I just realized there are 2 lines for frame rate in the config. And I hadn't tried setting the config to read-only (duh), so I set both to 60 then made the file read-only.

Here's what happened: the neighborhood/world screen mostly was up around 200 fps. Lots ran 50-90, but I saw an occasional 100-105. Zooming out while on a lot often reduced fps. CAS seemed to run 130-170, but the numbers were right over a portrait and I had a hard time reading them. The config did not get overwritten, but changing it didn't seem to do much.

I'm not overly concerned, since the fps is reasonable while playing lots, which is what I mostly do. But I will try to figure out vsync, to be on the safe side. TS3 fried my old computer because I thought I was using the FPS limiter for months, when it turned out I hadn't correctly installed it. I learned my lesson.

Edit: I'm an idiot. There's a checkbox for vsync in the game's graphical options. Ticked the box, and now I'm at 60 fps, which is my refresh rate. Yays.

Sadly, this didn't work for me - I just tried it twice, and both times the game went higher than my adjusted setting. When I checked the config file, it had reverted back to 200.

FPS limiter stopped working for me once. Have you already tried deleting 3Booter, FPS limiter and your desktop shortcut, then redownloading them, reinstalling and creating a new shortcut? Sounds like voodoo, but it did the trick for me.

Also, the F10 thing doesn't always work with my game, even when FPS limiter is working. I use the 'fps on' cheat at the menu screen if I feel the urge to check fps, and sure enough, it'll be capped at 30.

+1 to the Asus brand recommendation as a worthwhile gaming laptop. I bought the G60JX last year and as long as I use FPS limiter I have very little lag in TS3. Load time in my 4th-generation legacy world (MSR's Plum Grove) is now up to a few minutes, but once loaded it still plays well. Sometimes I see the blocky white textures when I first load a lot, but they resolve quickly and overall I'm not pounding my head against my desk from impatience.

Heat is an issue, but again, using FPS limiter and quitting after 1-2 hours and allowing the computer to rest keeps it under control. I know a laptop fan will help, but I keep forgetting to get one. I also generally use my laptop placed on a hard surface with it elevated in the back, which alleviates some of the heating issues.

All EPs and SPs installed, nearly all store content, and nearly 700MB of user CC (merged and kept under 100 files total). I play with most graphic settings on high or very high, although I limit my high detail lots to 1.

Basic computer specs (thank you, Speccy):
OS: Win 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Processor: Intel Core i5 @ 2.27GHz
RAM: 4.0GB @ 533MHz
Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 360M
Hard drive: 488GB Seagate ST9500420AS (SATA)

You can has my US$20. I wish I could give more, but I don't have much breathing room in my budget.

I was playing in CAS a bit, and noticed that the voice pitch slider is broken. The 3 voice buttons change the voice, but sliding the bar up and down doesn't make the voice go higher or lower. I pulled all my CC (except for NoCD and nointro) and cleared caches, to no effect. Is anyone else having the same problem?

Patched to 1.22, Generations installed.

I was playing a fireman today in Twinbrook and got a call to put out a large house fire at one of the houses by the water with those one-square foundation supports. Had my sim put out fires and rescue folks, and when I got to the end I realized that there was a remaining fire *inside* the foundation.

The sim couldn't route to the fire to extinguish it (queue-dropped), and deleting it in debug mode did not register in the progress box, presumably because it was the last bit of fire on the lot. I also couldn't delete the square of foundation- maybe because of the fire, maybe because the flooring above it was covered in ash from fires that had already been extinguished.

I didn't want to get a failing score, so I just quit without saving. Pure EA bork: fire should not be permitted to spawn in or spread to unroutable areas.

Not for me. I have played a stylist up to level 4 or so, and all but maybe one makeover was liked by the client. The one that didn't like it was one that I solicited without having a specific job for it, when the stylist was still at level 1. All the contracted jobs ("New Baby, New Look," for example) have gone well.

However, I hate the way it queues up the "Take Photo" interaction immediately after the job completes. With my lagtastic game and its choppy camera movement, I can never get a good shot - it's usually just a tiny picture of the client's back. Maybe it's not technically borked, but it's damned annoying. I keep forgetting to try it with a WA camera in the stylist's inventory.

Anytime I load up SV, the compositorCache.package and simCompositorCache.package files (located in My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3) balloon in size. If I delete them and play other worlds, those files never get larger than 1-2 KB. Once I noticed this, I inferred that SV was caching there.

I'm no Pescado, but it's worth mentioning that removing or altering stuff in Program Files often breaks installation of patches and EPs/SPs. I prefer keeping that massive file in place and deleting those two caches if I want/need to clear SV's cache. Interesting stuff, though.

Protip: decrapify downloaded houses before installing them.

I got the Runway Riot set - a download link will be available soon.

Edit - new link, much smaller file size thanks to 7-zip.

Runway Riot full set, not compressorized or decrapified - DOWNLOAD

I just wanted to share an issue, and how I worked around it in case it's helpful to others.

Yesterday, I went to add the bow shoes posted in the Store thread in Pudding. I was surprised to see the Service Initiation Failed error message, when I had installed all the new sets (Goth, Old Town, etc.) without any problems just the day before. As a test, I removed my .dbc files from the DCCache folder, and the pack installed just fine, creating a new dcdb0.dbc file.

I surmised that the hacked launcher, for some reason or other, didn't like my original dcdb0.dbc package anymore. Since I had two others (dcdb1.dbc and dcdb2.dbc), I renamed one of them to dcdb0.dbc and put it in the DCCache folder (first deleting the test .dbc file). The pack installed successfully, appending onto the .dbc file as I had hoped. Then I renamed it back to its original name and put all the files together as before. Checked content in game, and everything is good to go.

I don't know how well this fix will scale, so I'm planning on installing in batches, and holding one-offs for the next batch in case all my .dbc files become unreadable by the launcher and I have to let it make a new one. But if you're getting that error message, you can try testing clean like I did - if it installs, then maybe this workaround will work for you, too.

Maybe it's a feature of AwesomeMod, but they have been getting food buffs in my game when I use the high chair and select to feed them a high-quality meal. However, this can be really time-consuming between all the toddler docking problems and the time needed to put the food through the processor. I generally use bottles when time is critical and/or I'm not in the mood to deal with it.

I had this problem in one of my households, and it was because the front door hadn't been set. Once I set the front door, the babysitter was able to come inside the house. He still didn't do a stellar job of taking care of the baby, though, and I had to drag motives up.

I've found that my preferred method is to always have 1 or 2 unoccupied homes that are very basic and cheap, but have about 6 beds and 2 cribs. Once I have a few homeless families, I use runstoryaction to get a family on a lot where I can actually see them. After a family's placed I take a look at the demographics, adjust funds if I'm so inclined, and evict and move them to more suitable digs.

There are 2 reasons I prefer this method. First, the families ultimately get placed in homes that fit their demographics (3 adults with unique last names need different accommodations than a married couple with a toddler). Second, my cheap move-in lots are always ready for the next homeless family that comes along. Sometimes Story Progression moves them into those lots for me, but that's pretty rare in my experience so far.

Here are 5 of the YA/A female outfits. These are untouched from download, so you may need to run them through the s3rc tool for them to work.

afbodyclassjacket34sleeve - Jackie Oh My Suit
http://www.mediafire.com/?zyniwwmmgnc

afbodyclasssuitskirt - 5th Avenue
http://www.mediafire.com/?qiumzy3mdjh

afbodyclassdressballet - Belle
http://www.mediafire.com/?m5moaxndydq

afbodyclassdressbackless - Siren
http://www.mediafire.com/?zoog3nmmnne

afbodyclasscoatpantsshirt - The Octane Suit - new download link for working file; this one has already been run through s3rc
http://www.mediafire.com/?ozqyztnmzmm

Awesome - already have 3 of the smaller families moved in, so now I just need some affordable housing for the larger families. Thanks!

True, but I have affordable housing available - not enough for all of them to immediately move in, but there are at least half a dozen houses under the 20K level. And no one's moving into them, even after 2-3 weeks. Hopefully I can figure out the undocumented shiny - thanks for the heads up there.

Okay, then - thanks for trying it out. It's good to hear that it's not just me - the quote in my signature says it all. Not to get off-topic, but is there any way to deal with homeless sim families, besides befriending, asking to move in, and kicking out?

Yes - for example, runstoryaction MoveInHousehold. When that didn't work, I tried adding in family names, lot names, using single quotes, double quotes, <>, etc. When I tried runstoryaction Create and Move In, it did not work - the error message said it could not be validated.

I have almost everything enabled in my Awesomemod config. The only things not enabled are robotic hand of God, censors, TS2 aging, 12 woohoo, and the CAS slider scale. Any ideas? I can load the game later and take some screenshots, if that would be helpful.

I prefer to keep Story Progression on, but I'm really getting annoyed with homeless families. Even with Awesomemod, I have 8 homeless families (not including the "NPC" family) that are basically untouchable. I don't like sims existing in the ether - I want them where I can see them and move them around as I desire.


I've tried playing with the commands above, but it seems no matter what syntax I use, or where it's used (either Edit Town, or with a family lot loaded), I get "Fail!" messages. Has anyone been able to get them to work?

I have the retail version, and the patch Pescado posted worked perfectly for me.

I also like Pack Peeper, if only because the acronym is PP. My juvenile humor, let me show you it.

Actually, I found the default families and houses located in this folder:


I removed the families (Martinez, etc.) from this folder a couple days ago, so only the families I build in CAS are in the library now. I haven't noticed any issues with the game, but YMMV.

I haven't found a shortcut for loading all food at once (grr), but if you click on the top left corner of the inventory item, it will select the entire stack.