bizarre cause of lag/freeze issue - 1st post updated 8/26/13
EDITED to add summary and note about greenhouse trellis spawners -- original post is below summary list and re-edited to add two more items to the list, plus CAW caution.
PLEASE read the entire thread for very important details, including how to fix or avoid problems.
Summary list of issues discussed in this thread, so far:
Causes of Lag or Freezes
1. objects blocking driveways, like trees or shrubs
2. critters or sims spawned inside small fenced/bordered/enclosed areas (avoid "one space" enclosed gardens next to buildings and avoid "one space" gates or openings)
3. critters caught between the "V" at the base of two palm trees
4. horses that do not have two spaces of width to maneuver in or out of any area (including between palm trees, trees and buildings, anything enclosed, junk piles, etc)
5. critters who cannot maneuver off raised platforms, because they cannot back away far enough to turn around and get down
6. baby pets who cannot maneuver stairs
7. critters from spawners, who spawn under buildings, large rocks, etc
8. using "reset sim" without manually deleting abandoned cars (the reset sim gets a big lemon or jalopy car in their inventory, and their real car is left abandoned in the game) -- using "reset sim" at 3:00 am may reduce the problem of abandoned cars
9. too many spawners on a lot, no matter who made the lot (even EA lots have this problem) -- be sure to make a one tile basement, to check below ground for hidden spawners (for detailed information, see this thread: http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/523406.page)
10. spiral staircases placed before the Pets expansion, that have not been turned or replaced since then
11. fancy method of making an entrance with archways (this makes the actual front door and "inside door" which means sims cannot ring the doorbell, and it will cause other routing issues, as well)
12. too many memories accumulated in older games
13. an old hood, that has accumulated too many errors, even just as a result of normal game play
14. added by Sincerbox: Avoid using the "Take Photo with Friend" interaction. I am sure everyone knows it was broken with a patch and that sims will just stand and stare at one another. But the problem is that it leaves an invisible rug behind that blocks those tiles the sims were standing on in the game.
15. Using the World Editor to add empty lots where no lot ever existed before or using the World Editor to remove trees/rocks/signs and etc, from non-lot areas of a world will punch a hole in the world layer, causing routing issues, which can cause lag.
16. anything that causes game corruption (see list below)
Causes of Game Corruption
1. deleting ANY sim that EA put in the game, whether dead or alive, ghost or urn or tomb, pet or simmie (these sims are coded directly into world layers, and deleting them "shatters/fragments" their coding, leading to game corruption, at its most basic levels) EA sims are NOT regular sims/ghosts/critters/ghost critters -- they are coded into the game layers and have back-stories that keep calling on deep game coding--removing them is NOT an option
2. deleting a lot that has an occupied urn or tomb on it (some are even hidden in attics)
3. deleting EA graveyards (graveyard ghosts are NOT regular ghosts -- they are coded into the game layers and have back-stories that keep calling on deep game coding--removing them is NOT an option)
4. placing too many lots with the in-game world editor tool (it breaks a key component used in world creation, that can only be fixed in CAW, which means a saved game is broken beyond repair) -- an increasingly worsening problem with every expansion since LN)
5. using "moveobjects on" for any object that has a sim interaction, like chairs, beds, bookshelves, tables, etc (plants, rugs, or things that can be placed on end tables are still safe, as of ST, but who knows if later expansions will further break the cheat)
6. trying to mix an old and "not patched up to date" game, with newer CC designed for up to date games
7. games without the latest update to Origin, Adobe flash player, Adobe air and/or games with old video card drivers
8. using awesome mod to "destroyallhumans" IF the mod is subsequently removed from the game (it apparently works fine if you continue to use awesome mod with that saved game, to the best of our knowledge, as of today)
9. moving sims with "moveobjects on" (resetting the Sim usually solves the issue -- corruption does not spread)
10. editing an in-game sim in CAS by using the testingcheatsenabled menu, if you try to change traits, favorites, skin tone or body sliders and possibly even star sign (modifying/editing anything on the sim's head is safe, as is changing clothes/makeup/hair/accessories)
11. adding corrupted lots or sims to new games
12. adding lots with corrupted CC to new games
13. reported by Writin_Reg: leaving testingcheats enabled true and buydebug on running all the time will corrupt the game, ever since the IP patch or IP game was installed -- once the world is corrupt, not even lots in that world can be reused in other worlds without causing further corruption to spread
Other Issues
1. clock stopping issue (the clock does not update) that is usually caused by an 'alarm' not being able to fire properly (not really a lag, since everything else still continues)
2. stuck baby/missing sim issue (to fix, go to edit town and move the entire household to the clipboard by evicting just the family, then move them back into their house which will reset the whole house and will not cause anyone to disappear -- make sure when you can get out of game after fixing them, you delete the 4 caches that like to hold corruption in your game, so that instance is gone permanently from your game and can't corrupt your saves)
Note to CAW users:
1. added by Writin_Reg: If you change a lot from residential to community and there does happen to be a grave on the lot - it will not hurt anything if you don't move the grave out as EA has the ghost okay on both residential and community lots. It is also safe to load these lots to your library and use them else where as long as you never use these lots when building a world in CAW because of the ghost which will corrupt a world in CAW. You can instead offer the lot as a separate download for people to add to a world.
EDIT:
I just want to add a quick note about a certain type of spawner that you will definitely run across if you download lots using the garden trellis that came with the greenhouse venue (the one that auto-waters your garden, with the composter on the one side).
The garden trellis has a seed spawner attached to it, under the composter, on the one side. That spawner has a "Do Not Use" (or something very similar to that -- I don't have my game open to check the exact wording) notation. It is a spawner, and so it multiplies like any other spawner. But it also has one other attribute: the special spawner regenerates where ever the garden trellis is located.
So, for instance, if you try to delete the garden trellis "Do Not Use" spawner that is under the composter in the garden trellis it seems to delete like normal -- but, the trellis will automatically regenerate the spawner in that same location, the next time you open your lot.
What this means is that it is impossible to remove that particular spawner before uploading a lot to the exchange. It will always regenerate when the lot using the garden trellis is installed in the game. And it will always multiply if the lot is rotated.
Even the greenhouse venue downloaded from the store has the problem. In fact, that lot is loaded with extra spawners, because someone on the store team forgot to remove the extras before uploading it. It should only have ONE of those spwaners right under the composter. All the extras should have been deleted before the lot was uploaded by the store team.
So, from the standpoint of the user, you should definitely delete any of these "Do Not Use" type spawners from any lot EXCEPT for the one spawner under the composter. There should be ONE of those. But lift it up to see if several of them are nested one on top of the other. Delete any extras. You only need one.
All of which means that anytime you see a garden trellis from the greenhouse venue on any lot you download, do a testingcheatsenabled true and buydebug on so you can locate and delete any extra garden trellis spawners from that lot. The creator of the lot is not responsible for those extra spawners, because the creator cannot delete them prior to uploading. It will be up to the user to make sure only one exists on the lot, after placement.
Original post below:
I just discovered a bizarre cause for lag/freeze issues. It is hard to believe ....
I was merrily testing one set in my test home (in my no mod, no other CC, vanilla game), while making a collection folder. All was normal. I filled a room with the Club Casual set.
Then I took out all the objects for the new Prius free set and the Prius archive set, which I had just downloaded and installed along with the Club Casual set, placing the eco objects on the grass. I plopped down a couple driveways and compared the regular Prius to the electric Prius (they look almost identical). I deleted the two cars. I deleted the windmill and a couple other largish objects that were in the way.
I went back inside the house to finish testing the first set, and noticed my sim was freezing every couple minutes. Some lags/freezes were fairly prolonged. My heart sank. What in the set was causing this?
I thought back to what I had done, just prior to noticing the problem. Taking out Prius objects and then deleting them should not have caused a problem. It must be an object from Club Casual, but I had never noticed a problem prior to this, and I've used many objects from the set, before.
I quit the game, and restarted it. Still lagging/freezing. I deleted the rest of the Prius sets. No change.
I saved, and quit the game. I removed the DCCache and the DCBackup. Everything I had installed was now out of the game, both the original set I was testing and the two Prius sets that I had just downloaded and installed. My game was vanilla, with all the expansions and stuff packs. No mods, no cheats, no CC at all.
I opened the game and got the "missing objects" notice. I deleted all the objects that had replaced the previous set objects. The upper floor of the test home was empty.
The game still lagged/froze. I was stymied. Was the lot corrupt?
I zoomed out -- and then I saw it. One of the driveways I had so quickly plopped down, to compare the two car versions, had a tree in the middle of it. I had not seen the tree when I placed the driveways, because I had been zoomed in far enough that the tree "disappeared."
I removed the driveways. No more lag. No more freezes. The game played perfectly.
I find this unbelievable. How could a tree in the middle of a driveway cause such a horrendous problem? What about that situation would cause a game to freeze like that, repeatedly?
Oh, and before you assume that it was a routing issue for my sim, she was just trying to play her guitar, fix a meal, read a book, sit on a couch. Nothing to do with cars or driveways. No sims visited during the time I experienced the issue. No cars tried to park in the driveways. I didn't even notice a sim running on the sidewalk in front of the lot.
I do not claim to have any idea what was happening, or why. But as long as the tree remained in the middle of the driveway, I had the problems, and when I deleted the driveways, the problem was gone. A very probable case of cause and effect, because if it wasn't that, then just the placement of a driveway caused the issue, and I very much doubt merely having a driveway on the lot would be the cause.
I thought maybe some of you people with lags/freezes might want to know that the cause may be something as off the wall as what just happened to me. Maybe a tree or bush is too close to your driveway.
This game is so touchy ....
PLEASE read the entire thread for very important details, including how to fix or avoid problems.
Summary list of issues discussed in this thread, so far:
Causes of Lag or Freezes
1. objects blocking driveways, like trees or shrubs
2. critters or sims spawned inside small fenced/bordered/enclosed areas (avoid "one space" enclosed gardens next to buildings and avoid "one space" gates or openings)
3. critters caught between the "V" at the base of two palm trees
4. horses that do not have two spaces of width to maneuver in or out of any area (including between palm trees, trees and buildings, anything enclosed, junk piles, etc)
5. critters who cannot maneuver off raised platforms, because they cannot back away far enough to turn around and get down
6. baby pets who cannot maneuver stairs
7. critters from spawners, who spawn under buildings, large rocks, etc
8. using "reset sim" without manually deleting abandoned cars (the reset sim gets a big lemon or jalopy car in their inventory, and their real car is left abandoned in the game) -- using "reset sim" at 3:00 am may reduce the problem of abandoned cars
9. too many spawners on a lot, no matter who made the lot (even EA lots have this problem) -- be sure to make a one tile basement, to check below ground for hidden spawners (for detailed information, see this thread: http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/523406.page)
10. spiral staircases placed before the Pets expansion, that have not been turned or replaced since then
11. fancy method of making an entrance with archways (this makes the actual front door and "inside door" which means sims cannot ring the doorbell, and it will cause other routing issues, as well)
12. too many memories accumulated in older games
13. an old hood, that has accumulated too many errors, even just as a result of normal game play
14. added by Sincerbox: Avoid using the "Take Photo with Friend" interaction. I am sure everyone knows it was broken with a patch and that sims will just stand and stare at one another. But the problem is that it leaves an invisible rug behind that blocks those tiles the sims were standing on in the game.
15. Using the World Editor to add empty lots where no lot ever existed before or using the World Editor to remove trees/rocks/signs and etc, from non-lot areas of a world will punch a hole in the world layer, causing routing issues, which can cause lag.
16. anything that causes game corruption (see list below)
Causes of Game Corruption
1. deleting ANY sim that EA put in the game, whether dead or alive, ghost or urn or tomb, pet or simmie (these sims are coded directly into world layers, and deleting them "shatters/fragments" their coding, leading to game corruption, at its most basic levels) EA sims are NOT regular sims/ghosts/critters/ghost critters -- they are coded into the game layers and have back-stories that keep calling on deep game coding--removing them is NOT an option
2. deleting a lot that has an occupied urn or tomb on it (some are even hidden in attics)
3. deleting EA graveyards (graveyard ghosts are NOT regular ghosts -- they are coded into the game layers and have back-stories that keep calling on deep game coding--removing them is NOT an option)
4. placing too many lots with the in-game world editor tool (it breaks a key component used in world creation, that can only be fixed in CAW, which means a saved game is broken beyond repair) -- an increasingly worsening problem with every expansion since LN)
5. using "moveobjects on" for any object that has a sim interaction, like chairs, beds, bookshelves, tables, etc (plants, rugs, or things that can be placed on end tables are still safe, as of ST, but who knows if later expansions will further break the cheat)
6. trying to mix an old and "not patched up to date" game, with newer CC designed for up to date games
7. games without the latest update to Origin, Adobe flash player, Adobe air and/or games with old video card drivers
8. using awesome mod to "destroyallhumans" IF the mod is subsequently removed from the game (it apparently works fine if you continue to use awesome mod with that saved game, to the best of our knowledge, as of today)
9. moving sims with "moveobjects on" (resetting the Sim usually solves the issue -- corruption does not spread)
10. editing an in-game sim in CAS by using the testingcheatsenabled menu, if you try to change traits, favorites, skin tone or body sliders and possibly even star sign (modifying/editing anything on the sim's head is safe, as is changing clothes/makeup/hair/accessories)
11. adding corrupted lots or sims to new games
12. adding lots with corrupted CC to new games
13. reported by Writin_Reg: leaving testingcheats enabled true and buydebug on running all the time will corrupt the game, ever since the IP patch or IP game was installed -- once the world is corrupt, not even lots in that world can be reused in other worlds without causing further corruption to spread
Other Issues
1. clock stopping issue (the clock does not update) that is usually caused by an 'alarm' not being able to fire properly (not really a lag, since everything else still continues)
2. stuck baby/missing sim issue (to fix, go to edit town and move the entire household to the clipboard by evicting just the family, then move them back into their house which will reset the whole house and will not cause anyone to disappear -- make sure when you can get out of game after fixing them, you delete the 4 caches that like to hold corruption in your game, so that instance is gone permanently from your game and can't corrupt your saves)
Note to CAW users:
1. added by Writin_Reg: If you change a lot from residential to community and there does happen to be a grave on the lot - it will not hurt anything if you don't move the grave out as EA has the ghost okay on both residential and community lots. It is also safe to load these lots to your library and use them else where as long as you never use these lots when building a world in CAW because of the ghost which will corrupt a world in CAW. You can instead offer the lot as a separate download for people to add to a world.
EDIT:
I just want to add a quick note about a certain type of spawner that you will definitely run across if you download lots using the garden trellis that came with the greenhouse venue (the one that auto-waters your garden, with the composter on the one side).
The garden trellis has a seed spawner attached to it, under the composter, on the one side. That spawner has a "Do Not Use" (or something very similar to that -- I don't have my game open to check the exact wording) notation. It is a spawner, and so it multiplies like any other spawner. But it also has one other attribute: the special spawner regenerates where ever the garden trellis is located.
So, for instance, if you try to delete the garden trellis "Do Not Use" spawner that is under the composter in the garden trellis it seems to delete like normal -- but, the trellis will automatically regenerate the spawner in that same location, the next time you open your lot.
What this means is that it is impossible to remove that particular spawner before uploading a lot to the exchange. It will always regenerate when the lot using the garden trellis is installed in the game. And it will always multiply if the lot is rotated.
Even the greenhouse venue downloaded from the store has the problem. In fact, that lot is loaded with extra spawners, because someone on the store team forgot to remove the extras before uploading it. It should only have ONE of those spwaners right under the composter. All the extras should have been deleted before the lot was uploaded by the store team.
So, from the standpoint of the user, you should definitely delete any of these "Do Not Use" type spawners from any lot EXCEPT for the one spawner under the composter. There should be ONE of those. But lift it up to see if several of them are nested one on top of the other. Delete any extras. You only need one.
All of which means that anytime you see a garden trellis from the greenhouse venue on any lot you download, do a testingcheatsenabled true and buydebug on so you can locate and delete any extra garden trellis spawners from that lot. The creator of the lot is not responsible for those extra spawners, because the creator cannot delete them prior to uploading. It will be up to the user to make sure only one exists on the lot, after placement.
Original post below:
I just discovered a bizarre cause for lag/freeze issues. It is hard to believe ....
I was merrily testing one set in my test home (in my no mod, no other CC, vanilla game), while making a collection folder. All was normal. I filled a room with the Club Casual set.
Then I took out all the objects for the new Prius free set and the Prius archive set, which I had just downloaded and installed along with the Club Casual set, placing the eco objects on the grass. I plopped down a couple driveways and compared the regular Prius to the electric Prius (they look almost identical). I deleted the two cars. I deleted the windmill and a couple other largish objects that were in the way.
I went back inside the house to finish testing the first set, and noticed my sim was freezing every couple minutes. Some lags/freezes were fairly prolonged. My heart sank. What in the set was causing this?
I thought back to what I had done, just prior to noticing the problem. Taking out Prius objects and then deleting them should not have caused a problem. It must be an object from Club Casual, but I had never noticed a problem prior to this, and I've used many objects from the set, before.
I quit the game, and restarted it. Still lagging/freezing. I deleted the rest of the Prius sets. No change.
I saved, and quit the game. I removed the DCCache and the DCBackup. Everything I had installed was now out of the game, both the original set I was testing and the two Prius sets that I had just downloaded and installed. My game was vanilla, with all the expansions and stuff packs. No mods, no cheats, no CC at all.
I opened the game and got the "missing objects" notice. I deleted all the objects that had replaced the previous set objects. The upper floor of the test home was empty.
The game still lagged/froze. I was stymied. Was the lot corrupt?
I zoomed out -- and then I saw it. One of the driveways I had so quickly plopped down, to compare the two car versions, had a tree in the middle of it. I had not seen the tree when I placed the driveways, because I had been zoomed in far enough that the tree "disappeared."
I removed the driveways. No more lag. No more freezes. The game played perfectly.
I find this unbelievable. How could a tree in the middle of a driveway cause such a horrendous problem? What about that situation would cause a game to freeze like that, repeatedly?
Oh, and before you assume that it was a routing issue for my sim, she was just trying to play her guitar, fix a meal, read a book, sit on a couch. Nothing to do with cars or driveways. No sims visited during the time I experienced the issue. No cars tried to park in the driveways. I didn't even notice a sim running on the sidewalk in front of the lot.
I do not claim to have any idea what was happening, or why. But as long as the tree remained in the middle of the driveway, I had the problems, and when I deleted the driveways, the problem was gone. A very probable case of cause and effect, because if it wasn't that, then just the placement of a driveway caused the issue, and I very much doubt merely having a driveway on the lot would be the cause.
I thought maybe some of you people with lags/freezes might want to know that the cause may be something as off the wall as what just happened to me. Maybe a tree or bush is too close to your driveway.
This game is so touchy ....
