Game guide:Multiple ways to improve The Sims 3's performance

Are you experiencing lag in your game? Does it crash frequently? Do you get the pesky Error Code 12 all the time? This guide will provide you with so many different things that you can do to fix your game and boost its performance!

Requirements

First things first: your computer has to meet the system requirements, which can be seen on the official website by clicking here.

What to do/use

3booter + FPS Limiter

J. M. Pescado at More Awesome Than You has created a useful tool called 3booter which helps the game to start up and works perfectly together with FPS Limiter.

Both these tools have to be placed in the game's folder (C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin) and can be downloaded at MATY.

• Download 3booter: http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/ts3/tools/3booter-win.zip
• Download FPS Limiter: http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/ts3/tools/fpslimit.zip

Delete files in DCBackup

Go to Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 and open the DCBackup folder. There should be a file there called ccmerged.package: keep it(!) and delete any other file that may be in that folder.

Delete cache files

In order to prevent errors, it's highly advised to delete the cache files in Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3, which are:

• CasPartCache.package
• compositorCache.package
• scriptCache.package
• simCompositorCache.package
• socialCache.package

The game will regenerate these each time it loads up so the player should always delete these files before playing.

WorldCaches (Windows only!)

Windows users only! Don't do this if you're playing on a Mac.

You can safely delete this folder. Don't worry if you don't have it: some players don't, while others do. Like the previous cache files, this one will also regenerate each time you load up the game.

Edit GraphicsRules.sgr

This can make the game run smoother and the in-game clothes changing is also faster.

Go to C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin, right-click on GraphicsRules.sgr and open it with Notepad. There should be four lines that look like this:

seti cpuLevelUber 4

seti cpuLevelHigh 3

seti cpuLevelMedium 2

seti cpuLevelLow 1

Change them to:

seti cpuLevelUber 4

seti cpuLevelHigh 3

seti cpuLevelMedium 3

seti cpuLevelLow 3

Combine your package files

If you use lots of mods, you can combine them all in a single package. This helps in decreasing load times.

Simply follow this tutorial. You will need S3PE, a free tool which can be downloaded here.

Reduce save game file sizes

Save game files can grow in size at an alarming rate, especially if you have memories enabled in your game. Large file sizes can drastically increase loading and saving times. To counter this issue, you can start by disabling memories in-game.

Once that is done, you can delete the "SNAP" and "_IMG" resources from your saved game files to reduce the size of your saved games. Follow this guide to remove them.

Installing NRaas's mods

NRaas has developed a number of mods that can help improve game performance, as well as fix several in-game issues. The most important mods include:

• Overwatch, a mod that runs in the background and fixes a large number of issues, including performing a nightly cleanup of any vehicles, televisions, and stereos in the world to improve game performance and prevent possible problems from cropping up.
• ErrorTrap, a core mod that also runs in the background and corrects any in-game errors that occur.

Resetting everything

If you install the MasterController mod, you can perform a reset on every single object in the world by going to city hall and selecting NRaas > MasterController > Town > Reset Everything. This will perform a reset on every single object in the world; all Sims will be sent home and all interactions will be cleared. This will not remove existing wishes and opportunities. The game will perform better after this option is used. It is recommended that you use this option every four to six Sim weeks, to keep your game chugging along nicely.

External links

• Game Help:Improving Sims 3 Performance - SimsWiki.Info
• Improving Sims 3 Game Performance - Thread at ModTheSims
• Tips For Better Game Performance - NRaas Industries on Wikispaces

 

This tutorial was a Featured Game guide in December 2014 - May 2015. Its layout and content is an example of excellence on The Sims Wiki.