Re: The Sims 3: Laggy game/low game performance

by roberta591
Reply

Original Post

The Sims 3: Laggy game/low game performance

[ Edited ]
★★ Novice

Hello, 

I have some performance issues with The Sims 3. My game is choppy and freezes often and is laggy. 

I have all expansion packs and those are my PC specifications:

- GTX 1060 6GB
- i7-6700, 3.4Ghz

- 8GB RAM

- Windows 10 Home 64-bit

My PC is pretty powerful and I play newest games on highest settings with high FPS, yet Sims 3 is still laggy..? 

This is what I tried:
- Making my game recognize my GPU (I followed the guide by SimsWiki, but after doing all the steps, my graphic settings were still on lowest when I clicked on Restore Defaults, so I set the setttings to highest myself)
- Set my max FPS to 60
- I applied the 4GB patch

None of the above worked, my game performance is still bad.

Any suggestions how to improve it?

Nikola

Message 1 of 14 (1,358 Views)

Re: The Sims 3: Laggy game/low game performance

Hero (Retired)

@Nika444 Was the game always like this? Is this a fresh install? What is your system storage device? How much free space does your system storage device have?

Message 2 of 14 (1,345 Views)

Re: The Sims 3: Laggy game/low game performance

★★ Novice

Hello, my game was always like this. It's more laggy on Isla Paradiso, so whenever I moved my family to there it became more laggy, but it was laggy in other worlds too. By system storage device u mean SSD or HDD right...? if so, sims is installed on my SSD, 223GB storage space in total, now only 28GB.

Message 3 of 14 (1,334 Views)

Re: The Sims 3: Laggy game/low game performance

Hero (Retired)

@Nika444  When your Windows system device is small (below 500Gb) you have to manage the system to provide a proper operating environment for Windows. 28Gb is not enough free space for the average consumer who doesn't know how the Windows operating system works. If you need to install applications to a data drive you will loose the advantages of the ssd and the more you do this you might as well ditch the ssd and get a good hard drive or spend the money and get a large ssd. The IP pack is very demanding pack. If you have the AA setting (anti aliasing) set to high, this is very demanding on the video system. You have to provide a complete description of your computer system and a dxdiag would help. How to post dxdiag - link - how to post dxdiag

 

Message 4 of 14 (1,316 Views)

Re: The Sims 3: Laggy game/low game performance

[ Edited ]
★★ Novice

My OS is installed on my SSD too, should I install Sims on my HDD then..? If I understand u correctly. Btw, my HDD has 428GB free space. 

Anyways, here's my DxDiag file (sorry, it's in Polish)

Message 5 of 14 (1,310 Views)

Re: The Sims 3: Laggy game/low game performance

Hero (Retired)

@Nika444 To maintain proper free space on your system drive you should install games and packs to an alternate storage device (your DStandard smile. Because you have a small system drive you will have to maintain this procedure to maintain free space on the system drive (CStandard smile. The applications (games) on D: will not benefit from the ssd. If you get 2 - 1Tb high performance (WD black) and raid them, the performance would be close to having a ssd drive. That's 2Tb of storage that boots about one sip of coffee slower then a ssd and overall performance is pretty good with out spending a fortune. Most gamers don't want to spend the time maintaining a small ssd (checking free space, installing to alternate locations, etc.). Most gamers just want to install the game and play. There is a read/write limit to the chips used in ssds and nobody really knows when that limit will be hit. IMHO ssds are a nice toy for people who want the latest and greatest and want to experiment but they are not ready for the average consumer who just wants to play games. We can argue about this but I would not sell you a gaming computer with a 240Gb ssd as a system drive. In the long run it just doesn't work. I'm usually upgrading the video card LONG before I have any issues with the storage devices. Should you use hdds? That all depends on your pocket book. High density ssds tend to get pricey. For a user who uses one computer for everything I would recommend a 1Tb drive (500Gb minimum) you can get for $50 to $75 usd. A 1Tb ssd will cost about $280 usd. That would increase the price of your computer about $175 usd. Is the gain in performance worth 4 to 5 times the higher price of a component?

 

hth

Message 6 of 14 (1,296 Views)

Re: The Sims 3: Laggy game/low game performance

[ Edited ]
★★ Novice

Alright, atm I can't really buy a new HDD, but as I said I already do have one, with 428GB free space(1TB in total, I already have many games and other applications installed on it), so I will follow your advice and install my game on it (I first thought Sims would run smoother if I install it on a SSD :u ) I'll let u know if it worked, thank you.

EDIT:

@roberta591 so I installed Sims on my HDD, played it for a while, but it's still laggy and almost unplayable. Anything else I can do?

Message 7 of 14 (1,284 Views)

Re: The Sims 3: Laggy game/low game performance

Hero (Retired)

@Nika444  You didn't post how much free space you now have on the ssd. You really need to post ALL your computer's specs to do a complete analysis. Make and model of memory modules. Power supply make and model. Why you are using display port instead of HDMI. The monitor has 144Hz refresh - not 60Hz but should be ok at 60Hz. Just because you have nice hardware doesn't mean you can max out settings - setting AA (anti-aliasing) to max will greatly affect performance of the video system. Large Address Aware the Sims 3 is a 32 bit application and because of the way compilers work will probably not use more then 2Gb of memory - yes the 4Gb does help some but if your game is patched to the latest patch, TS3 should already be set with the 4Gb patch. IP (Island Paradise pack) is very demanding. Why do you have 2 virtual images - why are you using daemon tools.

Message 8 of 14 (1,261 Views)

Re: The Sims 3: Laggy game/low game performance

★★ Novice

@roberta591

My SSD has now around 51 GB free space. 

I don't have a HDMI cable, but I will buy it then.

AA setting in the nvidia settings or in the game...?

I have Daemon tools, because I used to use it in the past, but how does that affect my game?

I uploaded the dxdiag file, so I thought I already posted all of my computer's specs. I don't really know what more can I do?

 

Message 9 of 14 (1,251 Views)

Re: The Sims 3: Laggy game/low game performance

Hero (Retired)

@Nika444 Here is a link that explains the game setting for AA - Sims 3 AA setting explained  The dxdiag lists most of the important specs but can't display stuff like power supply make and specs - this can only be done by opening the case and looking at the power supply. The dxdiag won't tell you the quality of your memory modules. This can be done with a program like cpuz (a free program). The Daemon tools program sometime interferes with some games as it uses a device driver that is loaded whether you are using the program or not and when you save an image it is stored to the disc you have Daemon tolls configured to use - this can cause issues if disc space is a problem.

Message 10 of 14 (1,241 Views)