on the page. Goddammit I hate that every single problem comes from the graphics card! I knew that it would be a proble whiiile gettig this laptop, just not THIS often.
So, no solution for this?

I was running it on fullscreen. The problem is, I didn't alt-tab it. The program half-crashed (I can't express it properly, sorry.)
So, the blackscreen, the game is running, after 2-3 mins, it just disappears. And I find it located in the task bar, not being able to reopen it properly. I click on it, it appears as a blackscreen for a few seconds, hen disappears again, to the task bar, not responding.





* On a scale from 1 to North Korea's Government, how bad is that? I read on the post you linked, that other running programs or not shutting down the computer may cause slow loading. I heard that Chrome takes up alot of RAM. I use chrome, and it is usually running in the background. I also shut it down whenever I'm done (just putting it out there)
** How do I do that? I really am sorry! I just don't know this stuff. Sorry if I seem like an idiot to you.

The windowed version without compatibility works! Ermergerd, yessss! BRIGHTNESS!

I don't know why it says Windows XP. Maybe compatibility mode does it? When I ran the troubleshoot, it said that windows would run the game on an older version. I thought it would be win 7, but guess not.
My graphics properties thing is same as yours, including the settings. Image below. (sorry for background niccage.)

Isn't nvumdshim.dll a Nvidia database file? The game only thinks it's using the Intel chip.

Well I am aware. Would doing something with it change anything for the better?

Lord already uses the Nividia GPU (or else his log would list igd... instead of nvumdshim). There are, however, a few things he cold do: add ts3w.exe in the Nvidia Device Control Panel, force Vsync and Triple Buffering and remove Sims 3 from the DEP exemption list (on my system the Intel chip only appeared in the DeviceConfig.log as long as the game was listed in dep).
Warning: your game settings might reset if you've followed the last step and the Launcher installation program will still think that you're using the Intel HD, so make sure you have a backup of your options.ini before you install any cc.

Damn, I sure do feel stupid next to you guys.
Please explain what those actions are and what effects they would cause like I am your 80 year old grandma who got her first laptop.
UPDATE ON THE GAME: Doesn't open at all (when -w)! I swear I didn't mod it any further. The fullscreen mode is still dark.

BTW: "Lord uses..." I should just skip pronouns and make people call me lord. lol

I'll just play it with -w. When I run it in fullscreen, on intel or nvidia, compatibility or not, windows xp or windows 7, it doesn't open. Only on xp, which is dark. Thanks anyways.

I have the same darkness problem. Without runnig compatibility -the colours are graet, but when I can no longer save option in the game, everything is on the lowest quality.
I dont know what to do?