Specific advice for speeding up my game

[smileyalien5]

Okay, let me start with I don't usually ask for help on technical issues, I'm fine fixing them myself, but I want to know what peoples opinions are. My game has all expansion packs except showtime, no stuff packs and some CC. My game has always been slow because my computer is old... it was pretty good when I got it, about 7 years ago. None of the CC I have has ever been a problem, it's all for CAS and I haven't downloaded any for about a year now. Recently my game has been extremely slow, and about once an hour it will crash. I read up on what to do, and so I checked my DCbackup file, which I have never cleaned and I got The Sims 3 when it first came out, but there were only 29 files in there so I'm not sure what good that will do (Haven't had the chance to play yet).
I'll also delete the other files that it say you should delete. I also found a bunch of random music files in my ea folder (Don't ask I have no idea) so I'll get rid of those and see what that does.

What I wanted to ask was, should I delete my CC? It's never caused any problems or glitches (except for the occasional hair through clothes or objects and stuff, but I don't count that or use those ones) but I figure its probably slowing my game down it would mean losing some of my favourite pieces... but if it means my game stops crashing... I know this forum has a general "CC is bad" view, but its something I've been using it since the age of about 5 (Before sims, and with my brother who taught me) and I trust the places I go to  and the stuff I have. I've never delete all CC, and all my games use some at least, does anyone know what this would do to my game?

Also, I use Windows XP, I don't use any game mods, don't have any stuff packs or more the a couple of pieces of official downloaded content, and I haven't uninstalled/reinstalled my game ever.

Thanks in advance for the help, and sorry about my spelling

[samoht04]

It is suggested that you do try your game without the Custom Content. The reason we do not discuss the use of Custom Content is that it can be unstable and if you choose to take the risk that is fine but it is a risk and is known to have caused issues and for that reason we do  not encourage discussion of Custom Content. Anything that is not made by EA has the possibility of conflicting and causing issues hence why the Modding Community goes under updates every time a patch is released to ensure their mods do not conflict.

I would also recommend a full reinstall. Many of our members do a full reinstall for every new Expansion or Stuff Pack as it just helps to make sure everything is in working order and not corrupted.

How often do you clean your computer by de-fragmenting and disk clean-ups? Once you have cleaned-up and done a reinstall try your game without any of the Custom Content and then slowly reinstall your additional content over a period of time, if the issues come back you should remove your Custom Content.

[smileyalien5]

Thanks for the advice.
Its been a little bit faster and seems to have stopped crashing since I cleaned it up a little, but its still painfully slow as always. I値l try the full reinstall, but it may not be possible as a few of my expansion packs belong to my best friend (we shared) and I think she sold them...
I値l see how it runs without my custom content, and probably get rid of some while I知 at it, but I think the best results will probably come from cleaning up my computer...
A while after I posted this, I tried using the internet on my computer and I couldn't believe how slow it was (its been a long time I致e used my computer for anything other than sims or a simple art program, which runs fine). My internet connection is very good, but my computer seems to be on the fall. I値l clean it up and see how things go.

[samoht04]

Thanks for the advice.
Its been a little bit faster and seems to have stopped crashing since I cleaned it up a little, but its still painfully slow as always. I値l try the full reinstall, but it may not be possible as a few of my expansion packs belong to my best friend (we shared) and I think she sold them...
I値l see how it runs without my custom content, and probably get rid of some while I知 at it, but I think the best results will probably come from cleaning up my computer...
A while after I posted this, I tried using the internet on my computer and I couldn't believe how slow it was (its been a long time I致e used my computer for anything other than sims or a simple art program, which runs fine). My internet connection is very good, but my computer seems to be on the fall. I値l clean it up and see how things go.

Good luck with the cleaning, I know at one time I cleared 11GB of space from doing a clean up. If you can't do a full reinstall I'd suggest a Factory Reset. 

[Miketech]

Hello! Computer technician here so I have a few things that might help. Firstly run Disk Cleanup. You will find that under the start menu. Click all programs then accessories, then system tools, then Disk Cleanup. Depending on what operating system you have the things that come up can be different. I recommend selecting everything except Game Statistics (if it's there as that game with Vista I believe.)

If that doesn't do it for you and you want to clean up some more try this:
http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner

If you leave the settings as they are you will lose any saved login sessions for your websites.

If you don't want to lose those do the following:

Internet Explorer:
Make sure Cookies is not selected.

Other Browsers: Click applications tab and under the heading for your web browser make sure cookies and internet cache is not selected.