Try resetting all your Sims in your town with resetsim *
To do so
This should put all your sims and animals to a safe location.
You might have a stuck Sim somewhere
Here's some more tips: http://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-3/FAQ-Lags-amp-Freezes/td-p/646
As far as I'm aware that hasn't worked for anyone else who's had this problem because you can't enter the console during the freezes and resetting when it's not frozen doesn't prevent it. However, I'll give it a try within the next half an hour and edit this post to say whether or not it worked.
At best it seems to have reduced the frequency of the freezes but since I started it up today the game has frozen twice, once so bad that even the background animations froze as well.
See if this helps more: http://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2013/11/sims-in-slow-motion.html
No, I've never owned the tree of prosperity. I don't buy things from the store.
Check if your graphic card is properly recognized by the game:
http://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2013/06/getting-the-game-to-recognize-your-card.html
Is it just Islo Paradiso for you or all your games ?
