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Inventor
Original Poster
#1 Old 31st Jan 2017 at 3:30 PM Last edited by Naus Allien : 31st Jan 2017 at 5:57 PM.

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 3, World Adventures, Ambitions, Late Night, Generations, Pets, Showtime, Supernatural, Seasons, University Life, Island Paradise, Into the Future
Default TS3 poor performance on SSD
Hi, everyone. I decided to submit this thread because I'm baffled at how bad TS3 performs on my brand new SSD. Let me explain. I bought an SSD (Samsung 850 EVO to be specific) hoping it will improve loading and saving times (the game itself run fine). I did a clean install of my OS (Windows 7) with AHCI enabled (instead of IDE) to have full perfomance. The system itself runs shockingly fast and I get speeds up to 280 mb/s in reading/writing (which is expected because even though the SSD is Sata III, my MOBO only supports Sata II).

So after installing drivers, basic programs and such I proceeded to install The Sims 3 from the discs. I updated up to 1.67 without any issues. I made sure to modify the appropriate files so my graphics card gets recognized, etc. I have both the game files (+packs) and the savegames folder on the SSD. Sio I go ahead and run the game. And here comes the strangest thing: the loading/saving times didn't improve at all, in fact: The loading times were worse (I measured a new game in Sunset Valley taking around 4 minutes to load on HDD before installing SSD, and almost 5 minutes on SSD), but what really left me speechless were the saving times. They were (are) abysmal. It could take up to 5 minutes to save a freshly created Sunset Valley savegame. And something even weirder happened when I exited the game, the screen turned black (as usual) with the loading cursor but it remained like that forever. I had to force close the process. I was baffled. I couldn't believe what was happening.

Somehow later that day I move my Documents folder to my HDD (the folder where it was before) and I decided to give it a try and run the game. Of course when you change your Documents folder location the game will read from that location AFAIK so the game read the data from my HDD this time (with the main game files still on the SSD). The loading times were faster and the saving times were normal (like they were before installing the SSD). That problem in which the screen turns black upon exiting and I have to close the process DID NOT happen either. So now I'm more confused if that's possible. Why does the game perform better when my savegames folder is on the HDD? But still it didn't help much and after all this trouble the game loads/saves like before IF I have my savegames folder on the HDD. If I dare to move it either by moving my Documents folder location or using a symbolic link (which I also tried) then the game goes back to performing like crap.

Why, why... does this game behave like? Why doesn't the game like the savegames folder being on the SSD, which should be better in terms of loading/saving... Nothing makes sense and for the first time in a long time I'm baffled. I thought I knew how this game works but it seems that I don't. Maybe someone with more expertise on this matter can help me out. If you need more information just ask me.
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Instructor
#2 Old 31st Jan 2017 at 6:50 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Naus Allien
... I did a clean install of my OS (Windows 7) with AHCI enabled (instead of IDE) to have full perfomance. The system itself runs shockingly fast and I get speeds up to 280 mb/s in reading/writing (which is expected because even though the SSD is Sata III, my MOBO only supports Sata II).


There could be incompatibility problem because of this SATA II Mobo to SATA III SSD, because SATA III compatibility mode is backward to SATA II, but it doesn't mean it's the root of the problem why your TS3 loading and saving time are slower, first thing you need to understand about this SATA III configuration to work as is suppose to, you'll need SATA III compatible mobo with SATA III compatible cable to connect, even if your mobo support SATA III configuration but without the SATA III compatible cable, it won't work as is suppose to.

In the past.. I also have experience with my old SATA II mobo (Asus P5QE) with SATA III SSD as my system drive, and I didn't experiencing the same problem you're having with TS3, the only problem was.. whenever I installed my HDD to the second (or third or fourth or fifth or sixth) SATA II socket, it runs but it's not stable, whenever my system try to read something from my HDD.. it just not stable (like lacking of power, but I'm using 800W Corsair PSU), I have updated the BIOS but it also didn't help, so in my case I think that's how incompatibility issue affecting the other storage device whenever I plugged in my SSD as my main system drive, but that's not the case with my other SATA II mobo (which is Asus P5P43TD Pro) with the same hybrid SSD+HDD configuration, my SSD can just work fine with SATA II configuration and my TS3 as well..

So this could lead to many incompatibility problem possibilities with different mobo, but not necessary the case it's affecting your TS3 loading/saving time, so in theory when you plugged in your SATA III SSD with SATA II compatible cable to SATA II mobo, your SSD should run in SATA II configuration mode (but that's not always be the case).


Quote: Originally posted by Naus Allien
... And something even weirder happened when I exited the game, the screen turned black (as usual) with the loading cursor but it remained like that forever. I had to force close the process...


For this, maybe if you can post your DeviceConfig to have better understanding about your TS3 recognizing your graphic?


Quote: Originally posted by Naus Allien
.. So now I'm more confused if that's possible. Why does the game perform better when my savegames folder is on the HDD? But still it didn't help much and after all this trouble the game loads/saves like before IF I have my savegames folder on the HDD. If I dare to move it either by moving my Documents folder location or using a symbolic link (which I also tried) then the game goes back to performing like crap. Why, why... does this game behave like?


I think for this problem, there are few possibilities that causing the problem;

1. The incompatibility issue like I already mentioned above but not always, because it just fine with my other SATA II mobo, maybe your mobo have different characteristic with your hybrid setup configuration.

2. Have you tried with a fresh new game (not from your previous TS gameplay save) and try to save your new gameplay? Because if it's an old save that you try to load, it could have some issue with the save itself.

3. How did you moved your Documents folder with symbolic link? Because that could affecting your Win 7 OS to locate your new location of Documents folder, and by default in Windows Registry, TS3 always follow where its default Documents folder location, so for hybrid SSD+HDD setup especially for TS3 main installation files in SSD and TS3 Documents folder in HDD drive, the safe way to move your default "Documents" folder to new location which is your HDD and so TS3 may just follow it (without further modification) is;

a. Go open your C:\Users\YourName\.. and copy your Documents folder to your HDD drive

b. Go open your C:\Users\YourName\.. again but this time right click on your Documents folder and click Property

c. In Property menu, choose "Location" to move this "C:\Users\YourName\Documents" folder to your HDD Documents folder you just copied above by navigating to your HDD Documents folder new location and click apply.

If this how you moved your "Documents" folder from your SSD to your HDD drive, you won't need symbolic link and your Windows 7 OS will just recognized it as its default location without any further modification, everything you put (including TS3) to your Documents folder will go to your HDD drive (new) location automatically.
Inventor
Original Poster
#3 Old 31st Jan 2017 at 7:36 PM
Quote: Originally posted by PapaEmy
So this could lead to many incompatibility problem possibilities with different mobo, but not necessary the case it's affecting your TS3 loading/saving time, so in theory when you plugged in your SATA III SSD with SATA II compatible cable to SATA II mobo, your SSD should run in SATA II configuration mode (but that's not always be the case).


My understanding is that Sata III is backwards compatible with Sata II. Of course, the maximum speed will be 300 mb/s, but it shouldn't cause any problem. I also asked around before buying and I was told there shouldn't be compatibility issues.

Quote: Originally posted by PapaEmy
For this, maybe if you can post your DeviceConfig to have better understanding about your TS3 recognizing your graphic?


I'm attaching the DeviceConfig file, but as I said it's not related to my graphics card since the game works just fine with my savegames folder on the HDD.

Quote: Originally posted by PapaEmy
2. Have you tried with a fresh new game (not from your previous TS gameplay save) and try to save your new gameplay? Because if it's an old save that you try to load, it could have some issue with the save itself.


Yes. I've tried many different combinations of creating new games and loading old ones. Using mods and a clean folder. It more or less gives the same results. Performance similar to what it used to have before installing the SSD IF the savegames folder is on the HDD... BUT slightly slow loading and abysmal saving times (as well as the black screen bug) when the savegames folder is on the SSD. It doesn't change much whether games are new or old.

Quote: Originally posted by PapaEmy
3. How did you moved your Documents folder with symbolic link? Because that could affecting your Win 7 OS to locate your new location of Documents folder, and by default in Windows Registry, TS3 always follow where its default Documents folder location, so for hybrid SSD+HDD setup especially for TS3 main installation files in SSD and TS3 Documents folder in HDD drive, the safe way to move your default "Documents" folder to new location which is your HDD and so TS3 may just follow it (without further modification) is;


No, I moved my Documents folder that way (through Properties, Location). What I also gave a try was using a symbolic link just to move the Electronic Arts/The Sims 3 folder. I created a symbolic link from my HDD Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 folder to the REAL folder on my SSD. Similar to what you would do with a RamDisk, only with the whole folder. It didn't help either.

Quote: Originally posted by PapaEmy
If this how you moved your "Documents" folder from your SSD to your HDD drive, you won't need symbolic link and your Windows 7 OS will just recognized it as its default location without any further modification, everything you put (including TS3) to your Documents folder will go to your HDD drive (new) location automatically.


That's my intention and my current setting. My Documents folder is on my HDD, but I wanted to try and have certain folders on the SSD to speed up loading times in games that read a lot of data like The Sims 3. But only certain games and not the whole folder because the SSD is only 250 GB.

I deleted the symbolic links now and I'm playing just fine with the savegames folder on my HDD, just with a speed similar to before installing the SSD (with mods and CC) or slightly faster (30% or so) without mods and cc. So it's clear that having that data on the HDD does affect loading speed AND that leads me to my original question: Why does TS3 hates having the savegames folder on the SSD?
Attached files:
File Type: rar  DeviceConfig.rar (1.5 KB, 8 downloads) - View custom content
Scholar
#4 Old 31st Jan 2017 at 8:32 PM
OP:
Quote:
No, I moved my Documents folder that way (through Properties, Location). What I also gave a try was using a symbolic link just to move the Electronic Arts/The Sims 3 folder. I created a symbolic link from my HDD Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 folder to the REAL folder on my SSD. Similar to what you would do with a RamDisk, only with the whole folder. It didn't help either


I'm not an expert but that seems not the best solution - SSD shouldn't be written too much - with time it become less and less problem because of tech but for now it's still an issue - and S3 actually writes while running into this folder, in particular:

/CurrentGame.sims3 (obviously)
/WorldCaches (while using non standard worlds)
local config files
cache files
report files (like DeviceConfig)

It depends how often you play but moving them (cache files) into RAMdisk is better and healthier solution.

The game seems to make a big and really bad planned and executed hard work while reading and processing data from saves, disc response is not a big factor (until it's really *slow* disk, I mean... 5400rpm antique HDD?) CPU and avaible memory is. Which should not be a problem in this case. While saving this process repeates but also content from ./CurrentGame.sims3 is copied into Saves and unlinked (deleted).

If it would be an old system (a museum-like old) I'd guess data processing queve problem - too small cache to process the data smoothly.


favorite quote: "When ElaineNualla is posting..I always read..Nutella. I am sorry" by Rosebine
self-claimed "lower-spec simmer"
Instructor
#6 Old 1st Feb 2017 at 9:02 AM Last edited by PapaEmy : 1st Feb 2017 at 4:44 PM.
@Naus Allien, first I agree with EllaineNualla and Nitromon about having too much writings on SSD, but then again, though your SSD is not one of the fastest ones on the market, performance-wise it shouldn't be slower than your HDD performance, and since you have confirmed that on your Win 7 OS performance with significant performance improvement, the problem only happening with TS3 loading/saving time, so technically spec-wise your SSD is working as normal as is should (but at the rate of SATA II performance, not SATA III performance).

And to make sure your AHCI configuration working at its best according to your motherboard's chipset, you should check it under Windows Device Manager and see if your "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller" detected as "Standard AHCI Controller" or as "Intel(R) XX Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller" (like in this thread example under Installing Graphic Drivers Spoiler), I would suggest for you to install Intel SATA AHCI controller for your motherboard to support your AHCI configuration (if you haven't done so), go to your motherboard website and look for Intel SATA AHCI controller according to your motherboard's chipset.

After checking your DeviceConfig, I also found that you have 8 GB RAM but only have about 4 GB RAM left available, this also can increase your TS3 loading/saving time and make it longer to load or save, try to free up more space in your RAM by disabling stuff that you don't need in the Windows background such antivirus etc, and use Windows Disk CleanUp as well to free up your space, or you can clean them up manually (without Windows Disk CleanUp, because with Windows Disk CleanUp not all will be removed) by deleting the temp files in your "C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Local\Temp\..." folder, but to do this you have to unhide your hidden folders first otherwise you can't find them, deleting all those files in that temp folder won't harm your Win 7 OS, Win 7 will regenerate all the necessary things it needs after restarting your OS, but this manual removal will remove all the things that Chrome browser left which mostly took large space and therefore fill up your RAM as well..

So after examining the things you've told, I don't see anything wrong with your spec or your system set up configuration, I think the loading/saving time problem you're having.. lies on the TS3 itself (with the assumption that your CCs and/or Mods are clean from faults or errors).. rather than to your set up configuration or computer's spec-wise.

So now.. if you have done all the above I mentioned, and you're still not satisfied with your SSD performance compares to your HDD performance in the matter of TS3's loading/saving time, here are some tips if you have the time and want to do some experiments like I did with customization of TS3 main files installation to fasten up its loading time (because adding or patching TS3 BG with EP's and/or SP's and/or 1.67's patch also slowing down your total output TS3's loading time) ;

For experiments only, backup everything you need before doing the following steps (including your modified GraphicCards.sgr and modified GraphicRules.sgr that already modified so TS3 would recognized your gpu);

1. You'll need big free space in your HDD drive and DO NOT do this in your SSD drive. (Note: a free 2 or 3-4 GB RAMDisk drive will be helpful for doing the experiment).

2. Copy and backup your Deltabuild0.package and Fullbuild0.package files from your current TS3 BG main installation files (leave the Deltabuild1 & 2 and Fullbuild1 & 2 as these will not be modified), and copy and backup all DeltabuildX and FullbuildX package files from your EPS and SPs as well.

3. Once you done with the backup-ing process, remove and cleanup all your TS installation including your CCs and Mods, and restart your computer when done.

4. Do a fresh clean TS3 BG re-installation to your SSD, TS3 BG only do not patch with any EP or SP or 1.67 patch, do not add CCs and/or Mods, copy back your modified GraphicCards.sgr and modified GraphicRules.sgr to TS3 main files installation folder, once done, copy and backup its Fullbuild0.package file to another location separate from the #2 above.

5. Run TS3 BG Launcher and click all the buttons in the Launcher so TS3 will generate a fresh new TS3 Documents folder, run TS3 up to TS3 main menu, setup your graphic option as needed, exit TS3 don't run the game yet, check your new DeviceConfig, install your FPS Limiter or Nvidia Inspector, and now finally run your TS3 BG with a new fresh start game (don't use previously saved one) and write down its loading time, make this as your best TS3 loading time with your SSD and current system.

6. Next step, patch your TS3 BG with 1.67 (do not add EP/SP or CCs/Mods or anything else). Note (edited): You'll need to redo or copy back your modified GraphicCards.sgr and modified GraphicRules.sgr after patching to 1.67, because 1.67 will overwrite your modified GraphicCards.sgr and modified GraphicRules.sgr when patching.

7. You'll have an additional Deltabuild0.package from 1.67 because of patching your TS3 BG, and this will conflict with your original Fullbuild0 from TS3 BG original installation if you check them with Sims3Dashboard (the rest of the Delbuild1&2 vs Fullbuild1&2 are ok), this conflict also contributes in slowing down your final output TS3 's loading time.

8. Now run your TS3 BG 1.67 and write down its loading time for your second reference TS3 loading time. This will be way much slower then the 1st one with original TS3 BG only.

9. Now for the experiment, open your Deltabuild0 with S3PE and also open your Fullbuilkd0 with S3PE side by side in two separate S3PE windows. Note: editing them will be faster if you can put and do them in your RAMDisk drive if available (instead of your HDD).

10. Copy all the contents from Deltabuild0 to paste them to Fullbuild0's S3PE window, this step will replace and eventually remove all conflicts and duplicates found in Sims3Dashboard, this step is adopted from how to remove unwanted mods from the one already being merged, so in the end don't forget to remove or delete all the unsaved contents that being copy from Deltabuild0 as the intention is to remove the conflicts and duplicates (not by adding them, if you forgot to remove/delete the unsaved contents). Note: this will take a long time like hours to finish even with the help of RAMDisk if you do them all at once, so if you want to try this experiment, do them sector per sector so in total it took less hours to finish, the big ones and the longset one are the IMAG ones.

11. The #10 step will results your original Fullbuild0 file shrinking on its size (as the necessary ones are already covered by the Deltabuild0 from patch 1.67 additional file).

12. Now it's time to compare the loading time results, run your TS3 BG 1.67 with this modified Fullbuild0 you just made. The loading time of a fresh new clean game with this modified Fullbuild0 should be between the 1st best benchmark you made with TS3 BG only and TS3 BG patched to 1.67, in fact it should be close to the TS3 BG only with no 1.67 patch time, but it won't matched or even faster than the original 1st one as the consequences of additional Deltabuild0 file to the game.

Now once you get the concept how to do modify your Fullbuild0 file, you can do the same to the rest of your EPs and SPs FullbuildX, (note: for Pets EP only, you'll need to do both of the FullbuildX files, the only one that you don't need to do modification is the ITF EP). So based on my personal experiment, this will make your fully loaded TS3 with all EPS SPs CCs and Mods loads faster (and core Mods like AwesomeMod and NRASS MC etc will even make the game runs smooth and better with this modified TS3 installation files), it can be even faster if you put this modified TS3 main installation folder as a whole into RAMDisk, but you'll need to set up 2 separate RAMDisk drives for this, one for modified TS3 installation folder and one for TS3 Documents folder, and for that you'll need to have at least 32 GB of ram in your computer
Inventor
Original Poster
#7 Old 1st Feb 2017 at 1:56 PM
Quote: Originally posted by PapaEmy
@Naus Allien, first I agree with EllaineNualla and Nitromon about having too much writings on SSD, but then again, though your SSD is not one of the fastest ones on the market, performance-wise it shouldn't be slower than your HDD performance, and since you have confirmed that on your Win 7 OS performance with significant performance improvement, the problem only happening with TS3 loading/saving time, so technically spec-wise your SSD is working as normal as is should (but at the rate of SATA II performance, not SATA III performance).


My SSD has an endurance of 1000 write cycles, so it'll take around 250 TB to kill it. I don't think TS3 could ever write that much. I was going to use a ramdisk anyway for the cache files, Thumbnails and worldcaches, which are the files that are being written (and read) constantly.

Quote: Originally posted by PapaEmy
And to make sure your AHCI configuration working at its best according to your motherboard's chipset, you should check it under Windows Device Manager and see if your "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller" detected as "Standard AHCI Controller" or as "Intel(R) XX Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller" (like in this thread example under Installing Graphic Drivers Spoiler), I would suggest for you to install Intel SATA AHCI controller for your motherboard to support your AHCI configuration (if you haven't done so), go to your motherboard website and look for Intel SATA AHCI controller according to your motherboard's chipset.


Yeap, my AHCI configuration was detected properly. I install all appropriate SATA drivers as well.


Quote: Originally posted by PapaEmy
After checking your DeviceConfig, I also found that you have 8 GB RAM but only have about 4 GB RAM left available, this also can increase your TS3 loading/saving time and make it longer to load or save, try to free up more space in your RAM by disabling stuff that you don't need in the Windows background such antivirus etc, and use Windows Disk CleanUp as well to free up your space, or you can clean them up manually (without Windows Disk CleanUp, because with Windows Disk CleanUp not all will be removed) by deleting the temp files in your "C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Local\Temp\..." folder, but to do this you have to unhide your hidden folders first otherwise you can't find them, deleting all those files in that temp folder won't harm your Win 7 OS, Win 7 will regenerate all the necessary things it needs after restarting your OS, but this manual removal will remove all the things that Chrome browser left which mostly took large space and therefore fill up your RAM as well..


I want to blame Windows Update for that. I don't have many programs installed, but Windows is looking for and installing updates like crazy (though I try to limit installing to 30 each time to avoid problems) so the process svchost.exe is taking anywhere from 1 up to 3 GB of RAM. Once all updates are installed, I'll try again running TS3 so I can check how much free memory I have under normal circumstances. I plan to install more RAM in the near future to avoid problems like this.

Quote: Originally posted by PapaEmy
So after examining the things you've told, I don't see anything wrong with your spec or your system set up configuration, I think the loading/saving time problem you're having.. lies on the TS3 itself (with the assumption that your CCs and/or Mods are clean from faults or errors).. rather than to your set up configuration or computer's spec-wise.


No, it's clearly a problem of TS3 and TS3 only. I installed Cities Skylines on the SSD and loading and saving times have improved dramatically compared to what they were before. And the system itself is running way faster as I said. I did notice an improvement in loading base game (or EP/SP) CAS items and patterns, so that's clearly being helped by the main files being installed on the SSD. And without CC the game does load 30-40% faster (with Documents/EA/TS3 folder on HDD).

Quote: Originally posted by PapaEmy
So now.. if you have done all the above I mentioned, and you're still not satisfied with your SSD performance compares to your HDD performance in the matter of TS3's loading/saving time, here are some tips if you have the time and want to do some experiments like I did with customization of TS3 main files installation to fasten up its loading time (because adding or patching TS3 BG with EP's and/or SP's and/or 1.67's patch also slowing down your total output TS3's loading time) ;


WOW , that's a lot of work but I might give a try sometime in the future... just not now. I do want to try a little experiment of my own. Instead of moving the whole Documents/EA/TS3 folder to the SSD, I want to move just my mods folder and use a symbolic link to connect it to the HDD savegames folder. I'll also use a ramdisk for the cache, thumbnails and worldcache files. I'll report back the results of loading/saving times before and after (when Windows Update stops messing around with my system).
Instructor
#8 Old 1st Feb 2017 at 5:20 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Naus Allien
Instead of moving the whole Documents/EA/TS3 folder to the SSD, I want to move just my mods folder and use a symbolic link to connect it to the HDD savegames folder.


I've done that in the past, and personally I wasn't satisfied with the loading time results, the reason why I mentioned why we would need 2 separate RAMDisk drives, because when TS3 start a new game or load previously saved game, there are two parts that being load in the loading bar, the first 60-80% part of the bar is when TS3 loads or reads all *.package files from TS3 main files installation folder, and the rest 40-20% of the bar which usually took longer time (compares to the first 60-80%) is when TS3 loads or reads all the files needed from TS3 Documents folder which includes all of the CCs and Mods and place them together in your world file that you'll be playing, and that's why the last 40-20% of the bar when TS3 loads them took longer than the first 60-80% part, you can double check this with Process Monitor when TS3 is loading

So if your intention or goal is like mine, not only to make TS3 as a whole loads faster but also minimizing the writings on the SSD by using RAMDisk, then what you're planning won't be enough, and you will be disappointed just like I did before, the only thing that will cost money is buying an additional RAM, for TS3 and all of its EPs and SPs installed plus a minimum of 1 save game in TS3 Documents folder with let's say 3-4 GB CCs and Mods, it'll need at least 32 GB of RAM, so if 16GB of RAM is the amount of RAM installed then it's not going to be enough and needs to sacrifice some of the EPs/SPs CCs and Mods to fit them into 16 GB of RAM system..
Inventor
Original Poster
#9 Old 1st Feb 2017 at 8:58 PM
Ok, here I have the results of my experiment:

Scenario 0 AKA My Original Scenario before this thread:
- Main Game AND savegames folder on SSD
- Mods Folder: 5,39 GB -> 163 files
- Free memory: ????
- No RAMDisk
- Loading Time Sunset Valley 1-hour savegame file (29 mb): 6'50"-7'
- Saving Time: ABYSMAL (at least +4 minutes, I gave up)

Scenario 1:
- Main Game SSD
- Savegames folder HDD
- Mods Folder: 5,39 GB -> 163 files
- Free memory: 6444MB
- No RAMDisk
- Loading Time Sunset Valley 1-hour savegame file (29 mb): 5'45"
- Saving Time: 45" after 5' of gameplay

Scenario 2:
- Main Game SSD
- Savegames folder HDD
- Mods Folder: 5,39 GB -> 163 files
- Free memory: 4247MB
- 1,75 GB Ram Disk with WorldCaches folder, simCompositor.package, compositor.package and Thumbnails folder
- Loading Time Sunset Valley 1-hour savegame file (29 mb): 5'05"
- Saving Time: 27" after 5' of gameplay

Scenario 3:
- Main Game SSD
- Savegames folder: Split between SSD (Collections, ContentPatch, Custom Music, DCCache, InstalledWorlds, Library, Mods, SavedOutfits/Sims, Saves) and HDD (everything else except for thumbnails and caches)
- Mods Folder: 5,39 GB -> 163 files
- Free memory: 3878MB
- 1,75 GB Ram Disk with WorldCaches folder, simCompositor.package, compositor.package and Thumbnails folder
- Loading Time Sunset Valley 1-hour savegame file (29 mb): 3'55"
- Saving Time: 31" after 5' of gameplay

So, it seems that having certain folders on the SSD does improve loading/saving times even more than having the WHOLE savegames folder there. I'm shocked about this discovery. The gameplay feels more responsive and faster in scenario 3 and patterns/CAS items seem to load faster (though not measured). The difference between using a RAMDisk and not using one is obvious during gameplay (loading times are also improved). With a RamDisk, textures load faster (1 second vs 3 or 4" without RamDisk) and gameplay feels smoother. Saving times are faster with a RamDisk (God knows why...) and there's no much difference between scenario 2 vs scenario 3. However, and this is probably the strangest part in this whole experiment, having the whole savegames folder (and no ramdisk) on the SSD, makes saving almost impossible (I raged quit). I'm imagine that saving/loading times would be faster if I moved the CurrentGame.sims3 folder to either the SSD or the ramdisk, but I read somewhere that it's not possible.
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