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@nycbigl I've been very proud of myself for keeping my iphone 5 and refusing to update its four-year-old iOS... until recently, when someone who will remain (screen)nameless mentioned having an iphone 3. But it sounds like you have us both beat. (And who wants to be glued to their smartphone screen at a Medieval festival, anyway? It seems like it would defeat the entire purpose of going.)
As for your graphics card, you haven't listed the model, which does make some impact. It would have its own section in your dxdiag, right underneath the overview listing your processor and RAM. I'd still be curious about your setup, including your hard drive—256 GB isn't a whole lot, especially in a desktop. Of course, whether you want to run a dxdiag and post it is entirely up to you.
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/
From the graphics card info you did post, though, it's clearly integrated, not dedicated, and will have a lot of trouble running Pets, Seasons, ITF, and IP (the most demanding packs in order). You'll need to be careful not to overwork it and to keep your computer well ventilated. And it's entirely possible that CAW was putting too much strain on your hardware, although it's difficult to tell for sure.
Unfortunately, even the systems experts can only give an estimate of how well TS3 will run on a particular system, as each computer responds a bit differently. If you'd like some more specific advice for protecting your hardware, I can ask someone who knows more than I do to weigh in.
I had to see a video on how to find out what Graphics Card my Windows 10 uses because I was so confused as to what I was looking at. It turns out the answer was in front of my dumb face all along. LOL
My PC has;
Intel® Q45/Q43 Express Chipset (Microsoft Corporation-WDDM 1.1)
I have been reading in several different forums and many people have not been able to do Edit in World with CAW. It's an on going problem that has been happening for several years now. Some say it has to do with when they changed the way the Sims 3 is launched and got Origin involved. The program Origin uses conflicts with CAW. Others say that CAW can't handle store contents and that you have to remove your downloads file, which would be terrible since I downloaded items just to use on the world I'm trying to create. Others say you have to uninstall the Sims 3 and reinstall it and start anew. Again, terrible idea. And then some people say you have to download a program to make it work. You can imagine how baffled I am. 😕
Anyway, again, thank you for all of your advice. I am still grateful for the help. Even if no solution is ever found, at least I tried and that there were some very kind people like you that gave it a go in assisting me in my hunt for an answer. ❤️
- puzzlezaddict7 years agoHero+
@nycbigl We only ever got the beta version of CAW, so it's not surprising that the program has so many issues. (For example, Steam users have to edit their registries to make it work at all, which is not a lot of fun.) It's also not something I'm familiar with, so I just fall back on the troubleshooting advice of others with more experience on the subject. Still, if I ever see a reliable solution to the EIG problem, I'll make sure to pass it along to you.
As for your graphics card, it's older and will need extra care. One of the biggest favors you can do for it is turn down your graphics options, particularly water and high-detail lots. I have a reasonably strong card, and I keep those at mirrors only and 2, respectively. But you might need to lower the other options as well.
I'm also not sure that your card can handle the stress of Pets and Seasons, or even ITF and IP. Those packs demand a lot from graphics cards, and even the lower-level dedicated ones can struggle to keep up. Again, every computer performs a bit differently, but yours isn't really built for graphics-intensive gaming. If you really want to play with these packs, you might need to use only one at a time to protect your system. Hopefully it will hold up and perform well enough for you to play TS3 the way you want.
- 7 years ago
I haven't had any problems playing the Sims 3 with my new computer. I have all of the expansion packs and a few stuff packs and it's been working great. I have never been happier with the game. The CAW turns on separate from the actual game. I have been able to build the world and save it but it only crashes when I try to do Edit in World. I have yet to be able to export my new world. I was hoping to build the lots while playing the game. But it keeps telling me I need to add a picture. I just can't figure out how to add a .png image in the 200 and something x 200 and something size that they want. There is no way of taking a screen shot of the world while in CAW. I have tried. I took photo of it with my camera but I can't figure out how to lower the image size in windows 10. I knew how to do that when I use to use a Windows 7 laptop but Windows 10 seem to be lacking in a lot of photo and videoing options that use to be in the older OS.
I guess the answer will come to me someday. I'm now too busy with other things, CAW with have to wait for at least a week. It's NY Comic Con time and I will be going 3 out of the 4 days the convention lasts. I always cosplay and go with a few people. There is much to plan and get ready. LOL!
Again, THANK YOU for all of your help. YOU ROCK! 😃❤️
- puzzlezaddict7 years agoHero+
@nycbiglI'm glad to hear the game is running well. If you do ever start having trouble, there are people with much more knowledge than I have who post here too, so you'd have no trouble getting an expert opinion. (This is also true of the Sims forums where you posted a few days ago; in addition to the CAW section, there's a New Members thread in help/technical discussions.)
There are a few ways to take a screenshot in Windows 10, but the one I use is windows key-shift-S. The game does have to be in windowed mode for this to work. You drag your cursor over the screen to capture the shot you want, and it's saved to the clipboard. I usually just open Paint (you can search for it in the Start menu in the lower left corner) and then paste the shot into it (still crtl-V). From there, you can resize or crop the image to your liking. If you're not getting the effects you want, Paint 3D might work better. You can also right-click on an already saved image to open it in whichever app you choose.
I hope you have a great time at Comic Con, and you know where to find me when you're back to TS3.
- 7 years ago
Thanks! I'll try that. I'm still learning my Windows 10. I'll give it a go later on. 🙂
- 7 years ago
Hi, I know it's been a while but I'm just giving an update.
I still can't use the Edit In Game option in CAW but what I did was after making sure all of my roads were thoroughly connected and after I was finished building mountains and adding terrain colors, I exported my game and have been adding lots while playing the game. It HAS been very annoying when I realized that some of my roads aren't 100% straight and that the lots won't snap on next to the road. And that I can't customize the size of the lots. I have been saving lots and businesses from the other worlds but when you need a premade game lot that is like 30x54 I have no choice but to add an empty lot that is 64x64. It wastes so much space. I could be using that spot for other venues or residential homes. OH Well! It's a good thing I made a very large world and have a lot of space. But is IS such a waste. I also can't add terrain colors after I have exported the game too. So if I want to add an asphalt color in the spaces between lots I can't. Plus certain community objects and trees are not available like there are in CAW. There are a lot less community trees. I was looking for a very certain tree that I used a lot while I was building in CAW that looked the most like cactus but when I exported and began making lots while playing the game I found that tree was not an option and I couldn't use it as a between lots fillers.
Despite all of the annoying things I am having fun building. I am thinking about creating my home town of New York City next when I am good and ready. LOL!
BTW, Comic Con was great. One of the panels my brother and I went to gave a free subscription to the DC Universe internet streaming channel. What a geekgasm I had. WOOHOO! LOL! :eahigh_file:
Again, thank you so much for all of your help. You are very kind and generous. You Rock. ❤️ 🙂
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