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Does The Sims 3 run well on Windows 10?
daisy1989
Posts: 87 Member
Hi 
I would like to try and play The Sims 3 again as I never really got into it the first time. How well does it run on Windows 10? (I tried to google the answer but couldn't really find anything clear)
If it helps I play on an HP Pavilion gaming laptop with the following specs:
AMD Ryzen 5 3550H processor.
Quad core processor.
2.1GHz processor speed with a burst speed of 3.7GHz.
8GB RAM DDR4.
256GB SSD storage.
Microsoft Windows 10.
Graphics:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 graphics card with 3GB RAM GDDR5.
Dedicated graphics card.
I would like to try and play The Sims 3 again as I never really got into it the first time. How well does it run on Windows 10? (I tried to google the answer but couldn't really find anything clear)
If it helps I play on an HP Pavilion gaming laptop with the following specs:
AMD Ryzen 5 3550H processor.
Quad core processor.
2.1GHz processor speed with a burst speed of 3.7GHz.
8GB RAM DDR4.
256GB SSD storage.
Microsoft Windows 10.
Graphics:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 graphics card with 3GB RAM GDDR5.
Dedicated graphics card.
Check out my YouTube channel @ DaisySims
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Comments
You will most certainly need to cap the frame rates (fps) and check to make sure that they are staying at or below the refresh rate of your monitor as unlike newer games, TS3 has no functional built-in fps limiter and your graphics card is strong enough to be throwing too high frame rates if left untended to and that is bad for both game performance and the lifespan of the computer. But we can help with that as needed if/when you get the game installed again.
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I think I probably will download it, so how would I go about capping the frame rate?
To see 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 displayed fps rate should never exceed 60 or whatever the refresh of your monitor is. To make the display go away, cheats console again and type fps off (enter).
To cap the rates, first we try the Nvidia Control Panel. Set up a profile for the correct executable program, that's TS3.exe (for Patch 1.69/Origin) or TS3w.exe (with the "w" for 1.67/Disc or Steam). Set Vertical Sync to On or Adaptive (whichever one works better), Triple Buffering to On, and if your Control Panel is new enough it will include a setting to explicitly designate a maximum frame rate at or just under the refresh rate goal (so usually 60 or 59.something).
If the above is not enough to keep things locked in, or the Control Panel does not include a max rate setting and vertical sync alone does not do the job sufficiently, then we move on and add Nvidia Inspector which includes its own maximum frame rate setting that it will apply on top of the Control Panel settings.
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edit: huh, rivatuner no longer works for me. RadeonPro (2013 version) does though.
It sounds as if you don't think that the GTX 1050 (mobile) is powerful enough to handle TS3 with all its content? It would be interesting to know exactly what you base that opinion/assumption on.
@daisy1989 Does your laptop have dual graphics? If so, don't be surprised if turning on Vsync in the Nvidia Control Panel doesn't work. So far I've never seen it work for anyone with that kind of laptop.
If I had a 1050 mobile already, I would run the entire game on it (if I wanted to play TS3 on a laptop, that is). If I were in the market for a new machine with TS3 in mind specifically, budget permitting I would try to aim a little bit higher and advise the same.
I base this conclusion on the same thing I base everything else that you argue with me about on this forum. It's all random gibberish I like to spout to confuse the players because I don't really like helping them, and it comes to me by way of strange voices in the middle of the night that emanate from deep inside my wardrobe. (that's of course not true, but it may as well be since you never listen to the real answer anyway...so do kindly stop asking me.)
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It's not GPU that's the problem. Any old GPU made in the last 15 years can run sims 3 just fine.
The 2 problems are CPU and RAM.
Sims 3 is only 32bit, which means it can only use 4gb of ram. No matter what hardware you have or what you do it will never be able to use more than 4gb of ram and that's the biggest problem of running all eps, plus a large world, plus mods etc. 4gb doesn't go very far!
the other problem though to a much lesser extent is CPU. sims 3 wasn't made for multithreading, which most modern processors are made for. Single core.
It seems that you don't have any real facts after all, no personal experience or reliable sources to base your assumption on, that the 1050 is not quite up to the task, you're only guessing. That's just what I thought. Thanks for confirming it.
No, I wouldn't go that far, but I have six years of personal experience from successfully running the whole TS3 with all its content, (all EPs, SPs and everything from the Store) on computers with four different GPUs: GTX 550 Ti, GTX 760 (192 bit), GTX 770M and GTX 860M, and they're all both older and weaker than the GTX 1050 mobile, so I'm pretty sure the 1050 wouldn't have any problems either. But you never know for sure until you've tried it yourself. The CPUs on the above mentioned computers are all fairly strong Intel i7:s, that may have something to do with it too.
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The game was made in 2009, and the graphics weren't exactly Crysis levels even back then. The graphics aren't intensive at all. I think my original card back when I first bought the game was a HD 4850 or even a 3970 I can't remember, and would run it on max. Literally 15 year old GPUs now.
GPUs really aren't the problem in this game, it really is just the 32bit binary that's the problem. I'm not lying. You can have a NASA supercomputer for all the game cares, it'll still never use more than 4gb of RAM.
And it doesn't matter if you have an i7 or an i3, it still won't multithread.
I run all EPS, with minimum lag, but on large worlds, after several generations, you really start to notice some little freezes here and there. It's unavoiadable, only so much ram to go around. (4gb of it).
-Just about any integrated graphics chip (so that's Intel or some of the AMD's like the now popular Vega 8s); the newest, strongest ones can actually give the game a run for its money, but only up to a point, they still put too much stress on RAM usage, and the heavier EPs are still likely to be too much for them
-Nvidia cards in the 0-4 levels (middle digits) of each series. Examples would be GT 705s/710s (through 740s), 820Ms, 920s (through 940MXs), 1030s, MX 130s and 150s, I think there are some newer ones out now just like the recent MX series. In some ways, some (but not all) of these weaker but still dedicated cards would actually be worse for the game than integrated, depending on how much stress was thrown at them.
- Some AMD hybrid cards and those that are just not strong enough like the Nvidias above, unlike stronger AMD cards like Radeon Pros that can handle the throughput and are fine
The older AMD HD cards from so many years ago mentioned in particular were not low-end cards. They each had lower-end counterparts back then that also made a mess of the game as the EPs were rolling out. I played on an older AMD series card myself, a Radeon HD 6670M, until just over a year ago and although there were some minor limitations, for the most part the entire game was fine and its age was not really a factor over its throughput.
Not that this should make too much difference to the player today, but the game is programmed to work with up to 2 cores, not single-core only. Quad cores and higher cannot be utilized by the game more effectively, but where they can help is by handling other system processes they are given to do while the game is running. It's TS2 that is single-core only, but that game is from 2004 and doesn't require nearly as much processor power to run anyway, so it's much less likely to stress out a modern system.
The processor and RAM matter too, up to a point each as does of course the built in 32-bit limitations, so having a better card alone is not a magic solution to make the game operate smoothly at all times. But there is a threshold that has to be passed on the GPU first or else we are limiting the player to base game only or base game plus a small number of the earliest released EPs. And some of you may disagree and even argue back if you like, doesn't really matter. The point is that a player who is going shopping for a new computer and is ready to spend what is (to them) a large amount of money, or is trying to determine how far they can take this game on their existing hardware, is not served well when they are told that any GPU manufactured in the last 15 years can be expected to run this game with all EPs on more than low graphics setting in Game Options because this is just not true.
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It's pretty much guaranteed any GPU people are using today is more than enough. Unless you bought it from a museum or an antique shop
I've never found the graphics that intensive. I found switching from a mechanical drive to an SSD to be way more advantageous than when I switched from the HD 7970 to an RX 580, i saw literally zero performance boost from upgrading GPU, but did from mechanical to SSD. Also when I upgraded RAM (speeds that is, not amount). To a lesser amount, I saw mild improvements when switching from an FX 8350 to a Ryzen too. But not GPU, because my old GPU was good enough, and that was ancient by today's standards.
The game is from dinosaur times compared to today now, unless your GPU was made literally in the stone age, moulded from soft rock banged against a flint stone tool it shouldn't have any problems.
I can't reiterate it enough, the problem is the 32bit binary. You can have a 5 year old computer or a computer from the future, you'll still always be limited to 4gb memory. There's literally nothing you can do about it and it will cause lag and freezes and sometimes crashes as your world gets older and bigger. GPU won't make a difference to it.
So...I guess...PreCambrianComputersRUs is out as a potential place to buy a computer?
Hmmm well then the UnghGX3562 for two pebbles and a flint disc is out then.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Another example would be an Nvidia GTX 280. That would be over the top fantastic for the game, if they still make drivers for it that would be compatible with Win 10 updates or if the player were running an older operating system and planned to continue doing so.
I'm not talking about 7970s or 280s here because today's players are probably not purchasing systems with the older powerful cards in them, although they may still have them in use. I'm talking about players who have purchased or plan to purchase laptops that cost $300 (USD) or less and that have no dedicated graphics card. Or those that maybe cost $400-450 and might have one that is too weak. Or yet more expensive ones that cost more because they are designed to be ultra-lightweight and conserve battery power, generally be web-surfing, email, and streaming video players or tablet/laptop hybrids on which to do homework or light office tasks with poor to no internal cooling systems, but not be able to handle anything that requires heavier duty processing and they may have hard drives that are way too small (like way under 128 GB). This is all modern hardware, but modern hardware that is too weak to service the game. Price is of course not the correct determining factor to be using, but it's what sometimes relates better to players who don't feel they have much else to go on.
When players hear "any modern GPU can run TS3" and see a laptop on sale for $200-300 at an office supply store or online, they see that the hardware is new and think it must be a fine investment for the game. It will not be.
Yes, the game is severely limited by being a 32-bit app. But we can't do anything about that except be aware of those limitations and give it the best possible environment in which to run without breaking the bank to do so.
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http://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:TS3_System_Requirements
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http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Getting_new_graphics_cards_recognized_by_the_game
Much more important than all that is checking on the games fps rates and capping them to the refresh rate of your monitor. TS3 being an older game has no functional built-in fps limiter and it needs some help in this regard.
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Ah I see what you mean. Potatotops are another animal all together, yes I totally agree with you there. When I say GPU, I am of course talking about dedicated desktop graphics. The majority of people on desktops today will have at least a medium range card, which 10 years ago would have been more than high end by that time's standards. GPUs have really come down in price so I can't see anyone in this age having a GPU that can't handle a 10 year old game, when an RX 580 only costs ~£120 (that's how much I paid for mine). That's where I was basing my comment from
But yes, don't buy a laptop thinking you could run all eps + mods, even so-called "high end" "gaming laptops" (cringe) are low end compared to a half-decent proper PC.
It'll just default to high settings now. EA made a change ages ago that just defaulted any unrecognized card to high settings assuming it's better than the cards of 2013. The Graphics rules thing isn't necessary anymore, when you boot up the sims for the first time it'll tell you as such you'll get a popup saying "your card has been unrecognized so your settings have been defaulted to high". You'll only see it once, the game just assumes your card is better than anything listed.
A lot still do the rules thing though out of habit.
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I think he may have upped the memory and maybe a few other tweaks, but this is what I picked out.