Re: the sims 3 (64-bit & metal) release

@Niklachn  Sims 3 runs perfectly well in Windows 10.  It does not run perfectly well on lower-end hardware that doesn't have the capacity to perform the tasks the game asks of it.  There are plenty of issues with how the game runs on various configurations, but the software is not the problem.  And the 32-bit limit is annoying but can be effectively managed, unlike with macOS Catalina where the game won't even open.

People can make the reasonable claim that Sims 3 should have been better optimized for lower-end systems, and it's unfortunate that it wasn't, or more accurately that it sort of was in the beginning but wasn't at all by the time the game was out of development.  Whether the game itself has bugs is an entirely different matter, but as it runs now, it's entirely possible to play well on a mid-range system even without any mods to help.  This is not speculation on my part or some sweeping generalization; this reflects the reported experiences of many people currently playing now.

I could list a dozen reasons why people with sufficiently strong hardware would have trouble running Sims 3 that have nothing to do with the game being broken and not have anything close to a complete list.  (I'd start with all the players who don't bother to use an fps limiter.)  But the point is not that various other system issues and some user error account for so many of the reported complaints.  It's that other than weak hardware, those issues can usually be addressed, if the player has a bit of patience.  And when those issues are addressed, the game runs quite well.

It should also be noted that updating Sims 3 to be 64-bit in Windows wouldn't do anything to address most of the reported issues.  All it would do is allow the game to use more memory, which while useful, would only prevent one specific problem: crashes due to hitting the RAM limit.  Most people who report consistent lag are not dealing with the RAM limit but rather issues that are entirely unrelated.  If you're not sure what you're seeing, check memory use while you're playing.  A new save in a default world shouldn't use more than about 2 GB RAM even with all packs installed, so if it lags then, it's still going to lag in 64-bit.

This is a thread about when the 64-bit update for Sims 3 is coming to macOS.  If you'd like to talk about the Windows version, there's a PC tech section, and of course you can ask for troubleshooting help there.

@G4mer_br22  As noted above, the game does work well in Windows.  It doesn't work well on low-end systems.  There's a difference.

Weeeell, nice try at the end to send me away from here. But it seems a bit like a joke. I am absolutely not a beginner regarding optimizing the game. My computer is brand new. Should I remind you the game came out in 2009? Even an actual Nasa computer would'nt run it well, would it be a windows pc or a 32bit Macintosh...Of course i have tried limiting the fps, make the game use my graphic card instead of the chipset. I have tried EVERY bit of advice you can find on the internet. But still, even if the game runs well at the beginning, it always manages to slow down drastically after a few minutes playing. And I am NOT the only one. Good for you if the game works. Also my pc is FAR from low end. You see, the Sims 4 runs like a charm on my computer compared to TS3. So thank you, but no, TS3 does not run as it should.

@Niklachn  A few thoughts:

• Is your fps actuallly being limited, as confirmed in-game?
• How much free storage is on each drive?
• Are your drivers updated?
• Have you tried disabling all the bloatware that may have come with your brand new computer?
• Have you tried playing while your computer is offline?  This tests for a number of issues.
• What world(s) are you playing in?
• Are you using mods or custom content, and have you tested without?
• And most importantly:  What are your specs?

That's just off the top of my head, without seeing a dxdiag.

Again, I'm not making this up.  Sims 3 runs great for me on multiple (newer) systems with completely different configurations, with no interventions other than the fps limiter.  So do many other people on a wide variety of hardware, as I've seen from their dxdiags and their reports of how the game is running once this or that issue has been addressed.

Finally, you keep saying the game doesn't run well on your computer, but why are you so convinced that a 64-bit version would run better?  Unless the reason the game isn't working correctly is that it's using ~3.5 GB memory as soon as it loads, then allowing it to use more RAM won't have any effect.  And putting aside the broken default version of Isla Paradiso, no EA world uses anywhere near that much memory in a new save.

I've split these posts into their own thread in the PC tech section, since this is clearly a PC tech issue and not related to the coming Mac update.