It happens to me all the time, I just do what Pescado said and pause the game when I want my sims to move faster. It's a pain in the azz though.

i have the ultimate gaming machine and my game does this as well

its annoying but i will use the cheat resetsim <first last> and sometimes it fixes othr times not

Yeah, I hate when they do that; I just figure it's because I have a lot of CC

Even the ultimate gaming machine must yield before the might of a TS3 sim who can't find their pants.

This is a problem I've not really encountered much, though I'd heard of it. Since the most recent patch though its been happening *a lot*. My sim is just standing around a bit before she does anything that requires an animation. Its starting to get really frustrating. Shimrods Autonomy fixer isn't helping - which doesn't suprise me cos I don't think its an autonomy issue - it mostly occurs between queued actions that use different animations.

I have no idea what has changed to cause it - it happens in high and low population worlds, so its not that I'm playing a large world.

That's always been a problem for me. Especially in TS1. It was impossible to fill their needs before they went to work so I always used the potion station and made them drink the blue potion in the morning.

Even though this thread has been necroed, I will point out that the more stuff you add, whether it's CC, Store items, or more EP's, the harder your game has to work to do stuff, and they game has to play catch up, so the sims stand around doing nothing. If you don't want to waste sim-time, you can try pausing the game for a bit, to let things catch up. Doesn't always work, though.

And I'd like to know who told the poster above that they have the "ultimate" gaming machine. Regardless, even high end machines have this issue, in fact, it, as well as the rendering issue, happens to EA when they do live broadcasts. Simply put, the game is a resource hog. The back of the box, just like the cake, is a lie.

There is this thread at the official forum now: FIX FOR SEVERE LAG that unearthed at least one Store item, the Tree of Prosperity, as a source of lag that has exactly those consequences, namely that Sims pause in every action until they start the next one. Once this starts, the next step will be that the time skips several minutes and then hours. While I also have a gaming machine, although not an ultimate one, I was hit by this only a few days ago. I am still puzzled, because I've owned and used that tree for ages, but only now it seems to have decided to spread its poison and destroyed one of the best games I've had recently. Well, not really, because uninstalling the tree fixed it immediately.
Talk about badly coded CC, well, the official ones from the Store are sometimes just as bad if not worse, because there's hardly any chance that the creator will fix them.

Hm, that would explain things. I have noticed the problem is much worse lately, and pausing the game no longer helps me.

Apologize for the necro, but I wanted to query If there had been any fix made over the years that remedied the issue?

Yes, unparking the CPU seems to help in some cases.

http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=571180

The main issue why showering/gotowork is because they have to change clothes and there seem to be a lag when they do. Unparking the CPU generally fixes this, however there are other reasons that could also contribute to the problem such as lack of RAM, dual core, etc...

Well I think there's a few mods floating about that reduces the amount of time needed to complete certain tasks like eating or showering.

It adds an anti-frustration buffer in case your sim ends up taking too long in getting there.

Only the 1st time when a sim spins for the outfit change, was it for work, swimming, exercising anything causes lag. When you know a specific sim is swapping into an outfit they have never worn before, pause the game for a while. Depends on your system, sometimes pausing over a minute does the trick. It helps a lot. Next time when sim spins into the same outfit, you shouldn't have an issue.

I don't recognize this issue at all, so I think it must be connected to CC and perhaps the rig you're playing the game on.
Packs can't be the problem, I have all packs (EP's and SP's), my Downloads folder contains 6,9 GB and my Mods folder 328 MB. My sims follow orders instantly, they always have (also on previous computers).

Interaction does queue up. It just that it takes time for them to change into their outfit.

Jo-Anne... it is the game problem... its probably that your CPU is powerful enough for the game to process the sim changing to new outfit fast enough that you don't notice the sim standing around before changing. But it is still there, just happening faster.
This has already been explained here, idk why is this thread still a thing. Nothing about the game has changed since then and probably won't change in the near future. Some PCs have some problems with the game, others have other problems and that's how it has always been and that's how it is still. The game has not been tested for more than 5 years now, there's been many PC configurations released since then... heck, the game hasn't even been tested by the devs with all EPs from what I know. So things like these are expected.

Possibly. Maybe it didn’t happen in the past (with a less high end computer) because I didn’t have all packs yet back then and no CC? The question is, if it’s my PC, is the game the problem or the computer you play the game on? We all love a complex, good game. We’ll never get that if we also demand it can be played on a low end computer, if that’s indeed the issue. I’ve seen official devs picking up some of the performance issues Sims 3 has as gospel, like when Lindsay was discussing open world with that gamechanger guy. Can’t tell you how damaging I think that is for this franchise, devs thinking the game is laggy and a performance monster for everyone. Because that’s what gave us Sims 4.

ETA:
And posts like this deny a good computer won’t have the problem:


It’s possible I have it too of course, but just for a couple of extra seconds. Too little to notice and I don’t mind about things I don’t notice.

(that being said, if this topic hands solutions for those who are having these problems that’s perfect of course, I didn’t comment to downplay that, just to be clear)

Yeah, it is really bothersome for me, as it take ages (like literally sim hours) to change as the clumsy sim is idling with their animation by the sauna bathtub. Hopefully, I can get to fix it, but wish someone could help me out with a step-by-step guide. Maybe it's my rig's limitations, but I dunno how I can check out specifications on my own. So I can know If it's worth unparking CPU.

Can you post links?

I don't have link to that mod but try Nraas relativity. It can make the day longer for eg. instead of 1 real second=1 sim minute you can make it 4 real seconds=1 sim minutes. I honestly can't play without this mod.

I've got this issue in Sims 4 where Sims take way to long to do anything. But generally in Sims 3 I haven't noticed this except when I tried to increase my sims graphics from high to ultra high. Also when I tried Ephemera Fresh default skin my Sims did this. Weird thing is that I have no problems with Kurasoberina Primer HD+ or Moonskin's Basic skin also HD (both Skins default versions).

So generally speaking I'm of the opinion for Sims 3 it is a hardware issue where your pc isn't strong enough to run the game the way you want or some cc has crept in that your game isn't liking.

NRass Relativity https://www.nraas.net/community/Relativity

There are also some tuning mods at the Asylum (you do need to register there) like this one http://simsasylum.com/tfm/index.php...update-7-26-14/ and http://simsasylum.com/tfm/index.php...or-sim-artists/
Just browse around there, they have a lot of good ones and all are updated to 1.67/1.69, even Shimrod’s in the retired section.

Relativity's great. I have no use for short Sim days, as they are usually, but I'll happily extend them by a factor of 3 or 4.

That thread seems to have been taken down. Is there any way to see what was discussed and removed?