Copy all the resolution settings for the setting $High to the $Low, $MediumButDefaultLow, and $Medium, so it looks similar to the following:Ĭlose the file and save it. If for some reason Notepad is still not listed, you may browse for it at C:\Windows or C:\Windows\System32.Īfter opening Graphics Rules, search for the following: If Notepad is listed, select it otherwise, select “Choose default program” and choose Notepad under Recommended Programs or Other Programs. To enable this, right click on the file and select “Open with” from the menu. Usually, you are unable to open it because the file is not associated with any of your programs. Next, copy that file as a backup: Either copy and save it to a different location (like your desktop) or copy and rename it to something else like “Graphics Rules.bak”. My latest expansion pack is EP9 (Mansion & Gardens), so its default location is: C:\Program Files (x86)\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Mansion and Garden Stuff\TSData\Res\Config. Then search for “Graphics Rules” for your latest expansion pack in the Program Files folder. To permit for other resolution options, additional modifications to a game graphic file is required.įirst, determine your latest expansion pack (the expansion required to run your game). When I did this, the game defaulted to offering only a screen size of 800×600. This option may or may not be available depending on your graphics setup. My laptop has an NVIDIA discrete graphics card, so I selected NVIDIA Control Panel in Control Panel and ensured my latest expansion pack (Mansion & Garden, EP9) would use discrete graphics. If this is so, change the graphics option to discrete in Control Panel. Selecting the integrated graphics often causes the water to look “blocky” and not have any reflections (if reflections are selected) in Neighborhood View. Integrated graphics tends to be more inferior than discrete graphics. Some computers give you the option of using an integrated (built-in) graphics chip or a discrete (separately installed) graphics card.
The game looks much better now at full resolution on my laptop ! Save and exit and then start the game to see if it works. Copy the medium settings and paste them over the low settings to allow the game to start at 1024×768 resolution or better. You will see settings for Low, Medium, and High. Now edit the original file and find the section: … and make a copy of it under a different name as a backup (something like Graphics ) I tried another search in Google last night and found a suggestion on a discussion forum.Ĭ:/Program Files/EA GAMES/The Sims 2/TSData/Res/Config/Graphics Rules.sgr The EA Games support site didn’t have much useful information on it, I tried the command line options that allow you override the defaults, but it didn’t make a difference. My laptop has a native resolution of 1024×768, so it would be much better to run the game at that level. I recently bought a copy of The Sims 2 but when I installed it, I found it was stuck at a resolution of 800×600, and I couldn’t get it to run any higher.