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Instructor
Original Poster
#1 Old 22nd Jun 2021 at 6:07 AM

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 3, World Adventures, Ambitions, Late Night, Generations, Pets, Showtime, Supernatural, Seasons, University Life, Island Paradise, Into the Future
Default Using more ram?
I got 64 gb of ram installed, is it possible to have Sims 3 use more of it?
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Scholar
#2 Old 22nd Jun 2021 at 6:58 AM
Only on the 64bit mac version they released in like october i think. PCs are still capped at 4gb and there is no getting around it.

Wren-der Simblr // Sim Art // Pictures // Downloads // Random Nonsensical Rambling
Instructor
Original Poster
#3 Old 22nd Jun 2021 at 7:43 AM
Quote: Originally posted by MurderPrincessK
Only on the 64bit mac version they released in like october i think. PCs are still capped at 4gb and there is no getting around it.


4? I thought I remembered reading 8 somewhere. Shesh.
Instructor
Original Poster
#5 Old 23rd Jun 2021 at 10:09 PM
Quote: Originally posted by nitromon
yes. install the Ne TS3 on a RAMdisk.


Really? That works?!
Lab Assistant
#7 Old 24th Jun 2021 at 1:06 PM Last edited by MrFatCat : 24th Jun 2021 at 1:56 PM.
I am using 4GB Patch, but I have only 8Gb RAM and I just now found out about the method by nitromon...

My steps:

1. Download the 4GB Patch
4GB Patch
Current Version: 1.0.0.1

I originally wrote this tool for a friend of mine who needed it. This very little tool patches x86 executables in order to let them have 4GB (instead of only 2) of virtual memory on x64 platforms. This tool comes very handy for applications which need a great amount of virtual memory like games, 3D renderization, multimedia etc. To gain these 2GB, you just have to use this tool to patch the executable (*.exe file) of the software you want to have these additional GBs of virtual memory. It can be used by clicking on it and choosing the file or through command line (e.g.: "4gb_patch file.exe"). It automatically creates a backup copy of the original executable.

Why things are this way on x64 is easy to explain. On x86 applications have 2GB of virtual memory out of 4GB (the other 2GB are reserved for the system). On x64 these two other GB can now be accessed by 32bit applications. In order to achieve this, a flag has to be set in the file's internal format. This is, of course, very easy for insiders who do it every day with the CFF Explorer. This tool was written because not everybody is an insider, and most probably a lot of people don't even know that this can be achieved. Even I wouldn't have written this tool if someone didn't explicitly ask me to.


2. Run 4GB Patch as an administrator
3. Select and patch files TS3.exe and TS3W.exe (at the root of your game)
4. Change MemoryUsageLimit
Open the folder:
• \ Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 \Game\Bin (or: \Origin Games\The Sims 3\Game\Bin)

Open the file "Sims 3.ini" with Notepad++ or similar.
Find the line:

[[Resource System]
Memory Usage Limit = 20000000

Change it to:
Memory Usage Limit = 20000000 (you have 4 GB of RAM)
40000000 (you have 8 GB of RAM)
60000000 (you have 12 GB of RAM)
80000000 (you have 16 GB of RAM)
120000000 (you have 24 GB of RAM)
160000000 (you have 32 GB of RAM)
320000000 (you have 64 GB of RAM)
- so you need to divide the value by 2, since it is impossible to devote all the RAM to the game.

Don't forget to back-up these files in some safe place!

P.S. I use this method for a long time, but I will be grateful for new solutions.
I'm on win7

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Mad Poster
#9 Old 24th Jun 2021 at 9:19 PM
Quote: Originally posted by MrFatCat
Download the 4GB Patch[/B]

The 4 GB patch does nothing for TS3. It is already natively Large Address Aware (LAA) as of Patch 1.17 as nitromon states.

Quote: Originally posted by MrFatCat
4. Change MemoryUsageLimit
Open the folder:
• \ Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 \Game\Bin (or: \Origin Games\The Sims 3\Game\Bin)

Open the file "Sims 3.ini" with Notepad++ or similar.
Find the line:

[[Resource System]
Memory Usage Limit = 20000000


What you are working with here is the upper limit to the game's script heap, which by default is 20 GB (not 2 GB). This should not really be changed due to stability issues and a higher one will not affect actual RAM usage.

TS3 on Windows is a 32-bit application and thus it can only address 4 GB of RAM, actually it's ~3.7 GB due to some overhead. The Danger Zone for most of us is around 3.5 GB, any momentary spikes above that and the game is in danger of losing its mind, crashing, or Error 12s upon trying to save. The game can do no better than that; the better goal is to find ways to reduce RAM usage, not increase it, while maintaining satisfactory gameplay.

The RAM DISK trick is a great idea to put that extra RAM to some good use for those who wish to try it, but the TS3.exe (or TS3w.exe) executable can still utilize no more than 3.7 GB (just short of 4 GB) and there is no way to improve upon that.
Lab Assistant
#10 Old 25th Jun 2021 at 4:04 PM
Quote: Originally posted by nitromon
Are you talking about the LAA?

http://simswiki.info/wiki.php%3Ftit...e_Address_Aware

Or by "virtual" memory, you are referring to the Win swap file?

Actually this page links directly to your link: http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title...Aware/4GB_Patch

The LAA modification/patch is unnecessary for Sims 3 that is patched to 1.17/2.12/3.8/4.5/5.2/6.0 or newer b/c they're already patched with the updates. Unless you're referring to something else.


Thank you for your reply!
Yes, I am talking about the LAA as I just found out
My Sims 3 game has the perfect perfomance with ЕР1-5 plus SP1-5 (exclude some bugs with elevators in Late Night's skyscrapers).
Than I added Pets and Showtime and performance has become far from perfect
When I added Seasons and Island Paradise problems began.
I have looked through many sites in search of solutions, found tips on Save and Cache cleaning, packaging as .dbc, using NRaas mods and this.
Now the performance is still far from ideal, but acceptable.
That's why I post this method here.
I'm sorry that my information is outdated.

Quote: Originally posted by igazor
What you are working with here is the upper limit to the game's script heap, which by default is 20 GB (not 2 GB). This should not really be changed due to stability issues and a higher one will not affect actual RAM usage.

TS3 on Windows is a 32-bit application and thus it can only address 4 GB of RAM, actually it's ~3.7 GB due to some overhead. The Danger Zone for most of us is around 3.5 GB, any momentary spikes above that and the game is in danger of losing its mind, crashing, or Error 12s upon trying to save. The game can do no better than that; the better goal is to find ways to reduce RAM usage, not increase it, while maintaining satisfactory gameplay.

The RAM DISK trick is a great idea to put that extra RAM to some good use for those who wish to try it, but the TS3.exe (or TS3w.exe) executable can still utilize no more than 3.7 GB (just short of 4 GB) and there is no way to improve upon that.


Thank you for your detailed answer!
I will try RAM DISK trick with tutorial by nitromon.

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Lab Assistant
#12 Old 26th Jun 2021 at 1:28 PM
Quote: Originally posted by nitromon
Have you tried unparking the CPU cores too? It's been around a while, but buried in the forum.

https://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=571180


No, I didn't know about this method. Thank you for the advice!

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Instructor
Original Poster
#13 Old 27th Jun 2021 at 12:12 AM
Quote: Originally posted by nitromon
Yeah, why not? In the past I wrote this tutorial on how to move your user folder to a RAMdisk, but now with 64 GB, you can install the whole thing on there. I think with all expansions it uses not more than 30GB, leaving you with plenty of RAM for other uses.

https://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=548125

Just make sure you check "save to image" on the RAMdisk b/c once you shutdown the computer, everything on RAMdisk is erased. That or manually keep a copy on the HDD.

I would also recommend relinking (junction link) the save folder back to the HDD, so your saves are always on the HDD. This wouldn't affect performance at all because the save folder is only used during loading game file and saving.

So, do I reinstall the whole game or use the same method in your post to move it there? And you mean move the whole my documents folder and the prog files folders as well?
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