Game Help:Intermittent Freezes

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Issue & Symptoms

Lags: this could be describe as certain screens loading slower than normal or certain actions took longer to complete in SimTime

Freezes: this is characterize by Sims being frozen on certain actions and yet the background is moving, or sound continues playing

Some symptoms are:

• stop-n-go jerky motions, trees swaying, background moving and music playing but Sims frozen
• freeze when entering a catalog category
• freeze when entering CAS
• freeze when switching to Build from Buy or vice versa
• freeze when entering Create-A-Style's Misc category
• game freeze and never recovered and have to be terminated in Task Manager
• dropping framerates

Causes

In-game lags/freezes can be caused by a few things, some that we know of so far...

Lags

• when there are too many .package CC
• when the CC is incompatible with your patch versions or broken
• when you have Sims 2 content in the mix
• huge Save files clogged with the Memories in Scrapbook, starting from patch 1.22 (Generations release)
• using the "moveObjects on" cheat and forgetting to turn it off

Freezes

1. stereos not turned off in inactive Sims homes
2. derelict vehicles
3. overpopulation caused by
   • too many homeless Sims,
   • links to non-existent Sims (removed by a StoryProgression Action)
   • too many Pets and Sims when playing on a weak machine
4. broken links due to the Relationship bug and the game is still trying to link up people they never met in a WA locale or sudden, random marriages or children, resulting in invisible and/or missing Sims. This can be accompanied by missing UI (User Interface, the Panel) or a Sims with a borked thumbnail on the UI.
5. actual stuck Sims
   • between floors or into the ground/basements or
   • stuck looping in an action that has not exited or completed gracefully, for example when
     • doing Gigs (Showtime),
     • doing an Opportunity in a Profession (Ambitions)
     • doing an Opportunity while on Adventure (Worlds Adventures)
6. faulty routing - causing stuck Sims and route-failure tantrums
7. Sims changing to their work uniforms and/or sleepwear
8. the buggy Memories system introduced with patch 1.22 and Generations that logged each and every "memorable" action the Sim did, and presumably for the whole Town, too

Solution

Standard troubleshooting procedure

Test CC-free on a new town. Do Game Problem FAQ to rule out Custom Content conflict/incompatibility

Test on another Household by switching to other families to determine if it affects one Household or the whole town

Plus all the ones below

Lags - loading lag, CAS lag, general lag in gameplay

Make sure to do the Standard troubleshooting procedure above and the fixes for Freezes below

Package File Lag has other suggestions using tools like Process Monitor and Dashboard

Too much CC? Try Combining Packages

Don't play with "moveObjects on" cheat turned on, set it off during gameplay

Freezes

Use Overwatch to remove derelict vehicles and other stuff during its nightly runs, or do an Immediate action

Use MasterController to reset stuck Sims or worlds

Use Awesomemod if you prefer a core mod to handle some of the fixes automatically

Use this tool to have control over Memories

(1) - (5) can be controlled and fixed by StoryProgression mods like AwesomeMod @MATY or Twallan's StoryProgression and one or more of his other mods mentioned above @NRaas Industries.

If you have (4), be sure to also read Game Help:UI and Sim Issues

In the default EA worlds, issue (6) is caused by faulty routing, and especially those that came with World Adventure. See this FAQ for more info Game Help:World Routing Lags.

In a custom world, (6) is caused by placing a custom Lot that does not sit flushed with the road's edge or poor routing by the creator.

• If you suspect (6) and you have just downloaded & placed a new Lot, test it out by having your Sim try to reach all the spots a Sim would normally go to autonomously.
• If you have (6) and you're using a custom world, check back with the creator's item page to see if others are experiencing the same issue.
  
  

For (7), just pause the game and let the processor catch up with the game-engine.

For (8), you need to turn off the memories that you don't want, or turn the "feature" off altogether with this tool

Certain Lags and freezes need a 2nd reload of the game before clearing up. So, after applying the fixes by removing CC and using mods - save, quit, clear caches and reload the game.

Warning:

Standard cautionary advise applies: check for version compatibility and please RTFM on the mods features and how to use. Seek support from the modders, and Happy Simming!

Seeking further assistance

Before you post in the MTS Sims 3 Help Forums, please try all the above suggestions, copy+paste and answer the following questionnaire in your Help thread.

Saves Is this on a brand new town or a pre-patched save? If new Save, how long in SimTime has this save been running for? What's the total folder size? What is the world name? Tested a CC-free game with just the recommended mods, yet? Sims/Household/Population Is this a custom or default Household on a custom or default Lot? If custom - downloaded or self-built / self-create ? What is the Lot size? How do you generally play? Stick to one Household or Switch families? How many Sims in the Household you normally play? The freeze/lag symptoms only for this Household or all Households when you switch? If you visit a comm Lot, how many Sims usually turn up? If you know how to do this using a mod, how many Sims are in this town's save? ie total population of the world, how many generations, etc.. Careers What careers are these Sims in? What level are they in now? What time do they go to work? Does the freeze coincide with this timing(s)? If they take the carpool, does it arrive on time? Timings If you have school-going kids in the Household, does freeze coincide with the bus arrival timings (8am, after 2pm, after 3pm) Or does it coincide with the arrival/departure of the ServiceNPCs - MailDelivery, Newspaperdelivery, Maid, Butler, etc If not, is there a pattern on when the freeze would occur? Routing You have checked the town for stuck Sims, repeatedly doing the same action over and over? Due to broken script mods stuck into the ground, stuck in-between floors, stuck from Lot threshold routing issues ie some borked RabbitHole/Comm Lot placements faulty routing of some custom worlds Have you tried the "fixAll" / "reset world" / "Reset everything" etc via Awesomemod or MasterController or "resetSim *"? Describe what happens, what action(s) prompted it or what you were doing whenever this freeze gets triggered. Does the freeze recover eventually and you can resume playing or do you have to end the game process and do Ctrl+Alt+Del each time it occurs? If the game can recover, how longs does it normally take in SimTime to resume? ie how many seconds/minutes/hours of gameplay was in suspended animation mode? What have you tried that hasn't work? Work for a while...? List all the packs that you have: BG + ... {WA} {AMB} {LN} {GEN} {PETS} {SHT} {HELS} {FLS} {OLS} {TLS} {MSS} {KPST} {DS}. List what patch version the BASE GAME is on : 1.xx . State which mods from the above suggested list you've used. In order to establish some context for comparison, please copy and paste only the following info from the top of your DeviceConfig.log located in the Documents/Electronics/The Sims 3/ folder into your post: === Rating info === GPU: 5 GPU Memory: 4 CPU: 3 RAM: 4 CPU Speed: 3000 Threading: 3 Adjusted CPU: 3600 RAM: 4095 Adjusted RAM: 3583 Cores: 2

We probably won't have any further tips to suggest other than the ones above, so creating a new thread might not yield any results. If you do decide to create a new thread anyway, be sure to mention you've done this FAQ and include the answers to the questionnaire, or you'll be directed to this wiki again. Not having the answers posted is our clue than you have NOT read and followed the suggestions.