OK. I'll edit this one with the results. As for the strangely numbered file, I use Delphy's tool for Sims3pack placement since I have had problems, along with many others, since the first patch using just the Sims 3 installer and it is hard to install with that things that aren't downloaded from their site. If there is a way I don't know it.

The test begins: First the removal of custom content... OK, that worked. It was back to a decent speed if not a bit faster. Now to figure out where the slow-down came from. I'll be back to edit.

EDITED: Replaced all the "package" contents and removed only the strangely named ones; example is 0x3f78e98b4b06467f925e22041e8b58e9. Ran like a dream. The only problem with this is there are 390 of them and I have no idea what the heck they are and what I'll be loosing by not using them. There are also 260+ in my Sims 3 downloads file in My Docs.

Phenom II X3 705e with 4 GB RAM and a GeForce 8500 GT with 1 GB dedicated RAM. I tried it with 2 GB of 1066 MHz first then popped in 2 more GB of 667 MHz. There was no change. Sadly I was having no issues with my duel core AMD Athlon 64 X2 and 3.5 GB 667 RAM. I thought I'd upgrade but it seems to be worse. I was hoping it was the patch but seems not. The Phenom II runs much faster other than in Sims 3.

I'm thinking of overclocking it since it can get up to 3.0 GHz from the stock 2.5 GHz. I don't want to have to. Any hints on how to get my Sims 3 fix without having to wait 5 minutes or more for every shift from place to place? Possibly reinstall and only go to the second patch?

EDITED: Oh yeah. My motherboard is a Asus M4N78 Pro if that helps.

EDITED AGAIN: I thought of this when I woke this morning. Could it be that I'm having this issue because of all the custom content I use? From patterns and clothing/hair to lots and so on. I don't understand what is supposed to go into those sub-folders other then the obvious one like "patterns". What all goes in them? Would putting the custom stuff into the sub-folders cut the wait time down. I have nearly a GB of stuff in my "packages" folder and much of it I have no idea what it even is due to the million or so random letter/number file names ones.

Has anyone but me notice a performance issue since the last patch? I'm having major slow-downs. It takes forever to load and save as well as the area taking a long time to texturize.