kkaizer post_id=97564 time=1699921002 user_id=17748 wrote:here goes another one of my hopes down the drain…

I use a little free standalone tool called cleanmem
https://www.pcwintech.com/cleanmem

Of course don't do it too often in short distance and not right before saving. But with it, I can play much longer, for hours
Maybe it helps you too.
The method above is for me too laborious.
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Oh thank you letting me know! Why not too often in short distance and not right before saving? What does it do? Does it lower the actual commit memory? Because that seems what really matters.

kkaizer post_id=97591 time=1700030197 user_id=17748 wrote:Why not too often in short distance and not right before saving?

I cannot explain it technically, I am afraid.
But I think that sometimes too much data can be flushed, which can stop the game from working? It sometimes happened to me and then I needed to close game.
So my warning is just for being aware, that it also can lead to a kind of freezing and such.
You need to experiment yourself.

I track my RAM usage with windows task process manager and start cleaning if it reaches between 2,6 to 3,1. I mostly do it after saving in-between, which I do quite often, I have Saver, so I can always revert if anything goes wrong

Do you know which kind of memory you were checking? It seems that there are different kinds of memory that task manager shows as this original post showed. Among them, certain ones go down with the memory clean programs but i heard it is the commit memory size actually cause problems and they didn’t go down with the memory clean program I used. So I was wondering if the program you recommended does that.

I really don't know
I don't mind which, because for me it works.

If you can find out, let us know.

Here's something I just started doing a couple of days ago, and it seems to have reduced the rate that commit memory increases, as seen in task manager. I'm wondering if anyone else would see similar results, or is it just my imagination. It seems counter-intuitive, but I disabled the WorldCaches folder (you can use either of the methods that are also used to disable the FeaturedItems folder). Anyone want to give it a try and see if it helps?

JesseMadoo wrote: ↑

December 15th, 2023, 11:22 am

It seems counter-intuitive, but I disabled the WorldCaches folder (you can use either of the methods that are also used to disable the FeaturedItems folder). Anyone want to give it a try and see if it helps?

That would be quite a trade-off if this accomplished anything positive. Not all worlds cache to the WorldCache folder, but for those that do I would expect a tremendous performance hit if that feature were to stop functioning.

I would also expect this idea to break the Mac version of the game entirely, as we already know Bad Things Happen™ when the World Caches are merely emptied out for a world that is meant to stay in play in an already ongoing game.

Well, like I said, it's counter-intuitive. In a properly coded game, a set of well-maintained cache files would be a key part of performance and memory management. But we all know what a POS this game is when it comes to that sort of thing. So I asked myself, what if these cache files are making the problem worse? I haven't seen any noticeable performance degradation, but the jury is still out as to whether it reduces the rate of growth of commit memory. Still early days of experimenting

Well, I'm a little bit disappointed that my idea was summarily dismissed, since normally everyone here is so helpful, attentive, and respectful.
Though I joined this forum a few days ago, I will just say, for the record, that I've been playing Sims 3 since 2012, and in all that time I've never re-started with a new game. I have sims today who are descendants of the very first sims I created. I have used Nraas Porter to move worlds, or to move to a fresh copy of my current world, but never a total re-start. In other words, I consider myself a veteran in the never-ending battle against error code 12. I've read a lot of nonsense on the internet about how to fix it, and a few things that are actually helpful.
After all of that, I've reached the point where I live by these words: "Assume nothing, test everything, and always make a backup". Before taking this outside-the-box approach, I would have assumed the same thing, that the WorldCaches files were somehow necessary, and eliminating them would have adverse effects, or at best there would be a trade-off of some sort. As a developer myself (in the Angular/Java/SQL space), I'm familiar with the concept of trade-offs, but so far I see none.
The intent of my original post was to get the opinion of someone with even more experience and knowledge of this game than I have, and to validate or refute my findings. Am I really seeing a benefit, or am I just seeing the normal variability that one experiences from one Sims session to the next. Tell me I'm right, tell me I'm wrong. It doesn't matter to me, there's no ego involved here. I'm just trying to get this game to run better, and maybe help some other simmers as well. Thank you

JesseMadoo wrote: ↑

December 17th, 2023, 12:00 pm

The intent of my original post was to get the opinion of someone with even more experience and knowledge of this game than I have

You got the opinion of igazor, so I'd say you achieved your goal.