I recently had error 12 on saving, the game couldn't save. So I looked at the task manager's info and wow, the game took up 3.5GB of RAM (I have 8GB, but it can only read 4GB anyway), and the usage of physical memory was above 90%! That's why it couldn't save.

But usually when I play the game it takes up about 2.5GB of RAM. So why did it suddenly go up to 3.5? If I put my PC to sleep mode, then afterwards the game takes up as little as 900MB, but eventually goes back up to 2.5GB.

Does anyone know what can eat up memory so drastically during the game that it could eat a whole extra GB? It's not like CC or anything else is at fault, it happened during the game. Now it's ok again, I just wonder what could cause such a spike, I'd like to know what to avoid. Do you have any ideas?

My original suspicion was that other programs running didn't allow enough PC power for TS3. But that doesn't explain the memory bloat. Also when I quit all other programs the usage of physical memory was reduced dramatically, but the bloat remained and it still couldn't save.

P.S. Maybe I should've posted this in Help? There's no emergency, so I thought I'd post here.

I can not speak to the surge of RAM usage other than there might be a memory leak somewhere and or your DCCache file has tons of .temp files. Those .tmp files eat up RAM. What patch are you on? The game itself can only use 3.5/3.7 before experiencing error 12. I am sure someone in here with more expertise can offer some help on detecting possible leaks or other contributing factors. Are you on a PC or a MAC?

In the meantime check out the DCCache folder and take a look at the Tips For Better Game Performance . You might just need to do some general clean up.

Edit: One more possibility comes to mind: Does this happen in every world you play and how long have you been playing that world? Check the size of your .nhd files. It could just be the world is bloated and it's time to move to a new one or clean out the travel .nhd files if you do not intend to travel back and do not want to keep any relationships in the travel world. There is more detail on that in the document I linked to.

Saving also causes a surge in memory usage. What I usually do, because my world is pretty bloated, is hop on over to the emptiest part of the world before saving. That can shave up to 500 megs off the memory usage.
Also make sure to use the Kuree's Save Cleaner tool at least twice annually to keep the .nhd file size down. I've had mine get up to 900 megs in size, but after using Save Cleaner it was reduced to a tenth of that. Loading took 15 minutes at first, and 3-4 minutes after cleaning it.

I have lots of them, about 1.4GB in sizes added up, and I didn't know they could be safely deleted. The stuff won't disappear from the game, right?

The .nhd is about 700MB, is that large for a world?

Thank for the link, I'll read it now.


It only happened to me twice in many years of TS3-simming. In different towns. Both times restarting my PC and clearing cache files helped.

However, this time my game is notably slower than I remember it. I haven't been simming for a few months, but I remember well that the game was a lot faster before. In the same town. I never had any real lags, not even the dreaded 3:00AM lag. Now the game freezes very frequently for a few seconds and I am experiencing that 3:00 AM lag for myself, too. Well if it was the only lag I wouldn't complain, but it isn't...

When I decided to play TS3 again, first I plopped about 10 new lots on and around the island (Dragon Valley has an island on the right). Amusement parks, festival grounds, hotels. Then I started playing and noticed immediately how laggy the game was. Sims were hanging out at the island lots all the time, and I thought that maybe their boating creates lagging, so I set all those lots to 'visitors not allowed'. To my surprise, sims still go to these lots, regardless, thankfully not half the town as before, but 5-6 sims at a time only (not per lot, that's the number of sims that go to the islands). Could these lots be the cause of lagginess? Routing problems? It's tricky to access some of these lots for sims, they have to walk a lot and boat around.

Also, I placed Business as Usual Bistro and chefs can't ever show up. Other chefs have to go instead, and I wonder if it means the game is creating new sims all the time. When I load the game, a nraas mod (not sure which one) that always announces the quantity of careers at startup says that it detects ~2500 careers... is that normal? I have around 120 playable sims, but maybe the game is creating new townies when I'm not looking...

Thanks I didn't know about this program. Will use!

Just make sure to back up your save. I've never had anything go wrong, but it's a sound idea in general. There's nothing worse than messing up a file and not being able to undo it.

That's massive. My largest hood is 150mb and I'm having to constantly shave it down by deleting lots.
Master Controller > Demographics will tell you how many lots you have. I suspect you have perhaps too many.

Use Ani's version over at NRaas.

Just wondering, does the amount of Sims make that much of a difference? Because I could probably lose a few.

Sounds like I'll have to purge the homeless again. And now that I think about it, I've been having some issues with the local youth too.

I wonder, what would be the minimum ideal population in-game?

Enough so that a neighbourhood doesn't feel empty, but not too much so that you Error 12 constantly.

Would 100 work?

100's about what I have right now in my Bridgeport. Enough to populate lots, but they never get in the way.

So I deleted all my new island lots and the game works much better now. Still lags, but less. The amount of vehicles cleaned out at 3:00 got reduced drastically (from around 95 to around 25). So maybe lagging was caused by boats!

However, while I was overjoyed about the performance increase, the game suddenly crashed. In a different way, no freezing, just application crash error. Oh well.

As for the rest of things suggested. I cleaned up my save and wow, it went from 700MB to 67MB. Amazing. That didn't contribute to performance increase in the game, but the save loads much faster now.

I looked up the amount of resident through NRAAS Demographics and it's actually moderate, I think. I couldn't find a higher number than 86 in the list, however, I noticed that some sims have the same number, so it's not an accurate estimation.

I also added Sims 3 folder, both in Program Files and My Documents, to antivirus exceptions. Who knows, maybe it kept scanning all the files, that could cause lags for sure.

Originally Posted by barbarat or your DCCache file has tons of .temp files. Those .tmp files eat up RAM.


Those temp files are generated when the Launcher is opened to install content. EA never bothered to update the process to have those files auto deleted when the user has finished and the Launcher is closed. Nothing will be lost. I avoid the launcher as much as possible but when I do use it, I get 6 GB added to my RAM useage.

My experience with the number of sims in town varies depending upon which world I am playing. System specs also will vary among players. I have one world with around 250 sims and some worlds 100 or less. I really do not see much difference in play but then I do have a system that can handle those numbers. So that should be factored in when trying to decide if a smaller population would be better.

It should be noted that the town's Service Pools do not have much of an impact. For more information and suggestions for how to manage a town's poupulation see The Population Town Management Page Here

In my experience, there are times when placing brand new lots can mess up routing and cause lag. Doesn't always happen, but it can.

Since you said this is an island, I'm also wondering if the world is routable by boats? Been awhile since I've played that world so I don't know - but any sims on the mainland might be trying to route to the lots on your island and if they can't it would cause lag.