Is it true that simpacks won't slow your game down as much as simpacks if you install them? I've head this, but I wasn't sure.

What i have read .dbc-files (the ones sims3packs are extracted to) are treated the same way as.package-files (game see no diffrence) only dffrence is that with .dbc it's packaged into larger files and .packages usually are small, so the diffrence is more the amount.

however since you can control what goes into the dbc files....you can make them smaller too....

Last edited by jenieusa : 14th May 2012 at 04:26 PM.

Unfortunately, I have a mac, so I can't really control it. I've been trying transferring from PC to Mac, but it's too much of a PITA to bother. I was hoping the rumors of simspacks being easier on the system were true because packing up my packages is a pain to go to one machine, upload, go to another machine and download.

I prefer package files. I can merge them easily and am able to seperate my downloads into catagories such as "furniture(1-8)" and "clothing(1-2)". MUCH nicer than waiting for an hour for the Launcher (:

I totally agree with Miss Harlequin, package files save your time

Package files are so much easier to keep organized, too. I hate how if I want to uninstall something I installed via the launcher I have to go hunting for it. If I want to uninstall a package file I know exactly where I can find it, no matter what it is:

If you have just couple of cc it shouldn't really matter. But if you have hundreds or thousands of cc files then...
I used to use sims3pack files because I found them easy to install, no need to merge which seems to take very long time for me. And it's easier to delete things you don't want anymore. That is, if you have merged your package-files into one big file, you'd have to do the whole merging again after deleting one piece of cc...
But I had to change for packages after launcher stopped working :S And for my huge cc amount I have found it to be a lot slower way to install cc... But many people seems to think it's faster so maybe it just depends how buggy or not your launcher is.

Some people seems to be able to have more package-files without making their games lag / become unplayable but for me it seems if I have like 200 files my game no longer even loads.
So I think merging is a *must* for most people if you want to have more of package files...

But between having cc merged into bigger fewer packages, or having installed as sims3packs, I don't find any difference in performance.
Also it seems like sims3 game can take in a LOT of cc without slowing down or anything, if it's just installed right, and if it's not high poly stuff etc... I have over 3Gb installed and it doesn't slow my game down. Only times my game has slowed down has been when I've been running on wrong patch versions of hacks ...

If you choose to use packages, look for some instructions on merging (I don't have any links at hand sorry, maybe someone here can give a link ?).
And remember these:
Don't convert counters into package. Don't convert patterns especially if they were made with EA:s tools.
And don't merge patterns with other kind of things.
Also, keep the merged packages in about size of 200mb, no more and you should be safe.
I don't think there's use in making them smaller than that though, since fewer packages in general = better performance. But again, if you don't have very much cc then it doesn't matter so much.

Hope this helped

I have found that keeping them in .sims3pack form speeds my game up. When I had them all in packages, even with the packages combined, it would slow my game down hellishly.

Sims3packs are just such a gigantic pain in the ass to use... I see no need to screw about waiting for the Launcher to load, then for it to crash whilst installing the file, then never being able to find what you want in the huge unsorted list of installed content... when I can just drop the files into Mods/Packages and go.

Not to mention that if I want to tweak a file, say to change its catalogue flags or price, or to label a thumbnail, it takes about two minutes if the item is a .package - and twenty minutes if it's a sims3pack.

The only things I use the Launcher for are lots and worlds (I know you can install lots as packages, but given how few lots I download, it's not really worth it); and Store stuff ofc, since that causes hellish lag if you convert it into .package format.

And i can do the same thing with the launcher...

i have hairs in 1
sets in another...
single objects in 1
premium objects in 1
clothes in another....

and so on.....


ETA this pic....it is of my Hidden Springs world....this has all the store items in it that i own....
and as you can see...everything was upload into a seperate ebc file....






ETA...well to each his own....all my items are seperately installed through the launcher....i can keep track of hairs...
objects and clothes...be it with EA's stuff or thrid party stuff..and have no problems keeping tracking of things through the launcher!

Last edited by jenieusa : 15th May 2012 at 10:38 PM.

Yes, however being kept in the launcher still causes it to take ages to start up. My Launcher only takes a couple of seconds to start and my game only a few minutes to load and this is with 6GB and counting.

Also package files are easier in that they're a two second drag-the-file-into-the-folder install. I dislike waiting for Sims3Packs to install and then it taking ages because you have another 200 installed.

oh the package files i have are compressed together using SP3...so i still have to open that...start a new file...and on....to me it takes just as much time to do all that...with 3rd party files as it does to run the launcher...

Here is my 2 cents...

Packages.

If you absolutely have to download something as a sims3pack, go find the backup package file your game automatically creates, drop that into your package folder, and delete the sims3pack.... They are evil.


I like packages for all of the reasons mentioned above.

1) You can create folders to organize your downloads.
2) Having the folders mentioned above, will save you tons of time when it comes to deleting the file, should you need to.
3) You can create a "TEST" folder, where you drop your new downloads in, and test the compatibility of it with your game... If it doesn't work, its already isolated for you and easy to get rid of.
4) You can quickly and easily manipulate these files, without the hassle of exports and conversions.

AND LAST, MY PERSONAL FAVORITE,
5) You can compress multiple files into one file, further speeding up your game.

From what I've read online, the game doesn't much care about the size of the files, its more about the quantity of files... Its more information for the game to have to locate, sort and load every time you select "build/buy mode". Yes, the game is going to load some of this information during the actual start up of the game, but why would it load everything, it doesn't need to... This is why the game seems like its frozen when you switch from "live" to "build/buy". If you are like me, and have GIGABYTES of CC, then you will run into this "frozen" game frequently.

You can use the S3PE to load multiple package files, and group them into one package file. For example, say you download the several hundred custom cars available on this site. You could compress them all into, say, 5 package files. Again, you arent compressing them in the sense of file size, you are just trying to cut down on the overall files the game has to look for.

I probably have more custom content then anyone on this site..
I use probably 4% of it regularly

After compressing my SEVERAL thousand packages into a few hundred packages, my game plays flawlessly. (Of course, after compression, it is more difficult to edit the individual packages)

And...... This concludes my rambling..

It is true. Packaging is easier because of organization, yes. And Simpacks are easier because they show the picture of what it is, unlike packages that are named funky and you have over 100 package files.

But when it comes to getting modifications for your game..pretty impossible to get anything other than package files. So just get Twallan's Master Controller, it's pretty much every mod rolled into one.

So, is there any way to get S3PE to run on a Mac with wine or cider? I'd like to test this out, but it's a pain to move back and forth between machines. I've done this a few times and it was a serious annoyance.