Large Community Lot

[earthshoes]

I just downloaded a beautiful community lot--lots of eye-candy (flowerbeds, some hotel content, shops, restaurants, swimming pools and so on). However it runs horribly slow. I'd like to keep the lot if at all possible and wondered what items I can delete that will speed gameplay up and not hurt the lot too much (the person who put this place together must have enormous patience). I'm not sure what's eating up the most resources. Is it graphics or interactive objects?

I have one gig RAM which seems like it should be plenty for most of the things I want to do, but I am amazed at what memory hog Sims is. To be sure of smooth game play, I have to turn off so many things before I play---virus ware, firewall, spyware guards and so on.

[jaxad0127]

A better graphics card would help. How many sims are on the lot?

[simsample]

You could optimise your computer by cleaning it up, defragmenting the hard disc and getting rid of all viruses and malware. Also, creating a new user account with the windows classic theme and no wallpaper/ screensaver could help, as you can switch off all background tasks like antivirus software and use the account just for the Sims. If there is a lot of new meshes on the lot, try to find out if they have high poly counts- and if in doubt substitute them with something similar but low-poly. For example, there's no point in having that high poly cheese plant when Boblishman's alpha alternative looks just as good. This thread may help.
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=35914
Also, check for things like doubled up flowerbeds (two flowerbeds on one square). All those extra butterflies can slow it down!

[earthshoes]

On this particular lot just the NPCs and the Sim I send. One or two others might come later, I don't know--I took the Sim out after a few seconds. I do run a classic Windows desktop, no screensaver--just defragged a week ago, no malware, no viruses (I've scanned for both). I turn off the virus protection and the firewall to play.

However, I had wondered about all the flowerbeds and the trees. One lot (looks like the same designer, come to think of it), I eliminated most of the glowing dance floor (blocks?) and it made a huge difference. However, the last time I upgraded nvidia's graphics (Geforce, Integrated GPU) drivers, I wound up up having to reinstall the old drivers, because the new ones were incompatible with sims.

A new graphics card with onboard memory would be lovely. Perhaps when the tax return comes in.

[Nick]

My worst large lot HAD about 5 million doors , windows and trees.
It was very choppy, especially when all the ghosts came out at night.
Removing many windows, doors and Trees helped me considerably. I play with the walls partially down anyway, so I never see most of the doors and windows anyway.
I miss all the trees but ...oh well.
I saw a big difference in game play. I have read other threads where this made a difference for others as well.

[AngelFrouk]

Cutting down on recolors and custom content makes a huge difference too.

[jaxad0127]

You could also try lowering your settings, especially disable the option to show objects on lower floors.