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Cyron43's avatar
12 years ago

FIX FOR SEVERE LAG

Second Update 11/07/13: The fix is totally amazing! It's like a whole new game! Sims are more active than ever and even Isla Paradiso runs like a charm!
You don't believe me? Then watch this boat trip! :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0n1QE56e_E

UPDATE 11/07/13: Twallan has updated Overwatch and ErrorTrap to address this issue.
Go get 'em here: http://nraas.wikispaces.com/
Thank you so much Twallan for fixing this mess. :D

UPDATE 11/06/13: @All Simmers who have this issue and the tree of prosperity: Please uninstall the tree of prosperity via the Launcher and see if that fixes it.
For further information please visit crinrict's article about it:
http://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2013/11/sims-in-slow-motion.html

Description:
This bug shows after several Sim-days of playing only. So it's not replicable with a quick test.
The time display and the Sims are frozen for up to many Sim-hours while the in-game time moves on and the Sim's needs deplete. The camera can be moved though.
It's even worse with routing. Whenever there's a transition like going through a door or using a staircase, the Sim freezes and it takes a lot of time until the next routing phase kicks in.

Just one example: When a Sim normally takes about 10 Sim-minutes for something it eats up between 3 to 8 Sim-hours for the same action! Eating (and just the pure eating action!) takes 1.5 Sim-hours! Taking a plate, walking to a table, grabbing the seat, sitting down and moving the seat to the table is NOT included in this time.

This bug makes the game unplayable!

The amount of Simmers who face this issue grows with each day! At first I thought this is due to a faulty mod but apparently I was wrong with this assumption because more and more Simmers who play without any mods face the same problems.

EDIT for a general definition of lag type 1 and lag type 2:

Lag type 1
is the usual stuttering (more or less severe) where the whole game seems to be frozen for several seconds.
The camera cannot be moved.
Lag type 1 is usually caused by
- insufficient memory -> 8 GB are recommended. You need a 64 bit type of Windows in order to make use of it.

- incompatible or faulty custom content -> temporarily remove all custom content and try again.

- unsupported graphics card -> Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 Into the Future\Support and read the ReadMe file for a list of supported graphic cards.

- insufficient graphics card -> lower the graphics settings in the options of the game.

- insufficient CPU power -> see "insufficient graphics card"

- Other software which runs while you play -> Make sure you shut down all programs which you currently don't need.

- Highly fragmented hard drive -> Defragment your hard drive.

- Corrupted save game -> Try Twallan's MasterController to fix it. Go to map view, click the town hall icon and choose
nraas -> MasterController -> Town -> Reset everything.
Maybe the last part is not literally. I play a German version of the game and I translated it.

The fix (uninstalling the tree of prosperity and the updates of Twallan's Overwatch and ErrorTrap) provided in this thread deals with lag type 2.
However Overwatch and ErrorTrap can also help with lag type 1 but you should do some settings to Overwatch to get the best results. Go to map view, click on the town hall icon and choose nraas -> Overwatch -> Settings.
You can get more information about the Overwatch settings on the page you downloaded Overwatch from.

Lag type 2
means the time display gets frozen. It begins with skipping one second, then two and the more you play the worse it gets until it's frozen for 12 hours or so. During that time all Sims are also frozen in the middle of their actions. Alas the game time moves on as can be seen on the sky. The sun, the moon and also the star map keep moving. The needs of your Sims deteriorate.
You can move the camera with lag type 2.

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