How many The Sims 3 packs do you play with at the same time?
Generally speaking, the more packs you have, the more load your computer has to work with. I only own The Sims 3 Seasons, Pets, and my recently purchased World Adventures & Generations Bundle pack...
"Deshong04;c-17766469" wrote: Whether your computer can handle any more or everything TS3 has to offer depends. Does your computer meet minimal system requirements, is below system requirements or is far above system requirements? How is the game running currently, is it stable, crashes/error code 12 a lot or lags and freezes? Can you play with all settings maxed out except high detail lots and performance is still good?
I have all EP's/SP's/Store Content plus some mods installed and the game runs fine on a computer that is overkill for TS3. A shame TS3 isn't 64-Bit, anyway the majority of my issues that do show up are mod related. All my settings are maxed out except high detail lots which I leave at 1 unless I really want to take a decent picture out in the neighborhood.
I just compared the minimum requirements as reported on EA's website and my computer's hardware, and it looks like my hardware is sufficient.
The game is running smoothly, even with all 4 expansion packs installed and active at the same time. Hmmm... now, I may consider on buying another Sims 3 EP. LOL. My next Sims 3 EP on the wishlist is Ambitions because of the great expansion to the careers, then maybe University Life for the expansion of the Young Adult life stage. Then, I am just going to stop right there, because those EPs seem to cover the core life simulation. I may consider Late Night/ShowTime/Island Paradise/Into The Future/Supernatural EPs later... or perhaps, never.
It is fairly stable. Never had Error Code 12. Ever since I downloaded some helpful mods and followed a couple of tips and tricks to optimizing the game, my Sims 3 game has become virtually lag-free. Even Create-A-Style feels so much faster!
These are my typical graphical settings: - Enable Object Hiding - Enable Animation Smoothing - Enable Advanced Rendering - Mirrors Only - Edge Smoothing Low - Visual Effects Medium - Lighting and Shadows Medium - Tree Detail Medium - Draw Distance Low - High Detail Lots Low - Texture Detail Medium - Sim Detail Medium
Sounds good. Though there may be issues later down the line as minimal requirements may mean the game should play but doesn't mean it will play at peak performance. Unfortunately, The Sims Studio never gave any recommended system requirements for the best performance.
If you do eventually want more EP's other than Ambitions, it might be a good idea to try one at time to check gameplay performance. There are 3 EP's that may cause performance issues in computers below system requirements or computers with incompatible hardware. Such as one might have a gaming graphics card and good CPU but if the motherboard and RAM is not also geared towards gaming or at the very least can keep up with the same or near same performance level then the GPU and CPU gets limited and cannot perform to its fullest potential which will affect a games overall performance. Pre-built gaming computers are not all the same and one should know what's inside and do their own research on the brands and hardware being used. As well as the quality and performance from reputable reviews.
Moving on, The 3 EP's are Seasons, Pets and Island Paradise that may cause issues for computers who do not meet minimal system requirements or computers with incompatible hardware. Oh, actually there's one other thing to mention that's common knowledge but I'll say it anyway. Be careful with mods and know which ones are okay and still give good performance for TS3 because TS3 is a 32-bit application and some mods/cc likes to go overboard and really push the max limits of the game engine and also can give poor gameplay performance.
Seasons because of the weather effects upon the whole neighborhood. Pets because animals add extra routing. Speaking of routing, from experience, the better the CPU then the better and faster the routing and also the more lively Sims are in general. But also routing depends on the player providing sufficient space for mobility.
You have those two already. But you may want to be wary of IP.
Island Paradise because of extra routing modes enabled for all worlds such as houseboats, jet ski's, etc. Plus, there are some world building/lot issues in Isla Paradiso that needs to be manually fixed before playing. There are other options like downloading a fixed world version but that never worked for me. This EP is really nice and compliments Seasons summer activities. I think it's also quite versatile with resorts and you can create or download all kinds of hotels/motels/resorts to own or stay at. Using the arcade building from the store, I turned it into a casino resort.
