Will Sims 3 Seasons lag my game?

clay22262

I am thinking of purchasing The Sims 3 Seasons but I am afraid that it will lag my game a lot. Any suggestions?

igazor

Hi there. Seasons is the EP with the second heaviest drain on performance, Pets is first place winner. But its impact is totally going to depend on your computer system and how many other EPs you have in play. Some find that they cannot run Seasons at all, others that they can but the game lags whenever it snows heavily or something like that, and many don't feel the impact at all.

If you are on Windows and could supply us with a dxdiag report, we could make a more informed prediction. You would have to paste the results of the report in by sections into several responses as it will be way too long to fit into one. Also please mention how many EPs (and which ones) you already have.
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information

If you are on a Mac, please say so as that would require a different conversation.

girlwhocriedtaylor

It's a good idea to figure out if your computer is up to the task, so I recommend doing what igazor said.

My computer is a pretty good one, and it plays Sims 3 pretty smoothly with about 3gb of CC (it's awesome if I take the CC out but I can't play without my CC), but I still get a bit of lag with the weather effects. When it's winter, I usually just cheat to get snow on the ground so it doesn't lag while it's snowing. Or sometimes I just keep all the weather effects off permanently, for some games.

clay22262

Operating System: Windows 10 Home 64-bit (10.0, Build 10586) (10586.th2_release.160802-1857)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
System Model: Inspiron 7347
BIOS: A00
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-4010U CPU @ 1.70GHz (4 CPUs), ~1.7GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 4020MB RAM
Page File: 2089MB used, 4712MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: 12
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
Miracast: Available, with HDCP
Microsoft Graphics Hybrid: Not Supported
DxDiag Version: 10.00.10586.0000 64bit Unicode

phoebebebe13

@clay22262 You would need to post the rest of your dxdiag in sections in several posts. Esspecially the display device section of the dxdiag. We need to see your video card but I suspect it can't handle seasons. What I can read of what you posted your processor is weak to run this game and your ram is low for this game

clay22262

Card name: Intel(R) HD Graphics Family
Manufacturer: Intel Corporation
Chip type: Intel(R) HD Graphics Family
DAC type: Internal
Device Type: Full Device
Display Memory: 2122 MB
Dedicated Memory: 112 MB
Shared Memory: 2010 MB
Current Mode: 1366 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor Model: unknown
Native Mode: 1366 x 768(p) (60.064Hz)
Output Type: Internal
Driver File Version: 20.19.0015.4331 (English)
Driver Version: 20.19.15.4331
DDI Version: 12
Feature Levels: 11.1,11.0,10.1,10.0,9.3,9.2,9.1
Driver Model: WDDM 2.0
Graphics Preemption: Primitive
Compute Preemption: Thread group
Miracast: Supported
Hybrid Graphics GPU: Integrated
Power P-states: Not Supported
Driver Attributes: Final Retail

phoebebebe13

@clay22262 Your computer overall does not meet the requirements to run this game. The game could damage your Laptop. I would not add seasons or anything else to what you already have installed with this game. Invest in a cooling pad for your laptop if you don't have one. Don't play for long periods of time. You won't be able to play larger saves. You will eventually run into error code 12 for not having enough computer memory to run this game. You will probably have to start new games more frequently because your computer won't be able to handle larger saves.

clay22262

@phoebebebe13 Will getting more ram help?

phoebebebe13

@clay22262 Adding ram to have 8gb ram instead of 4gb will help a little to where you may not get error code 12. That is if your computer is designed to add more ram and if your computer is not under warranty however your processor and video card are too weak for this game. Your processor and video card are one and sharing ram with windows 10, the game, origin and other programs. This game does require a mid range gaming desktop or higher end gaming laptop. Especially for the more demanding eps like seasons, pets, ITF and IP. You need a gaming video card to render these eps and you cant change video card or processor in a laptop. Adding more ram will just help with game error codes but wont help when it comes to running seasons

igazor

I have to agree with @phoebebebe13 (of course), but just wanted to add something. On that particular processor even with more RAM added (if possible), one would unfortunately expect that the EPs released after Ambitions, which is most of them, actually won't even startup. Players then end up staring at a black screen until they eventually realize or are informed that the program has crashed. So we're not talking about quality of play or lag during weather here, but rather the likelihood that the heavier EPs just won't run as that processor just won't be able to keep up with the instructions fast enough that the game is throwing at it during launch.

For the base game only or with the earlier EPs though, here is a page that provides some tips for playing on systems with integrated graphics in case that's helpful.
http://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Onboard_Graphics