Game repeatedly halts for a about second...

[Vren Lyet]

Can't say when it actually started but when the game timer is running (any speed as long as the game is not paused) it halts for about a second repeatedly. Everything stops. Then after a second it resumes as if nothing happened.

From time to time this occurs every two seconds or so, so as one can imagine this is getting on my nerves as hell - it's driving me crazy.

Now, I know for a fact that it CANNOT be related to any hacks as this strange behaviour only occurs in one of my neighbourhoods.
Well, I painfully have to admit that I messed this one up pretty badly (moved in some townies and npcs, killed them off later using InSIMenator, etc.).

Also, this particular neighbourhood has come of age quite a bit: there are about 436 character files...don't know if this could be an issue already though...

Does anyone have ever experienced something like that?
Is it really related to a "overstuffed" neighbourhood?
Can it be fixed somehow (obviously WITHOUT losing all my Sims)?

Any hints would be greatly appreciated! :)

[themaltesebippy]

Did you use deleteAllCharacters when you started your hood? It might be generating NPC's or townies.

[PAF]

This could also be caused by having several (or maybe just one) high poly mesh or if you have just alot of stuff(big houses full of furniture).Rendering high poly stuff or just alot of stuff can slow your game.I had some earings one time that if only 2 or 3 sims on the lot were wearing them it slowed the game.

[Mutantbunny]

It sounds to me as if your video card has reached it's memory limits with that one hood--is it graphic intense, lots of buildings, or big buildings, plants, etc?

[Vren Lyet]

Thanx for your advice!

Unfortunately, I don't think it applies in my case.

@themaltesebippy:
No I didn't. You know, at first I thought exactly that because quite the same lag occurs when the game creates an NPC/townie/dormie.
But as I said the neighbourhood is quite old and has all NPCs already generated.

@Mutantbunny & PAF:
Well, odd thing is the lag's just been there for some days but the neighbourhood already was like this (buildings and number of Sims) before the problem.

Also, I have quite a powerful machine (AMD Athlon64 3200+, 1 GB of RAM, ATI Radeon X800 Pro 256 MB, 440 GB of harddisk etc).

If it were related to such rendering issues the game would run jerky in pause mode, too, but it's totally smooth then even with 6x FSAA in place.
Only when the timer is running those lags occur...

[Red Ranger]

the same thing happend to me, all i had to do was download some new drivers from nVIDIA. cant say it will work for you because i dont know what kinda of graphics card you have, but find out what you do have and try updating the drivers. Hope that helps

[Vren Lyet]

@Red Ranger:
The drivers I use are the latest. So no luck there either...

Well, I went into a little (extensive!) testing what really is a pain in the *** with all those lags constantly interrupting gameplay...

Here is what I noticed:
1. It's worst between about 7 am and 11 am.
2. It seems as if when there are NPCs on the lot it's causing those lags... (?)
3. Actually, if there are any guests it gets bad (NPC or not).
4. It does not have anything to do with the performance of the computer itself, between the lags everything runs as smooth as possible...no background programs are running when I play.
5. Though all NPCs have been created already the car pools arriving and leaving create major lags (and there's about 300 MB RAM free usually).
6. When most Sims are asleep at night there are nearly no lags - if even any...

As I had the impression that bad NPCs could cause this I even recreated all (townies not included) of them (using the NPC Maker found here on MTS somewhere and killing and unlinking the old ones first). Of course, how could it be different, no improvements of the situation occured...I just got dozens of ugly stick beaten NPCs again... ;)

I'm really lost here...if I can't resolve this problem soon I'm gonna have to start all over again with a new clean neighbourhood...that would be devastating...the sixth generation has just been born...we're talking about a total of 27 lots with 149 Sims, 46 of which are already dead, each and everyone of them played from the crib to the grave...they're like pets to me...it's about five real life months of "evolution"... ;)

I really don't want to abandon them...but I just can't figure out what might possibly be the problem with this neighbourhood let alone how to fix it... :(

[Cdpierson5]

The few times I've had this happen, I've either had too much crap on the lot or too many sims on the lot. All it takes is for another sim to walk by on the sidewalk and the problem occurs. You could try doing a disk cleanup and defragging your computer, but in this case, I don't think it will help much. You could try saving more often, but again, I don't think it will make much difference. I would recommend getting rid of unnecessary objects in each lot (trees, shrubs, etc. Anything that will reduce the graphics load) and see if that does any good.

[sissimoody]

Mine does that after several hours of playing. I end up having to reboot my computer and using ctrl/alt/delete to shut programs down once again. What slows mine down most is the pillow fights....its a lot of animation going on. It also slows down in the larger families, especially if the kids bring home friends. If you have the large fountain on the lots, delete it. Even the smaller fountain is constantly in motion.

[elviragoth]

I just started having this problem, too, and I just got my new computer about a month ago. 3.8 Ghtz, 2 GB RAM, 250 GB HD, NVIDIA GEForce 6800.

It really started on a community lot - only have one in this hood, and its small because my old PC wouldn't handle a big one very well. When the taxi showed up to take the sim home, it was like playback in super-slow motion. I got the Pescado's lot debugger and put it on the community lot, and used it whenever I had a sim go there. I kept getting the option for "fix broken mood boosts" (don't ask, I don't know what it means) so I clicked on it and the problem went away.

But this lot, which I dled and probably shouldn't have, had a bubble blower on the lot and was always populated by a LOT of sims. I got rid of the bubble machine. Seems like any time I've had one on a lot I've had problems. So far, I haven't had the jerky problem come back there, but I have since had a problem with same this jerkiness you describe on some - not all - of my residential lots. It gets worse when any vehicle, townie or NPC enters the lot.

I have tried using the lot debugger on here, and the only "fix" option I get is to get rid of "offworld loiterers". I'm afraid to use it, because I have pregnant sims and I don't know how this would affect them.

I don't use much downloaded stuff because I'm afraid of the junk that sometimes gets attached to the file. I just want to play the game, not spend hours on end trying to fix some new bug that crops up. I did a defrag yesterday, and I'm going to check my dl folder with CleanInstaller today. Also going to check for any objects that might be causing it (like a cell phone - I never get the RC car). Will let you know if I find anything that works!

[Vren Lyet]

Well, I still can't say why it only effects ONE neighbourhood...but I noticed something:

Usually, my Sims don't garden themselves but pay a gardener. As one of my Sims had nothing to do at all I sent her out to garden a little bit. And there it was:
Each time the watering can or the trimming tool appeared the game halted for a part of a second.
Also, on some other lot there was a visiting Sim that sat down and played some chess. Each time she grabbed a peace there it was again: the game halted for a part of a second.

So, my first thought was, it's to be related to the meshes or something like that.
Of course, if it's related to meshes then loading cars and visitors entering (and leaving?) the lot would cause the lag, too, as it apparently does.

So I figured I should try another video driver...of course, that didn't help at all.

Then I said to myself, what about the other neighbourhood?
So I went there, took a Sim and made her play chess: nothing - no lag - everything ran as smooth as one could possibly imagine...

This, again, would suggest that it can't have anything to do with the meshes and the performance of the video card...

Now, I'm really really lost...it just doesn't make sense.

BTW: Pescado's lot debugger thingy does not show any problems in my lots.

[Cdpierson5]

Try going into Game Options and turn off or reduce the things that require a large graphics load (shadows, reflections, lighting, etc.). Then set your screen size to 800x600. I've found that to help, especially in neighborhoods I've really built up.

[klarsicht42]

Hi,

I guess I can not say anything to help you with your problem ... but isn't it normal that when a car arrives or your open the fridge or some visitors come ... that the game than just stops for a very short time?

[elviragoth]

Well, defrag didn't help. And the graphics options aren't the problem, either, because I don't have it happen in every house in the same neighborhood.

But I also noticed it got real bad when a gardener came. I expect a little lag when a vehicle or another sim enters the lot. But it does the little run fine, lag, run fine, lag, really bad when a gardener is on the lot affected.

Now, on this same lot, I had a sim who got pregnant, and I noticed she didn't "pop out" after the first 24. So I thought maybe I was mistaken, but I was sure I heard the baby bells. I checked on her with the InSiminator, and yes, she was pregnant, and 48 hours along! I tried moving her out and just into the bin, then back into the same house, but no luck. Tried deleting her with moveobjects, still no luck. Moved her out and then onto another lot - bingo! Had the baby. Moved her back home. Still has lag, so I think the lot has become "unstable". And I really don't want to have to move the family into another house, even though I could buy the career rewards with the buyable rewards and set up the house the same, it's just the time involved.

I actually have another lot that has the same problem just starting. I looked at how many things I had on both lots because I, too, thought maybe it was the meshes. Removed some trees and bushes. No help.

I replaced the objects.package file, too. Same problem. And no "fixes" available on the lot debugger, now, either.

In another house in the same neighborhood, I have more stuff that could cause problems, and it's fine. In fact, I just had my first alien abduction since I upgraded my graphics card a couple of months ago and could enable the cutscenes. LMAO! (And his wife is preg, too.) But everyone moves fine on that lot, so it can't be a baby thing, either.

So I may just have to bite the bullet and rebuild.

[dandello]

I had one house that started lagging for no reason. I used the same objects as in all my other houses and the rest were fine. I bulldozed the house, moved the family and I have not had a lagging problem since.

[ConradThe2nd]

Well, Ive recently had a lot that became totally unplayable, because it lagged way too much, I get that occasionally. my neighborhood is old too and probably got now over 450+ sims.

But I don't think thats the case, I know serveral downloads from here (can't mention any here)
objects and quite popular that can bring your lot a crawl.

Try to think back when the problem started, where you in build-mode adding "decorations" or something? Did you save the game at a bad time (such as using a lighting storm hack?, or anything CPU hungry?)

Have you moved your Downloads folder out of the game, and checked to see if your problem persists?

One easy way out of it, is to move your family out, then back in again, that way all your furniture and extras will be sold, and the interfering object would be gone also. You will just have to re-furnish your house, but the gameplay will be considerably fast again.

Or you could do it the time-consuming way, by looking thur your very slow lagging lot for any custom object that you do not know too well.

I know this as even the smallest houses can come to a crawl yet your other much larger 3-story lots run much faster.

[simsample]

Try this:
http://www.sims2techguide.net/article.php?p=28

[jms]

i had this problem with my old pc but when i upgraded the memory it was ok after that.
have you got the right pc spec

[Frumph]

Simsample is on the right track ya, but lets talk about how the memory works while playing the game..

Each event and object is loaded into memory, some portions of events and objects are set to your swap space on your harddrive, ..

when the times you feel the little lag that has nothing to do with npc creation or time of day when your graphics card slows down cause of graphic lag, it has to do with how the game is swapping its memory around on events, not everything can fit into memory so its taking it from the swap space which is cached so you might not see your HD light go on

the more things going on in your neighborhood, the more memory space is taken, the more gets sent to the swap space

[simsample]

Vren Lyet, download the mind control mirror first. That will tell you how many NPCs there are on that lot... before you start worrying how RAM works or whether to upgrade your PC, you need to eliminate possible causes. The mind control mirror is just the easiest place to start.

[Vren Lyet]

Okay, people, let me comment on all your proposals. ;)

NPC overload:
No, NPCs work fine. They come when they should and leave when they should.
I already use Merola's superb mirror (in all my lots actually). There's nothing unusual.

Memory swapping:
Actually, that's the first thing I thought would cause the lags.
But, as you would expect by now, nada. No HD activity whatsoever upon lagging. As I said before, there's about 300 MB of RAM free while playing.

Moving out/rebuilding the lot:
Well, problem is, the lag occurs in ALL of my lots in the entire neihgbourhood including the attached university. So it would require me weeks to rebuild all those houses. Even if I tried the move out, move back in thing it would take me days to go through all the lots a redecorate them.
So, if there's any other way... ;)
By the way, newly created lots have the very same problem.
That's why I primarily go for the "bad neighbourhood" theory or the bhav-loop theory.

And again, funny thing is, the other neighbourhoods are fine.
The lags are not related to how much stuff is on a lot or how many Sims live on it (of course the game runs at a noticably faster speed in few-Sims-lots but that's to be expected).

And again, the computer I use is a state-of-the-art machine with very powerful hardware and by the way some weeks ago everything was fine and some weeks before that I even had a slower computer and everything was fine then, too.

I tried to remember when the lags started but I can't really say.

It cannot be related to custom stuff 'cause the lags occur when I remove my downloads folder anyway - but remember, it's restricted to this particular neighbourhood.

Anyways, thank you so much for thinking about this and trying to find the answer to this so terribly annoying problem. I really appreciate any input!

Has anyone any other ideas? ;)

Well, I'm gonna try something...I'm gonna bulldoze ALL lots, then I'm gonna build just one new an move one family back in to see whether the lag still occurs...hopefully it won't which leaves me at weeks to rebuild everything...but this seems to me as having a slight chance of success... ;)

I'm gonna report back when it's done...will take some time though...

[Vren Lyet]

So I did it...

First I took a small lot that came with the game to check again whether the problem exists with "new lots", too. As expected when the Sim played chess the lag occured at every piece he picked up.

Then I moved out all the families and bulldozed all lots in the neighbourhood including the ones on campus. I took a big house that came with the game and moved in one of my big families. I made two Sims play chess and...there was no lag. Repeat: no lag.

Well, I didn't go into further testing as it was quite obvious to me that the problem was gone. Of course, there were lags when the carpool and the mailman arrived and such, but those are "normal".

So it appears this rather radical move could "clean" my neighbourhood. Now, the only thing I have to decide upon, is whether to go for it and rebuild everything or continue to live with it...

Anyways, thank you very much for the tip with the bulldozing. I would never have guessed that this could erase potential problems like this.

You know, some two weeks ago I actually tried to package all families and move them to a new neighbourhood - THAT was so much work to do...and in the end it didn't work...I would have lost tons of Sims this way...they just didn't show up in the new neighbourhood with the packaged lots imported...

Now, this solution is much simpler and seems to work...
Thanx again for the tip!

I hope it'll help others in the future, too.

Only thing bothering me: I still don't know what caused the problem in the first place. But well... ;)