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New work-around for error 12 & crashes due to high RAM usage
Hi all,
I have yet to see this shared on MTS!
In the past 2 months or so there is a new workaround/"fix" that's been discovered for games that crash to desktop or fail to save due to the game exceeding its RAM limit (~3.5gb or so). In essence, it forces Sims 3 to exclusively use VRAM (your graphics card's memory) instead of regular RAM to store some graphics data, like textures. Use it with caution of course (backup your saves) as this is still relatively new but so far after several hours of gameplay I have yet to see my RAM usage for Sims 3 go over 2.3gb, even with my legacy save in Setra (a huge CC world with a large population). Before using this I was pretty easily able to reach the game's RAM limit after just 15-60 minutes and consequently crashing to desktop and getting save errors.
Follow the instructions in this post and see for yourself if you get better results.
The post says not to expect any significant in-game performance improvements, but I can say I'm getting a somewhat more smooth and consistent 240fps, especially in less demanding worlds and in basements (obviously). Do not use this if you're playing on Mac, on a device with integrated graphics (like on a laptop), or on a low-end computer.