I'm not the computer wizziest computer whiz, but I would imagine it's easier for a program to load one large file than a similarly sized group of tinier ones.

Though the lag in-game while not doing anything related to CC doesnt make much sense, the game handling ddcache much better does. The Sims 3 just doesnt seemt o be optimized to work properly with the packages. It's very strange.

But then...from what I understand, aren't packages something we've FORCED the game to handle? There's no mod folder by default, and you have to install a special file to get packages to work from the downloads. So maybe it's reasonably not used to them.

Let us know what you get back from EA, Claeric.

When it comes to CC, we are making the game recognize .package files as more game content, but .package files is something the game knows how to read on its own, almost all of the game files are in .package files.

I've removed most of my .package files.. kept Hysterical Paryoxysm's skin and eye replacements{REFUSE to remove them!}, SolaceinSounds 10X more lifetime happiness, nevercough, and a couple others... and only have around 209MB {including the above} of .package CC, and over a gig of store/TSR CC Sims3packs... after I took out the nomosaic .package, and the other .package files... my game takes 55 sec. to load, then 59 sec to go to the lot, 127 sec to "travel" - at least to Egypt, and 108 sec. to travel back home.
I have an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+ at 2.0ghz, 4 GB memory, running Windows Vista Home Premium SP2, an Nvidia GEForce 9500GT with 512MB dedicated DDR3 memory.
All that, and it still lags BAD, especially in Egypt - the home lot isn't as bad for some reason, but it lags too.
No lag if I completely remove the mod folder and the resource cfg file.

Hmm...Then perhaps certain ones are being recognized as actual game files which is why it takes the game so long to understand htem(loading) and the majority of them are just being misread and the game tries to load them while playing? THis is all speculation but from the sonds of it the game isn't built to load any package files apart from those it comes with.

Ok, I see a lot of people saying this is .package related. So how is it, I was having this stopping and starting before I put my mods back. Right now all I have is hacks and it's doing it. When I first got the EP, I removed everything and installed it, patched it then played it. It played fine in WA but it was when I went into sunset valley that it started to do this. At that time I had no hacks or cc installed other than a few store items

*EDIT*

I just checked my theory and removed everything, no cc, no hacks, no resource file, and I ticked run without intalled content on the launcher.

I really don't think this has anything to do with cc, it's just borked

I think i have to agree... my game crashed with no files in my mods folder... it's very frustrating, sometimes it doesn't crash when i put CC.. sometimes it does.. my game crashe when my sims was going to china, so i started my game again and removed no CC just to check, made my sim travel again and this time it didn't crashed at all... weird!

I don't know if CC in .packages is the cause of all problems for WA (there are a lot after all)--but I definitely think it is responsible for a lot of slowdown.

Here's my experience. I am playing with a few key mods--NRAa Storyprogression/Computer, nocensor (works), skin, prettyfeet, and other bodymods.

Sizes of folders were as follows:
--Hacks: 55MB
--Patterns: 80MB
--Skins: 316MB--includes hairs (mostly peggy, newsea and missbonnie), accessories(rose), makeup (various)

With the Hacks, Patterns and Skins folder as-is--I basically have a slightly long loading time, but no slowdown in game. Textures don't take too long to load, etc.

The folder that was causing that for me was the Misc folder. The problem I was having was putting ANYTHING in Delphy's misc folder. Basically, the instant I put more than about 50MB of content in the folder, I major problems with long loading times (20-30mins), textures taking forever to load, stuttering, etc). I tried finding bad files, to no avail. Filesize of object made no difference whatsoever.

Once I read this thread--I converted everything that had come as a sims3pack and installed it through the launcher--(mostly clothes). I was able to include all the clothes I'd wanted before, plus additional clothing with no impact on gameplay whatsoever. So the files that destroyed my gameplay as .package files are working fine for me as sims3pack. I would definitely convert the other files if I could. I suspect my loading times would come down ALOT.

I suspect that gameplay would be fine if the only files that came as .package were the hacks and real mods--the CC should switch to sims3pack format.

Just note--I am now playing file with several major hacks and a lot of CC. The only major CC category I am missing is all the great clutter CC from MTS because none of it is available as a sims3pack. I am also no longer downloading CC that comes in .package format. It's too risky and I want to be able to play the game since I paid so much money for it.

taihzu. I think you're missing the point here. Some of us don't have any cc and are having the lagging and crashing issues.

When I did have cc I didn't even have it in folders and I had several folder so never used all my cc at once.

I think it's really easy for everyone to jump on the "It's the cc" badwagon, but in this case, it isn't a cc related issue for some of us.

Also, how are you converting .packages to sims3.packs? What programme are you using?

I would also think that the major mods would be more of an issue than basic cc and little hacks, seeing as things like Indoie stone mod haven't even been upgraded for the EP.

I don't think it's that simple and I wish it was

Taihzu is not missing the point, fluttereyes. This thread is about package files slowing down WA, and Taizhu has just posted on exactly that.

I'm sorry you are having random crashes to the desktop, but you say you have HACKS installed, which are package files and are dangerous to use with new expansion packs if they have not been updated. If your computer is...what, you were not clear, crashing or lagging, what are your computer specs? Did your sims game lag or crash before you installed WA? Do you have the minimum requirements to run WA? Are you patched to 2.2.8? Also, an EA game patched and running without CC should not be hopelessly "borked" and unplayable if you have: a clean install, the right specs and you've removed the mod framework from your files.

The reason why everyone says it may be CC-related is because people - patched, with good computers - have been testing this theory, and coming back with some interesting results. Nothing is definitive, of course, but it's good to keep an open mind.

WA obviously uses moar RAMs. Having 1.3 GBs of CC therefore is likely to push the game over the 2 GB limit that a 32-bit program may use. Performance then goes down the tubes as the game cannot fit in RAMs and must repeatedly disk thrash as it ejects RAM-loaded contents and then has to reload it again. WA is listed as requiring 1 GBs of RAM, and 1+1.3 clearly exceeds 2.

agent99. I don't think you read my first post properly. What I said was, that some of the issue being described are not automatically as a result of cc. I removed all of my hacks. I'm also not totally stupid and have a good machine that is totally compatible with the game, I did check that. I have no cc running, I have ticked the launcher to run without cc, I have no hacks, I have a clean istall with no resource file in it. I have nothing but the base game and the EP, yet I still suffer from the lagging that people are blaming cc for, well blaming .packages for. My game runs the same whether I have packages in it or not. Like I said, I tested the theory.

I have no doubt that some cc might cause issues for some people, but if these issues are going on for people with none wahtsoever, then I fail to see why this is just a cc issue.

What I am saying, and it is relavent to this thread, is that cc is not always the problem. Perhaps if people looked for other answers instead of blaming the .package files every time there's a problem, we might be able to work this out. As you said, it's good to keep an open mind.

Again, to make it clear. I am having the lagging issue with no cc of any kind installed and not even store content running in the game. I started a new hood too with a new sim, so it isn't lots or a bad save or anything like that either

i would also like to know how to convert the files...
and now that i was playing i noticed my adult sims couldn't get makeovers... the mirror function doesn't show up when i click on it... man! so i created another neighborhood and the mirror options are working fine there..
after that i had enough.. i dumped all my cc back to my mods folder and i'm playing right now.. so far so good... but u never know

I completely uninstalled the base game and reinstalled just to be able to patch it, then installed WA without any problems. Before I did anything, I saved all of my cc and saves, etc., to the desktop, so am now just running the game without any hacks, mods, or cc packaged as .package. The only cc installed are some store items and the few hairs and clothes packaged as the .sims3pack.

I've noticed that the game loads up just fine on that first loading screen, and only takes about five minutes when I open up my save file. (I started a fresh game just to be my guinea pig.) I do notice some minor lag/jumpy-ness when navigating the camera, but nothing too major. Also, my furniture, and even the scooter takes a moment to render, and that my sims "pop off" the scooter when they are done. However, I've got a sim family of two in France right now and that screen took about ten minutes--or at least long enough to use the restroom and tend to my two year old. I've not reloaded my game since then so who knows what it'll be like.

I guess I'm trying to say that I'm not having any major issues right now. We'll see what it's like the next time play! It's so weird not playing with Awesomemod or any of the cool cc items that I had, but I'll be reloading my store content little by little so that'll tide me over in the mean time.

Well, I finally de-installed the whole game, installed the maingame, patched up to 1.6., installed WE, patched up to 2.2 and used no cc. Everything worked fine, no lags, no blue grounds.

Then I tried to use .package cc, but without the IHM. I just put Delphy's Recource.cfg in the game folder (because I wanted to know if it's really the .dll from IHM), made the mods/packages folders and put some hairstyles in it (maybe 30 to 50 packages). The styles showed up ingame, but the loading time again screw up to 10 minutes, I didn't even try to travel anywhere, because the lag was again awful.

My opinion is, it can't be the mainfault of the IHM .dll, because I didn't use it - but I'm not a superbrain in computers I admit.

And sorry for my english, I'm from Germany

@ fluttereyes:try deleting this 4 files CASPartCache.package, compositorCache.package, scriptCache.package, simCompositorCache.package. If you tried to use your CC and then you removed them, you have to delete this 4 files besides the Mods/Packages and Resource.cfg files. If you don't delete them, the game will act like the CC is still inside even if you deleted the .packages.
@Pescado: Let's suppose that I have a 8 Gb machine. Will the game have the same issues with the CC inside?

After patching with the newest patch my game has been unplayable. I took out nearly all of my CC in packages and installed the whole Store-content as SIMS3-Packs. Game runs fine, loading times about 2 min until playing.
Before I had about 300 MB packages, now I have about 800 MB CC as packs.
Before the game loaded about 20 min. Lagging was unbearable, a look into task manager showed 100 % CPU-work (don't know the right word in English).
Specs:
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3800+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.4GHz
Memory: 3328MB RAM
Page File: 801MB used, 4364MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT
Display Memory: 256.0 MB
Current Mode: 1280 x 1024 (32 bit) (75Hz)

Don't forget that between Sims2 basegame and Uni, there were some fundamental changes to the scenegraph chain that made a load of new objects and recolours for the basegame unusable till they had been updated. It is possible something similar has happened this time round.

fluttereyes--I don't think I'm missing the point. I'm not blaming all CC or stating that the problem is due only to .package files. I think that CC is part of the problem, but not the only thing.

My post is only intended to state that CC that gave me difficulty in .package form was able to be used and added without problem in sims3pack form. That's all. Things that made my gameplay slow as .package did not make my gameplay slow as sims3pack. Simple. I would like to see more sims3packs and hope that my gameplay will be more smooth.

I don't know what CC is safe and what is not. I don't know what mods are safe and what is not. Like I said, I am playing with several major mods (twalian) and not experiencing a lot of crashing or slowdown. But I was also very careful to only use hacks/mods that were specifically updated for the new patches and expansion.

I didn't convert anything myself. These were objects that were already available as sims3packs but I had originally decided to install as .package. To install as .package I had used Delphy's converter. I didn't have horrible problems with these things before the expansion.

Also, my point is to say is that I am not having problems with all .package files. Like I said, I have a lot of Peggy, newsea, and other files that did not give me major problems (other than long load times). I also use all of jonha and Delphy sliders, skins and other stuff. However, I do wonder if all downloads were available as sims3pack if that would also improve my load time. Can't tell until that is tested. For now, I am happy with my status quo, which means using a lot more sims3pack CC that I did before.

--ohh--I also delete my cache files whenever I add new things, just in case.

What happens if you import the .package to TSR Workshop and get it to export the object as a Sims3Pack? Does that improve the performance of the same objects?

Yes, it works fine. But you can't convert all the .package files. with some of them you will receive an error because not all of them are built in the same way. But I'm still asking my self: WHERE IS DELPHY????

Fluttereyes, YOU are the one missing the point.

This thread is about the correlation between package files and games that run fine without them lagging with them.

Your game lags either way? Then your expreience is worthless to the discussion- as it tells us nothing about a game that runs fine without CC but runs slower with it. Your game crashes a lot? That's not what this thread is about.

We are well aware not all lag comes from custom content. But what we're discussing here is the lag that, through repeated testing, does. We're not discussing lag in general. That could come from a lot of things. We're talking about a game that runs just fine and smoothly...suddenly beginning to lag and take years to load with a bit of CC.



Makes sense, and I can see why you said that(because they said "tolerable" implying their computer couldn't really run the game properly to begin with, and then WA upped teh requirements a bit), but I believe they said their game went back to "tolerable" when they used sims3pack instead of packages, so even with a game that lags a bit to begin with, it's still affected something with the package files. Though yes, it would be slower either way. Just not as slow.

The 1.3 was my first hopeful attempt. That number quickly came down to about 800mb, then 400, then the absolute skeleton of my cc which was about 280 mb. Still lagged too much, textures could take almost a minute to appear.
In comparison 200mb installed with the launcher was almost silky smooth.

The game seems to constantly refer to the information thats in package format, even if its not visible on the screen, so even if you go to Egypt and nobody there is wearing any of your package CC, the speed still goes to the dogs.


And no, thats not it. Tolerable being about average of 20 fps.
It was fine before.

Tizerist, I think you may have something there!

I hope so Inge. thought that for a while.
I mean, even the menus became treacle slow.
The games not even in motion by that point.