Game starting to lag more and more after 100+ days

[Newti]

Hi everyone

This is my first post here.. I've been playing around with my self-employed fisher/gardener/collector sim for quite a while now.
When i started the game everything was smooth and perfect but the more I play with this Character, the more laggy the game becomes. When I am for example collecting rocks, it will freeze every 2-3 secs for 1 sec. Tendency upwards. It's alsmost at the point where the game is unplayable.
Restarting the game doesnt help. However if I start a new family everything is smooth again.

I have quite a few items in my inventory, a big garden and a few exibition rooms... does that slow down the game?
I dont know how old my sim is, since he is living on Ambrosia.. but it must be over 100 days by now.

Anyone has similar expiriences or knows how to stop the game from lagging so bad?

Thanks in Advance
Newti

[Metropolis Man]

Hi Newti and welcome to the forums. Game lag after playing a file a long time is not unusual. It's typical and expected. You're saving more and more stuff on top of each other. There's more info for the game to remember. More objects on the lot, more data to process, etc.

[AriaGirl77]

I think large gardens do cause some lag.  So try limiting what you've got growing.  You can always save perfect fruits/veggies for planting later on.

Clean out your inventory.  Occasionally a bugged item will find it's way in there and then all kinds of strange things can happen to your game.  I think special seeds and fish are pretty common culprits.

Do you have lots of neighborhoods saved?  Some computers just can't handle more than 3 or 4.

You can try lowering your graffics settings.

And be sure to save regularly, laggy games can often lead to crashes.

Edit: to add that I often play Legacy families that span many generations.  As I get further along with my game I often experience some lag.  When I do I start selling stuff from my inventory, cleaning out the fridge, selling rocks/gems, all that kind of stuff can really slow down a game and it's usually more important to me to proceed with my family than to keep all their stuff.  But it sounds like you're a bit of a collector, so I understand it might be hard to do that or completely go against what you're trying to accomplish with your game.  If so, sell any special seeds or fish and see if that helps first before moving on to other things.

[Pam]

I agree with Metro that lag is typical and expected in a game file that you've been playing a good while. It happens to me quite often. I also agree with what AriaGirl said about the game being prone to crashes when it gets that large. I see many more Error Code crashes on an old file than I do on a new one. Best advice is like what AriaGirl said. Clean out as much as you can and save often.

[Newti]

Thanks a lot for the replys.

I did some cleanout but it is still lagging horribly, especially when I am collecting (it got better when I am around the house).
I reduced my garden size, got rid of a good part of my inventory and I am now going to try and reduce the graphic settings as well.

It seems like there is no other solution than to just deal with it
I hope it doesn't get worse as I still have a lot planned for this game

Do you have lots of neighborhoods saved?

Just 1 :/

I also expirienced no crashes yet... but I will take the advice and save often.

Thanks again,
will be reporting back as it goes.

[samoht04]

What about mods and Custm Content?

[Leto85]

Although the best tips already came from Ariagirl and Metro, if you are indeed a collector you can also choose to build an museum on a community lot to dump all the stuff that could lag down your game. That way you still sort of have the items, but your computer doesn't have to deal with it anymore once you are playing your family.
Let's just hope burglars don't find out that you are building a museum.

[corrected for spelling and grammar-wildredchild]

[Newti]

What about mods and Custm Content?

I got the game last saturday.. it's a fresh install with no custom content or mods except for a few shop items.

Also I noticed it lags a lot when I use my inventory actively. So when I am collecting, analyzing rocks or sending off gems, the game freezes every 2 seconds (between every action). For some reason fishing doesn't lag at all

@Leto: I really like that idea, not only because it can reduce my lag but also from an RPG aspect. Right now I just have 3 5x5 rooms attached to my home stuffed with collected gems/rocks/insects. Building a "public" musem for all this stuff will be a lot of fun )


[Edited for spelling and capitalisation. - Swede]

[Saltypaws]

Of course there is the usual things, what kind of video card, update video card, defrag, empty cookies and internet folders.  If it is a new game, should still not be lagging that much.  Most of us have had the game since it came out and right now I have a very large game, collections, paintings, large garden, etc, that is just now starting to lag some, but not enough to hinder gameplay.  Sometimes turning off internet and turning off background applications helps also.  Make sure you have any updates or patches, but other than that, not sure what to suggest.  Usually if it is a new game, might be video card.  What kind do you have?

[AriaGirl77]

What about mods and Custm Content?

I got the game last saturday.. it's a fresh install with no custom content or mods except for a few shop items.

Also I noticed it lags a lot when I use my inventory actively. So when I am collecting, analyzing rocks or sending off gems, the game freezes every 2 seconds (between every action). For some reason fishing doesn't lag at all

@Leto: I really like that idea, not only because it can reduce my lag but also from an RPG aspect. Right now I just have 3 5x5 rooms attached to my home stuffed with collected gems/rocks/insects. Building a "public" musem for all this stuff will be a lot of fun )


[Edited for spelling and capitalisation. - Swede]

Ok, it could very well be that you have collected something that is bugged.  This happens sometimes.  It's quite possible that you have one or two items that just aren't working properly.  Unfortunately the only way to solve that problem is to do like others have suggested and make a museum on another lot, or start selling stuff until your problems stop.

Saltypaws also made an excellent suggestion regarding background applications.  Sometimes I'll leave my internet browser open in the background and when I do I can usually expect some lag.

[Leto85]

I say this often to people and I think I need to say it again because this will help you making your computer faster in any way (including sometimes lagging during gameplay): defragmentate. Mostly when you have your computer for a long period of time and are saving things and moving files (which could include downloaded stuff from the store) your computer will get slower and slower over time. See it as a library where people start reading books for information but than forget to put the book back on the right book-shelf.
The information is still there in the library, but for another person to get access to that same book, it will take more time to find it. The more books that aren't on the right place, the more time it takes them.
That is mostly the case with computers to. And although the data will be find eventually, it will take more and more time and eventually your system can freeze or even restart itself when the memory can not take anymore data in searching for the files.
Defragmentating is a process that works in a certain way where my library example will come close to. The program will put all the books back on the right shelf so your computer will find files faster and will therefore be faster.
If you have Vista, you can start your defragmentation by following the following path: Start - Configuration Centre - System and Maintenance - System Management - Defragmentation.

Be aware that the path I described is a literal translation from my system (where the language is in Dutch) but if some words aren't correctly translated you probably can find a similar way to get to the defragmentation.

At last I have to say that disfragmenting your computer or laptop will not result in the lost of any information (files) or personal data, for in case you where afraid of that.

[Pam]

Leto is right.  Disk cleanup and defrag are important parts of your overall computer maintenance.  They should be done on a regular basis.

[Leto85]

Leto is right.  Disk cleanup and defrag are important parts of your overall computer maintenance.  They should be done on a regular basis.

Indeed Pam. Disk cleanup is also a good way to speed things up. Allow me to suggest a wonderful program that is capable of cleaning up disks and defragmenting the system even better than Windows does: Auslogics Boostspeed will do this among many other things.