Community ManagerI have a gaming computer, it is not high end as others, but it does very well in performance to handle practically every expansion, stuff, game pack, and kit released for the Sims 4 (except for 4 kits still left unpurchased); not to mention other games I also have on my PC. My video and sound cards are up to date and make sure I do all I can to keep my Nvidia card running smooth.
I was excited to learn about EA wanting to do all they can to ensure better performances with the game, as I don’t like to dabble with mods to do this for my game or my PC. So, tried the DX11 with mixed results. Here’s my findings...
First, before the offer of DX11, I would notice like rjssim described, that my camera would “studder” when panning or scoping around the lot, more so usually when first entering a lot or it could continue to happen from time to time more so with a larger lot or a lot that is filled with quite a bit of game content to make it look more “lived-in” or “realistic” both indoors and outdoors.
More importantly to note, I have noticed it would be more exaggerated with my having added custom content… which was “Maxis matching” to either “complete” or “complement” items already existing in my game, like a matching chair or sofa, tables matching other tables in the game, same with plants, lighting, etc. When I removed them completely and used the following universal mods...
LittleMsSamNoSickDirtySadHungryPets.package
NoRandomSimIllness.package
NoSnapCurtainSlotOVERRIDE.package
HauntedHouseLotTraitUnlocked
My game ran much more smoothly. I even went as far as I could with my most favored custom content to get it to run more smoothly, that I removed custom thumbnails and let the game generate them which gives the PC less to read during gameplay. I removed punctuations, numbers, spaces, etc. from the names of the .package files, which is also very important. I did everything I could to ensure all content was made correctly as to avoid any game errors and while I did notice much better performance having gone that extra mile, the game still did not perform as smoothly as it would without custom content all together. And… I only limited myself to 400 or less mb of content. My computer specs still show I have plenty of space on my hard drive (over 85 Gigs) and plenty of RAM to handle the load of the games I have, plus extra fans to ensure my PC does not run too warm.
Now, with the DX11. When I run it with the camera in Sims 3 mode the bigger studdering stops, but now it has a consistent and yet gentle staggering with every move over the lot and some of the scenery and items in the game tend to look a bit more blurred?? Or better distorted as I would scroll around with the camera… making me feel a bit… queasy. But… when I change it to the Sims 4 camera mode it all looks crystal clear and runs smooth as glass. WOW!
You should also note, I currently have my game set for Window full screen on the highest setting, as this also seems to help reduce some of the studder; and while I am really impressed with how the game runs in the Sims 4 camera mode, I prefer to run my game in Sims 3 camera mode, as that is what I am most comfortable with.
I have DX12, I would prefer to see if the game can handle that more than 11 or 9. But if I had a choice currently, I find I am better off with no CC with the exceptions of what I have mentioned above and leave it back at DX9.
Hope this can be of some help to you. Thank you EA for all your wonderful games and your helping to improve our games, working with us on these issues.
