This is going to sound like a bit much to ask, but would you mind listing the exact settings you have on your story progression mod? There are just so many options it's a little overwhelming. And if you've figured out the perfect setting I would REALLY like to copy it exactly so I don't mess something up. I am ready to beg, if I need to.

So was a fix for this ever found?

Just started playing and I had this exact problem, the small freezes for a few seconds every minute. (But the plumbob keeps moving.) It started happening to me when my private investigator sim went home and found a raccoon in the garage with the thought bubble above its head saying how it couldn't move. It then teleported away and the lag began.

hey you guys,

I've also recently had this issue. I ONLY have Sims 3 installed, and everything was working fine (I'm not fond of expansion packs and always ended up un-installing them).

After installing Sims 3 Pets, everything was running smooth for about 3-5days, after which lagging started to occur every so often. At the beginning, it was lagging only for 45 real-life-seconds every 2 real-life-minutes. After 10 real-life-minutes, the game froze for 2-real-life minutes every 30 sims-seconds. And from then on, the situation's gotten worse and worse. The freezing is so often and for such a long period of time that I haven't played Sims for 2 months already! :O

I'm not sure if it would freeze with other household since I have NOT yet even played with another household! It doesn't occur when I am building or purchasing items for the house, nor does it occur when I'm viewing the town (or is it because I am there for such a brief period of time that the freezing/lagging doesn't have the time to kick in yet?)

The freezing involves everything not moving (including unable to navigate or click anything). The only thing moving are the green spheres on top of the Sims' heads, and the sounds coming from the game (i.e.: you can hear the TV, music from stereo, computer, etc.).

When Sims 3 Seasons came out, I figured it would be the perfect opportunity to "fix" this glitch as EA would obviously offer a more "advanced" patch that would override the glitch. But I was wrong. The patch was updated, the game was successfully installed, but the freezing remains

Has anyone found a solution?

My game is free of mods, customs, hacking, etc. No downloaded items. No legacy (I've already been through that terrible phase of losing all my customs). No saved games. No new Worlds. NO NOTHING! haha
My computer is BEYOND requirement. My Sims 3 is the "cleanest" game ever.

My life isn't complete without Sims 3 lol ! HELP!

@pirate_wolf_12 & @ziba,
you didn't read the whole thread from the start? There's been some suggestions in the earlier pages.
And, if you have used them and the lags still persists, then it is a different issue.
But you mentioned your game being "the "cleanest" game ever", @ziba. Which tells me that at the very least you should install Overwatch & ErrorTrap, STAT!

Now, for everyone who have my routing fixes for Appaloosa Plains, and still gets lag, then we need to investigate further, especially if it gets worse after Seasons. If you'd post on the AP download thread, with spots that lag for you, then we could start collecting data and comparing if this lag occurs for everyone at the same spots, and if it is triggered by the same action. Because if not, then it is a Hardware specs issue due to StoryProgression. And so, the same suggestion of tweaking Twallan's StoryProgression applies. And one person's tweaks may not work for another because we all have different specs - CPU + RAM - which plays a part in StoryProgression actions.

If you're going to post, don't just say "I've got lags even with this download installed!". I need more info than that to do anything about it.
- what games
- what base game version
- have the .world version or imported the fixes.
- have other mods, or not, and what they are
- the spots where the lags most frequently occur -> use Overwatch to check for stuck Sims
- and other questions that I've compiled in the Freeze wiki article.

And, last but not least, since Seasons EP and patch 1.42, world routing fixes seems to be applied only on NEW games, not on pre-existing Saves that were started before patching to 1.42. Which is also noted and explained in the .world download thread.

I removed Pets and my game runs smoothly. I am likely not going to install it back.

I did. I was just hoping there would have been an official fix via a patch. (When I posted that, I don't think I had patched the game yet.) I figured if this was a more universal problem with the games than a glitch that only affects an unlucky few there would be a bigger uproar over it, so I wasn't sure if I was just unlucky or if a permanent solution had been found.

I've used resetsim * several times and it does fix it, if only temporarily. Today I downloaded Overwatch (Seriously, where do all these random cars come from!?) and when the lag was getting quite bad it brought up several messages on sims who had gotten stuck. I'm not sure if the mod only tells you about stuck sims or if it fixes it for you though, as I got messages regarding the same sims being stuck a few times. The lagging didn't stop until I used the resetsim *.

Oh, I also tried 'resetsim wild horse' but that didn't help. And these problems have happened in Sunset Valley, Riverview, Twinbrook and Moonlight Falls. I haven't played Appaloosa Plains and don't have Starlight Shores. My computer is made for gaming and is brand new.

I'll try Register next and reduce the wild animals to 1 or 0. I don't know if they're part of the problem or all of it (I installed the expansion packs together so I can't say which expansion pack this problem started with.) or if it's just from sims being stuck. Judging by how many others are saying it happened with Pets (And how their glitches are exactly like mine - noise plays and the plumbobs still spin but everything else freezes for a few seconds continuously) I'll assume it's animal related.

If Register doesn't improve it I'm not sure what the next Twallan mod to use for the problem is.

It does lag... The whole screen freezes except for the mouse.

I just re-installed pets hoping it would be better now but it crashed after two hours of playing and I literally just give in with that expansion, it can go to hell and burn I will no longer acknowledge it exists lol.

It just occurred to me that they will have to fix this problem with spawners in the island paradise game. Well no, it's EA so they might patch the problem with a patch that causes other problems.

No, what they will probably do is if a NPC sim spawns on an island and needs to get elsewhere he/she will just pull a boat out of their back pocket, or swim for it.

Hmmm, if swimming for it were that easy why will they have sims marooned on islands?

Speaking of marooned sims, if you don't want yours to be marooned, just keep an extra watercraft in your back pocket. After all sims will go somewhere in one car while they have another in their back pocket.

As for getting rid of lag, I just removed pets from my computer. Most of it is gone.

It strikes me that if you are halfway though a generation before you start having problems you don't have lag like some of us do, or have had.