Home› The Sims 3› Help Center› The Sims 3 Help & Technical Discussion
  • Categories
  • Discussions
  • Activity
  • Best Of...
    • Forum Announcement, Click Here to Read More From EA_Cade.

    Which computer should I use for TS3?

    clare74clare74 Posts: 107 Member
    in The Sims 3 Help & Technical Discussion
    I've been wanting TS3 for YEARS, but by the time I finally had a job and could buy myself TS3 I had a new MacBook air that wouldn't run it and TS4 had already been out for a year, so I never got to experience it. I have a 2017 MacBook pro right now that won't run it either (i've already tried buying and returning the game two separate times). I'm wondering if i could use an older computer that would hopefully run it better. In my house I have an iMac, that i think is 2009 or 2010, that was our old family computer. It's really slow and hasn't been updated in years but I would use it only for sims 3 and nothing else. If it helps I remember downloading a sims 3 free trial a while ago on it, and i don't remember much but I remember it working at least. I also have my old hp laptop from 2011/2012ish running windows 8. I don't know any other specs about it but I remember it not working well haha. I know sims 3 runs better on older macs and pcs. Would either of these run sims 3 well? and which one would probably run it better?
    family tree (legacy family)
    origin id: clareo74

    Comments

    • Options
      puzzlezaddictpuzzlezaddict Posts: 1,877 Member
      If you want to play TS3 with all or most of its packs, especially Pets and Seasons, you really do need a dedicated graphics card and at least 6, or preferably 8, GB RAM, as well as a processor of sufficient strength. These requirements probably eliminate your old imac and would likely have eliminated your macbook air as well, had you tried. Still, it would be helpful to know the specs of each computer you're considering. For macs, here's the relevant info and how to find it:

      https://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-Mac/READ-FIRST-Sims-3-Mac-Help-Guides-and-Troubleshooting/m-p/4756624#M4

      If it's easier, you can run a dxdiag on your HP laptop (or any Windows computer), post the results in Pastebin (no need for an account; just use the free option), and leave a link here.

      https://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-3/HOW-TO-DxDiag-PC-Only/m-p/1049584/thread-id/47181

      It should be noted that most of the issues related to running TS3 on newer macs are entirely solveable. A very helpful mac expert (BluebellFlora) has put together a couple of guides to fixing the unknown error issue, as well as instructions on how to force recognition of incompatible graphics cards. I had little trouble installing and playing on my 2017 macbook pro once I found her website.

      However, on macs, the game is limited to using 2 GB RAM due to the way it was ported into mac OS. This might be fine for your purposes, depending on your playstyle and how many packs you'd like to have installed, but it's almost impossible to run the entire game for any length of time without bumping up against the RAM limit. A few months ago, I was fed up enough to partition my hard drive and Bootcamp Windows 10 onto my mac for the sole purpose of playing TS3. It's a much better experience, and I would absolutely recommend it if you have a large enough hard drive and the willingness to deal with Windows 10.

      Anyway, all of this is theoretical until we know the specs of your various computers and the packs you'd like to run.
    Sign In or Register to comment.
    Return to top