Sims 3 lag [ Edited ]

[squidthefox]

A few days ago, my game got really laggy suddenly. I had downloaded a few new lots and outfits, so I assumed that it was just bad cc and deleted it. The issue persisted so I deleted the cache. When that didn't work, I did a factory reset of the game. The game is still very laggy and I don't know what to do. It takes up to 10 minutes for a world (even a new world) to load, and CAS is even worse! Creating a sim takes ages because everytime I switch to a new tab (i.e from hair to outfits) it takes 15-20 minutes for it to load in. I know it's not just one or two bad saves because this happens with every new world I make. I am fed up with this, and the game is just about unplayable now. I've tried everything I can think of and the lag just won't go away. I have never had this issue up until now, so I know it couldn't be any of the mods or CC I downloaded months/years ago. Is there something I'm missing? Should I try uninstalling and then reinstalling my game? 

[squidthefox · Accepted solution]

@puzzlezaddict I unplugged my mouse and used the track pad, and the results were the same.I decided to do a factory reset of the game again, just incase, and the lag in-in game seems to have improved, along with the lag in build/buy mode. CAS seems to be less laggy, though is still quite slow. I think that's as good as I'm going to get at this point without doing a clean boot (which I don't feel comfortable doing as I don't want to mess anything up). Thank you for helping!

[puzzlezaddict]

@squidthefox  An uninstall/reinstall of the game's program files isn't likely to help here.  When you said you did a factory reset, did you test in a completely clean folder, or did you move your existing content into the new folder first?  If it's the latter, please create another clean folder and try a new save without any of your old content in place.

If the game still lags even in a completely clean folder, please run a dxdiag and attach the results to a post here.

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

[squidthefox]

@puzzlezaddict 

I wasn't quite sure what this was at first, but here's the results: (Not sure what any of this means, though.) DxDiag.txt (85 KB)

[puzzlezaddict]

@squidthefox  Your dxdiag lists a number of errors related to your USB 3.0 driver, and a couple of Bluescreens as well.  It looks like a new driver was released last week; perhaps yours is corrupt.  I could give you advice on uninstalling the driver and installing a new one, but first I want to check with someone who's better with that kind of thing than I am.

In the meantime, you can run a couple of system repair tools to see if those will fix the issue.  Here's how:

• Hit Windows key-X
• Choose either “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Command prompt (Administrator),” whichever option is offered
• Inside the window that appears, copy and paste “DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth” without quotes into the window, and enter
• The system will start validating soon. If it throws an error, please list it here
• After it reaches 100%, hit Windows key-X again
• Again, choose “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Command prompt (Administrator)”
• Inside the window, copy and paste “sfc /scannow” without quotes into the window, and enter
• Post the message you receive here

Try running TS3 again and let me know if you have more issues.  Also, if you happen to have an external device plugged in, try the game with and without it to see whether it makes a difference.

[squidthefox]

Whenever I hit windows-x, I got two PowerShell options: Windows PowerShell and Windows PowerShell (admin). Which one should I click on, and what's the difference between them? 

[puzzlezaddict]

@squidthefox  Use PowerShell (Administrator).  The other one doesn't have the proper permissions to run the commands you want to use.

[squidthefox]

@puzzlezaddict Once the scan was complete I got this message:

Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32>

[puzzlezaddict]

@squidthefox  Do you have any USB deviced plugged in, and if so, does TS3 run better when they're disconnected?

[squidthefox]

I have a USB mouse plugged in. It seems to have little to no effect on the game's performance. 

[puzzlezaddict]

@squidthefox  Sorry for the delay in responding. 

Unplug the mouse and use the trackpad, just as a test, and let me know how TS3 runs.

It would also be useful to see whether a clean boot helped.  A faulty driver would still interfere, but this would isolate other potential causes of the problem.  Here's how to do a clean boot in Windows 10:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/929135/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows

Also, thanks @holger1405 for being so accommodating, yet again.