The most efficient way to cover all the relevant system info is with a dxdiag. You can run one, post the results on pastebin.com or some other free filesharing site, and link it here.
If you're looking to buy, that's a different conversation. You can link computers you're considering, or post your budget and country and ask for suggestions. Or, if you prefer, it's easy enough to write out the typical recommendation for a new computer so you can look around yourself.
A very good PC. I strongly recommend something with an i7 or equivalent, and at least 8GB of RAM. The PC I mostly use for TS4, and now TS2 as well won't run TS3 with anything more than one expansion pack without crashing (integrated graphics, CORE i5, 8GB RAM), but my laptop (i7, I think around 8GB of RAM--bought it used, since it was the only rugged laptop on my budget) will run two packs at once. And that's with everything on low or medium. And even then, there are slow moments. I did buy a gaming PC that did run TS3 quite well (i7, Radeon Graphics, 8GB RAM), but the RAM failed soon after purchase. I will change the RAM out (RAM isn't much more than the UPS postage to the warranty office for Acer in Texas--and besides, I think their rough handling when I got the PC from Amazon started the issue)), and it should run better.
But, in terms of the game itself, get it. It's much better than TS4, and definitely improved over TS2 in some ways (Sims in TS2 are better, in my opinion). And Steam, every now and then, will put most of the EPs on sale for $5 each. I've bought most of them, as of late. But, just the base game has lots to offer--pun intended. There's plenty of lots to build on and explore, which most of the other Sims games don't.
I have 8 GB ram and graphics card nvidia geforce 950 gtx and the game runs fine. I rarely get crashing and if the game is slow is because I have way to many mods..otherwise my game experience has been good so far
TS3 is one of the few games that truly benefits from using an SSD. I actually made a 512GB one my priority with building my desktop. SSD for speed, space for all the saves (I also have a storage drive but it's a regular HDD and older)
> @BrittanyChick22 said: > I have 8 GB ram and graphics card nvidia geforce 950 gtx and the game runs fine. I rarely get crashing and if the game is slow is because I have way to many mods..otherwise my game experience has been good so far
I had a 950 to, it just died last month. ): I ended up getting a 2060 :3
> @InfraGreen said: > TS3 is one of the few games that truly benefits from using an SSD. I actually made a 512GB one my priority with building my desktop. SSD for speed, space for all the saves (I also have a storage drive but it's a regular HDD and older)
It really does! I watched a youtibe video to get an idea of it, i think from the launcher it takes about 1 minute to 1 minute and a half to start up! :D
I run Sims 3 on a notebook. Granted, it's a fairly powerful notebook. The disadvantage of running Sims 3 on a completely modern machine is you do have to do some work before hand to get it to recognize your GPU, and it may not recognize your CPU either in which case you also need to fool it into thinking that less powerful CPUs in general are more powerful. I have 32GB ram, but all that means is I can run a web browser at the same time as playing.
If you do have a powerful machine, look into using an FPS limiter. Nvidia's tool does not work for me (it probably has to do with the dedicated and integrated GPU selection), but 3booter works fine as long as I run the game in full screen mode.
Edit: Another vote for an SSD. You need it for both your boot drive and the drive you're running Sims 3 from. I think for most people that's the same drive. I have dual nvme drives, and generally, it does only take a minute or so for the game to load. It's a little longer than Sims 4, but OTOH, I only have to deal with it once or twice (if I travel) per play session.
I recently bought a new Asus Tuf gaming laptop for about $500 and it runs beautifully on high settings. I didn't have to do anything to it, luckily, since I'm not technologically gifted, lol
People actually play Sims 3 on laptops? You're just asking for performance issues if you're trying to play it on a laptop.
My family always played Sims on desktops. 1 2 & 3 so I guess I never had the same issues. I've had a i5 6400 and 8 GB of RAM and its run just fine. Then again it's a desktop. I mean, sure I've recently upgraded to an i7 6700k & 16GB RAM but that was for a Rugby Football game I wanted to play. Even before I upgraded sims 3 ran just fine. Never tried it on a laptop lol
People actually play Sims 3 on laptops? You're just asking for performance issues if you're trying to play it on a laptop.
My family always played Sims on desktops. 1 2 & 3 so I guess I never had the same issues. I've had a i5 6400 and 8 GB of RAM and its run just fine. Then again it's a desktop. I mean, sure I've recently upgraded to an i7 6700k & 16GB RAM but that was for a Rugby Football game I wanted to play. Even before I upgraded sims 3 ran just fine. Never tried it on a laptop lol
I do play it on a laptop. But it's a gaming laptop. It's amazing how much they've improved over the past few years. At least some laptops offer full-sized graphics cards instead of stripped down ones (mine does). My CPU is not as strong as its desktop equivalent but it's good enough for gaming. Heat can be an issue, but that's what cooling pads are for. Granted, my main games are Sims 3 and Civilization 6 atm, but it easily plays a fully modded skyrim at 1440p with stable framerates (what those framerates are depends on the ENB).
The disadvantage to laptops is they are so much more expensive and so much less upgradeable than desktops. But I need computer setups in two houses (mine and my parents) and so a laptop makes that much easier.
I play on a laptop that I've had for ages and I don't have any issues with my game; only issues I get is if I download dodgy CC but that can be easily dealt with.
I use a gaming laptop, that I’ve added an SSD to - I have all the requirements to play, I even got some great advice from Best Buy when I had them install the SSD (this is before COVID took our lives over).
And it worked so well I almost cried - seriously. The loading time was amazing and the game ran SO smooth. Then I had an Windows 10 update.
Now the launcher will pop up, then immediately goes off. I’ve done everything I can to try and make it work again, it’s been super frustrating since I bought the computer just to play Sim 3!
ASUS VivoBook X540BA-RB94 user... here. Not recommended... It's only a last-ditch system for the economically challenged, but still needing my Sims 3 fix. If I don't get my fix with Sims 3, I turn into this: (think...very unpleasant to be around)
I'd suggest saving up your simoleons for a gaming computer.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
TS3 is one of the few games that truly benefits from using an SSD. I actually made a 512GB one my priority with building my desktop. SSD for speed, space for all the saves (I also have a storage drive but it's a regular HDD and older)
Agree with this. Also learn how to (if you don't already) enable the game to use more RAM by tweaking the config files. (by default, it uses only 2GB no matter how much RAM your PC has).
EDIT: DON'T DO THIS. Configuring that file apparently has nothing to with RAM and can lead to game instability. Thanks to Igazor and AlexaKry for warning.
I use a gaming laptop, that I’ve added an SSD to - I have all the requirements to play, I even got some great advice from Best Buy when I had them install the SSD (this is before COVID took our lives over).
And it worked so well I almost cried - seriously. The loading time was amazing and the game ran SO smooth. Then I had an Windows 10 update.
Now the launcher will pop up, then immediately goes off. I’ve done everything I can to try and make it work again, it’s been super frustrating since I bought the computer just to play Sim 3!
That's so frustrating! I had a similar problem last month so I feel your pain. Have you tried:
1) Giving your game a factory reset
2) Trying to run without cc (just to see if it's a cc compatibility issue) 3) Enabling your game to use more RAM (see my post above) Don't do this
4) Turning vertical sync on
5) Using a FPS limiter?
I cannot play on high settings I got my game closes itself without a warning or I cannot save (I got the error 12) or issue number 3 it freezes forever. I got a gaming computer but no ssd yet.Windows 10 is a very ram greedy as much as Vista was. I did everything already posted .
I probably got so much cc or a lot of sims but sorry I am autistic I cannot say goodbye to them.
New to The Sims3.com website looking for friends on PC I have no friends with so ever please add me on the game (PC /PS4 mommyArmy2011 my only enjoyment says covid-19 play daily
TS3 is one of the few games that truly benefits from using an SSD. I actually made a 512GB one my priority with building my desktop. SSD for speed, space for all the saves (I also have a storage drive but it's a regular HDD and older)
Agree with this. Also learn how to (if you don't already) enable the game to use more RAM by tweaking the config files. (by default, it uses only 2GB no matter how much RAM your PC has).
That´s wrong. The game was updated, you don´t have to tweak this anymore and it would be better not to suggest this kind of "help" to players. The game can now use more than 3 GB of RAM, depending on your computer specs from 3.3 GB to 3.6 GB.
So dont use this guide, it´s not neccessary anymore!!!! @igazor can explain it better than me, so I hope he´ll see this. (Thanks in advance for the help igazor!)
When the game was released in 2009, it could only make use of 2 GB of RAM (this is still true only of the Mac version). That was fixed when the game became Large Address Aware (LAA) with Patch 1.17 released alongside of Late Night.
@Zei - I'm afraid that link is indeed not helpful and what it is instructing players to change is really the upper limit of the game's script heap which is set to 20 GB by default (not 2 GB). That setting should really be left alone, the developers must have had a reason for choosing 20 GB as a default value there and it has nothing to do with RAM usage.
There is most certainly no way to get the game to use 8 GB like that guide says. The one who posted it so many years ago should have known better, and quite possibly did but posted this anyway and players have unfortunately been taken in by it ever since.
When the game was released in 2009, it could only make use of 2 GB of RAM (this is still true only of the Mac version). That was fixed when the game became Large Address Aware (LAA) with Patch 1.17 released alongside of Late Night.
@Zei - I'm afraid that link is indeed not helpful and what it is instructing players to change is really the upper limit of the game's script heap which is set to 20 GB by default (not 2 GB). That setting should really be left alone, the developers must have had a reason for choosing 20 GB as a default value there and it has nothing to do with RAM usage.
There is most certainly no way to get the game to use 8 GB like that guide says. The one who posted it so many years ago should have known better, and quite possibly did but posted this anyway and players have unfortunately been taken in by it ever since.
Oh my god, I'm very very surprised by this information. But it did make my game run much faster, how did it do that then?
@Zei - I don't mean to be overly dismissive, but possibly this was a Placebo Effect? Or maybe you changed/improved something else at or around the same time that did have a positive impact?
@Zei - I don't mean to be overly dismissive, but possibly this was a Placebo Effect? Or maybe you changed/improved something else at or around the same time that did have a positive impact?
Well... I did enable V-sync around the same time... Would it make that much of a difference in performance really?
And do you think I should change that setting to its original value now? It wouldn't do more harm, would it?
Comments
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/
If you're looking to buy, that's a different conversation. You can link computers you're considering, or post your budget and country and ask for suggestions. Or, if you prefer, it's easy enough to write out the typical recommendation for a new computer so you can look around yourself.
But, in terms of the game itself, get it. It's much better than TS4, and definitely improved over TS2 in some ways (Sims in TS2 are better, in my opinion). And Steam, every now and then, will put most of the EPs on sale for $5 each. I've bought most of them, as of late. But, just the base game has lots to offer--pun intended. There's plenty of lots to build on and explore, which most of the other Sims games don't.
outrun / blog / tunglr
> I have 8 GB ram and graphics card nvidia geforce 950 gtx and the game runs fine. I rarely get crashing and if the game is slow is because I have way to many mods..otherwise my game experience has been good so far
I had a 950 to, it just died last month. ): I ended up getting a 2060 :3
> TS3 is one of the few games that truly benefits from using an SSD. I actually made a 512GB one my priority with building my desktop. SSD for speed, space for all the saves (I also have a storage drive but it's a regular HDD and older)
It really does! I watched a youtibe video to get an idea of it, i think from the launcher it takes about 1 minute to 1 minute and a half to start up! :D
If you do have a powerful machine, look into using an FPS limiter. Nvidia's tool does not work for me (it probably has to do with the dedicated and integrated GPU selection), but 3booter works fine as long as I run the game in full screen mode.
Edit: Another vote for an SSD. You need it for both your boot drive and the drive you're running Sims 3 from. I think for most people that's the same drive. I have dual nvme drives, and generally, it does only take a minute or so for the game to load. It's a little longer than Sims 4, but OTOH, I only have to deal with it once or twice (if I travel) per play session.
My family always played Sims on desktops. 1 2 & 3 so I guess I never had the same issues. I've had a i5 6400 and 8 GB of RAM and its run just fine. Then again it's a desktop. I mean, sure I've recently upgraded to an i7 6700k & 16GB RAM but that was for a Rugby Football game I wanted to play. Even before I upgraded sims 3 ran just fine. Never tried it on a laptop lol
I do play it on a laptop. But it's a gaming laptop. It's amazing how much they've improved over the past few years. At least some laptops offer full-sized graphics cards instead of stripped down ones (mine does). My CPU is not as strong as its desktop equivalent but it's good enough for gaming. Heat can be an issue, but that's what cooling pads are for. Granted, my main games are Sims 3 and Civilization 6 atm, but it easily plays a fully modded skyrim at 1440p with stable framerates (what those framerates are depends on the ENB).
The disadvantage to laptops is they are so much more expensive and so much less upgradeable than desktops. But I need computer setups in two houses (mine and my parents) and so a laptop makes that much easier.
And it worked so well I almost cried - seriously. The loading time was amazing and the game ran SO smooth. Then I had an Windows 10 update.
Now the launcher will pop up, then immediately goes off. I’ve done everything I can to try and make it work again, it’s been super frustrating since I bought the computer just to play Sim 3!
I'd suggest saving up your simoleons for a gaming computer.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Agree with this. Also learn how to (if you don't already) enable the game to use more RAM by tweaking the config files. (by default, it uses only 2GB no matter how much RAM your PC has).
Here's a helpful guide.
EDIT: DON'T DO THIS. Configuring that file apparently has nothing to with RAM and can lead to game instability. Thanks to Igazor and AlexaKry for warning.
That's so frustrating! I had a similar problem last month so I feel your pain. Have you tried:
1) Giving your game a factory reset
2) Trying to run without cc (just to see if it's a cc compatibility issue)
3) Enabling your game to use more RAM (see my post above) Don't do this
4) Turning vertical sync on
5) Using a FPS limiter?
I probably got so much cc or a lot of sims but sorry I am autistic I cannot say goodbye to them.
on wordpress: thesimsophonique.wp.com / on dreamwidth: simsophonique.dreamwidth.org
Follow me on tumblr (sims only)
simsophonique.tumblr.com (please no triggers I am autistic asperger)
https://graceymanorsims3.tumblr.com/
That´s wrong. The game was updated, you don´t have to tweak this anymore and it would be better not to suggest this kind of "help" to players. The game can now use more than 3 GB of RAM, depending on your computer specs from 3.3 GB to 3.6 GB.
So dont use this guide, it´s not neccessary anymore!!!!
@igazor can explain it better than me, so I hope he´ll see this. (Thanks in advance for the help igazor!)
https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/953447/streuner-a-cat-s-tale
@Zei - I'm afraid that link is indeed not helpful and what it is instructing players to change is really the upper limit of the game's script heap which is set to 20 GB by default (not 2 GB). That setting should really be left alone, the developers must have had a reason for choosing 20 GB as a default value there and it has nothing to do with RAM usage.
There is most certainly no way to get the game to use 8 GB like that guide says. The one who posted it so many years ago should have known better, and quite possibly did but posted this anyway and players have unfortunately been taken in by it ever since.
NRaas has moved!
Our new site is at http://nraas.net
Oh my god, I'm very very surprised by this information. But it did make my game run much faster, how did it do that then?
NRaas has moved!
Our new site is at http://nraas.net
Well... I did enable V-sync around the same time... Would it make that much of a difference in performance really?
And do you think I should change that setting to its original value now? It wouldn't do more harm, would it?