Weird video lag, The Sims 3

Anesthetic · 30 Jan 2012

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..?

vierasniper · 31 Jan 2012

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

papin97 · 31 Jan 2012

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.

Anesthetic · 31 Jan 2012

vierasniper said:

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

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

Anesthetic · 31 Jan 2012

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.

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

vierasniper · 31 Jan 2012

Anesthetic said:

vierasniper said:

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

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

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?

MrNeeds · 31 Jan 2012

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?

Anesthetic · 31 Jan 2012

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?

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!

M1GU31 · 31 Jan 2012

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?

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

Anesthetic · 04 Feb 2012

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?