I thought all motherboards came with onboard graphics these days; I hadn't been able to get one without it for years. It's possible they don't, as I don't actually *look* for such things when shopping.

In which case, we're totally set and fine. I'll double-check the manuals and such.

Thank you, and I'll post again if I find that I do have onboard graphics on either mobo.

--MiriCats

Hi! I have a problem with my notevook samsung that use Optimus technology. I have nvidia GeForce gt640m card plus intel 4000 integrated. I can play only with this one, because if I set to run sims3 with nvidia, I have same artifacts in game. I have this problem with all games I try to run wi nvidia card. Intel card works fine but sometimes it crashes and I don't understand why if I have a good graphic card as nvidia I'm obliged to use intel integrated card. I notice that the device configuration in documents/ea/thesims3 locates only one graphic card, the intel one (I can see found one, matched one and there are the intel informations). Can anybody help me?
Obviously I have driver updats, I have tried without cc and to reinstall game, all without results.

zaffo1989 did you follow the instructions at the start of this thread?

Yes, I do all the steps...

Please help me :-(

I have two Graphics cards- an Intel HG Graphics 4000 card and an NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M, that I run on my Mid 2012 15 inch Macbook Pro. Is there any way to get my macbook to use my NVIDIA card instead of the Intel card during gameplay? At the moment I am completely unable to even play my game on this laptop (despite the graphics cards+ and 8GB memory system), but I wonder if forcing the game to recognize the better card (i assume) during gameplay would help it be actually playable

Thank you SO MUCH Ingefaer for posting this. I have literally spent a week and a half tearing my hair out to find out why my new Alienware computer won't play the Sims 3 without crashing, freezing and giving me Error 12 messages. This was a total fix and my game runs like a dream now.

I have a laptop with both Intel and an AMD Radeon hd 7650m graphics card and I tried making my M&G High Preformance using Configure Switchable Graphics, I even tried the tutorial for making the game recognize my graphics card since it's apparently "unsupported" due to being relatively new and I also tried the above tutorial for changing the terrain in Graphics Rules and none of this seems to work. I hope I'm not too dumb or that my Sims game is beyond salvation. Also I deeply apologize if this is considered necromancy because I don't know where else to look

This is happening to me too (for Sims 2). I've managed (or at least I think I've managed) to add my 'unsupported because it's so new' graphics card to the Video Cards files and I've set my NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M as the default graphics card for the game but every time I look at my config log it tells me it's using Intel. It's like something happens in that split second between me clicking on the shortcut and the game actually starting.

It's driving me mad.

Woo!, I have managed to get my card working again. I found it completely on accident...

In BIOS settings of your computer (while booting, press ESC, F8 or F12), if you have switchable graphics, somewhere there should be an option of Fixed Mode and Dynamic Mode.

So far I've had my laptop set on Dynamic Mode - resulting in laptop never switching graphics cards, and leaving me stuck with the craptastic Intel one. The description for Dynamic says the system automatically determines which application will need which graphics card.

Fixed mode, on the other hand, says that it leaves it to the system environment on which card to use. (Example, if on battery, always run Intel etc.) By switching to this mode, when I booted up my Windows, under Screen Resolution > Advanced there was AMD card listed as in use, and not Intel anymore.

However, it's important to know that fixed mode is called fixed for a reason. In order to switch your graphics cards properly (while your computer is still in use), you should always close all programs before switching your graphics cards (whether using device manager, whether using card's driver) - and especially make sure that no graphics-demanding games/apps are running (examples are Sims games).

TL;DR - If OP's tutorial doesn't work, boot BIOS and switch to fixed mode. If in fixed mode, do not plug/unplug your laptop and do not change cards if running any apps.

do you have a laptop or a desktop? can you do this with a laptop?

Thank you so much....finally have sims working again!

OK, so here's an interesting conundrum:
I was looking around for a solution to a smaller glitch I'm having in my Sims 2 after getting a new Windows 8 computer.
I saw this and thought, hey this might help, and followed the steps. However, it seems simply "adding" my "Sims2EP9" to the Nvidia Control Planet threw the graphics completely in the trash :/
- Previously, I was able to set the games to the highest resolution (So I'm assuming my Laptop is using the proper graphics card already, though I don't know how to be sure..?)
But after adding the game to the 3D settings, the only option I had in the game was 800x600 - no matter which card I set it to use! o.O
The only way to solve it was to remove the game from the panel, and now I'm back to 1600x900, though still struggling with my original problem.

- Does anyone know what the issue is there though?? It makes no sense to me, but I'm not SUPER skilled with computers...
(This is my first laptop with a nice graphics card, and I just naively assumed that the computer would automatically use the better card ^^; )

This does not pertain to NVIDIA users, so do not attempt anything in this message.

This is a good thread, but doesn't address users with Switchable graphics with AMD. I thought I would share something that is a bit interesting and a tip for those HP users with the darn AMD switchable graphics (such as myself).

There are two types of switchable graphics to know about.

Dynamic switching (muxless) and Fixed switching (muxed).


The reason why trying to set the AMD graphics card to play a game, and not experiencing different results is because (in some cases) the computer is set to use the Intel card first. In most of the HP Pavilion cases, the drivers offered by the website are outdated, but there is one solution to be able to use the AMD card all of the time.

You must go into BIOS and switch to dynamic.

Instructions can be found by HP here.

I'm not responsible for alterations that may damage your computer! If you follow the guide correctly, no damage should be done, but use caution, as always.

NOTE: This sets the AMD card as the default (there may be some settings to tweak in the AMD Catalyst Control Center, I don't quite remember at the moment).

There are some other fixes and methods after this one which could be risky, but also could help improve your performance if you know what you're doing.

There are modded drivers for switchable graphics, specifically made for the Intel and AMD switches, and more specifically for the HP Pavilion series.

This could be very risky, and as a result I will not list any websites with this. Truly, search and find at your own risk.

For some reason I don't have that option in the Nvidia CP. I have a GTX 550 Ti and an i5-661.

My lap top needs to be reset to run the sims with the graphics card instead of the integrated graphics every time I launch the game. If I boot from the battery or are running on battery power at any time, the graphic choice resets. I set it every time I launch the game to be sure it runs on the right setting.

Hm, I have done this for sims 2 ultimate collection, which makes the neighbourhood graphics look good and all, however, it sets the resolution to 800x600 which annoys me - also the graphics is still bad in CAS/sims, on lots and in 'hood view at the house edges. I'm starting to give up. Damn you technology for outgrowing sims 2

EDIT: After using this guide: http://simsvip.com/2014/07/20/the-s...solution-guide/ and this guide: http://simsvip.com/2014/07/20/the-s...-black-squares/ it now works! *cheers*
Now the only problem is that it is way to small

Thank you for this sticky. After installing Sims 3 to my new computer, this thread verified that I was heading in the correct direction to solving some of my lag issues.

I'm trying to get the Sims 2 to stop using the integrated gpu. It works when the game is full screen but when I try to play in windowed mode, I get the E_INVALIDARG error. Any idea what to do next?

I'm having this exact same problem. I run windowed mode from a shortcut on my desktop, and that shortcut doesn't seem to communicate with the NVidia.