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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 28th Dec 2019 at 1:30 AM
Default Can I run Sims 3 on a Windows 10 laptop
Hey there folks. About a year ago, my sims 2 game finally died. I'm finally able to replace the game, but I would like to ee if I can upgrade first. My system specs are below. Can you help me figure out if I can run sims 3 or 4?
Screenshots
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Mad Poster
#3 Old 28th Dec 2019 at 3:42 AM
^ A baked potato, perhaps. TS4 keeps heating up my gaming laptop for no apparent reason (doesn't do so with TS2).

TS3 should work, but keep in mind you'll probably have to do some trixing and fixing to get it to work properly. It has some of the same issues as TS2, in that it's a 32-bit game with all the issues that may cause on a 64-bit system, and therefore may not be so happy about Win10, because Win10 often doesn't play nice with 32-bit games.
Mad Poster
#4 Old 28th Dec 2019 at 6:12 AM
I am playing on my Windows 10 laptop with no problems, but it is one with higher specs.
Mad Poster
#5 Old 28th Dec 2019 at 9:47 AM
What's holding back the OP's system from the performance that TS3 can actually deliver and makes this a close call if the heaviest of the EPs are required (Pets, Seasons, then IP and ITF) would be their processor and likely lack of a dedicated graphics card. And yes, RAM would be a bit tight. Not the fact that they are running Win 10.


Quote: Originally posted by nitromon
TS4 - Yes. A potato can run TS4.

My good man, I will have you know that potatoes vary widely in their strength and capacity for stress. I mean, you cannot compare the mighty Russet or a Yukon Gold with this sack of I don't know what the heck they are, but they were the cheapest ones per 5 lb bag at the grocery store. Performance and durability will be unpredictable until we get some specs on said spuds.
Mad Poster
#6 Old 28th Dec 2019 at 2:35 PM Last edited by simmer22 : 28th Dec 2019 at 3:07 PM.
^ My old lap-resting spud could play TS3 with all but one EP much better than it could play TS4 with 1 EP, so one should not simply put performance issues down to how well the spuds perform without considering the programs said spud is supposed to roll with. Also, Win10 has... issues. Not for everyone, but when you do get said issues they make games next to unplayable.

The games may have certain upper limits, too. Being older games and meant for 32-bit systems, TS2 and TS3 have some issues that can cause the games to not run flawlessly when put on systems that aren't built to cope with those issues (like having a RAM limitation, which would make sense on a computer with 512MB to 4 GB RAM, but not on a newer system with 32+ GB of RAM or dedicated graphics cards with more than 4 GB RAM). The systems we take for granted now may be able to tackle the stress of any other newer game, but TS2 and TS3 really are built to run on potatoes from the early/mid 2000s, with XP and the hardware from 15-20 years ago in mind as a rough baseline. They don't tackle multi-core CPUs or split RAM, and all the other fancy capabilities of newer hardware as well as modern games, and the newer software and OS versions have moved beyond what the games were meant to be run on, so they have various issues the games can end up struggling with.

Most computers nowadays are in theory capable of running TS3 if you look at the hardware specs, because the baseline of what to expect from a basic new computer since TS3 was released is now at least of the level of a mid-range gaming computer back then - BUT with the usual warnings that the computer may not be meant for heavy gaming, and that you may have to lower the graphics a bit for better performance. I don't doubt you could pick almost any computer or laptop (except the cheapest and absolutely most basic ones, or the tiny ones) and somehow get it to run TS3. Maybe not flawlessly, but it would most likely be able to run it. While TS3 may need a bit more oomph than the other two, it was made when everyone who could run it had what we now would think of as low-to-average performance spuds. How well the theory works in practice... I don't know.

It doesn't have to be impossible to make the games run on newer computers (in most cases it's not), and some seem to have no issues - but if you are unfortunate enough to stumble into these limitations, it can take a lot of effort to fix it.
Scholar
#7 Old 28th Dec 2019 at 2:57 PM
em... bear in mind guys, that it's Ironlake (Arrendale) iGPU, so if there's no discrete GPU it will be really hard to run the game with this chip. It's generation older than Sandy Bridge (HD2000/3000) . It should run Sims 2 somewhat well, or at last: acceptable, Sims 3 may be the slideshow. I would say that for absolutely minimum comfort, until someone's is really desperate, the HD 5500/6000 (Broadwell; circa around NVidia 420/520/530m performance in the case of 5500, depends of context) is the bottom line.
Though if there's somewhat decent iGPU (for 2010, this is the year of this chip) onboard, the game should run.


favorite quote: "When ElaineNualla is posting..I always read..Nutella. I am sorry" by Rosebine
self-claimed "lower-spec simmer"
Scholar
#8 Old 28th Dec 2019 at 6:38 PM
Yea you can play sims 3 and 4. Make sure background applications aren't using up RAM. Windows 10 starts running a lot of unnecessary stuff which keeps the disk usage and RAM usage at 100% even when idle. Use task manager to check.
You can run sims 3 with all expansions with low medium setting. I suggest you checkout Nraas mods as well to keep stray animals in check and fix errors.

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Mad Poster
#9 Old 29th Dec 2019 at 2:06 AM
I have been wondering how well my less than a year old laptop with 10 on it would run the tons of old games I have. Tried one of those you get 20 hidden object games disks from Walmart last night and it installed and played with no problem. I did briefly see a compatibility notice when it closed, so it looks like it used a compatibility setting automatically which is good.
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