Super Slow CAS

[Magicmoon]

When I first enter CAS it behaves normally, but after about 10 minutes it starts to drag. Now, when I say drag, I mean really, really, slow. It takes about 10-20 seconds to change any item, whether it be lipstick, hairstyles, or age of sim. The only thing that is not slow is changing skin color.

I am aware that new items that haven't been clicked on before will take a little longer to load in. But this isn't the case. Everything will be going along smoothly then all of a sudden it gets so slow I want to pull my hair out. Then occasionally, the speed will return to normal, but never for very long. I can click on about 6 items and then it will start dragging again. Leaving CAS and then returning helps sometimes, but usually it is only normal speed for a few minutes and then will start dragging again.

The lots sometimes do this as well. Normally I get slowdowns when there are over 15 sims on a large lot or there are a lot of outdoor lights after dark. But sometimes it gets real slow on the lot even if I clear off all of the visitors. Even increasing the speed doesn't help. Outdoor lights always slow me down after dark. Lots that have a lot of outdoor lights are pretty much unplayable, especially if the dragging starts. Leaving the lot and returning doesn't help, but leaving the lot and playing another one before returning usually makes the first lot run at normal speed again.

I don't have any background programs running, and yes, I am aware of all of the programs that tend to run in the background and changed the registry so that they don't start-up on Windows load. I have a gig of RAM and 256MB on the video card. The hard drive is well organized and defragged regularly (NTFS). The drive is free of spyware and viruses.

The only program that doesn't completely remove itself from memory is AVG virus scan. I can disable the main part of the program, but have found that it stays in memory as it will scan my mail even if I forget to turn it back on. But at least it doesn't update or run scans while disabled.

I've run the hack scanner and checked for duplicates dozens of times since the problem began, so I don't think anything there is a problem. Besides, I can't think of any hacks that would slow down CAS . I don't have any custom CAS screens or anthing of that nature.

I cannot find any common thread for this problem. I have different items on different lots and different clothing, hairstyles, and genders that are clicked on in CAS before the problem begins.

Any ideas?

[DrBeast]

Hm...sudden slowdowns on a machine with adequate RAM and no particularly memory-demanding applications running in the background...I think this is well worth breaking my 666 post count to reply to! 

For starters, can you tell us the processor type and graphics card? Also, knowing your power supply unit (brand and Wattage output) will help. I think this may be either an overheating issue or inadequate power supply...or both.

[Magicmoon]

The processor is a little slower than I would like: AMD Athlon XP 3200. I can't pull my computer out to check the power supply, but I built this computer myself and I believe that I used a 450 watt power supply.

But I don't think that's the answer because I don't get these random slowdowns running other programs. Civ4 across LAN for example should suck more out of my machine than Sims2, but maybe it just appears that way.

I keep wondering if a mod is "looping" and thus causing the slowdowns, but CAS slowdown problems happen much more often than game playing slowdowns. CAS is pretty much guaranteed to come to a crawl after using it for more than 10-15 minutes whereas I can play the actual game for hours, or even days between slowdowns.

This may sound stupid, but is it possible that there is a problem with the cache? I have to delete groups.cache almost every other day because of corruption. The game ran for about 3 months before I ran across the corrupted cache file / game won't load problem  for the first time, so why do I need to delete it so often now? That would also explain why CAS runs smoothly at first and then chokes. But even if that is the problem, I don't know what to do about it.

[J. M. Pescado]

When I first enter CAS it behaves normally, but after about 10 minutes it starts to drag. Now, when I say drag, I mean really, really, slow. It takes about 10-20 seconds to change any item, whether it be lipstick, hairstyles, or age of sim. The only thing that is not slow is changing skin color.

How many RAMs do you have, and how much custom crap do you have? As a rule, the amount of custom crap should not exceed about half the amount of RAMs you have, or things will chug.

[Magicmoon]

My download folder is 1.8 GB and I have a GB of RAM.  So I guess that I really exceeded that limit.

But where did you get that figure? If all the items aren't in use at once they shouldn't be in the memory, should they?

I'll cut back on the CC and see if it helps.

Wow....I was just handed OFB as a gift. I guess I'll spend the weekend updating all my mods and trying to figure out what new ones I need to add. So does this mean I am about to make it all worse until I buy more RAM? 

But wait...if RAM is the problem, shouldn't I be pushing the limit when the game is running? I seem to be using only 1/2 to 2/3 of the available memory while the game is running.

[J. M. Pescado]

Don't forget that Windoze takes up half your RAM, so if you're seeing 1/2 to 2/3s of it in use, you're running over the line already.

[Magicmoon]

Well, I meant total. Windows and Sims both running.

[J. M. Pescado]

Well, I meant total. Windows and Sims both running.

Windoze has this habit of hiding its system resource usage.

[laeshanin]

So 1GB ram isn't really big enough? How very tedious when I bought this machine specifically for running the goddamn sims! Just how much fucking memory does this whore of a game require, then?

[jrd]

1GB should be enough provided you have a T&L capable videocard with at least 64MB of RAM (as usual, the more the better).
If you have a sucky videocard, you need a fast processor and a lot more RAM, since the game is then forced to run in emulation.

By the way, OFB runs significantly faster than previous XPs due to a good deal of memory optimalization.

[dizzy]

I have 2GB of RAM and I still run into virtual memory thrashing after about an hour or two of play. TS2 is just a huge memory hog.

[jrd]

Oh yeah, no doubt there. It's also really slow in releasing memory: it can take up to three minutes after shutting down TS2 before I get all my RAM back.

[laeshanin]

FFS! Remind me why I play this game when there is life, butterflies and sunshine just but a step away? Having said that, though, this machine does seem to be coping well despite having 1.3gig in my downloads and an intergrated chip rather than card. The only time it threw a complete wobbly was when I put in Gummod's light thingy. Didn't like it at all.

[jsalemi]

I have 2GB of RAM and I still run into virtual memory thrashing after about an hour or two of play. TS2 is just a huge memory hog.

Ditto, and it gets worse if you leave it idling while you're away from the computer for a while, to the point where it gets unplayable due to the disk trashing. I read a trick somewhere (maybe here?) that said you should just minimize it to the Task Bar if you're running it full screen and plan to be away for a bit.  I do that all the time now, and it's extended my total playing time without reboot by quite a bit.

But I still have to reboot at least once every couple of days to completely free the memory and start with a clean slate (and I use cacheman, too).

[jrd]

The switching to and from games is one aspect where Vista looks promising.
Since Avalon will also run on the GPU, it is a lot faster to switch to desktop on Vista than it is under XP. If I go to the desktop with TS2 active and switch back to the game, it takes over a minute at least before I get a playable screen again.

[Tgdrysix]

So 1GB ram isn't really big enough? How very tedious when I bought this machine specifically for running the goddamn sims! Just how much fucking memory does this whore of a game require, then?

I wasn't able to run this game untill I upped my ram from 1 to 2 GBs....now it let's me play.....Tgdrysix

[laeshanin]

Fuck about! Not so much a computer as something to take over the world, then?