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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 24th Jul 2015 at 10:37 PM

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 3, Ambitions, Late Night, Generations, Pets, Seasons, University Life
Default Unexplained lag in live mode
This is a really odd problem. I don't want to go through the FAQ for 2 reasons:
1) I know my game is patched right
2) I know it is not caused by custom content
so the FAQ is a bit of a pointless exercise. I also cannot uninstall and reinstall my game as I have lost the serial code for the base game (of all the games!!)

Sims 3 has played pretty much perfectly for me for a number of months on my Toshiba laptop. I don't know the technical information, but I do know that my computer memory is only half full so I have loads of space to play with. The other week I built a fairly large (5 people) family with a substantial house and garden and a pool (I think is was on a 40x40 lot but don't quote me on that). I then started to get really bad lag so i thought ok i've finally pushed the game over the edge. However, I have since discovered that the lag isn't only on that family, its on all the families. It will freeze every 5-10 game minutes for 30 seconds or so, which is so frustrating! It can't be due to CC because i hadn't downloaded anything in the week or so prior to the problem. Here is what I have tried so far:

Deleting any unused neighbourhoods (I am now down to 2)
Deleting any unused families
Lowering all my graphics settings to low (apart from sim detail which is on medium)

I have also tested this on various families. I've tried the family i mentioned above with the huge house, I have tried an average sized family (4 people) and house (20x25?) on the edge of town with no neighbours or other lots in the immediate vicinity and i have also tried a tiny 3 person family in a tiny 10x15 house with neighbours around and i have had the same issue in every single one.

It may also be worth noting that I am using a custom neighouborhood map. I will link it below so you get the idea.
http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=546927
It is the only custom map i can use that doesn't overload my game.

This lag is only present in live mode, build and buy mode is smooth as anything! I am stumped by this and would appreciate any help offered. Thanks
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Lab Assistant
#2 Old 24th Jul 2015 at 10:54 PM
Such lags are quite common, and seem to appear almost randomly. They only affect live mode because the game is paused otherwise. The five "cache.package" files in "documents ....\sims3" can become bloated with unnecessary data, deleting these often helps (they will be rebuilt when the game starts). Also, many NPC activities tend to accumulate in the background causing slowdowns; for example any time an NPC goes somewhere a car or taxi is issued to them, it may not be visible but it exists in the game, and it typically is not removed when the NPC is no longer using it, this can add up to literally hundreds of vehicles existing in your town; also sim routing in some towns is notoriously poor so sims get stuck causing the system to allocate resources trying to "unstick" them. Twallan's Overwatch and Errortrap mods catch most such issues and correct them before they become a problem.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#4 Old 25th Jul 2015 at 3:41 PM
I will try the cache files, thanks

Whats a routing lag?
Field Researcher
#5 Old 25th Jul 2015 at 6:43 PM
Quote: Originally posted by musiclover4578
Whats a routing lag?

Routing is basically the A.I. Sims can get stuck and the game will continuously try and try to create a path to get the sim unstuck. Or, just having a lot of sims in the neighborhood in general, can bog down your system. Which is part of the reason why when you run a neighborhood with only a few sims in it, the game runs fast, sometimes too fast.
Alchemist
#6 Old 8th Aug 2015 at 10:09 AM
Quote: Originally posted by musiclover4578
I also cannot uninstall and reinstall my game as I have lost the serial code for the base game (of all the games!!)


Since you still have the games installed, you can use the Sims3PatchDowloader -program to get your codes back. It has the option "Show serial numbers" and if you select that, you can just write them down from there.
http://modthesims.info/d/409829
Top Secret Researcher
#7 Old 8th Aug 2015 at 7:08 PM
Some of the suggestions in Tips For Better Game Performance might help you out.
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