Fixing Isla Paradiso's Lag for Mac (uses Mods and replaces the world itself)

AprilAwesome

Okay, so I've spent a few days researching this and I'm typing it up now because it took a lot of separate forums to find the path that would fix it for Macs.

I have a MacBook Pro and I was experiencing super awful lag with Island Paradise, something like every minute or so I would hit a bump. It was so frustrating I did some Googling and broke down and talked to EA's Help. Three times. Or was it four? Anyways, this post is mainly for my brother since I'm across an ocean, but I hope you, brave Googler, find this helpful, too.

I can't post links yet, but hopefully ye are clever people and can figure it out.

I'm also running this based on the assumption that you currently don't have any saved games you particularly care about. If you do, you should back those babies up, just in case.

<3 April

AprilAwesome

Step 1:
Get UnRarX for Mac
http://www.unrarx.com/
It's a really handy unzipping tool that's going to be important in Step 4. If you already have an expander, awesome. Don't mind me.

Step 2:
Download all eight files from ellacharmed's world fix
http://modthesims.info/d/514909
This is the world replacement and there are some more steps involved in replacing it. I'll try to do screenshots. B)
Also, you'll need to sign up for Mod the Sims, but there are a lot of great resources there for people who want to customise their games, so I'm not really sure why you haven't done it yet. ;)

Step 3:
Remove the MTS_ellacharmed_[numbers]_ prefix from all eight files or Step 4 will be impossible.
Go from this:
https://38.media.tumblr.com/7b9be56a5c2ccafdd2da5caac612c02d/tumblr_nd2jx3TpzJ1qbr5edo2_250.jpg
To this:
https://38.media.tumblr.com/7b9be56a5c2ccafdd2da5caac612c02d/tumblr_nd2jx3TpzJ1qbr5edo2_250.jpg

Step 4:
Right-click IslaParadiso. part01. rar -> Open with... -> UnRarX
If you did it right, the files should un-zip or whatever into the folder they're currently in. You'll end up with a file that is IslaParadiso.world
(If you get an error, you probably didn't get rid of all the prefixes, that's what I messed up the first time.)

Step 5:
Open a new Finder Window
Go to:
Applications -> The Sims 3 -> Right-click theSims3.app -> Show Package Contents -> Contents -> Resources -> transgaming -> c_drive -> Program Files -> Electronic Arts -> Island Paradise -> Game Data -> Shared -> NonPackaged -> Worlds

Step 6:
Back it up, back it up, you got it, you got it
No, seriously, change that file name to something like IslaParadiso.world.orig so it won't conflict with what we're going to do next. The computer will ask if you're sure. The answer is yes.

Step 7:
Click and drag the IslaParadiso.world from the folder you extracted it to into this folder
There should now be TWO files in this folder, IslaParadiso.world (the one you just moved) and IslaParadiso.world.orig

Step 8:
Good news! That was, to me, the complicated part. This step is to go make yourself some tea or something and rejoice.

AprilAwesome

Step 9:
Make sure your game is up-to-date. It'll just make things a lot easier.
If you don't know how to do this then uh....?
But seriously, you can do it in the launcher. If you don't know how, the next link will help you out. :D

Step 10:
Mod time.
[ modthesims. info/wiki.php?title=Sims_3:Installing_Package_Files ]
This will put the right folders in the right place with the right components to help you add custom content to your game.

Step 11:
Download these mods and put them in the packages folder:
Twallan's Overwatch
--Checks for errors for you (things like sims who got stuck, cars that never returned home, etc. these things cause major lag) and fixes them
Twallan's Traveler
--Does lots of things I'm not really sure about but you'll need it for Step 12

Step 12:
This is the part where you'll need to launch your game, so it's a good idea to write this next bit down or something.
Launch the game, start a new game with Isla Paradiso as the world. Don't build any sims or anything.

Step 13:
Click the three dots for the Sims menu and go to Edit Town

Step 14:
Move every. single. family. out of the houseboats and onto land. They keep junking things up, yo.

Step 15:
Click each of the house boats and change the lot type to "Owned" or something like that. It's in the Residential type and it isn't normal and it isn't Apartment.
If you want to live in one of the houseboats, you'll have to change it back, but this makes it so Sims you don't control don't live in the house boats and junk it all up.

Step 16:
Save the game as something like "Island Paradise Base" and return to the main menu.

Step 17:
Make a copy of the game you just saved and save it as whatever you want this family's save to be. That way, if you decide to make a new family in a different save, the "Island Paradise Base" is still in the main menu.

Step If You Have the Pets Expansion Pack:
Go to options and disable horses. They really just are tooo big for the islands.
EDIT: Apparently this doesn't fix the horses, but thanks to @tamalinn for helping out with that. :D
> @tamalinn said:
>I found wild horses spawning randomly, too, even with horses turned off. If you use Twallan's Register mod, using the Animal Control setting, you can set the number of wild horses, stray dogs, stray cats, deer, raccoons, and unicorns you want in the game. That actually WILL turn the wild horses off. My computer is too low end to really run the game, so I have to use it to turn off all the wild animals and strays.

Please note:
This might not fix it for you, I'm so sorry. But this is what I found to work for me and I hope it works for you. If I think of something I missed, I'll comment and let you know, but I hope this helps!

Munchy

Hi there!

Thank you so much for putting this up! I am having problems with Island Paradise as well and have been avoiding going back to my game because of it.

I have pretty much done everything up till Step 11 yesterday but I'm still having problems with it. I will definitely try out the rest of the steps soon and I will let you know how it goes!

Anyway, thanks again! You're a (*)

Tremayne4260

Yup, I've told people in the past to get EllaCharmed worlds to fix the lag. I use her Isla Paradiso and have very little to no lag. Also, I turn off all in game notices, the store, disable memories and lots of other things which also reduces lag.

Munchy

Hey! I just did the rest of the steps and it worked! No more lag!

Thank you once again!

tamalinn

Thanks! Also, if you have Twallan's Story Progression installed, after you move all the premade sims out of the houseboats, you can turn off story progression for them. This will also keep families from moving into the houseboats, except for yours, if you want your family to move in. I actually do this a lot if I spend a lot of time building a really nice house, my sims can finally afford it, and I discover that some sneaky premade family moved in while I wasn't looking. Grr. Haha

Munchy

Hi @tamalinn,

I don't have the Story Progression mod installed because to be honest, I don't really know what it does? :P

Also, isn't that what step15 is for? I thought it was to prevent the NPCs from moving into any lots that you set to as 'Owned'. Am I wrong about that? :O


[Edit]: I just want to add that I have also disabled horse in my game, as suggested but I have found a group of wild horse gathered at the beach last night? What's up with that!

tamalinn

Hi! The best way that I can describe Nraas' Story Progression is that it makes the game make sense. The way EA story progression works is that all the sims in the world kinda do whatever. Nraas' Story Progression makes them do things according to their personalities and interests. And that's at the bare minimum. You can set it to do more and more things, giving you greater control over your town. If you want only teenagers to be able to do a certain thing, you can set that. If you want only vampires to not be able to do a thing, you can set that. There are great tutorials on youtube for the most basic settings on it, and the Nraas forums are very helpful, too.

I think your Step 15 is the same thing I was saying? I didn't mean to imply that you should use Story Progression instead of changing the lot type. I just meant that it's another way of doing your Step 15. And I found wild horses spawning randomly, too, even with horses turned off. If you use Twallan's Register mod, using the Animal Control setting, you can set the number of wild horses, stray dogs, stray cats, deer, raccoons, and unicorns you want in the game. That actually WILL turn the wild horses off. My computer is too low end to really run the game, so I have to use it to turn off all the wild animals and strays.

AprilAwesome

I'm glad this was helpful for someone! I mainly posted it so I could link it to my brother, but I decided to put it on here since I had so much trouble finding a way to fix it for my Mac. A lot of the suggestions were for PC.

I did notice a bit later that the wild horses were still showing up (what dorks!) and getting stuck on the beaches, but I found that Overwatch would fix them back up at night, so it wasn't a noticeable problem for me.

Story Progression is probably an easier way to keep the people from moving into houseboats, but its functions confused the bajeesus out of me, so I went with step 15, haha.

AprilAwesome

Once I have the right rank to add links, I'll add links to the appropriate steps to make it easier. :/