The Horror...

[Elektro Guy]

I've reached my wits end trying to fix this annoying problem.  It terrorizes me enough sometimes that I'm about ready to throw this game in the fireplace and call it good.

I've got a high end computer system (a $400 video card...what more do you need to know?), yet I'm cursed with stuttering issues when I move the camera around.  It's not a constant stutter...like, there'll be smooth movement, and then a stutter, and then smooth movement again.  Moving the camera in Build and Buy mode is smooth (mostly), but in Live mode, when the game is paused it's least noticeable, and when the game is on normal time it's alot more noticeable.  I won't get started on fast forward time.  There are brief, laggy moments, but I won't get into that either.

I've tried everything in my tech savvy power to eliminate this annoying problem.  The camera shouldn't be stuttering like this...it doesn't happen in other games I have that run smooth as silk, but this one's plagued with choppiness.  Yes I really have tried alot of things.  Checking, monitoring, decrapifying, compressing, merging with all kinds of programs that aren't meant to have to make a game run for Christ's sake!  It doesn't have anything to do with official or unofficial custom content because I've installed and run a new save with just this game and its expansions on another computer (with basically the same specs as mine), and the camera still does its evil little thing that annoys the hell out of me.  Sometimes it will make the game unplayable...like, when I'm laying a bunch of pre-built houses (game ones) down in the hood.  Then a Sim day or two later I'll get assaulted by this constant stuttery lag bullshit and I'll have to load a previous save to get things more, err, back to normal...

Why does this stutter happen?  Anyone else have issues with it?  Any suggestions on what to do to maybe fix the problem?  Or is it because The Sims 3 is just a poorly coded game and should be banished to hell, never to return?  Curses, EAxis!

I wouldn't have brought this up, but it really does bug me when a game should be performing well on a system like mine, and it doesn't.  I'm just looking for a miracle I guess.   

[myskaal]

We all keep hoping for that miracle. We all keep hanging onto the hope, with every "fresh new hood and a brand new install" THIS will be the one that doesn't stutter/freeze/chop/blue screen/error code/hang/general borkedness/EIAFBVFS.

In essence: Computer specs really don't seem to make any bit of difference (by perusal of the many different specs listed in the multiples of threads covering these issues). The game runs like crap. It's how it was built.

This forum exists. I brought coffee.

Working in my latest "spankin fresh hood" atm.

[Tever]

If you have a lot of custom content, including store stuff, merging it all into just a few files might help some. But yeah, like the above guy said. It's just part of the Sims 3 experience.

[AloeOwl]

I've reached my wits end trying to fix this annoying problem.  It terrorizes me enough sometimes that I'm about ready to throw this game in the fireplace and call it good.

I've got a high end computer system (a $400 video card...what more do you need to know?), yet I'm cursed with stuttering issues when I move the camera around.  It's not a constant stutter...like, there'll be smooth movement, and then a stutter, and then smooth movement again.  Moving the camera in Build and Buy mode is smooth (mostly), but in Live mode, when the game is paused it's least noticeable, and when the game is on normal time it's alot more noticeable.  I won't get started on fast forward time.  There are brief, laggy moments, but I won't get into that either.

I've tried everything in my tech savvy power to eliminate this annoying problem.  The camera shouldn't be stuttering like this...it doesn't happen in other games I have that run smooth as silk, but this one's plagued with choppiness.  Yes I really have tried alot of things.  Checking, monitoring, decrapifying, compressing, merging with all kinds of programs that aren't meant to have to make a game run for Christ's sake!  It doesn't have anything to do with official or unofficial custom content because I've installed and run a new save with just this game and its expansions on another computer (with basically the same specs as mine), and the camera still does its evil little thing that annoys the hell out of me.  Sometimes it will make the game unplayable...like, when I'm laying a bunch of pre-built houses (game ones) down in the hood.  Then a Sim day or two later I'll get assaulted by this constant stuttery lag bullshit and I'll have to load a previous save to get things more, err, back to normal...

Why does this stutter happen?  Anyone else have issues with it?  Any suggestions on what to do to maybe fix the problem?  Or is it because The Sims 3 is just a poorly coded game and should be banished to hell, never to return?  Curses, EAxis!

I wouldn't have brought this up, but it really does bug me when a game should be performing well on a system like mine, and it doesn't.  I'm just looking for a miracle I guess.   

Just a quick question: Are you using the FPS limiter? If you are you should check what level it's at when playing.

I seem to be having the same stupid issue as you are. For anyone else that might be able to help, I have my FPS at 30 (Which should be more than enough) but when I start moving around, it goes down to 10-20 and because of the screwed laws of physics we see the game as jerky. I tried moving the FPS up to something like 50 to see if it decreased a specific amount of numbers, in hope of it decreasing to something like 30, but it went back down to 10-20!

I don't know what to do. I don't have much cc (Around 160 files, which might seem like a lot but it actually isn't) but the game does the same thing even without any cc; and my graphics options are on a medium level, enough for my game to run very well. The FPS just goes down randomly by itself!

I know the game is built that way but there must be something we can do about it. Additionally, the game itself is slow too, like loading times take a hell of a lot of time. Elektro Guy, are you having the same issue with loading times?

Deleting the cache files seem to worsen the speed since the game has to reload all the thumbnails and such. So I don't think it's a cache issue.
What do you guys think?

[J. M. Pescado]

If your frame rate drops below 30, FPSlimiter no longer does anything as your computer is already maxed out, and therefore does not need to be limited. If this is happening regularly, you don't need it at all because your computer is inadequate for running it under the current conditions anyway.

[AloeOwl]

If your frame rate drops below 30, FPSlimiter no longer does anything as your computer is already maxed out, and therefore does not need to be limited. If this is happening regularly, you don't need it at all because your computer is inadequate for running it under the current conditions anyway.

So you're saying the FPS limiter is the culprit here? If so, I'll try and remove it to see if the FPS stays at 30.

EDIT: The only thing I'm worried about is if my computer goes too high on its FPS Is there a way to edit the FPSlimiter to reduce its effect on the FPS??

[Rockermonkey]

Turn down High Detail Lots. That's the one setting that I had to have on the lowest on my computer (can't play atm, PSU is screwed).
I'd recommend keeping the frame limiter in, without it you'll still go in the hundreds and it will have the same dips in gameplay. At least this is how it was for me, basically if the 30 drops to 26 or so, it would've dropped in the same way without it. Your computer will hold it at 30 until it can't, or it's loading a new lot etc. When I had detail lots on it would dip to 20 for a second and then pop back up, it just annoyed me so I can live without it.
Other then that, how much hairs do you have? While it may not seem like a lot, there are high poly hairs out there that CAN slow the game to a crawl.

[AloeOwl]

I know you were talking to the OP, but I have lot detail at 1 (The lowest). My FPS decreases similar to yours but mine goes much lower and also randomly, like when I'm rotating the camera a lot.

I tried taking out the FPSlimiter, all that did was make the game even jerkier, and it brought back the grainy screen issue and the dreaded noon and midnight freezes back to life! I'm sticking with FPSlimiter.

Oh, and I do have the store hairs and one custom hair for men. But the lag is everywhere, even when I play default townies with NO cc.

[Rockermonkey]

I know you were talking to the OP, but I have lot detail at 1 (The lowest). My FPS decreases similar to yours but mine goes much lower and also randomly, like when I'm rotating the camera a lot.

I tried taking out the FPSlimiter, all that did was make the game even jerkier, and it brought back the grainy screen issue and the dreaded noon and midnight freezes back to life! I'm sticking with FPSlimiter.

Oh, and I do have the store hairs and one custom hair for men. But the lag is everywhere, even when I play default townies with NO cc.

Hmm...What's your specs?
You may have to turn your graphics lower, turn off Advanced Rendering if it's on and see if that works.

[AloeOwl]

I know you were talking to the OP, but I have lot detail at 1 (The lowest). My FPS decreases similar to yours but mine goes much lower and also randomly, like when I'm rotating the camera a lot.

I tried taking out the FPSlimiter, all that did was make the game even jerkier, and it brought back the grainy screen issue and the dreaded noon and midnight freezes back to life! I'm sticking with FPSlimiter.

Oh, and I do have the store hairs and one custom hair for men. But the lag is everywhere, even when I play default townies with NO cc.

Hmm...What's your specs?
You may have to turn your graphics lower, turn off Advanced Rendering if it's on and see if that works.

I know someone might slap me when I say I'm playing on a laptop, but in my defense my PC is shitty dust, literally.
I have a Nvidia Ge-Force 8600 GT Graphics card.
2.00 GB of RAM.
2.20 GHz Processor.
Vista (I know, it sucks) I'm getting Windows 7 soon.
I'll try disabling Advanced Rendering and see if it helps.

I've played the game with perfect performance before with even more cc. The patches ruined it for me.

[Elektro Guy]

My load times are fine.  The game loads in a couple minutes.  And I use a program that's very similar to FPS Limiter.  FPSL is basically just a program that forces what's called V-Sync on a video card to lower framerate.  I have a program that uses V-Sync and Triple Buffering (I won't get into that), so I get around 60 frames per second instead of 30 with FPSL...which my rig can more than handle.  Even without this program I'll get the stuttery camera...

Again, I know first hand that my CC is not what's causing the problem.

I've tried isolating this issue to the umpteenth degree, but I realize now that it's something I'll just have to deal with.

[Rockermonkey]

I don't see why your having those issues, I have the same amount of memory and your processor meets the requirements, I also have Vista. My game ran perfect on med/low settings when I had a Nvidia 6150, so I really don't get what's wrong with your game. As of right now I have a 9600gt and was able to play on full settings before my psu commited suicide, except for detail lots.
Advanced Rendering does slow things down quite a bit sometimes, so I hope that helps you at least a little bit.

[sewinglady]

Well even with my computer specs, in order to play without lag and choppiness, I've had to reduce the draw distance and lot detail.

Where I see the most improvement with the lot detail down is in build/buy mode - the game doesn't stop and re-render the neighboring lots every time I rotate the camera - well it does, but only one lot, instead of 4 or 5.

As for the draw distance - I never had a problem when I was running the base game on 64 bit XP pro...but when hubby switched me to Windows 7 (and now I'm playing the game on a 32 bit XP partition and still having problems). So more and more I think the problems we experience with lag, choppiness, hurry up and wait (in CAS mode, infuriates the crap out of me that the game has to 'touch' every single thumbnail every single time instead of keeping the damn things loaded once it's 'touched' them once). Anyway...it's the game. And we either put up, or don't play.  And, I've gone for more than a week of not playing just because I don't want to deal with the laggy, choppy thing (okay, to be fair, sometimes real life is just more important than pixelated people).

[The_Goddess]

(okay, to be fair, sometimes real life is just more important than pixelated people).

Bite your tongue. 
Stupid suggestion… 
Have you tried turning off all unnecessary background apps before starting the game?

[jezzer]

I had the exact same thing happening with me, but in my case it was a borked save file, and you've already said you've tried running a fresh install with a new save.  Do you think it could perhaps be a video driver issue?

[sewinglady]

(okay, to be fair, sometimes real life is just more important than pixelated people).

Bite your tongue.  
Stupid suggestion…  
Have you tried turning off all unnecessary background apps before starting the game?

There are no "unnecessary apps" on the XP partition. It exists solely to play the game. It's on it's own hard drive as well, not a partition of a larger drive.  I suppose I could shut down some of the MS gobbledygook that runs in the background all the time, but since it's a bare bones load, I'm not sure there's all that much there to begin with.

[Rockermonkey]

Well you could try as I said before and turn detail lots to 1. I personally never noticed it, I feel that setting is just a waste of resources. I've never had an issue with view distance though, I play in an almost birds eye view angle so maybe that's why. But the only way to stop the whole 'lots loading constantly' thing is by turning it to 1, which I recommend.

[The_Goddess]

 I suppose I could shut down some of the MS gobbledygook that runs in the background all the time, but since it's a bare bones load, I'm not sure there's all that much there to begin with.

You'd be surprised how much gobbledygook MS puts in there.  It certainly couldn't hurt to try playing the game without all of that junk running in the background. 

[Elektro Guy]

I've got 26 processes running in Windoze 7 when I'm gaming.  I built this system for gaming.  You'd be surprised how many tricks I've got up my sleeve to make a computer run video games with all the detail set to high.  Anyways, resources aren't an issue.  Nothing is really hogging up processor power or memory when I'm in gaming mode.

I don't have a problem with lot detail for some reason...as long as I don't set it past 4.  Whether it's at 4 or 1, I still get a stutter issue.  I just set the draw distance from high to low a moment ago, and there seems to be an improvement in performance so the stutter isn't annoying or troublesome anymore, and I don't really notice any crappy graphics anywhere with the setting on low since I play with the camera looking down at my Sims at an angle.  I don't see how anyone could play with advanced rendering turned off.  That just makes the game butt ugly.  So if you've got a shitty computer, you gotta do what you gotta do...but I kinda feel sorry for you.

Also, I notice that everytime I clear caches for the game, it'll start stuttering more with camera movements.  I think I'm going to leave caches alone as I don't see a reason to delete them really...

I'm setting a few homes down in my hood at a time now hoping I don't run into some kind of stuttery lag bullshit that will appear out of the blue.  I never know what's going to start fucking around with my game, and I'll probably never totally get rid of the stutter because, well...The Sims 3 is really a poorly developed game.  I don't know what kind of game engine or code EAxis is using to run this fucker, but it sucks real bad.  What a joke.

P.S. My video card drivers aren't the issue.

[Tever]

Deleting the caches helps when you download or delete default replacements, like skins. The previous defaults are stored in simCompositor, and you can't sometimes can't see the replacement until you delete it. I think there's a few other times when it's useful to do, but I don't know what they are. The increased slow down is because the game has to rebuild them whenever you delete them. So yeah, don't bother unless you have a good reason.