Long Loads: How to Shorten Them?

[mtglady]

Leto, the userPresets.package contains all of the the custom patterns you had created and/or used in CAS.  That would include any patterns made in CAP, downloaded from the exchange either individually or contained in a lot, object or Sim and also includes any color changes you do to the patterns supplied with the game. So each time you change your Sims clothes, changed a color for flooring or built a house, anything having to do with CAS patterns, it is saved in this file.  After awhile it can cause lags and other problems.   

I sort of tested it out when I went on a building splurge last winter.  I constantly changed the colors and patterns for the walls and floors.  Each week my young Sim couple had their entire home and furniture 'remodeled'.  They had new clothes each week too!     I started to notice slower play time and kept checking this file's size when I quit the game.  I kept thinking the kb's were too low compared to my cache files, but I knew what the file contained and what it did (I also had read this file could be deleted as it would regenerate when a new game started). 

So I saved my entire Sims 3 file (just incase) and deleted the userPresets.package.  I loaded up my game and could tell the difference right away.  I did not get the lag I had before when my home was loading (used to be all white and then would slowly appear).  CAS also loaded much faster as did the build and buy modes

So now I normally delete this file along with the cache files when I quit my game for the day.

[HelenP]

Mtglady, sorry if I'm being dumb, but does this mean that any custom coloured clothes that I make and save in CAS will be lost? And does it affect the in game colours when you re-load?

[mtglady]

Mtglady, sorry if I'm being dumb, but does this mean that any custom coloured clothes that I make and save in CAS will be lost? And does it affect the in game colours when you re-load?

The in-game colors and items will all be fine (mine always are) but I believe it will delete any 'saved' custom items in CAS.  I don't save in CAS so I couldn't really say for sure. 

[HelenP]

Oh well, I'll do a test and find out; let you know later what happened.

[mtglady]

Oh well, I'll do a test and find out; let you know later what happened.

Just make sure to save a copy of the userpresets.package on your desktop in case it does delete 'saved' custom coloured clothes in CAS. 

[LlamaMama]

I hadn't realized I'd deleted all my re-colorings of clothes, furnishings, and build items. The items with those colorings still appear as I created them, but need to be resaved.  It's not a huge loss to me, but I wish I hadn't done it.

@mtglady: I appreciate your description of the cache files that can be deleted. I can and should be more careful of what I delete.

[HelenP]

I've just checked and it deletes all custom clothes and patterns in CAS but not saved custom Sims.  So if you've spent ages designing clothes and want to make sure you can keep them, save the whole Sim and then you can easily change the face without having to redo all the clothes.

[mtglady]

I hadn't realized I'd deleted all my re-colorings of clothes, furnishings, and build items. The items with those colorings still appear as I created them, but need to be resaved.  It's not a huge loss to me, but I wish I hadn't done it.

@mtglady: I appreciate your description of the cache files that can be deleted. I can and should be more careful of what I delete.

Like I said, I don't 'save' custom patterns or anything.  I tend to change my home's decor or my Sims' clothing at least a couple of times during one session of game play.

[LlamaMama]

I discovered something useful regarding game load times. Mine had gotten so slow that I actually would change my mind about wanting to play Sims3 by the time it actually loaded a saved game. Despite the fact that the save file is on your hard drive, the slow loads appear to be related to the speed of the disc drive where your game disc is read, or else the disc check, itself.

I'm not promoting doing anything illegal, but just sharing insight into the difficulties we have with load times: I don't know why, but when the game no longer checks for a disc in the drive, load times of saved games dramatically shorten.

Just sayin'.

[Leto85]

You can get a 14 day free trial, but after that it's around US$50.00 to purchase it.  I'm giving serious thought to buying it.  From what I read on their site, it does a lot more than I'm able to do on my own.  It might be worth it.

I don't know if you already have bought that program but you have to know that you could download the trial version over and over again when those two weeks have ended.

[Slingsby]

This is [probably] explaining why my game [on a good iMac 24"] can take 15 minutes from clicking the launcher ... modifying anything just slows the game, right?

[LlamaMama]

I never start the launcher when I play. It's faster to bypass the launcher and click the .exe file to start the game. This would be in the folder of the most recent expansion you have. For instance, I click TS3EP03.exe .

[Slingsby]

Noted with thanks ... a shortcut on my desktop toolbar is needed!  

EDIT = Rats ... a Mac doesn't seem to work like that.  Some more technical time is needed!!

[Pam]

I don't know if you already have bought that program but you have to know that you could download the trial version over and over again when those two weeks have ended.

I got the same thing from McAfee for less money.  I think it was about $30.  It works quite nicely.