Summery of Problem: The game lags intermittently and has split-second pauses while on speed three. Specifically, it typically has a split-second pause every 3 game minutes. Also, while moving the screen (via edge scrolling or arrow keys), it will sometimes do the same, and will frequently have jumpy animation. In reality this is not rendering the game unplayable, however it is driving me up a wall since it did not do this before (on the same machine) and I cannot pinpoint the problem let alone fix it. The craziness of this is it all started after some routine computer maintenance that should not have touched the game (defrag, antivirus scans, registry cleanup that didn't list sims/EA entries at all, changes to windows appearance and context menu, increased antivirus security, etc).
Saves
Is this on a brand new town or a pre-patched save?
New town. In fact, all new towns.
If new Save, how long in SimTime has this save been running for? What's the total folder size?
Anywhere from brand new to about 3 weeks of game time. Largest save seems to be about 30MB.
What is the world name?
Applies to all worlds. Preferred world (and originally noticed) would be Monte Vista.
Tested a CC-free game with just the recommended mods, yet?
Yes.
Sims/Household/Population
Is this a custom or default Household on a custom or default Lot?
Custom & Default houses both tried, always default lots.
If custom - downloaded or self-built / self-create ?
Self-Built
What is the Lot size?
Varies. Normally 30x30, once or twice I've used a 40x40 lot. Unsure what the default houses I tried were on.
How do you generally play? Stick to one Household or Switch families?
One household.
How many Sims in the Household you normally play?
Generally 2 or 3, though I've played as few as 1 and as many as 10 before.
The freeze/lag symptoms only for this Household or all Households when you switch?
All households.
If you visit a comm Lot, how many Sims usually turn up?
Not certain - not normally something I watch. I can check if this is necessary/potentially relevant in this case.
If you know how to do this using a mod, how many Sims are in this town's save? ie total population of the world, how many generations, etc..
Unsure how to get this information.
Careers
What careers are these Sims in?
Varies. Have definitely played: science, culinary, self-employed, unemployed
What level are they in now?
Varies.
What time do they go to work?
Varies.
Does the freeze coincide with this timing(s)?
No.
If they take the carpool, does it arrive on time?
Yes.
Timings
If you have school-going kids in the Household, does freeze coincide with the bus arrival timings (8am, after 2pm, after 3pm)
No.
Or does it coincide with the arrival/departure of the ServiceNPCs - MailDelivery, Newspaperdelivery, Maid, Butler, etc
No.
If not, is there a pattern on when the freeze would occur?
Yeah, any time I'd hit "3" on my keyboard... A longer lag does occur at what overwatch referred to as the "alarm hour" (or without it, since I removed it and use awesome only, when the sprinklers and everything start up). I figured this lag is simply a mass of things running and the CPU needing to catch up.
Routing
You have checked the town for stuck Sims, repeatedly doing the same action over and over? Due to
broken script mods
stuck into the ground,
stuck in-between floors,
stuck from Lot threshold routing issues ie some borked RabbitHole/Comm Lot placements
faulty routing of some custom worlds
No. Uncertain of a fast way to see all of this, and it occurs across many saves so this alone seems highly unlikely.
Have you tried the "fixAll" / "reset world" / "Reset everything" etc via Awesomemod or MasterController or "resetSim *"?
Yes. I use "fixall" regularly. I also use "towderelicts" and "destroyalltownies" occasionally. Usually if I run them fixall finds a lot of bad skill gain modifiers, occasionally some "phantom butts" but generally nothing else. towderelicts finds a few but not many, and the same for destroyalltownies - there are maybe 2-10 after the initial when I'll feel the need to run it.
Describe what happens, what action(s) prompted it or what you were doing whenever this freeze gets triggered.
I was feeling like fastforwarding to when they finished their task. Speed 3 and moving the screen seem to be the only things that consistently cause trouble I can't identify.
Does the freeze recover eventually and you can resume playing or do you have to end the game process and do Ctrl+Alt+Del each time it occurs?
More of a lag or pause. It recovers, usually before long.
If the game can recover, how longs does it normally take in SimTime to resume? ie how many seconds/minutes/hours of gameplay was in suspended animation mode?
No game time passes. The time is the main thing that pauses.
What have you tried that hasn't work? Work for a while...?
See "Tests" section below.
List all the packs that you have: BG + WA; AMB; LN; {GEN} (see tests); PETS; Supernatural, Seasons
List what patch version the BASE GAME is on: 1.48.5...
State which mods from the above suggested list you've used.
I currently use AwesomeMod. I have previously used Overwatch with it. I also turned memories off in the game settings.
=== Rating info ===
GPU: 5 GPU Memory: 4 CPU: 1 RAM: 4 CPU Speed: 1497 Threading: 3
Adjusted CPU: 1596 RAM: 3558 Adjusted RAM: 3046 Cores: 4
Clean install of the game. While I did not manually follow the guide here to remove files, I checked to make sure my content was removed, rebooted, and ran ccleaner and its registry cleaner tool between uninstalling and reinstalling. I was promted to do this because I was checking for updates and the launcher claimed the game was not fully installed. No Change
Removal of ALL custom content Including EA Store content and even awesomemod itself for one run. No Change
Testing in default worlds with a default family in a default house. No Change
Loaded without expansions Using Kuree's Any Game Launcher and a new world each time, I tested without expansions and with individual expansions (with EA store custom content installed).
Base Game - No problems! YAY!
World Adventures only - No problems! YAY!
Ambitions - No major problems, very rare split-second lag but not the rate described above.
Late Night - LAGGY! As described above. Also loaded the generations screen rather than its own while generations was installed. Loads its own screen now that generations has been removed. Same lag without generations installed at all.
Generations - Testing failed entirely... not only laggy, but expansion traits were unable to be added/removed via cheats, the game loaded the base game screen not its own load screen, and I have lost count how many other issues I ultimately had with this particular expansion. Uninstalling and reinstalling it alone did not fix these issues, so I opted to uninstall it for the time being.
Pets - Laggy - not quite as bad as above, but close.
Supernatural - Laggy! About the same as Pets alone.
Seasons - Slight lag.
Reducing all graphic options to minimum done via the game options/settings. Obviously reduced image quality, but no change on lag.
Turning off unnecessary features including shop mode, memories, whatever it called those annoying tips it displayed, all online features, and obviously not logging in either. No change in the lag.
Making sue my graphics driver is up to date They were.
Checking DirectX version It's up to date. Not sure if there's a way to do similar for OpenGL
Increasing the ts3.exe CPU Priority via the task manager No Change
Turning off the computer's wireless and temporarily disabling the antivirus entirely No Change
Note: Running commands such as "fixall", "towderelicts", and "destroyalltownies" will sometimes clear the issue up for a short time (a couple game hours, at best). Usually it does not even do this. It's really frustrating to me because I know the computer can handle it due to past experience.
------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 2/16/2013, 19:58:11
Machine name: BETSY-PC
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.130104-1431)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: TOSHIBA
System Model: Satellite L755D
BIOS: InsydeH2O Version CCB.03.61.111.50
Processor: AMD A6-3420M APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics (4 CPUs), ~1.5GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 3558MB RAM
Page File: 1523MB used, 5592MB available
Windows Dir: C:\windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: 120 DPI (125 percent)
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7601.17514 64bit Unicode
---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: AMD Radeon(TM) HD 6520G
Manufacturer: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Chip type: ATI display adapter (0x9647)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9647&SUBSYS_FC501179&REV_00
Display Memory: 2025 MB
Dedicated Memory: 501 MB
Shared Memory: 1523 MB
Current Mode: 1600 x 900 (32 bit) (59Hz)
Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor Model: LCD TV
Monitor Id: FNI0000
Native Mode: 1920 x 1080(p) (60.000Hz)
Output Type: HDMI
Driver Name: aticfx64.dll,aticfx64.dll,aticfx64.dll,aticfx32,aticfx32,aticfx32,atiumd64.dll,atidxx64.dll,atidxx64.dll,atiumdag,atidxx32,atidxx32,atiumdva,atiumd6a.cap,atitmm64.dll
Driver File Version: 8.17.0010.1103 (English)
Driver Version: 8.911.6.0
DDI Version: 11
Driver Model: WDDM 1.1
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 11/10/2011 22:02:58, 892416 bytes
-------------
Sound Devices
-------------
Description: Digital Audio (HDMI) (High Definition Audio Device)
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_1002&DEV_AA01&SUBSYS_00AA0100&REV_1002
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 65535
Type: WDM
Driver Name: HdAudio.sys
Driver Version: 6.01.7601.17514 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
Date and Size: 11/20/2010 04:44:23, 350208 bytes
------------------------
Disk & DVD/CD-ROM Drives
------------------------
Drive: C:
Free Space: 404.6 GB
Total Space: 464.9 GB
File System: NTFS

Drive: D:

Unfortunately, your computer is not up to running the game. Both your cpu and graphics cards are not powerful enough, and running the game with integrated graphics can damage your computer. You should read the following:

http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php...nboard_Graphics
http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php...r_is_Like_a_Car

FYI, I"m not computer illiterate.

No, 1.5GHz is not up to the minimum requirements listed. Neither place that the site says to look takes into account the fact the machine comes with supported technology to ramp those up to 2.4GHz

The onboard graphics is a known issue and was from the start. This is why I play with reduced settings in general, far below what the game sets by default.

And also, the main issue of damage is because of heat created (and often held) while running demanding games and programs. The majority of the heat, typically, comes from the CPU and GPU (which in this case are built in together, which would be expected to heat up even worse). The second largest typical source of heat is the battery - which I have removed and run the machine plugged in instead. I also monitor the temperature on a routine basis. It does not get any hotter while I am playing with the way I have it set up than it gets doing many of those "everday" items - playing DVDs for instance, or even browsing the internet (Facebook games are absolutely HORRIBLE about it, actually).

So yeah, I'm aware I'm wearing things down over time (faster than if I did what it was meant for). I'm also aware it's not what would be supported by EA games (hence I didn't bother asking them for support). If you are not interested or able to provide any further suggestions for how I can resolve it or what might have actually been damaged (or where), I will continue to try this on my own and with those more inclined to help.

With your specs, you're lucky that the game even starts! There's nothing that can be done to make it run better, except to upgrade. I highly suggest you read the computer is like a car article linked. It explains it better than I can.

Also, it's the base speed of the processor, not the boost speed that matters.

I did look at the article. The analogy really dose me little to no good, considering I do not drive and know next to nothing about cars (barely enough to have even registered that what was being said is even probably fact). Computers, game consoles, and other similar devices I have been dealing with for over 20 years, much of the last 10 including making them do things they are not supposedly able to do. Yeah, it wears them down faster - but my choice is typically between making what I have work or not doing whatever I planned/needed/wanted to do. This is no different - either I can make the game work on what I have, or I do not play it until who knows when I may finally have a couple hundred to start rebuilding my desktop (which was a gaming machine and will be again).

At any rate, thank you for your time.


Edit rather than bumping again:
I'm not going to waste my time bumping this to keep arguing with people. If upgrading was an option at this point, I would have done so already...as far as knowing it would happen, I do/did know that it will/would wear down the components - HOWEVER what I am saying is that I have the experience and tools to check and monitor that. If it was not exclusive to this one game - if other resource-heavy items had similar (or any new) issues - I'd have been asking somewhere else what components to look at not why one game suddenly had a new issue. As far as being upset, I"m only "upset" in so much as I find the reactions and mindsets of people very frustrating. Just like I find people's apparent need to "disagree" (with posts that state mostly observations, researched facts, and details about my personal experience) rather frustrating... But no big deal, I'll just stick to asking such questions in groups geared toward making things work rather than modifying a game...and probably save the money I would have possibly spent on the rest of the series until I have something to run it on again.

Hmmm...with 20 years experience you should have known that this would happen before it did. Mordant17 is right: upgrade.

And there was no reason for you to be upset; he was just trying to help you out. And he gave you the best answer.

Lag happens even with the best of machines. With an extremely underpar machine, you just get underpar performance. It sucks, but there's nothing that can be done to make it better, other than upgrade, sadly.

And it's she, not he.