1 - Have you checked on the fps rates you are getting in-game and have you taken steps to cap the same to the refresh rate of your screen? A GTX 1060 is strong enough to be throwing wildly high frame rates that your screen/monitor cannot possibly interpret, thus if left unfixed can lead to graphics glitches, screen tears, lag, poor overall performance, crashes, and can ultimately burn out your graphics card and damage your system board. Unlike more modern games, TS3 has no functional built-in fps limiter so we must use third party tools to arrange for vertical sync and frame rate capping.
We? Maybe you must, but I have always used the normal, and also easiest and safest way of turning on vsync, which is via the built-in Control Panels, Intel Control Panel for my dual graphics laptops, and the Nvidia Control Panel for my laptops and desktops with the CPU graphics chip disabled, and so far it's always been working fine. No need to download any third party potentially problematic tools.
If the built-in Control Panels don't work the way they're supposed to, there's probably something wrong with the graphics drivers that should be taken care of before you do anything else.
1 - Have you checked on the fps rates you are getting in-game and have you taken steps to cap the same to the refresh rate of your screen? A GTX 1060 is strong enough to be throwing wildly high frame rates that your screen/monitor cannot possibly interpret, thus if left unfixed can lead to graphics glitches, screen tears, lag, poor overall performance, crashes, and can ultimately burn out your graphics card and damage your system board. Unlike more modern games, TS3 has no functional built-in fps limiter so we must use third party tools to arrange for vertical sync and frame rate capping.
We? Maybe you must, but I have always used the normal, and also easiest and safest way of turning on vsync, which is via the built-in Control Panels, Intel Control Panel for my dual graphics laptops, and the Nvidia Control Panel for my laptops and desktops with the CPU graphics chip disabled, and so far it's always been working fine. No need to download any third party potentially problematic tools.
If the built-in Control Panels don't work the way they're supposed to, there's probably something wrong with the graphics drivers that should be taken care of before you do anything else.
That's great and would certainly be the preferred way to go about it if it worked for everyone, but once again your experiences do not match those of many others.
Not to quibble totally about semantics, but when I said a third party tool I was including Nvidia (or Radeon Pro, Crimson, etc. if an AMD card). Perhaps I should stop referring to them exactly that way but most modern games that need to will at least try to take care of fps capping on their own or by option like for example TS4 does. TS3 does not because of its age or the fact the EA never bothered to address this (some of each, really). The "first" and "second" parties are the player and the game. To take your point, okay the first party is really the player and their hardware/operating system so the NCP is first party. But again, that's just semantics.
Sorry but vertical sync on its own not effectively capping things needs to be addressed but it is not a sign that something is horribly or fundamentally wrong with the setup. It might suggest that something is fundamentally insufficient with the game as it was developed, as it aged, and as it is now played on stronger hardware and different operating systems than for which it was originally designed, but we can't fix that directly. Or we could say that there is a fundamental shortcoming in the Nvidia and AMD built-in tools in that they don't provide a max cap override for frame rates when native vsync (and triple buffering as should have been mentioned) doesn't do the trick on its own. But we can't fix that either, we can only enhance the tools with ones that do provide this for those who need it.
Yes it is very important to set vsync first and to set the correct card for dual within the built-in control panel if the player actually has dual graphics (not all will even have an Intel or other integrated chip present) and then check to see if it is being totally effective. If it isn't, then the built-in control panel needs some help. Never should anyone be afraid to call upon trusted tools such as Nvidia Inspector or others such as RTSS, MSI Afterburner, etc. should they be needed to complete the job or if windowed mode play is required. The worst thing a trusted tool can do is not work, in which case the player should ask for further assistance and/or remove it and try a different one. The risk of advising against ever using them is that players will give up before long and either not be able to play or attempt to continue playing in such a way that fps rates are still running rampant and thus potentially do damage to their system.
Hi, so thanks to igazor, I found this thread. I am not sure what I should be worrying about. I will say my computer does heat up after turning the game on, but I don't hear weird noises. The common fan. The game though freezes at points and then shuts down. That doesn't look like a good sign, because around the beginning of November I could play without that happening. Now I did the trick to check how much fps is running. It's between 300-550. Is that bad? If so, is there anything I can do to fix it? Note, I'm not good with computers sadly so I need direction to a degree. These are my computer specs.
This is the portion of a recent post on this thread I tried to point you towards. Sorry if I missed the mark. The Nvidia Control Panel is something you would already have since you have an Nvidia card. Nvidia Inspector requires a download and install, and is needed if the Control Panel's vertical sync (vsync) and triple buffering alone aren't enough to keep the fps at or below the refresh rate of your monitor which in your case is 144 Hz (so 144 fps). The link to the two tools show how they should be arranged. At consistent rates of 300-550 fps, game performance will suffer and there is a risk of damage to the graphics card and system board.
The best procedure to follow for an Nvidia card is to use the Nvidia Control Panel to set up a profile for TS3.exe (for Patch 1.69) or TS3w.exe (with the "w" for 1.67), set vertical sync to On or Adaptive, whichever one works, and Triple Buffering to On. Vertical sync only works in full-screen mode, and doesn't always lock things in at the correct rate for all users. If the Control Panel method is not enough or if windowed mode is required, then we add Nvidia Inspector which must be downloaded and installed, click on the toolbox or green icon next to the driver version number, and use it to explicitly set the Frame Rate Limiter to 60 144 or as close to that as it will allow -- some will see 59.5 or 61, etc.
> @igazor said: > @elleskyheart -- Well, fancy meeting you here. :) > > This is the portion of a recent post on this thread I tried to point you towards. Sorry if I missed the mark. The Nvidia Control Panel is something you would already have since you have an Nvidia card. Nvidia Inspector requires a download and install, and is needed if the Control Panel's vertical sync (vsync) and triple buffering alone aren't enough to keep the fps at or below the refresh rate of your monitor which in your case is 144 Hz (so 144 fps). The link to the two tools show how they should be arranged. At consistent rates of 300-550 fps, game performance will suffer and there is a risk of damage to the graphics card and system board. > (Quote)
Nice meeting you again =D, and thanks for the help. I thought it was too much. Also, I do wondering if this rate also depends on where you play, like playing in Bridgeport means it'll be even higher. Anyway, so if I download the link you gave me, do I have to manually adjust things or does it do it on it's own.
@elleskyheart - It doesn't really matter which world you play in. The problem is that TS3 has no functional fps limiter built in like more modern games do (even TS4 has one). Back in 2008-09 when the game was originally designed, home consumer video cards were (with some exceptions) not as strong as they are today so this was less of an issue for most players. Things have changed since then. While a lighter, less complicated to play world may run most scenes at a lower fps overall, with no vertical sync and no cap things will still have no reason to not fluctuate all over the place and beyond what your (or any) monitor can possibly interpret. The excess frames per second are the equivalent of digital noise.
It would be suggested to try the Nvidia Control Panel first. Set up a profile using the Add button as indicated for TS3.exe (for Patch 1.69/Origin) or TS3W.exe (with the "W" for Patch 1.67/everything else) by navigating to where the executables are within the Program Files (x86) directory. Usually that goes something like C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts (or Origin Games)\The Sims 3\Game\Bin. For Steam installs, the path will be a bit different. Then on that profile, set Vertical Sync to On or Adaptive (whichever one works better, if either) and Triple Buffering just above it to On. Again, see the illustrations provided. If the Control Panel offers a choice for which card to use, select the High Performance one as some computers have dual graphics and the game may be reaching for the everyday low performing, lower power consumption integrated graphics that the game won't like as much.
If that still doesn't reduce the actual in-game fps to more reasonable levels, then we move on to the Nvidia Inspector download, install, and setup.
> @igazor said: > It doesn't really matter which world you play in. The problem is that TS3 has no functional fps limiter built in like more modern games do (even TS4 has one). Back in 2008-09 when the game was originally designed, home consumer video cards were (with some exceptions) not as strong as they are today so this was less of an issue for most players. Things have changed since then. While a lighter, less complicated to play world may run most scenes at a lower fps overall, with no vertical sync and no cap things will still have no reason to not fluctuate all over the place and beyond what your (or any) monitor can possibly interpret. The excess frames per second are the equivalent of digital noise. > > It would be suggested to try the Nvidia Control Panel first. Set up a profile using the Add button as indicated for TS3.exe (for Patch 1.69/Origin) or TS3W.exe (with the "W" for Patch 1.67/everything else) by navigating to where the executables are within the Program Files (x86) directory. Usually that goes something like C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts (or Origin Games)\The Sims 3\Game\Bin. For Steam installs, the path will be a bit different. Then on that profile, set Vertical Sync to On or Adaptive (whichever one works better, if either) and Triple Buffering just above it to On. Again, see the illustrations provided. > > If that still doesn't reduce the actual in-game fps to more reasonable levels, then we move on to the Nvidia Inspector download, install, and setup.
Kk. Thanks for letting me know. And I'm really grateful for the help. Please forgive me for the slight confusion. Now, I did download it, but I'll try this method you are telling me first. I am at my control panel, but I'm confused about the add button. Where do I find it? Is it user accounts you mean?
@elleskyheart - I'm very sorry, but I have directed you to this illustration three times now. I can't provide a better or different one myself because my graphics cards are AMD, not Nvidia, so the tools I have to use are different. Look under the first Spoiler button. Is that not somewhat like what your Nivida Control Panel looks like and do you not see the big "Add" button to the right of "Select a Program to Customize"? https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/16540301/#Comment_16540301
@igazor Okay, so I found what you were saying. I found the add button as well. Now, I see what i can add, but I cannot find sims 3.exe. Only the sims 3. Is that what you mean? It's not like the example on the other forum as it doesn't say exe after the 3
Okay, it's down to 143-146. That looks much better than before. I take it this means it worked? Should I do anything else or is it fine for now? I mean, will it stay like this since I did this method?
Good job, that's exactly the result we wanted. Even if you don't see a difference in the way in which the game plays (although I hope you do), you have removed the threat of fps overrun crashes, graphics glitches, and the danger element of overworking the card. Yes it should stay that way as long as you play in Full Screen mode because vertical sync is not effective in Windowed mode, for that you do need Inspector. Although it doesn't hurt to check on the fps in-game every so often anyway just to make sure.
@igazor Thanks so much for answering and the help. I apologize for the confusing. I'm glad it'll at least fix those things you mentioned. And I'm testing now. I do see that the fan runs a bit less actually, which is good. I mean, it doesn't start up right when I begin to play which is always use to do
Okay, so I've played sims 3 for nearly two hours. Looks like the method works. One big thing I have noticed is that my fans don't need to work as much which is really nice. So thank you and the user who had the guide for helping out. It's nice that my fans don't go overboard now, at least not for a big. This was a help. Hoping it'll stay. One never knows with tech though lol
I recently bought an Acer Nitro 5 (Windows 10 OS, i5 processor, GeForce GTX1050 graphics, 512 SSD) laptop to run Sims 3. I installed the base game and IP expansion using disc, however I installed the rest of my EP's via Origin. The game is patched to 1.69.
I've played the game only for roughly over an hour before the game suddenly stops and takes me back to the Origin homepage. I get no error message or diagnostics for the crash. It just goes back to the Origin homepage. Yesterday I was able to play for a few hours without it crashing, but today I played and it crashed within an hour. I have NRaas mods but no other mods, and the CC I have works perfectly fine on my old laptop. The game itself runs super smooth, barely any lag on high settings, and doesn't freeze before crashing - it literally just closes the window. I also use Coolboost when playing to prevent overheating.
I spent over an hour yesterday getting the game to recognise my graphics card (it now does, according to my DeviceConfig file) but it still crashed after only an hour of play today. Is there any support/advice anyone could offer?
@metalligee - Playing on a recognized vs. unrecognized card doesn't have any impact on the game's stability. The impact of forcing recognition is that you don't have to put up with generic (usually too low) default game option settings and possibly a few small things such as to what extent the game populates community lots on its own so that your sims are not necessarily always the only ones there when they are out and about around town.
What does make a huge impact on stability is fps capping. The game has no functional built-in fps limiter and a GTX 1050 is strong enough to run wild on frame rates without steps being taken to establish vertical sync or some form of limiting them. See the discussion with the player just prior to you on this thread for the steps to take with the Nividia Control Panel and, if necessary, Nvidia Inspector to make this happen. To check in-game on the actual frame rates your card is throwing while playing, Shift+Ctrl+C to bring up the cheats console and type fps on (enter). As you play and move the game camera around, the displayed frame rate should never exceed the refresh rate of your monitor. Most are 60 Hz, so that would be 60 fps (some can run a bit higher, like the player before you has a 144 Hz monitor so for them the goal was 144 fps). To make the display go away, cheats console again and fps off (enter).
Another factor could be the world you are playing. If it happens to be Isla Paradiso, since you mentioned that EP, that world is design-flawed and without being fixed up first will not run in a stable manner for most all players on any system. For play testing on a new computer, I would suggest newly started games in Sunset Valley, Riverview, or Twinbrook as those tend to be pretty gentle on their impact and don't have all that many flaws associated with their design. Bridgeport would be another example of a world that probably shouldn't be used while testing in the beginning.
Hi @izagor and thanks for getting back to me so quickly.
I typed in the fps on cheat and the frame rate read a max of 144Hz. When I turned on Triple Buffering and Vsync in Nvidia Control Panel and went back into my game, the frame rate went up to something like 360Hz, so I'm not sure if I've done something wrong. I've noticed in-game that on the settings/graphics bar there is an option to make the frame rate either 60Hz or Default - should I click on 60Hz even though my monitor frame rate is 144Hz?
Other things I've tried are: - Running the game as Administrator - Running game in Win 7/8 compatibility mode - Setting Nvidia graphics to only read my high-performance graphics, and not the integrated ones - Adjusting the amount of RAM the game reads to up to 7550MB from something like 1470MB - Turning off start up apps that could interfere with the game - Turned off internet/antivirus/in game store/memories - Run TS3CLA which always tells me that I've reached the Max Memory available (this diagnostic comes up once it crashes back to Origin with no diagnostic or error message) - Lowering my in game settings to medium - Updating mods to their latest patches
Then I started getting the dreaded Error 12, which I've never had before in my 10 years of playing Sims 3 - it's only started since transferring my old saved Neverglade game from my old laptop (Win8.1, 6gb RAM, 1.6Ghz, 1TB HHD) to this new Acer Nitro. I've tried all options, such as deleting the .bad save file and resaving, or clicking on "Save As", or swapping to Edit World. Nothing has worked and now I can only play for about 2-3 hours (saving regularly) before the game decides that it's exhausted its memory and I'm forced to quit without saving my latest progress.
So now I have a game that supposedly is using up all of the RAM so I can't save my progress or just crashes with no error message.
I'm playing in a custom world called Neverglade - this game worked perfectly on my old laptop and runs smoothly on the Nitro - no lag/freezing etc. I made a new Neverglade world today and have moved my existing households from the old crashing Neverglade to the new Neverglade. I haven't properly tested it yet as I'm tired of dealing with the errors today, but I expect that the outcome will be the same.
I'm seriously at my wits end with this. I've just paid £600 for this laptop so I can primarily play Sims and other simulation games, but now I don't even know if it's worth the hassle.
@metalligee This sounds like a huge mess. It will probably be a lot easier to start fresh, get the game running smoothly, and then try to add your content afterwards. So please move your entire Sims 3 game folder out of Documents\Electronic Arts and onto your desktop. When you launch the game, a clean folder will spawn with no content, and you can test in this folder first. It's best to use a well-made EA world like Sunset Valley or Twinbrook to test, to establish a baseline for the game. Please also:
Undo whatever changes you made for the game's memory use—it's already Large Address aware, meaning it can use up to 4 GB (actually a bit less), and there's no way to increase that. The posts to that effect are inaccurate and usually reference a different value.
Undo any compatibility mode you've set. Sims 3 runs just fine in Windows 10.
Set your graphics to whatever settings you would like to use normally, except for water and high-detail lots. These are resource hogs on any system. I leave mine on "mirrors only" and 2, respectively.
Leave all your mods and custom content out of it for now. You can start adding everything back once the game is running smoothly.
For the Nvidia Control Panel, you'll need to use TS3.exe for an Origin install, but TS3W.exe (with the "W") for a disc or Steam install. You can test with v-sync on or adaptive and triple buffering on or off, but the goal is to get fps to stay at or below 144 Hz. The CP settings will only work in fullscreen mode, in case that was the issue. Ignore the in-game setting; it doesn't work at all.
It's important to confirm that your in-game framerates are locked in before doing anything else. If CP doesn't work, or if you want to play in windowed mode, then Nvidia Inspector (free download) is the next tool to try, as igazor pointed out. If Inspector doesn't work either, there are other options, but again, it's best to deal with this first.
And yes, you can play at 144 Hz if you want, although 60 or 72 would also be fine. V-sync will set it to your screen's refresh rate automatically.
Hey @puzzlezaddict thank you for the suggestions! I decided to do a clean install to reset everything I altered in the game and will test out Sunset Valley without my saves/mods/CC once all my EP's have finished installing. I'm doing a full disc install instead of Origin or mixed disc with Origin - not sure if this will make any difference but I'm pretty desperate at this point. Does Origin sometimes cause crashing errors?
I'll try again with CP and Inspector if CP isn't working to limit the frame rate. I was also wondering if the crashing/error 12 could be due to having a large save file? My Neverglade world is currently 1.90GB - could this also be preventing me from saving?
@metalligee A disc install uses marginally fewer resources than an Origin install, so it can only help. But if your base game disc was manufactured after September 2012, you'll be forced to use Origin anyway. In that case, it's best to install your newest pack (by the date EA released it) via Origin and let Origin manage everything, with no discs necessary. (I've also seen a couple of examples where a very new disc for one of the packs wouldn't install without Origin present; maybe EA changed something in the last year or so.) But if you can make it work, an all-disc install is definitely the better way to go.
Yes, the Error 12s could certainly be due to the size of your save file, either in terms of its absolute size in GB or to how large and complicated the world itself is (physical size, population, and how long you've been playing it all matter). But this is why it's useful to get a baseline for how the game runs in Sunset Valley, or Twinbrook, or Riverview. After you've confirmed fps is locked at 60, you can monitor RAM use in the Task Manager to see how much memory the game uses under ideal circumstances.
Once you have that baseline, you can compare it with memory use in a fresh instance of Neverglade, and with your ongoing save. It might be that Neverglade will always use too much memory to be stable throughout a long play session, in which case you'll need to save and quit to desktop more often, or you'll have to find another world to play in. But if RAM use in a new save is fine, then your existing save might be overloaded.
The absolute size of the save file is a bit misleading, since it will include .nhd files for each world your sims have visited. Only one of these files is loaded at a time (the sims can only be in one world at a time), so the presence of the other files wouldn't affect memory use. On the other hand, 1.9 GB is pretty high. There's a tool called Kuree's Save Cleaner that can help bring that down to a more manageable size. But there's not much point in using it until you have an idea of how the game is "supposed" to run for reference.
There are also a number of mods that can help the game run better. I don't know which ones you use already, but the list for ideal performance is NRaas ErrorTrap, Overwatch, MasterController, Traveler, Register, and Traffic. But mod use is its own discussion.
I REALLY need help. My sims 3 game was working perfectly fine until recently. I opened up a save that I hadn't played in a while and when I tried the make her go to sleep my game froze up a few hours into the night. I couldn't move my camera or do anything. Time froze and my sim was just stuck sleeping. I tried to restart the game but it did nothing. So I saved the sim and put her in a different save and she was working great for a few days. But now she is freezing again when she sleeps. I started having this problem a few days ago and it's not just that save. I have another save with 2 sims a horse and a cat and whenever I try to get my sims to sleep everything freezes. The thing is though is that I'm only having this problem with those 2 saves and I don't understand why. My game was running perfectly fine and now it's acting strange. I've had so many problems with the sims 3 as everybody has but I love the game and want to continue playing. I feel like I've had more problems then I've actually played the game. I do have CC and Mods but they were never a problem before. I really need help because now I'm scared to open my game and play a family or start a new one because this problem seems to spread. If I play a save that is fine it will start freezing and it is so disappointing. HELP PLEASE!
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We? Maybe you must, but I have always used the normal, and also easiest and safest way of turning on vsync, which is via the built-in Control Panels, Intel Control Panel for my dual graphics laptops, and the Nvidia Control Panel for my laptops and desktops with the CPU graphics chip disabled, and so far it's always been working fine. No need to download any third party potentially problematic tools.
If the built-in Control Panels don't work the way they're supposed to, there's probably something wrong with the graphics drivers that should be taken care of before you do anything else.
Not to quibble totally about semantics, but when I said a third party tool I was including Nvidia (or Radeon Pro, Crimson, etc. if an AMD card). Perhaps I should stop referring to them exactly that way but most modern games that need to will at least try to take care of fps capping on their own or by option like for example TS4 does. TS3 does not because of its age or the fact the EA never bothered to address this (some of each, really). The "first" and "second" parties are the player and the game. To take your point, okay the first party is really the player and their hardware/operating system so the NCP is first party. But again, that's just semantics.
Sorry but vertical sync on its own not effectively capping things needs to be addressed but it is not a sign that something is horribly or fundamentally wrong with the setup. It might suggest that something is fundamentally insufficient with the game as it was developed, as it aged, and as it is now played on stronger hardware and different operating systems than for which it was originally designed, but we can't fix that directly. Or we could say that there is a fundamental shortcoming in the Nvidia and AMD built-in tools in that they don't provide a max cap override for frame rates when native vsync (and triple buffering as should have been mentioned) doesn't do the trick on its own. But we can't fix that either, we can only enhance the tools with ones that do provide this for those who need it.
Yes it is very important to set vsync first and to set the correct card for dual within the built-in control panel if the player actually has dual graphics (not all will even have an Intel or other integrated chip present) and then check to see if it is being totally effective. If it isn't, then the built-in control panel needs some help. Never should anyone be afraid to call upon trusted tools such as Nvidia Inspector or others such as RTSS, MSI Afterburner, etc. should they be needed to complete the job or if windowed mode play is required. The worst thing a trusted tool can do is not work, in which case the player should ask for further assistance and/or remove it and try a different one. The risk of advising against ever using them is that players will give up before long and either not be able to play or attempt to continue playing in such a way that fps rates are still running rampant and thus potentially do damage to their system.
NRaas has moved!
Our new site is at http://nraas.net
6GB NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 1660Ti Graphics
Backlit Keyboard with Numeric Keypad
802.11 Wireless-AC 2x2 + Bluetooth® 4.1
15.6" Display with 144Hz Refresh Rate
This is the portion of a recent post on this thread I tried to point you towards. Sorry if I missed the mark. The Nvidia Control Panel is something you would already have since you have an Nvidia card. Nvidia Inspector requires a download and install, and is needed if the Control Panel's vertical sync (vsync) and triple buffering alone aren't enough to keep the fps at or below the refresh rate of your monitor which in your case is 144 Hz (so 144 fps). The link to the two tools show how they should be arranged. At consistent rates of 300-550 fps, game performance will suffer and there is a risk of damage to the graphics card and system board.
NRaas has moved!
Our new site is at http://nraas.net
> @elleskyheart -- Well, fancy meeting you here. :)
>
> This is the portion of a recent post on this thread I tried to point you towards. Sorry if I missed the mark. The Nvidia Control Panel is something you would already have since you have an Nvidia card. Nvidia Inspector requires a download and install, and is needed if the Control Panel's vertical sync (vsync) and triple buffering alone aren't enough to keep the fps at or below the refresh rate of your monitor which in your case is 144 Hz (so 144 fps). The link to the two tools show how they should be arranged. At consistent rates of 300-550 fps, game performance will suffer and there is a risk of damage to the graphics card and system board.
> (Quote)
Nice meeting you again =D, and thanks for the help. I thought it was too much. Also, I do wondering if this rate also depends on where you play, like playing in Bridgeport means it'll be even higher. Anyway, so if I download the link you gave me, do I have to manually adjust things or does it do it on it's own.
It would be suggested to try the Nvidia Control Panel first. Set up a profile using the Add button as indicated for TS3.exe (for Patch 1.69/Origin) or TS3W.exe (with the "W" for Patch 1.67/everything else) by navigating to where the executables are within the Program Files (x86) directory. Usually that goes something like C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts (or Origin Games)\The Sims 3\Game\Bin. For Steam installs, the path will be a bit different. Then on that profile, set Vertical Sync to On or Adaptive (whichever one works better, if either) and Triple Buffering just above it to On. Again, see the illustrations provided. If the Control Panel offers a choice for which card to use, select the High Performance one as some computers have dual graphics and the game may be reaching for the everyday low performing, lower power consumption integrated graphics that the game won't like as much.
If that still doesn't reduce the actual in-game fps to more reasonable levels, then we move on to the Nvidia Inspector download, install, and setup.
NRaas has moved!
Our new site is at http://nraas.net
> It doesn't really matter which world you play in. The problem is that TS3 has no functional fps limiter built in like more modern games do (even TS4 has one). Back in 2008-09 when the game was originally designed, home consumer video cards were (with some exceptions) not as strong as they are today so this was less of an issue for most players. Things have changed since then. While a lighter, less complicated to play world may run most scenes at a lower fps overall, with no vertical sync and no cap things will still have no reason to not fluctuate all over the place and beyond what your (or any) monitor can possibly interpret. The excess frames per second are the equivalent of digital noise.
>
> It would be suggested to try the Nvidia Control Panel first. Set up a profile using the Add button as indicated for TS3.exe (for Patch 1.69/Origin) or TS3W.exe (with the "W" for Patch 1.67/everything else) by navigating to where the executables are within the Program Files (x86) directory. Usually that goes something like C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts (or Origin Games)\The Sims 3\Game\Bin. For Steam installs, the path will be a bit different. Then on that profile, set Vertical Sync to On or Adaptive (whichever one works better, if either) and Triple Buffering just above it to On. Again, see the illustrations provided.
>
> If that still doesn't reduce the actual in-game fps to more reasonable levels, then we move on to the Nvidia Inspector download, install, and setup.
Kk. Thanks for letting me know. And I'm really grateful for the help. Please forgive me for the slight confusion. Now, I did download it, but I'll try this method you are telling me first. I am at my control panel, but I'm confused about the add button. Where do I find it? Is it user accounts you mean?
https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/16540301/#Comment_16540301
NRaas has moved!
Our new site is at http://nraas.net
Okay, it's down to 143-146. That looks much better than before. I take it this means it worked? Should I do anything else or is it fine for now? I mean, will it stay like this since I did this method?
So how does the game play now?
NRaas has moved!
Our new site is at http://nraas.net
I recently bought an Acer Nitro 5 (Windows 10 OS, i5 processor, GeForce GTX1050 graphics, 512 SSD) laptop to run Sims 3. I installed the base game and IP expansion using disc, however I installed the rest of my EP's via Origin. The game is patched to 1.69.
I've played the game only for roughly over an hour before the game suddenly stops and takes me back to the Origin homepage. I get no error message or diagnostics for the crash. It just goes back to the Origin homepage. Yesterday I was able to play for a few hours without it crashing, but today I played and it crashed within an hour. I have NRaas mods but no other mods, and the CC I have works perfectly fine on my old laptop. The game itself runs super smooth, barely any lag on high settings, and doesn't freeze before crashing - it literally just closes the window. I also use Coolboost when playing to prevent overheating.
I spent over an hour yesterday getting the game to recognise my graphics card (it now does, according to my DeviceConfig file) but it still crashed after only an hour of play today.
Is there any support/advice anyone could offer?
Grace
What does make a huge impact on stability is fps capping. The game has no functional built-in fps limiter and a GTX 1050 is strong enough to run wild on frame rates without steps being taken to establish vertical sync or some form of limiting them. See the discussion with the player just prior to you on this thread for the steps to take with the Nividia Control Panel and, if necessary, Nvidia Inspector to make this happen. To check in-game on the actual frame rates your card is throwing while playing, Shift+Ctrl+C to bring up the cheats console and type fps on (enter). As you play and move the game camera around, the displayed frame rate should never exceed the refresh rate of your monitor. Most are 60 Hz, so that would be 60 fps (some can run a bit higher, like the player before you has a 144 Hz monitor so for them the goal was 144 fps). To make the display go away, cheats console again and fps off (enter).
Another factor could be the world you are playing. If it happens to be Isla Paradiso, since you mentioned that EP, that world is design-flawed and without being fixed up first will not run in a stable manner for most all players on any system. For play testing on a new computer, I would suggest newly started games in Sunset Valley, Riverview, or Twinbrook as those tend to be pretty gentle on their impact and don't have all that many flaws associated with their design. Bridgeport would be another example of a world that probably shouldn't be used while testing in the beginning.
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I typed in the fps on cheat and the frame rate read a max of 144Hz. When I turned on Triple Buffering and Vsync in Nvidia Control Panel and went back into my game, the frame rate went up to something like 360Hz, so I'm not sure if I've done something wrong. I've noticed in-game that on the settings/graphics bar there is an option to make the frame rate either 60Hz or Default - should I click on 60Hz even though my monitor frame rate is 144Hz?
Other things I've tried are:
- Running the game as Administrator
- Running game in Win 7/8 compatibility mode
- Setting Nvidia graphics to only read my high-performance graphics, and not the integrated ones
- Adjusting the amount of RAM the game reads to up to 7550MB from something like 1470MB
- Turning off start up apps that could interfere with the game
- Turned off internet/antivirus/in game store/memories
- Run TS3CLA which always tells me that I've reached the Max Memory available (this diagnostic comes up once it crashes back to Origin with no diagnostic or error message)
- Lowering my in game settings to medium
- Updating mods to their latest patches
Then I started getting the dreaded Error 12, which I've never had before in my 10 years of playing Sims 3 - it's only started since transferring my old saved Neverglade game from my old laptop (Win8.1, 6gb RAM, 1.6Ghz, 1TB HHD) to this new Acer Nitro. I've tried all options, such as deleting the .bad save file and resaving, or clicking on "Save As", or swapping to Edit World. Nothing has worked and now I can only play for about 2-3 hours (saving regularly) before the game decides that it's exhausted its memory and I'm forced to quit without saving my latest progress.
So now I have a game that supposedly is using up all of the RAM so I can't save my progress or just crashes with no error message.
I'm playing in a custom world called Neverglade - this game worked perfectly on my old laptop and runs smoothly on the Nitro - no lag/freezing etc. I made a new Neverglade world today and have moved my existing households from the old crashing Neverglade to the new Neverglade. I haven't properly tested it yet as I'm tired of dealing with the errors today, but I expect that the outcome will be the same.
I'm seriously at my wits end with this. I've just paid £600 for this laptop so I can primarily play Sims and other simulation games, but now I don't even know if it's worth the hassle.
Grace
- Undo whatever changes you made for the game's memory use—it's already Large Address aware, meaning it can use up to 4 GB (actually a bit less), and there's no way to increase that. The posts to that effect are inaccurate and usually reference a different value.
- Undo any compatibility mode you've set. Sims 3 runs just fine in Windows 10.
- Set your graphics to whatever settings you would like to use normally, except for water and high-detail lots. These are resource hogs on any system. I leave mine on "mirrors only" and 2, respectively.
- Leave all your mods and custom content out of it for now. You can start adding everything back once the game is running smoothly.
For the Nvidia Control Panel, you'll need to use TS3.exe for an Origin install, but TS3W.exe (with the "W") for a disc or Steam install. You can test with v-sync on or adaptive and triple buffering on or off, but the goal is to get fps to stay at or below 144 Hz. The CP settings will only work in fullscreen mode, in case that was the issue. Ignore the in-game setting; it doesn't work at all.It's important to confirm that your in-game framerates are locked in before doing anything else. If CP doesn't work, or if you want to play in windowed mode, then Nvidia Inspector (free download) is the next tool to try, as igazor pointed out. If Inspector doesn't work either, there are other options, but again, it's best to deal with this first.
And yes, you can play at 144 Hz if you want, although 60 or 72 would also be fine. V-sync will set it to your screen's refresh rate automatically.
I'll try again with CP and Inspector if CP isn't working to limit the frame rate. I was also wondering if the crashing/error 12 could be due to having a large save file? My Neverglade world is currently 1.90GB - could this also be preventing me from saving?
Yes, the Error 12s could certainly be due to the size of your save file, either in terms of its absolute size in GB or to how large and complicated the world itself is (physical size, population, and how long you've been playing it all matter). But this is why it's useful to get a baseline for how the game runs in Sunset Valley, or Twinbrook, or Riverview. After you've confirmed fps is locked at 60, you can monitor RAM use in the Task Manager to see how much memory the game uses under ideal circumstances.
Once you have that baseline, you can compare it with memory use in a fresh instance of Neverglade, and with your ongoing save. It might be that Neverglade will always use too much memory to be stable throughout a long play session, in which case you'll need to save and quit to desktop more often, or you'll have to find another world to play in. But if RAM use in a new save is fine, then your existing save might be overloaded.
The absolute size of the save file is a bit misleading, since it will include .nhd files for each world your sims have visited. Only one of these files is loaded at a time (the sims can only be in one world at a time), so the presence of the other files wouldn't affect memory use. On the other hand, 1.9 GB is pretty high. There's a tool called Kuree's Save Cleaner that can help bring that down to a more manageable size. But there's not much point in using it until you have an idea of how the game is "supposed" to run for reference.
There are also a number of mods that can help the game run better. I don't know which ones you use already, but the list for ideal performance is NRaas ErrorTrap, Overwatch, MasterController, Traveler, Register, and Traffic. But mod use is its own discussion.