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What is the definitive solution for The Sims 3? Does one exist?
🕑 Added 2024-03-20 12:43:56 +0000 UTCHello everyone! I hope you're all doing well! I'm delving into a "case study," if you will, reflecting on the best solutions for stability and longevity of maps and saves for The Sims 3.
I looked into the latest version of OldSunset and pondered if it would be possible to play it with at least a thousand Sims. I could potentially address stability issues by increasing cache, which supposedly would give us faster rendering speed for lots, but obviously, not everything is as simple.
I used the MyWorld mod to quickly populate the town. I directed my Sims to the pool club, where there were already around 20 Sims awaiting my arrival.
Issues encountered:
- Micro-stuttering occurred on the way to the lot, but there were no lots being rendered along the path to justify it.
- Sims had EXTREMELY LOW responsiveness.
- They took a long time to interact, and when they did, the game struggled to depict it in detail.
- When Sims began to react with more appropriate behavior for the lot, they became invisible, even with standard rendering quality.
The biggest problem arose when I decided to save. The game was consuming 2.3 GB during gameplay. Upon saving, it exceeded the 3.4 GB limit. The game closed without saving. Summary: It's not possible to handle this demand the way I had planned.
If this were even possible, I could consider continuing OldSunset from where I left off instead of reinventing the wheel.
So I began to consider all the details directly or indirectly related to the game's performance issues and to brainstorm solutions. On a piece of paper, I began to jot down points, aiming to come up with at least 4 solutions for each problem until I arrived at a worthy set of alternatives.
DETAILS THAT AFFECT GAME PERFORMANCE:
- Scaling and proportion of maps combined with the number of lots
Solutions:
*Reduce the size of worlds and lots (Tiny Worlds were presented as a solution in response to this demand)
*Assign a theme to each map and explore gameplay in depth (In short, it's impossible to address all the possibilities that TS3 offers in a single map without compromising the game's performance and stability. This is an alternative solution to solve this problem)
*Develop stereotypes for maps and give them Sims that fit that proposal (TS3 had a feature called personas before its release that stereotyped Sims to facilitate connection and identification between the Sim and the player, a feature used with emphasis in marketing)
*Clone Sims from other neighborhoods and make them homeless to convey a sense of realism (Similar to the TS4 solution here, the idea is to give some homeless Sims the appearance of Sims living in locations near the tiny world, since the tiny world becomes a district instead of an entire world. This move will convey the feeling of a connected universe)
- Quantity and type of custom content used
Solutions:
*Remove or significantly reduce the number of script mods. Compared to other types of mods, they tend to present greater instability to the game if not well made.
*Merging custom content seems like a smart solution in the short term (since TS3's performance is affected by the number of files that need to be read before and during the game launch). Simplify and categorize mods.
*Simplify the game as much as possible by reducing the variety of content used but still maintaining a collection that serves my demand as a player (prefer mods that are default or overrides that replace or overlap existing features in the game, being careful with image files and proportions).
- The more Sims, the shallower the simulation:
Solutions:
*Find an ideal number of Sims to meet the demand of the experience being built, associated with a high degree of immersion. (I estimate 50/60 Sims as a tolerable and acceptable limit for a good experience; tiny worlds become like small neighborhoods reminiscent of TS2 gameplay)
*Entire and complex family trees can be assembled if the ghosts of these Sims are not kept active on the map (This means for an average couple that there are at least 20 Sims preceding them in ancestry, 10 on each side, considering they do not have siblings. In other words: Parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents).
*Optimize routing and ensure there is space for Sims to navigate and use objects correctly, reducing the frequent use of moveobjects by associating with mods that reduce the space needed for Sims to interact with other Sims and/or objects.
*Simplify the appearance of Sims as much as possible. In other words: Reduce the use of CC when creating them and opt for simpler content that puts less strain on the game.
- Size and quantity of objects within a lot
Solutions:
*Smaller lots allow for less use of objects. This means you need to be more cautious and selective when building. (Reducing lot sizes is the ideal solution)
*For larger lots, just make sure to maintain an acceptable limit of details and decorations to avoid compromising performance. (Be creative and find new ways to fill the lot without needing to use a multitude of small objects)
Overall Set of Solutions:
- Personalize the maps, delve into the experience rather than variety: Define a theme, build an emerging narrative with Personas revolving around that theme, and dive into gameplay. Instead of creating a map for each expansion, aim to create a map for a quarter of the experience of that expansion. Utilize relationships, objects, careers, skills, and opportunities to tell and live stories. Focus on quality rather than variety.
- Minimize the use of mods and CC as much as possible, building your own arsenal of indispensable mods and preferably always testing the game before defining them as definitive. When adding a new mod, open your game and check if it remains stable and presents good save times and Sims responsiveness.
- Increase the cache storage space of the maps to optimize the rendering and loading experience of resources within the neighborhood. The modified default file should be copied and pasted into the folder of each expansion pack to present significant changes. Find a number, test the storage limit of the map's cache file to discover how much the game is really capable of caching.
This is a logical exercise of solutions. It doesn't aim to discover new things but to highlight what we know are the problems, so that the solution (or the best solution) can emerge from it. As silly as it may seem, putting this on a map and visualizing it can help us go further with solutions. Especially when there are no physical ways to apply the most obvious solutions such as: Expanding the use of The Sims 3 RAM associated with the number of cores the game can use to simulate realities.
That said, I would like to clarify that this is all about my vision and it is based on my personal experience and the materials I have consulted over the years about the development of the game and its AI. This does not purport to be a "bible" of solutions or the "staff of truth". So, with skepticism, consider what is useful and disregard what is not useful to you from this list. Even with the best autonomy mods and improvements in Sims' response, they are still unable to respond quickly and soberly in GIANT maps full of Sims. This is a problem at the root of the game. And as was shared at a GDC event on TS3's AI, this is how the game was programmed.
The more Sims, the more simplified their behavior tree will be. Considering that the game was made for 2009 hardware, it seemed like the most assertive decision. And initially, it probably was. So as the saying goes, if you can't beat them, join them. Or in this case, adapt to them.
Reducing, simplifying, and expanding the scope of the gaming experience seems to be the most efficient, quick, and effective alternative solution for me in the short and long term. What are your thoughts on all of this? I would like to hear your opinion and open a dialogue about all of this.
