Problem With Fast Forward

[tom789]

I just found out that I have a big problem with my sims! When I told him to do like three things, I pressed the three arrows thing to make the gameplay faster and it was the same! Nothing's happened and when I go to work it takes so long. Please help. 

[Pam]

Hi Tom.  I put your post into a new topic because it changed direction from the original post.

Try just closing the game and then starting it back up again.  It might just need to reset itself.  If that doesn't work, come back and we'll try to think of something else.

[tom789]

I've done it a couple of times it's still the same

[tom789]

well i won't be able to play my sims properly now

[Pam]

We're trying to find some help for you.  Hang in there!

[Carl]

OK I need to know this... put the Sim in a situation where you can tell how fast they're going reliably or keep your eyes on the time clock. Push the single fast foward button, >> . Do you note any increase whatsoever in speed. Pushing the third button >>> should again make it go up in speed slightly. Do you see it moving faster?

The fourth button >>>| will cause the game to fast forward through the current action. It's mainly used for sleeping or work.

And you're actually saying that your game has stopped having a fast foward function at all. It's never fast enough for me. If you really experience absolutely 0 fast fowarding effect, this has to be a technical issue and if restarting the game doesn't fix it, I'm concerned. The game's fast forward function should not disappear.

I have searched the net far and wide for you but didn't see any definitive answers other than zooming into the ground so the game has less environment to process. And that's only if your CPU is an issue. Do you have a new computer?

[tom789]

Ok, when i press the two arrows its going a bit faster but still slow the same thing happens when i press the last arrow or the three arrows and i have to wait like 10 mins (in real life) to come back from work and sleep.

[Carl]

just for the sake of science could you press the windows key (usually a couple left of space bar)
press win + r and type dxdiag in the box then hit enter

I'm curious the stats where it says:

 Processor: ??

Memory: ? MB Ram

then go to the display tab at the top of that window

and it should say something like

Chip Type:


Fill in those blanks for me

i may not be able to help you but I'd still like to know, especially since you say it speeds up but only slightly.

Do you think it worked better before but now it's completely messed up or has it seemed to slow down over time.

[tom789]

i dont know that, but i know that my pc is a bit old

[Kreathyr]

I guess when you're to close to the minimum requirements of the game it runs a little slower.
(that's why there are recommended requirements)

If it worked normally before, maybe you can reinstall the game? (back-up any save game  )

[PJSim]

If the problem is an old PC how about changing some of the settings in Options, especially the graphics. I don't remember what they are exactly, choose low settings instead of high, turn off unnecessary features like Edge smoothing, sparkles whatever it's called.

[Carl]

Ok, when i press the two arrows its going a bit faster but still slow the same thing happens when i press the last arrow or the three arrows and i have to wait like 10 mins (in real life) to come back from work and sleep.

Ok I think this settles it. I'm sorry Tom but the 3rd and 4th arrows do the exact same speed. Arrow four is only for fast fowarding until they're done with the current action. It is the same speed as #3 >>>, which is infinite fast foward.

Most of us wish it could go faster when we wanted... but I'm sorry it's just not so.

[Kreathyr]

Yeah I think I'd like it better when you can literally 'skip' stuff like sleeping, but he I won't complain.
I would if I had to wait for 10 whole minutes though.
My sims only sleep for about 30 seconds on fast fwd.

[PJSim]

But it seems like 10 minutes.
A lot of people seem to complain that Sims 3 is even slower to fast forward than previous games, I don't know if that's true.

[Carl]

From the developer's point of view, and wanting to make the game compatible with a wide range of systems, I understand perfectly. What my PC can do in X time, others might not (mine isn't particularly good btw). So it's better we're all the same. Consistency is good, and it lets lower grade systems play with a stable frame rate.