Going to get LN and High End Loft Stuff this week, anything I should look out for?

[USNCaseySmith]

Ive read reviews, and looked through the forums and found stuff and to me WA just isn't what I want yet and apparently the other stuff packs aren't either so Im going to go ahead and get LN and High End Loft Stuff this week when my check comes in, so my question is this are there any glaring bugs or bad things I should be aware of?? And will I need to install all of my mods in a completely different folder now??

[tomomi1922]

Your post of 3 lines probably demands 20 different answers. But I will see what I can do to help out. My understanding is you only have base game, deciding to pass up WA for now, and attempt to purchase Late Night and High End Loft when your financial situation allows.

High End Loft ... just a stuff pack, almost the same as downloading CC.

Late Night ....

- Understand that this will be the laggiest map of all TS3 maps.

- There is a slight concern of sims waiting in line to get in clubs while the only elevator gives routing problem to sims.

- There is also a concern of sims routing to mysterious location off the map, by the mountain that effectively trap sims there. Visit http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=425764 for more information and possible fix. Do it at your own risk and follow instructions closely to backup original data in case TS3 didn't like what you did.

- Not just related to Late Night, but I highly recommend you download Overwatch and Error Trap from http://www.the-isz.com/nraas/ . These 2 mods are absolutely vital: Overwatch cleans up "trash" produced by sims nightly and correct many corruptions, Error Trap traps error that otherwise crash your game straight out. That website also has a range of nice mods if you decide to shop around. However, do pay attention to the warning and installation note as these mods are not always "Plug and Play" like a simple custom clothing or hair.

In regard to mod folder, assuming you are playing on Windows OS, they should be under My Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3/Mods/Packages

[BenC0722]

Late Night ....

- Understand that this will be the laggiest map of all TS3 maps.

- There is a slight concern of sims waiting in line to get in clubs while the only elevator gives routing problem to sims.

- There is also a concern of sims routing to mysterious location off the map, by the mountain that effectively trap sims there. Visit http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=425764 for more information and possible fix. Do it at your own risk and follow instructions closely to backup original data in case TS3 didn't like what you did.

Building upon what she said, the "laggiest map" she's referring to is the new town available that comes with LN, which is Bridgeport. Personally, I don't find it that bad, though of course, "your mileage may vary." I do find it's somewhat slower than Twinbrook, the map/town that comes with Ambitions.

About the elevators, there's one mod that I've found will partially solve some of the routing errors that elevators cause, by simply making them run faster so sims wait less time. It's here:

http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=433745

Just pick the one for "Very fast."


I second the vote on Overwatch, though I think I told you about it in another thread.

[USNCaseySmith]

Building upon what she said, the "laggiest map" she's referring to is the new town available that comes with LN, which is Bridgeport. Personally, I don't find it that bad, though of course, "your mileage may vary." I do find it's somewhat slower than Twinbrook, the map/town that comes with Ambitions.

About the elevators, there's one mod that I've found will partially solve some of the routing errors that elevators cause, by simply making them run faster so sims wait less time. It's here:

http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=433745

Just pick the one for "Very fast."


I second the vote on Overwatch, though I think I told you about it in another thread.

Well after viewing many threads and much advice I have overwatch, errortrap, awesomemod, mastercontroller, nraas story progression, woohoo, and a few other nraas mods, all of my mods are working fine now. And I know the High End Loft stuff is just a stuff pack but it seems to come with quite a bit of stuff I want.

About the lag, I have heard about it and would like to gauge the lag. In base game in edit town mode I get 25- 28 fps avg and peaks of 32 and lows of about 23 when Im playing (In live mode or buy or build) I have about a 22 -23 fps avg with peaks of 25-26 and lows of about 20 or so. So Im guesssing that my computer wont take to late night too nicely, but I could be wrong, what kind of FPS are you all getting with LN?

Theres just so much in it that interests me that I want to buy it. Elevators, celebrity status, hot tubs again(bout time), different music instruments and the ability to get a band, new content, vampires, etc etc and etc. Ambitions from what I saw on a review had quite a bit of stuff too so I may just pick that up. Im looking at quite a paycheck this week with very few expenses, so I may just pick up ambitions, WA, and Late night and get the High End stuff pack, I dont really want out door stuff so much and dont even need fast lane stuff because of FP's cars I've gotten. I also plan on picking up Generations when it comes out for sure.

[tomomi1922]

Well after viewing many threads and much advice I have overwatch, errortrap, awesomemod, mastercontroller, nraas story progression, woohoo, and a few other nraas mods, all of my mods are working fine now. And I know the High End Loft stuff is just a stuff pack but it seems to come with quite a bit of stuff I want.

About the lag, I have heard about it and would like to gauge the lag. In base game in edit town mode I get 25- 28 fps avg and peaks of 32 and lows of about 23 when Im playing (In live mode or buy or build) I have about a 22 -23 fps avg with peaks of 25-26 and lows of about 20 or so. So Im guesssing that my computer wont take to late night too nicely, but I could be wrong, what kind of FPS are you all getting with LN?

Theres just so much in it that interests me that I want to buy it. Elevators, celebrity status, hot tubs again(bout time), different music instruments and the ability to get a band, new content, vampires, etc etc and etc. Ambitions from what I saw on a review had quite a bit of stuff too so I may just pick that up. Im looking at quite a paycheck this week with very few expenses, so I may just pick up ambitions, WA, and Late night and get the High End stuff pack, I dont really want out door stuff so much and dont even need fast lane stuff because of FP's cars I've gotten. I also plan on picking up Generations when it comes out for sure.
I made a little guide a while back:
How to maximize performance via better building practice (http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?p=3495711&posted=1#post3495711) and start to collect little things here and there to add into it as time goes on.

Let me also share with you my personal experience. I have a top of the line computer: Quad Core Intel CPU, 8Gb RAM, ATI 5800s video card, only 1 generation older than the new Intel i7 currently out right now. I absolutely play all games at max settings, except Sims 3, due to the unbearable lags. I have no idea why newer and more power demanding games (like Dragon Age 2, Assassin's Creed 2 and Brotherhood) run just great.

My current TS3 setting:

- Enable Object Hiding on! (only show objects in current floor).

- Most of graphic settings medium (Visual effects, Lighting and shadows, Draw Distance, etc...)

- High Detail Lots: 1

- Only things on High: Texture Detail, Sim Detail. Without these, I get blurry sims, and I can't stand that.

I generally get much higher frame rate in Edit Town Build mode without sims on lot. Around 50-80fps. With average of 4 sim household, and a simple 30x30 lot, I am getting 40-60fps. Panning the camera on Penthouse to see surrounding can cause fps dropping to 25-30fps. I am using in game fps feature as well as Fraps' FPS, just to make sure they match up (and they do).

However, don't let the number fool you. 30fps is all you need for your eyes so anything above 30fps is seamless motion, right? Wrong! The screen tearing and hiccups get to me, even it is displaying 40fps, I feel laggy and the mouse cursor sometimes getting delay action. So I don't know if I am really getting the fps that Fraps is reporting. And it is no way to compare if my 60fps will run smoother than your 40fps.

Currently, anything above 50fps for me is good gameplay, anything at 40fps is acceptable, anything at 25fps means delayed action mouse cursor, and a lot of wrestling between my hand, mouse, and screen cursor (feel like I want to throw the mouse at the screen). :lol:

Hope you can find some usefulness out of my personal TS3 experience.
______________________________________

Update: I also want to warn you about FP's cars. This is also the reason I buy Fast Lane Stuff pack. I want my townies to drive more than 3 models of cars, but giving FP's cars to townies can be a bad ideas. EA cars are pretty much safe. But FP cars are not always safe. Especially his earlier cars (made in 2009, early 2010) were made with older editors and I don't think he updated them. Sims 3 Dashboard tool (download right here at MTS, by Delphy) found a few of those cars with corruption. I think I mentioned this in the guide, but I should mention here again that those cars can be risky.

Not saying I dont love them, I have a total of 5 FP cars in my town only. And if there is any outbreak, I can quickly eliminate those cars. One of the newer car, I think Mini Cooper, or Lancer Evo, caused one of my household to freeze the game when I try to play it (not 100% freeze, but just stuck at forever loading). I had to replaced the household with original one, minus the cars, and it became safe again.

Currently I am enjoying the Mazda RX8 just published several days ago. Been crossing fingers and hope that newly created cars by most updated tools should have the least problems.

[USNCaseySmith]

I made a little guide a while back:
How to maximize performance via better building practice (http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?p=3495711&posted=1#post3495711) and start to collect little things here and there to add into it as time goes on.

Let me also share with you my personal experience. I have a top of the line computer: Quad Core Intel CPU, 8Gb RAM, ATI 5800s video card, only 1 generation older than the new Intel i7 currently out right now. I absolutely play all games at max settings, except Sims 3, due to the unbearable lags. I have no idea why newer and more power demanding games (like Dragon Age 2, Assassin's Creed 2 and Brotherhood) run just great.

My current TS3 setting:

- Enable Object Hiding on! (only show objects in current floor).

- Most of graphic settings medium (Visual effects, Lighting and shadows, Draw Distance, etc...)

- High Detail Lots: 1

- Only things on High: Texture Detail, Sim Detail. Without these, I get blurry sims, and I can't stand that.

I generally get much higher frame rate in Edit Town Build mode without sims on lot. Around 50-80fps. With average of 4 sim household, and a simple 30x30 lot, I am getting 40-60fps. Panning the camera on Penthouse to see surrounding can cause fps dropping to 25-30fps. I am using in game fps feature as well as Fraps' FPS, just to make sure they match up (and they do).

However, don't let the number fool you. 30fps is all you need for your eyes so anything above 30fps is seamless motion, right? Wrong! The screen tearing and hiccups get to me, even it is displaying 40fps, I feel laggy and the mouse cursor sometimes getting delay action. So I don't know if I am really getting the fps that Fraps is reporting. And it is no way to compare if my 60fps will run smoother than your 40fps.

Currently, anything above 50fps for me is good gameplay, anything at 40fps is acceptable, anything at 25fps means delayed action mouse cursor, and a lot of wrestling between my hand, mouse, and screen cursor (feel like I want to throw the mouse at the screen). :lol:

Hope you can find some usefulness out of my personal TS3 experience.
______________________________________

Update: I also want to warn you about FP's cars. This is also the reason I buy Fast Lane Stuff pack. I want my townies to drive more than 3 models of cars, but giving FP's cars to townies can be a bad ideas. EA cars are pretty much safe. But FP cars are not always safe. Especially his earlier cars (made in 2009, early 2010) were made with older editors and I don't think he updated them. Sims 3 Dashboard tool (download right here at MTS, by Delphy) found a few of those cars with corruption. I think I mentioned this in the guide, but I should mention here again that those cars can be risky.

Not saying I dont love them, I have a total of 5 FP cars in my town only. And if there is any outbreak, I can quickly eliminate those cars. One of the newer car, I think Mini Cooper, or Lancer Evo, caused one of my household to freeze the game when I try to play it (not 100% freeze, but just stuck at forever loading). I had to replaced the household with original one, minus the cars, and it became safe again.

Currently I am enjoying the Mazda RX8 just published several days ago. Been crossing fingers and hope that newly created cars by most updated tools should have the least problems.

Haha I could only hope to have that kind of computer one day!! I feel outdated since I feel 25 fps for me is good gaming on sims, I don't really feel the delay with the mouse cursor, and I do believe all of the FP cars I have are of late 2010 or up, I hope, I have the AUdi R8, Porsche Carrera Gt, Lamborghini Reventon, Dodge Challenger (Newest Model) and Comaro (Newest Model) So Hopefully we will see.

So basically if you get that much of a drop though FPS wise, will late night be unbearable for me?? At least in bridgeport?? :( I may just have to get ambitions until I buy a beastly mac or something. I am into music creation and understand that sims 3 can run on mac (Which I love) and that I can customize them for the highest graphic and smooth running settings when I choose one to buy, so I might go that route, getting ambitions first instead then. Or maybe even WA, I've heard of there being massive problems for some people installing it and getting it to work right?

[tomomi1922]

Haha I could only hope to have that kind of computer one day!! I feel outdated since I feel 25 fps for me is good gaming on sims, I don't really feel the delay with the mouse cursor, and I do believe all of the FP cars I have are of late 2010 or up, I hope, I have the AUdi R8, Porsche Carrera Gt, Lamborghini Reventon, Dodge Challenger (Newest Model) and Comaro (Newest Model) So Hopefully we will see.

So basically if you get that much of a drop though FPS wise, will late night be unbearable for me?? At least in bridgeport?? :( I may just have to get ambitions until I buy a beastly mac or something. I am into music creation and understand that sims 3 can run on mac (Which I love) and that I can customize them for the highest graphic and smooth running settings when I choose one to buy, so I might go that route, getting ambitions first instead then. Or maybe even WA, I've heard of there being massive problems for some people installing it and getting it to work right?
Short answer is: worst come to worst, you lower some graphic settings, or if Bridgeport is laggy, play on other town like Sunset Valley. Late Night still has a whole lot to offer beside Brigdeport map.

I think I gave you the wrong impression. Unless you really care about the maps, Ambition and Late Night is about the same in term of performance concern. So they the EP with feature you desire.

There are 2 things about a Mac:

- Mac are essentially a computer with PC hardware now, they just charge you premium price for the brand and OS (OS itself is $29, I bought it and installed on a PC which runs like a Mac that totally costs half the price of buying a Mac itself). Not saying you should do what I do, but if you just get a Mac for Sims 3, get a PC. But if you say you are going to music creations and likely end up with a bunch of musicians who only use Mac software, then Mac is the way to go.

- I am not even sure if Mac uses PC DVD or you need to buy a separate DVD for that. So it is best you do some research before you buy. I don't want to see you spending $200 now and after the Mac, you spend another $200 for the same thing. However, what I do know is, if you have friends who play TS3 on Mac, you can always borrow their DVD, install it, and register using the same CD Key you are using now, it will work.

[USNCaseySmith]

Short answer is: worst come to worst, you lower some graphic settings, or if Bridgeport is laggy, play on other town like Sunset Valley. Late Night still has a whole lot to offer beside Brigdeport map.

I think I gave you the wrong impression. Unless you really care about the maps, Ambition and Late Night is about the same in term of performance concern. So they the EP with feature you desire.

There are 2 things about a Mac:

- Mac are essentially a computer with PC hardware now, they just charge you premium price for the brand and OS (OS itself is $29, I bought it and installed on a PC which runs like a Mac that totally costs half the price of buying a Mac itself). Not saying you should do what I do, but if you just get a Mac for Sims 3, get a PC. But if you say you are going to music creations and likely end up with a bunch of musicians who only use Mac software, then Mac is the way to go.

- I am not even sure if Mac uses PC DVD or you need to buy a separate DVD for that. So it is best you do some research before you buy. I don't want to see you spending $200 now and after the Mac, you spend another $200 for the same thing. However, what I do know is, if you have friends who play TS3 on Mac, you can always borrow their DVD, install it, and register using the same CD Key you are using now, it will work.

Well in terms of performance, are they about same as base then (In say Sunset Valley)?? Just longer loads I'd assume for extra content? Because I will definately get either or both of them for their content and gameplay changes.

As far as the mac goes, I'm eventually going to end up getting one, I love the software in them, and I like their feel and look and such. My plan is (Im shipping for the Navy in like 2 months) to save up enough money (Which I can do since I will have very little expenses) and buy myself a mac for music creating (Garage Band, I love that program) and buy a high end PC laptop, PC or build a High End PC myself for the sole purpose of dominating all games graphically, then the rest I'll just save :) haha But I saw that Sims 3 would work on mac so I figured I'd just get a tricked out mac as well so I could play Ts3 on it as well.

[tomomi1922]

I see I see. I could guess you are related to US Navy from your title. Good thing about military is that you don't have to pay for lodging nor food. So you can practically save every penny. I am not saying you shouldn't spend, but US military statistic shows a lot of servicemen blew their money in parties and fun activities. The stress is high, I know, but if you manage to restrain, you can buy a Mac every 2 months and still have enough money to put in saving. I think they pay E1 grade around $1500 a month in Navy as basic pay now.

You seem more paranoid about EP than I hoped. Just so you know, if you play Sunset Valley, I wouldn't be able to tell if you only have base game or full EP just by looking at your performance. If you have Overwatch and Error Trap, you will be a happy camper. And if you decide to try Bridgeport, expect it to tax another 10-20% of your performance, or ... your game will run 10-20% slower. If you manage your computer and CC well, you may not even feel a huge difference in performance hit.

To all honesty, I am never going to be able to give you an absolutely answer. If money is your concern, get Late Night first. If it works out, Ambition is guaranteed to work out. If Late Night explodes, consider it another night out with the guys that you pay them a round of beer. You got way more information than I had when I bought Late Night. You should take a little risk and make your decision.

Feel free to ask more questions, but I really don't know how else I can answer you about performance.

[USNCaseySmith]

I see I see. I could guess you are related to US Navy from your title. Good thing about military is that you don't have to pay for lodging nor food. So you can practically save every penny. I am not saying you shouldn't spend, but US military statistic shows a lot of servicemen blew their money in parties and fun activities. The stress is high, I know, but if you manage to restrain, you can buy a Mac every 2 months and still have enough money to put in saving. I think they pay E1 grade around $1500 a month in Navy as basic pay now.

You seem more paranoid about EP than I hoped. Just so you know, if you play Sunset Valley, I wouldn't be able to tell if you only have base game or full EP just by looking at your performance. If you have Overwatch and Error Trap, you will be a happy camper. And if you decide to try Bridgeport, expect it to tax another 10-20% of your performance, or ... your game will run 10-20% slower. If you manage your computer and CC well, you may not even feel a huge difference in performance hit.

To all honesty, I am never going to be able to give you an absolutely answer. If money is your concern, get Late Night first. If it works out, Ambition is guaranteed to work out. If Late Night explodes, consider it another night out with the guys that you pay them a round of beer. You got way more information than I had when I bought Late Night. You should take a little risk and make your decision.

Feel free to ask more questions, but I really don't know how else I can answer you about performance.

Thats fine, and I appreciate all the help you've given me, I'm just trying to gauge how much of a hit I'll get from Late Night fps wise. I'm going to just jump in and get it and probably ambitions too and if worse comes to worse and I cant run them (I wouldn't see why, other than bridgeport being a lag fest) then I just keep them until I get a awesome computer

And yes, thats why I cant wait until the Navy, its only 1500 a month, but when you add in no need to have a car, no need to pay for lodging, or food, plus a military PX where everything, even Macs, are 40% to 50% less, 1500 goes a long way :)

Oh and, WA is next on that list of course but I've heard / read that it can be a PITA to install and get working right for alot of people, did you happen to have any of these problems?

[tomomi1922]

The only EP that gives me a slight problem is Late Night. Maybe because I went for the $10 discount and downloaded it off EA Store as a Digital copy. But if you have problem launching due to wrong version error, you basically have to reinstall. And when you reinstall, make sure you Update basegame to max before install EP.

Don't quote me on that $1500 a month, it is around there, but don't take my words for it. I don't think the PX really offers that good of a price, sometimes even more expensive than outside, and the selection is not great either. But good thing is you don't have to pay tax.

[USNCaseySmith]

The only EP that gives me a slight problem is Late Night. Maybe because I went for the $10 discount and downloaded it off EA Store as a Digital copy. But if you have problem launching due to wrong version error, you basically have to reinstall. And when you reinstall, make sure you Update basegame to max before install EP.

Don't quote me on that $1500 a month, it is around there, but don't take my words for it. I don't think the PX really offers that good of a price, sometimes even more expensive than outside, and the selection is not great either. But good thing is you don't have to pay tax.

Lol I already know what the pay is and its right around there, believe me I've looked it up :rofl:

But I plan on getting hard copies, I like to have them so I can install and play them wherever I choose, besides, to me a hardcopy is just easier.

And I am pretty sure your right about the PX I was just over exagerating a bit. They do offer a discount on most items any ways. But either way, like you said, lodging and food paid for already, and no need for a vehicle on base, so whats a guy to spend money on?? :rolleyes: .... sims 3 :Pint: