FPS limiter limiting FPS in an undesirable way after installing HELS

[Claeric]

I've used it since I got the game and never had this issue. I just spent DAYS trying to figure out what mod was causing my game to function stupidly, and only just(upon accidentally loading without FPS limiter) discovered...that it was the cause.

Sims were a bit jerky in their movements and, most notably, 3x speed made sims appear that they were skipping frames of animation. Plus, the camera moved extremely jerkily if I scrolled while in 3x mode(it's a bit jerky to begin with, anyway, because my monitor is old and has a crap refresh rate or whatever, though), and it also turned/zoomed really sluggishly.

With FPS limiter off, this does not happen. At least in trying to find broken packages I cleaned up my downloads, I guess.

What would cause this? I've been using the same settings the whole time. :\ Is it something to do with HELS?

[Slymenstra]

I did the exact same thing as you.  I went nuts trying to find the CC causing my lagginess.  I did find problems and removing or fixing the CC did help some but nothing ever took it totally away (unless I play with no CC). 

I just tried without the FPS and it does help a bit without it, but my FPS were going over 130 and my computer was whirring like crazy.  Do not want melted computer.

[Claeric]

Ha, over 130? According to FRAPS my game is rendering at 2k fps without FPS limiter.

My main way of testing bad packages is to go to map view and zoom in on a house. How fast until it loads? Zoom out and go to another, then go back tot he first one. Did the first one load faster? Or did it have to totally reload? If it reloaded, something is wrong. I was using the Wolff house to test, since it has huge windows and you can see the furniture inside. After removing packages it started to go faster, but it wa still loading all the textures over again each time. FPS limiter, oddly enough, DID seem to have an effect on that, too! It loads almost instantly every time after the first now, but with FPS limiter on, it still shows white objects for a bit each time.

[J. M. Pescado]

As a third party program, there's really nothing we can do about whatever issues you claim fpslimiter causes. All I know is that it NEVER HAPPENS TO ME, and therefore, it must be something you did. So it's up to you to choose between this, and melted computer.

[Claeric]

I dont expect you to do anything about it.

I'm looking for ways to fix it/alternatives to try/to see if anyone else has it too.

[kiki]

If your game is rendering at 2k FPS, you'll have a lump of melted down graphics card soon. FPS Limiter does give you the option of increasing or decreasing the FPS maximum, you know. If 30 is too low for you (no reason why it should be unless you're making over-bloated, stupidly high-poly pieces of crap no one in their right mind should download) then you can manually increase it but you shouldn't need to - I have a bomb-diggity graphics card (why yes, that IS the technical term) and the FPS limiter works seamlessly for me on full graphics settings.

[J. M. Pescado]

There's no real point in rendering higher than 30. The game doesn't actually render any faster, anyway.

[Claeric]

If your game is rendering at 2k FPS, you'll have a lump of melted down graphics card soon. FPS Limiter does give you the option of increasing or decreasing the FPS maximum, you know. If 30 is too low for you (no reason why it should be unless you're making over-bloated, stupidly high-poly pieces of crap no one in their right mind should download) then you can manually increase it but you shouldn't need to - I have a bomb-diggity graphics card (why yes, that IS the technical term) and the FPS limiter works seamlessly for me on full graphics settings.

Its not too low. 30 is what I've had it set at since the day I got the game. It just seems like it's not working properly anymore, post HELS installation for whatever reason. :\ It does the same at 60, too, btw.

[kiki]

If your game is rendering at 2k FPS, you'll have a lump of melted down graphics card soon. FPS Limiter does give you the option of increasing or decreasing the FPS maximum, you know. If 30 is too low for you (no reason why it should be unless you're making over-bloated, stupidly high-poly pieces of crap no one in their right mind should download) then you can manually increase it but you shouldn't need to - I have a bomb-diggity graphics card (why yes, that IS the technical term) and the FPS limiter works seamlessly for me on full graphics settings.

Its not too low. 30 is what I've had it set at since the day I got the game. It just seems like it's not working properly anymore, post HELS installation for whatever reason. :\ It does the same at 60, too, btw.

I blame tight pants then, because I have HELS and FPS works fine for me.

[Claeric]

Ugh. it's actually doing it without FPS limiter now, too. I dont know what the hell the problem is.

[Skadi]

Have you tried process monitor yet?

[Claeric]

Yeah, there are no over-loading packages at all. I also used the dashboard like crazy.

I have not tried testing over and over removing entire loads of packages but I suppose I have to now. What a pain.

But I haven't added anything since before this started. :\

And I might be going crazy, but I'm pretty sure a sim hour takes ~10-12 seconds with the TV turned off, but 16-18 with it on. >_>

Edit again:

Well. This is insane.

Removed ALL mods. Tried again. (My "trying" method here is to zoom to the map, zoom to a lot, see how fast it loads, zoom to another, zoom to another, and then try the first one again to see if it loads faster).

I am under the impression the cache gets better to a certain extent after the first time. Wehn I tested this, each and EVERY time, a few of the lots I tried would take an absolute eternity. 10+ seconds for a few. Wolff Manor(sometimes fast and sometimes slow) some tall house, a museum, some other house.

But it persisted WITH NO MODS. So I went to another town, one I made, and tried it with a few lots- a smal one with big oepnings to see the entire inside, a graveyard, a large palace, and a full decorated pool.

They all took a second to load. Here's the thing: The next test, after closing out and opening the game again, they loaded FASTER. Sunset Valley was not doing this.

So I added my mods back, a few packages at a time, and not once did it ever slow back down.

So apparently my issue is not mods. It is not corrupt packages. It is nothing like that.

It's Sunset Valley. My version of sunsest valley, for whatever reason, renders lots quite slowly, and does not seem to have a functioning, filling cache(note that I deleted it a day ago) It never gets any faster, even if I dont exit but simply go back to a house I just had loaded. It just seems plain broken.

So I suppose I'll start a new one and see what happens. It seemed to render fine and at acceptable speeds in my custom town. A huge palace loaded in an instant but tiny little wolff manor and a tiny little house would take 10x as long to fully render in sunset valley.

How disappointing.

I have now tested 3x speed and moving the camera in the custom town, and it is as it should be.

A brand new sunset valley is also as it should be! The cache seems to function properly, and things are loading just fine after being loaded once initially.

[Mosquito]

Noticed the same, lag issue as well. Don`t have HELS, but did patch to the latest version (things a guy would do just to stay awesome... ). Had a SV neighborhood since I first installed the game, and would hate to loose it.

I blame it on the patch. We all have our dashboards and compressors, don`t we? We clean out our cache files on a regular basis, right? So, the logic dictates - EAxis.

[Claeric]

Well, try a new neighborhood and test.

I really do think the watching-a-house-load method is a pretty good test, considering it makes it clear if things are loading slow and can be used to see if the cache is working properly.

[J. M. Pescado]

I blame it on the patch. We all have our dashboards and compressors, don`t we? We clean out our cache files on a regular basis, right? So, the logic dictates - EAxis.

Yes, well, it happens to you and not me, therefore, it is your fault.

[SciBirg]

From what I have read on many different boards, the system requirements have greatly increased with both WA and HELS. I had no problem playing the base game, it loaded beautifully, but with WA and HELS installed I am running into the same problems that you are. Even with no CC and a newly reinstalled game. First the sound goes buggy and then everything jerks along. But it is the same with or without FPS limiter.

If you have the possibility, try it on another computer and see what happens.

[Mosquito]

Also, a bit OT, but - I had a look at the "Options" file in My Documents/EA/TS3, and noticed that that option you could edit, which enables faster loading of textures and rendering (def. value 0, custom values 3000 & 9000) is now gone. I thought I could edit it and save me some troubles, but now that it`s gone...

[SciBirg]

Have you tried setting the in-game graphics options to the minimum? That's what I am trying next.

[Claeric]

Oh god, how could the requirements increase so much? I practically built this stupid computer for The Sims 3, dont tell me I need to upgrade already.

[SciBirg]

Tell me about it. I bought this top of the line laptop less than two years ago. At least I bought the extended warranty so I can get a new one (blu-ray player busted as well).

[Mosquito]

Joining the club - mine is less than 6 months old  >_<

[Roobs]

I bought this top of the line laptop less than two years ago.

There's your problem.

[SciBirg]

I know. It still works, though, after a fashion.

[Mosquito]

This just in - I`m a NOOB

Turns out it was the latest NRAas story progression that was causing "skippy" animations. Still staying awesome though.

You all must be SO happy for me, right?