playing the sims 3 in 2020

A very good PC. I strongly recommend something with an i7 or equivalent, and at least 8GB of RAM. The PC I mostly use for TS4, and now TS2 as well won't run TS3 with anything more than one expansion pack without crashing (integrated graphics, CORE i5, 8GB RAM), but my laptop (i7, I think around 8GB of RAM--bought it used, since it was the only rugged laptop on my budget) will run two packs at once. And that's with everything on low or medium. And even then, there are slow moments. I did buy a gaming PC that did run TS3 quite well (i7, Radeon Graphics, 8GB RAM), but the RAM failed soon after purchase. I will change the RAM out (RAM isn't much more than the UPS postage to the warranty office for Acer in Texas--and besides, I think their rough handling when I got the PC from Amazon started the issue)), and it should run better.

But, in terms of the game itself, get it. It's much better than TS4, and definitely improved over TS2 in some ways (Sims in TS2 are better, in my opinion). And Steam, every now and then, will put most of the EPs on sale for $5 each. I've bought most of them, as of late. But, just the base game has lots to offer--pun intended. There's plenty of lots to build on and explore, which most of the other Sims games don't.

I have 8 GB ram and graphics card nvidia geforce 950 gtx and the game runs fine. I rarely get crashing and if the game is slow is because I have way to many mods..otherwise my game experience has been good so far

TS3 is one of the few games that truly benefits from using an SSD. I actually made a 512GB one my priority with building my desktop. SSD for speed, space for all the saves (I also have a storage drive but it's a regular HDD and older)

> @BrittanyChick22 said:
> I have 8 GB ram and graphics card nvidia geforce 950 gtx and the game runs fine. I rarely get crashing and if the game is slow is because I have way to many mods..otherwise my game experience has been good so far

I had a 950 to, it just died last month. ): I ended up getting a 2060 :3

I run Sims 3 on a notebook. Granted, it's a fairly powerful notebook. The disadvantage of running Sims 3 on a completely modern machine is you do have to do some work before hand to get it to recognize your GPU, and it may not recognize your CPU either in which case you also need to fool it into thinking that less powerful CPUs in general are more powerful. I have 32GB ram, but all that means is I can run a web browser at the same time as playing.

If you do have a powerful machine, look into using an FPS limiter. Nvidia's tool does not work for me (it probably has to do with the dedicated and integrated GPU selection), but 3booter works fine as long as I run the game in full screen mode.

Edit: Another vote for an SSD. You need it for both your boot drive and the drive you're running Sims 3 from. I think for most people that's the same drive. I have dual nvme drives, and generally, it does only take a minute or so for the game to load. It's a little longer than Sims 4, but OTOH, I only have to deal with it once or twice (if I travel) per play session.

People actually play Sims 3 on laptops? You're just asking for performance issues if you're trying to play it on a laptop.

My family always played Sims on desktops. 1 2 & 3 so I guess I never had the same issues. I've had a i5 6400 and 8 GB of RAM and its run just fine. Then again it's a desktop. I mean, sure I've recently upgraded to an i7 6700k & 16GB RAM but that was for a Rugby Football game I wanted to play. Even before I upgraded sims 3 ran just fine. Never tried it on a laptop lol

"SimsxZelda_fan;c-17403753" wrote:
People actually play Sims 3 on laptops? You're just asking for performance issues if you're trying to play it on a laptop.

My family always played Sims on desktops. 1 2 & 3 so I guess I never had the same issues. I've had a i5 6400 and 8 GB of RAM and its run just fine. Then again it's a desktop. I mean, sure I've recently upgraded to an i7 6700k & 16GB RAM but that was for a Rugby Football game I wanted to play. Even before I upgraded sims 3 ran just fine. Never tried it on a laptop lol

I do play it on a laptop. But it's a gaming laptop. It's amazing how much they've improved over the past few years. At least some laptops offer full-sized graphics cards instead of stripped down ones (mine does). My CPU is not as strong as its desktop equivalent but it's good enough for gaming. Heat can be an issue, but that's what cooling pads are for. Granted, my main games are Sims 3 and Civilization 6 atm, but it easily plays a fully modded skyrim at 1440p with stable framerates (what those framerates are depends on the ENB).

The disadvantage to laptops is they are so much more expensive and so much less upgradeable than desktops. But I need computer setups in two houses (mine and my parents) and so a laptop makes that much easier.

I play on a laptop that I've had for ages and I don't have any issues with my game; only issues I get is if I download dodgy CC but that can be easily dealt with.

ASUS VivoBook X540BA-RB94 user... here. Not recommended... It's only a last-ditch system for the economically challenged, but still needing my Sims 3 fix. If I don't get my fix with Sims 3, I turn into this: (think...very unpleasant to be around)
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/n9_LkFhyPQk/maxresdefault.jpg

I'd suggest saving up your simoleons for a gaming computer.

"jonesyKS;c-17519831" wrote:
I use a gaming laptop, that I’ve added an SSD to - I have all the requirements to play, I even got some great advice from Best Buy when I had them install the SSD (this is before COVID took our lives over).

And it worked so well I almost cried - seriously. The loading time was amazing and the game ran SO smooth. Then I had an Windows 10 update.
Now the launcher will pop up, then immediately goes off. I’ve done everything I can to try and make it work again, it’s been super frustrating since I bought the computer just to play Sim 3!

That's so frustrating! I had a similar problem last month so I feel your pain. Have you tried:

1) Giving your game a factory reset
2) Trying to run without cc (just to see if it's a cc compatibility issue)
3) Enabling your game to use more RAM (see my post above) Don't do this
4) Turning vertical sync on
5) Using a FPS limiter?