FPS? «12...Next Go

thesimmer14

I'm pretty sure the reason my fairly new (not over a year old yet) MSI Apache Pro laptop overheats when playing TS3 is due to the FPS I'm clocking in.

Even with VSYNC and play sessions in full screen mode, I still can't seem to shake off the heat. Or the FPS that's usually over 150.

So, I'm looking for alternate ways to limit the FPS of my game.

InfraGreen

Following thread because this is such a problem for me too. I recently got a GeForce 1060 and haven't run TS3 on it yet but the framerate may have helped kill my old Radeon 280 and VSYNC was useless.

SimplyJen

I'm going to assume you have a Nvidia graphics card from the brief search I made but correct me if I'm wrong. I also see a MSI Apache Pro model with a 120Hz refresh rate. The goal is to cap frame rate at your screens refresh rate. Double check what yours is....

• Windows search Display Settings
• Advanced Display Settings
• Display adapter properties
• Click the Monitor tab

You should see your monitors refresh rate.

Instructions for Nvidia Control Panel already installed on your computer if you have a Nvidia graphics card. Try this first...

right-click desktop Nvidia Control Panel

This method requires fullscreen mode in order to work.

If you already tried control panel and it didn't work, try Nvidia Inspector.

Download & Install Nvidia Inspector

Look for the small tool icon or green symbol next to Driver Version. Click to launch Nvidia Profile Inspector.

Select Profiles at the top and scroll through the long list to find Sims 3.

Under Sync and Refresh, select Vertical Sync > Force On
In windowed mode you may have to add an additional setting. Frame Rate Limiter > 60 fps *This number should reflect your own refresh rate so be sure to double check what yours is.

Windows search > Display Settings > Advanced display settings > Display adapter properties > Monitor > (here you will see refresh rate for your screen)

Apply Changes top right corner.

Track track FPS in-game with the cheat fps on. Small text will appear in the corner and it should be capped at whatever your screens refresh rate is. Frame drops are normal but the goal is to not go over that number. Nvidia Inspector does not require fullscreen mode but if the frames aren't capping, you can try the additional setting under Sync and Refresh setting Frame Rate Limiter to whatever your screens refresh rate is.

igazor may have other options for AMD.

igazor

For AMD cards, I would recommend RivaTuner Stats Server (RTSS) if the built-in AMD tools aren't working.

One thing I would add on these new(er) computers, if with Nvidia cards often they come with GeForce Experience already installed. Unless you really need it for something else, I would get rid of it. All it does for TS3 is mess everything up and it can actually get in the way of successful fps capping from all that we have heard.

SimplyJen

igazor wrote: »

For AMD cards, I would recommend RivaTuner Stats Server (RTSS) if the built-in AMD tools aren't working.

One thing I would add on these new(er) computers, if with Nvidia cards often they come with GeForce Experience already installed. Unless you really need it for something else, I would get rid of it. All it does for TS3 is mess everything up and it can actually get in the way of successful fps capping from all that we have heard.

In my experience, GeForce Experience doesn't interfere with a game until you tell it to optimize. It's wise to take caution when optimizing older games because it can cause problems. The optimization feature works better with newer games.

igazor

Simasaurus09 wrote: »

In my experience, GeForce Experience doesn't interfere with a game until you tell it to optimize. It's wise to take caution when optimizing older games because it can cause problems. The optimization feature works better with newer games.

Thanks for clarifying that. I thought there were other issues involved, but since I only have AMD myself I haven't lived through the "Experience" yet first hand.

SimplyJen

igazor wrote: »

Simasaurus09 wrote: »

In my experience, GeForce Experience doesn't interfere with a game until you tell it to optimize. It's wise to take caution when optimizing older games because it can cause problems. The optimization feature works better with newer games.

Thanks for clarifying that. I thought there were other issues involved, but since I only have AMD myself I haven't lived through the "Experience" yet first hand.

If it was automatic that would be very annoying.

Odonata68

I have GeForce Experience on my computer too. The optimization option never seemed to work for me as I would have to adjust in game anyway after an update to the driver. I doesn't seem to affect my game either. There is an option where you can start the game through GeForce Experience so maybe that's where it causes issues. I've never used that option myself.

Namaya92

I use Nvidia Inspector to cap my FPS (since I always play windowed mode)

monjr8302

I'm a little slow as to what FPS is & what it does to your computer or game. Can someone please help me? I know how to access NVIDIA & what change, but IDK what or why I need to.

SimplyJen

monjr8302 wrote: »

I'm a little slow as to what FPS is & what it does to your computer or game. Can someone please help me? I know how to access NVIDIA & what change, but IDK what or why I need to.

FPS (Frames Per Second) is the frequency rate at which consecutive images called frames are displayed in an animated display.

V-Sync (Vertical Sync) synchronizes the frame rate of the game with the monitor refresh rate for better stability... The average refresh rate is 60 Hz but if you're not sure, double-check...

• Windows search Display Settings
• Advanced Display Settings
• Display adapter properties
• Click the Monitor tab

You should see your monitors refresh rate.

Without v-sync, the user may experience screen tearing, input lag, and even higher tempatures.

TreyNutz

monjr8302 wrote: »

I'm a little slow as to what FPS is & what it does to your computer or game. Can someone please help me? I know how to access NVIDIA & what change, but IDK what or why I need to.

FPS stands for "frames per second." It's a measure of how many frames (still images) the game is generating on your computer to send to your monitor. A high fps of still images gives the illusion of motion. Think of playing a computer game like watching a movie. A movie (on film) has frames (still images) on the filmstrip and shows them at 24 fps, at least in theaters. The fps generated by a game depends on the game, your hardware specs, load running on the computer, etc.

The Sims 3 doesn't have a built in limiter on generating frames, so on fast hardware it can generate 100s of frame per second which can overheat a graphics card and actually lower game performance. (I see laggy performance when exploring tombs in WA worlds if I don't cap my fps.) The recommendation is to limit your fps to your monitor's native refresh rate, which for most LCDs is 60, although newer ones can be higher. This can be done by enabling vsync if you play in fullscreen, or by using Nvidia Inspector to set Nividia's built in frame rate limiter for the game to your monitor's refresh rate.

igazor

Just to add to the above, it's easy to check the actual frame rates you are getting in-game. Ctrl+shift+C to bring up the cheats console and type fps on (enter). As you play and move the game camera around, the value displayed in the little circle should never rise above the refresh rate of your monitor. So if that's 60 Hz, then 60 fps. To make the display go away, cheats console again and fps off (enter).

Note that the Nvidia Control Panel's version of vsync, when it does work, can only be expected to do so in full screen mode. If you require windowed mode or if it doesn't lock things in at all, then the next usual tool to try would be Nvidia Inspector. There are equivalent tools available for those with AMD cards.

The surplus frame rates above which you monitor cannot interpret, if you are getting them, add nothing at all to the quality of the gameplay. They are the equivalent of digital noise. In addition to crashing, lag, graphics glitches, and screen tears, a wildly high and constantly fluctuating too-high fps rate can cause the graphics card to burn out over time, and can potentially take the system board with it thus rendering the computer totally useless. It's a pretty important thing to address and make sure it stays fixed.

TS3 does not have a built-in fps limiter like more modern games (even TS4) do because in 2009 and prior when the game was still being designed, most graphics cards on the market wouldn't have been capable of generating all the excess fps even if they wanted to. Maybe it was envisioned that those who owned high-end cards at the time, like an Nvidia GTX 280, would hopefully know enough to take the steps required to tame it properly on their own. The market has since then, of course, moved forward quite a lot.

monjr8302

Thank you! I have since changed my default NVIDIA Vsync to on instead of default. I also keep the fps on in my game just to see. So far, it never goes above 50!!

cleo00

igazor wrote: »

In addition to crashing, lag, graphics glitches, and screen tears, a wildly high and constantly fluctuating too-high fps rate can cause the graphics card to burn out over time, and can potentially take the system board with it thus rendering the computer totally useless. It's a pretty important thing to address and make sure it stays fixed.

Hmm I wonder if that's what happened to my old laptop. One day it just wouldnt turn on and after taking it to Best Buy's Geek Squad it was determined the system board had kerplunked. The hard drive was fine so I didnt lose anything...except $1900 for a kick butt gaming laptop
All I ever used that old one for was sims and college papers. It was only about 4 years old at the time. So I betcha TS3 killed it!

igazor

cleo00 wrote: »

Hmm I wonder if that's what happened to my old laptop. One day it just wouldnt turn on and after taking it to Best Buy's Geek Squad it was determined the system board had kerplunked. The hard drive was fine so I didnt lose anything...except $1900 for a kick butt gaming laptop
All I ever used that old one for was sims and college papers. It was only about 4 years old at the time. So I betcha TS3 killed it!

Possibly, but system boards can fail for other reasons too. If your older laptop didn't have a dedicated graphics card capable of generating wildly high frame rates, or didn't have a dedicated card at all, then it wouldn't be exactly this issue. But certainly forcing a game to run on hardware that it just wasn't designed to run can shorten its life span considerably.

cleo00

igazor wrote: »

cleo00 wrote: »

Hmm I wonder if that's what happened to my old laptop. One day it just wouldnt turn on and after taking it to Best Buy's Geek Squad it was determined the system board had kerplunked. The hard drive was fine so I didnt lose anything...except $1900 for a kick butt gaming laptop
All I ever used that old one for was sims and college papers. It was only about 4 years old at the time. So I betcha TS3 killed it!

Possibly, but system boards can fail for other reasons too. If your older laptop didn't have a dedicated graphics card capable of generating wildly high frame rates, or didn't have a dedicated card at all, then it wouldn't be exactly this issue. But certainly forcing a game to run on hardware that it just wasn't designed to run can shorten its life span considerably.

Yeah, I know it couldve been many different reasons, but I sort of like the idea of saying I play sims so much it killed my computer I mean, I do. But that old laptop is/was my proof

ShojoDagger

So, I learned something from this thread!
I thought I had my framerate limited, but I play in windowed mode, & didn't realize that Nvidia's control panel thing didn't work on windowed games. I checked my actual FPS &...

I did some reading on Nvidia Inspector & also learned about MSI Afterburner & RivaTuner Statistics Server which are supposed to work with any graphics card.
Some of the pages I read about Inspector said that it didn't work in windowed mode. (IDK personally, that might have been for an older version than the current one)
So I decided to try Afterburner & RTSS instead.

RTSS worked for me (HP laptop with Windows 10, 64 bit & NVIDIA Quadro K2100M) & has a less complex interface than Inspector.

Just tick the box up to your desired FPS limit, the "Show On-Screen Display" & "Start with Windows" settings are optionals.

The MSI installer gives you a choice whether to install Afterburner, RTSS, or both. I chose both, but RTSS should work by itself if you don't want/need Afterburner (which is actually mainly for overclockers).

The only hitch with RTSS is that it has to be running [in the background] while you have your game on to work, it doesn't apply a permanent setting to your PC. But it's very light on resources & shouldn't cause performance impact.

So now I have my FPS under control, & the game is less laggy. The "peak" temp is about the same, but it reaches that peak much less often & the "valley" temp with the game on is significantly cooler.

igazor

@ShojoDagger - Whether Nvidia Inspector or RTSS has a more intuitive interface is a matter of opinion, I think all of these tools are not very user-friendly in the beginning. But I have to use RTSS myself and agree that it does a fine job in both windowed and full screen modes, even on stubborn or difficult to work with cards like the yours (the Quadro series) and mine (AMD on an iMac running Windows in Bootcamp with therefore special versions of the drivers). Good job.

SimplyJen

Inspector looks intimidating but once you find the path to turn on v-sync it's not so bad. (instructions above 2nd comment) I have a couple of other video card settings adjusted besides v-sync and I've now switched over to Inspector. Nvidia Control panel works fine for me too but Inspector has a few more options, it should work in fullscreen & windowed mode, and you can link it to control panel. If I don't understand a certain setting, I Google it.

I found that v-sync alone in windowed mode through Inspector didn't work until I set Frame Rate Limiter to my monitors refresh rate (under Sync and Refresh with v-sync). I don't know if this is the same for others and as far as I know, I have the latest version.

Mazakeen

I am 99% certain, This game roasted my amd radeon 7970m.

Now, I have an nvidia 1050.
Since I have only played for a couple of days, I keep my eyes on temps and whatnot.

The most notably positive thing is, if I alt-tab, It actually 'powers down', as in not running full throttle in rendering the graphics in the background, so to speak.
I have high hopes for its longevity.

igazor

@Mazakeen - Hopefully you have taken steps to cap the fps rate on that new 1050 and have checked in-game to make sure that it's staying under 60 fps, or whatever the refresh rate of your monitor is?

Mazakeen

@igazor Yep. I suddenly got some weirdness. I boil it down to essentially a Windows-'thing'.
The sudden weirdness was that my fps suddenly went haywire.
I then played a little with nvidia inspector. That didn't seem to work at the time (fullscreen-sims, 60MHz screen)

Then I removed inspector and jiggled around with nvidia display controls. That eventually seemed to bring my fps from +150 to somewhere between 40 and the occasional 120.

But, of course while I was at it, intending to only lowering my fps, played with all the other fancy graphics-options.
The game looks even more fantastic, maybe a tad to much bloom.

The temperatur is ~65 degree Celsius.

TL;DR -Still watching.

GraceyManor

I'm trying to follow this but there is no sync option in the inspector for me.Uninstalled and reinstalled, now there's no tool option.

McTosh

In-game vsync is broke Technically it does exist, it's supposed to lock your frame rate to the refresh rate of your monitor (default) or the refresh rate you set. However for as long as I can remember this never actually worked.

If Nvidia you need to force vsync through your driver settings. AMD is a little more complicated as Crimson is trash and vsync doesn't work, you need to download radeonpro. In visual: Vertical Sync Control (check) then in Tweaks vsync: always on, triple buffering, set your refresh rate and either choose 30fps or just lock fps to refresh rate.

These methods work for most but if for some unbeknownst reason you're still getting 35923590238059238058239fps and screen tearing then download rivatuner/D3Doverride. vsync: on triple buff: on lockfps: to whatever

igazor

There is no built-in vsync in TS3. Or if there was meant to be, it's been hiding itself really well for the past eight years.

Nvidia Inspector is a fine alternative to the Nvidia Control Panel for those who need it or those who require gameplay in windowed mode.

RivaTuner Stats Server (RTSS) is another fine alternative and works for both Nvidia and AMD cards. Not all of us with AMD can use Radeon Pro or Crimson at all, depends on the card.