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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 4th Dec 2020 at 8:45 AM Last edited by Fluse : 5th Dec 2020 at 11:29 AM.
Default FPS limiter - external program needed? (SOLVED)
Hello everyone, I don't know where to post this and I am really confused. I hope someone could help me... it's about the FPS i read a lot. I am not very good at handling pc stuff, so please be kind to me^^ soooo... I've read everywhere that the fps can increase up to 600 to 800 on newer graphics cards, while only max 60 should be ok. Everyone is talking about external programs which limit fps, but i don't understand?? under the graphics tab (i think) in the game options you can actually limit fps (59, 60 and standard or something like that). Why does everyone need an external program to limit their fps? I have a graphics card from 2018 and I needed to make the game recognize it, does that mean i need an external program too? I only play in fullscreen if that makes a difference. I am so confused and I would appreciate if someone could explain to me what's going on!
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Mad Poster
#2 Old 4th Dec 2020 at 9:00 AM
That setting in the built-in Game Options does nothing to limit frame rates. TS3 has no functional built-in fps limiter. Getting a card formally recognized so that it picks up a suitable set of defaults is fine to do, but it's not always necessary nor does that have anything to do with frame rates either.

First, determine the refresh rate of your monitor. Right-click on your desktop (this assumes Windows and not Mac), then Display Settings > Advanced Display Settings and it's one of around six things showing there, the one in Hz. Most monitors/screens are 60 Hz, so the goal is to stay at or below 60 fps, some can run higher.

Second, while in game hit ctrl+shift+C to bring up the cheats console and type fps on (enter). As you play and move the game camera around, the value that displays would be the actual frame rates you are getting. If they are wildly fluctuating all over the place and much higher than the refresh rate of your monitor, then your graphics card is working way harder than it needs to as the excess fps are the equivalent of digital noise that your monitor cannot possibly interpret. If there is enough of that and if the fps runs high enough, then that can have a horrible affect on game performance leading to screen tears, graphics glitches, lag, crashes, and can ultimately burn out your card and do damage to your system board. If it's already staying below 60 or whatever your refresh rate is, then you're fine. To make the displayed number go away, cheats console again and type fps off (enter).

Whether your graphics card control panel can fix this and cap frame rates or a third party tool is required will depend on which graphics card you have and the age of its drivers. In full screen mode, vertical sync and triple buffering again set from within control panel of your card can help but doesn't always do the job alone. What make and model have you got for a graphics card?
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#3 Old 4th Dec 2020 at 9:24 AM Last edited by Fluse : 4th Dec 2020 at 10:38 AM.
@igazor thank you so much for this perfect explanation. I tested ingame and it's going up and down between 30 and 300 ):
My monitor screen is 59 hz. My graphics card is a Radeon RX 480. when i click on the graphics driver it has an option under options - > graphics -> Radeon Chill
At the moment it's deactivated. Should I activate it? I hope I translated the option thing correctly, because my settings are not in english.

Edit 1: It looks like those settings are just general settings and not specific for games, but I can't find other settings... hmmm...

Edit 2: I downloaded RivaTuner and limited it to 60 fps. I tested ingame and it looks good so far. It stays between 50 and 60.

But to be honest, it pisses me off, that I have to do a shit ton of things to make a game run. I understand it's from 2009, but you had to optimize it even back than. I love sims 3 but I hate how user/noob unfriendly it is.
just wanted it to get off my chest ^^
Lab Assistant
#4 Old 4th Dec 2020 at 10:40 AM
Mad Poster
#5 Old 4th Dec 2020 at 2:42 PM Last edited by igazor : 4th Dec 2020 at 4:46 PM.
I've never gotten the frame rates limited on my AMD Radeon cards without using a third party tool, not in 2011 and not today. Riva Tuner (RTSS) is also what I use and it's fine, as long as you remember that the RTSS application needs to stay running in order to have any effect. If you change any of its settings, it's far too easy to X out (quit) the app and then it won't be running anymore. But it's just as easy to suddenly remember and switch it back on. As you have probably already seen, it can be set to start up with Windows.

Nvidia users have the luxury of there now being a frame rate cap built into their device control panels that does work for many, provided they have one whose drivers have been updated since around Dec 2019.

The reason for this particular lingering requirement for TS3 is that the base game was designed in 2008-09, and back then there were only a small number of home consumer grade graphics cards that would have been strong enough for this to even be an issue. One would have hoped that anyone who spent as much as would have been required for one of those very strong cards back then (e.g., a GTX 280) would not be taken by surprise that its power needs to be reeled back in for certain games. But it took players by surprise anyway and things have certainly changed in the consumer GPU market since then. EA never reacted, except you might notice that TS4 like most later games does have a functional built-in fps limiter.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#6 Old 4th Dec 2020 at 4:15 PM
@Alunn thank you for the link, but i have found a tool (rivatuner) which is very helpful (:

@igazor yes, it already happend that i clicked on the x instead of minimize, but this tool is quite easy to handle. I set it to start up and I am just happy it's doing its job as it should ^^
And thanks for clarifying. but I still don't understand what the function, i mentioned in my first post, in the sims 3 graphics settings is for. is it there to just look good or what?
Mad Poster
#7 Old 4th Dec 2020 at 5:29 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Fluse
And thanks for clarifying. but I still don't understand what the function, i mentioned in my first post, in the sims 3 graphics settings is for. is it there to just look good or what?

The one in Game Options? I don't think it does much, perhaps it is intended to slightly change the way in which screens render. I've never really experimented with it as I have my game in windowed mode much of the time when I play it and then there aren't any such options showing. But it shouldn't do any harm to try different settings on it; I expect you won't really see much difference though.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#8 Old 5th Dec 2020 at 9:35 AM
Before I installed RivaTuner I tested a bit with this setting (i think it was 59 hz, 60 and standard (whatever THAT means)) and guess what?! nothing happend to the frame rates.
Thank you for your help and explanations, I was really confused in the beginning and didn't know where to start and how to fix it. Thanks a lot.
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