Hey guys,

I'm pretty sure my computer exceeds the recommended requirement to play The Sims 3 smoothly, but still I experience heavy lag and stutter along with horrible graphics quality. Blow are my specs:
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Windows 10
CPU: i5 4690
RAM: 8GB
VGA: Geforce GTX 750 Ti (I have an on-board Intel card but it doesn't seem to be relevant here)
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I have tried making the game recognize my video card, set RAM usage allowance up to 4GB, edit Graphic rules files, turn off background unnecessary processes/applications but it still doesn't help.

One thing I notice is that there is no big different about the graphics when I set the settings on lowest vs on highest (still crappy), so I'm not sure if the game's using the on-board card instead of the 750 Ti (I forced the game (ts3 application) to use the 750 Ti via the nVidia control panel but this didn't help).

I'm not sure if I have missed something or my specs are indeed not powerful enough for this game :/

Please let me hear your advice and comments.

Thanks a bunch!

Formal graphics card recognition - Benefits are minimal at best.
Set RAM usage allowance - This is unnecessary and doesn't accomplish anything. The game is already Large Address Aware (LAA) as of Patch 1.17.

Things not mentioned:
What kind of frame rates are you getting in-game? Use the fps on cheat code to see these while playing. If you have not capped the fps to the refresh rate of your monitor (usually that's 60 Hz, so the goal should be nothing over 60 fps, some monitors can run higher) then the game will lag, crash, and can ultimately burn out the card and the system board to which it is attached.

Are you getting the 32 MB texture memory override? (see below)


If you copy and paste the first 40 lines or so of the DeviceConfig.log into a response here, not the long lists of game options that follow the top parts, we can see which card is being used and whether you need a fix for the texture memory override. This is a file in your TS3 user game folder in Documents that is updated each time you startup the game.

Hi,

My average fps is around 30 - 40 and reaches full 60 when the game is paused.

Below are the first 40 lines from my DeviceConfig.log:

=== Application info ===
Name: Sims3
Version:
Build: Release
=== Rating info ===
GPU: 5 GPU Memory: 4 CPU: 4 RAM: 4 CPU Speed: 3492 Threading: 3
Adjusted CPU: 4256 RAM: 8087 Adjusted RAM: 7575 Cores: 4
=== Machine info ===
OS version: Windows 8 6.2.9200
OS prod type: 0
OS major ver: 6
OS minor ver: 2
OS SP major ver: 0
OS SP minor ver: 0
OS is 64Bit: 1
CPU: GenuineIntel
Brand: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4690 CPU @ 3.50GHz
Family: 6
Model: 12
Cores: 4
HT: 0
x64: 0
Memory: 8087MB
Free memory: 3801MB
User: Darwin
Computer: DARWIN-PC
=== Graphics device info ===
Number: 0
Name (driver): NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti
Name (database): GeForce GTX 750 Ti [Found: 1, Matched: 1]
Vendor: NVIDIA
Chipset: Vendor: 10de, Device: 1380, Board: 36d11458, Chipset: 00a2
Driver: nvldumd.dll, Version: 26.21.14.3200, GUID: D7B71E3E-50C0-11CF-687B-DF1618C2D735
Driver version: 3200
Monitor: \\.\DISPLAY1
Texture memory: 6048MB
Vertex program: 3.0
Pixel program: 3.0
Hardware TnL: 1

Thank you for your help!

Honestly wonder if this might be the cause of some of the horror stories of TS3 ruining computers over the years.

Hello,

I'm on HDD, and there are still plenty of space available.

You can find high-low graphics screenshots in attachment.

I checked the link you refer and it seems that too fast CPU is causing the problem? I don't suppose we should dumb down the CPU or something? Is there any way we can fix this?

Thank you for your help!

Thanks for your help nitromon.

I'm downloading the eboostr as well as downgrading my max processor state to 90% and run the game again. Hopefully these will help and I'll let you know the results soon.

I always play Sunset Valley because the other neighborhoods (Bridgeport and especially Isla Paradiso) are notoriously laggy. Now it's interesting that you mentioned vegetables. I'll keep an eye on those as well.

My photos are to show that there are not so much differences between the lowest and highest graphics settings, which is weird. But anyway I'm reassured that, as you mentioned, my 750 is not the culprit.

The biggest problem I'm having now, besides stutters, is that the fast speed modes (3 and 4) are not really that fast. It takes really long to wait for my sims to fill their energy bar or finish their work day, not to mention the skill building. If this can be solved then I'll return to playing The Sims 3. I can run on ultra for TS4 but the game is unfortunately shallow and lacking in personality.

Sorry for the late reply as I've been busy for the past week, and thanks for having always been resposive.

I tried the one you suggested and it appeared that most people actually use it for the opposite reason which is making the day longer lol. Anyway, the mod worked but do I always have to use this mod to make time pass faster/ the game is programmed to have the fast speed this low?

I think the fast speed (number 3) should be fast like in The Sims 2 and 1 (a Sim hour only takes a few of our seconds), or does my computer actually need an upgrade or am I missing anything?

I could be wrong, but I don't think Relativity is going to speed things up the way the OP wants. Like you said, the game is simulating the whole world all the time, not just the lot you're currently focused on, and that requires a lot more processing than TS2 or TS4 does. The speeds are what they are, and Relativity doesn't change that. It affects how slowly or quickly time relatively (hence the name) passes in the game in terms of the clock. Like, you can make it so that 120 real-time seconds (or 30 seconds or whatever) is an in-game hour at normal speed instead of 60 real-time seconds, and you can assign different speeds for different tasks and stuff like that, but AFAIK it doesn't at all affect the three speeds that you can click to make time pass more quickly like when, for instance, all Sims on a lot are sleeping. That's not its intended function. It's intended to give you more (or less) time to complete in-game tasks. Like, giving you more time to tend a gigantic garden, for instance. I've never seen anything that does what the OP wants, and I'd be surprised if something like that exists, as what they want is likely directly tied to game/system performance, not to anything that's hard-coded.

I would recommend to the OP that they just chill out when all their Sims are sleeping or at work or whatever. Read a book or jot down some gameplay notes/ideas or, if having an internet browser doesn't affect performance too much, just look at something on the web. The time passes quickly if you're not just sitting there staring at the game clock. Multitask, my friend!

It has been noted by many players that Relativity can change (improve, speed up, slow down) the amount of real time that passes per game clock tick. The effects are more subtle than obvious to the player though, and as iCad states that's not really the mod's primary purpose. Most of us see as its main function the changes in how time works and how long it takes for things to happen relative to the game clock, not real time.

If the game is locking up or just not moving forward smoothly on game speeds higher than 1 or 2, that's more a symptom of the game engine tripping over itself than anything we can probably fix. And the solution, for most of us, is to just not let the game run at higher speeds. When all of my actively played sims are asleep and the game goes into ultra speed mode by itself, I reflexively stop that because I know it's not going to be a very smooth experience. And since watching my sims sleep or do things that take many sim hours but do not require my involvement like work in rabbitholes, read, paint, or create something else can be fun only for a while, more often I use that time to snoop on the neighbors or fiddle around with things elsewhere in town.