Is there any way to help Build/Buy mode function better? (Update-It's fixed!)

BSIRegina

Before I say anything, this is NOT a game performance issue but a problem I have using Build/Buy mode generally after using CASt for even a short period of time. After just a few minutes of decorating anything it grinds to a halt and the only way I've found to get it to work again is to wait long enough until the game can move again and go back into Live mode for a while.

I haven't really even tried building in my play game yet since fully updating my game the other week, this is in my BUILD/TEST version, which is not much more than the game with only a few essential mods and very limited CC (Riverview objects for using in CAW and rabbit hole doors) in .package format.

DCBackup folder is emptied.
FeaturedItems folder is emptied and set to read-only so no more files can even be written there.
Cache files are tiny, at most 10 kb in size.
I only have about a dozen custom pattern/objects saved so that's not an issue.

I have a world to get finished and I need to be able to build the lots without it taking an hour per room, dag-nab-it! Please help.

amethnw

I can tell you that all my loading times in TS3 were vastly improved after I bought an SSD (loading of the game itself, loading stuff in Buy Mode, and loading stuff in CAS) and installed windows and the game onto that instead of my hard drive. It takes time to do all that of course but for me it was totally worth it.

Good luck!

phoebebebe13

agree with other poster SSD hard drive makes the sims 3 load much quicker

TreyNutz

I didn't see much of an improvement after switching to an SSD, unfortunately. My saves loaded up about 30 sec shorter than before, but on a 5 min load time shaving 30 sec isn't much of an improvement.

BSIRegina wrote: »

a problem I have using Build/Buy mode generally after using CASt for even a short period of time. After just a few minutes of decorating anything it grinds to a halt and the only way I've found to get it to work again is to wait long enough until the game can move again and go back into Live mode for a while.

I get that too (even on the SSD). I generally quit using CASt for a bit and the sluggishness eventually goes away. I don't know of a fix.

phoebebebe13

TreyNutz wrote: »

I didn't see much of an improvement after switching to an SSD, unfortunately. My saves loaded up about 30 sec shorter than before, but on a 5 min load time shaving 30 sec isn't much of an improvement.

BSIRegina wrote: »

a problem I have using Build/Buy mode generally after using CASt for even a short period of time. After just a few minutes of decorating anything it grinds to a halt and the only way I've found to get it to work again is to wait long enough until the game can move again and go back into Live mode for a while.

I get that too (even on the SSD). I generally quit using CASt for a bit and the sluggishness eventually goes away. I don't know of a fix.

It may also depend on the power of your computer too.

Edit My 400-500 mb game loads in under 5 minutes on ssd

TreyNutz

The saves I tested on (before and after moving to the SSD) were about 300-420 MB in size. I don't have any saves that reach 1 GB let alone 400-500 GB. The largest, the 420 MB one, loaded in 4:55 (min:sec) on my HD, and 4:25 on the SDD. I did have one game (336 mb in size) improve from 15:52 to 11:39. I guess that's something. That last one had an overstuffed household (23 sims or so). I probably need to reset the entire town if I ever play that save again.

BSIRegina

Thank you so much for your replies. I don't think that's an option right now, unfortunately, but it definitely is something I can keep in mind for later.

ETA: TreyNutz, you ninjaed me and I didn't see the other posts. Yeah, this is happening even in a world that only had a few lots on it because it's the initial testing. I've had this poor computer for at least five years now, I'm thinking six but it may not be quite that long, so I know it's not the greatest machine but I need to make do with what it is for the foreseeable future. Oh sure, I could raid the savings account for a new computer but there are other things right now that are going to need that money worse.

phoebebebe13

TreyNutz wrote: »

The saves I tested on (before and after moving to the SSD) were about 300-420 MB in size. I don't have any saves that reach 1 GB let alone 400-500 GB. The largest, the 420 MB one, loaded in 4:55 (min:sec) on my HD, and 4:25 on the SDD. I did have one game (336 mb in size) improve from 15:52 to 11:39. I guess that's something. That last one had an overstuffed household (23 sims or so). I probably need to reset the entire town if I ever play that save again.

did I write gb I meant mb . Oops

igazor

@phoebebebe13 secretly has the 128-bit version of TS3 and isn't sharing with the rest of us!

phoebebebe13

igazor wrote: »

@phoebebebe13 secretly has the 128-bit version of TS3 and isn't sharing with the rest of us!

I'd settle for a 64 bit version

BSIRegina

By happy coincidence I stumbled upon the fix for this yesterday, and it was nothing more than needing to limit the FPS! I can now drag and drop patterns at lightning speed--well, maybe not quite, but I no longer have to exit buy/build one way or another after about every third pattern. I can't believe what a difference it made!