deconstructing the 1am freeze

[sheep_plushi]

I am very new to AwesomeMod. I got it but never installed it, then finally got over it and love it! Only thing is... at 1am my cpu useage goes from 60% to 100% and for an hour sim time I can do nothing but watch it lag. It's not huge... my sims are usually sleeping then anyways, but it's still a bother. I searched and found this on the FAQ at MTS2:

Q: My game slows down or stops entirely at 1:00 AM or 5:00 AM. What's going on?
A: At 1:00 AM, EA's story progession makes its changes--people are given babies, people move, people are made fat or slim, people change jobs, as so forth. Installing a mod that forces those changes to make sense instead of being completely random can make this process take excessive amounts of time. At 5:00 AM, the game can also slow down on lots with gardens, as gardens do their growing and calculations about needing water or fertilizer at that time.

So my question is... is there a few configs I can change on the mod that will remove this issue or would I just have to remove the whole mod?

[kuronue]

Non-EA story modes eliminate this procedure entirely in favor of a better-optimized one. Try the IndieStone Mod plugin (NOT CORE) or the (still in testing) AwesomeStory.

Can we sticky this thread?

[sheep_plushi]

Thanks. I guess I'll look into AwesomeStory.

[Larku]

I had a feeling that those hiccup hours were due to things like that.
If only they found a way to make it not hit so hard.

My computer is pretty decent. It's no quad Core and I don't have beyond the Memory I can hold with my OS.
but It still hits me hard and frustrates me.

[Death-Jester]

I had a feeling that those hiccup hours were due to things like that.
If only they found a way to make it not hit so hard.

My computer is pretty decent. It's no quad Core and I don't have beyond the Memory I can hold with my OS.
but It still hits me hard and frustrates me.

Mine IS a quad core, and I have 4gb RAM, but it still hits me pretty hard (well, I haven't played Sims 3 in nearly a month, but I don't think it has changed)

[chaos]

As kuronue already explained (I've been writing that a lot lately), by using either the Awesome story driver, or the Indie Stone mod (not the core) in conjunction with AwesomeMod, this will eliminate the 1 AM lagging and freezing by spacing storymode events throughout the day, instead of all at once at 1 AM (which, incidentally is caused by the game's original story engine, not the AM or ISM). Try it; you'll like it.

[Inge]

Personally I always prefer to have bottlenecks over and done with in one huge freezedown rather than the game being jerky at intervals throughout the day.  I wish it was an option.

[MizzCerise]

Since we're on the topic, what is the best method to have a family stay put rather than be moved around (and not make sacred)? Having the same amount of cash as the house is worth? More, less...?

[Motoki]

If you using Awesomemod and not using Indie Stone then make the home an 'ancestral home' by putting the family name in the name of the house (ie Goth Manor)

If you are using Awesomemod with Indie Stone running as the story driver select the home of that family and go into via the cell phone into the Indie Stone option menu and turn moving off for that family.

[Figwit]

Does this still work?  Most of mine seem to automatically have their names as the house name anyway and it doesn't stop story mode from moving them.  

I have given up worrying now.  I just let them go and eventually they seem to end up back where they started.

[Motoki]

Yes it still works with Awesomemod + EA story mode or Awesomemod + Awesome story mode. It just doesn't work with Awesomemod + Indie Stone story mode, but for that you can set it via Indie's settings if you play the house.

If you are using Awesomemod but not Indie Stone and you are getting sims moving out of homes that are ancestral then let Pescado know because it's not supposed to be happening.

[Kyna]

Does this still work?  Most of mine seem to automatically have their names as the house name anyway and it doesn't stop story mode from moving them.

How are managing to have the house name automatically become the same as the household name?  Do you have a mod that renames the house to match the name of the household?

I know ISM had an annoying feature where it would rename the household to match the surname of the family, but that's not the same thing as matching the house name to the household name (which is what AM requires to keep the family from moving out).

[chaos]

Personally I always prefer to have bottlenecks over and done with in one huge freezedown rather than the game being jerky at intervals throughout the day.  I wish it was an option.

Really? My game rarely lags or freezes anymore, and only gets laggy when I've been playing for hours on end without saving frequently. I lurves the new setup. Eh, to each her own.

[Mootilda]

How are managing to have the house name automatically become the same as the household name?  Do you have a mod that renames the house to match the name of the household?

It's not automatic; you have to rename the house yourself.

[Kyna]

How are managing to have the house name automatically become the same as the household name?  Do you have a mod that renames the house to match the name of the household?

It's not automatic; you have to rename the house yourself.

I know that.  Figwit was saying that in their game it is automatic, and I was curious about how that was happening.

I was also wondering if perhaps they were confusing house name with household name, which may explain why AM's "ancestral home" feature doesn't seem to work for them.

[Figwit]

Sorry. I think I was confusing Household name with Lotname.  I have just checked a brand new game and I see that the household name is named for the people living there but the lot name is something different.  For instance (just to be sure I am talking about the right thing) for the Goths their household name is Goth and their lot name is Goth Manor 3b/3ba whereas Bachelor has a household name of Bachelor but their lot name is Greener & Greener blah blah.

However, I did have a case a few nights ago where I renamed the lot name to the name of the residents and they did get moved.  Eventually they ended up being moved back to their house but that was why I thought the 'ancestral' thing wasn't working.  Perhaps it wasn't in that iteration of the AM.

It hasn't happened again.  In fact no-one has moved now for a while so I guess my neighbourhood is stable.

[icalvert]

I've just loaded the latest version (about and hour ago), and I'm having an issue I never had before.  The dreaded FREEZE!  It happens to me around 0015.  Poopy.  I have to go to task manager and end the game.  I get about 2 or 3 nights out of each run.

I'm sad.  Is there anything I can do?  What do you need to know to help me?

I love awesomemod, and I don't want to remove it!

[kuronue]

Leave it be, go make yourself a sandwich. It'll unstick. If you turn on story notifications you'll get them popping up to tell you it's not actually dead for sure. Or use a different story driver - Awesome or Indy

[leopoldstotch]

I've just loaded the latest version (about and hour ago), and I'm having an issue I never had before.  The dreaded FREEZE!  It happens to me around 0015.  Poopy.  I have to go to task manager and end the game.  I get about 2 or 3 nights out of each run.

I'm sad.  Is there anything I can do?  What do you need to know to help me?

I love awesomemod, and I don't want to remove it!

Is that the freeze where everything absolutely stops, except for the scenery and the plumbob? I have this problem, and it never seems to unfreeze.

[Figwit]

The freeze at 1am is different and is caused by the game moving sims about or some such thing.  I believe just giving it time to do its thing is all that's required.  I never had the freeze at 1am but my game used to slow down around then.  This was pre Awesome Story Mode days of course.

The other freeze is a different issue and I believe Pes is tackling it in the latest version of the AM.  It is totally annoying and I don't think your game will ever come back so the task manager is your best bet.

[Darksmurf]

How are managing to have the house name automatically become the same as the household name?  Do you have a mod that renames the house to match the name of the household?

It's not automatic; you have to rename the house yourself.

I know that.  Figwit was saying that in their game it is automatic, and I was curious about how that was happening.

I was also wondering if perhaps they were confusing house name with household name, which may explain why AM's "ancestral home" feature doesn't seem to work for them.

I don't know if this problem came with indiestone mod or awesomemod but I have the same problem. In my neighborhood the "Roomies" became the "Mcgraw" and the "Single moms" became the "Mcirish". I suppose it is changing the lhousehold name to the last name of the oldest member in the home can someone clarify?

[Kyna]

I don't know if this problem came with indiestone mod or awesomemod but I have the same problem. In my neighborhood the "Roomies" became the "Mcgraw" and the "Single moms" became the "Mcirish". I suppose it is changing the lot name to the last name of the oldest membe can someone clarify?

One of ISM's features was that it would change the household name in the manner you describe.  This is not the same as the lot name, neither AM nor ISM changes the lot name.

You are confusing lot name with household name.

[narutothealc]

my game doesn't just freeze at 1 am. it freezes every 2-3 mins (game time) i have to go to main menu and go back and then its fixed.
any idea anyone?. (i still prefer getting a big freeze at 1am than constant slowing through out the game)

[Sinthia]

my game doesn't just freeze at 1 am. it freezes every 2-3 mins (game time) i have to go to main menu and go back and then its fixed.
any idea anyone?. (i still prefer getting a big freeze at 1am than constant slowing through out the game)

I used to hate the 1am freeze but now i almost wish i had it instead of what's going on in my game now. I'm at a loss as to why my game is lagging so bad. I've gotten some tips in the bug thread like "towderelicts" and even creating a new hood at the possibility that my hood was corrupt but nothing seems to be working. I don't even bother playing the sims 3 right now. It's at like 3ps, lol. I don't want to play The Sims 3 without Awesomemod... It just improves on so much.

[Sinthia]

You did try playing in a lower resolution, or with reduced graphical settings?
Especially a setting like high detail lots can be disastrous to your gameplay. Leave it at 1.

Yeah, I'm playing at a low resolution and I've always kept the detailed lots at one. My computer can definitely run the sims pretty well as this problem only happens with awesomemod installed. When i take it out, things run fine. It's weird, awesomemod had been good to me until i updated it.