nornities

[nornities]

hello i really liked the method about the DXVK because i wanna fix the lag and memory crash's and freeze in my game, but i have a question when u said about (-1) do i need to put -1 in both like should i write (-1) in first line and the seconed line ?

Hi! Before you try (-1) which means to not limit MemCacheBudget, have you tried (high) values? Like those for 1 or 2 GB? Maybe try those before experimenting.

Also, can't say if you should enter the (-1) in both lines. As far as I know the value in the first line should be higher or equal the value in the second line. I guess that's where the experimenting begins...

Maybe someone who reads this has a more informed reply?

[nornities]

It looks so tranquil 😍

The new day was warm, crisp and cloudless. After some more melon slices as breakfast, Captain Beaudard went off for a little exploring of his own. Fallonfuchs had run to the north the day before, he went west.

A cloudless day always held the promise to turn into a cloudless night. His stars might be revealed, and finally offer him a clue of where they had stranded.

He wished he had his looking glass, though. To search the horizon too. But it had to be done with the naked eye, squinting.

The island was beautiful. As was the empty horizon. One steady, calm line.

At camp, Lady Aerdenwald paced the beach. She felt uneasy with the Captain gone. Yet, from the corner of her eye, she could see him run in the distance, and halt, look about him, and run again. He would never leave her view. And somehow, she suspected he did that on purpose. For her. Just like he'd made sure she'd got some rest that night, on the logs, taking turns with the children. In between her naps she had seen some of the men sleep on the beach sand, but he had always sat near her on the cowhide, looking at the clouds high above. He kept watch.

It was as if Captain Beaudard remembered the promise he made to her father, all by himself.

prev < | ◦ beginning

[nornities]

Pigeons to Crows - Default Replacement

With Default Replacement:

Without Default Replacement:

NOTE: This is a default replacement! It will affect all pigeon effects in all worlds. If you want to have your pigeons back, simply remove the file.

Download and Details at the Simszoo

[nornities]

Thank you for these beautiful pictures!

❤️

Northeney is so pretty

[nornities]

I'm happy you enjoy Northeney :)

[nornities]

UPDATE

Reblogging this because I noticed the DL link would give you the world file and nothing else. Not sure when or how that happened, as this has been out for more than 4 years now and no one complained. So I just hope for the best. Anyway.

Tldr: Download link has been updated to include the world as sims3pack, world file, CC and information!

Today I’m happy to release Praaven Reworked, a new version of Praaven by jje1000/potato-ballad-sims, edited by Simsmidgen and me. As usual this project took longer than expected. But with the help of our many fantastic testers all is well that ends well.

Simsmidgen and I tweaked some things more to our liking, replaced broken CC, reduced the overall amount of required CC, recoloured EA objects and/or replaced them, fixed major routing issues, reduced world file size, replaced/fixed all those bloody arches and stacked staircases, thinned spawners, improved terrain painting (at least we think so). We added the two festival lots by lowrisim and tweaked them a bit and also made sure that the tomb can be solved (yes, there is a tomb, go looking for it!). We tried to leave the world as original as possible though (apart from the things that didn’t work well). Public release is with permission of potato-ballad-sims.

Keep reading

[nornities]

[nornities]

Hello, dear Nornities. I have a question about CAW. If I create a road texture using CC and share it, will the CC texture be reflected? (Sorry if this is a strange sentence)

Hello :)

If you use custom textures for roads in CAW, those will be included in the world you export. It will show up in your world. So no need for a player to download the custom textures separately.

I hope this answers your question! If not, please send me a message :)

[nornities]

Actually not only for Absolute Beginners 😉 And even though it just turned 5 it's still worth a look. If I say so myself. I see many questions asked over and over again when the answers are right here. (And yes, still working on that website. The century isn't over yet, so stay tuned!)

CAW for Absolute Beginners – a guide

It took me long enough, but I made a guide for CAW for those of you who always wanted to try to build your own worlds for Sims 3 but never knew where to start. And for those of you who tried but got frustrated because information is hard to find, outdated or just doesn’t cover what you were looking for.

For now it’s a PDF for you to download. And maybe sometime in this century it will be turned into a website for better navigation. Stay tuned! And don’t hesitate to ask if you have questions!

Download PDF Guide

[nornities]

[nornities]

[nornities]

One of my favourite lots on the islands :) Made by @crowkeeperthesimmer!

[nornities]

[nornities]

[nornities]

Thank you for those stunning pictures! ❤️ It's so wonderful seeing my creation in your game and knowing that you enjoy playing in this world!

My favourite part of Northeney by @nornities is the tiered town centre

[nornities]

Hallo! I use the cc magic to open my sims 3 game, would I need to do anything differently compared to your dxvk guide? Because it is not working but im not sure if it's because I'm doing something wrong or because of the program! Thank you anyway for the guide along with desiree :)

Guten Tag! All steps are included in the guide as @desiree-uk also uses CCMagic to start her game. So no hidden extra steps that are not mentioned. So it must be something else that keeps it from working correctly. How do you know it isn't?

[nornities]

Update 1:

It seems I messed up some of the links.

Here is the link to the edited file: https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/blob/master/dxvk.conf

And the further reading on the difference between Vulcan and DirectX: https://www.howtogeek.com/884042/vulkan-vs-directx-12/#:~:text=Vulkan%20is%20a%20dedicated%20graphics,a%20graphics%20API%20

Also, please make sure to use the most recent version of every external program or launcher you use with the game, e.g. LazyDuchess' launcher :)

How to use DXVK with The Sims 3

Have you seen this post about using DXVK by Criisolate? But felt intimidated by the sheer mass of facts and information?

@desiree-uk and I compiled a guide and the configuration file to make your life easier. It focuses on players not using the EA App, but it might work for those just the same. It’s definitely worth a try.

Adding this to your game installation will result in a better RAM usage. So your game is less likely to give you Error 12 or crash due to RAM issues. It does NOT give a huge performance boost, but more stability and allows for higher graphics settings in game.

The full guide behind the cut. Let me know if you also would like it as PDF.

Happy simming!

Disclaimer and Credits

Desiree and I are no tech experts and just wrote down how we did this. Our ability to help if you run into trouble is limited. So use at your own risk and back up your files!

We both are on Windows 10 and start the game via TS3W.exe, not the EA App. So your experience may differ.

This guide is based on our own experiments and of course criisolate’s post on tumblr:  https://www.tumblr.com/criisolate/749374223346286592/ill-explain-what-i-did-below-before-making-any

This guide is brought to you by Desiree-UK and Norn.

Compatibility

Note: This will conflict with other programs that “inject” functionality into your game so they may stop working. Notably

Reshade

GShade

Nvidia Experience/Nvidia Inspector/Nvidia Shaders

RivaTuner Statistics Server

It does work seamlessly with LazyDuchess’ Smooth Patch.

LazyDuchess’ Launcher: unknown

Alder Lake patch: does conflict. One user got it working by starting the game by launching TS3.exe (also with admin rights) instead of TS3W.exe. This seemed to create the cache file for DXVK. After that, the game could be started from TS3W.exe again. That might not work for everyone though.

A word on FPS and V-Sync

With such an old game it’s crucial to cap framerate (FPS). This is done in the DXVK.conf file. Same with V-Sync.

You need

a text editor (easiest to use is Windows Notepad)

to download DXVK, version 2.3.1 from here: https://github.com/doitsujin/DXVK/releases/tag/v2.3.1 Extract the archive, you are going to need the file d3d9.dll from the x32 folder

the configuration file DXVK.conf from here: https://github.com/doitsujin/DXVK/blob/master/DXVK.conf. Optional: download the edited version with the required changes here.

administrator rights on your PC

to know your game’s installation path (bin folder) and where to find the user folder

a tiny bit of patience :)

First Step: Backup

Backup your original Bin folder in your Sims 3 installation path! The DXVK file may overwrite some files! The path should be something like this (for retail): \Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin (This is the folder where also GraphicsRule.sgr and the TS3W.exe and TS3.exe are located.)

Backup your options.ini in your game’s user folder! Making the game use the DXVK file will count as a change in GPU driver, so the options.ini will reset once you start your game after installation. The path should be something like this: \Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 (This is the folder where your Mods folder is located).

Preparations

Make sure you run the game as administrator. You can check that by right-clicking on the icon that starts your game. Go to Properties > Advanced and check the box “Run as administrator”. Note: This will result in a prompt each time you start your game, if you want to allow this application to make modifications to your system. Click “Yes” and the game will load.

2. Make sure you have the DEP settings from Windows applied to your game.

Open the Windows Control Panel.

Click System and Security > System > Advanced System Settings.

On the Advanced tab, next to the Performance heading, click Settings.

Click the Data Execution Prevention tab.

Select 'Turn on DEP for all programs and services except these”:

Click the Add button, a window to the file explorer opens. Navigate to your Sims 3 installation folder (the bin folder once again) and add TS3W.exe and TS3.exe.

Click OK. Then you can close all those dialog windows again.

Setting up the DXVK.conf file

Open the file with a text editor and delete everything in it. Then add these values:

d3d9.textureMemory = 1

d3d9.presentInterval = 1

d3d9.maxFrameRate = 60

d3d9.presentInterval enables V-Sync,d3d9.maxFrameRate sets the FrameRate. You can edit those values, but never change the first line (d3d9.textureMemory)!

The original DXVK.conf contains many more options in case you would like to add more settings.

A. no Reshade/GShade

Setting up DXVK

Copy the two files d3d9.dll and DXVK.conf into the Bin folder in your Sims 3 installation path. This is the folder where also GraphicsRule.sgr and the TS3W.exe and TS3.exe are located. If you are prompted to overwrite files, please choose yes (you DID backup your folder, right?)

And that’s basically all that is required to install.

Start your game now and let it run for a short while. Click around, open Buy mode or CAS, move the camera.

Now quit without saving. Once the game is closed fully, open your bin folder again and double check if a file “TS3W.DXVK-cache” was generated. If so – congrats! All done!

Things to note

Heads up, the game options will reset! So it will give you a “vanilla” start screen and options.

Don’t worry if the game seems to be frozen during loading. It may take a few minutes longer to load but it will load eventually.

The TS3W.DXVK-cache file is the actual cache DXVK is using. So don’t delete this! Just ignore it and leave it alone. When someone tells to clear cache files – this is not one of them!

Update Options.ini

Go to your user folder and open the options.ini file with a text editor like Notepad.

Find the line “lastdevice = “. It will have several values, separated by semicolons. Copy the last one, after the last semicolon, the digits only. Close the file.

Now go to your backup version of the Options.ini file, open it and find that line “lastdevice” again. Replace the last value with the one you just copied. Make sure to only replace those digits!

Save and close the file.

Copy this version of the file into your user folder, replacing the one that is there.

Things to note:

If your GPU driver is updated, you might have to do these steps again as it might reset your device ID again. Though it seems that the DXVK ID overrides the GPU ID, so it might not happen.

How do I know it’s working?

Open the task manager and look at RAM usage. Remember the game can only use 4 GB of RAM at maximum and starts crashing when usage goes up to somewhere between 3.2 – 3.8 GB (it’s a bit different for everybody).

So if you see values like 2.1456 for RAM usage in a large world and an ongoing save, it’s working. Generally the lower the value, the better for stability.

Also, DXVK will have generated its cache file called TS3W.DXVK-cache in the bin folder. The file size will grow with time as DXVK is adding stuff to it, e.g. from different worlds or savegames. Initially it might be something like 46 KB or 58 KB, so it’s really small.

Optional: changing MemCacheBudgetValue

MemCacheBudgetValue determines the size of the game's VRAM Cache. You can edit those values but the difference might not be noticeable in game. It also depends on your computer’s hardware how much you can allow here.

The two lines of seti MemCacheBudgetValue correspond to the high RAM level and low RAM level situations. Therefore, theoretically, the first line MemCacheBudgetValue should be set to a larger value, while the second line should be set to a value less than or equal to the first line.

The original values represent 200MB (209715200) and 160MB (167772160) respectively. They are calculated as 200x1024x1024=209175200 and 160x1024x1024=167772160.

Back up your GraphicsRules.sgr file! If you make a mistake here, your game won’t work anymore.

Go to your bin folder and open your GraphicsRules.sgr with a text editor.

Search and find two lines that set the variables for MemCacheBudgetValue.

Modify these two values to larger numbers. Make sure the value in the first line is higher or equals the value in the second line. Examples for values: 1073741824, which means 1GB 2147483648 which means 2 GB. -1 (minus 1) means no limit (but is highly experimental, use at own risk)

Save and close the file. It might prompt you to save the file to a different place and not allow you to save in the Bin folder. Just save it someplace else in this case and copy/paste it to the Bin folder afterwards. If asked to overwrite the existing file, click yes.

Now start your game and see if it makes a difference in smoothness or texture loading. Make sure to check RAM and VRAM usage to see how it works.

You might need to change the values back and forth to find the “sweet spot” for your game. Mine seems to work best with setting the first value to 2147483648 and the second to 1073741824.

Uninstallation

Delete these files from your bin folder (installation path):

d3d9.dll

DXVK.conf

TS3W.DXVK-cache

And if you have it, also TS3W_d3d9.log

if you changed the values in your GraphicsRule.sgr file, too, don’t forget to change them back or to replace the file with your backed up version.

OR

delete the bin folder and add it from your backup again.

B. with Reshade/GShade

Follow the steps from part A. no Reshade/Gshade to set up DXVK.

If you are already using Reshade (RS) or GShade (GS), you will be prompted to overwrite files, so choose YES. RS and GS may stop working, so you will need to reinstall them.

Whatever version you are using, the interface shows similar options of which API you can choose from (these screenshots are from the latest versions of RS and GS).

Please note: 

Each time you install and uninstall DXVK, switching the game between Vulkan and d3d9, is essentially changing the graphics card ID again, which results in the settings in your options.ini file being repeatedly reset.

ReShade interface

Choose – Vulcan

Click next and choose your preferred shaders.

Hopefully this install method works and it won't install its own d3d9.dll file.

If it doesn't work, then choose DirectX9 in RS, but you must make sure to replace the d3d9.dll file with DXVK's d3d9.dll (the one from its 32bit folder, checking its size is 3.86mb.)

GShade interface

Choose –           

Executable Architecture: 32bit

Graphics API: DXVK

Hooking: Normal Mode

GShade is very problematic, it won't work straight out of the box and the overlay doesn't show up, which defeats the purpose of using it if you can't add or edit the shaders you want to use.

Check the game's bin folder, making sure the d3d9.dll is still there and its size is 3.86mb - that is DXVK's dll file.

If installing using the DXVK method doesn't work, you can choose the DirectX method, but there is no guarantee it works either.

The game will not run with these files in the folder:

d3d10core.dll

d3d11.dll

dxgi.dll

If you delete them, the game will start but you can't access GShade! It might be better to use ReShade.

Some Vulcan and DirectX information, if you’re interested:

Vulcan is for rather high end graphic cards but is backward compatible with some older cards. Try this method with ReShade or GShade first.

DirectX is more stable and works best with older cards and systems. Try this method if Vulcan doesn't work with ReShade/GShade in your game – remember to replace the d3d9.dll with DXVK's d3d9.dll.

For more information on the difference between Vulcan and DirectX, see this article:

https://www.howtogeek.com/884042/vulkan-vs-DirectX-12/