Game runs fine generally, but CAS lags to the point that the game is unplayable

[vgamer1991]

I have a brand new save started, in my beloved town that I built myself. Had to do that after file recovery went bad and killed my saves. The game works okay if I'm playing one of the bin families (the rest of the population needs to be manually created), so the town right now is practically just a glorified village as you can imagine. But when I go to create the first custom family, that's where the trouble starts. CAS moves so slowly that it frustrates me to the point where I actually have to force the game (but fortunately not the computer) to shut down. The fact that it lags as bad as it does is really all that needs to be said about the glitch itself. Now for what my computer's specs are and what I've got installed...

I've got a buttload of store content. As for what EPs/SPs I have, I've got Generations, University Life, Late Night, Showtime, Seasons, Pets, and High End Loft Stuff. I also have Into the Future but it is not currently installed. I have a Dell Inspiron 15 5000 series laptop with a Radeon r5 graphics card, an Intel Core i7 CPU at 2.50 - 2.60 GHz, and 16GB RAM, and I'm running the Windows 10 Home operating system. I have several of Twallan's mods (MasterController, StoryProgression) and some of Ani's mods (Dexter the Bear, the Apartment Controller). Please help me! I just want to play TS3 dangit!

[MrsFlynn]

I have a similar problem on my laptop. When I'm playing with store content installed CAS slows to a painful crawl. When I play without or just a few favorite pieces of store content installed it runs okay = it's tolerable.

There may not much you can do about it. Specially with lots of store content installed. Something you may want to try as a test is to turn off custom content to see if that helps.

-- Load the launcher, Click on the Installed Content tab, and uncheck Run without custom content.

If that works, meaning it's tolerable for you. It may be worth making a new Sims 3 folder and download only some store content. That's how I do it, pick out a few or so favorite sets. Here's a How To on Creating a new Sims 3 folder, in case it's needed.

I actually have two folders. One with no store content installed and the other that has all the store content we've purchased. If you want to learn how I did that, link is below.

How-to: Backup and Restore Store Content
http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=18945.msg355355#msg355355

How To: Download and Install Store Content
http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=20732.msg437664#msg437664

Also, in the link below are some tips to relieve lag and freezing. 
http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=24709.msg422978#msg422978

Another thing that may be helpful is to delete the userPresets.package in the Sims 3 folder - \Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3

This file contains saved colors, non-cc patterns and textures

I usually delete the userPresets.package after it gets to be around 100kb or more. As it will make my computer lag quite a bit, specially when using Create a Style in CAS or Build/Buy mode.

Hope this helps

[Candyd]

@ VGamer1991 : Do you have CC installed ? If yes, how much (folder size and number of files) ? Sims3packs or packages ?

[MrsFlynn]

I have an embarrassingly low amount of mods/cc in my game. About 100 files in total and only a few select store pieces in my game in a new folder created last month.

All in all, Hubby and I have found that it's due to the game engine's quirks. There's not much that can be done to fix this. The more content you add to the game, like custom content, game mods and store content the more the game will lag, specially in Create a Sim/Create a Style. This is due to the way the game handles additional content. Again, not much can be done to speed that up unfortunately. It's more noticeable on laptops.

[vgamer1991]

Thanks for the tip, MrsFlynn - prior to posting here I searched through sites looking for a solution, and it said the problem was linked to CC but did not give any tips for relief for anyone who has tons of store content...so I was technically still up the creek without a paddle. So I came here. Your breakthrough suggestions have saved me before and I'm definitely willing to give this a go.

[MrsFlynn]

If it's custom content that comes from ModtheSims or SimsResource, etc. You may want to make sure it's still okay. I've seen and had bad cc in my game. Luckily I was able to hunt it down.

Check on the 3rd Party Custom Content
http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=20732.msg401824#msg401824

Let me know how it's working for you.