Should I Take the Risk?

HumanMage

HumanMage

New Member
I really want to play the Sims 3, I've been a huge fan since it first came out way back when. I think it's a perfect title for a little session every now and then. However, I was wondering if my laptop will be able to run it effectively. I've consulted Systemrequirementslab.com to see if I meet the minimum specs, which I do. (The test said I failed to meet the min. requirements because I'm running Windows 7 build 7100, and it doesn't recognize that as an OS) However I don't fully trust that test.

So, should I take $50 gamble? Is there any other way, aside from being illegal to try and see if I can run this game? I realize I won't be able to play it with all the eye candy, but I think that I'll get enough. Enough babbling, what would you all do?:)
 
I'm sure if you have Windows 7 that you can right click the exe for Sims 3 and select:

Properties > Compatability Mode > Windows XP (or Vista)
 
I have a laptop with a measly nvidia 8200M and it plays Sims 3 smooth at low settings and native res (1280x800) so that G1 will be fine.
 
gamerman4 said:
I have a laptop with a measly nvidia 8200M and it plays Sims 3 smooth at low settings and native res (1280x800) so that G1 will be fine.
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Oh yeah? I don't know much about the 8200M, and if it's "better" than my go7700. I wouldn't imagine it would be by much. Perhaps I'll take a trip to a computer store here in a few days and make the purchase, I just don't want to drop 50 bucks on a game and not be able to play it like I want to :D. If I did this I would have low expectations though.

When you play it on your laptop, overall, how does it perform, is it pretty smooth?
 
HumanMage said:
Oh yeah? I don't know much about the 8200M, and if it's "better" than my go7700. I wouldn't imagine it would be by much. Perhaps I'll take a trip to a computer store here in a few days and make the purchase, I just don't want to drop 50 bucks on a game and not be able to play it like I want to :D. If I did this I would have low expectations though.

When you play it on your laptop, overall, how does it perform, is it pretty smooth?
Click to expand...

the 8200m is an integrated card which means it is pretty much crap. Your 7700 is a dedicated card, it could crush my card. If my laptop plays Sims 3, yours will undoubtedly play it with no problem. On my card at low settings, the framerate is very smooth and I could play for hours.
 
I'm running Windows 7 RC 64bit and the Sims 3 runs fine. As a side note be sure to get the patch it fixes the issues with speeds 2 and 3 not being much faster then speed 1. It's a known bug but the patch takes care of it. Systemrequirementslab.com really needs to get itself updated. It's a handy site for a quick check. You can still see how your system stacks up still since it still shows each catagory.
 
Another thought here, my biggest fear would be the entire town loaded at once. Won't that make my overall play sluggish? I would imagine that's a lot of content to load and keep loaded while you play. Does anyone have experience with this, hows the game play even with the everything loaded at once.
 
It doesn't actually load everything at once. It uses a thing called LOD that a lot of newer games use (Crysis uses this a LOT) basically, the farther away something is, the less of it is actually loaded. Say a grass texture is normally 512x512, if it is a mile away, you don't need that much detail so it only loads a small 64x64 texture and as you get close to it, it loads more detail. This keeps things running smoothly. You may notice a tad bit of skipping when moving quickly across town, (usually when switching between Sims who may be at different parts of the town. Believe me, this game is made to run as smooth as possible. Sims 3 runs on systems that are well below minimum spec.
 
gamerman4 said:
It doesn't actually load everything at once. It uses a thing called LOD that a lot of newer games use (Crysis uses this a LOT) basically, the farther away something is, the less of it is actually loaded. Say a grass texture is normally 512x512, if it is a mile away, you don't need that much detail so it only loads a small 64x64 texture and as you get close to it, it loads more detail. This keeps things running smoothly. You may notice a tad bit of skipping when moving quickly across town, (usually when switching between Sims who may be at different parts of the town. Believe me, this game is made to run as smooth as possible. Sims 3 runs on systems that are well below minimum spec.
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Yeah, and if it's the technology Crysis uses you know it'll work real fast and smooth on any rig... just like Crysis. :P

In all seriousness though, I'm thinking it work just fine on your notebook.
 
Well I bought the game today and to my surprise it is playable. I have the settings at default and everything's on the smooth side, for the most part. I might lower the settings and see how that helps it. My only gripe so far is loading it up from the desktop, takes a while for it to load up. I'll have to see what I can do.
 
sims 3

idk, i played sims 2 with expansion packs at my friends house and it was okay, so i bought it. it got boring after about 2 hrs. i would say no, dont buy it
 
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