HELP WITH SIMS 3 MAP VIEW ALL GREY

I just installed Sims 3 and the Ultimate Fix from your tutorial. Everythings works perfectly (Thanks guys!) except for one little problem. When I go into Map View in the game, everything is grey. I can see the icons but everything else, the stores and places on the map, are all grey and won't rez no matter how long I leave it. I updated my video drivers with Device Manager and it still won't work. I have Windows 8 Dev Preview 64 bit installed, The Sims 3 with the Ultimate Fix and ALL expansions and packs installed. (From Generations to Master Suite) My video drivers are Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM 1.1) I installed everything correctly as well, followed every step in your tutorial. My Sims 3 Version is 11.0.84.014001. Thanks for your help ! I posted some screenshots for you to see how it looks.

Here try this http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/intro.aspx if you pass i'm stumped! !!!~!!!!!!!!!!!~!!!

"OS
Minimum: Windows XP (Service Pack 2) or Windows Vista (Service Pack 1) or Windows 7
You Have: Microsoft (build 8102), 64-bit"

This makes no sense ! I've seen other people run The Sims 3 flawlessly with my OS. I passed every other part of the test :/

All my Graphic options are set at low, it won't let me set them any higher than that. I tried setting them higher and it won't stay like that after I restart the game. I was using the game fine until I installed the Ultimate Fix to add all the expansions. I had been using The Sims 3 Master Suite alone with no other expansions and it was working fine. After I installed every single expansion, it did this. I'm not using any mods at all, and I cannot tweak the Graphics settings on the game because nothing I do gets saved after restart. I lowered the screen resolution and it didn't work. My Graphics Card is fully supported according to Electronic Arts. Should I uninstall Pets ? Is that what's causing the problem ?

Hello,

Did you already try updating your graphic card to the latest version?

Yes I have, I used Device Manager to update my graphics drivers. It turns out I had an update due, but now my drivers are up to date and it still won't work.

Hello,

Don't update via Device Manager, but go to the manufacturer's website and download the update(s) manually!

I tried that. When I started the setup for the Intel Graphics Driver, it said my system did not meet the system requirements. I don't know if that was because of my OS which is newer or something. I'm stuck :/

japanezedann wrote:I tried that. When I started the setup for the Intel Graphics Driver, it said my system did not meet the system requirements. I don't know if that was because of my OS which is newer or something. I'm stuck :/

Hello,

Did you download the good version. I mean 32-bit and/or 64-bit versions.

Yes, I downloaded the 64-bit one. My computer is Windows 8 Dev Preview 64-bit so that would be the correct one in my knowledge. Other than that, I don't know what else I could have done wrong.

That's what I was thinking too, but the game was working before and I've seen some people get it up and running on Win8, which is why I was kind of skeptical about ti being an OS problem.

Hello,

Same as Lady ElDi, I don't think this game works on all Windows 8 PC's, since it's just a Developers Preview, not a full Operating System.

That still doesn't explain why the game was working perfectly fine before I added the Ultimate Fix.

Hi there,

I know this discussion is a couple of months old, but I have exactly the same problem. My neighbourhood screen also flickers grey and all I can see are the icons, and none of my options changes save either.

I got Windows 8 and installed Sims 3, Ambitions and Pets, and loaded my previous games from my last computer.

I was wondering if anyone found a solution to this?

Thanks!

I also had exactly the same problem when playing the game in Windows 8 64 bit.

Apparently I got a solution:
Right click at the "TS3W" icon (or the icon you usually click to play the game) and click at "Properties" -> "Compatiblity"
Then, mark the option "Run the program in compatibility mode for:" and select "Windows 7" (Windows XP worked for me as well)
Just save the changes and its done!!
I still have other major problems in the game, but at least running the game in compatibility mode solved both problems: the map view is now normal and the game saves all the Options changes.
Hope it can be helpful!

Hello,

While it seems weird to run a game originally made and sculpted around Windows 7, one of the developers Tweeted over six months ago (maybe even longer), that The Sims 3 is compatible with Windows 8.  Is that to say there won't be little glitches or errors?  Who knows.  However, I am running every expansion and stuff pack on my Windows 8.1 laptop right now with no weird graphical issues and little to no bugs.

The first thing I think of that may be the issue:  Does everyone with this problem have the most up to date version of the Ultimate Fix.  Within the .pdf file found inside the UltimateFix.rar, the .pdf should be dated 31-10-2013.  If it is not, your Ultimate Fix is outdated and using an outdated version leads to a whole slew of weird issues.  I've seen someone's game refuse to boot up without crashing, while the next person's game actually worked but the lag was so bad within game that the individual couldn't play.  It wouldn't surprise me if the 'grey town' is another new-found error/glitch deal that happens when you're running the game on something so outdated.

The only other issue I can see aside from the Ultimate Fix, is that video drivers need to be updated on the PC in question.  Actual hardware-driver updates are very rare to come by and usually you DON'T want to update them, otherwise you risk your issues becoming bigger issues.  You're better off pulling up the information panel of your dedicated graphics card and updating through there, if there are any update available.  Other than that, you seriously want to ensure that you're actually running the game on a DEDICATED graphics card, like mentioned above.  If you're simply running on integrated graphics, The Sims 3 can seriously mess your PC/Laptop up.  And who knows what other errors or problems will occur!

hello everyone,i have win8.1 and i installed the sims 3,i haved grey map but i fixed it,
1.Right click on thesims3.exe 
2.open properties
3.go in compability
4.run in compability mode and run as administrator

i hope that i help