The Sims 3 stuttering a fair bit
So I've returned to playing The Sims 3 after an extensive break but I've experienced stuttering problems and I'm trying to figure out if it's just "the game being the game" (age and everything) or the...
Forum Discussion
I do have issues with stuttering in my game and I've been told modern systems will do this to some degree no matter what. I'm not really the tech guy but I can tell you what helped reduce it to acceptable levels in my game, maybe it will help you also. I'm not sure which guides you read so maybe you've already done some of these.
World Adventures - I can add 10 sims to my town and there's no impact on performance, if I let 10 sims come as tourists...I have more stuttering and routing issues. Weird, so I disable tourists. Register>Tourists>Allow Tourists = False
Showtime - I've heard the performance career limos for this pack can get stuck on the road and cause performance issues. They will be cleaned up nightly by..overwatch? But I just disable them. Traffic>Routing>Allow performance career limo>false. I also don't place the Showtime lots unless my household is doing performance careers, to reduce role sims. I'd rather have more late night lots.
Late Night - You already did the taxi thing I see. If I'm not in an urban area, I also disable food trucks. Traffic>Food Truck>max food trucks = 0. And the ice cream trucks, same thing just in the ice cream truck settings. If I download a late night lot and it has two bars, I remodel to have one bar to reduce role sims. You're probably seeing a pattern, I remove sims that don't add much value to my planned playthrough and it seems to have impacted performance positively on my machine.
Nraas Story Progression - I'm not sure of the impact of this mod. In the beginning of the game it seems to negatively effect performance but then over time improves it beyond what I was getting without it installed. Maybe it prevents problems that EA progression would have caused later down the line. One thing this mod does that's not helpful to me is send me story updates on everyone in town. My game stutters for just a second whenever it sends me an update and I would prefer to have to interact with sims to learn details of their life anyway, so I disable the feature. Story Progression>Town Options> Stories: Allow = False.
Twinbrook - The fixed maps are generally a good idea. I don't use the one for Twinbrook though. The amphitheater was messed up when I used that map. The road ended in a large cliff and the lot was sunken into the ground quite a bit. I didn't leave it installed long enough to know if it causes issues. Maybe check if the lots are broken on that map? Twinbrook has inconsistent performance on my machine. It has serious issues with stuttering downtown and has routing issues...except all the times when it doesn't. The difference? I never know. I've recently moved my sim out of that town.
Moving - If all else fails, consider moving to Mesa Grande. I've never had as smooth of performance with any other town, including Sunset Valley. It's base game, requires CC that's included as a package file (custom rabbit holes and flowers). It can easily be upgraded for later expansions as it has plenty of upgrade space. The creator did make some of the updated lots such as a festival lot for seasons. A Fire Station, junkyard, consignment store, laundromat, and a salon for Ambitions.
Seasons - I put this last cause I don't think most people would be willing to do this. Besides the cpu file settings changes, the largest positive impact on the particular issues you spoke of, stuttering while turning the camera, in map view, and moving between lots was...uninstalling Seasons. Even if I live in a warmer place where I use nraas or EA settings to suppress it's effects in every way, even without festival lots..just having the EP installed makes all that very stuttery and slow. I also get irritated when I go to Egypt and find a cheap flower at the Tiberium spawn points. I do really miss the festivals though, also the snow. But I've learned to live without it.
World Adventures - I can add 10 sims to my town and there's no impact on performance, if I let 10 sims come as tourists...I have more stuttering and routing issues. Weird, so I disable tourists. Register>Tourists>Allow Tourists = False
Showtime - I've heard the performance career limos for this pack can get stuck on the road and cause performance issues. They will be cleaned up nightly by..overwatch? But I just disable them. Traffic>Routing>Allow performance career limo>false. I also don't place the Showtime lots unless my household is doing performance careers, to reduce role sims. I'd rather have more late night lots.
Late Night - You already did the taxi thing I see. If I'm not in an urban area, I also disable food trucks. Traffic>Food Truck>max food trucks = 0. And the ice cream trucks, same thing just in the ice cream truck settings. If I download a late night lot and it has two bars, I remodel to have one bar to reduce role sims. You're probably seeing a pattern, I remove sims that don't add much value to my planned playthrough and it seems to have impacted performance positively on my machine.
Nraas Story Progression - I'm not sure of the impact of this mod. In the beginning of the game it seems to negatively effect performance but then over time improves it beyond what I was getting without it installed. Maybe it prevents problems that EA progression would have caused later down the line. One thing this mod does that's not helpful to me is send me story updates on everyone in town. My game stutters for just a second whenever it sends me an update and I would prefer to have to interact with sims to learn details of their life anyway, so I disable the feature. Story Progression>Town Options> Stories: Allow = False.
Twinbrook - The fixed maps are generally a good idea. I don't use the one for Twinbrook though. The amphitheater was messed up when I used that map. The road ended in a large cliff and the lot was sunken into the ground quite a bit. I didn't leave it installed long enough to know if it causes issues. Maybe check if the lots are broken on that map? Twinbrook has inconsistent performance on my machine. It has serious issues with stuttering downtown and has routing issues...except all the times when it doesn't. The difference? I never know. I've recently moved my sim out of that town.
Moving - If all else fails, consider moving to Mesa Grande. I've never had as smooth of performance with any other town, including Sunset Valley. It's base game, requires CC that's included as a package file (custom rabbit holes and flowers). It can easily be upgraded for later expansions as it has plenty of upgrade space. The creator did make some of the updated lots such as a festival lot for seasons. A Fire Station, junkyard, consignment store, laundromat, and a salon for Ambitions.
Seasons - I put this last cause I don't think most people would be willing to do this. Besides the cpu file settings changes, the largest positive impact on the particular issues you spoke of, stuttering while turning the camera, in map view, and moving between lots was...uninstalling Seasons. Even if I live in a warmer place where I use nraas or EA settings to suppress it's effects in every way, even without festival lots..just having the EP installed makes all that very stuttery and slow. I also get irritated when I go to Egypt and find a cheap flower at the Tiberium spawn points. I do really miss the festivals though, also the snow. But I've learned to live without it.
