Downloadable App to Help Game Run better

[Jazz Iguana]

Hmm. Very very interesting. I will look into this, maybe I don't have to abandon the Sims 3, or my rainbow-legacy after all now that I have another option to try.

Thanks for posting this!

i was in the same boat as you till i tried this, so don't give up hope!

if its not running well enough using the app, try changing it manually. that's if you have enough RAM to do so, of course.

[aenito]

you mean that app only works if I downgrade to windows 7 32bit? ('86')?
There's no way I'm going to have everything else that runs great on 64bit, run poorly, by going back to 32bit... 

The app works on x86 programs that runs in a x64 plataforms. So no, you don't need to downgrade your windows.

[azokka361]

(Just so you know, I have absolutely no experience with computers, technology, or downloadable apps)

I downloaded the app, then went into the Downloads folder and clicked on the folder marked 4gb_patch, then clicked on the application 4gb_patch and hit Run. This opened up a window marked Downloads, from which I could navigate through all the folders. However, I was unable to find "SIMS3W.exe." Where is that found, exactly?

[Jazz Iguana]

(Just so you know, I have absolutely no experience with computers, technology, or downloadable apps)

I downloaded the app, then went into the Downloads folder and clicked on the folder marked 4gb_patch, then clicked on the application 4gb_patch and hit Run. This opened up a window marked Downloads, from which I could navigate through all the folders. However, I was unable to find "SIMS3W.exe." Where is that found, exactly?

The Sims3w.exe file is found in your game folder. So if you have windows 7, it would be under My Computer --> Program Files (x86) ---> Electronic Arts --> The Sims 3 -----> Game -----> Bin

If you scroll down you'll see it.

[azokka361]

The Sims3w.exe file is found in your game folder. So if you have windows 7, it would be under My Computer --> Program Files (x86) ---> Electronic Arts --> The Sims 3 -----> Game -----> Bin

If you scroll down you'll see it.

Thanks! Off to try it out . . .

[aenito]

The file intended to patch is TS3W.EXE but i just checked and mine it's already marked as LargeAddressAware. File version 0.2.0.188

So maybe this tool was usefull for older versions but now EA delivers the file already patched.

[Jazz Iguana]

The file intended to patch is TS3W.EXE but i just checked and mine it's already marked as LargeAddressAware. File version 0.2.0.188

So maybe this tool was usefull for older versions but now EA delivers the file already patched.

The patch isn't for or from EA. It's a universal app/patch that work for any game to increase the ram to 4 GBs. Nothing more. You're confusing the version number of the PATCH with the version number of the Sims 3. Which are two completely different things.

[aenito]

My apologies for the tech slang, but as I failed to explain with the sort version, here is the extended one:


LargeAddressAware is a flag that may or may not exist in all windows exe (and other) files. The tool you linked just make that, set the flag on the exe.

But I didn't used the tool; I used dumpbin.exe, that is a Microsoft tool that come with Microsoft Visual Studio and I am sure you can use more tools to check it (cff explorer for example is another tool that shows you that flag). And what I did was to check TS3W.EXE and guess what? My TS3W.EXE have already the LargeAddressAware flag set.

Now it may be possible that different versions of that file exist. You can see what version is your own file by right clicking the file and selecting properties, then in the details tab you will see a product and file version. The TS3W.EXE file I checked and that have already the LargeAddressAware flag is version 0.2.0.188.

So is a fact that EA maybe in the past delivered 32bits executables that cannot handle more than 2GB (indeed, 2^31 bits), but the one I have, delivered by EA on January 30 2013, can properly handle an address space of 2^32-1 bits. So i don't need to patch it with the tool that you linked.


Now we can also talk about that sims3.ini file and the non sense 8 digits value of MemoryUsageLimit. What represent 2.0e+7? twenty millions of what? They are not bytes for sure, there are 2.14e+9 bytes in a GB. They aren't Kb also, as there are 2.09e+6 KB in two GB. Maybe is heximal notation, then we are looking for something like 536 millions of something. Hmmm now that I look at it, the gpu reserves around 500Mb for TS3W.EXE... maybe it refers to graphic memory usage.

[Jazz Iguana]

My apologies for the tech slang, but as i failed to explain with the sort version, here is the extended one:


LargeAddressAware is a flag that may or may not exist in all windows exe (and other) files. The tool you linked just make that, set the flag on the exe.

But i didn't used the tool; i used dumpbin.exe, that is a Microsoft tool that come with Microsoft Visual Studio and i am sure you can use more tools to check it (cff explorer for example is another tool that shows you that flag). And what i did was to check TS3W.EXE and guess what? My TS3W.EXE have already the LargeAddressAware flag set.

Now it may be possible that diferent versions of that file exist. You can see what version is your own file by rigth clicking the file and selecting properties, then in the details tab you will see a product and file version. The TS3W.EXE file i checked and that have already the LargeAddressAware flag is version 0.2.0.188.

So is a fact that EA maybe in the past delivered 32bits executables that cannot handle more than 2GB (indeed, 2^31 bits), but the one i have, delivered by EA on Janyary 30 2013, can properly handle an address space of 2^32-1 bits. So i don't need to patch it with the tool that you linked.


Now  we can also talk about that sims3.ini file and the non sense 8 digits value of MemoryUsageLimit. What represent 2.0e+7? twenty millions of what? They are not bytes for sure, there are 2.14e+9 bytes in a GB. They aren't Kb also, as there are 2.09e+6 KB in two GB. Maybe is heximal notation, then we are looking for somehting like 536 millions of something. Hmmm now that i look at it, the gpu reserves around 500Mb for TS3W.EXE... maybe it refers to graphic memory usage.

The apps for people who are still having issues after trying everything else. And I know for a fact it works with the latest update. So i'm not sure what your point is here?

And as far as the Memoryusagelimit goes, i was a bit confused as to why it has so many zeros as well. But that's just a coding thing that i have very little knowledge on. But I think its safe to say that is does just what it says. It limits how much memory your computer is allowed to use exclusively for the game. I can say with a 100% certainty that it works. Went from a laggy, unplayable game. Tried the app first, worked great but still had a few hic ups here and there. Changed the memoryusagelimit. Now it runs like a charm with very little bugs or issues. The only people this will not work for are people who don't know how to follow directions or only have 4 GB of ram.

[aenito]

The apps for people who are still having issues after trying everything else.

The app is intended only for users with more than 2GB RAM that were not using all of it. It's not a generic pill for headhache.

And I know for a fact it works with the latest update.

And I'm glad it worked for you. But you are not a general case. Indeed you keep telling people to patch SIM3W.EXE file when the one in my computer is TS3W.EXE so here I see at least two diferent scenarios.

So i'm not sure what your point is here?

My point is that there is at least one version of TS3W.EXE (0.2.0.188) that is already patched by EA and this app will do nothing (well, indeed it will put a '1' in a place where there was already a '1').

So I came here to share this info with other users. I provided the version of my TW3W.EXE file and pointed two tools you can try to read the header yourself. I think it was very informative and helpfull but maybe I'm unable to explain, despite how many words I use.

And as far as the Memoryusagelimit goes, i was a bit confused as to why it has so many zeros as well. But that's just a coding thing that i have very little knowledge on. But I think its safe to say that is does just what it says. It limits how much memory your computer is allowed to use exclusively for the game. I can say with a 100% certainty that it works. Went from a laggy, unplayable game. Tried the app first, worked great but still had a few hic ups here and there. Changed the memoryusagelimit. Now it runs like a charm with very little bugs or issues.

Again, I'm glad it worked for you but I am more interested in how it works. I'm testing diferent values fo this but can't manage to load more than 2.4GB while playing. I want to reach the 3GB and the 4GB barriers.

The only people this will not work for are people who don't know how to follow directions or only have 4 GB of ram.

Don't threat everyone as ignorat just because you are smart. If you guide a blind and the blind get lost it's your fault. If you direct people to mess with windows folders, at least be brave enough to state that you are not a Windows expert and that it may cause unexpected problems.

[napoleonwrasse]

aenito-I'd be interested to see what you find about Memoryusagelimit.

I personally was also patched. According to two unmentionable websites where a lot of these ideas were popularized then taken down, EA did patch sometime either around or before 2011 I think?, however it looks like for some people it maybe wasn't effective. So this is still valid information. You might just want to check which version you have first before going through the hassle of patching.

[Seabody]

I too have Sims 3 flagged as LargeAddressAware (version 0.2.0.188), and I think Sims has been LargeAddressAware since around patch 1.17, too.

[aenito]

I did some tests. Run the same game 6 times with diferent values in the ini file (1, 10, 10000, 10000000, 20000000, 40000000). I monitorized TS3W.EXE with the tool process explorer and at full speed and max graphic settings, I set the camera to follow a sim hands-off 24 sims hours. Then I paused the game and took a screenshot of the  monitorization. Here are the results:




As you can see, there is less than 5% differences in memory usage so i don't think my system is using this MemoryUsageLimit parameter at all.

[napoleonwrasse]

Good to know. Thanks so much.

[MoonsAreBlue]

I set my game to run with 6gb and I am not seeing it use that much, or even make a difference in my game. In fact with sims, chrome, and a few other monitoring programs running, I am only using 58%, which is 4.64 gb of ram, out of 8. Only ~1.96 gb is being used to run my game. This is without the patch and with changing the value in Sims 3.ini. Like aenito said, I think the difference here is negligible, and the game may not even be using this value at all.