I love the Sims series, but I've always had a hard time getting into TS3. It's always been super laggy, even with no mods and plenty of memory to spare. I don't think it's a graphics card issue because I can run all the other Sims games just fine. Sometimes it would take 40 minutes for me to load up the game. Is TS3 always slow or am I doing something wrong?

TS3 is a special beast, especially with all or almost all EPs. Perhaps one or a few dozen items here might help?
https://nraas.wikispaces.com/Tips+F...ame+Performance

Yes I agree with Igazor, Sims 3 is one of those games that you'd expect to run smoothly but..nope XD But yeah it would help to see your deviceconfig. Does sims recognize your gpu? Thats something we'd be able to see in the deviceconfig

Use NRaas, yadda yadda, get an SSD, set up a RAMdisk, turn up your cache sizes....yadda yadda. Get world routing fixes and make sure you don't have your active lots set too high cause that wrecks any chance of moving around smoothly in-game.

Hope its ok to ask but what do you mean by active lots set too high? Sorry if sounding stupid just thought it might help me XD @GrijzePilion

The Sims 3 itself, without any EPs or SPs, DOES run perfectly smooth in a mid-range gaming PC. Some EPs, such as Ambitions and Generations, do not affect performance in any relevant way. Other EPs such as Pets and Seasons DO affect performance, but the one thing that truly matters at the end of the day is the world itself. How big is it? How well done is the routing? How many Sims do they live there? Is it optimized for large pets such as horses and unicorns? What about the use of boats, is it optimized for the best routing in both land and sea?

- Keep in mind that the amount of CC (and the way you install it, whether you merge it in larger files, whether the file names contain symbols TS3 will have a hard time reading, etc.) WILL affect your game's performance one way or another. If you do it right, it should ONLY affect your loading times.
- Buying an SSD got rid of 99% of the lag, so I recommend you do the same if you can. I don't even use a RAM disk anymore because I don't really need it.
- Unparking your CPU will help with empty venues and idle Sims.
- Some people just expect TS3 to run in any computer, no matter the CPU, RAM and GPU it has. It's almost as if they don't really understand how computers work and how the new shiny laptop they just bought may not be powerful enough to run a AAA game, even if it's not a NEW game. TS3 requires a mildly powerful GPU (1GB Vram), a very powerful CPU (+2.5 Ghz, dual/tetra core), as well as at least 6-8GB of RAM to run decently with all EPs and CC. An SSD is almost a "requirement" considering how much the game uses your drive to cache information WHILE you're playing.

There should really be a sticky about this tbh.

On every Sims-related community, yeah.

When my sims gets honked, I use every trick on the NRAAS hint page. If the problem is still there, I nuke it from space*. It's the only way to be sure. Then I rebuild everything.

* Okay, that may mean just deleting my Sims 3 user folder in my documents directory.

You mean you don't use an actual cyber nuke? Pff, noob.

You already have good advice on this topic from others, I won't add to it concerning that, besides I have basic knowledge but know enough to have built my own desktop computer specifically for TS3 because of research. I want to respond on the misconception (generalization) that TS3 is such a poorly made game (in some cases, yes that is true concerning some features/programming/lack of quality control/etc) but overall as far as the playability, in general, it is indeed playable even including all the glitches and issues left behind unresolved. The issue seems to be that some use a computer that is not suitable for TS3. (Yes, one of the reasons why TS4 appeals to the casual crowd so much is because of the majority, if not all of them, are not PC enthusiasts nor keep up with PC technology for whatever reason when it comes to gaming.) From what I have observed, many are quick to blame the game itself yet completely disregard that they may be using an incompatible computer. Also, from what I learned, it is not always enough to have just a decent CPU and GPU without having a motherboard specifically for gaming as well to be able to perform at the same level as the CPU/GPU/RAM. Otherwise, everything else gets held back to whatever is the fullest potential of the motherboard.

The point is that having a gaming computer or at least one that runs TS3 with the best performance is not just about having plenty of memory to spare. There are many components that work together that will determine your overall gaming experience. It should not matter whether you play with mods or not, TS3 is playable with little to no lag. Though other experiences will be different than my personal experience but with so many different hardware setups...that's not surprising at all. Which is the reason for TS3 system requirements. Unfortunately, they never included a recommended version which would have been extremely helpful.

"Is TS3 always slow or am I doing something wrong?"
For me, TS3 is not slow. Any lagging/stuttering is minimal to none without mods. With mods, it depends on what mods/cc I'm using so I try to keep it manageable as to not run into performance issues. Otherwise, TS3 leftover problems can be an issue as well, unfortunately. If you are interested to see some of my in-game screenshots or videos, you can see it here. http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/dis...0930/my-s3-game