Another day, another EA fuck up. I'm dreading to think how more time it's going to take for the game to load up if it can't even handle native .sims3packs properly.

Or... As in the case of two mods I got shot of, the creator last updated them in August and hasn't been heard from since. The mods were broken by the latest update - either completely, or damaged enough to cause lag, which means that there's no point keeping them in my game.

Ugh. I didn't bother with pets in TS1. I didn't bother with them in TS2, and I certainly can't be arsed with them in TS3. I second the call for a Nightlife-style EP, if only to introduce proper bars and clubs into the default hicktowns.

Ah, I never realised there was a bash client for Windows! Just downloaded one and have set it to decompress all my crappy store packages. Now to see if the uncompressed packages actually make a difference to the general sluggishness of the game...

Edit: And my findings are as follows:

The game now takes an extra minute to load - this is from double-clicking the icon through to the saved game loading and control being returned to the player.
Texture compositing now seems to be faster - almost at the same level pre-1.7, but not quite. Objects seem to load faster now.
There's still periods of lag. I'm putting this down to a rogue script mod though. I might just end up stripping out all the script mods and sticking with AM/NRaas mods as these are the only ones getting regular updates.

Also:

No, this would corrupt the files as it would use a completely different algorithm to s3rc.


I remember in the not-too-distant-past a patch put out by EA that basically halved the FPS on my PC. It seemed at the time this was happening due to the graphics engine drawing lots and lots of trees and making half of them invisible. Also, the tree slider didn't work at all. A follow-up patch fixed this problem, but I can't help but wonder if the current patch has introduced yet more invisible objects that are constantly being generated.

Won't let me do that in DOS. It keeps throwing up a "Could not stat *.package" message.

Although s3rc does allow you to decompress files, it's a daunting task trying to type in those gibberish package names one at a time (especially in my case where there's 200 of the things). It would be nice to tall s3rc to look at a folder (or directory in DOS-speak) and decompress the contents in one go.

I've noticed my game getting increasingly laggy over the last few days. I thought it may be a rogue mod but now I have the feeling it's crappy EA code. My PC is hardly high-specced, but it ran the game fine before the latest patch.

I wanted to try and decompress all my mods to see if that made an improvement as I have a feeling that the new EA fucktardery code isn't playing nice with compressed files, but there's no way of doing it as a batch process (and I'm sure as hell not manually typing out those stupid "548975378yd79f8gyw98gfys89hyg78s9.package" filenames over 200 times in DOS). Crappy store crap.

I gave this a try, but the game seems to be hard-coded not to push for more than 2GB memory usage and as a result, still insists on using 1GB of RAM and 1GB of virtual memory.

As for the compressed files thing, I'll need to find a way to decompress not only my CC, but also the core package files (FullBuild0, FullBuild1, FullBuild2) too as I recall running these through the compressorizer a long time ago.

EDIT 1: I'm going to try replacing the FullBuild packages with the originals from the DVD and see if that makes a difference.

EDIT 2: Doing the above shaved around ten seconds off the loading time. Not much, but it does seem to suggest that compressing package files could actually be detrimental to game performance. The only way I can tell for sure though is to go through my CC and either replace them with with uncompressed files, or get dirty with DOS and uncompress them myself and see what happens.

Ah, I see what you mean. I've just tried running TS3 in a window with process explorer running. Even with just the store stuff and AM installed, the program is already pushing 2GB in usage (evenly split between RAM and the page file). What puzzles me though is despite there being at least 2GB of RAM free before I start the game, it tops out at 1GB and shoves the rest in the page file. Why not use all available RAM instead?


Right. So even in the base game, the patch is behaving as though I have WA installed and is running the game as such. Actually this makes a lot of sense!

The one thing I've noticed since the patch (I don't have WA) is as witch and death owner have pointed out - it seems to take an eternity for the game to render/retexture everything when you scroll around. It's almost as though the game immediately forgets anything that's off the screen and instead of reloading the textures from the HDD, it wastes CPU cycles regenerating them instead. The same can be said for CAS and CASt too - it constantly has to reload all the swatches every time I click on different tabs.

There's also a new folder in My Documents/Electronic Arts/Sims 3 called CurrentGame.sims3 which seems to duplicate the current active save when the game's running (the data is purged upon exiting) which could go some way to explaining the long load times.

Since the patch, I find it now takes around ten minutes to get from clicking on the Sims 3 icon in Windoze to actually playing the game. I don't know what goes on for the eight minutes it takes for the actual save to load - it rarely accesses the hard drive in that time.

What on earth is this obsession with spiral staircases? It seems that almost since the dawn of time, this is all Sims players seem to want. Bloody hell, if EA brought out a Spiral Stairs Stuff Pack, it'd fly off the bloody shelves!

Did you sign this petition early this year? http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?EANOTOK1

That is how TSR got your details. The petition was hacked shortly after it went live but the perpetrator was never found. Now atwat's come forward with a list of 615 names?

This is the theory currently running over at GOS. Allthough the petition now shows 629 names (it's still open and can still be signed), it's more than likely that at the time it was hacked, it contained 615 names. Also, Coconut mentioned that there were some comments aimed at EA next to the names and email addresses. I remember having the option of adding additional comments when I signed it, so what she's seeing could be those comments.

So, apparently merely posting on PMDB is enough to warrant being named and shamed on that list (I'm on there too). Must be, because I don't use payshit in my games full stop.

Remember folks, Thomas sucks Atwat's tits and SHAKESHAFT IS STILL A DIRTY THIEF.

No, and it will never happen.

I can't remember which site it was on now, but someone on one of them tried looking into a TS3 equivalent and quickly discovered that in order to make it work, they would have to dive into the xml code and change literally hundreds of variables to make them all sync up with the new timescale. Add to this that any mod that affects motive decay or that carries out other time-sensitive adjustments would be immediately obsolete as a result. Throw in EA's propensity of issuing broken patches every other week and it's a recipe for disaster.

I'll see if I can find a link to the original discussion.

EDIT: Here's the link: http://www.customsims3.com/forum1/YaBB.pl?num=1245690339

Like I said, very grim reading if you want a similar mod for TS3.

It would seem that adding any lightsource, be it a window or a lamp sets the ambient lighting to zero. This is a lot more noticeable when trying to add lights to basements, where (on my PC at least), the room goes pitch black with a small halo around the light.

Cheers EA for continuously fucking around with the game. It's time someone at that Mickey Mouse organisation was nominated for a Darwin Award.

This was mentioned by someone three pages back, but using the "set relationships" panel in CAS still results in the mouse pointer exhibiting strange behaviour, either changing into a sim icon or disappearing altogether, with no drag-and-drop functionality. Base game, fully patched, latest AM, no mods - not even the store crap.

ETA: Can confirm that with AM removed, mouse functionality returns to normal.

I propose that the next noob to ask stupid questions be poked up the arse with a rusty spoon.

Meh, it's just a stuff pack, and it's not out until February next year anyway.

Won't be buying. I don't do Stuff Packs when there's far superior objects available at the usual free fansites.

I don't have WA, but this silly glow issue is there in the base patch too. It just looks ridiculous, especially when ceiling lights don't seem to exhibit this behaviour.

Also, going back to the OP's post, the lighting being restricted to a single floor glitch is there in the base patch too. Do EA even check these things, or do they leave it to us, the beta testers players?

Yes, for some reason EA thought that adding a bloom effect was a good thing.

If you're running a previous save game, then it'll almost certainly be down you removing AM. If it's a new game though, it could be another mod, or knowing EA's craptacular programming skillz, the patch didn't take properly.

Because I am seriously fucking bored:

"I have been thinking about that for a long time and I even have a idea of what the game would be like. However, I am not a game maker, and know no one who is ether. But I know it would work and it would be even better then The Sims games.

On the subject at hand, I am not surprise that EAixis would do this. They even lied and said there would be ducks, and swans in the ponds. Remember the thing at the top of the site when they had the thing where you could try out making a Sim friend? In back ground, there was the park, and you could see swans swimming in the pond! Where are the swans now?

Problem is, that as long as most of the people fall for their lies, and they make all the millions they were expecting they don't care about those of us who are not happy. Look how they treat us when we ask for help from EA Tech department, most of the time they just send you a bunch of pre-made answers, which most of the time has nothing to do with your problem, and if you complain, they will say they're sorry, but then send you the same set of answers again, and if you do it again they tell you they're sorry and make you jump through a bunch hoops, doing thing they tell you to do, which never works.

Then you talk about your problem on the forum, and then one of your fellow players whines up giving you the help you needed, and you finally fix your problem. This has happened to me many times.

Now I don't even ask EA for help, I just post on the forums and see if anyone else maybe had the problem and fixed it them self, or got help somewhere/somehow. It's like with EA, they sense you already bought the game and they really don't care if you're happy with it.

Sure if millions of players started complaining and they didn't sell as many copies of their new EP as they were hoping for, then they might start listening to us. But that won't happen, they know they'll sell all if not more than what they're expecting or hoping, because millions of people will buy it even though its too pricey, and they're already having problems with the base game. They will buy it thinking it might fix it, or make it better (if they're not having tech problems). It's really sad how the respect for the consumer has just went out the window.

Oh some companies still show a little, but most don't show any, and EA is right at the top of the ladder. It's capitalism at its worst, oh and no one call me a commie please, I think both is wrong, but that all is another complaint on another site. Good to see that not everyone worships every thing that EA or Maxis do.

On the BBS they would cut your throat if you were in their presence, if you said anything against the almighty EA or Maxis/ Sims makers, or Will Wright, or so it seems. It's nice to have a place to complain about them at, even if EA will never hear, probably!

You guys who post all the stuff from the STORE, are my internet heroes, like you're a bunch of Robin Hoods!"


Now I'll finish off by saying: Lolwut?

It's not SecuROM as we know it, but rather a simple CD check (albeit by the same people). The problem is, even this simple check is still as bug-ridden as SecuROM itself, although as Awesomemod shows, it's easily circumventable. It's almost as though EA just threw it on there because they were contractually obliged to.

You learn something new and disturbing every day. I thought she was a bloke aged 40 36.