sims 3 is micro freezing like crazy

[Belisha_Beacon]

Hello,

The sims 3 has started to micro freeze, I mean it will run fine for under 1 minute, then the game will pause freeze with sims static but trees, plumbbob normal animation.  Then it will be fine for another 50 seconds and  again pause freezes.

Ive reinstalled the game, verified the cache, removed dlc, restarted computer, reduced the resolution,  capped the fps and it still freezes.  The only difference is a video card update, but surely it cannot be that, because the video update is supposed to help.

It happens on ALL neighbourhoods and Im at a loss as what next to try.

Would any mod fix it?  Ive heard so much good things about them, but how and why do they assist in stabilising the game.

the computer specs are

fx 8350

16gb ram

6gb 980ti

Those spec have managed to run a vive for the last three years, yet not sims 3.

Any help you be appreciated.

Thanking you

[Belisha_Beacon]

What is the total amount of ram the sims 3 is supposed to utilise ? 

Ive heard there was a patch which enabled up to 4gb, yet when I check, sims 3 is only using like, 1.6gb and lags in game like a so and so.

Why isnt it using up to 3gb of ram?

cheer's and thanking you

[puzzlezaddict]

@Belisha_Beacon  There are a number of causes of the lag you're describing.  What world are you playing in, and is this a new save or an older one?  Do you use mods or custom content?  What kind of framerates are you getting in-game?  If you're not sure, bring up the cheats console (crtl-shift-C) and enter "fps on" without quotes.  A number will appear in the upper right corner of the screen, and it should never go above the refresh rate of your monitor.

Edit:  I merged your other post into this thread, since it's mostly on the same subject.  Sims 3 can use up to ~3.7 GB RAM before crashing (there's some overhead), but it won't unless the save calls for it; that's been true since 2010.  So as long as your install is fully patched, that's not the issue.  The lag you've described can have any number of causes that have nothing to do with memory use.

[Belisha_Beacon]

"  There are a number of causes of the lag you're describing.  What world are you playing in, and is this a new save or an older one?  Do you use mods or custom content?  What kind of framerates are you getting in-game?  If you're not sure, bring up the cheats console (crtl-shift-C) and enter "fps on" without quotes.  A number will appear in the upper right corner of the screen, and it should never go above the refresh rate of your monitor.

Edit:  I merged your other post into this thread, since it's mostly on the same subject.  Sims 3 can use up to ~3.7 GB RAM before crashing (there's some overhead), but it won't unless the save calls for it; that's been true since 2010.  So as long as your install is fully patched, that's not the issue.  The lag you've described can have any number of causes that have nothing to do with memory use."

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@puzzlezaddict 

Ok, thanks for merging the posts!

I see you replied that sims 3 uses up to 3.7gb ram since 2010.  Really!?!  That's mental, it should be buttery smooth then!  Ive been checking the game thru process explorer and it NEVER goes over 1.8gb ram, even when building and recolouring practally everything. 

Oh yeah, it lags when building to. No joke!  

After reinstall, Pleasantview?  [ is that sims 2? lol], the neighbourhood that's mainly empty lots, in order to build, since it was micro pausing there, moved to the big city, Bridgeport, same, then moved to lucky palms, still lag, then Isla Paradis.  Its usless and lags wherever.

Checked cache, re installed game, did all those things, etc.  It was even lag with just the ep&stuff packs, no store/cc/cap.  I have no idea, what the 'ell is going on with the sims 3!  It an be months and its alright-ish and then next couple of months, its a nightmare!

Thing is the fps is stong, constant 60fps, even when freeze.  Its really, weird!

[Belisha_Beacon]

@puzzlezaddict 

Since sims 3 uses up to 3.7 ram, and currently the game never goes over 1.8,  I understand that the amount can be manually modified in the game files.  Would you know how this is done and so I can view how much Ram it is currently set to use?

[fyi the game is up to date and launched thru steam]

Thanking you for your assistance

[puzzlezaddict]

@Belisha_Beacon  If you installed through Steam, then your game is fully up to date.  It won't use more RAM than it needs, and depending on how many and which packs you have installed, 1.8 GB memory doesn't seem unreasonable for a new save.  So unless you made some tweak to the game's program files, there's nothing else you need to do.  (If you did make a change to the program files, please undo it.)

For now,  move  your entire Sims 3 folder out of Documents\Electronic Arts and onto your desktop.  When you launch the game, a clean folder will spawn with no content.  Start a new save in Sunset Valley, have a look around (check fps again, just to make sure), and let me know how it runs.  If you still get lag, please run a dxdiag and attach it to a post.

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/

[Belisha_Beacon]

@puzzlezaddict 

Ok, will do!

I forgot to mention, all stuff and expansion packs.  No cc / mods / cap. Keep it nice and tidy 

Thanking you!

[roberta591]

@Belisha_Beacon The Sims 3 is a 32 bit program. The only thing you can do to adjust the memory usage, is to set the largeaddressaware bit in the executable file (.exe). I believe this was done some time ago in an EA game patch. You may have an issue with the size of your page file. On a Windows install the size of the page file is calculated by the size of your system device. This page file is your virtual memory. If you are running low on free space on your system device, this can cause lag on even a very powerful system.

[Belisha_Beacon]

@roberta591 

I found the link regarding upping the ram usage

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1131162350

Oof!  Theres certainly a lot of info to mull over in that article!  

I checked the page file size which was set at 512mb.  Ok, I change it to 1024, hope that helps!

Its a little late just now, so I shall do some testing later on.

Thank you for your assistance!

[puzzlezaddict]

@Belisha_Beacon  The information about RAM use in the above link is incorrect.  The number cited is actually 20 GB, not 2, and it refers to the maximum size of the script heap.  Changing this is neutral at best and harmful at worst; please undo the change.

And again, Sims 3 has been large address aware since 2010.  There is no fix necessary.

If you're still getting lag even in a test save in Sunset Valley in a clean game folder, please run a dxdiag and attach it to a post.  That will cover things like storage, page file (which should be fine if you're running Windows 10, unless you're almost completely out of storage on C), and any number of other potential issues.