I've Had It!-Game Running Ridiculously Slow

[Jancy]

I also had the same stuttering problem with it pausing every few seconds.  This was happening in Barnacle Bay after I did the patch update and LateNight install. It was so slow and horrible to play with all the pausing.  I just saved my Sim with all her stuff that I wanted in her inventory and started a new game, moved her in a new house and it has been running fine so far.

[Asleep]

That problem occurs in all my games, even when I start new ones.

[Jancy]

I was having problems with BB after the patch.  When I made a Sim and chose a house it shut down to the desktop. Same thing after I  installed LN.  I was going to uninstall and install everything but decided to go this route first. 
I went to my Electronic Arts folder, changed the "The Sims 3 " folder to "The Sims 3 backup" Then started the game up.  I was then able to move into a house etc..  What this did I think was create new user files.  Someone will correct me if I'm wrong. I then moved my saved games in.  Re-downloaded all my downloads from the Sims site. All my games are all working fine. I only had the pausing problem with BB start after days of playing so then I did what I posted above-started a new game.  As of now everything is working fine.  I guess only time will tell.

[TGBlank]

Let's rule out some generic problems first.

Framerate: The sims 3 haves this little issue where the game tries to run at ridiculously high framerate and thus chokes your poor videocard, making the game slower and causing crashes. The easy way to prevent this is to go to your videocard's control panel and force vsync and triple buffering for the sims 3 and each of it's expansions.

Cache Files: The sims 3 creates cache files to speed things up, however, it doesn't clean them up of old unused data. Deleting your cache files will make the game slower the first time it haves to create them again (first time you enter a cas page, or start a world, or open the build/buy menus), but if they were cluttered with things, you should see a speed up afterward. Additionally, the game also caches script files, which are the ones that rule on how things behave. If the game forgot to change/remove those when patching or you at some point had some custom content that used scripts and is no longer compatible, deleting the script cache will help a lot.

On the same place you found the DCBackup folder, delete or move to a safe place: CASPartCache.package, ScriptCache.package, CompositorCache.package and simCompositorCache.package. Additionally, you might want to delete the files inside the WorldCaches folder.


The sims 3 does not do a good job at cleaning up some things, for example, taxis sometimes get stuck and never leave the streets, standing in place or roaming around forever (these accumulate over time, eating memory, note: this is unrelated with bridgeport, there are a number of ever-roaming taxis on the streets as scenery to make the city look busy); Sometimes sims forget to turn off radios or tvs around the town and this eventually starts causing audio delays or sound effects outright not playing. These two, however, shouldn't cause problems on a brand new neighborhood.

Mods, unsuccessful patches, and even outdated video drivers can cause odd problems as well, did you updated WA/Ambitions after installing late night?, are you using many mods?.

[Saltypaws]

Up until recently, my games have always run great.  I also do regular maintenance, but lately, even in starting new games, like my new dynasty, my sims are also walking jerky and not fluid like they were before.  I have done major cleanup on my computer and even got rid of processes too. Nothing works and I have 4 gigs memory and a large video card and clean up those EA folders frequently. It is not to the point of not playing it, it just makes it less enjoyable at times, but it does not happen with all games like Simstars.  I wish we could find out what causes these problems and get a fix.  If I thought it was my computer, then I could probably do something about it, but, you would think with a gaming computer, you would not have slow downs like this.

Simstar, I know your frustration.  I wish I could count how many times I have started over with the sims games in the past because of problems and had to buy new computers and I could not even play them.  Good luck and hopefully your problem will be solved,

[Asleep]

Thanks. I'm seriously hoping I won't have to get a new computer, because my parents will never allow it.

[Pam]

What about your graphics card, Simstar?  Is it up to the minimum requirements for the game?

[TGBlank]

Is it a laptop? Does it get noticeably hotter, particularly when the game is running slow?.

[Asleep]

What about your graphics card, Simstar?  Is it up to the minimum requirements for the game?

I'm not that good with technical stuff, so I can't tell what exactly I need to look at, so here's everything I found under graphics card

GeForce 8600M GT:

  Chipset Model:   GeForce 8600M GT
  Type:   Display
  Bus:   PCIe
  PCIe Lane Width:   x16
  VRAM (Total):   128 MB
  Vendor:   NVIDIA (0x10de)
  Device ID:   0x0407
  Revision ID:   0x00a1
  ROM Revision:   3175
  Displays:
Color LCD:
  Resolution:   1440 x 900
  Depth:   32-Bit Color
  Core Image:   Hardware Accelerated
  Main Display:   Yes
  Mirror:   Off
  Online:   Yes
  Quartz Extreme:   Supported
  Built-In:   Yes
Display Connector:
  Status:   No Display Connected

And heres what I found on the internet about the sims 3 system requirements
OPERATING SYSTEM

Mac OS X 10.5.7 Leopard or higher
PROCESSOR

Intel Core Duo
MEMORY (RAM)

2GB
HARD DISK SPACE

6.1GB of space, 1 GB extra for saved games and custom content
VIDEO CARD

ATI X1600 or Nvidia 7300 GT with 128 MB of video RAM or Intel Integrated GMA X3100
.

SUPPORTED VIDEO CARDS:
————————

NVIDIA GeForce series

7300, 7600
8600, 8800
9400M, 9600M GT
GT 120, GT 130
ATI Radeon™ series

X1600, X1900
2400, 2600
3870
4850, 4870
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA)

GMA X3×00 series
Intel ® Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) GMA 3-Series .
This game will not run on Mac systems with processor PowerPC (G3/G4/G5) or video cards with integrated GMA 950 series.

So, it looks like I've got all the requirements.

Is it a laptop? Does it get noticeably hotter, particularly when the game is running slow?.

My computer is a laptop, and I haven't noticed it heating up at all when I'm playing the sims.
On an odd note, I started up one of my Sunset Valley towns, and it was acting considerably faster. It's still pretty sluggish and laggy, but its better then my other game. I'm starting to think its just my towns in Bridgeport with all these problems.

[Pam]

But you've been having these problems long before Bridgeport came out.

[Asleep]

Well, I think the problem for my suburban towns was fixed when I emptied out my DCBackup folders. Bridgeport is probably just too much for my computer to handle. Oh well. On a side note, however, my SV game is running awesome! The only times the actions aren't fluid is when they're running, and that's just a little laggy.

[TGBlank]

Well, bridgeport IS nasty, with it's 80+ empty taxis looping around town for no reason, dozens of stuck-prone elevators and the like. Your videocard sounds perfectly capable of running the game, and the lack of overheating is a very good indicator.

[WINDOWS ONLY] Defragmenting: how long has it been since you last defragmented the harddrive? (you can find the disk defragmenter somewhere under system tools). It's a fairly safe action, but it does take some time to run (1~5 hours).

[WINDOWS ONLY] DirectX: When was the last time you updated those?

Video card drivers: when was the last time you updated them?, nvidia did an upgrade of their 8 series drivers not too long ago, could help a teeny tiny bit.

[Asleep]

My computer is a mac, so the first two I guess I can't do anything about. I'll ask my dad about the Video Card driver this evening.

[winnow]

I have 4 gigs memory and a large video card and clean up those EA folders frequently. . . .

Simstar, I know your frustration.  I wish I could count how many times I have started over with the sims games in the past because of problems and had to buy new computers and I could not even play them.  Good luck and hopefully your problem will be solved,

I agree. Good luck, Simstar. It's frustrating to have to start over on a game or not be able to play a new EP. Sorry but I don't know anything about macs. I hope you can fix the problems. Did you delete the cache files that aren't in your DCBackup (DCCache?) folder? TGBlank lists them in her/his reply. You definitely need to delete those. I always do after a patch or otherwise my game will be buggy. Many people just have the game generate a whole new Sims 3 folder when they update. It sounds like Jancy did:

I went to my Electronic Arts folder, changed the "The Sims 3 " folder to "The Sims 3 backup" Then started the game up.

I think she's talking about the Sims 3 folder in "My documents". That's what I do when I install a new EP. But that's on a PC.

Saltypaws, I'm sorry but I don't know anything about your system or what you've done. Do you have a 64-bit system? Because I do and I had to use CFF Explorer to allow my computer to use more than 2 gb in TS3. (Though I don't know if it will help with 4gb of RAM, it's worth trying IMO.) I also edited my Sims 3 ini file to specify more GB. That fixed some problems. Also, since you have a good video card, have you made sure that your FPS are reasonable? I use FPS Limiter because the FPS on TS3 are ridiculously fast. (At least mine are and I have a pretty bad video card, though my other specs are very good.) They will fry your video card. I don't understand how EA could have released the game with that problem. FPS limiter also lets you see the FPS in game if you want and to change it. But it sounds like the suggestions that TGBlank made about forcing vsync and triple buffering  in order to limit FPS would work as well.

[Asleep]

Did you delete the cache files that aren't in your DCBackup (DCCache?) folder? TGBlank lists them in her/his reply. You definitely need to delete those. I always do after a patch or otherwise my game will be buggy.

So I can delete them? To two things in there are dcdb0, and missingdeps.