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What makes a world lag?

betty_me13betty_me13 Posts: 3,285 New Member
I am just wondering what makes worlds lag...too much vegetation? Too many spawners? Too many houses/lots?

Comments

  • simsgal2227simsgal2227 Posts: 12,279 Member
    edited June 2011
    Its largeness and lots can account for it, and how long you've played it with all of the saved data.
  • JasumiJasumi Posts: 521 Member
    edited June 2011
    Bad routing is usually the main culprit...
  • mcorralmcorral Posts: 512 Member
    edited June 2011
    I have a serious lag problem in my world. People told me it was because routing issues, and indeed Rflong7 took some pics of my world where some sims were walking through mountains or on the water. I fixed the routing issue but it is still lagging... I really don't know why...
  • BimleSimBimleSim Posts: 2,979 Member
    edited June 2011
    I have expirienced that my world lags more when I place too many lots - I've also tried that it lagged more after I placed a waterfall. :lol:
  • Writin_RegWritin_Reg Posts: 28,907 Member
    edited June 2011
    Routing. Bad road connections. Sidewalks and roads over lapping or layering the roads. Not smoothing the areas.

    Elevators in EA Highrises sometimes - if they get stuck and trap sims in bars over night plays some havoc.

    Biggest lagger is too many spawners and too many of the fog things.

    Routing as every one knows. I have never had any problem with foliage and I don't play worlds that have lag - even a tiny amount. I'm sort of like that - but I love lots of foliage, well manicured gardens, lush jungle areas and have plenty worlds like that with no lag.

    They don't all come that way, a lot of the work I did myself too, so.

    I also like desert worlds - quite the contrast I guess - but have seen as much chance of lag in them as a lush world - it is usually all the other things.

    Also removing a creators lots and then placing your own since LN seems to create lag in worlds there wasn't any. I personally think EA needs to update the World ingame editor, as each new ep makes it react a little worse. But if a creator leave big empty lots and you don't want that many big ones, usually you just deleted those lots and added several smaller lots in it place. Before LN this worked well. After LN sometimes you could not place a lot, not even the same size you deleted. Even worse since Generations you can place the lots but they seem to foul up the creators routing. So i have just came to grips and just build something on the big lots instead of changing them or just leave them empty until i feel like playing a family Legacy style. About the only time I see this problem carry over to a creators world is if they make a save file. I have had a few unplayable save files, that the world itself will be fine with out the save files but with them it gets all laggy. Some people suggest sims cause it - but I disagree as I have added way more sims in these same world than were in the save file with no problems.

    Oh and last but not least two big lag causers is using MOO (move objects on) in builds and that restraints floor cheat. Cause a lot of lag and town instability lately that neither used to cause. Oh i almost forgot the worse offender, rotating lots can really cause havoc if the lot has any kind of spawners on it. By that I mean lots you sit down and they are not facing the right way so you have to rotate them to turn them around. Every turn multiplies and buries more and more spawner in places they do not belong and seriously lags worlds.

    "Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.

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    In REALITY, I simply exist.....

  • tjstreaktjstreak Posts: 808 Member
    edited June 2011
    I have noticed that post Late Night worlds have more lag problems than pre Late Night Worlds. For example, Red County and Los Aniegos were both made by Coasterboi. They share many of the same lots -- particularly with respect to housing. Red County actually has more lots than Los Aniegos. Yet, Los Aniegos suffers from lag and Red County does not.

    I mention this because this is a close to a controlled experiment as we are likely to get. The main variable between the two seems to be the addition of Late Night items and features. (Los Aniegos was well under way before Late Night was released, so it is hard to blame a change in th program for the lag, althoug it is possible.) Coasterboi might have an interesting take on this because he worked to remove a lot of the lag from Los Aniegos.

    The number of lots seems to be a factor, but as indicated above there is not a direct correlation between the number of lots and lag. I suspect it is indirect. That is, the more lots you have, the more likely it is that some of those lots have used some of the cheats Written Reg posts about (the Move Objects cheat and the Constrain Floor Elevation cheat.) By the way, those faux skyscrapers built with the ingame tools, use the Constrain Floor Elevations cheat.

    But even fairly innocuous EA lots can have lag. I have had routing problems with a transplanted Bistro and some of the transplanted barrs and highrise apartments. Elevator problems explain the trouble with the highrises and bars, but I don't know why the bistro would cause problems.

    Lot levels can cause problems as well. If a transplanted lot is not perfectly flat, sims may have to climb up or down a grade which is too steep to get in. Which means they cannot get in -- i.e. route failure = lag. This means that lots, and particularly empty lots need to be flat, flat, flat.

    But even empty lots can cause problems. I have seen a half dozen or more sims congregate on an empty lot and not budge. This suggests that the zoning on empty lots should be changed to no visitors allowed, or that the lot should be removed altogether.

    Sims cause lag only in the sense that it takes both a lot and sims for lag to develop. Someone has to get stuck on those lots. If there are no sims, no one can get stuck. This is why new worlds, which typically are devoid of sims don't have lag problems. But as sims move in and start going to places where they don't belong, they start getting stuck, causing lag.
  • DanibleeDaniblee Posts: 2,429 New Member
    edited June 2011
    tjstreak wrote:
    I have noticed that post Late Night worlds have more lag problems than pre Late Night Worlds. For example, Red County and Los Aniegos were both made by Coasterboi. They share many of the same lots -- particularly with respect to housing. Red County actually has more lots than Los Aniegos. Yet, Los Aniegos suffers from lag and Red County does not.

    I mention this because this is a close to a controlled experiment as we are likely to get. The main variable between the two seems to be the addition of Late Night items and features. (Los Aniegos was well under way before Late Night was released, so it is hard to blame a change in th program for the lag, althoug it is possible.) Coasterboi might have an interesting take on this because he worked to remove a lot of the lag from Los Aniegos.

    The number of lots seems to be a factor, but as indicated above there is not a direct correlation between the number of lots and lag. I suspect it is indirect. That is, the more lots you have, the more likely it is that some of those lots have used some of the cheats Written Reg posts about (the Move Objects cheat and the Constrain Floor Elevation cheat.) By the way, those faux skyscrapers built with the ingame tools, use the Constrain Floor Elevations cheat.

    But even fairly innocuous EA lots can have lag. I have had routing problems with a transplanted Bistro and some of the transplanted barrs and highrise apartments. Elevator problems explain the trouble with the highrises and bars, but I don't know why the bistro would cause problems.

    Lot levels can cause problems as well. If a transplanted lot is not perfectly flat, sims may have to climb up or down a grade which is too steep to get in. Which means they cannot get in -- i.e. route failure = lag. This means that lots, and particularly empty lots need to be flat, flat, flat.

    But even empty lots can cause problems. I have seen a half dozen or more sims congregate on an empty lot and not budge. This suggests that the zoning on empty lots should be changed to no visitors allowed, or that the lot should be removed altogether.

    Sims cause lag only in the sense that it takes both a lot and sims for lag to develop. Someone has to get stuck on those lots. If there are no sims, no one can get stuck. This is why new worlds, which typically are devoid of sims don't have lag problems. But as sims move in and start going to places where they don't belong, they start getting stuck, causing lag.

    Couldnt have said it better. There is so many reasons a world will lag-- a lot of them take way too long to fix. However, I find that making empty lots off limits to sims helps a little because sims don't get stuck as often.
  • tjstreaktjstreak Posts: 808 Member
    edited June 2011
    I am operating under the theory that the trick here may be to keep the number of lots in a world as low as possible. No more than 150 should be the goal, and fewer than 100 is better yet. (Rain City has a ways to go. I got it down from 300 plus lots to 200 plus lots).

    If you think about it, a world only needs about 50 to 60 residential lots. Assuning an average of three sims per lot, 50 lots supports 150 sims -- which is large enough to give your sims some social interraction, but small enough to avoid serious problems. 60 residential lots gives some wiggle room.

    50 to 60 community lots should be more than enough to keep your sims busy. I rather like multiple rabbit holes. For example multiple schools create a variety of alma maters for your sims to talk about. Since I tend to like a number of sub-communities, multiple city halls, schools, parks, etc. give more of a feeling of a metroplex.

    But anything more than these minimums are just pure decoration. The surplus lots should be replaced with deco items or buildings, or the lots should be reset to no visitors allows. This is less of a problem for community lots because they can be reset back fairly easily. Residential lots will lose things like their stoves.

    What I am suggesting is a minimalist approach, where less is more. One just wants to create an illusion that the world is larger than the 100 or so lots which actually exist.

    Anyway, that's my theory.


  • SatoriReikoSatoriReiko Posts: 7
    edited July 2012
    tjstreak wrote:
    I have noticed that post Late Night worlds have more lag problems than pre Late Night Worlds. For example, Red County and Los Aniegos were both made by Coasterboi. They share many of the same lots -- particularly with respect to housing. Red County actually has more lots than Los Aniegos. Yet, Los Aniegos suffers from lag and Red County does not.

    I mention this because this is a close to a controlled experiment as we are likely to get. The main variable between the two seems to be the addition of Late Night items and features. (Los Aniegos was well under way before Late Night was released, so it is hard to blame a change in th program for the lag, althoug it is possible.) Coasterboi might have an interesting take on this because he worked to remove a lot of the lag from Los Aniegos.

    The number of lots seems to be a factor, but as indicated above there is not a direct correlation between the number of lots and lag. I suspect it is indirect. That is, the more lots you have, the more likely it is that some of those lots have used some of the cheats Written Reg posts about (the Move Objects cheat and the Constrain Floor Elevation cheat.) By the way, those faux skyscrapers built with the ingame tools, use the Constrain Floor Elevations cheat.

    But even fairly innocuous EA lots can have lag. I have had routing problems with a transplanted Bistro and some of the transplanted barrs and highrise apartments. Elevator problems explain the trouble with the highrises and bars, but I don't know why the bistro would cause problems.

    Lot levels can cause problems as well. If a transplanted lot is not perfectly flat, sims may have to climb up or down a grade which is too steep to get in. Which means they cannot get in -- i.e. route failure = lag. This means that lots, and particularly empty lots need to be flat, flat, flat.

    But even empty lots can cause problems. I have seen a half dozen or more sims congregate on an empty lot and not budge. This suggests that the zoning on empty lots should be changed to no visitors allowed, or that the lot should be removed altogether.

    Sims cause lag only in the sense that it takes both a lot and sims for lag to develop. Someone has to get stuck on those lots. If there are no sims, no one can get stuck. This is why new worlds, which typically are devoid of sims don't have lag problems. But as sims move in and start going to places where they don't belong, they start getting stuck, causing lag.

    I'm sure this ia a really late response but, I have Red County and it lags for me big time. The more inland I go, the better the flow of things. Near the coast is complete lag city. I've moved all of my sims from the coastline because I think all of the trees that are clustered over there makes it lag. The lag is that bad.
  • simsamplesimsample Posts: 987 Member
    edited July 2012
    There are some interesting threads on MTS regarding routing and lags that may help:
    http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=439329
    http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=472386
    I will choose a path that's clear- I will choose free will
    RUSH
    My Worlds
  • VirvatuliVirvatuli Posts: 168 Member
    edited July 2012
    I have gathered a lot of performance-related information in this thread:
    http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/462095.page

    I've chosen to only include stuff that has actually been proven or confirmed.

    One thing that I've seen mentioned multiple times (for example, in armiel's tutorial which simsample linked to above) is broken lines. That they would decrease performance is a myth (confirmed by someone on the EA world building team, for ref: http://ts3cc.forumotion.ca/t283-perfecting-routing-an-oc-approach-to-routing-paint-by-eyelem). While I think it's very important to share tips that will decrease lag, I'm equally sad to see myths spreading.
  • simsamplesimsample Posts: 987 Member
    edited July 2012
    Useful link, Virvatuli- thank you!
    Virvatuli wrote:
    One thing that I've seen mentioned multiple times (for example, in armiel's tutorial which simsample linked to above) is broken lines. That they would decrease performance is a myth (confirmed by someone on the EA world building team, for ref: http://ts3cc.forumotion.ca/t283-perfecting-routing-an-oc-approach-to-routing-paint-by-eyelem). While I think it's very important to share tips that will decrease lag, I'm equally sad to see myths spreading.
    Yes, I agree on that one- as I mention in Post #6 of that thread. To be fair, that thread was started before SimGuruSarah posted that information, and the rest of the thread does contain valid information. I'll edit Armiel's post though to make this clear.
    I will choose a path that's clear- I will choose free will
    RUSH
    My Worlds
  • VirvatuliVirvatuli Posts: 168 Member
    edited July 2012
    simsample wrote:
    Useful link, Virvatuli- thank you!
    Virvatuli wrote:
    One thing that I've seen mentioned multiple times (for example, in armiel's tutorial which simsample linked to above) is broken lines. That they would decrease performance is a myth (confirmed by someone on the EA world building team, for ref: http://ts3cc.forumotion.ca/t283-perfecting-routing-an-oc-approach-to-routing-paint-by-eyelem). While I think it's very important to share tips that will decrease lag, I'm equally sad to see myths spreading.
    Yes, I agree on that one- as I mention in Post #6 of that thread. To be fair, that thread was started before SimGuruSarah posted that information, and the rest of the thread does contain valid information. I'll edit Armiel's post though to make this clear.

    Yes, I'm aware that it's an old tutorial. I didn't mean to bash it, only wanted to make clear we know better now. :)
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