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puzzlezaddict's avatar
puzzlezaddict
Hero+
4 years ago

Re: How do I get The Sims 3 to play using Intel's Iris xe graphic card?

@mw1525  I think the low settings in the second default profile are due to the GPU memory now being rated 1.  I'm guessing you undid the texture memory change, or else started with a fresh graphicsrules that didn't have the change at all.  In case it's easier than looking it up, this is the edit you want to make, 8-10 lines from the top:

if ($textureMemory == 0)
  seti textureMemory       1024
  # setb textureMemorySizeOK false

But you can of course use whatever graphics settings you'd like, as long as you're happy with the overall performance.

What I most want to hear about are how the game runs during inclement weather (rain/snow/hail) and when there are long-haired pets or horses on-screen.  In-game framerates can be useful as a measure of how hard your GPU has to work to render each frame, both during high-stress scenarios and overall, and of course please let me know if you see any crashes.  If your card can handle the most demanding features of Pets and Seasons, then it should be able to handle everything else without any trouble.

7 Replies

  • mw1525's avatar
    mw1525
    Seasoned Ace
    4 years ago
    @puzzlezaddict - Thanks! I'll have to go back and change that section.

    =======

    MY SET-UP:

    I am running an all disk install (2009) Updated to patch 1.67.
    I have an 11th Gen i5 CPU and the game is installed on NVMe SSD.

    I have expansion packs World Adventures through Seasons (minus Generations - I don't own that one in disk form) currently installed.

    I also have High End Loft Stuff through Diesel (minus, Outdoor Living Stuff) Stuff packs installed.

    Plus, all store worlds, venues, nearly all premium content items and a large variety of sets (CAS and furniture).

    In addition, I am running a host of NRaas mods including Story Progression with no turned down settings. I receive 'stories' for every Sim in the world. Pets, Supernatural and Seasons are running with all occult life states active, all animals active and weather patterns (28 days) turned fully on and active.

    GAME-PLAY PERFORMANCE:

    There have been no crashes, lag or slow-downs of any kind (even when a Sim gets stuck - as reported by NRaas' Error Trap). I have not encountered any color, sound or screen issues. Animations run smoothly, texture details are sharp and clear at High and (some) Very High settings.

    When my Sim is running through the world, lots, trees, cars and anything else in the scene stays visibly clear with no blur.

    Concerning weather, I have only experienced rain, hail storms and fog, Winter is a long way away in my game so I'll have to update this thread once it happens to give an accurate report. Hail is handled beautifully with identifiable little balls of ice touching the ground and bouncing before disappearing. Rain storms are rich as the drops fall and the water running off of the edges of nearby houses is very realistic in its flow.

    All animals are displayed in clear detail. The manes and braided tails of the horses are visible without having to be very close up on the animal. Even small animals such as hedgehogs and snakes look and animate wonderfully.

    FPS and CPU HEAT
    -This card is very powerful! After installing the Sims 3 and before launching it, add the game (TS3W) to 'Intel's Graphic Command Center'. This has to be done manually because the Command Center will not automatically pick the game up when scanning for games to add. Once the game is added it runs at a steady 59/60 FPS no matter what is being displayed. Only in 'Map View' do the FPS drop between 30/40 FPS.

    I made the mistake of running the game without adding it to 'Command Center', the FPS were 250 and upwards! The heat coming through my keyboard made it feel as if my PC would catch on fire! So, slow it down first!

    Also, my system fan did not come on in times of heavy rendering. For example, during the thunder storm, while I was wandering through Sunset Valley watching the wild horses walk about, and the zombies with their colorful umbrellas plus, the vampires running with their speed blur; not once did my system fan start up.

    Hope this helps 🙂.
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    4 years ago

    @mw1525  Yes, that was great, thanks.  In fact, it was more than I felt like I could ask of you, but it's definitely the kind of evaluation I was hoping I'd read.  And it's wonderful to hear your game is running so well on a graphics chip that's a lot more accessible, whether in price or the size and weight of the laptop, than a gaming laptop would be.

    If you do happen to see any issues, please let me know, but it sounds like your laptop might be completely fine.

  • mw1525's avatar
    mw1525
    Seasoned Ace
    4 years ago
    @puzzleaddict - You are very welcome.

    For me, the 'real' moment of truth will come when I add the remaining expansion and stuff packs. For now, all is running smoothly and well. However, if I should run into any hiccups I will definitely post back to get the word out.

    Again, thank you for taking the time to help me.
  • mw1525's avatar
    mw1525
    Seasoned Ace
    4 years ago
    @puzzleaddict - I have an update as to the performance of the Iris xe card when running the Sims 3. The game still runs well using this card however, there are a few hiccup spots which anyone interested in using this 'card' for the game may want to be aware of. While the game does not truly lag, it does experience moments of brief pauses under certain weather conditions and color combinations.

    My Game Changes From Initial Post:
    I have added University Life to the game and removed NRaas' Story Progression mod. All other settings are the same.

    Differences in Performance: Quick Pauses:
    Game performance takes a slight hit when the Fall season begins. Frost, for some reason causes the card to work harder, pc fans comes on but don't overheat my system. The quick pauses (more like a quick 'tick') mainly happens when moving through the world and doesn't affect the animations of the Sims, animals or trees; just how it loads past the 'lot distance'. Otherwise, the Fall season doesn't have an issue. The trees change color and lose leaves all with neither graphic or performance issues in terms of lag or stalls.

    I don't know why this is, as there are no issues with snow, hail, heavy rains or, thunderstorms with lightening strikes. But, early morning frost causes a slight (yet noticeable) pause when it comes to loading lots. Sims and animal animations are not altered by the appearance of frost and they play fluidly. It is just the loading of the lots, past the draw distance point which are affected.

    Game Performance: Lagging
    -Towns/Worlds which are heavily colored in various tones of Green, seem to have moments of actual lagging which have lasted no more than 1-2 seconds. This lag does affect the Sim's animation and it will appear as a jump in motions when it happens. The town of 'Hidden Springs' was where I encountered the most lagging/stalling of the game. Maybe this can be fixed by turning some settings down, truthfully I haven't tried. Other 'Green' worlds such as Riverview did not seem to be affected by this problem under my current settings.

    Also, not really certain I can blame this on the card; but it is worth noting. The game spawns too much of everything!

    -This is may seem like a minor problem but it is one which is gumming up the routing of my worlds. Because the game will create what it 'thinks' your PC can handle, it has been creating massive multitudes of animals (with litters), gnomes, gems and rocks and even Sims. Because of this, NRaas' Error Trapping mod spends the day unsticking stuck Sims, unrouteable Sims and Sims (or animals) stuck aging. The Sim count for my game is nearing 250 Sims in town (not homeless or visiting)! Sunset Valley alone has over 25 fully grown horses and goodness knows how many foals. Dogs and cats are having many litters and small animals (turtles, snakes, chipmunks, birds....) occupy many footpaths and open areas! Just something to be aware of.
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    4 years ago

    @mw1525  Thanks so much for the update.  I don't know enough about how Sims 3 works under the hood to be sure, but it sounds like one of two things may be happening, or perhaps both.  One is that frost takes extra resources to calculate: whether it appears, on what objects, etc.  That would explain the brief pause before the game goes back to running (mostly) smoothly.  The fans coming on also suggests that the processor may be working harder in those moments, although it would take hardware monitoring to confirm.

    The other is that it takes more VRAM to render.  Since the game can only use 800 MB, when there's more data that needs to be in video memory, something else has to drop: the game can't hold all the data it wants to use at once.  So the more VRAM the nearby lots and landscape require, the more often the game will need to load and unload data as it switches among them.

    This second issue might get better if you lower object and tree detail, but then the game wouldn't look as pretty, and in worlds where the pauses are the only performance issue, it sounds like the tradeoff might not be worth it.

    As for Hidden Springs, I wonder whether it uses textures that take more resources to render.  I haven't really played in it myself, although I've loaded it to look around and to test a few things, so I don't really know.  But here again, you could try turning down the settings to see what happens.  If you change one at a time, you might get a better sense of what's causing the problems, for example maybe it's a type of tree that's common in HS and is extra demanding when tree detail is set to the max; or maybe it's the lighting, and in that case you might be able to use a lighting mod to alleviate the issue without lowering any settings.  But it's a lot of work to experiment that much, and I wouldn't blame you if you shrugged and played somewhere else.

    As for the animals, the booming population (and accompanying routing errors) would probably drag down performance on any system.  In your position, I'd use NRaas SP to stop immigration and new pets and Register to limit the strays.  If SP is too heavy overall, you could run it on Snail and increase the lengths of the cycles for the various managers even further; I believe the Careers manager is the most demanding.  You could also use igazor's trick of pulling out the fridges in unoccupied houses: sims won't move into a house without one.

  • mw1525's avatar
    mw1525
    Seasoned Ace
    4 years ago
    @puzzleaddict - Thanks for responding. And, thank you for the insight into VRAM limitations.

    Overall, I am very happy with the way the Iris xe card (if it's really called that) is able to handle the game. My game loads and saves very fast. As I stated, I haven't encountered any major or enjoyment breaking problems.

    You may be on to something where Hidden Springs is concerned, that world is packed with trees, densely in some areas. It also is a tall world (if that makes a difference). I will have to play around with it more to get a better feel for what may be happening there.

    Where population is concerned, I pulled NRaas' story progression because I wanted to see what the game did on its own. And also, because not everyone reading this will play with mods in their game; so, I wanted my experiences to reflect what happened under normal gameplay conditions. Since I didn't have an issue running SP untuned, I will be putting it back in play once I see how the entire game plays on this integrated card.

    In the future, I will this update this thread only if I come across game breaking problems once Island Paradise & Into the Future are installed and played. For now, it handles Base through University Life (with select stuff packs) extremely well.
  • Darens-Stuff's avatar
    Darens-Stuff
    4 years ago

    Hello!

       I have just bought a new laptop that has an 11th Gen i5 with Iris Xe GPU, so might I ask for your GraphicsRules and GraphicsCards files to save me from the hassle :P 

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