World adventures seems to dislike cc, but I would like to know to what extent people have had to cut down their cc, or if theres any particular culprits as to whats causing it.
In basegame I had 1.3 gb of cc and it ran at a tolerable fps. but that same amount of cc in WA makes it simply unplayable.
Now I've had to strip that down to a heartbreaking 325 mb, a quarter of what it was before. My computer is not the problem.
It appears that EA Store content doesn't hurt the fps much. It was probably built with it in mind.
And Vitasims content was mentioned as a particular culprit.
I did have some, but that was part of the large chunk I removed.

Thanks



MTS Staff Note:

The root cause behind this issue has been identified, and methods for easily fixing it worked out. Thanks to everyone who has contributed information that has helped diagnose and resolve this issue!

For information on fixing this issue, please see: Game Help:Package File Lag

Because this thread has gotten so long, MTS staff has decided to lock this thread. If you follow the instructions in the above FAQ and still have questions or issues, please make your own new thread in the Sims 3 Help forum.

All of it in my case , it simply wouldn't work properly ..

S i tried to find similar objects and things at TSR , it really sucks.

I guess the people at MTS will have to package their stuf as sims3pack's .

I'm trying to clone some of the stuff with the workshop like some of the hair (which I won,t post here of course) but so far some of the stuff like skins and mods will have to wait -_-

Why would sims3packs make a difference?

I wouldn't mind the sims3packs if someone would make a way to organize the downloads. The launcher is worthless and it takes forever to find something. More categories would have helped or the ability to put downloaded objects into a category.

People have reported that STORE content doesn't cause a problem, and store content is sims3packs.

MTS, however, insists you upload package files for some stupid reason or another.

It'd be nice if someone could test, but I doubt there's a way to mass-convert the files from package to sims3pack to check. :\ So there's really no way to tell. Unless someone with lots of store content wants to try playing WA with and without it and seeing if it makes a difference.

I'm having the issues that the new objects in WA conflict with my mods so I cannot see the specialeffects on tombitems, texture on objects and the heatwaves in Egypt

I hope I will find the mod that destroys my gameplay because this is really getting annoying >:/

JCity, remove Rick's No Mosaic (the censor pixel remover).

Oh how come the censor removes the texture? :o Is it because it uses the same kind of files?

EDIT: Yay! That solved the issues I had! Thanks!

For those of you playing, presumably patched games with WA, would you say the problems you all are seeing effectively ends our ability to play a relatively stable game with CC?

I'm currently running a 1.4.6 version of the base game with a lot of custom hairs, a handful of custom clothes and accessories, one default skintone set, one default eye set, and some "more fun" mods for activities. I've got no custom furniture or build mode objects, no slider hacks, no core mods, nor have I ever had any core mods. If I patch to the latest patch and/or get WA, get rid of the mods entirely, pare down to just 4 favorite hairstyles, the default skin and eyes, am I going to lose the relatively trouble-free game I enjoy now? Or will I remain at approximately the same level of stability I enjoy now?

Are people who are running very vanilla settings with no or few well-tested cc, who updated PROPERLY by removing mods/hacks first still ending up with frustrating storyline shattering, progress killing glitches, and/or very slow games?

Sorry, I guess I have a lot of "or's in my question. I'm not sure how to express exactly what I am trying to find out. So I'll take any response with appreciation. Thanks for your time.

While playing with the base game, I had 1,26 GB of .sims3packs and 856 MB of .packages. Even though it did took ages to load (20 minutes), it was PLAYABLE. After I had finally arrived at my household, it would work as a charm.

Now I have WA. I spent the whole day organizing, reinstalling, cleaning... I trew away something around 300 files. I reduced my .sims3pack to 700 MB and my .packages file to 465 MB. Guess if I can play? NO WAY! The game now take 45 minutes to load and when I arrive at my household the lag is unbearable.

My computer is not the best out there, but it's not so shitty: I run a Macbook Intel Core 2 Duo 2Ghz, 2GB Ram DDR3 and Mac OS X 10.5.8. I really don't know what I'm going to do know about my CC - the game looses a lot of its interest for me without it.

If anyone got tricks, I'd appreciate. I'm not running any mods and I've tried already running the .packages both at The Sims root folder and at The Sims World Adventures root folder. All content appear - doesn't matter in which root folder I put it - but also the unbearable lag states its presence.



I'm trying it right now. No .packages, only .sims3pack. For someone who lost the whole day just trying to get the game to work... two hours delay in sleeping hours won't really make a difference.

Wait at least 45 minutes for next report.



Seems we got lucky: 3 minutes to load without .packages. I'm running the game with 793 MB of .sims3pack (items from Store, TSR, All About Style, Liana Sims and Around the Sims 3 websites).

And, yes, it does make a difference. Now the fucking game run perfectly. Damn! And I used to prefer .packages: they were so easier to transport, smaller...

I think so yes. I have had to remove a heap of hacks and CC I had previously just to play this EP. I don't believe this game is as CC friendly as Sims 2. I remember when I used to get a new EP for Sims 2 and I never really had to update much if at all, whilst in this game even a custom potted plant causes problems. I feel that with each EP we will have to give up more and I firmly believe that EA have made it that way. So we buy more store crap.



As long as you don't have any hacks or objects, I think you will be fine. I am running a fully patched WA with only Delphy's and Jonhas sliders, lots of custom hairs including some eyebrows and default facial hair replacements, clothing and default eyes and skins and my game is running fine.

I had quite a bit trouble with getting my hair to work, it used to make my game very slow but I moved my mods folder to the WA folder and deleted all my cache files and that has worked. My game is now as it was before WA but that is without any objects or hacks(except the sliders which work 100%). I cannot guarantee this of course, someone on MATY has done what I have and is still having issues with their hairs but if I recall they also had some hacks in their game.

I am waiting for creators or other community members to 100% validate that certain hacks will be fine. I am quite happy how it is tbh. I used to have awesome mod but right now I am only missing the recipe book not disapearing part of it and the no censor blur. My most important mods are my default skin and eye replacements.



I updated properly (I removed all my CC) and I am experiencing no glitches at this moment and my games speed is great with what I mentioned above installed. The only issue I have had is with the hairs which is resolved now. I have not tried ANY hacks so I cannot comment on them. I also cannot comment about my saved family because I patched and installed the EP on a fresh install of the vanilla game.

Hope this helps, I would really recommend getting the EP if you can live without some hacks/mods. I am sure in time things will get figured out. Well, until the next EP.

I knew it! I knew it I knew it!

If someone else would, I'd LOVE if we could get a second opinion, because if it's consistent, MTS is gonna have to change their standards to prefer Sims3Packs. Packages aren't efficient for the game this time around it seems.

I only keep downloads in .package format nowadays, so maybe I've forgotten something but when you use a sims3pack file, doesn't it just generate a .package file? EDIT: at least with 3viewer it does
My thinking is that a sims3pack file does nothing if it just sits in the folder, you have to open it....or am I missing something? :/

Sims3packs are a lot differnet than sims2packs. They go in your downloads folder and function the same way, only difference being they show up in the installer and have to be installed to the game.

I believe they must get installed to game files, as opposed ot being individual files themselves. I don't know, though, but I'm looking for the files for the few sims store stuff I have and I can't find it anywhere.

So basically Sims2Packs but for objects, and easier to manage.

And from the sounds of it, much more efficient for the game to load/understand.

Thats cause the Launcher saves them all in one single file at
C:\Users\name\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\DCCache
You are right

Then...yeah, I am starting to think the game is simply much more capable of loading that one file than loading a lot of files. Even if the DCCache file gets huge, it's still one file...and I believe that could be the problem.

Especially if jurocha says that using only sims3packs makes the game run perfectly.

Edit: I forget,t he FIRST PERSON TO RESPOND also said that Sims3Packs function fine while packages slow the game.

Evidence is piling up!

I was always curious to know where the .sims3pack were going after I clicked on it. I opened all folders and couldn't find a clue: now that I've read that they are installed at this DCCache makes sense... My DCCache folder has now 168 MB.

Regarding my via crucis to get the game installed...
First attempt: Took Mods (TS dir) folder and Download folder (Documents) away and installed WA. Game worked fine. Put Download and Mods (this order) at TS3 dir, game was slow as h%$@! Tried to correct putting Mods at WA dir. Problem persisted.

Second attempt: Uninstalled everything. Deleted the User account. Created a new one. Installed TS3, installed WA. Game worked fine. Install CC bought from the Store downloading it again. Game worked fine. Moved Download folder back. Moved Mods folder back to TS3 dir (this time manually, without using the Monkey Framework installer for Macs, as I had used when first installing packages at TS3 base game). Game was slow as h@$% again. Tried to correct moving the Mods folder to WA dir. No changes.

Third attempt: Came here, read about the .packages probable issues. Trashed d3dx931.dll, Resource.cfg and trashed Mods folder. Download folder was still laying peacefully at Documents. Loaded game in 3 minutes! Working as a charm.

Note: before, on the same computer, with TS3 base game only, the game took 20 minutes to load (with all .packages and .sims3pack. Didn't really pay attention to the original vanilla speed, since I got loads of .packages already in the very beginning). The speed of loading (again with all .packages and .sims3pack) after installed WA jumped to 45 minutes.

I guess that's the most detailed I can get. Hope it helps someone having problems and avoids spending the amount of hours that I did to actually fix my game.

I am hoping that it either

A. Sets a precedent that .package files are NOT to be used, as the game is pretty clearly not optimized to work with them properly (especially if the game took so long to load for you, and consistently was laggy/slow every time you had .packages)
or
B. Gets someone started on figuring out WHY the game can't handle packages, and provides a fix.

Either way, it seems like .package files are most certainly the problem, so far...

Whats the best way to test this?
Where can we get some large sims3pack hairs from?
Or would they slow the game regardless of format?? :/

Hm... the larger sims3pack hair I have has 5.4MB and has been created by Ulker, for TSR. The larger file I have (actually I deleted it, fearing it was contributing to the lag) is a underwear set (SatinBalconetteBra, from Betina, for TSR) and it haves 12.1MB.

Well, i had TS3 base game with HUNDREDS of .package files, and HUNDREDS of .sims3pack files. It ran reasonably well, but still bad- that was because of my computer though.
Still on the same computer, (yes its not very good at all) i now have WA. I have NO .sims3pack files, and not as many package files, but still a heap, but no mods or hacks at all. Only CC. It still runs exactly the same, if not better, than it did with the base game with roughly the same amount of .package files (i only ended up taking away about 25), but heaps more .sims3pack files.
So, im not sure if it is one file type, or if it overall amount.
has anyone tried having an equal amount (or overall size) of both file types and using just one type, then trying with just the other type?
That might tell us which type the game likes more.
Oh and sorry i cant test that myself, im a bit preoccupied at the moment.
And also, my game takes between 7 and 12 minutes to load. It always has.
Even when i had the game COMPLETELY vanilla.

Thanks for the responses. I feel more confident eventually moving on to the EP and patch, then. However it's going to definitely impact how I enjoy Sims3 vs. Sims2. Themed play is definitely going to take a hit if it's highly reliant on CC to achieve a certain look and atmosphere. Like, right now I'm involved with others doing a Buffy the Vampire Slayer themed group of uploads. We may not all be able to install the cc we want to achieve the look for that project that we want. At least, not until we figure out why the game chokes so much on CC as it's currently implemented. I can see I'm going to have to make a very short list of custom hairstyles work for several characters across the different themed towns I was hoping to set up. Aack.

This is one test yet to be done. But I must notice that when comparing amounts I had originally (before WA) almost the double amount in .sims3pack of the one I had in .package. So I really believe there's something to it: maybe it's not the .package, maybe it's the .dll that's in need of update.

Hi. New poster here, but longtime lurker. I've had the same experience regarding unstable game behavior associated with .package CC file/mods/hacks.

I'm now running Sims 3, patched and with WA EP in place on vista 32. Prior, Sims 3 ver. 1.4.6 ran with about 1 Gb CC in the mods folder, along with about 1 Gb in sims3pack in the download folder. Loading times were OK (< 3 minutes), and game "speed" was reasonable, with rare slowdowns, and everyone in a 7 person house got to work and school fed and on time.

When I updated to 1.7.9 and installed WA EP, I backed up and removed both my mod and download folders, along with framework files. After the upgrade, I reinstalled my sims3pack files without a problem, and the game was pretty peppy. I added back the mods folder, with framework files, and stalled the game right out. I was not happy.

I decided to "clean house" and dumped about 500 Mb of sims3pack files (mostly old houses I no longer played), all hacks and mods, and virtually all package files of CC, keeping only that which I knew which was already in play on previously saved games (none of which I've opened, waiting for updated mods such as awesomemod, to become available before opening an old game and screwing it up). I only have about 50 Mb in my mods folder, all CC, no mods or hacks. My load times with mods went from under 1 minute to about 5-6 minutes with only that amount of CC. Slashing my sims3pack download folder in half, to 500 Mb, made no appreciable difference in load times or play. I've spent (wasted) many hours on this the past week, trying to tune my content to improve game performance, but with load times (and saves, using Save As...) really prolonged with any CC package files in place, every change has been agonizingly slow to document. Still, I would have to agree that package files, even just objects, are not handled well with this update and EP in place.

I have noticed some odd glitches even with sims3pack files on the last several game loads. First, the launcher "forgot" some items already installed. I found content no longer appeared installed when viewed through the launcher. I reinstalled these items, only to be told they were already installed, now appearing with the "installed" icon in the launcher view. I also found some cheat codes, such as "lifetimehappiness" no longer work. The console appears fine, testingcheats is enabled, so I'm not too sure of the source of this error.

Overall, WA runs well with no package files, and slow and oddly buggy with even a minimal amount of CC from packages (I also have a base game couch in one downloaded house that cannot be moved, deleted, or interacted with in any manner). My concern is that while CC may be transitioned over to sims3packs, what will happen with mods and behavior hacks?

My thanks to everyone on this site. It's been a tremendous resource for enjoying the Sims 3 and an amazing amount of content and mods to individualize game play.

Just for the record, houses/lots wont be the problem. They are stored in Library (and when put in the hood, your save game)
This is only about objects, hair, clothes etc.

And more confirmation of the .package problem:

From this thread:
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=378997
(perhaps they could be merged)

Assuming that further investigation will come to the same conclusion, this raises the question of whether we can somehow mass-convert what we have, or do we have to trundle through everything we have, file by file? A frightening thought.