Graphics card

[puzzlezaddict]

@roxosmama  Okay, then you can set the limit to 120, or 60, or 90.  In fact, if Sunset Valley was running at 120 Hz with only the occasional spike above, then vertical sync might have been working after all.  If it was consistently over though, you do need an fps limiter of some kind.

[roxosmama]

I actually went back on it this morning and it didn't matter if I was in a new save game in Sunset Valley or a new save in Bridgeport the fps was still back at like 30 fps! I dont understand!!

[roxosmama]

Is there a reason why it fluctuates? It's a new computer it's really bugging me why its lagging 

[puzzlezaddict]

@roxosmama  Your in-game fps should absolutely not be that low, even in Bridgeport, although of course older saves can bog down a bit.  But new ones should not.  Are you playing on battery?  If so, your laptop's power settings are definitely artificially limiting how fast your hardware can run, possibly even to the point where you won't see anything over 30 fps.  Different laptops will have different settings, and of course you can adjust them somewhat to suit your preferences.

But when you're playing a game, you really should have the laptop plugged in.  Even an only moderately demanding game like Sims 3 will draw a significant amount of power, probably more than your battery can handle.  And if you could push the power settings to the point where you'd get full performance, the battery would drain too quickly to get a decent play session.

[roxosmama]

What settings could I adjust it to?

Also I want to say thank you for still answering me ^-^ this is a pain 

[puzzlezaddict]

@roxosmama  I know this problem is stubborn, but Sims 3 can be stubborn too.  Luckily, once you get everything the way you want it, you'll probably only have to do a little bit here and there to keep teh game running smoothly.

Are you in fact playing on battery?  If you are, please test with the laptop plugged in, and let me know what kind of framerates you get, both in new saves and in the existing one in Brldgeport.  I just want to make sure that this is in fact the issue, not something else.

As for the power settings, yes, you can change them if you want, but playing on battery will always be worse than playing while plugged in.  Personally, I'd skip adjusting the settings entirely and just plug the laptop in when you want to play.

[roxosmama]

I tried it plugged in, it definitely made a diffenrce. The new towns I tested in Sunset and Bridgeport, was definitely faster the fps for sunset valley was 140 150 and Bridgeport was about the same. 

The family I have for Bridgeport was 70 6 . 

It definitely made a difference. I was wondering if that high fps was bad, and if I should consider mods. I'm skeptical of them, I'm not sure if they're worth it 

[puzzlezaddict]

@roxosmama  Some mods are great and fix a number of issues that were never addressed by the developers.  They won't help with framerates though.  That's why I described how to use RivaTuner Statistics Server and linked a post about Nvidia Inspector.  There are other tools out there too, but those are the ones most often recommended for limiting fps in Sims 3.

If you do want to consider adding mods for other reasons, let me know, and I can recommend a few highly useful ones from NRaas.  The original and current developers are both professionals, the site actively supports its offerings, and the mods themselves have been used by tens or hundreds of thousands of players each (or perhaps more) over the years, with excellent results.  Plus, they're all entirely removable if you decide you don't want them anymore.

[roxosmama]

Because the refresh rate is 120 hz, is the high fps concerning? I'm not a very technical person ^-^

[puzzlezaddict]

@roxosmama  Framerates above the refresh rate of your monitor are not always concerning by themselves.  But there are two factors to consider.  The first is that your graphics card will be working harder than it needs to when producing those high framerates, for no benefit: you can't see those extra frames on your screen.  Even if the card can handle the workload, it will produce more heat than it otherwise would.  And extremely high framerates are also not good for GPUs in general, although your fps isn't high enough that I'd worry about the immediate health of your card.

The second factor is that when a graphics card is running at its limit and fps isn't capped, you can see graphics glitches, including screen tearing, that make it harder to play.  Limiting fps often makes those glitches go away, although not always.

Since there is no benefit to such high framerates, and there is at least the potential for harm, it's a good idea to cap them.  Many people can't tell the difference between 60 fps and higher, although many can; I doubt anyone could distinguish between 120 and higher.  So in your position, I'd try 60 and 90 and see whether I noticed a difference, and choose accordingly.