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FIX FOR SEVERE LAG

Cyron43Cyron43 Posts: 8,055 Member
edited February 27 in Nominated Threads
Second Update 11/07/13: The fix is totally amazing! It's like a whole new game! Sims are more active than ever and even Isla Paradiso runs like a charm!
You don't believe me? Then watch this boat trip! :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0n1QE56e_E

UPDATE 11/07/13: Twallan has updated Overwatch and ErrorTrap to address this issue.
Go get 'em here: http://nraas.wikispaces.com/
Thank you so much Twallan for fixing this mess. :D

UPDATE 11/06/13: @All Simmers who have this issue and the tree of prosperity: Please uninstall the tree of prosperity via the Launcher and see if that fixes it.
For further information please visit crinrict's article about it:
http://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2013/11/sims-in-slow-motion.html

Description:
This bug shows after several Sim-days of playing only. So it's not replicable with a quick test.
The time display and the Sims are frozen for up to many Sim-hours while the in-game time moves on and the Sim's needs deplete. The camera can be moved though.
It's even worse with routing. Whenever there's a transition like going through a door or using a staircase, the Sim freezes and it takes a lot of time until the next routing phase kicks in.

Just one example: When a Sim normally takes about 10 Sim-minutes for something it eats up between 3 to 8 Sim-hours for the same action! Eating (and just the pure eating action!) takes 1.5 Sim-hours! Taking a plate, walking to a table, grabbing the seat, sitting down and moving the seat to the table is NOT included in this time.

This bug makes the game unplayable!

The amount of Simmers who face this issue grows with each day! At first I thought this is due to a faulty mod but apparently I was wrong with this assumption because more and more Simmers who play without any mods face the same problems.

EDIT for a general definition of lag type 1 and lag type 2:

Lag type 1
is the usual stuttering (more or less severe) where the whole game seems to be frozen for several seconds.
The camera cannot be moved.
Lag type 1 is usually caused by
- insufficient memory -> 8 GB are recommended. You need a 64 bit type of Windows in order to make use of it.

- incompatible or faulty custom content -> temporarily remove all custom content and try again.

- unsupported graphics card -> Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 Into the Future\Support and read the ReadMe file for a list of supported graphic cards.

- insufficient graphics card -> lower the graphics settings in the options of the game.

- insufficient CPU power -> see "insufficient graphics card"

- Other software which runs while you play -> Make sure you shut down all programs which you currently don't need.

- Highly fragmented hard drive -> Defragment your hard drive.

- Corrupted save game -> Try Twallan's MasterController to fix it. Go to map view, click the town hall icon and choose
nraas -> MasterController -> Town -> Reset everything.
Maybe the last part is not literally. I play a German version of the game and I translated it.

The fix (uninstalling the tree of prosperity and the updates of Twallan's Overwatch and ErrorTrap) provided in this thread deals with lag type 2.
However Overwatch and ErrorTrap can also help with lag type 1 but you should do some settings to Overwatch to get the best results. Go to map view, click on the town hall icon and choose nraas -> Overwatch -> Settings.
You can get more information about the Overwatch settings on the page you downloaded Overwatch from.

Lag type 2
means the time display gets frozen. It begins with skipping one second, then two and the more you play the worse it gets until it's frozen for 12 hours or so. During that time all Sims are also frozen in the middle of their actions. Alas the game time moves on as can be seen on the sky. The sun, the moon and also the star map keep moving. The needs of your Sims deteriorate.
You can move the camera with lag type 2.
This space is for rent.
Post edited by EA_Solaire on

Comments

  • SincerboxSincerbox Posts: 2,279 Member
    edited November 2013
    I am currently playing my game with no mods. I am trying to reproduce this mod-free but it takes a lot of time if my theory is correct. I hit the bug in my Midnight Hollow game after more than 12 game weeks of play.

    /edit to add: Cyron. It my have something to do with travelling to subhoods. I am assuming that traveling to the future uses the same code as traveling to University or a WA world. If you are hopping back and forth in time that gives the game a lot of opportunities to mess up the game clock in one of those transitions between the world and the subhood.
    Post edited by Unknown User on
    Origin ID: Barbara917
  • Cyron43Cyron43 Posts: 8,055 Member
    edited November 2013
    I suspect the same, Sincerbox. I play a second test world where I never even touched the time portal and this one runs fine.
    However we need to run more tests and we need more input from other Simmers to see if that's the only culprit.
    Anyway I made a backup of all my saves (I play over 30 worlds) from before the patch. You never know.
    This space is for rent.
  • DarbutDarbut Posts: 34 Member
    edited November 2013
    I agree I am having the same issue my Sims are always late for work and it seems like it takes forever just to try to change the future I can never get the task completed before the time runs out
  • ferret9005ferret9005 Posts: 1,361 Member
    edited November 2013
    well good to know. I guess since I have already uninstalled and re-installed my game twice. I will not install ITF until some of these issues are corrected.With this patch even trying to download CC takes forever. What a mess. Lets hope it gets fixed.I put to much money into this franchise, and should be able to play this game without so many problems. As of now no sims 4 fro me.
  • amjoieamjoie Posts: 3,516 Member
    edited November 2013
    Clarification needed, to aid in troubleshooting this issue:

    1. Is this game lag experienced only in OL, only in the "home world," or in both OL and the "home world"? Which world did it happen in, first?

    2. Have you checked for routing errors in the world? Stuck sims? Stuck animals in home world? Multiplying spawners? Abandoned cars/vehicles? Too many NPCs spawning at certain places in the world? Any other causes for lag noted in any of Crinrict's stickied threads? (It is important to eliminate all known causes for lag, before we can accurately pinpoint a new cause for lag never seen before ITF.)

    3. Is this happening in factory reset games or is it only in pre-played saves from earlier expansions?

    4. Are you playing with any EA cheats turned on?

    5. Did you visit Utopia? Did you visit Dystopia?

    6. Is the same approximate amount of time needed for causing the corruption/lag similar in every game played, or does the amount of time needed to cause the corruption/lag directly relate to the number of time jumps? In other words, can you "cause" the problem by doing several consecutive time jumps, with only one day or night between jumps?

    7. Are you spending most of your play time in the "home world" or in OL?

    8. Can you move the lagging save to a factory reset game, and still experience the lag? (This would eliminate lag caused by anything other than the save, itself.)

    9. Please let us know your computer specs, which OS, and etc -- all the things Crinrict asks in her bug thread.

    I think those of you with this problem should do some strong testing until you can get repeatable data. A real bug or real routing issues in a world can, with a great deal of sleuthing, be repeated reliably. Otherwise, since it takes so long to get results, something like this may never be found.

    I played my first test game (factory reset for ITF, no mods, no CC - not even store stuff) for somewhere between 40-45 sim days, and went back and forth between 🐸🐸🐸🐸 and OL over a dozen times during that time period, but spent most of my play time in OL. My game was still playing perfectly, with no lag. I did visit Utopia for a short while, but did not ever visit Dystopia. I tested practically every new feature in the ITF. The only repeatable bugs I found were the ones I listed in Crinrict's bug thread.

    Since I have now moved on to a different world, where I am testing the longevity of mermaids in LL/OL with only a swimming pool that has a saltwater designator placed in it (by using the cheat console) available to alleviate her need for ocean water, I won't be much help in testing the kind of bug you are talking about in this thread.
  • Cyron43Cyron43 Posts: 8,055 Member
    edited November 2013
    Amjoie, routing issues cause lag type 1. Lag type 2 (what we talk about here) is new since ITF. I'm currently facing it again in a world where I traveled to OL a few times (on one occasion it was Utopia). I am starting this same world again right now and I will NOT travel to OL. Let's see what happens.
    In the meantime - well I hope the bug team is aware of this issue.
    This space is for rent.
  • SincerboxSincerbox Posts: 2,279 Member
    edited November 2013
    Clarification needed, to aid in troubleshooting this issue:

    1. Is this game lag experienced only in OL, only in the "home world," or in both OL and the "home world"? Which world did it happen in, first?

    This is not specific to any world. When you get the problem it happens in the homeworld and in all subhoods. It is not caused by routing errors, stuck sims or animals or any of the other things one typically associates with lag. It probably shouldn't be called lag at all because that is going to cause well intentioned simmers like you going down the wrong path trying to help. This is rightly a bug with the game clock. Active sims can no longer complete simple actions in a normal amount of game time. It can be so bad that the sim will seem to stand there forever doing something a simple as sitting in a chair which might take the sim an hour of sim clock time to complete. Think of The Sims 1. Slower than that. Much slower.

    2. Have you checked for routing errors in the world? Stuck sims? Stuck animals in home world? Multiplying spawners? Abandoned cars/vehicles? Too many NPCs spawning at certain places in the world? Any other causes for lag noted in any of Crinrict's stickied threads? (It is important to eliminate all known causes for lag, before we can accurately pinpoint a new cause for lag never seen before ITF.)

    It has nothing to do with routing errors or any other kinds of errors associated with a specific world because it happens the same way in all subhoods. The game clock is messed up.

    3. Is this happening in factory reset games or is it only in pre-played saves from earlier expansions?

    I am trying to reproduce that for myself now. I had to ditch all my pre-played games.

    4. Are you playing with any EA cheats turned on?

    5. Did you visit Utopia? Did you visit Dystopia?

    No. University.

    6. Is the same approximate amount of time needed for causing the corruption/lag similar in every game played, or does the amount of time needed to cause the corruption/lag directly relate to the number of time jumps? In other words, can you "cause" the problem by doing several consecutive time jumps, with only one day or night between jumps?

    We don't know what is causing it. We are trying to figure that out. We only have theories.

    7. Are you spending most of your play time in the "home world" or in OL?

    Most of the play time was spent in University and some little amount in OL. I am sure that Cyron has a different answer.

    8. Can you move the lagging save to a factory reset game, and still experience the lag? (This would eliminate lag caused by anything other than the save, itself.)

    Yes. I did that. I had to abandon the game itself.

    9. Please let us know your computer specs, which OS, and etc -- all the things Crinrict asks in her bug thread.

    I promise this has nothing to do with sub-par specs. I have a Core i7 quad-core processor, 24GB of RAM and an HD 5850 graphics card, with over 300GB of free disk space. Brand new games in most worlds other than Isla Paradiso run fine and there is no lag. Again. I think lag is an extremely misleading term for this problem. The game clock is messed up.




    Origin ID: Barbara917
  • amjoieamjoie Posts: 3,516 Member
    edited November 2013
    Cyron43 wrote:
    Amjoie, routing issues cause lag type 1. Lag type 2 (what we talk about here) is new since ITF. I'm currently facing it again in a world where I traveled to OL a few times (on one occasion it was Utopia). I am starting this same world again right now and I will NOT travel to OL. Let's see what happens.
    In the meantime - well I hope the bug team is aware of this issue.

    I understand that, Cyron. But the EA team will want that proven, not just stated. So elimination is necessary for troubleshooting, just to prove there IS such a thing as lag type 2. To the bug team, not to me. ;)

    What about the other questions I asked? The more information available, the easier it will be for the bug team to locate the bug.
  • amjoieamjoie Posts: 3,516 Member
    edited November 2013
    Sincerbox wrote:
    Clarification needed, to aid in troubleshooting this issue:

    1. Is this game lag experienced only in OL, only in the "home world," or in both OL and the "home world"? Which world did it happen in, first?

    This is not specific to any world. When you get the problem it happens in the homeworld and in all subhoods. It is not caused by routing errors, stuck sims or animals or any of the other things one typically associates with lag. It probably shouldn't be called lag at all because that is going to cause well intentioned simmers like you going down the wrong path trying to help. This is rightly a bug with the game clock. Active sims can no longer complete simple actions in a normal amount of game time. It can be so bad that the sim will seem to stand there forever doing something a simple as sitting in a chair which might take the sim an hour of sim clock time to complete. Think of The Sims 1. Slower than that. Much slower.

    2. Have you checked for routing errors in the world? Stuck sims? Stuck animals in home world? Multiplying spawners? Abandoned cars/vehicles? Too many NPCs spawning at certain places in the world? Any other causes for lag noted in any of Crinrict's stickied threads? (It is important to eliminate all known causes for lag, before we can accurately pinpoint a new cause for lag never seen before ITF.)

    It has nothing to do with routing errors or any other kinds of errors associated with a specific world because it happens the same way in all subhoods. The game clock is messed up.

    3. Is this happening in factory reset games or is it only in pre-played saves from earlier expansions?

    I am trying to reproduce that for myself now. I had to ditch all my pre-played games.

    4. Are you playing with any EA cheats turned on?

    5. Did you visit Utopia? Did you visit Dystopia?

    No. University.

    6. Is the same approximate amount of time needed for causing the corruption/lag similar in every game played, or does the amount of time needed to cause the corruption/lag directly relate to the number of time jumps? In other words, can you "cause" the problem by doing several consecutive time jumps, with only one day or night between jumps?

    We don't know what is causing it. We are trying to figure that out. We only have theories.

    7. Are you spending most of your play time in the "home world" or in OL?

    Most of the play time was spent in University and some little amount in OL. I am sure that Cyron has a different answer.

    8. Can you move the lagging save to a factory reset game, and still experience the lag? (This would eliminate lag caused by anything other than the save, itself.)

    Yes. I did that. I had to abandon the game itself.

    9. Please let us know your computer specs, which OS, and etc -- all the things Crinrict asks in her bug thread.

    I promise this has nothing to do with sub-par specs. I have a Core i7 quad-core processor, 24GB of RAM and an HD 5850 graphics card, with over 300GB of free disk space. Brand new games in most worlds other than Isla Paradiso run fine and there is no lag. Again. I think lag is an extremely misleading term for this problem. The game clock is messed up.




    Thank you for answering the questions. That is all very helpful information. And it helps to narrow things down. I'm sure it will help the bug team.

    Only one question that you didn't answer: Did you play with any console cheats enabled?

    I should also explain the computer specs question -- I'm not, in any way, suggesting that your computers are lacking. But a bug team asks this question. Always. So it is something that needs to be stated. That's all. :)
  • SincerboxSincerbox Posts: 2,279 Member
    edited November 2013
    It isn't lag. The game clock is messed up. Most of your question were not relevant to the problem.
    Origin ID: Barbara917
  • crinrictcrinrict Posts: 18,771 Member
    edited November 2013
    Just to be sure I understand this right. You're saying the ingame clock does not move but is stuck at a certain time and the Sim doesn't move anymore either ? All of them ?

    Does it get stuck at a certain time or is it more an stop and go ?


    To see if this is a reproducible issue, it would be best if someone could send me a savegame as soon as I get ITF (which with my luck will take another week).
    Crinrict's Help Blogs -- Twitter
    Please do not send me PMs/post on my wall if you're looking for help. I can't attend to those. You can find me at AnswerHQ.
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  • amjoieamjoie Posts: 3,516 Member
    edited November 2013
    Sincerbox wrote:
    It isn't lag. The game clock is messed up. Most of your question were not relevant to the problem.

    I do understand your contention/conclusion. But the bug team is not going to merely accept your conclusion without proof. The questions I asked are designed to give them the information they need to see why and how you reached your conclusion.

    I want bugs squashed. I'm not saying they don't exist. But I want them caught and eliminated. Whatever that takes.
  • SincerboxSincerbox Posts: 2,279 Member
    edited November 2013
    amjoie wrote:
    Only one question that you didn't answer: Did you play with any console cheats enabled?

    I don't know. The correct answer is probably sometimes yes and sometimes no. I frankly think the question is not relevant. I have read elsewhere that some simmers think that testingcheats and moveobjects can cause game corruption. Until I see a Guru state that that is difinitively true it is a theory to which I do not subscribe. Moveobjects on and Testingcheatsenabled are flags only. They in and of themselves do nothing. Except prior to this expansion MOO allowed indoor gardening. Most of the things those cheats allow involve routing errors. This is not a routing error problem in any specific world - it is a problem with the game clock.
    Origin ID: Barbara917
  • crinrictcrinrict Posts: 18,771 Member
    edited November 2013
    Did you see my post ? I'm unsure if I understand the issue.
    Crinrict's Help Blogs -- Twitter
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  • SincerboxSincerbox Posts: 2,279 Member
    edited November 2013
    Just to be sure I understand this right. You're saying the ingame clock does not move but is stuck at a certain time and the Sim doesn't move anymore either ? All of them ?


    No. That is not right. The clock continues to run just fine. The sims are stuck in ultra ultra slow motion as it relates to the clock. Take the action of sitting in a chair. That might take 5-10 seconds of sim clock time. If you have this bug it might take your sim an hour of clock time just to sit down.


    Does it get stuck at a certain time or is it more an stop and go ?


    The clock doesn't get stuck though it can appear to be stuck. You might see it appears paused but then all of a sudden the clock self corrects by 2 sim hours.

    To see if this is a reproducible issue, it would be best if someone could send me a savegame as soon as I get ITF (which with my luck will take another week).



    I could send you one of my games that is messed up but I have an awful lot of EA store content in my games. I am trying to reproduce this with no mods. This happened on my Midnight Hollow game that I was playing before I installed this expansion. I pulled Twallan's mods before I played it but I had been playing the game with MC and OW prior to installing the expansion. If I reproduce with a mod-free game I will definitely re-post. Other simmers who do not have mods are telling me they have the same problems.
    Origin ID: Barbara917
  • SimGuruFontSimGuruFont Posts: 38 SimGuru
    edited November 2013
    I'll send a note to the bug team when I get in tomorrow, if they haven't already seen it. Thanks for the heads up.
  • amjoieamjoie Posts: 3,516 Member
    edited November 2013
    Sincerbox wrote:
    amjoie wrote:
    Only one question that you didn't answer: Did you play with any console cheats enabled?

    I don't know. The correct answer is probably sometimes yes and sometimes no. I frankly think the question is not relevant. I have read elsewhere that some simmers think that testingcheats and moveobjects can cause game corruption. Until I see a Guru state that that is difinitively true it is a theory to which I do not subscribe. Moveobjects on and Testingcheatsenabled are flags only. They in and of themselves do nothing. Except prior to this expansion MOO allowed indoor gardening. Most of the things those cheats allow involve routing errors. This is not a routing error problem in any specific world - it is a problem with the game clock.

    Please, you don't have to convince me. I'm not on the bug team. And I'm certainly not standing in judgment of your experience or conclusion. I simply want the facts stated plainly, so that the bug team cannot ignore the issue when they review what they need to concentrate on, while compiling a patch. Anything esoteric and unprovable WILL BE ignored.

    You will likely never get a guru to state openly that testing cheats can cause corruption. But enough people have had corrupted games from the use of MOO to convince me it is possible/likely. It isn't the cheat itself that does the dirty -- it is the routing errors that result from inadvisable uses of MOO which, over time, can corrupt a game. Whether or not you use testing cheats is valuable information. Especially if you play all the time with them on.

    (I know this does not apply to this issue, but I did have one experience with the ice cream machine PC, where the problem kicked up primarily when a game was played with static motives on, using a console cheat. You never know what strange combinations can cause a bug to rear its head.)
  • amjoieamjoie Posts: 3,516 Member
    edited November 2013
    I'll send a note to the bug team when I get in tomorrow, if they haven't already seen it. Thanks for the heads up.

    Thank you so much for replying! (big hugs)
  • crinrictcrinrict Posts: 18,771 Member
    edited November 2013
    I own the store so that won't be an issue.

    Zip it up and upload to some file sharing site where I don't have register to download. If it gets to big to upload, I don't really need the travelDB.package and you could also upload the files on their own.

    You can post the link either in my guest book (monitored): http://sims3.crinrict.com/en/guestbook or send me a PM at AnswerHQ: http://answers.ea.com/

    As I said, I don't know when I'll get my expansion. It's all a bit of a mess.

    Crinrict's Help Blogs -- Twitter
    Please do not send me PMs/post on my wall if you're looking for help. I can't attend to those. You can find me at AnswerHQ.
    How to report bugs at AnswersHQ
    AHQ Tutorial

  • crinrictcrinrict Posts: 18,771 Member
    edited November 2013
    I'll send a note to the bug team when I get in tomorrow, if they haven't already seen it. Thanks for the heads up.

    Would be swell if you could pop in the bug thread and answer some of the more pressing questions there ...
    Crinrict's Help Blogs -- Twitter
    Please do not send me PMs/post on my wall if you're looking for help. I can't attend to those. You can find me at AnswerHQ.
    How to report bugs at AnswersHQ
    AHQ Tutorial

  • CK213CK213 Posts: 20,525 Member
    edited November 2013
    I did have something odd going on.
    I have had the usual 4 AM stall before, but his is something new. It didn't show up for days.

    All of a sudden all activity would freeze for an unusual length of time and it would happen just about every 15 sim minutes for me. This was without mods and it made me turn to putting mods in now that they are updated.

    My game is running normally now. Putting the mods in must have rest the game and fixed the issue, but probably temporarily.
    The%20Goths.png?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds
  • Cyron43Cyron43 Posts: 8,055 Member
    edited November 2013
    Hello SimGuruFont. Thank you so much for you support. At least now we know the bug team gets aware of it.

    @crin: The clock is not stuck at a certain time. It's more like a permanent hang. It begins with haning for 1 Sim-minute (so the clock skips every second minute). Then it gets worse by hanging 2 Sim-minutes and soon it hangs for several Sim-hours. Then the clock moves on to the actual time and hangs again immediately. All Sims are also stuck during that hang but the in-game time moves on as can be seen by the moving shadows, the moving sun and the moving star map. The needs of the Sims deplete while they are stuck.
    I'm going to upload the save and I'll give you a note once it's done.
    However it's from a custom world (Isabo Atoll).

    @amjoie: We discussed that already in another thread and Sincerbox summed it up pretty good.
    Post edited by Unknown User on
    This space is for rent.
  • amjoieamjoie Posts: 3,516 Member
    edited November 2013
    Cyron43 wrote:
    Hello SimGuruFont. Thank you so much for you support. At least now we know the bug team gets aware of it.

    @crin: The clock is not stuck at a certain time. It's more like a permanent hang. It begins with haning for 1 Sim-minute (so the clock skips every second minute). Then it gets worse by hanging 2 Sim-minutes and soon it hangs for several Sim-hours. All Sims are also stuck during that hang but the in-game time moves on as can be seen by the moving shadows, the moving sun and the moving star map. The needs of the Sims deplete while they are stuck.

    @amjoie: We discussed that already in another thread and Sincerbox summed it up pretty good.

    Then please link that thread to this one. The bug team will need all the information available, on this one thread, rather than having to search for it. Thank you! :D
  • iclayaikensgirl0iclayaikensgirl0 Posts: 169 New Member
    edited November 2013
    I am having a similar issue with delays. However, it's always to change clothes!
    I will tell my sim to go to the Bot Emporium and she just stands there for hours.
    I cancel the action, nothing helps.
    Usually around 3-5 sim hours she changes clothes and finally leaves.

    Also, I don't normally have lag for anything else.
  • ewilson1114ewilson1114 Posts: 2,513 Member
    edited November 2013
    I am having a similar issue with delays. However, it's always to change clothes!
    I will tell my sim to go to the Bot Emporium and she just stands there for hours.
    I cancel the action, nothing helps.
    Usually around 3-5 sim hours she changes clothes and finally leaves.

    Also, I don't normally have lag for anything else.

    Your issue usually occurs on weaker computers. The game is taking a long time to load the outfit so it causes your sim to just stand there waiting for the outfit to be ready for them to change. The good news is, if you pause the game, the outfit will load while the game is paused. So any time this starts to happen, pause the game, wait for 5-10 seconds, and when you unpause your sim should instantly change outfits. If they don't, then pause and wait again.

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