Running in Bootcamp with Win 7 on an old mid-2010 iMac with an i3 and a Radeon 5670 graphics chip. Yes, it's old, but this is what we have right now. The compatibility page lists this chipset as "Maybe" for the last four add ons.

Due to misadventures with Win 10, we reinstalled Win 7 fresh. The game itself was running fine prior to the reinstall. We suspect there's a graphics feature or two that we turned off or dialed down years ago. But, we can't remember what those might be.

We do have 1500 custom content files, mostly clothing. No mods, at the moment. It used to be able to handle up to 6000 or so. And, it's all stuff that used to run fine.

We've searched around, but no specific suggestions have jumped out, yet. Does anyone know off the top of their head, or can they point us at a thread or two?

Thanks,

Kim

Sorry. I forgot to use the word "laggy." But, I did title this "Graphics Performance Tweaks." So, yeah, that's probably exactly what I was looking for.

I appreciate the link. I didn't spot that in my searches. I'll look that over and come back if I have any more questions.

Your i3 and a Radeon 5670 graphics should be able to handle TS3 if you set them up properly whether you choose Win 10 or Win 7, and since you have reinstalled Win 7 with fresh new re-installation, make sure your Win 7 have all proper drivers installed for your hardware, once your Win 7 recognized them properly, make sure your TS3 recognized your Radeon 5670 graphics so TS3 can run properly according to your computer's spec..

Once all of those steps are done and your TS3 can run without any problem, then you can start trying to reduce the lags to minimum level if you're experiencing them, so you have to do them one step at a time, there's no single simple step that would fit once and for all to fix the lags.., because the lags were caused by the nature of TS3 (whether all EPs SPs and tons of CCs and/or Mods were added to the game or not), not entirely because of computer's spec..

If you need a complete tutorial how to set them up to fit TS3 to your computer's spec, click here, the tutorial were made for Win 10 with multi GPUs, but it also works for Win 7 with a single GPU setup..

@PapaEmy - I wouldn't be so sure about Win 10 in this particular case. The iMac I play on, also bootcamped, is a year or two newer than the OP's, an i5 instead of an i3, graphics card is a 6770, but Win 10 is totally not supported on this setup. The Win 10 drivers for our graphics (and I believe sound) cards specifically needed for bootcamp are just not there and apparently are never going to be; Apple began Win 10 support for bootcamp at the 2012 models. It is also never a good idea to try upgrading these device drivers unless the vendor has specified a bootcamp-specific upgrade and those can be pretty rare. I'm happily keeping this setup on Win 7 for the foreseeable future.

I also get a "Maybe" on the final two EPs but they play just fine for me. Maybe not all on High or Ultra graphics options settings especially in large, crowded worlds, but close enough.

Definitely agree on getting the card formally recognized though, in case that's not happening on its own.

I personally don't have any technical experience in using Mac, but what I do have some knowledge about bootcamp is a software or program that would let Mac users to install Windows OS in their machine, just like installing BlueStacks in Windows OS so we can run Android in Windows OS and play apps games, so how they will performs in Mac.., I can't really tell in comparison to BlueStacks to run Android in Windows OS, but from technical spec 's side of view for the OP's Core i3 processor and Radeon 5670 should be able to run them reasonably well for TS3..

The OP's computer spec alone shouldn't have any difficulty to run Win 10, but this is TS3 we're talking about.. not some apps games from Android, so to compare in running Android apps games in Windows OS via BlueStacks vs Mac running bootcamp to run Windows and then to run TS3 is not comparable even with the most powerful i7, because the tasks are heavier for Mac to run Windows compares to Windows to run BlueStacks.. let alone running TS3..

I heard that in Mac, the users are limited to 2GB ram only to run TS3 in Mac OS X, but if the effort to use bootcamp was to enabled the whole system to utilize more than 2GB ram in running TS3 through Windows OS, that's not the same case as Windows running BlueStacks, because in BlueStacks, it can utilize the big rams that runs in 64 bit Windows OS, the only problem is that not all Android apps available in Win 10, therefore Win OS still need Bluestacks to enabled them, so in this case, I honestly can't give an accurate answers in regards of general performance, unless the OP can run Windows OS in Mac machine without Mac OS X, because whether or not it can run Windows OS directly, all the setup for Windows OS to recognized the hardware and then to make TS3 recognized them, still need to be follow through.., and I wasn't trying to convince the OP to install Win 10 with bootcamp, but if the OP wants to.. and give it a try, the OP still need to follow through all those steps and that's why I linked the OP to the tutorial.., and then if there some lags, it's another subject because the nature of TS3 open world simulation concept..

What I don't know about Mac machine, is it possible to install Windows OS (whether it's Win 7 or Win 10) but without the Mac OS X? If it's possible then the OP's computer spec is good enough to go.., but if it's not possible, was the effort worth it? Does it make TS3 performance better compares to running TS3 in Mac? Because the tasks are tripled in doing so, while on the other side.. there also a bit disadvantage for Windows OS users to run BlueStacks to enabled Android, but the advantage for the Windows OS users running BlueStacks.., we don't need to run TS3 with Android..

So yes @igazor, I'm not really sure myself because of the circumstances, but the OP's spec alone is not a bad spec for TS3.., because spec-wise i3 for Mac vs i3 for PC is not so different from technical and performance point of view..

Bootcamp boots an intel-chipped Mac natively into Windows on a dedicated partition. OS X is not part of the picture at all when booted that way, it's totally a PC in every way unless you count the tiny bit where the EFI directs the boot onto the desired partition with an operating system.

But the hardware, although provided by AMD in this case and whoever made the sound card, still requires made for Apple specific drivers to function in this environment. The OP and you both mentioned Win 10. I assumed we were talking about Win 10 on the same iMac and was trying to save some time here -- Win 10 is not supported on that model iMac. Win 7 is (and I think 8.1 is also, but there isn't any point to that one for the moment).

So yes, the OP's TS3 game should run fine on that set of hardware on Windows and with the full 4GB of RAM usage possible just as it does on mine. But not on Win 10 on that set of hardware.

Everyone I know who has tried to update their bootcamp device drivers outside of what Apple recommends to use has regretted doing so and had to revert. In the case of Win 10, for me and the OP, there wouldn't be anything to revert to.

Do you mean it's a different partition in its hard drive? Like dual Win XP and Win 7 OS that boots and works independently like the user have 2 separate computers but in one PC? If that's the case, then the Mac machine can run 100% like a PC if the Mac OS X were completely removed, I thought it was like BlueStacks that we have to go in the Windows OS first then boot up BlueStacks and BlueStacks boot up Android.

So then the ability for Mac machine to use Windows 64 bit OS has no problem at all and therefore more than 3GB can be utilize.., in other words, a Mac can be converted into PC 100% if I understand you correctly.., just make the Windows partition in its hard drive bigger like 50-50, so it can have dual OS like Win XP and 7 or Win 7 & 10, but for this subject Win 7 and Mac OS X..



If my understanding is correct that Mac machine can be converted to or work like a PC 100%, then in theory there's no obstacle to run Win 10 because the OP's Core i3 spec is more than powerful enough to run it, compare to my PC, I'm currently running my old spec Asus P5Q-EM motherboard with 3Ghz Core 2 Duo E8400 cpu with 3GB DDR2 dual channels rams setup, with GTS250DK graphic, an SSD and HDD for hybrid setup and running 32 bit Win 10, because I sold the one I used to have in order to make saving so I can get the LGA2011 one day.., it's still awesome in playing any games except it only supports up to DirectX 10 games, and TS3 is nothing for this old stuff to smoked of.. lol, well thanks to SSD+HDD hybrid AHCI setup that helps exploit everything it has left

Back to the subject about Mac, if you mean the unsupported one is specifically for the sound card only, then the AMD made sound card just need to be specified about its type and model and search its Windows version drivers, if there's none available, maybe the Mac version sound card drivers can be run in Win 10 with custom installation like how I installed all Win 7 drivers for my old P5Q-EM mobo to Win 10, or try it with Win 10 default sound driver, sound driver in Windows OS is not so sensitive as graphic and storage drivers, unless it really can't be tweak at all..

But then again, it's only my opinion based on my assumption in understanding what you have told me above about Mac, it's not my expertise, but spec-wise I don't see any reason why the OP's Core i3 can't performs any better than my old DDR2 C2D PC, I can understand about the manufacturer in this case Apple recommendation, just like when Intel say in mid 2015 that all the new Intel chips line-up will only supports Win 10.., oh c'mon.. who would believe that? I bet when Intel designed their new chips before heading to production, the Win 10 is not even existed yet..

I'm going to limit my response now to be practical to the OP. Win 10 bootcamps are only supported on iMacs produced in 2012 and later. Forcing an unsupported version of the Bootcamp Assistant to run and allow for Win 10 is only going to result in a Windows partition that runs like garbage, if it runs at all. Upgrading an in-place Win 7 install to 10 on an iMac of that age will yield the same results. It's not a matter of strength, it's a matter of compatibilities.

The hardware config special version Win 10 driver support for the devices we have is just not there. Win 7 should be running beautifully on that Mac and reverting versions of Windows on it, if this is what they had done after trying 10 on it, was the right thing to do. I had only wanted to confirm that for them.

Sorry but I think the rest of this discussion, interesting to some of us as it may be, would be better if it were taking place elsewhere.