@MountainMamaMSB - Unless someone else here recognizes that issue, I think we may need to see a screenshot to better understand what you are seeing. If you could, again if no one has a better response, please upload one or two to a third party file/image host and provide a link. You can't post links directly with New Member status, but you could break it up with spaces such as by using h t t p as long as we can understand what you are pointing to.
Edit: I see now that you cross-posted to the Answers.HQ forum and got pretty much the same surprised response. You don't need to reply to both requests for screenshots if it's easier to work with the forum board over there (as there's no Member requirement for links and you can upload to it more directly).
First off, I am not a new member. I have been a member since 2011 but EA can't seem to keep me in mind. Maybe because I've only posted 2 - 3 times in all these years. But their records do show when I joined. As for the pictures on the other post, they do not seem to work. If I post them on my FB page, and give the URL for that, would that work? Thanks!
First off, I am not a new member. I have been a member since 2011 but EA can't seem to keep me in mind. Maybe because I've only posted 2 - 3 times in all these years. But their records do show when I joined. As for the pictures on the other post, they do not seem to work. If I post them on my FB page, and give the URL for that, would that work? Thanks!
I can now see your two images on your Answers.HQ thread fine, but I remain confused because I have never seen those reported before. They look like something from the console version of this game, but if you are playing on Win 10 (on a PC) of course that is impossible. Let's see if the helpers over there have any better insight.
It seems to me that years ago they showed up in the games but for the life of me I cannot remember what was done to get rid of them. I am playing on a pc with sorry Windows 10. I cannot even play my Sims 2 now which I really prefer. But it's still a puzzle because they are just now showing up. I have added new neighborhoods and expansion packs and played them ever since I got my new computer back in February. So why 3 months later they appear? I hope someone knows how to get rid of them. (Also, I don't care if I'm shown as a new member. That's the least of my worries.) ;-)
I bought The Sims Medieval in February, 2011. Origin is no longer showing it in my games probably due to changing computers but I cannot get them to respond to my request. How do I get my game back? I have the order number but do not have the code.
@MountainMamaMSB - Okay, I see what is known to cause those now, and yes it's usually a very outdated mod of a particular type the effects of which can linger on existing saves after such a mod is removed. My suggestion would be to pull your entire TS3 user game folder out of Documents (or rename it) thus causing a new one to spawn on the next startup. It will have no content in it at all, but anything important would still be safe in the pulled out game folder that was set aside. Can you get a new game to startup on the clean, no-content game folder and do the + signs stop showing up?
The above assumes that your Mods folder is (was) in the TS3 user game folder in Documents. If it is somewhere in Program Files, this was how we did mods prior to the release of Ambitions and Patch 1.12, then we need to have a different conversation.
Games showing up in your Origin library are related to your Origin account/login, not the computer you are using. If you are having account issues or somehow over time ended up with more than one Origin account, really only EA Customer Support can help as they are the only ones who have access to customer records.
For some reason my load up is being very slow! All my files are on a SDD. Tried loading basegame and it took 5+ minutes to initially load. No mods or CC installed, and it was worse when I tried playing with CC/mods and expansions! Over an hour and had to give up!
I also don't have any worlds installed and it's a completely clean install with brand new files and no existing save.
Here's my device config; https://pastebin.com/hDfaksTr
@Kpoi When you launched the game this most recent time (or whenever this deviceconfig was generated), your computer only had 2.5 GB available memory. So either you had other apps open at the same time, or there are a bunch of processes running in the background eating RAM. Please restart your computer, don't open anything else (except Origin if you need it), and launch the game again. Let us know how long it takes to load a new save, or you can give up after 10 minutes.
Please also check deviceconfig.log again specifically for the free memory value. (You don't need to post the whole file again.) Just see whether this value, about 20 lines down, is any higher:
Memory: 7058MB
Free memory: 2543MB
It's strange that total memory would be listed as 7 GB, but the deviceconfig sometimes has strange values.
There are ways to reduce RAM use if it's all background processes, but usually this kind of memory use means you have another app or two running at the same time. (And also that your integrated graphics chip is reserving itself some memory, but that can't be helped if you want to play Sims 3 decently well on this system.)
If load times are still slow even with more available memory, please launch the game while your computer is not connected to the internet. Sign into Origin if necessary and put it in offline mode, then disable wifi and/or pull the ethernet cable.
If this doesn't help either, please upload a dxdiag. Hit Windows key-R, enter "dxdiag" without quotes, let the scan finish, click "Save all information," save it to your desktop, and upload the file to pastebin just as you did with your deviceconfig.
@Kpoi - I'm afraid the processor on that laptop is a bit on the weak side for TS3 and it has no dedicated graphics card or at least the game isn't seeing one, only integrated. The heaviest of the EPs would likely be out of the question on it -- those are Pets, Seasons, possibly ITF and IP which are next in line. There are other limits that come along with integrated-only graphics. Did the base game ever work better than this on this particular system? Do things improve if you move out or rename your TS3 user game folder in Documents so that a fresh one with no content at all spawns to take its place?
Another thing I see is that at the moment the game is ordered to start up, it only has 2.5 GB of RAM left to work with. Given that you have 7 GB total (and this is an unusual amount by the way, usually we see 6 or 8 GB), that suggests other programs are running or your system is very busy doing something else that it really shouldn't be doing during a game session. Possibly you typically have web browsers open that should be closed out before trying to launch the game?
@igazor Ah, alright. The Sims 3 had run fine on an almost 10 year old laptop, and even on a laptop with lower specs I could run all the expansions (minimal lag). My laptop has 8 GB of ram, I don't know why it's not registering the extra 1 GB. I was also running web browsers, I didn't know they took up that much of resources! Closing them helped, and I'll try to use an application to clear out processes for gaming. Thank you!
When I try to log in, within the game, a dialog comes up telling me I have to update the game to the most recent version, using the launcher. Yet when i go to the launcher, it tells me the game is up to date. Is it because I dont have a certain expansion or stuff pack installed?
@fanman2013 - Is this an Origin controlled install (Patch 1.69) or is it strictly retail disc with no Origin involvement and if the latter on which patch level?
No, if you load the Launcher and hover your mouse over the base game icon then the patch level should show up as a pop-up tooltip.
But in any event, to bring an all-disc install up to Patch 1.67 or to fix a Patch 1.67 where the Launcher did not do a complete job of it, then the recommended way is EA's Super Patcher. If it tells you the game is already up to date, you can make it run anyway. Be sure to deny any offers to let Origin take control. https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/the-sims/the-sims-3/the-sims-3-super-patcher
Hi! This is the first time I’m using the forum, so I hope I’m posting in the right place.
I’ve recently gotten a new laptop that I thought would be great for Sims 3 but I’m not happy with how it performs. It’s like it performs a lot more than it has to. It makes a ton of noise and gets really heated the second I run Sims 3. So much I’m worried I’m damaging the laptop by playing this game. The animations are FAST, too fast. In the introduction video during loading I can’t see at all what’s going on. Of course, quick loading is good, but this is a bit extreme. Does this have to do with FPS or something else?
I’ve tried limiting FPS both through the Nvidia Control Panel and with Nvidia Profile Inspector. The FPS remained around 500 when entering The Sims 3. Is there any other ways to limit FPS that actually work? Any other suggestions to what I can do make the game run more smoothly on my laptop?
I have a Dell Inspiron 15 7000 (7590) with these specs: Operating system: Windows 10 Home 64 Bit CPU: Intel Core i7-9750H GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Storage: 1 TB M.2 PCle NVME SSD Memory: 16 GB DDR4 266MHz
I have installed World Adventures, Ambitions, Late Night, Pets, Seasons and Island Paradise through Origin. I have no CC or save files yet (haven’t started playing yet, just going through testing).
@Ingvia - On the Nivida Control Panel, you would need 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 better), and Triple Buffering to On. If you have a very new driver for your graphics card, then Nvidia should also be providing a setting to explicitly cap the frame rate. If not, then we take another look at Inspector which has always had this option.
By explicitly, I mean you get to enter the absolute cap for the maximum fps. The value to use, at least at first, should be the refresh rate of your monitor/screen. Most are 60 Hz, so 60 fps, but some can run higher. It's important to know the refresh rate you are working with so you can tell where to cap things at and when the attempt is successful.
There are other tools available to try, but it's odd that this combo is still giving you fps in the high hundreds as usually it does the trick when set appropriately.
If your laptop has dual graphics, not all of them do, then it is also possible that a similar cap needs to be set on the integrated chip so that a max fps is already established before the handoff to the dedicated Nvidia card (usually that would be Intel and through that control panel).
Hi all, I'm having issues with my witch when he goes to university. Last term, he was a fairy and everything worked properly. He went back home, cured himself, and then drank a potion to become a witch. Now when he goes to college, all he can do is conjure apples....he can't cast any spells or charms. He has a wand in his inventory, and I've tried switching him into a human and then back into a witch using CAS. I also tried resetsim, quitting and re-starting the game, and sending him to college with a witch potion in his inventory. When he tries to drink it, the option is greyed out and it says he can't use it on himself. Any ideas? :\
[quote="simmastervictor;c-17502742"]Hi all, I'm having issues with my witch when he goes to university. Last term, he was a fairy and everything worked properly. He went back home, cured himself, and then drank a potion to become a witch. Now when he goes to college, all he can do is conjure apples....he can't cast any spells or charms. He has a wand in his inventory, and I've tried switching him into a human and then back into a witch using CAS. I also tried resetsim, quitting and re-starting the game, and sending him to college with a witch potion in his inventory. When he tries to drink it, the option is greyed out and it says he can't use it on himself. Any ideas? :\[/quote]
What finally worked was sending him to uni with a cure potion in his inventory AND a witch potion. He drank the cure potion first and then the witch potion and that worked! Not sure why that happened but that fixed it, in case anyone runs into the same issue.
@igazor I did those first things but I haven’t tried setting it to Adaptive and I didn’t know I had to set Triple Buffering to On. I’ll see if I can find those settings. Where do I find Nvidia’s setting to cap the frame rate? And is that in addition to those other steps?
Where is it I enter the fps cap? And how do I find the refresh rate of my monitor/screen?
There is an Intel graphic card too, although I’ve done so that the game uses Nvidia.
@igazor Nevermind, I managed to find the settings and it worked, the FPS is now limited to 59 Hz (that was the refresh rate I found in Advanced display settings). Thank you! Although the laptop started making even more noise, so my issue isn’t completely fixed but the animations are slower now. One more question. Which ingame graphic settings would you recommend for me? :smile:
@igazor I actually figured out how to lower my fps rate a different way and was able to get my card recognized by the game as well. But thank you so much for your help! I do have another question, though. I have all my settings for graphics on high in the game, but for some reason most of, if not all of the terrain on the ground is blurry. Is there a way I can fix this? I read somewhere to turn on the advanced rendering thing in the options, but it can mess up my gameplay. Should I be worried about that with the kind of card I have?
I bought an Acer Predator PC and have lagging like I never did with my 12 year old Vista PC. My fps jumps between 40-160 (the extremes) generally but it comes to a standstill when it hits 200, which is what it does when I'm in Build or CAS mode. I'd be interested in knowing how you fixed it. I'd rather try what someone who's actually been successful on an Acer w/the same graphics card has done before trying the other method, if that's okay.
@columbia93 I can give you instructions to what I did :)
1. Enter Nvidia Control Panel and click on Manage 3D settings
2. Click on the tab Program settings
3. In the drop down window find the ts3.exe file if you have the 1.69 version of Sims 3 and the ts3w.exe file if you have the 1.67 version. If it’s not in the dropdown window, click Add and locate the file in the folder where you have your game installed. Mine was in: Program Files(x86)/Origin Games/The Sims 3/Game/Bin
4. In the scroll down window below, turn Vertical sync and Triple Buffering to ON. If you have a newer graphic card you’ll also find a feature there called Max Frame rate, make that number the same as your monitor’s refresh rate. You can find your refresh rate in Advanced display settings.
@columbia93 Sorry, I thought it was my message you responded to, it looked so similar! Anyway, maybe someone will have use for my guide on how to lower fps xD
I am Brazilian so I will try to explain my question the best I can. I noticed that most times when my game lags it happens on Build Mode. Especially when I roll the cursor over walls and it change to the resize room arrows. There's no lag on Buy Mode, except with CASt tool selected, but this is ordinary because it happens too on Build Mode. The real question is: there is any mod or way to disable that resize room tool? It works amazing on Sims 4 and I love it how integrated it is on that game, but on Sims 3 it was never necessary. Also I'm curious to test and see if changes any performance.
Comments
Edit: I see now that you cross-posted to the Answers.HQ forum and got pretty much the same surprised response. You don't need to reply to both requests for screenshots if it's easier to work with the forum board over there (as there's no Member requirement for links and you can upload to it more directly).
NRaas has moved!
Our new site is at http://nraas.net
https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/934205/small-change-for-new-members
I can now see your two images on your Answers.HQ thread fine, but I remain confused because I have never seen those reported before. They look like something from the console version of this game, but if you are playing on Win 10 (on a PC) of course that is impossible. Let's see if the helpers over there have any better insight.
NRaas has moved!
Our new site is at http://nraas.net
The above assumes that your Mods folder is (was) in the TS3 user game folder in Documents. If it is somewhere in Program Files, this was how we did mods prior to the release of Ambitions and Patch 1.12, then we need to have a different conversation.
Games showing up in your Origin library are related to your Origin account/login, not the computer you are using. If you are having account issues or somehow over time ended up with more than one Origin account, really only EA Customer Support can help as they are the only ones who have access to customer records.
NRaas has moved!
Our new site is at http://nraas.net
I also don't have any worlds installed and it's a completely clean install with brand new files and no existing save.
Here's my device config; https://pastebin.com/hDfaksTr
Add me!
Please also check deviceconfig.log again specifically for the free memory value. (You don't need to post the whole file again.) Just see whether this value, about 20 lines down, is any higher:
Memory: 7058MB
Free memory: 2543MB
It's strange that total memory would be listed as 7 GB, but the deviceconfig sometimes has strange values.
There are ways to reduce RAM use if it's all background processes, but usually this kind of memory use means you have another app or two running at the same time. (And also that your integrated graphics chip is reserving itself some memory, but that can't be helped if you want to play Sims 3 decently well on this system.)
If load times are still slow even with more available memory, please launch the game while your computer is not connected to the internet. Sign into Origin if necessary and put it in offline mode, then disable wifi and/or pull the ethernet cable.
If this doesn't help either, please upload a dxdiag. Hit Windows key-R, enter "dxdiag" without quotes, let the scan finish, click "Save all information," save it to your desktop, and upload the file to pastebin just as you did with your deviceconfig.
Another thing I see is that at the moment the game is ordered to start up, it only has 2.5 GB of RAM left to work with. Given that you have 7 GB total (and this is an unusual amount by the way, usually we see 6 or 8 GB), that suggests other programs are running or your system is very busy doing something else that it really shouldn't be doing during a game session. Possibly you typically have web browsers open that should be closed out before trying to launch the game?
NRaas has moved!
Our new site is at http://nraas.net
Add me!
NRaas has moved!
Our new site is at http://nraas.net
But in any event, to bring an all-disc install up to Patch 1.67 or to fix a Patch 1.67 where the Launcher did not do a complete job of it, then the recommended way is EA's Super Patcher. If it tells you the game is already up to date, you can make it run anyway. Be sure to deny any offers to let Origin take control.
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/the-sims/the-sims-3/the-sims-3-super-patcher
NRaas has moved!
Our new site is at http://nraas.net
I have an all disc install on most of my computers, and I can see what patch level it's on in at least seven (7) different places:
I’ve recently gotten a new laptop that I thought would be great for Sims 3 but I’m not happy with how it performs. It’s like it performs a lot more than it has to. It makes a ton of noise and gets really heated the second I run Sims 3. So much I’m worried I’m damaging the laptop by playing this game. The animations are FAST, too fast. In the introduction video during loading I can’t see at all what’s going on. Of course, quick loading is good, but this is a bit extreme. Does this have to do with FPS or something else?
I’ve tried limiting FPS both through the Nvidia Control Panel and with Nvidia Profile Inspector. The FPS remained around 500 when entering The Sims 3. Is there any other ways to limit FPS that actually work? Any other suggestions to what I can do make the game run more smoothly on my laptop?
I have a Dell Inspiron 15 7000 (7590) with these specs:
Operating system: Windows 10 Home 64 Bit
CPU: Intel Core i7-9750H
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650
Storage: 1 TB M.2 PCle NVME SSD
Memory: 16 GB DDR4 266MHz
I have installed World Adventures, Ambitions, Late Night, Pets, Seasons and Island Paradise through Origin. I have no CC or save files yet (haven’t started playing yet, just going through testing).
By explicitly, I mean you get to enter the absolute cap for the maximum fps. The value to use, at least at first, should be the refresh rate of your monitor/screen. Most are 60 Hz, so 60 fps, but some can run higher. It's important to know the refresh rate you are working with so you can tell where to cap things at and when the attempt is successful.
There are other tools available to try, but it's odd that this combo is still giving you fps in the high hundreds as usually it does the trick when set appropriately.
If your laptop has dual graphics, not all of them do, then it is also possible that a similar cap needs to be set on the integrated chip so that a max fps is already established before the handoff to the dedicated Nvidia card (usually that would be Intel and through that control panel).
NRaas has moved!
Our new site is at http://nraas.net
What finally worked was sending him to uni with a cure potion in his inventory AND a witch potion. He drank the cure potion first and then the witch potion and that worked! Not sure why that happened but that fixed it, in case anyone runs into the same issue.
Where is it I enter the fps cap? And how do I find the refresh rate of my monitor/screen?
There is an Intel graphic card too, although I’ve done so that the game uses Nvidia.
I bought an Acer Predator PC and have lagging like I never did with my 12 year old Vista PC. My fps jumps between 40-160 (the extremes) generally but it comes to a standstill when it hits 200, which is what it does when I'm in Build or CAS mode. I'd be interested in knowing how you fixed it. I'd rather try what someone who's actually been successful on an Acer w/the same graphics card has done before trying the other method, if that's okay.
BTW, LG Ultra monitor with 144fps.
Thanks!
1. Enter Nvidia Control Panel and click on Manage 3D settings
2. Click on the tab Program settings
3. In the drop down window find the ts3.exe file if you have the 1.69 version of Sims 3 and the ts3w.exe file if you have the 1.67 version. If it’s not in the dropdown window, click Add and locate the file in the folder where you have your game installed. Mine was in: Program Files(x86)/Origin Games/The Sims 3/Game/Bin
4. In the scroll down window below, turn Vertical sync and Triple Buffering to ON. If you have a newer graphic card you’ll also find a feature there called Max Frame rate, make that number the same as your monitor’s refresh rate. You can find your refresh rate in Advanced display settings.
5. Press Apply and you’re done!
I am Brazilian so I will try to explain my question the best I can. I noticed that most times when my game lags it happens on Build Mode. Especially when I roll the cursor over walls and it change to the resize room arrows. There's no lag on Buy Mode, except with CASt tool selected, but this is ordinary because it happens too on Build Mode. The real question is: there is any mod or way to disable that resize room tool? It works amazing on Sims 4 and I love it how integrated it is on that game, but on Sims 3 it was never necessary. Also I'm curious to test and see if changes any performance.
Thank you! :)