Sims 3 lag /I think I've tried everything' RTX 3050

[adrstud]

I need help with the lag 😕
I just got a new laptop and I thought that it would help with the lag a bit. However, it is starting to drive me a tad crazy...

The specs:
AMD Ryzen 5
Nvidia RTX 3050
8GB of RAM

The lag maybe isn't THAT bad but I also haven't played for so long cause I can't really stand playing this way so potentially it might get worse after an hour or 2. The lag happens when I move the camera. The camera either makes 1 big 'jump' or a few smaller ones. It's like stutter (?) And this happens half of the time when I play on the Medium settings. On the lowest settings it doesn't really lag. But playing on the lowest settings is just so bad...

What I've done so far:
- lowering the fps to 60, if I don't do that the game just goes to 300 easily on the highest settings,
- making the game recognise the card,
- using the Nvidia settings (it set the game to the highest settings possible),
- changing the RAM settings to 4GB,
- downloading the smooth patch (the game seems to be working the same with or without the patch),
- downloading the Nraas mods: Error Trap, Go here, Master Controller, Overwatch, Register, Traffic (maybe I should have changed the settings in them?),
-making the game use more CPU (based on the tutorial on Steam), still the games uses about 15% of the CPU - don't know if it's good or bad,
- Shader tweaks by Lazy Duchess (also steam recommended),
- switched off the in-game options like the Store, memories, the loading screen where click on the objects, etc.
- probably I've done more but I don't remember...

What else can I do? Any suggestions, please? The stutters are really making me go crazy. After a few minutes of playing it's just nearly impossible to continue.

[HiFive]

I only have about 6 DLC's and I'm still too lazy to download the NRAAS mods, but here is what is working for me:

I use sequentially-numbered saves. (Always use the "Save As" button and use different names. Don't use the "Save" button.) Whenever my game seems to be getting buggy or has severe lagging, I try finding a save from before the problem started. You can either keep reusing about 9 - 12 different save names, or you can purge old saves on a regular basis.

I make very frequent saves. Doing this helps a LOT, and others have confirmed this. I don't know why it helps, it just does.

I've learned to clear excess baggage out of my Sims' inventories on a regular basis. If you have a gardener, it's easy to get way too much stuff in your inventory, and this causes a lot of lagging, and subsequent bugs. Keep the count of those apples and limes below 100 each. Under 30 is much better. Try to get to the point where you only have edibles of the same quality in each stack - like all Perfect apples, and all Perfect life fruit.

Don't collect or buy too much scrap for your inventors. Having too much scrap causes severe issues with lag and stuttering. Acquire what you need, and use it, then get more. A max of about 200 units per inventor table or Sim inventory is best for my Sims.

I don't allow tons of fish, either. I sell them all, or keep only the ones that are of the same quality for the best garden fertilizer.

In general, the fewer details the game has to keep track of in your inventory, the better.

Don't go crazy with the fast-forward button. Using it too often can cause problems. If I'm using it for actions my Sim is doing, I will often pause it after a bit - do a save - and then continue. Better still is to only let the game do fast-forward for sleep cycles.

If one of your Sims gets really laggy, or yours or any other Sim gets stuck, use the reset function. Use Cntrl+Shift+C and type:

resetsim nameofyoursim (whatever that name is)

A more extreme measure for those with serious issues where the above steps are still not enough: Limit customizations as much as possible, i.e., just use whatever generic Sim/house/items the game has, and don't change the colors and patterns or build your own house, etc. This is what I had to do when I was working on a shrimp of a machine for a while.

There are 5 cache files that should be deleted every time you end a play session.

CASPartCache.package
compositorCache.package
scriptCache.package
SimCompositorCache.package
socialcache.package

This is safe to do for only these files. The game will create new ones when you play it again.

[HiFive]

These are a few things that others have said they do:

"I have found that having your GPU use v-sync and setting Reflections to Mirrors and water (NOT SUPERWATER), Edge Smoothing to medium and the rest to high refresh rate of 60 Hz caused the game to run much much smoother."

Also see this thread about adding an older graphics card to your machine and making the game use that:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/47890/discussions/0/4351043827026802731/

Someone on that same thread claims that the game was designed to run with only 30 fps. If that's true, then maybe capping the fps to 30 will improve things.

[feytharn]

Originally posted by adrstud:

I need help with the lag 😕
I just got a new laptop and I thought that it would help with the lag a bit. However, it is starting to drive me a tad crazy...

The specs:
AMD Ryzen 5
Nvidia RTX 3050
8GB of RAM

The lag maybe isn't THAT bad but I also haven't played for so long cause I can't really stand playing this way so potentially it might get worse after an hour or 2. The lag happens when I move the camera. The camera either makes 1 big 'jump' or a few smaller ones. It's like stutter (?) And this happens half of the time when I play on the Medium settings. On the lowest settings it doesn't really lag. But playing on the lowest settings is just so bad...

What I've done so far:
- lowering the fps to 60, if I don't do that the game just goes to 300 easily on the highest settings,
- making the game recognise the card,
- using the Nvidia settings (it set the game to the highest settings possible),
- changing the RAM settings to 4GB,
- downloading the smooth patch (the game seems to be working the same with or without the patch),
- downloading the Nraas mods: Error Trap, Go here, Master Controller, Overwatch, Register, Traffic (maybe I should have changed the settings in them?),
-making the game use more CPU (based on the tutorial on Steam), still the games uses about 15% of the CPU - don't know if it's good or bad,
- Shader tweaks by Lazy Duchess (also steam recommended),
- switched off the in-game options like the Store, memories, the loading screen where click on the objects, etc.
- probably I've done more but I don't remember...

What else can I do? Any suggestions, please? The stutters are really making me go crazy. After a few minutes of playing it's just nearly impossible to continue.

It might be related to a bug in Islend Paradise (if you have that DLC and have it installed). Try removing all of the Houseboats from the map.

[adrstud]

@HiFive, thank you very much for your input and trying to help me! I'll read the thread you've suggested and limit the fps to 30. However, the refresh rate of the screen is 60 Hz, so won't this be much too little? I'll take a look at that.

I'll also be saving the game with the 'save as' button. As to the rest of your suggestions about the inventory I don't think that's what causes the problems since the game is brand new. I mean, I don't have almost anything in the sims' inventory :/

[adrstud]

@feytharn, I haven't installed the Isla Paradiso pack since I've heard that it causes a lot of lag...

[feytharn]

Originally posted by adrstud:

@feytharn, I haven't installed the Isla Paradiso pack since I've heard that it causes a lot of lag...

If you want to try it someday, you know how to get around that

[HiFive]

I don't have Isla Paradiso, but there is a guide to help you fix the lag issues for that DLC.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1681308025

[adrstud]

Originally posted by HiFive:

I don't have Isla Paradiso, but there is a guide to help you fix the lag issues for that DLC.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1681308025

Thank you! :)

I'm really willing to play the game because it looks so good and there are so many things to do. But if it lags I don't want it ;P However, if I figure out how to get rid of the lag in the game in general I'll definitely buy that DLC. So far I only got the Bridgeport one but the lag was unbereable ;)

[adrstud]

Originally posted by HiFive:

I don't have Isla Paradiso, but there is a guide to help you fix the lag issues for that DLC.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1681308025

And I may have figured out what was slowing down the game. When I wanted to make the game recognise my graphic card I a ready-made file with the graphicrules and card. However, now I've checked it and my card rtx 3050 wasn't there. I changed the logs manually according to some instructions on the Internet and the lag seems to be lowered. I didn't have time to play today too much but it seemed it was better. We'll see :)

[HiFive]

Originally posted by adrstud:

I changed the logs manually according to some instructions on the Internet and the lag seems to be lowered.

I had to do this myself - just to get the game to run when I first bought it.