Just yesterday, I was playing the Sims 3 with all the packs disabled. I was essentially playing Sims 3 base game because all the packs were installed but disabled/inactive, and apparently, I found out that that actually improves performance. What this means is that I don't have to make a complete uninstallation. Rather, I can just keep everything installed on the computer system, but only select a few packs or none at all for gameplay, and this usually achieves very good performance with smooth graphics. Not only will the performance be so smooth, but also I can better focus on just one expansion pack and everything it has to offer. Of course, the downside is that I can't play most custom worlds, because most custom worlds require a lot of expansion packs, maybe even all of them. I can play with some custom words like Gyeongbokgung or Simsville (as both seem to require only World Adventures EP), and I can definitely play with the Store worlds. One thing that I like about Store worlds is that they all come in a single Sims3Pack file, and that they are base game compatible. The world is usually created as its own little thing. So, for me, they are worth the purchase.

Yeah, disabling Pets and Seasons gives the most gains, if you need more performance. While I think that the message you get every time you choose which packs to enable (unless you disabled the message), saying you shouldn't use more than three packs, is over the top, it has at least some merit. However, It doesn't even really matter much on the ten year old computer I have, which runs the game with all expansions at an acceptable speed.Pets is a resource hog with how the pet hair is coded, and Seasons with its weather simulation.

I remember when Pets was released. It was my trigger to get a new computer with a dedicated graphics card.

I think how many packs you can play with depends highly on what you are playing the game on. Since the Sims is the only game I play since Sims 1 came out up to and including Sims 3 (I have Sims 4 base game but don't play it) and I play on a desktop PC, I always made sure whatever PC I bought could handle the game. I'm playing right now with all packs enabled and most of the store, including all the worlds but have no mods or cc. It loads fast (under a minute) and I don't have many problems.

I have all expansion packs and stuff packs including Katy Perry Sweet Treats plus all of the store that was available to me to get. I missed out on a few of the early freebies. I have all store worlds installed plus several custom worlds. I have about 5 GB of mods and custom content in my mods folder. I have no idea of how much space on my hard drive is taken up with all of this content. My game runs very smoothly if I have my households with 8 or less sims in them. However I generally use mods to have many more sims than that in my games. I've run it at times for short periods with 20 or more sims. I did a test a year or two ago to see how many sims I could have on one lot have have the game still run. I think I ended up with 98 sims but they didn't have much of a house. https://youtu.be/y5Y-DVXVRlsIt depends on your computer.I have the pre September 2012 version of the base game and don't have Origin on my computer. I generally don't play logged in.

In 2018, when i decided to try playing sims 3 again with my non-gaming laptop, i had to start uninstalling packs just after a few sim weeks of playing because my game started lagging a lot. I got really sad and went back to play 4 again.Half a year ago, i bought a gaming laptop, with a powerful cpu, dedicated graphics card and a ssd drive. My game now runs really smoothly with no lag at all. I have all ep, all sp, a lot of store content, a few mods and tons of cc. Ofc i have to use the nraas mods for stability and before i started playing for the first time i had to spend half an hour following the steps from the steam's performance guide. Now i don't have to do anything more: my game loads in a few seconds and the game flows perfectly.If you don't have a chance to get a gaming pc, disabling packs makes it better but if you can, it will be more than worth. I feel like i'm enjoying sims 3 now as i never did, not even back in it's time...

Disabling packs actually improves performance

12 Replies

UlanDhor
Seasoned Ace
4 years ago
Yeah, disabling Pets and Seasons gives the most gains, if you need more performance. While I think that the message you get every time you choose which packs to enable (unless you disabled the message), saying you shouldn't use more than three packs, is over the top, it has at least some merit. However, It doesn't even really matter much on the ten year old computer I have, which runs the game with all expansions at an acceptable speed.

Pets is a resource hog with how the pet hair is coded, and Seasons with its weather simulation.
karritz
Legend
4 years ago
I remember when Pets was released. It was my trigger to get a new computer with a dedicated graphics card.
LiniSim
4 years ago
I think how many packs you can play with depends highly on what you are playing the game on. Since the Sims is the only game I play since Sims 1 came out up to and including Sims 3 (I have Sims 4 base game but don't play it) and I play on a desktop PC, I always made sure whatever PC I bought could handle the game. I'm playing right now with all packs enabled and most of the store, including all the worlds but have no mods or cc. It loads fast (under a minute) and I don't have many problems.
waterywatermelo
4 years ago
@nickibitsward By all packs, do you mean expansion packs and stuff packs? By most of the store and all the Store worlds, how much space on your hard drive do they take up? Also, how much money did you pay to collect most of the store including all the Store worlds? Did you buy the standard edition or the gold edition of the worlds? By no mods or CC, do you still use NRAAS ErrorTrap and Overwatch mods and Go Here mods?
karritz
Legend
4 years ago
I have all expansion packs and stuff packs including Katy Perry Sweet Treats plus all of the store that was available to me to get. I missed out on a few of the early freebies.

I have all store worlds installed plus several custom worlds.

I have about 5 GB of mods and custom content in my mods folder.

I have no idea of how much space on my hard drive is taken up with all of this content.

My game runs very smoothly if I have my households with 8 or less sims in them. However I generally use mods to have many more sims than that in my games. I've run it at times for short periods with 20 or more sims.

I did a test a year or two ago to see how many sims I could have on one lot have have the game still run. I think I ended up with 98 sims but they didn't have much of a house.

https://youtu.be/y5Y-DVXVRls

It depends on your computer.

I have the pre September 2012 version of the base game and don't have Origin on my computer. I generally don't play logged in.
texxx78
Seasoned Ace
4 years ago
In 2018, when i decided to try playing sims 3 again with my non-gaming laptop, i had to start uninstalling packs just after a few sim weeks of playing because my game started lagging a lot. I got really sad and went back to play 4 again.

Half a year ago, i bought a gaming laptop, with a powerful cpu, dedicated graphics card and a ssd drive. My game now runs really smoothly with no lag at all. I have all ep, all sp, a lot of store content, a few mods and tons of cc. Ofc i have to use the nraas mods for stability and before i started playing for the first time i had to spend half an hour following the steps from the steam's performance guide. Now i don't have to do anything more: my game loads in a few seconds and the game flows perfectly.

If you don't have a chance to get a gaming pc, disabling packs makes it better but if you can, it will be more than worth. I feel like i'm enjoying sims 3 now as i never did, not even back in it's time...
NikkeiSimmer
Legend
4 years ago
https://static.rogerebert.com/uploads/review/primary_image/reviews/hillbilly-elegy-movie-review-2020/hillbilly-elegy-movie-review-2020.jpg
Everyone: "Disable all yer resource hog packs...or y'all gonna be sorry when yer computer quits runnin' an error 12s on ya. Silly goose."
Me: "You can't make me!!! I'll run all the packs I want when I want. Nobody's gonna put restrictions on my game." :mrgreen:
My computer: "I hate you so much right now..."
NikkeiSimmer
Legend
4 years ago
@Karritz - remember one of my apocalypse bunker saves. I had at least fifty sims in a full-fledged bunker...that was approximately when my computer told me where to go...

...and how to get there (promptly quit with an Error 12).
karritz
Legend
4 years ago
"Nikkei_Simmer;c-17996615" wrote:
@Karritz - remember one of my apocalypse bunker saves. I had at least fifty sims in a full-fledged bunker...that was approximately when my computer told me where to go...

...and how to get there (promptly quit with an Error 12).

Sometimes I wish we still had the lol button.

My computer wasn't too happy with 98 sims in the household. I sent them over the road to the bluewaters roller coaster and not many of them went inside and the game got a little shaky so I shut it down. I had made them all apartments in the home lot but the game refused to let me add the apartments for the final two or three families. So they were effectively homeless even though they did belong to the household. Shame it wasn't fully playable. It might have been fun with the population of the entire world living in a single lot.
LiniSim
4 years ago
"waterywatermelon;c-17995102" wrote:
@nickibitsward By all packs, do you mean expansion packs and stuff packs? By most of the store and all the Store worlds, how much space on your hard drive do they take up? Also, how much money did you pay to collect most of the store including all the Store worlds? Did you buy the standard edition or the gold edition of the worlds? By no mods or CC, do you still use NRAAS ErrorTrap and Overwatch mods and Go Here mods?

Hi, sorry to reply late but I come on this site now maybe once every couple weeks. I have all the EP's and SP's. Gold editions of the worlds. Don't use any mods. No ErrorTrap, Overwatch, nothing. No idea how much money spent or how space the lot of it takes up. I still have all of Sims 2 and it's EP's and SP's installed also.