The game (TS3) has unlimited concept of any possibilities or characteristic, anything could happen just like in the real world, that's what I meant with unlimited. But the machine (the actual computer we're using eg laptops or pcs) has limits, and that (computer) limits were reach when the game starts stuttering, which I also considered as starting to lags.

The open world game concept determines the direction of the game towards its goal, how the world in the game is growing, which means it has no ultimate goal, is not like in CoH where the goal is whether the player win the war or lose the war and that's it.. mission accomplished, the interactions in CoH is only two ways because there are two sides characters which are against each other, where that's not the case in TS3 because each character has randomly independent directions, which is not ultimate goal.

That can be seen when starting new game, lets say we play one household then paused the game and change to another household, when we do that (changing to another household) we can see the world would zoom out and then zoom in after we chose to play the next household, then when we continue the game, that household has already have their own activity without we controlling or directing them, if we change to another household then it's going to be the same, and that's what each character has randomly independent directions, which makes the game has unlimited possibilities, unlike the open world CoH it has ultimate goal or mission.

So since TS3 doesn't have ultimate goal, we can take the goal in the game as play it as you go, let's see where it's heading to, whilst the population is growing as the game go, the houses and the building designs also determines additional complex routings, which also add another workload to the computer, all of these adds up, so at some point the processor will reach its maximum workloads, the lightest one is when the game starts to stutter, but in the background this is known as bottlenecking, (this can be verified with running Process Monitor).

So what I was referring to about 32 bit vs 64 bit is not about textures and/or objects, even if TS3 available in 64 bit and the system can just dump all the workloads into huge memory RAM, the one that is bottlenecking the system is the processor when it reach its maximum workloads when it start to stutter, so yes 64 bit would help but not the solution because the variation and complexity of the game as the game grows will eventually brings to the point where it's going to bottleneck the processor again, so it's only a matter of time before it starts to stutter again, therefore in theory.. "unlimited core" (as it was also mentioned above) is also the possible way to prevent the processor reaching that maximum workloads, but we don't have the technology, but it's possible if the workloads can be split with the help of multiplayer concept either with LAN or MMO

That would explain why even TS3 with the 6 cores 12 threads i7 4960X processor also experiencing stuttering, this extreme i7 has 4 channels of rams compares to the i7 3770K with dual channels, and that's also not enough to prevent the game from stuttering. So how can we give the appropriate answers to the OP's question about the real system requirements when even i7 4960X can't handle TS3 from stuttering let alone lags or freezes? What should we focus on then without explaining all of these?

In my opinion I wouldn't suggest the OP to get some specific powerful system computer as the answer without explaining what kind of problem is TS3 is dealing with, because it won't guarantee the results, what if the OP follows the suggestion and then after a while he/she came back complaining about the suggestion, that would be misleading and wouldn't be fair to him/her either.

As much as anyone else loves TS3, I also wish that there is one simple way to work this out, like buying one powerful computer and problem solved, but there isn't, and since the title is concerning about system requirements then we're talking hardware, but for what purpose, what is being expected since this is about TS3? To make TS3 loads faster or gameplay performance without stuttering, lags or freezes?

The only smooth gameplay I ever experience with TS3 is when BG only that was installed (whether it was on my PC or laptop), so I think that in general is what anyone would expect with more powerful computer when adding more things like EPs SPs CCs Mods, so BG is the reference as the ideal gameplay, but has anyone try playing BG only.. simulating from the beginning of time until the current generations as we are now? Even BG only would still starts to stutter if that's the scenario of the game because of the TS3 open world concept.

So from hardware perspective side, if we want to keep everything from the game, starts with BG until ITF, add them with CCs mods etc, multiplayer concept might answers the needs of unlimited processor's core, but we don't have that luxury. From a workaround perspective side, the other way is by compromising how we play it, replace or customize the houses buildings worlds etc to fit it with the current computer capable of, by simplifying them, capping the populations etc, but all of that can't be delivered with one simple answer or with multiple answers with explanations but without any arguments or disagreements.

And all of the above, is only about this matter of subject, is not yet about everything else like vsync stuff, what to do with graphics etc, so basically.. with TS3.. we won't have extra time for other games, and that's not even to start a new fresh game in TS3 in the newest or latest shiny computer

Hello! I actually asked the same question a few months back: http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=599158

TL;DR: My new computer is an ASUS ROG GR8 II-T043Z mini-desktop . It has GeForce GTX 1060 3GB graphics card, Windows 10, Intel Core i7, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD drive, and 1TB harddrive, and it cost $1589.99 Canadian. Also a Samsung 24" LED Gaming Monitor with Game mode . It has 1920 x 1080 resolution and 1ms response time, and it cost $179.98 CN.

It works wonderfully. Granted, I only have the 5 expansions installed right now (WA, AMB, NL, GEN, Pets), but I haven't had any problems sofar. I cannot stress how much I love the SSD drive, the system literally boots up in 10 seconds. Measured on a clock it takes TS3 55 seconds to open, and 102 seconds to load my super-bloated save file; which is a huge step considering my laptop used to take 20 minutes. I've not measured but saving probably takes 30 seconds or less.

My only issue is I have a temperature-monitoring app called CAM that keeps warning me I'm going above recommended temps when running TS3 for too long, or if Chrome is open as well. I have a cheap little fan cooling it down but I should get something stronger, more reliable.

You have totally missed the point of my post. My game does NOT stutter. What you find and what you do not find in the tests you do do not reflect how everyone else's games perform/play. You can speak to only of your experience.

I don't think I miss the point, your game doesn't stutter was because you compromised how you played it, how you fit the game to your style of playing in the 5-6 yrs old computer. That's my point about the unlimited possibilities, some of us may get it right, like yours for example, and some of us may get it all wrong. The example I gave about playing the BG only was to point that even with BG only, the game will eventually bottlenecking the processor, but in your case you fit them well with your system and how you play it.

Of course what I did tried with the game did not reflect on how everyone else's gameplay, and it wasn't suppose to be taken that way, I was just pointing that the game will eventually bottlenecking the processor even with BG only but it depends how it was play or directed, therefore the real problem is with TS3, is not about the system requirement as the main question was asked by the OP, your computer is 5-6 yrs old and so does with the i7 4960x and i7 3770K, the example of playing style I mentioned above, was meant to point where the game direction may go wrong or may go in the right direction, this is where the compromise determines the direction of the game, and that compromise can be anything from changing direction to what the user is going to achieve with his/hers play style, to any other possible scenarios of playing style.

I told you it is like explaining the difference between the two words COMPLETE and FINISHED

How did I compromise how I play it? Not that I really want to ask. And I have played since 3 came out and if you mean by bottlenecking my processor has issues that is false. My guess is it would have done it long ago if that were universal as you suggest. I play the game as EA designed it for the most part. I use mods to fix minor annoyances, but nothing major. I do not use AwesomeMod or the Nraas Story Progression mod.

My style of the game is to have it run smoothly and it does.

By using mods, as you already answered your own question



By altering the game with mods or custom world or etc is compromising the game for better gaming experience, compromise could be anything by means.. not only by using mods or custom world, but the purpose is the same, to have a better gaming experience.

As for the game bottlenecking the processor, we don't need any EPs or SPs for the game bottlenecking the processor, just the BG (no patch no CCs no mods) and Process Monitor running, and just play as anyone like it according to their style of playing, when the game starts stuttering or anything that we did not expect, then go check the Process monitor window whilst the game still running, we can compare it to when the game is running smoothly, the patterns will be different in the Process Monitor window, but when the game is actually lags, we will see the same patterns when the game is starts stuttering, that is bottlenecking the processor, the only difference between stuttering vs lags, for some of the players.. stuttering may not annoys the player enough because it was a really minor kind of lags.

Note: It's hard to get the game bottlenecking the processor when BG was the only one that installed, but it will when it reach the level of over crowded as the game grows and/or by adding new houses or buidings etc, this also explains why by adding EPs SPs will make the game easier to stutter or even lags.

In today's TS3 gaming experiences.. I think it's hard to find anyone just playing the BG only without any EPs/SPs CCs or Mods like in 2009 when TS3 was just launched, that's why it's easier to have a thought (and blame the system requirements were not enough) without realizing that the BG itself will bottleneck the processor if we don't compromise (or alter or change) how we play it.

I have an Acer Aspire E15--can give you the model number if you want. It ran "okay" on this but now I have 8GB it works better. Still has the lousy chipset not real videocard but it looks okay to me. It is NOT a gaming computer as people keep repeating but what can you do?

I don't have all the EPs or stuff packs. I am only now loading up CC. I made sure I put Nrass mods in for cleanups.

I did a ton of research on this issue (what would play Sims 3 and what could I afford? ) I bought this model with only 4gb, then recently added 4 more. It has one Terra bit storage and can go up to 32 gbs for memory as well have an SSD card installed. So, I like how it's able to be upgraded.

I have played with my CC/mods and played in totally clean games when I have wanted to do that for some particular reason. Even in a totally uncompromised game by your standards I have no gameplay stutter! My i7 handles the game with all the EPs and SPs except K Perry just fine. So your generalizations are not correct for everyone. I am done telling you this.

I have run my game both ways but my normal gameplay is to use about 8-9 of the Nraas mods such as Master Controller and Overwatch and Error Trap and so on. I like to be able to control some things such as the numbers of strays, paparazzi, and so on. And I think Overwatch is a must have. I do play with the EA story progression, so as said, maybe that helps as has some caps? I have not checked the demographics of a town in a long time.

I am very happy with how my game performs. I have done most of my computer upgrades based on Sims and am glad that as of now my current computer serves me well. The only thing that is pretty slow is CAS, but I do not use it that much. I set clothing when sims age up and that is about it.

That IS a huge amount of information for the game to handle. I can see why it is protesting. Poor game! LOL

Let me relate this to classic calculus word problems, if I may. Don't anyone get nervous, actual calculus is not required here though for some it might be fun to extend the following into a proper mathematical model.

The world is a bathtub, to be filled or emptied with resident sims. There are at least two faucets leading into it -- one is resident immigration (homeless sims spawning do not count), the other is births. I guess a third faucet could be player created households just randomly added in along the way, but that's around the same thing as a second immigration source.

There are two drains. One is death, the other is emigration. By playing with NRaas SP on default or close to default settings, the number of births and immigration can be controlled or left to run wild. But the emigration drain is switched off. If the drains aren't keeping up with the flow of new sims as the generations progress, then of course the tub will overflow.

EA's progression has very different ways to handle the potential for overflow and they are reviled by many players because of the likelihood of them malfunctioning and the world (tub) left to its own devices ending up essentially empty after a few generations. Thus what we call "Ghost Town Syndrome." With SP, the player gets to control the flow rates more precisely. But if we don't bother examining all of the flows in and out of the tub along the way, yes we can end up with quite a mess here.

And my "solution" by adding in more Traveler mod connected worlds to move the excess populations out is actually a horrible one because eventually if allowed to progress through rotational play those worlds will fill up as well and I'm only just expanding the problem across a wider surface area rather than really solving it -- adding a small number of new bathtubs is an arithmetic solution to an exponential growth issue and in the long term will not work. The difference is that it will take 50-100 real time years at the rate I play for my solution to break down and I doubt that I will still be playing the game then anyway as I will be ...uhh, a bit old to even be sitting in front of a computer by then.

I think Nitromon has touched on this before, but my (admittedly simplistic) analogies don't paint very pretty pictures for the future of our real life planet as we know it, do they?

No don't get too excited, the spreading out of resident populations among more Traveler connected worlds is player-directed. The best SP can do is arrange for automatic emigration, but that usually means out of the game entirely. Not that the sims emigrated from Bridgeport suddenly show up in Starlight Shores.

It's simpler than that. I like these sims or think they have potential. So I'm going to thin the local herd by moving some of them myself to already or about to be connected worlds.

(suddenly feels like Lucy must have felt after holding the football steady then yanking it away just as Charlie Brown runs up to kick it...) Sorry, that wasn't intentional.

That's what I'm trying to point out where the root of the problem is, and that's actually BG is when it was played for generations with no goal or without ending, and 32-bit limitation is not the one that caused it, because it's not how big the BG consumes the RAM (in BG installation only), as you can see it in the task manager how much BG consumes the RAM, and when we reach to that level of over crowded, even BG starting to stutter, maybe it's unnoticeable if maybe we don't watch it carefully to the sims movements because it was just a fraction of a second, but it can be seen with Process Monitor that the smooth pattern has changed.

So it is by the nature of how TS3 open world was designed that we're going to be at that point somehow when over crowded has been reached. The reason I tried running BG only was to understand the TS3 basic characteristic with Process Monitor running, not to suggest or recommend anyone to play it that way nor this is my standard of playing TS3, but just to have basic understanding where did it all came from in the 1st place? Once this basic characteristic of TS3 is understood, then we would know to where is the point we should avoid, whether by using mods (like AM NRASS MC) or customize the houses or buildings or routing or roads or even the world to have better TS3 gameplay experience, this is when the "compromise" kicks in, but maybe the term "compromise" I used was not the correct word to use in this topic.

So yes some computer's spec won't suits TS3 as that is the title of this thread, but to suggest or recommend one or more specific computer's spec can also be tricky without understanding the basic of the problem TS3 has since the beginning and what does the core mods like AM and NRASS MC help the game runs better. But of course it's not going to please everyone, that's why I mentioned it's like explaining "this" and "that".. well you know what I mean..

Seeing as how the original poster has never posted back, this topic has probably been beaten to death by now.

But it's a fascinating read anyway....

I just get a tad irritated when someone asks a question and there are 2 pages of posts where folks here are spending the time to try to answer/help, and way too often you never hear from the original poster again .

That's why I usually don't bother with new users, if no else has yet.