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    Help With Sims 3 Performance Please

    Koolkat197Koolkat197 Posts: 30 Member
    in The Sims 3 General Discussion
    Hello fellow simmers!

    First off I want to let ya'll know that I do play the Sims 3 on a laptop, which I know is probably not the best for The Sims (especially since it's not a gaming laptop). I first played The Sims 3 around 2009-2011 on a Toshiba laptop that ran Windows 7 at the time and the game ran smoothly, despite some lag with added expansion; I unfortunately don't remember the specifics of the model :(

    I now have an Hp Notebook (64-bit OS), and the game is very laggy; levels of detail are missing in the graphics when I'm not zoomed all the way in; when it snows, the ground is just white - it doesn't even look like snow, lol.


    Processor for my Hp Notebook: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-5005U CPU @2.00GHz
    Installed RAM: 8.00 GB

    So, what kind of changes should I make in-game for The Sims 3? And what can I do outside of the game (other than modding) that would help?
    I'm very new to how computers run software and all of that, so tips would be greatly appreciated as well.

    Thank you for reading!

    ~Koolkat

    Comments

    • Options
      Chi5678Chi5678 Posts: 268 Member
      Is the computer new or do you have a lot of stuff on it other than sims? I'm asking because my game used to lag so bad I couldn't even use "ultra speed" without it simply freezing and when i would unpause it would freeze about a minute and Isla Paradiso is entirely unplayable but my computer gave out the other day and I took it into the computer repair shop and they backed up my entire computer and then did a hard reset and wiped it clean then redownloaded windows and I reinstalled all my sims games and now it runs SO SMOOTH with literally no freezing and very very minimal lag, I was shocked
      hLhdCsO.jpg
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      Chi5678Chi5678 Posts: 268 Member
      I play with over a hundred mods and cc and those were all saved in the back up thankfully but its so smooth now
      hLhdCsO.jpg
    • Options
      Koolkat197Koolkat197 Posts: 30 Member
      I have a few other games installed; Lord Of The Rings Online, Star Stable, The Sims 4, The Sims Medieval.

      Oddly enough, I had Lord Of The Rings Online and The Sims 4 installed on the other laptop, and The Sims 3 still ran pretty well.
    • Options
      KarritzKarritz Posts: 21,923 Member
      @Koolkat197 The Sims 3 uses a lot of virtual memory and you'll need free disk space for that.
      S.jpg

      https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuW44b3uCMtCSaq4gwC8EZg
    • Options
      izecsonizecson Posts: 2,875 Member
      You can google "Sims 3 performance guide"

      and click the top link from the result, I cant paste the link here since the last time I use link from that particular site, I received DM telling me it's againts the forum rules.

      I used the guides from the link my game run buttery smooth.
      ihavemultiplegamertags
    • Options
      igazorigazor Posts: 19,330 Member
      edited October 2020
      @Koolkat197 - The game looking as you described would be because (a) the Graphics Settings in Game Options are low and (b) your current system is generally underpowered for TS3, especially for the heavier hitting EPs (in order those would be Pets, Seasons, IP, and ITF).

      You can try turning some of the Graphics Settings up a bit, but in exchange you may get performance issues. Advanced Rendering On might help the snow as might a few of the other settings that are probably defaulting to Low. But you're actually ahead of the curve if you can get Seasons to run and have severe weather without the game lagging and becoming unstable due to the notebook's relatively weak processor and what we have to assume is the lack of a dedicated graphics card.

      We can't really compare expectations on this one to the older Win 7 laptop you had without knowing the older one's specs. A system being newer vs. older doesn't necessarily make it more capable and in this case it sounds like the opposite may be true. Laptops with that processor tend to be made for web surfing, email, streaming video, and light office/school related tasks but not so much graphics intensive games and there may be cooling issues if the game is pushed too hard on it.

      I realize not everyone can just go out and buy an expensive (to them) new laptop whenever they want to, but might there be a stronger system available on which to play now or in the near future?
      o550pjoa47rpxo63g.jpg
      NRaas has moved!
      Our new site is at http://nraas.net
    • Options
      Koolkat197Koolkat197 Posts: 30 Member
      edited October 2020
      izecson wrote: »
      You can google "Sims 3 performance guide"

      and click the top link from the result, I cant paste the link here since the last time I use link from that particular site, I received DM telling me it's againts the forum rules.

      I used the guides from the link my game run buttery smooth.

      Ooh, thank you! I'll take a look at it later :)
      Post edited by Koolkat197 on
    • Options
      Koolkat197Koolkat197 Posts: 30 Member
      igazor wrote: »
      @Koolkat197 - The game looking as you described would be because (a) the Graphics Settings in Game Options are low and (b) your current system is generally underpowered for TS3, especially for the heavier hitting EPs (in order those would be Pets, Seasons, IP, and ITF).

      You can try turning some of the Graphics Settings up a bit, but in exchange you may get performance issues. Advanced Rendering On might help the snow as might a few of the other settings that are probably defaulting to Low. But you're actually ahead of the curve if you can get Seasons to run and have severe weather without the game lagging and becoming unstable due to the notebook's relatively weak processor and what we have to assume is the lack of a dedicated graphics card.

      We can't really compare expectations on this one to the older Win 7 laptop you had without knowing the older one's specs. A system being newer vs. older doesn't necessarily make it more capable and in this case it sounds like the opposite may be true. Laptops with that processor tend to be made for web surfing, email, streaming video, and light office/school related tasks but not so much graphics intensive games and there may be cooling issues if the game is pushed too hard on it.

      I realize not everyone can just go out and buy an expensive (to them) new laptop whenever they want to, but might there be a stronger system available on which to play now or in the near future?

      Ahh, that all makes sense. I noticed that the Sims 3 does push the hard drive a bit when I play it D:
      Maybe in the near future, I'll look into getting a stronger system for The Sims.
    • Options
      Koolkat197Koolkat197 Posts: 30 Member
      edited October 2020
      Karritz wrote: »
      @Koolkat197 The Sims 3 uses a lot of virtual memory and you'll need free disk space for that.

      Ah, I didn't know about the virtual memory usage. Thank you, I'll keep that in mind :)
      Post edited by Koolkat197 on
    • Options
      MoonSimmer1MoonSimmer1 Posts: 24 Member
      First of all, try playing the game with low graphics and resolution, and in case you have lots of CC, try to get rid of some of them. You can also try the Nraas mods for making your game smoother. There is also something called " Save Cleaner " that can clear your save file and make maybe your game a little bit more smoother. You can also set your game on high on the task manager while you are running it. If after doing all of these the game is still very laggy, I think you should consider buying a more powerful machine to run it. If you prefer laptops, you should look for some gaming laptops on the internet. Try searching on Google "Best laptops for The Sims 3". Anyway, The Sims 3 is generally a laggy game, so you will have most probably problems with this game even when you run it on a powerful machine. You can also search for some tutorials on YouTube.

      Hope it helps! ❤
    • Options
      izecsonizecson Posts: 2,875 Member
      edited October 2020
      It helps once in a while to delete world cache (for windows only)

      there are multiple pathfinding improvement mods over at simasylum that reduce the amount of unroutable sims, significantly increasing my game performance.
      ihavemultiplegamertags
    • Options
      Koolkat197Koolkat197 Posts: 30 Member
      MoonSimmer1 wrote: »
      First of all, try playing the game with low graphics and resolution, and in case you have lots of CC, try to get rid of some of them. You can also try the Nraas mods for making your game smoother. There is also something called " Save Cleaner " that can clear your save file and make maybe your game a little bit more smoother. You can also set your game on high on the task manager while you are running it. If after doing all of these the game is still very laggy, I think you should consider buying a more powerful machine to run it. If you prefer laptops, you should look for some gaming laptops on the internet. Try searching on Google "Best laptops for The Sims 3". Anyway, The Sims 3 is generally a laggy game, so you will have most probably problems with this game even when you run it on a powerful machine. You can also search for some tutorials on YouTube.

      Hope it helps! ❤

      Thank you, friend! <3 I appreciate the info :smiley:
    • Options
      Koolkat197Koolkat197 Posts: 30 Member
      izecson wrote: »
      It helps once in a while to delete world cache (for windows only)

      Do you mean delete the whole folder or the contents of the folder?
    • Options
      izecsonizecson Posts: 2,875 Member
      Koolkat197 wrote: »
      izecson wrote: »
      It helps once in a while to delete world cache (for windows only)

      Do you mean delete the whole folder or the contents of the folder?

      I'll just delete the content of that folder that is named after the world you currently played.
      ihavemultiplegamertags
    • Options
      Koolkat197Koolkat197 Posts: 30 Member
      izecson wrote: »
      Koolkat197 wrote: »
      izecson wrote: »
      It helps once in a while to delete world cache (for windows only)

      Do you mean delete the whole folder or the contents of the folder?

      I'll just delete the content of that folder that is named after the world you currently played.

      I see, thank you! :smiley:
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