I've seen the light!

[nequam]

Just for shits and giggles last night I was playing in my graphics options screen, having never even looked at them before. Now it’s like a whole new game!

I have recolors that I had thought just sucked, are now beautiful, and the skins; a small thing I had taken for granted is now a showcase to the skills of the artist. My collection of custom clothes has become a harsh example of natural selection.

OK, why is this glowing endorsement in the help section?
Well…she still runs, and my issues with my new found beauty are slight. Some general slowdown in camera movement, a small lag on occasion when an animation begins, nothing major, and is playable, albeit annoying.  The coming and going of cars is rather bad, and I’d say the worst of my new found troubles. With four Sims, and two pets, all with jobs/school my lot has a significant amount of traffic.

Me no smrt on ‘puters; my talents lie elsewhere.
I have only the vaguest idea what a video card is, having never played a video game before I did not inquire as to its quality when purchasing my shiny new laptop; she’s a Dell inspiron 1526 if that knowledge is needed to offer help. The small stutters I am experiencing don’t seem insurmountable, though again I wouldn’t know where to begin…
What in particular on a lot takes more processing than others?
How much does wall count and/or sheer mass of items degrade performance?
Some of the options in the graphics menu are vague (at least to me) how about definitions and/or comparative usefulness. eg; Does a small thing like UI transparency really affect system lag?

Any thoughts, pointers, general advice would be welcome.

Having seen the lands beyond normal resolution I cannot go back!!!

[ancienthighway]

Two of the biggest drains on video processing are shadows and reflections.  Unless you need those for pictures or just because you like them, turn them both off.  

I usually set my graphic effects to low also to help reduce the load on video processing.  

Object hiding is another option that when turned off can help on video performance if you have multiple story buildings on lots.  

Set the screen size to the smallest size you can and still enjoy the game experience.

Large lots play slower than small lots.  For an average home, this difference is negligible, but as you start to put more objects on the large lot, it's noticeable.

More objects play slower then fewer objects.  Unless I'm taking pictures on a lot, landscaping is non-existent. The only time I'll put decorations in a house is when a wealth sim has a want for a painting, sculpture, or plant.

More sims play slower then fewer sims.  One computer and 2 video cards ago, I couldn't play any dorm except for a 5 student dorm in the La Fiesta University without performance degradation due to the number of sims, objects and lot size.  Any time I'd move a teen to Uni, I'd move them into a residential lot as soon as possible to boost performance.

Setting Lot View Options to the smallest view distance, turning off fade distance, and turning off neighbors and decorations will improve performance also.