Tutorial
Tutorial

Individually overwriting configuration files

Introduction

Patch 1.66 introduces a new folder in your user folder called ConfigOverride. This folder allows you to replace a few standard configuration files with your own and by doing so to overwrite the standard values. Up to now it was possible to do this in the installation folder but each time you repaired the game or patched, these changes were overwritten with the standard and you had to redo all changes.

Currently the following files are supported

Default.ini

This file contains several sections that can be changed. The section [PlumbBob] allows you to change the color of your Sims plumbobs however you like. I can’t give much info to most of the values in this file but I would recommend not touching the values in [Version]

This file needs to be updated with every patch cause of the [Version] section. If you don’t, the wrong version will show in your game.

GraphicsRules.sgr

This file contains many rules about the game options. I only recommend changing this when you know what you’re doing.

This file is probably adjusted with each patch that brings new options and possibly other instances.

GraphicsCards.sgr

This file is a database of supported and unsupported graphics cards. The game tries to detect the card on your computer and sets the settings according to the information in this file. For unsupported cards an error message is displayed as well as for cards that aren’t found in the file. If the card can’t be found, you’ll need to add it yourself.

This file gets outdated very fast and there are often missing entries as there’s a lot of graphics card models out there. Especially when new generations of graphics card are released it always takes a while until EA/Maxis has added them all to the file.

Changing this file is easy enough and it’s a major plus that you can now have the file tailored to your machine without fearing that a patch or repair removes all your changes.

This file is updated periodically by a patch.

You can also download an already updated file here: : [READ FIRST] Unrecognized video card (Google Drive Link)

Steps

The files need to initially edited first and checked after every patch.

Adjust files

If you want to edit one of these files individually, please follow these steps:

  • Make sure the game is closed.
  • Look for the file in your installation folder. On Windows all three can be found in The Sims 4\Game\Bin or The Sims 4\Game\Bin_LE if you’re using the legacy edition of the game.
  • Create a copy of the file you want to adjust to the following folder: Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4\ConfigOverride
  • Open the file with a text editor and make your adjustments. Save the file.
  • The game will use this new file the next time you start the game and not the one in the installation folder.

After each patch/repair

Patching and repairing the game overwrites the file in the installation folder and reset them to the standard version. This can be frustrating if the game starts malfunctioning again. With the new folder in documents the reset of the original file is no longer relevant since the version in that folder stays unchanged when patching/repairing and that’s the file the game is going to use.

Default.ini is probably updated with each patch to reflect the new version number. As I don’t know if there’s any bad side effects from having the wrong version number in that file, I would suggest redoing the changes on the new file with each patch.

GraphicsRules.sgr probably changes when there’s bigger patches that bring new options and on other instances, It’s best to take the new file and redo your adjustments as described above.

GraphicsCards.sgr is changed periodically to add the newest graphics cards. This isn’t really important for you though as you tailored the file to detect your card and that’s basically the only entry that’s important for you. You only need to adjust this file if you buy a new card or computer.

Revert to original file

If you want to go back to the standard file all you have to do is delete the file in your documents folder. After doing so, the game will look in the installation folder again.

If you have any issues with playing, it’s best to move the overriding file to the desktop and check if it works fine with the original in the installation folder.