If you aren't already aware, there is a guide on Game Help:Improving Sims 3 Performance^wiki, though it needs to be updated and expanded upon. So, we're looking for your tips and tricks on getting the game to run faster and/or smoother. The guide already covers Computer Systems (Specs, Requirements, Upgrading, Checkup, and Updating Drivers), as well as Custom Content (check for problem packages, combining packages, and using mods from NRaas or MATY). We hope to include any or all known tips/tweaks for making the game or launcher run more efficiently which will be used primarily in the Help and Support Section of the site.

A few examples of what we are looking for would be:

• Using MasterController settings to limit CAS items to one preset each (to reduce CAS loading)
• World Fixes by Ellacharmd to help fix routing issues in various worlds
• Reduce the number of programs running on your computer while you play
• disconnecting from the internet
• using subfolders for Downloads, Exports, Screenshots etc to keep the launcher from seeing and listing them (reduces lag in launcher)
• using the CC tabs under Installed Content in launcher (Sims, Lots, Objects, Patterns) to help reduce the amount launcher loads (can only load 500 items at a time)

So share your experience, do these things work? Do you use any of them or other things to speed up the game or launcher? What is your tip/trick and how has it helped you?

My game stutters all the fucking time now, I unistalled ITF and Showtime it helped a bit. The lag started right after I deleted NRASS story progression because the constant notifications we're really pissing me off.

The pesky notifications can be turned off in SP. The NRaas Overwatch and Error Trap mods might help with the lag also as those mods do clean up.

Here are a few considerations for the list if they are not already on there:

Using NRaas Error Trap and Overwatch provide a lot of game clean up: Error Trap does save game clean up and reports any game errors and Overwatch makes corrections of persistent or recurring errors produced by the Core game or other mods, resets sims and objects as well as performing nightly clean up when playing. The functions can be viewed here: http://nraas.wikispaces.com/ErrorTrap and http://nraas.wikispaces.com/Overwatch

Kurees SaveCleaner is awesome at cleaning up game save files: http://www.den.simlogical.com/denfo...hp?topic=1532.0

Bypassing the Launcher all together helps ... use the .exe file to load the game found in C>ProgramFiles(86) Electronic Arts or if installed vis Origin in the Origin Games Folder.

Kuree's EasyCASP Editor is a great tool to hide CAS items you don't want to load. It's very easy to use. http://www.den.simlogical.com/denfo...hp?topic=1589.0

If you do not have the Featured Items Folder disabled, make sure to clean those thumbnails out often. Same should be done for the .temp files in DCCache

MC among other game saving functions allows for lot resets to fix broken objects and Object reset for individual objects. It also allows for an entire town reset which fixes stuck sims, broken objects, etc.

DebugEnabler - allows you to use it on almost anything in your world for adding manual debugging interactions for error correction.

The worlds fixed by Ellacharmed that I have used are wonderful.

There are several mods over at NRass that allow for Town Management allowing you to control the town population, immigration/emigration and roles. For those who find Story Progression intimidating Register has several useful options that will help: http://nraas.wikispaces.com/Register+Interactions

The NRaas Traffic Mod provides a way to cut down on unnecessary vehicles popuplating and running all over your town.

Adding:
If you have a lot of saved games..try saving them to an external HD or stick. Same thing for Downloads you've installed. You can always put them back in later.
Clearing out the DCBackup folder also helps a lot.
Cleaning out the .dbc and .ebc files in DCCache also reduces load time and frees up space on a HD.

Thanx, I already have Overwatch and Master Controller. I just got Error Trap and Save Cleaner I cleaned my main save along with it's back-up.
I just played it for a bit, my game is running a lot better thank you.

Turning off memories helps too. Or if you want memories use the mod from this site to only allow sims to have the memories you feel are important.

It's also advisable to think about population. Every sim who lives in the hood takes resources. It might be a good idea to use MC and evict some households. The households will go and live in the townie pool.

Doing a save as instead of using the same save helps too, at least in keeping the save healthier.

Horses are bad in routing. If your town really doesn't need stray horses disable them via twallan's register.

Oh yeah, forgot about those stupid memories, that's definitely going in. lol, Nraas mods might get their own page

> Using an FPS limiter
> Giving the game high priority in Windows Task Manager, or using an app like Game Booster
> Compressing package files, whether merged or not

Great Input so far, a Modified list to include on the Guide is below:

• Your system (Specs, Requirements, Upgrading, Updating Drivers, etc)
• Using Dashboard and Custard to check package files and sims3packs before installing
• Compressing and/or Merging Package files
• Bypass the Launcher
• Don't use Online options in game
• Reduce In Game Options and Settings
• Reduce CC load (only use those sims3packs and package files you really need)
• Reduce the number of programs running on your computer while you play
• disconnecting from the internet
• Razer Game Booster (helps reduce system load and free up memory while you play)
• using subfolders for Downloads, Exports, Screenshots etc to keep the launcher from seeing and listing them (reduces lag in launcher)
• using the CC tabs under Installed Content in launcher (Sims, Lots, Objects, Patterns) to help reduce the amount launcher loads (can only load 500 items at a time)
• Kurees SaveCleaner (help keep save files from becoming large and unusable)
• Using MasterController settings to limit CAS items to one preset each (to reduce CAS loading)
• World Fixes by Ellacharmd to help fix routing issues in various worlds
• Using mods to "hide" items or presets in CAS or Build/Buy mode
• Turn off Memories
• NRaas Error Trap, Overwatch, and DebugEnabler (help solve in game issues)
• Control and/or limit Town Populations (Story Progression, Register, etc)
• Control Traffic (vehicles in world)
• Use Any Game Starter or Sim Game Selector (allows playing selected games without uninstalling any)

Have more suggestions? A tip you use not here? The more we gather, the more it will benefit everyone in playing the game.

Playing naked seems to make the game run more smoothly.

However, playing naked with a friend may cause some 'lag'.

Having less files in SavedSims and Library also seems to help for the game loading, not only the Launcher. ProcessMonitor shows that the game accesses these folders within the first minutes quite often and since then I have kept these folders' sizes to a minimum as well as the amount of folders in Saves. I am under the impression that this has helped quite a lot.

Another thing that seems to help a lot of people is to delete the downloadedsims.index file in Saved Sims regularly. It's accessed thousands of times on loadup and can allegedly crash or stall the game for some.

Also set the FeaturedItems folder to Read Only in Properties.

Using nonamena's No Limos mods helps to speed up Overwatch's nightly clean-up. http://www.den.simlogical.com/denfo...12&topic=1581.0

Giving every inactive Sim their own car also helps a tiny bit. Either make them active and then purchase one for each member, or gift them with your active Sim or if you use NRaas Story Progression set it to allow inactives to purchase cars.

Clean out saved styles and custom presets regularly to speed up CAS and CASt.

Show in Compact Form of MasterController CAS can render CAS a bit unstable, btw, and cause it to hang occasionally.

And this is from my old days of playing with a Macbook: using the full resource.cfg from the framework.zip provided here made my game considerably slower and it became faster when I had modifed this file manually, removed all the Override, Probation etc. sections and reduced the amount of subfolders allowed.

My game also plays better when I do NOT play in windowed mode, contrary to the experience of others. I fare better with full screen.

Force VerticalSync in the graphics card settings for the TS3W.exe.

In-game try to use less Build Mode plants. I am making this experience currently again when my game starts to lag as soon as my Sim comes near an area of the town where lots use shrubs and trees instead of fences.

Here is the current list, work on organizing and adding info to the guide will begin shortly. If you see or know of something not listed here, please post and add your ideas/suggestions to the thread

• Your system (Specs, Requirements, Upgrading, Updating Drivers, etc)
• Clean your computer of dust regularly (even a small amount of dust can cause your system to overheat)
• Using Dashboard and Custard to check package files and sims3packs before installing
• Compressing and/or Merging Package files
• Bypass the Launcher
• Don't use Online options in game
• Reduce In Game Options and Settings
• Reduce CC load (only use those sims3packs and package files you really need)
• Reduce the number of programs running on your computer while you play
• disconnecting from the internet
• Razer Game Booster (helps reduce system load and free up memory while you play)
• Reduce the amount of sims in SavedSims and lots/households in the Library folder
• using subfolders for Downloads, Exports, Screenshots etc to keep the launcher from seeing and listing them (reduces lag in launcher)
• using the CC tabs under Installed Content in launcher (Sims, Lots, Objects, Patterns) to help reduce the amount launcher loads (can only load 500 items at a time)
• Kurees SaveCleaner (help keep save files from becoming large and unusable)
• Using MasterController settings to limit CAS items to one preset each (to reduce CAS loading)
• World Fixes by Ellacharmd to help fix routing issues in various worlds
• Using mods to "hide" items or presets in CAS or Build/Buy mode
• Turn off Memories
• Disable the FeaturedItems folder
• NRaas Error Trap, Overwatch, and DebugEnabler (help solve in game issues)
• Control and/or limit Town Populations (Story Progression, Register, etc)
• Control Traffic (vehicles in world)
• Use Any Game Starter or Sim Game Selector (allows playing selected games without uninstalling any)
• Clean out saved styles and custom presets regularly to speed up CAS and CASt.

Did anyone mention turning off explorer.exe? That can help. To turn it back on after you stop playing Sims 3:
1. Ctrl+Alt+Delete
2. New Task...
3. Type in "explorer.exe" and hit enter

That's, like, 40mb of RAM right there. You're welcome.

How about configuring the DynamicAvoidance option from the game option file? It may help with the game routing, I believe.

Read more here: http://nraas.wikispaces.com/Tips+an...choolAssignment

I wonder what you would put if the thread count is 16?

@leahmay74

Actually don't do that!

"Hyperthreading can negatively impact The Sims 3 because the game relies heavily on single-core performance and does not effectively utilize more than two cores. " according to tech guy.

I know several other apps that I use every single day, that are programmed that way and developers still keep them in that state despite multi-thread CPUs are thing from long time ago, but this doesn't matter, only money matters.

One more reason to hate big tech companies like EA!

Thanks for correcting that! Yes totally despise EA

But it it depends on what CPU your computer has I think...Maybe I'm wrong!

My computer has 14th gen Intel core and I have LazyDutchess Alder Lake fix.
(Alder Lake is 12th gen, but 13th and 14th gen have the same core structure).
Me personally have no issue with hyper threading on, but if have, I've never seen it.

When I was still playing Sims 3 on my laptop, which has 10th gen Intel core, I had really bad lag most of the time (maybe because it was just a laptop, despite it's "gaming").

In conclusion it depends on what machine you're playing it! As I said it maybe I'm wrong.

Not sure if this is relevant or not but I'd like to say it for anyone else who may have done the same. I used acottonstock's video and did that trick to allocate more CPU to the game by editing the Graphics_rules.sgr file (starts at 5:52). It was supposed to help with community lots being empty by making the game draw more sims but for me this caused the exact opposite. The lots would have less inactive sims than normal or sometimes no sims at all. I don't know if this trick causes this issue on every computer but if any of you has done this and are seeing less sims than normal, try undoing the changes in your Graphics_Rules.sgr file.

acottonsock's videos are quite helpful, so thank you for sharing it for everyone.

If you want additional people to visit community lots, then you can use this mod by LazyDuchess: https://modthesims.info/d/678067/7-...lation-mod.html

Thanks for the recommendation
I've used this mod in the past and it's very good. What I meant to say with my previous message though is that changing the Graphic_Rules.sgr file in the way described in the video could lead to less sims in community lots. I figured this out by reverting the changes I had made to my sgr file. LazyDuchess's mod sure does help though!

Changing that setting in .sgr CPU setting is an unreliable way to ensure more populated lots. The best way is to get the specific mod or Nraas. That way you have more control in case your pc can’t handle an overly populated lot.