The Sims 3: Island Paradise Issues - Ruins gameplay
Just sent this to an EA representative via live chat;
"I pre-ordered The Sims 3: Island Paradise on the 24th and downloaded the expansion pack yesterday and I've been experiencing multiple issues. The issues that I'm having are; - The game freezes, but animations are still working (meaning the Sim freezes, but the plumbob/snow still moves) - Also happens with The Sims 3 Pets - The game drops it's framerate for about a second then continues when on speed 3 (constantly happens every few seconds) - The game also freezes and becomes unplayable when trying to run my resort; sometimes crashes too - Jittery framerate when using edge-scrolling while on speed 3
- Burglar pathing issues on Isla Paradiso (sneaks around the house 2 times, turns around and enters the house after backtracking
Could the issue be that my Graphics card isn't supported? (Intel HD 4000). It's much better than the supported Intel GMA 4-series, therefore I shouldn't be getting any issues (the Intel HD 4000 is supported for NFS: MW 2012 and I get no issues). I've also searched these issues with the help tool, and couldn't find anything relating to these problems, although I know that many users are having the same issues. I was wondering if you know any solutions that could help with any of these issues?"
I got a few helpful suggestions, but none of them worked, one of which was trying a 'clean boot'. Disabled almost everything and had no change. I'm starting to think if it's my 'unsupported' Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics card (much better than the GMA 4-series), or if it's just a really buggy expansion pack. Pets was the same after release and that's still laggy due to the wild animals generating constantly (a mod is needed to fix this issue).
The suggestions I had from the representative were:
Change to windowed mode
Disable all running programs apart from TASKMANAGER, EXPLORER, Windows Services and Microsoft Services
Clean boot
Windowed mode changed nothing, even on a lower resolution (from 1366x768 to 1024x720).
None of them above worked. I tried deleting the cache files, deleting my saved games, putting all the graphics settings on the lowest apart from reflection - Mirrors, moving home, moving towns (helped with the animation issue), resetsim *.
I was wondering if there is any fixes for these issues because so far, nothing has seemed to work apart from move towns for one issue. I'm debating whether to remove the expansion pack temporarily until the next patch because it's causing a load of issues for me. Any help / suggestions for what to do?
Yes, your graphic chip is not good enough for this game. It's below specs. You need at least 128 MB of dedicated memory and you have only 32 MB. Even the 128 MB is too low. All integrated cards are not really made for gaming and the more expansions you add, the worse it will get.
I'm also unsure if you turned off mirror reflections or not. You should
------------------ System Information ------------------ Time of this report: 6/29/2013, 14:20:52 Machine name: COMPUTER Operating System: Windows 8 64-bit (6.2, Build 9200) (9200.win8_gdr.130410-1505) Language: English (Regional Setting: English) System Manufacturer: TOSHIBA System Model: SATELLITE C855-2EU BIOS: 6.50 Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3230M CPU @ 2.60GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.6GHz Memory: 8192MB RAM Available OS Memory: 8076MB RAM Page File: 2468MB used, 6822MB available Windows Dir: C:\windows DirectX Version: DirectX 11 DX Setup Parameters: Not found User DPI Setting: Using System DPI System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent) DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled DxDiag Version: 6.02.9200.16384 64bit Unicode
------------ DxDiag Notes ------------ Display Tab 1: No problems found. Sound Tab 1: No problems found. Input Tab: No problems found.
I too am experiencing huge pathing issues in my resort - even with a small sized resort, sims are having pathing issues every few seconds. I'm also experiencing the glitchy framerate every few seconds.
Even the 'overwatch' mod doesn't solve any of the issues, just makes the game lagg more. I'm starting to think whether the team have even put in a decent amount of effort into this expansion pack; hopefully there will be an update soon that fixes many, if not some of the issues that many of the users are having.
Yes, your graphic chip is not good enough for this game. It's below specs. You need at least 128 MB of dedicated memory and you have only 32 MB. Even the 128 MB is too low. All integrated cards are not really made for gaming and the more expansions you add, the worse it will get.
I'm also unsure if you turned off mirror reflections or not. You should
I know that it only has 32mb dedicated (has 2GB vram available for use), but The Sims 3 along with any expansion runs fine on an older Intel Pentium chipwith Intel HD Graphics, which has specs that are even worse than my laptops current specs, also I experience less lag when I use The Sims 3: Showtime world, Starlight Shores.
I'm glad it's not my Laptop, how ever upon doing the 'clean boot' suggestion, it's caused many services to stop and refuse to start again even though I've attempted started them manually, enabled them in MSCONFIG and enabled all start up program's. unfortunatly I'm going to have to restore my laptop for the 1st time via recovery media. I've removed all of my expansions and stuff packs and still not getting steady frame rates, even with enabling vertical sync via the Intel Control Panel. I'm starting to think the same about what EA are doing to the sims. Sorry to hear you are experiencing the same issues as me and many other users too; we all seem to have been ignored by EA for the past 1-2 years. They can't seem to fix the bugs that have been plauging the sims more or less since release. The new expansion was rushed, just like many others at their release (Pets and Showtime), and I think the update was rushed too. Hopefully they'll release a patch within the next month or so to fix the issues. I don't know if I'll buy the sims 4, I've been a huge fan of the sims since I got 'The Sims 2' on PS2, got almost every expansion and stuff pack for the sims 3. All that's gone to waste now (over £200). The sims 4 has to be a huge improvement over the sims 3 with added support for VRam and more graphics cards for those with low-mid range PCs, it's just not fair.
I too am experiencing the freezing and just pure craziness of playing this new expansion pack. I am so frustrated with EA. I'm wondering if I should uninstall Island Paradise and re-install to see if it fixes itself. I don't know I want to go deep sea diving.. LOL Been Sim fan since the Beginning, got all the games. Hopefully they will get the message and send out a patch soon.... ☹️
I think the freezing / crashes are affecting everyone who has the expansion pack. I've removed all of my expansion / stuff packs and just left the base game installed to see if that has made a difference, and it has (a little). I didn't even get to go diving or run my own resort, only managed to purchase a house for my sim and I gave up because it was unplayable. They shouldn't rush these expansion packs, they should put more time and more effort into them. 😕mileysad:. Going to replace Windows 8 with Windows 7 to see if that makes a difference because The Sims 3 doesn't say in any way that it's compatible with Windows 8 in any way shape or form, but it works to some extension.
Right People I also Have a Problem With Freezing and Lagging . Since Ive installed island paradise my Frame Rates stay high but it lags like a monkeys arse ., anyway I can play on any other town fine without the lag. Now I think this game was rushed just like sunset valley this world is also cursed with that lagging but . moonlight falls ,. twinbrook riverview , Bridgeport and the pets world ,. NO problems there what so ever . make me wonder the sims 3 team have become more and more lazy
