Re: the sims 3 (64-bit & metal) release
Hello @puzzlezaddict , i appreciate your dedication on this forum and hear your arguments. But PLEASE, do never say that the current sims 3 version is running JUST FINE on windows 10. It simply isn't...
Forum Discussion
@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.
