[FAQ] Lags & Freezes

by crinrict
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Original Post

[FAQ] Lags & Freezes

[ Edited ]
Hero

I'm still a little unsure what to post in this forum and if it would be a good idea to make threads for the more common issues with this game. After all it is all about answers here.

 

One of the more common issues are Lags & Freezes. They occur on the best computers. So while sometimes the computer is the issue, lots of time, it's not.

 

I've started collecting some causes of the issue and thought I list them here. If you have anything to add or have any questions, feel free to post.

 

Causes

 

  • Make sure your computer fulfills the requirements. I think the minimum requirement for this game are way to low so if you are even lower than that, that is probably where your problem lies.
  • Stuck or frozen Sims
  • Stuck cars and bikes
  • Tons of cars in the streets and the inventories of inactive Sim. These are temporary items that don't get cleaned up properly.
  • Crowd gatherings that never dissolve.
  • Tons of downloads (especially package files) and faulty ones.
  • Bad Routing in Bridgeport and other towns
  • Large Savegames. Games that have been played very long tend to bloat. Especially all the relationship information take up a lot of space.
  • Spiral Staircases that don't work correctly anymore after Patch 1.26
  • Make sure you have no areas where Sim can get stuck
  • Trees in driveways make the game lag.
  • Some of the bigger mods are very heavy on the resources. If you have an older/slower computer, don't use them.
  • The game likes to spawn a lot of wild animals and strays. Similar to the car issue this makes the game lag
  • Server Connections Issue (SimPort, social features)
  • Thousands of alarms being fired in the background

Solutions

 

  • Sims in Slow Motion
  • Turn down your options or get a new Computer
  • Reset all your Sims in town by entering the cheat resetsim *
  • Delete stuck cars by using the cheat testingcheatsenabled true and then shift-click on the car and choose Object-Delete
  • Try to reduce the number of cars in your hood. Remove them from inventories of inactive Sims and streets. To prevent them spawning everywhere again, delete the parking spaces as well.
  • Reduce the amount of Custom Content you're using and make sure the ones you are using are actually Sims 3 files and not corrupt.
  • Copy all your Sims to the library and move them to a new town. You will loose all your relationships but everything else will be maintained.
  • Make sure to fix all spiral staircases in your town by turning them until they work correctly.
  • Log out from game while playing.
  • Turn off the interactive loading screen.

Special Case: Island Paradise/Islo Paradiso

 

Islo Paradiso does have a lot of problems. Routing issues and the large world with an entire routable ocean are just an example.

 

Things you can try:

 

  • Delete the Scott Family
  • Use the cheat DiscoverAllUnchartedIslands to make all islands visible. I'm aware that this takes away from the fun but it seems to help some. 
  • Make sure you have no stuck sims in your town (use the cheat resetsim * to reset all sims in your town and put them to a safe location)
  • Use Overwatch and ErrorTrap (those are mods and you'll be using at your own risk. Not supported by EA. Just google to find)
  • Check for any aboandonned boats in your game and delete them by using testingcheatsenabled true and then shift-click on the boat and choose object-delete.
  • If you're playing Hobart's Hideout, be aware of this issue: Routing Issues in the Resort Hobart’s Hideout

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Did this FAQ help you with your issue ? If so, please consider pressing the XP button

 

Good Luck
Crin

Trennlinie

I don't work or have any association with EA. I give advice to the best of my knowledge and cannot be held responsible for any damage done to your computer/game.
Please only contact me via PM when asked to do so.



Important Threads


Message 1 of 131 (120,382 Views)

Re: Lags & Freezes

[ Edited ]
Community Manager (retired)

This is exactly the kind of thing we want to see here! Information like this helps other users and is the sort of thing needed to help lay the foundation to this community. I'll also float this post, so it stays at the top of The Sims 3 area. 

------
EA_Deum
Launch Director - DICE
Message 2 of 131 (120,118 Views)

Re: Lags & Freezes

Hero

I got tons more where this one is coming from.

 

I'll see about transferring the more common issues which have solutions other than mod-solutions and maybe compile some FAQ from the shorter posts on my blog.

 

If that's what your looking for, it's easy to transfer them here.

Good Luck
Crin

Trennlinie

I don't work or have any association with EA. I give advice to the best of my knowledge and cannot be held responsible for any damage done to your computer/game.
Please only contact me via PM when asked to do so.



Important Threads


Message 3 of 131 (120,113 Views)

Re: Lags & Freezes

★★★ Newbie

What about the issue of game lagging that ends up relating to NPC sims spawning on lots and then becoming locked there?  Kind of like I sent you that file Crin once where all NPC were spawing to a community lot and standing around screaming and screaming.  Then when I reset them they'd only spawn right back later.

 

I do know that started a major lag on my game so when I panned around I found the issue on that one lot.  What are the "fixes" for those seeing this???

 

Anyway, just an idea as a topic for here.

Message 4 of 131 (120,080 Views)

Re: Lags & Freezes

Hero

That's what I mean by Crowd gatherings that never dissolve.

 

I still don't know of a mod-less solution for that, unfortunatly.

Good Luck
Crin

Trennlinie

I don't work or have any association with EA. I give advice to the best of my knowledge and cannot be held responsible for any damage done to your computer/game.
Please only contact me via PM when asked to do so.



Important Threads


Message 5 of 131 (120,076 Views)

Re: Lags & Freezes

★★★ Newbie

@crinrict wrote:

That's what I mean by Crowd gatherings that never dissolve.

 

I still don't know of a mod-less solution for that, unfortunatly.


Oh, ok then.  I was thinking since my issue was "spawning" due to an opportunity that perhaps it was a tad different from a "crowd gathering".  : )

Message 6 of 131 (120,056 Views)

Re: Lags & Freezes

[ Edited ]
★★ Apprentice

My game started to lag when I installed The Sims 3 Pets. I did all of those things you said (I even got a powerful new PC lol) and Appaloosa Plains still lags. But, this is not an ordinary lag, when the game freezes, animations, shadows and plumbob are moving while sims and everything else is frozen. I tried to uninstall every EP and SP and install it in exact order but it still lags pretty bad. Any tips?

Thanks in advance!

P.S. I even recorded my problem!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiW1GekHpfs&feature=plcp¸

I read your solutions and the ''resetsim *'' helped! I can't belive that I've spent 3 hours talking with EA Help and they couldn't solve my problem. Thank you crinirict, you just made my game 100% more enjoyable! :D

Message 7 of 131 (119,994 Views)

Re: Lags & Freezes

[ Edited ]
★★★★ Apprentice

Crin, I just bookmarked three of your threads. THANK YOU! Confusedmileyhappy:

Message 8 of 131 (119,822 Views)

Re: [FAQ] Lags & Freezes

★★★★★ Newbie

what do you mean by "delete cars" 

 

does this only apply to people with "fast lane" installed?

 

or all cars in general?

 

How on earth do I delete inactive sims inventories? go from sim-to-sim?

Message 9 of 131 (119,675 Views)

Re: [FAQ] Lags & Freezes

Hero

Since LN the game tends to leave behind cars on parking spaces a lot. If you look around your town, you'll see many of them parked in all spaces. Also they get added to the inventories to inactive sims which then eventually leads to lags (cause of all the overloads)

 

And yes to delete you have to go from family to family but they basically just come back so that's a not so good solution. I use a mod that does it for me but unfortunatly I can't link or name here.

Good Luck
Crin

Trennlinie

I don't work or have any association with EA. I give advice to the best of my knowledge and cannot be held responsible for any damage done to your computer/game.
Please only contact me via PM when asked to do so.



Important Threads


Message 10 of 131 (119,673 Views)