Moving Game files to SSD?

"igazor;c-17752905" wrote:
I'll have to defer to others here with more personal experience with Samsung and Nvidia (my cards are all AMD). Not sure the very high GPU usage indicated in Task Manager is really anything to be concerned about as it would be with CPU. I believe that could mean the card is being used for as many graphics related tasks as it can possibly be. But with a slightly weaker than optimal processor, yeah that might be kind of an indirect symptom. GeForce Experience is not a requirement. It's perhaps a more convenient way to deliver driver updates, but we do know that its Optimize function can make a mess out of the performance of older games like TS3 and probably some newer ones as well.

If the games are registered to you or now can be, then you don't need the discs at all. You can install the game and its EP/SPs by way of Origin instead, and Patch 1.69 is delivered automatically with no choices given. That ties the game to Origin and the Launcher though, which means that you do have to use Origin or at least have it running in the beginning to startup the game. With 1.67 (and below), the game can be started with a Launcher bypass to the TS3w.exe file, but that trick won't work on Patch 1.69 -- instead double-clicking on such a shortcut just takes you back to Origin.

Sorry it took so long to respond.

Ahhh AMD. I was thinking about going back to them but I really have no need to change cards right now. I will see if I get different readings with the new processor. It's still being shipped. I'm going to uninstall the GeForce Experience and see if TS3 runs better. I'm reinstalling the last bits of my Sims 3 games right now. Hopefully everything works out. :)

I decided to stick with the 1.67 update. Is there really any major difference between the 1.69 update and the 1.67? I never even knew there was an update beyond that. I'd rather not have to use Origin to play TS3 so I really don't want to update to that version if that's the only thing it offers. I don't even use the disk to play my game so using Origin would just be a hassle.

"nolurk;c-17753156" wrote:
Which version of Windows are you running? Also are you adding to or just replacing an existing drive? If it's the latter, I'm wondering if you may be better off just cloning the drive?

Also, if you're just looking to get the drive set up for now (and may be removing a drive later) and are out of SATA cables, you can try and get a USB->SATA adapter and hook the SSD up to it temporarily if you plan on removing a drive or may be looking to clone an existing drive (if you have USB3, the adapter only needs the one USB3 port; if you're running USB2, you'd need to look for an adapter that has a separate AC adapter attached that hooks up to the drive, itself, via a separate power cable (a USB2 port on its own can't provide enough power to the device, hence the need for an additional power adapter) in addition to the SATA->USB cable (there's one brand out there that comes as a sort of "kit" where it contains both of these items). The downside to this is that as it would be running as USB, it may appear slower in that setup than it might normally in a SATA environment, but it's useful if you're out of cables and looking to setup or clone a new drive or for backups and provided that it's temporary (it would revert to "normal" and run faster once it's hooked up to the SATA cable--again, the speed difference initially is more a USB versus SATA thing).

Also, regarding TRIM (which is not limited to Samsung SSDs nor exclusive to them), it doesn't matter if the OS is installed onto the drive, itself, as to how it functions nor its purpose given that it's usually managed via the OS and treated more like any other tool might be, except in relation to a SSD versus a mechanical (think of it like chkdsk or defrag or any other Windows tool out there where you don't need the OS actually installed onto the specific drive to run those tools on that drive, if that makes any sense?). Also, while in theory it can make a SSD run more efficiently, it's also been said that it can lead to the possibility of permanently eliminating any hope of data recovery of the drive if something goes awry with it (which is among the reasons why some people might choose to disable it).

In terms of the data writes/reads of a SSD, one tends to see it being more of a problem in certain usages due to the Flash-based nature of the technology (for example, many engineers and some developers who work with constant compiling of code tend to steer clear of SSDs for that purpose for that reason). As igazor pointed out, however, it's really not an issue with consumer usages of SSDs these days.

Also, while most of my systems are running nVidia cards in them, I can't really comment on nVidia Experience in terms of personal use as I don't really use it nor even have it installed (as igazor pointed out, it's not a requirement and many of the features it contains that some feel make it worthwhile some might feel are not necessary or may not be worth it). As with many things in life, it has its pros and cons to it and while I'm well aware that many users have complained of issues with it (including with performance), I also know there are some who have felt it was worth using. Again, it really depends upon personal preferences and what you intend to do or even what you play.

Sorry for the late response.

I'm running on Windows 10 and this SSD is just an add on. I'm strictly using this drive for games only because I use the other drives on my computer for other things.

That's good to know about the USB > SATA adapters! I never knew that those cables existed. I just waited until my SATA cable got here because I was busy with life. I reinstalled my games on the SSD successfully, and now I just need to boot the game up and make sure there aren't any issues. :)

I see what you are talking about the TRIM... So it's basically like defragging but it's a specific feature for SSD's with the name "TRIM?" Is TRIM automatically enabled? Should I disable it? I have my Documents folder on the SSD now so that's the only thing that's precious to me on the SSD.

I feel confident about my SSD usage now. Thank you guys! :)

I'm going to uninstall the GeForce Experience because honestly hate having it on my computer. There's really no benefit to me using it because I use Reshade...It's just another unnecessary program.

"igazor;c-17761608" wrote:

"alexandrea;c-17761420" wrote:
I decided to stick with the 1.67 update. Is there really any major difference between the 1.69 update and the 1.67? I never even knew there was an update beyond that. I'd rather not have to use Origin to play TS3 so I really don't want to update to that version if that's the only thing it offers. I don't even use the disk to play my game so using Origin would just be a hassle.

Patch 1.69 is delivered by Origin (only) and its purpose is to tie the game to Origin and the Launcher. The only other "feature" it adds is the ability to activate/deactivate Expansion/Stuff Packs that are already installed upon launching the game each time. Many of us find that it often forgets which packs we want activated, even if it's always all of them 100% of the time, and sometimes loses track of the ones we even have installed so we have to count them each time when launching the game to make sure they are all there. And many of us feel this is more of nuisance than a benefit -- I repurchased the game on Steam a couple of years back just to get away from this patch as I never had the discs to begin with. Steam only delivers 1.67.

There is no difference in actual gameplay between the two patch levels. The gameplay files are exactly the same except for their internal build numbers, which may annoy Core Mods and display a harmless version mismatch warning on startup unless the mod accounts for the build number correctly. (e.g., NRaas ErrorTrap is a Core Mod but we have different iterations of the current version available to avoid this)

Okay I’m glad I decided not to do that. That sounds like a major hassle.

Are you familiar with the error message “the following content has content from an updated game. Please update your game.” THATS not exactly what it says word for word but that’s the gist of it. In the launcher when downloading content? I’ve always gotten this error message for years even though my game is updated. Is there a workaround for this? Can you install sims3package files without the launcher?

"igazor;c-17761832" wrote:
CC Sims3packs can be broken apart into packages using various utilities to do so, but certain types of content aren't going to work properly that way and really need to be Launcher installed. Store content sims3packs can't be broken apart the same way because of the store encryption on them. To be honest, as much as I can't stand working with the Launcher myself, I've never used any of these procedures.

Sometimes that error means you are missing the store patches. The 1.67 Launcher no longer delivers them. You can either grab them from a prior 1.67 or earlier install, they would be in the ContentPatch folder within the TS3 user game folder in Documents, or from here.

Okay yeah that sound convoluted. I do have the package editor. I don’t really use Store content but I have a few worlds I brought so I do want to reinstall those from TS3 store.

Ahh okay thank you so much! It took effort even finding the regular 1.67 patch last night. I’m going to save these as a backup just in case the game becomes obsolete in the future. I will look in my documents folder and hopefully I can find the store patch and see if this works. I’ll see what happens when I get home and try this later today. ?

"igazor;c-17761832" wrote:
CC Sims3packs can be broken apart into packages using various utilities to do so, but certain types of content aren't going to work properly that way and really need to be Launcher installed. Store content sims3packs can't be broken apart the same way because of the store encryption on them. To be honest, as much as I can't stand working with the Launcher myself, I've never used any of these procedures.

Sometimes that error means you are missing the store patches. The 1.67 Launcher no longer delivers them. You can either grab them from a prior 1.67 or earlier install, they would be in the ContentPatch folder within the TS3 user game folder in Documents, or from here.

Okay I see I will need to update the store then. The launcher is such a mess. It's a shame.

I see the patches in the ContentPatch folder but what program do I use to open them?