Re: The Sims 3 lag after multiple tries of fixing

by puzzlezaddict
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The Sims 3 lag after multiple tries of fixing

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Hello! 

I recently redownloaded The Sims 3 for some nostalgia. I saw that at first, it lagged a lot, but I tried to move on. I couldn't move on anymore so I searched on youtube/google how to fix it. I installed a couple of mods from NRAAS, made The Sims recognize my graphics card, fixed the memory thingy etc. but it lags even more than before. Yesterday it gave me a blue screen, and earlier today it crashed. I know that Sims 3 is a pretty old game, but I really like it and I would love to play it without any lagging. Please, help me fix it!  (I don't really know what files to attach, hope that DxDiag is useful Standard smile )

 

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Re: The Sims 3 lag after multiple tries of fixing

[ Edited ]

@PepsyQ  I'm glad to hear that, and yes, StoryProgression is definitely a resource hog.  That's why I mentioned not adding it back right away.  But you can probably use it if you let it run on one of the slowest speeds (slow or snail), perhaps in addition to lengthening the cycle of the skill manager, which is the most demanding among them.  The overall speed is under SP > General Options > Adjust Speed; each manager's speed can be adjusted further as well, for example SP > General Options > Options:Skills > Speed.  The speed is listed in sim-minutes, and a longer interval means a lower impact overall.

 

Having more residents means more sims to push around, meaning more work for SP and a higher impact on performance.  Homeless sims can also advance a little here and there, especially if they're chosen as coworkers for your active sims, but they have less impact per sim since they spend so much time off the map.  Their cumulative impact can still be high though.  And adding more SP modules will also raise the demands the mod places on the game, so it's best to only add those whose features you need or really want.

 

You may still see lag when an SP manager is running, but that will happen less often at slower speeds, of course, and the overall impact will be smaller with fewer sims to impact.  You can also disable certain functions, for example I don't allow my sims to move on their own and have home inspections disabled, so SP doesn't concern itself with figuring out whether each and every household should be living somewhere else.

 

Point is, with some tweaking, you can set up SP to work well for you.  And you can import your settings to new saves as well—exporting and importing mod settings are of Overwatch—so you'd really only need to go through the initial setup process once.

 

Or you could skip SP entirely.  It's certainly not necessary to enjoy the game, even if it does make things more interesting for a lot of us.

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I don't work for EA. I'm just trying to help fellow players with their games.

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Re: The Sims 3 lag after multiple tries of fixing

@PepsyQ  The dxdiag does help, so thanks for that.  Among other things, I can see right away that your laptop should be able to run the game on ultra settings, or close enough.  However, it's necessary to turn down the water and high-detail lots settings because of how demanding they are on the game engine; I play with those on "mirrors only" and 2, respectively.

 

It looks like you're using a device that in turn uses this software:

 

https://vb-audio.com/

 

Please either shut down the software (kill it in the Task Manager) before playing, or else unplug the audio device that uses it and restart your computer.  This may or may not be the issue, but it's possible, and this is an easy test.

 

If that doesn't help, I'd like to see the info from when the game caused a BlueScreen.  Open a File Explorer window and enter this in the address bar:

 

C:\Windows\Minidump

 

Look for a file with a timestamp that matches when you saw the BSOD, or else grab any files from after you installed the game.  Right-click on the file(s) and select Copy, then right-click on your desktop and select Paste.  From there, you can zip multiple files together if you have them, and either way, upload it/them to a free filehosting service (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.) and post a link.

 

Finally, let me know whether you installed from discs or Steam, and I'd like to see how the game rates your hardware as well.  Open deviceconfig, inside Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3, and copy the two lines under Rating info, near the top.  It should look something like this:

 

GPU: 5 GPU Memory: 5 CPU: 3 RAM: 5 CPU Speed: 2400 Threading: 3
Adjusted CPU: 3200 RAM: 32768 Adjusted RAM: 32256 Cores: 10

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I don't work for EA. I'm just trying to help fellow players with their games.
Message 2 of 31 (1,962 Views)

Re: The Sims 3 lag after multiple tries of fixing

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I uninstalled the software and it doesn't really make a difference. At C:\Windows\Minidump I only found one file, hope that is useful. I installed the game from discs and here are the lines from deviceconfig: 

GPU: 5 GPU Memory: 4 CPU: 2 RAM: 4 CPU Speed: 2304 Threading: 3

Adjusted CPU: 2672 RAM: 8081 Adjusted RAM: 7569 Cores: 4

 

google drive dump file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r6b-2HhjQENzhapKAkdnOOM00gd6hiDM/view?usp=sharing

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Re: The Sims 3 lag after multiple tries of fixing

@PepsyQ  This particular crash dump lists pool corruption as the error, which likely means an issue with one or more of your kernel-mode drivers.  So the place to start is by updating all the drivers you can.  Hit Windows key-X, select the Device Manager, and start updating: expand a tab, click on a device, and click the black and green Update tab.  Many won't have updates, which is fine; the point is to force Windows to search.

 

There are plenty of driver updater utilities out there, but they generally don't work well, cost money, or both, so it's best to handle the process manually.

 

Restart your computer when you're done, then try to play Sims 3.  Please test a new save in Sunset Valley to set a baseline for performance, and change the water and high-detail lots graphics settings as well.  (Do so at the Main Menu, then quit to desktop before loading the save.)  If you still see lag, let me know.

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I don't work for EA. I'm just trying to help fellow players with their games.
Message 4 of 31 (1,912 Views)

Re: The Sims 3 lag after multiple tries of fixing

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I tried to update every single one of them, but none had any updates. I changed the reflection to off and high-detail lots to 1 and created a save. Sunset Valley moved a bit fluid, but when I got into CAS... things drastically changed (attached) (I also apologize for the bad quality photo)

Message 5 of 31 (1,889 Views)

Re: The Sims 3 lag after multiple tries of fixing

@PepsyQ  That at least isn't a BlueScreen.  I could look at the crash dump for the game—Windows writes those as well by default—but I'm guessing it would just list an access violation like the other Sims 3 crashes in your dxdiag, and access violations aren't usually specific enough to be helpful.

 

However, what might help is running the Super Patch, which you can find here, under "Cumulative Base Game 1.67 Super Patcher":

 

https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/175477/official-ea-download-link-for-the-sims-3-cumulati...

 

In addition to patching, it repairs game files where necessary, and it will also undo your .sgr file edits, so make copies of those files first if you don't want to redo your work.  But don't put back your edited files at first; just test the game totally vanilla.  Move the Sims 3 user folder out of Documents\Electronic Arts as well, just to be thorough.

 

If you get another crash, trash the new Sims 3 folder so the game generates a new one, and this time, play in a clean boot.

 

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-clean-boot-windows-10

 

When you reboot, go through the Task Manager's background processes list shutting down anything that doesn't absolutely need to be running.  If you accidentally kill the wrong service and it doesn't restart automatically, just reboot your computer.

 

If the game crashes in a clean boot, try again, but this time while your computer is offline, as in, disable wifi and/or disconnect the ethernet cable.

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I don't work for EA. I'm just trying to help fellow players with their games.
Message 6 of 31 (1,873 Views)

Re: The Sims 3 lag after multiple tries of fixing

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Quick update: I managed to update to version 1.67.2. I loaded up my save and I think it was a bit better, but still laggy. The map isn't laggy at all but when I zoom in on a lot, and play, all goes wrong. It hasn't crashed but it lagged a lot on lots (especially when I changed speeds). It even froze a few times, but got back to normal pretty quick. I will try tomorrow to play in a clean boot and let you know how it went. Thanks for the help so far!

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Re: The Sims 3 lag after multiple tries of fixing

[ Edited ]
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Back with the clean boot info: it didn't crash but it still was a bit laggy. Think it was a bit better than before, but i'm not sure. I really don't understand what's causing this huge lag. I have absolutely no problem with Sims 2 and Sims 4.

edit: forgot to mention that I joined the game with all settings at minimum, only sim details was at medium

Message 8 of 31 (1,766 Views)

Re: The Sims 3 lag after multiple tries of fixing

@PepsyQ  What kind of hardware temperatures are you seeing while playing?  You can check the GPU temps in the Performance tab of the Task Manager; you'd need an outside tool (CPU-Z is a good option, and it's free) to monitor CPU temps.  Please start by checking on the GPU temps, and while you're looking, make sure that the game is using your 1050 ti: you should be able to see its utilization.

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I don't work for EA. I'm just trying to help fellow players with their games.
Message 9 of 31 (1,746 Views)

Re: The Sims 3 lag after multiple tries of fixing

[ Edited ]
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I took some pictures of both task manager and CPU-Z. I also saw that I could get a report out of CPU-Z so I also did that, maybe it's helpful Standard smile 

taskmanager pics: https://imgur.com/a/Q4nujco

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