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And what really sucks is that you can't play the game on a laptop. Freezes and crashes.
I agree. Some laptops are for office-ware and the occasional game of solitaire...
I have two computers that I installed the Sims 2 game on. The laptop is an office caliber machine on Vista and with a vista rating of 3.4. (Not great, bites). I have installed the base game and 4 EPs and 3 SPs... this set up will stall for ten minutes just to load customizations that I have selected of favorite downloads (like a Flintstones mammoth shower, bathtub, MTS2). After a bit of playing (2 hours), the action lags, a taxi might never arrive... it gets so hot, it has to be turned off.
In contrast... My desktop machine is XP Pro, loads all the expansion packs/stuff packs and over a GIG of downloads (with mods, game add ons, furniture, clothes, hair, etc...). The desktop loads all the EPs and SPs plus the gig plus of downloads in under two minutes. By accident, I found that the game can be left on for days on this machine. Sometimes I have been working and forgot that the game was loaded the night before, paused and never turned off. When I go back to the game window, it lags for a couple seconds then resumes as if nothing has happened. A good machine is a nice thing to have.
Believe it or not, EVERYBODY in the world doesn't live in a sterile suburb.
I'm not sure how this plays out so I guess I just have to see a demo that defines what you mean. I had a Sim family that owned odd businesses 'downtown' and other places. A fun one was a massage parlor that uses that little hermit house from Pleasantview. It had lots of business for a one room cottage. Very little overhead, but definitely not a top 500 business. Apartment life made living as a single or a single family quite a bit complicated especially if one were doing any number of challenges. I'm sure once I understand your perspective of sterile... maybe I can appreciate it better.
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I know this would probably crash most people's PC's, but has anyone else ever thought it would be cool to follow your sims to work? Perhaps you could direct them to complete different objectives at their workplace, and then your daily pay is based upon how much of your goals get accomplished, with a bonus being awarded for 100% completion of daily workplace objectives. You could play pranks on co-workers, gossip about the boss, break the coffee maker, chit-chat around the water cooler, etc.
Interesting perspective. Yes, that could be fun. I think my focus on my game has been the 'at home' challenges. Traveling, vacations, family, business and even pets (I'm one of those who loves the pets, but I also use mods for the game).
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Well, that's all I can think of right now, but I'm sure I have many more ideas. Please feel free to share yours as well!
I've found that when I play the game, I tend to be a minimalist. Occasionally I like to build something like an underwater house, just for the 'ell of it and put a sim in there as a neighbor who gets invited to see the families I play. I sometmes forget about the odd houses and get a kick to learn that one is marrying and they have to decide where to live. lol.
I don't go crazy creating a gorgeous home with matching everything. I let sims buy their goodies as their wants call for them. So have most in gold moods most of the time w/o using cheats.
I dont know all that technicall stuff but I do know that Sims 3 works on my Laptop just fine and its graffic and coloring is better than sims2...
Same here. I am considering getting a better graphic card, just to be sure my future expansion packs will work fine and perhaps a better processor (I've got enough RAM though). But this one works just fine with me and I've been playing it since last Tuesday. Needless to say, I lost many nights of sleep. It was worth it!
I got the Sims 3 Saturday and my desktop computer runs on Windows Vista OS has an Intel Core 2 quad processor, Nvidia geforce 8800 graphics card and it runs seamlessly on my 4 gb of ram.
I did get an error message about a file missing when downloading the cd. The EA downloader has a patch so it runs with no problem.
The sims look much improved and have smoother features.
The only thing I dislike is that it's barebones and you have to use "simpoints" to buy upgrades for your game like furniture, clothes, or whatever. I think it's a little grey and I hope there's a colorful expansion pack to come out soon.
What's considered "very old"? My desktop is a 2005 Dell. My laptop is a 2006 Dell. Both are on Windows XP and both are fairly hardy machines. At least I think they are . Both exceeded the minimum specs for The Sims 3. Sadly, the only thing they've had trouble with is Sims 3 .
By the way, I'm happy for those of you who've been able to play! Sounds like it's a lot of fun! Make a Sim for me, ok?
LOL, that's a trick question for the Do-It-Yourselfer! My main computer is home built, and varies as the budget allows. I rarely spend more than $450 to do upgrades and usually something has to be totally dead before I spend money. Buying a prebuilt with the specs I want is so totally out of the question.
In 2007, it was still on single core AMD CPU with a 2003 video card and 1 gig RAM. After the CPU died, I had no $ to get full system upgraded so I thought I'd pop in another single core, socket A CPU from 1998! No such luck, no one sold them any more. So I had to get a new mobo and got a dual core AMD CPU with new RAM chips. That made me only about five years behind Dell.
So I guess, that's where we differ. People who bought premade and second hand systems from Dell and other places had already had dual core and matching RAM for a few years.
Getting ready for Sims 3 was also an accident. At the beginning of 2009, my one year old dual core mentioned above, died after its first birthday. These things usually last me nearly a decade...WTF!
So off to Frys and back into the case go I. Thanks to holiday specials, my system went quad core (up from dual, the previous year). I ditched AMD, and became an Intel gal (so once again, replaced mobo etc).
Getting up to spec!! Since Sims 3 specs were being published, I thought I'd plan ahead a little and get a new video card. I had ATI RADEON 9800 XT which still does a beautiful job with Sims 2 and meets min specs for Sims 3. See System Requirements- The Sims 3 But that Radeon card is way at the OLD part of the list. So I upgraded; after rebate, GE Force 9800 GTX+ was around $120. On first run, I was amazed... I saw detailed marbling, colors and textures I'd never seen before in Sims 2! Computer failures do make a good kick in the pants to get up to spec. I'd otherwise still be 'just getting by' with the desktop. However, there's not a whole lot I can do with the laptop.
And LOL, after all the upgrades, the budget says no to The Sims 3 for now. My latest upgrade cost me only about $450. Much cheaper than buying a computer with these specs. (Intel mobo+CPU, 500 Watt PS, 9800GTX+ video card, 1 additional G RAM, 1T Sata Harddrive ~total, about $450). So I highly recommend 'rolling your own' to my peers. You can make a gaming machine that flies with a fraction of the money you'd pay to Dell.
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My desktop is a 2005 Dell. My laptop is a 2006 Dell. Both are on Windows XP and both are fairly hardy machines. At least I think they are . Both exceeded the minimum specs for The Sims 3. Sadly, the only thing they've had trouble with is Sims 3 .
Oh, so sorry. and frustrating. Of course, all the usual caveats. Get the latest drivers and firmware if needed. Sometimes a driver for one thing needs to be rolled back to work with the upgrade for another thing. It is dizzifying.
Heck, even with moderate specs and well past meeting the bare minimum, my refurb Gateway Core2Duo laptop experience with Sims 2 is absolutely abysmal. Notebooks are not as cheap or easy to upgrade as desktop systems and they will run hotter due to the physics of the compact space and less air flow. Sometimes a cooling notebook riser stand can help. notebook stand - Google Product Search
My impression: Specifications are loose any way. The various components (I can tell you from experience since I buy cheap parts) that match minimum, may not always work together very well. That's why there are notes to that effect with the game installs about different hardware.
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By the way, I'm happy for those of you who've been able to play! Sounds like it's a lot of fun! Make a Sim for me, ok?
Definitely I should not read Sims 3 forums! Makes me want to dent the budget already again. LOL. I thought I'd wait til at least the first patches were out and my favorite modders were making downloads to fancy up the game.
For those who don't already know, a fairly reliable test you can do on your online machine is at Can You RUN It?
Are there any tid bits about the game people can share... Like I just found out that you could change the outfits piece by piece to diffrent colors and patterns which I thought was pretty cool...
I'm done with the Sims game. They are becoming way to advanced and requiring too much for them to work. You gotta pay like 300 dollars just to play the damn game lol.
I had got the sims2 and I had to buy a whole new video card which costed me around 200 dollars, than had to buy more ram...ugh.
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. Both exceeded the minimum specs for The Sims 3. Sadly, the only thing they've had trouble with is Sims 3 
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