Video card sims 3

aimee16

i tried 2 install the sims3 on my computer today only to discover that my video card does not support pixel shader 2.0 which is required to play the game. Do i need to purchase a new video card or can i download some sort of software update?

Phantom_Flan_Flinger

Can you tell us the make/model of your video card?

-TangleFoot-

Pixel shaders are a hardware feature, and as such cannot be retroactively added. If you provide your system specifications, I have no doubt that someone here will be able to tell you whether you need a new video card, or a new PC.

As of 2008, there are still a large number of users with low end PCs. Software tweaks, such as SwiftShader, swShader and 3D-analyze, can sometimes be used as a workaround for games requiring pixel shaders. However, this often renders games unplayable. Forcing such games to run on unsupported cards usually results in unrendered textures and lighting, as well as poor performance. Additionally, many online anti-cheat systems (such as Punkbuster) perform file and memory scans to ensure that game files have not been modified. As a result, those who attempt to play online using such workarounds may be unable to play, and in a worst case scenario, may in fact have their account/CD-key banned.

mr_vampy

As listed on the official Sims 3 website, here are the supported video cards.....

Supported Video Cards

NVIDIA GeForce series
FX 5900, FX 5950
6200, 6500, 6600, 6800,
7200, 7300, 7600, 7800, 7900, 7950
8400, 8500, 8600, 8800
9600, 9800, GTX 260, GTX 280

ATI Radeon™ series
9500, 9600, 9800
X300, X600, X700, X800, X850
X1300, X1600, X1800, X1900, X1950
2400, 2600, 2900
3450, 3650, 3850, 3870,
4850, 4870

Intel® Extreme Graphics
GMA X3x00 series

Laptop versions of these chipsets may work, but may run comparatively slower. Standalone cards that are installed in vanilla PCI slots (not PCIe or PCIx or AGP), such as some GeForce FX variants, will perform poorly. Intel integrated chipsets featuring underclocked parts will not perform adequately.

Integrated chipsets such as the ATI Xpress and the NVIDIA TurboCache variants will have low settings selected, but should run satisfactorily.

The NVIDIA GeForce FX series is unsupported under Vista.
Note: Attempting to play the game using video hardware that isn't listed above may result in reduced performance, graphical issues or cause the game to not run at all.

mr_vampy

Forgot to ask, what is the spec of your computer?

aimee16

Aparantly you can see what video card you have under display adapters, i have;

Intel(R) 82852/82855 GM/GME Graphics Controller (on this laptop)

NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 (on my computer)

I tried to install the game on both but was told
'Your video card does not appear to support at least shader model2. Please upgrade your card'

savemoney

You need a new video card on board graphics wont work we have covered this subject on these forums before with same problem

The Ti4200 wont either had the exact same problem with my daughters pc she had that card. She got a new pc with pcie graphics slot and then upgraded to a Nvidia 9xxx series

There is a patch available now but I doubt it will fix this issue

http://www.actiontrip.com/rei/comments_news.phtml?id=062709_2

superscaper

Wow geforce 4!! That's really old in graphics card terms. In my old desktop I've got "next gen" graphic card to yours and I wouldn't dream of trying any game from the last couple of years on it. Really needs to be updated but the big problem is going to be finding compatible graphics card. Most nowadays are PCI Express slot and yours is bound to be AGP which isn't really manufactured for any more. May be worth looking on eBay (although that has its own risks with 2nd hand hardware).

At some point it's going to become bad economics, putting money into upgrading an ancient PC where you can't even use the newer hardware in a new PC.

savemoney

You can still get pci and agp cards but most wont be up to date in terms of speed/features and they do tend to be more expensive than pcie cards with similar spec