I thought I'd also weigh in in case my experience helps anyone. I recently purchased a new comp with Windows 8.1 already pre-installed. Because of all of the issues we had running TS3 on both Windows Vista & 7, I decided to do a LOT of research to understand what settings I should alter for the TS3 to work best on W8.1, and also what "regular maintenance" actions I should take to keep my game running smoothly. It seems ridiculous that I'd even need to do all that, but it's a reality not only with TS3 but a LOT of EA's PC games.
Some things to take into consideration before I go on. I did research and purchased an off-name (non-namebrand) gaming rig. While my main needs for this system revolve around school, I also wanted it to be able to function at maximum level for almost anything I could throw at it. In addition to school, I also work from home and do a lot of web & graphic design. A gaming rig, if it can handle the highest settings for most games, should also be able to handle any graphic design software I throw at it. That being said, my system has 16GB of RAM (expandable up to 32GB), a heavy-duty graphics card and a TB of hard drive space.
That being said, here is my experience. Regardless of these fixes, TS3 doesn't seem to perform well unless you have a significant amount of RAM available for the game to access and unless you tweak your Windows settings to use and maximize that RAM. It also doesn't seem to perform well unless you DO NOT use the launcher AND perform regular game maintenance.
I experimented with removing the TMP files in the DCCACHE folder on both this new system (a desktop) and 2 older systems (both laptops, one Vista w/ 3GB of RAM and one Win 7 w/ 4GB of RAM. Also, I use cc from tsr.com in my games on all 3 systems, and LOT of it. In all 3 cases here is what I experienced. When you delete these files it does not seem to remove any of your installed cc from the game. However, they WILL regenerate when you open the launcher. It doesn't matter if you use the launcher only to install new cc or to actually launch the game. If you open the launcher for ANY reason, these files regenerate. So if you use the launcher to install cc from any source, you'll need to go back into your EA folder and delete the TMP files that have regenerated BEFORE launching the game either from the launcher or directly from the exe.
The other thing I noticed is that this action alone doesn't help to solve sluggish loading issues. What works best for me is doing this in combination with other maintenance. 2 of the biggest causes (for me) of sluggish loading were leaving things in the Downloads folder after installing (once cc is installed and you've verified installation, you DO NOT need to keep the downloads in the Downloads folder). If you want to back up your downloads that's fine, just do so somewhere else outside of the Downloads folder. The second huge cause of sluggish loading is the Featured Items folder. It ****** me off to NO END that this is now a regular part of the game. If and when I chose to purchase and install cc, I do so as a separate process rather than doing so in-game. It's not that I care to criticize EA for their merchandising and monetization efforts...after all ALL games do this in some way. What bothers me is that EA PC games are known for their constant bugs, and EA has not yet found a way to do this that doesn't hog a lot of RAM or that doesn't loading or performance issues. They take the choice of better performance out of the hands of players in favor of their own needs to make more money. There IS a way around this though, and it has dramatically decreased my loading time and in-game lag (particularly in CAS). EVERYTHING in the Featured Items folder can be deleted. It's not necessary for the game to run. The only problem is, if you are someone who does purchase cc in-game, deleting the thumbnails in the Featured Items folder means those thumbnails won't show in CAS or buy/build mode. But if you don't purchase cc in-game, then those thumbnails serve no purpose and therefore aren't needed. However, if you delete them one time and then play your game, they will regenerate. For the sake of maintenance, you'll need to delete them before each playing session or else change the write permissions of the folder so that writing isn't allowed. Then they won't regenerate regardless. I have opted for this option and it hasn't caused any problems with performance. In fact, it has seriously improved both load time and performance and significantly reduced lag time in CAS.
So recommendations for faster loading (regardless of the kind of system you have):
Purchase & install cc outside of the game
Turn off store settings in-game where possible
Delete TMP files in DCCACHE folder after each instance of opening the launcher
Delete items from "Downloads" section after installing through the launcher
Delete EVERYTHING from the Featured Items folder in the EA / TS3 folder setup
For best results, adjust write permissions to deny writing in the Featured Items folder
Launch game directly from the base game or latest expansion exe file when possible
Delete the following files before each playing session:
- CasPartCache.package
- compositorCache.package
- scriptCache.package
- simCompositorCache.package
- socialCache.package
I know a lot of this stuff has been covered on different forums and wikis across the Web, but it seems that you need to do ALL of them all the time for best results. Just deleting the TMP files in DCCache will not completely resolve slow loading issues. Better to do them all from the start then to try and cherry-pick and get confused on which ones you have or haven't done so that you can better identify the source of performance or lag issues that come up.
And last but not least, is the reality of running TS3 on any Windows machine. Despite the system requirements listed for each game / EP / SP, the nature of TS3 is that most people will at some point want to add more or different content. The reasons differ, and some will argue that it isn't necessary and that the people who install cc and mods bring their performance troubles on themselves. I guess that could be true, but well...it's amazing to me that regular people not employed by EA can create larger variety and more realistic looking styles even though they don't get paid to do so. If EA bothered to understand why people go looking for cc and update their own styles accordingly (and improve overall performance), their really wouldn't be a need for cc or mods offered outside of the official store (end rant).
The main thing to understand, though, is that for many TS3 isn't as fun or interesting if you can't install better looking content and different items that make the environment more realistic. Knowing that, it's safe to assume that a large number of players will at some point install cc or mods that come from sites other than the official store. If you are a person that does this, then you need to realize that the normal system requirements don't apply to you. You WILL need HIGHER requirements in order for your game to function at the optimal level. In my experience, having just 4GB of RAM and / or a mediocre graphics card won't cut it if you plan to purchase every single EP / SP and also add additional cc (from the store or other sources). You'll need MUCH more RAM and hard drive space, you'll need to adjust your Large Address Aware and DEP settings for EACH new EP / SP exe file AND the launcher, and you'll need to perform the above maintenance before each new playing session to minimize stress on your system. So keep that in mind as you encounter slow loading, lag, error code and crash to desktop issues. Those with older systems or systems with 4GB or less of RAM are more likely to experience these issues, as are people who don't do the regular maintenance and who use the launcher to launch the game (which, by the way, hogs RAM separate from the actual game application in the background).
Believe me, I've gone through it ALL with TS3 and have reached out to EA more times than I care to count. They only things that have really helped me get to a point where TS3 is playable for extended periods of time with minimal lag are purchasing a higher-end system with enough RAM and hard drive space to support the base game AND future EPs / SPs, cc and mods, changing LAA & DEP settings for the launcher file, base game exe and ALL EP / SP exe files, bypassing the launcher to load the game and performing the regular maintenance recommended above. My game is playable with almost no lag and for hours on end. I even left the game loaded ALL day yesterday with no lag or crashing to the desktop.
It sucks though, I know it's not possible for everyone who wants to play TS3 to get new gaming rigs despite the fact that this seems to help game performance the most. So the only recommendation I can make in that case is to explore whether you can at least add RAM to your current system. That can help in a lot of cases. If you have between 3 and 4 GB of RAM currently, see if you can expand at all. 4GB is better than nothing, but if you like to play with a lot of cc, mods and EPs / SPs you really do need more for completely uninterrupted play. If you can't expand your RAM and you can't get a new comp entirely, you may need to limit the number of EPs / SPs you purchase or the amount of cc you install, and you'll need to perform the recommended maintenance religiously. That may or may not help. Ultimately, it would be helpful if EA changed its system requirements to reflect exactly how demanding the game (and current / future EPs / SPs and cc) can be on a system. For example, if they set them needed RAM at 3 or 4 GB, it would let players know whether they might encounter performance issues better than their current recommendation of 1.5 to 2 GB of RAM.
Sorry for the long post. I just figured I'd share what I've experienced on 3 different systems with 3 different versions of Windows and doing vs. not doing certain maintenance actions. Hope it helps someone! If anyone would like personal help troubleshooting their issues, feel free to contact me. I can't guarantee that my input or suggestions will help and I'm not an employee of EA or this site, but I've gone through just about every error and performance issue that's been reported and some fixes have helped a lot. I don't take credit for the fixes themselves either. I just feel it's important to pass along useful info it if can help! I know what it's like to have a generations of sims you can't play without a crash or save error...
