Sims 3 and 64 bits

[Frey]

Hi, I'm back! My laptop's jack power died a few months ago and I just fixed it.

Anyway, I have a question: I'm considering changing my OS to 64 bits to be able to use more RAM but I've heard there may be compatibility issues with The Sims 3. Is this true?

Thanks!

[MoonsAreBlue]

Hey, you. It's been a while.

I've never heard of a conflict with Sims 3 and 64 bit systems. I've only ever run sims on a 64 bit version of Windows 7. If you currently have a 32 bit system, there is no way to upgrade. You have to purchase a new Windows 7 that features 64 bit, which is like $100 last time I checked.

[Jess Horan]

I'm no good with computers but my last computer was a 64-bit. I guess I used up all the memory my computer gave to the Sims 3 and when I asked about it on the forums it had something to do with it being 64. I'm not sure exactly what was wrong but I can try to find the link I was given again!

[MoonsAreBlue]

I'm no good with computers but my last computer was a 64-bit. I guess I used up all the memory my computer gave to the Sims 3 and when I asked about it on the forums it had something to do with it being 64. I'm not sure exactly what was wrong but I can try to find the link I was given again!

Hmmm, I haven't been around in a while, so any conflict with 64 bit is either relatively new or had to do with Windows 8. Personally though, I've never experienced any conflict that was related to the operating system.

[aenito]

I play on a Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bits and it works ok.

The only "compatibility issue" I've found is that The Sims is a 32bits program, so it cannot handle more than 2^32-1 memory addresses (4 Gygabytes) even if your system have more RAM installed but this happens for all and every 32 bits programs, so you cannot blame the game; it's just an old game intended to run on old systems. So if you upgrade your S.O. the game will not perform worse and if your current system have less than 4GB RAM you will notice an improvement with the addition of more RAM.

[MoonsAreBlue]

I play on a Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bits and it works ok.

The only "compatibility issue" I've found is that The Sims is a 32bits program, so it cannot handle more than 2^32-1 memory addresses (4 Gygabytes) even if your system have more RAM installed but this happens for all and every 32 bits programs, so you cannot blame the game; it's just an old game intended to run on old systems. So if you upgrade your S.O. the game will not perform worse and if your current system have less than 4GB RAM you will notice an improvement with the addition of more RAM.

You are correct. I keep hearing about programs that make sims run with more ram, but I haven't tried them and I don't know if they actually work. 4gb seems to work okay for me.

All in all, upgrading a system to 64 bit windows will not help performance so much as increasing ram up to 4gb. If you already have 4gb, then it's pretty much playing as fast as it can. This is all not considering your graphics card, though.

[aenito]

All in all, upgrading a system to 64 bit windows will not help performance so much as increasing ram up to 4gb. If you already have 4gb, then it's pretty much playing as fast as it can. This is all not considering your graphics card, though.

Take note that, once you get the 4GB RAM you can handle on a 32bits windows, you will use some of it for the system and services running on the background so it will be always less than 4GB available for the game.

In a 64 bits system you can have 4GB for the game and on top of it a bit more for the windows. Usual configurations are 6GB or 8GB RAM so you can ALT+TAB and surf the web while playing without problems.

[Frey]

Thanks!

The computer I use ofr Sims has only 2 GB of RAM and it's obviously not enough to play the game decently with several EP so I was hoping to be able to get 4 usable GB of RAM by getting an extra RAM card and changing the OS (because as far as I know, 3 GB is the highest usable RAM you can get running windows 7). Anyway, I think I will get the extra RAM card to at least upgrade to 3 GB, it can't hurt.

I've heard about these programs to help Sims run with more RAM, but if your computer only allows yo to use 3 GB, do they work? Any advise would be appreciated.

My game has had extreme crashing issues since forever now (I don't even play anymore because it's so annoying) and after trying every possible (and sometimes ridiculous) solution I'm guessing it's a RAM issue, that's why I want to upgrade. I know it would be easier to just get a new laptop with more RAM and a better graphics card but that's not going to happen in the near future so I want to try and upgrade this one while I get the money for a new one.

[iKevinSwift]

My comp is 64 bit and I use Windows 7, I've never had any problems running and playing the Sims 3.

And assuming you're referring to the other thread about the downloadable app in Technical Help, I just tried both ways (the app + MemoryUsageLimit) and I think my game does load faster. But other than that the changes aren't really that noticeable, I still get lag and recurring freezes despite changing the MemoryUsageLimit to 7GB.

[MoonsAreBlue]

Thanks!

The computer I use ofr Sims has only 2 GB of RAM and it's obviously not enough to play the game decently with several EP so I was hoping to be able to get 4 usable GB of RAM by getting an extra RAM card and changing the OS (because as far as I know, 3 GB is the highest usable RAM you can get running windows 7). Anyway, I think I will get the extra RAM card to at least upgrade to 3 GB, it can't hurt.

I've heard about these programs to help Sims run with more RAM, but if your computer only allows yo to use 3 GB, do they work? Any advise would be appreciated.

My game has had extreme crashing issues since forever now (I don't even play anymore because it's so annoying) and after trying every possible (and sometimes ridiculous) solution I'm guessing it's a RAM issue, that's why I want to upgrade. I know it would be easier to just get a new laptop with more RAM and a better graphics card but that's not going to happen in the near future so I want to try and upgrade this one while I get the money for a new one.

I've not had any luck with programs that allocate more ram to sims. Others have and maybe one of them will comment here. You can have as much ram as your laptop's motherboard can support. It depends on the number of slots and the capacity of each one. This is where I went when I bought ram for my old laptop. You can either download a little tool or enter the kind of laptop you have and it will give you a list of all the different kinds of ram you can purchase.

More ram will definitely help your game, but there's no telling if it will stop crashing. RAM is relatively cheap though, so I would upgrade +2gb if you can.

[Frey]

Hi Moons, yeah, it's been a while! Technology hasn't been on my side lately haha.

Thanks for your help, as always!

I had a techy friend have a look to the laptop and he said it can take up to 8 GB, but I assume there's no point in getting 8 GB if windows will only allow me to use 3, right? (All this RAM thing is new to me so please correct me if I'm wrong!) So I guess I should upgrade to 4 to be able to use 3 (right now I have 2 GB RAM with a little more than 1 GB usable).

I have some time tomorrow morning so I'll take de laptop to the store and get the RAM card I think. I know I can't be sure it will fix the crashing, but they aren't expensive, they get them installed for you for free and it won't hurt my computer. Plus, I can't think of anything else right now. If extra RAM doesn't fix it I'll probably give up.

[aenito]

I had a techy friend have a look to the laptop and he said it can take up to 8 GB, but I assume there's no point in getting 8 GB if windows will only allow me to use 3, right? (All this RAM thing is new to me so please correct me if I'm wrong!) So I guess I should upgrade to 4 to be able to use 3 (right now I have 2 GB RAM with a little more than 1 GB usable).

To understand the memory stuff, look at i as if it was a deck of cards. The RAM are the cards and Windows is the dealer who owns the deck and it deal cards to the programs for them to play. So there is one limit in the hand size (how many cards a program can use to play) but there is another limit in the deck size (how many cards Windows can deal to programs).


The wrong thing is to put more than 4GB if your Windows is 32 bits, because 32 bits Windows have a max deck size of 4GB.


If you are going to change the O.S. for a 64 bits one, then a good option will be Windows 7 Home Basic 64bits because it can handle exactly as many RAM as you can put on your laptop, 8GB. With a deck size of 8GB you will be able to deal a full hand of 4GB to the sims program and keep some more cards on your deck. Remember, if you are going to deal a card and the deck is empty, it's game over and Windows will explode in a blue screen.

[Frey]

Thanks aenito

I think I'll stick to 4 GB for now and see what happens, maybe I'll be lucky and that will be enough. I'll go the store tomorrow.

[Frey]

Amazing what extra RAM can do!

I now have 3 GB usable and my RAM usage went from 94% to 65% while playing. And the game runs so smoothly! I have yet to confirm if the crashes stopped because I haven't had the time to play for so long... but for the first time in quite a while I don't feel like throwing the disk into the toilet, haha. I completed a week sim-time with no crashes... before it always crashed around wednesday of week 1.  (keeping fingers crossed)

Maybe I will be able to get Seasons and University Life after all.