Game play issues
ange1face20:
Ok, I'm not really sure to put this question in this area, and when I looked in the "General Sims 2" section I really didn't see a place to ask this question there either, so I'm just going to ask it here, and please don't yell at me. But I had a question about "game play". Awhile back I learned that the "polycount" of objects in a game can affect how fast it runs, so I've been trying to watch what I put into my game, but now I noticed that when I adjust the "graphics", before I play to try and make the game show up better and objects more clearer, it STILL runs very slow, and I was wondering if it could be me needing a better graphics card and if so..does anyone know which is the BEST brand to get... or if that even has anything to do with it, or me just needing a faster computer or something? And if so, HOW MUCH mb should I use to play the sims effeciently? ANY sort of positive input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
DecoraChroi:
Angelface, any future questions similar to your post, should be posted in the help section. :)
veash:
Check out this article on Gamespot about Sims2, graphic cards and performance. http://www.gamespot.com/features/6133243/index.html?type=tech&page=1
Basically what they're saying is the bigger the CPU, the better the performance. Adding RAM and having lots of free disk space helps alot. Also defrag your hard drive often. Hope that helps.
ange1face20:
It helps alot, Veash, thankyou VERY much for your "positive" input. I normally defrag and try to free up space, and do disk clean ups as well, but I'm going to be reading over that link you posted.
BeosBoxBoy:
angelface - when you are trying to decide on what is the best thing to do to improve your game performance, I would first ask you to make sure you did all of the things you mention doing. So you are already more than 1/2 through the process.
Custom content is both a blessing and a curse. Because different creators have different degrees of concern for the end user's system resources, you will see a wide range of poly-count for similar items. A four-poster bed is a great example here. I won't name sites or creators, but i will speak of their foibles by my understanding of such things. I have recently downloaded one attractive four-poster bed with a poly-count in excess of 86000 faces, another that is practically indistinguishable from the first with a poly count of 3200 faces. The difference is quite alarming when you consider that Maxis recommends something like no more than 800 faces per build mode grid.
And consider a 5x5 lot - that equeals 25x25 build mode grids, or 625 squares. The game uses about 1 megabyte of video ram per grid to rend those 800 faces; when you push the face count higher it uses more. So a 5x5 lot with an average of 800 faces per build mode square would require 625 MB of video RAM - not something most people have and the game's rendering engine was frankly not designed to handle much more than that. SO you will star seeing a fall off in game performance on the biggest lots no matter what you do.
You have to be the policeman that determines what you can and cannot live without in your downloads folder, how much you cram on a lot, and how many polygons you have to have for an item to look convincingly real. If you can find a reasonable balance in these things, you will start seeing a improvement in game performance without resorting to an upgrade.
But, then we have to look at the EPs. The EPs have ever increasing video demands and each one adds to the weight that you CPU and system RAM have to carry to play the game. Just the base game with no EPs and no downloads masses somewhat more than 2 GB, if you have 3 or 4 EPs installed, plus a lot of custom content downloaded from the web, it can rapidly pass 10 GB of data your computer has to wrestle while you play the game. This too will impact performance.
Even without Downloads, you still have all the added weirdness that takes places unseen, like attractions, needs, and the "advertising" of objects (basically the way a Sim knows there is a commode on the lot when he has to pee) Each EP adds a little more to the spiderweb of unseen things. Every time you play the game you also add to this with memories, DNA, wardrobe adjustments, etc. So it can get hairy after a few weeks of serious hard core play with nothing but the base game.
Knowing this, you now have to consider how to best make your system "kick" when you play.
A faster CPU is always a plus, more & faster system RAM also a plus, a bigger, better video card - well - there is where we start having to consult star charts and old women in caravans with crystal balls. The thing about the latest greatest video cards is that we don't know if they suck until about 3-9 months after they come onto the market. It takes that long for people to go through all the motions of trying to get the buggy ones to work, then belly ache about how they were robbed so us poor slobs who want to know can know that the new ATI xpoop is a POS.
So generally I recommend going with a known good performer rather than some bloody cutting edge thing that still smells of the paint in the factory. Over the past 6 months ATI cards have begun to get worse and worse customer feedback. So it looks like an nVidia card is the way to go. The VIA/S3 Unichrome series is complete crap, so don't even bother with that; I still remember all too well that VIA is just Cyrix by a new name and they were responsible for selling tonnes of overclocked 386 CPUs as 486s - and they ran so hot that they melted laptops. I never forget or forgive a 3rd degree burn that close to my junk.
ANyway - that aside - you need to decide on a budget, and then I can give you sound advice on how best to spend that money to benefit your game. Just tell me where you are in this world of ours and what you can spend, and I will do my best to make a recommendation that meets your needs.
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