Weird video lag, The Sims 3

Here are my system specs: CPU-Z Validator 3.1

According to those specs, I know it's not the fastest PC in the world, however, the Sim 3 isn't exactly Crysis either.

Here is the link to the video: Deposit Files

I couldn't upload the file here because it's 12MB

And don't mind the horrible visual quality of the video, just pretend the video is clear but notice how jittery things get when I scroll around.

What could it be?

Someone told me that my processor is a dinosaur, but I've seen people with Core 2 Duos run this game....

Additionally, when things do manage to run smoothly, like when creating a Sim, there are like these tiny screen tears when you spin them around.

Lastly, I just played the game DIRT 3 and it plays smooth like butter. No lagging, no jitters, just perfect on 1920 x 1080. Dirt 3s minimum specs are even higher.... I'm beginning to think it's the game..?

Is it just like a visual lag, or this there a lag during game play?

Maybe ATI Radeon doesn't support The Sims 3. Make sure your graphics driver is updated and change settings on your ATI RADEON driver.
I have same issue, too. My computer has 2 VGAs, and The Sims 3 select Intel Graphics, not nVidia GT540M. So, I change nVidia settings and select The Sims 3 to use nVidia GPU.

vierasniper said:

Is it just like a visual lag, or this there a lag during game play?

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Visual hiccups during game play. Screen tears. It makes me angry! Other games work fine!

papin97 said:

Maybe ATI Radeon doesn't support The Sims 3. Make sure your graphics driver is updated and change settings on your ATI RADEON driver.
I have same issue, too. My computer has 2 VGAs, and The Sims 3 select Intel Graphics, not nVidia GT540M. So, I change nVidia settings and select The Sims 3 to use nVidia GPU.

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On youtube, someone else posted video of them playing with the same video card as me and their video looks fine :\

Anesthetic said:

vierasniper said:

Is it just like a visual lag, or this there a lag during game play?

Click to expand...

Visual hiccups during game play. Screen tears. It makes me angry! Other games work fine!

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Well just make sure the base game and all expansions (if any), are fully updated. Also Your video card Drivers as well. Its not you processor, i used to run the game on a dual core as well. The game ran fine, i used a GTX260. Are you using any mods?

i think what you're experiencing is v-sync issues, the screen tearing is a dead give away, i'm an Nvidia user so i cannot tell you how to enable v-sync on the catalyst control center, anybody help?

MrNeeds said:

i think what you're experiencing is v-sync issues, the screen tearing is a dead give away, i'm an Nvidia user so i cannot tell you how to enable v-sync on the catalyst control center, anybody help?

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I've been noticing that in many forums as well. What I'm going to do is, I'm going to purchase an NVIDIA GTX 560Ti and try the V-SYNC thing to see if that card will make a difference. I really don't want to do this because I've already returned one AMD card to Amazon already, but if this solution works, I will let you guys know by end of day Thursday or Friday and will consider this matter solved. I'm crossing my fingers!

MrNeeds said:

i think what you're experiencing is v-sync issues, the screen tearing is a dead give away, i'm an Nvidia user so i cannot tell you how to enable v-sync on the catalyst control center, anybody help?

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ye you set this setting to force v-sync in CCC

Ok guys. Now, I'm rolling with an NVIDIA GTX 560 TI (VSYNC on) and The Sims 3 doesn't have screen tears anymore, however, the game still stutters when scrolling. I noticed that when I start on an empty lot, the games stays at a SMOOTH 60FPS (using FRAPS). Now, the minute I add a house and the Sims begin to live there, my FPS jumps all over the place, but never goes over 60. Even when my FPS goes to 59, I notice the stuttering. And sometimes it goes...... 60- 60- 59- 59- 58- 56, 57 -30 -30 -20 -30 -44 -50-60-59-59-59-60-60-62. It's really stupid. I mean, the game is playable, but the jittering is really going to make me go crazy. So, don't get me wrong, V-SYNC does its job, but now the game jitters when scrolling. This is only a problem with the Sims. Fear 2 runs great, Dirt 3 runs smooth, even the old game from 2003 - the suffering runs smoothly lol. I tried to set affinity to my cores (limiting it to 3), I tried maxing out my graphics card settings, and even setting them to minimal. I tried, lower resolutions, lower in game settings, you name it. I don't know what the deal is. I mean, EA had 3 years to fix this? Message boards are full of these "jittering" claims and EA still hasn't commented on it. Anything else I can try?

Disable v-sync. i never use it when playing Sims, and i have an older card. ill ask again, are you using any mods?

Nope. No mods. However, as an attempt to rid the problem, I tried a mod, but the problem persisted.

Ok, ill suggest that you try the over watch mod by nraas. its adds a special menu that to the sim that resets every sim and cleans up stuck cars, sims, other stuff. this might help, or it could be v-sync related just turn it off. heres a link for the mod. http://nraas.wikispaces.com/Overwatch+Phase+Five

vierasniper said:

Ok, ill suggest that you try the over watch mod by nraas. its adds a special menu that to the sim that resets every sim and cleans up stuck cars, sims, other stuff. this might help, or it could be v-sync related just turn it off. heres a link for the mod. http://nraas.wikispaces.com/Overwatch+Phase+Five

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Ahhh! This is the exact mod I tried, to no avail, unfortunately. And currently, I use the D3DOVERRIDER which stops the screen tears. The NVIDIA one acts weird :sarc:

I mean, I don't know what else in this mod that when turned from false to true can fix the problem. I narrowed it down to the game being the problem. Especially because all of the other games work fine. Imagine how infuriated I am spending $130 on the base game and expansion packs! lol

Hey man you and me both. When I had lag, tears fell when nraas worked for me. Maybe it's your resolution or refresh rate?

My Evo sent this on its own.